Church of the Lakes Ohio
At Church of the Lakes our mission is to connect all to Christ to become healthy in God and courageous in love. In 2026, our focus is on Kingdom Building within our circles of influence. We hope you will join us throughout the year as we dive deeper into our Kingdom Conversations with our pastors and ministry partners.
Church of the Lakes Ohio
Conversation - with Pastor Jared & Pastor Robby - Citizens of Heaven Wraps Up
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Join Pastor Robby and Pastor Jared for this special Kingdom Conversation as they wrap up the Citizens of Heaven sermon series — a journey through the book of Philippians.
In this episode, they reflect on Paul’s powerful message of joy, perseverance, humility, and Kingdom-minded living while facing suffering and imprisonment. Together, they discuss what it means to live as citizens of Heaven while still navigating life on earth, how believers can “press on toward the goal,” and how Christ’s example of humility should shape the way we live and treat others.
The conversation also explores practical ways Christians can stand firm in the Lord, remain faithful in a distracted world, and keep eternity in view. Plus, during the “Real Questions, Real Answers” segment, Pastor Robby and Pastor Jared tackle an honest and challenging question: If Jesus evaluated our church today, what would He confront us about?
As Church of the Lakes continues its 2026 emphasis on developing a Kingdom Mindset, this episode offers encouragement and practical wisdom for anyone desiring to follow Jesus more faithfully and live courageously in love.
Don’t miss this meaningful conclusion to the Citizens of Heaven series — and a preview of the upcoming Kingdom Wisdom series through the book of James.
Visit us online at churchofthelakes.org or on social media at churchofthelakesohio
Welcome to the Kingdom Conversations Podcast from Church of the Light, where our mission is connecting all to Christ to become healthy in God and courageous in love. In 2026, we're focusing on living with a kingdom mindset, becoming more like Jesus, and living counterculturally in a world that often pulls us in the opposite direction. Today we conclude our Citizens of Heaven series, a journey through the book of Philippians, a letter filled with joy, perseverance, humility, and the challenge to live with eternity in mind. Join Pastor Jared and Pastor Robbie as they unpack Paul's powerful message to the church in Philippi and explore what it truly means to live as citizens of heaven. Be blessed.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to another Kingdom Conversation. I'm Pastor Robbie Strack, and today we are wrapping up our latest sermon series, Citizens of Heaven, which has been a journey throughout the book of Philippians. And this series, whether through the Kingdom Conversations, our Sunday sermons, or our small group, uh small group studies, we've been pouring over this epistle of Paul that absolutely exudes joy. And we have to remember this is all the while Paul is incarcerated in prison. So to help us conclude our discussion today, I'm going to bring in Pastor Jared Preeseid. How are you doing, Jared?
SPEAKER_01I'm doing well.
SPEAKER_03Well, I'm glad that we can wrap up this series that's been extremely uh powerful for me. Has it been powerful for you through through it uh through the last couple of weeks?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. I I love Paul's letter to the Philippians. Um, there's a lot of great content within the letter uh that you can really build a life around. Um, Philippians is is is been um probably my favorite letter Paul wrote uh for years.
SPEAKER_03Well, you know, we did Colossians not so long ago.
SPEAKER_01No, that's another great letter.
SPEAKER_03And like every time I come to another Paul letter, I keep going, ooh, it's my new favorite. Ooh, it's my new favorite.
SPEAKER_01Ephesians this past fall we did. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes. So uh, but I'm excited to go through Philippians once again to kind of wrap it up because my favorite part about the sermon series wrap-up, Jared, is that we're not like re-quoting our sermons that you know pastors Brian, you and I share throughout the sermon series, rather, we're kind of taking the application part, the takeaway for people to really grasp a hold on. Uh so with that in mind, let's kind of walk through Philippians once again. And Jared, my first question is if we're gonna summarize this whole entire book, which might only be, you know, it's only four chapters, it's three pages in my own Bible, even with the comments down below. Um, how would you summarize, though, the book of Philippians, you know, as we finish and wrap this up?
SPEAKER_01I would say it is a letter about joyful, faithful kingdom living.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so what does that mean then?
SPEAKER_01Yep. Uh, you know, something we have said, uh, you know, which you just uh recalled is, you know, the most astounding thing about this letter because it is known as the letter of joy to the early church. And yeah, Paul writes this letter of joy in the midst of adversity, of uncertainty, of suffering, sitting in a prison cell. And so, you know, whatever Paul figured out is something I know I personally want to figure out. Right? How how do I not allow my circumstances, my contacts, or even the company I may keep at any given moment affect my inner countenance? Yeah, you know, joy. Uh the joy that uh our faith tells us we can have in relationship with Jesus. And so Paul writes this letter um to say, hey, look, this is how you you you come, you you um you gain that joy. Uh you keep your life, you keep your life rooted in heaven, anchored in heaven. And when you anchor your life in heaven in the presence of Jesus, you can have joy on earth, regardless of what you find yourself uh engaged in at any given moment.
SPEAKER_03Well, you know, in chapter three of Philippians, our anchor verse really for this series has been verse 20, where Paul describes that our citizenship is not of this world or in our current context, which might include, you know, in 2026, certainly your country, but also perhaps, you know, country club.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Or how about political uh party or affiliation or lobby group? Yeah sports teams, man. I mean yeah, I know. And you know, but Paul says explicitly, he says our citizenship is in heaven in verse 20.
SPEAKER_01And I think I think this if I can cut in for a second, I think that's that's easy to understand in our head. Yes, but I think we're so dismissive of that reality, the way we the suburban Christian actually lives day to day.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Like for me to say my primary citizenship is in heaven, yeah. Well, of course it is. I'm I'm on Team Jesus. Okay, but when I go home or when I go to work or when I go drive, you know, my car, or you know, when I you know frequent anywhere within the community, do I actually live like that? Sure. You know when the rubber meets the road, do I actually realize my primary citizenship is not as an American, um, as a preset, as a fan of Buffalo Bills football, um, as a father. You know, there's a lot of you know, uh, secondary identity markers that I I enjoy, but they do not and they cannot supersede that my primary citizenship, my primary identity marker is the fact that I'm on Team Jesus.
SPEAKER_03Well, can we can we go down this road even farther then? Like, so Jared, um, I know you use this illustration throughout the sermon series, and I just love it so much. Perhaps it was even in our small group videos when we were going through our study of the book of Philippians by uh Mark Batterson. But you know, oftentimes especially on Sunday morning for the hour that we're here, perhaps, people can make their primary identity Jesus Christ. However, when we go out into the world, yes, the secondary things sometimes become the priority, but even more so. Like look at Paul, he's getting squeezed with the pressures of the world. Now, certainly it's the incarceration, but he's getting squeezed from all sides. Like, if you know the story of Paul from Acts, he's getting squeezed by people of Jewish faith because you know he was uh, you know, high he's a Roman citizen, he's getting squeezed by his own by the state. Yeah. So like he's getting squeezed. Even by people within the church. Yeah. So as he's getting squeezed, think of it as like a sponge. What's dripping out of Paul under that pressure moment is Jesus Christ. It is like how do you see that throughout the scripture and throughout the book of Philippians?
SPEAKER_01That that is incredible. You know, you know, you do bring up a great illustration that when you know when when a person's being squeezed, what comes out of them is generally what they primarily fixate themselves on. In Paul, what when he's squeezed, what comes out of him is Christ Jesus. It's the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And so I I guess for me, you know, sometimes I I think with squeezing, when you get caught off guard, sure, usually your initial reaction is what's getting squeezed out of you. And and there's moments in my life where I'm embarrassed to say sometimes what initially gets squeezed out of me is is is is not flattering. Right. And what what that does though, it becomes for me not a moment that causes me to despair, but a moment that that one maybe if I need to repent, I get on my knees and repent. But also it's a teachable moment. Okay. Okay, why okay, what's going on in my soul? How off the mark am I in my relationship with Jesus? How misaligned I am with am I now with the kingdom of God? That that's what happened when I got squeezed.
SPEAKER_02Amen.
SPEAKER_01You know, and it calls it, it just it kind of calls me back into my my faith to see where I where I where are my where are my growth edges uh and where do I continue to need to rely and depend on Jesus that I'm not.
SPEAKER_03Thanks for being so transparent and authentic, Jared. I think what helps us connect the most with people is when we share these authentic moments and are honest and tell people our imperfections in all honesty, because oftentimes people start asking questions, why? So, like when they see us get squeezed and Jesus comes out, people ask why. And what's our response to that? When someone asks, Why do you have joy in the midst of your cancer treatments? Yeah, isn't that painful? You know, how many people have we seen personally within our own faith family that have gone through trying situations and Jesus pours out of them? And the response of why, what what should we do in that call?
SPEAKER_01So so there was uh there's a guy named Leslie Nubigan. Leslie Nubigan was a theologian, and he has just a remarkable question to ask in those moments. And it's he says, live your life in such a way that provokes questions only the gospel can answer.
SPEAKER_03I love it.
SPEAKER_01It's an and let me read it repeat it. Live your life in such a way that provokes questions only the gospel can answer. And I think in those moments of getting squeezed, when what comes out of us is Christ, what comes out of us is a manifestation of the fruit of the spirit, that does pose the question only the gospel can answer. What why am I living with such a peace that's surpassed understanding in the midst of let's say cancer treatment? And I go back to my mom with her battle with pancreatic cancer. You know, she you know, that she grieved the fact that she was going to die prematurely, but every day her battle cry was, but fear not, for I know to whom I belong. Okay, where does that come from? That that's that that statement's provoking a question only the gospel can answer. And what the gos how the gospel answers that is simply uh Christ's death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb has defeated death. Death has no sting. So anyone who is in Christ, the best is yet to come, and is always the best is yet to come. And my mother knew that. And and so many other countless Christians over the millennia have known that. Um, and so yeah, live your life in a way that provokes questions only the gospel can answer.
SPEAKER_03So some of the application parts of the book of Philippians are certainly um the if as we keep our gaze metaphorically and literally on Christ, as we begin to study his words and be, as you have said countless times, uh associated with his kingdom exclusively. It's not an exclusive, exclusive, necessarily certain step, 11-step program you got to follow to get there, right? It's by being immersed with him constantly in the spiritual disciplines and growing and mature and maturity. But part of that process, uh Paul writes in in verse 14 of chapter three, he says, we're pressing on towards the goal, pressing on towards the goal. You know, Jared, what does pressing on towards the goal mean to you, especially as we're living here in this context of earth, uh, until we have Jesus return or we get our heavenly home on the day of our passing? But certainly, what do you think that means pressing on towards the goal in our career?
SPEAKER_01It's keeping our eyes fixated on Christ. Um, if if I could say in a sentence, uh pressing on toward the goal is this that process of sanctification, uh becoming uh changed from one degree of glory into the next. It's becoming more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_03Initially, gradually, and then finally in full surrender entirely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, amen. Yeah. Um, I I you know, with my confirmants, I use the example of, you know, when it comes to the idea of sanctification, uh, I asked them the question Do you ever see those couples that have been married for like 50, 60, 70 years? Like, yeah, I mean grandma, grandpa, or you so and so. And I'm like, don't they kind of look the same? They do, don't they? They do. I mean, I don't know, man and women, of course, there's different physical characteristics, but of course, but they start walking the same, their mannerisms are the same, they talk the same, they talk the same one for me. It's crazy, and it's like, okay, that's the image of what it means to press on towards the goal. The goal is to get to the point where people look at Pastor Robbie, they look at Pastor Jared, and they think, I don't see Robbie, I don't see Jared, I see Christ.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Amen.
SPEAKER_01And that's pressing on towards that goal. And it and it's to you know, not only uh achieve what Christ um has offered for us to achieve, but also to draw more people into the kingdom of God. Like, like our job is to make heaven crowded. Our job is to expand the boundaries of God's kingdom on earth. Paul says in Corinthians, right, we are the ambassadors of Christ. Like wherever we go, whether it's our home, workplace, community, school, on vacation, we bring with us the kingdom of God because we are the ambassadors of that kingdom. And so, how are we uh you know pressing on and expanding the boundaries of God's kingdom on earth and the way we we carry ourselves and interact with one another?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I love that illustration that Paul gives us a pressing on towards the goal. I mean, I mean, there's such beautiful encouragement notes from Paul to the church in Philippi.
SPEAKER_01I would I would also say in terms of that is the idea of not settling for spiritual complacency.
SPEAKER_03Apathy.
SPEAKER_01Apathy. Look, I I like to tell people if you are bored in the Christian life, you're not doing it right. You're not. What do you mean? Pursuing Christ wholeheartedly is is not a boring endeavor. It it's exciting. Um it can be at times uh tense and uncomfortable. Oh, I'll end to that. You know, but none of that is boring, it can be exhilarating. I mean, look at Paul in jail again, writing, rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, rejoice.
SPEAKER_03I know, Philippians 4.
SPEAKER_01You know, let your gentleness be known to all, for the Lord is near, right? Like, like he is um it's exhilarating. He's in prison, and yet he's every, you know, you gotta go back to his story. Like he was in prison, and you know, every day a different guard was chained to him. And to Paul, he didn't see that as drudgery. He said, This is the next opportunity I have to tell somebody else about the gospel of Jesus.
SPEAKER_03Well, we saw Paul convert Roman soldiers. Oh, incredible, yeah. And like imagine how many people who are unquoted in scripture as being converted by Paul in those moments, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_03Uh, you know, can we push even a little bit further, James? You know, in between our core verse in chapter 320, our citizenship is in heaven. Paul's writing about that. And then in 4.4, where he says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. There's Philippians 4:1, where Paul encourages the church and Philippi to stand firm in the Lord. Now, let's get really practical. Like, okay, we live around in North Canton, Canton, Jackson Township, suburbia, Ohio, right? What does it look like to stand firm? I think you already hit the head uh hammer on the head a little bit when you said apathy, getting bored in our relationship with Christ. But what what do you think are some practical habits or attitudes that maybe help us reorient ourselves so that we are constantly standing firm in the ways, words, and wisdoms of our Lord?
SPEAKER_01Well, it's it starts with a dependence on the Holy Spirit. It's funny, we just had Pentecost.
SPEAKER_03We did yesterday.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um it it starts with a dependence on the Holy Spirit. Uh and then that's the that's really the first way you stand firm in the Lord, is relying on the Holy Spirit who lives in you as a believer. Um in our specific context in suburban America, it is so easy to get distracted by shiny things. What do you mean by that though? Um nicer cars, keeping up with the Joneses, bigger homes, keeping up with the Joneses, and somehow that can take priority in our lives. And it's like when you think about it, it's just silly. Uh, I that that, you know, I love what Pastor Brian says is he's never seen a U-Haul following a hearse to the cemetery, right? Like you can't take it with you, which reminds me of uh yesterday I gave an example in church of Elizabeth Elliott. Uh Elizabeth Elliott was the wife of a missionary named Jim's Jim Elliott, who ended up uh dying for his faith, taking the gospel to the Harani people in Ecuador, South America. And uh Elizabeth uh did not become embittered because of that. 29 years old, she becomes a widow, has a single uh child, a daughter to raise on her own. Uh after she got over to the initial grief of losing Jim, she packs her belongings up and moves to the Harani people to live among them. Wow. To continue to carry on this mission of giving them the gospel. It's dependent on the Holy Spirit, the conviction of the Spirit to do that. Uh, long story short, ends up bringing the people to faith in Jesus, particularly the man who killed her husband. And Jim Elliott is known as saying, uh, a man is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. And I think when it comes to suburban America, we are so enamored with trying to acquire materialism and wealth. And you know, going back to that Jim Elliott quote, a man is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep. You can't take those toys with you to gain what he cannot lose. Right? And what you gain in sacrifice and in service is eternal life. It's a crown of righteousness. And uh so so standing firm, I think, i is is is not buying into the pressure of shiny things, of materialism, of acquiring wealth that that really uh you one can't take with you. Um and two, how many apples does a person really need? You know what I mean? Like uh instead of you know putting so much energy into trying to acquire for yourself, putting that energy towards uh being transformed from one degree of glory into the next, maybe through acts of service. You know, uh in helping other people who are in need. So so I think I think that's one way you stand firm in the Lord in our culture, is not giving into the comfort and the complacency that we often see in suburban America. Uh I I think it's it's continuing to be a person of of of the book, of the Bible. Uh John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said most well-known man in all of England in the 1800s, said he was a man of one book. And he he stood firm on the truth and the principles of the Word of God. That's a way you stand firm. Uh, another is to continue to surround yourself with other Christians. The church is so important. Uh, you know, yesterday, um May 24th, Pentecost, we had uh immersion by baptism service. Yes. Eleven people were immersed in the waters of baptism and came to faith in Jesus. And I made a comment, you know, as we were doing the vows with those who are being baptized, the candidates. After the vows, I turned to the congregation and I said, Listen, as Christians, we are a corporate body. We are in this together. We do not live out our faith as individu just individually. I said, uh, for one, I said, I have a very personal relationship with Jesus, but it is not meant to be lived out privately, it's meant to be lived out corporately. And uh, you know, Pastor Brian always says, you know, uh, there's two things you can't do on your own, marry yourself, and you can't be a Christian on your own. And I love that. And he's right. And so I turned in the congregation, also made vows to come alongside uh these candidates for baptism. Say, we are gonna stand with you to help you as you help us pursue the Lord and stand firm in our faith. So Christian fellowship community is so important in that regard. Um, and then finally, just simply as Paul shows us, remaining faithful in difficult seasons. There may be a purpose to the pain. God probably didn't cause the pain, but God can use the pain for your good and his glory.
SPEAKER_03Hindsight's 2020, right? Yeah. Look back. How many times have you and I struggled, whether it be financially, emotionally, physically, whatever, and it was for a blessing in disguise, you know, to put me in a situation where I was supposed to be and serving him. Okay, so 2026, Jared.
SPEAKER_01What's our theme for this year? So the goal of 2026 has been to help the congregation as a corporate body, but also as individual people, uh, cultivate a kingdom mindset uh in order to be effective kingdom builders within the circles of influence God has placed them in. Uh, what's a kingdom mindset? It it's looking at life through the lens of the rule and reign of Jesus Christ. And if we can look at life and our circumstances and our situations and even our relationships through the lens of G the rule and reign of Jesus Christ, then we can effectively build God's kingdom here on earth. Now, God doesn't need us to help him. No, I know, but God's desire is for us to partner with him in the work he's already doing. Sure. And as the church, you know, that that's our call. It's to come alongside and partner with God to expand the boundaries of this kingdom. So I jokingly asked that question because of course you know that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know, you're our leader. Um and but my my point is, Philippians, I think people should be able to see naturally how this fits in with our theme for 2026 of becoming kingdom citizens, citizens of heaven as citizenship is in heaven, as it says in 320. But Jared, when we go to live exclusively for the kingdom of God, how does Philippians help us and encourage us to stay and walk that narrow path? What do you think?
SPEAKER_01Uh Philippians is is a it's a About allegiance to King Jesus. Yeah. First and foremost. Philippians really speaks to the reality that the kingdom of God is not just some future reality. No, of course. It shapes how we live now in the here and now. And we are called as Christians to live differently. Because again, we belong to another kingdom. And Paul shows that so vividly in this letter. Kingdom citizens, we think, we serve, we suffer, and we hope differently than the rest of the world. Because our identity is rooted in Christ's reign and not in earthly systems.
SPEAKER_03Thank you for helping us lock that in because I think it's important to constantly revisit our theme for this year. Because it really does shape where we're going. For instance, uh next week we're going to be launching our next podcast on our next sermon series. We're going to be talking about kingdom wisdom as we go through the book of James and some of the application points. Uh it can get theologically confusing for some because we're certainly not saved by works. But James talks about how real faith requires more than us just standing still. It's expressed in works. And I'm excited to move forward with that. But it's all in the pattern if we've started out the year. Jesus gave us in the Sermon on the Mount these kingdom values that are shaping our characteristic and how we live our lives. And then we talked about how when we fully surrender to this kingdom and to Lord Jesus, how things change. And then all of a sudden we've gone into Philippians, and it's like this constant, you know, uh one after the other. We're building this to go somewhere. And I hope people do not lose focus on the site of the Sermon on the Mount that we went over to start the year, and then how important full surrender is. And then now it's certainly how in the midst of uh the chaos, when we get squeezed, there are moments to allow God to work through us and in us if we're willing to allow it. Um, you know, I'm so excited to go on to James, but it means nothing if we don't remember the Sermon on the Mount or our altered series and surrendered, or how we've gone through the book of Philippians. And we'll continue that throughout the year, right? Well, I'm excited for that to continue. But, you know, Jared, we're gonna revisit in our next segment here a question that was asked a couple of weeks ago. Because I think it maybe it this is a hallmark question we should ask ourselves every time we end a sermon series. It's a simple one, uh, but I think it's an important one and a highlight of our series. So here we go. This is part of our real question, real answer segment. Once again, if you're interested in submitting a question to Jared and I as pastors here at Church of Lakes, we love to be able to answer them. If you would email us at podcast at churchalakes.org, we can read your question right here on quote unquote air, even though it's recorded and not live. But but we'll read the question and do our best as uh uh theologians uh to answer some of that stuff. But you know, our question for today is once again one we've gone over a couple weeks ago, but I think it's appropriate for today, and maybe for every time we're wrapping up a sermon series, it goes like this, Jared. If Jesus evaluated our church today, what would he confront us about? And perhaps, maybe what he would he confront us about in light of a reflection of the book of Philippians? What do you think?
SPEAKER_01It's a really good question. It's making me think of uh something I saw on social media the other day. All right, let's get into the doom scrolling. Yeah, it was uh well, let me think of it. Um if Paul were alive, no, if Paul were alive today, the church in America would be getting a letter. It's just really good. I I love that. Um man, what type of letter? Is it gonna be a letter to the book of Philippians or is it gonna be the Corinthians? I mean, who knows, you know. Maybe maybe a mixture of all of it. Uh I think if Jesus was here evaluating a church today, he is here. Uh in our context in suburban America, what would he you know? You make me think of, you know, in the fall, it's a little teaser, we're gonna be working through the book of Revelation. Yeah, with the remote, now we're doing a 30,000 uh foot look at it.
SPEAKER_03If people are waiting for the apocalyptic uh prophetic writings, I don't think that's what we're getting into.
SPEAKER_01It's gonna we're just gonna get people comfortable with revelation. Yes. But in it, you know, Jesus offers a letter of seven churches in Romans uh or Revelation 2 and 3. And uh you know, the pattern's often the same. It's uh a note of con uh commendation, a note of condemnation, and then a correction. And I I kind of like that uh that pattern accommodation, condemnation, and then correct and then um how to correct what the issue is. And so I think if Jesus was evaluating the church today in light of Philippians, he'd probably want to have a conversation with us over our our comfortability and the need for us to press us to put mission over comfort. Uh we are just too comfortable. I I made a comment yesterday in church that we are the most comfortable society the world has ever seen.
SPEAKER_03We are we are because when you look at technology, it's incredible. I loved your illustration of saying it's like if you're hungry, you don't even have to stand up. You just order food on your phone, it gets delivered to your front porch. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Like that's how the world could work if you could. Yeah, so Jesus would probably say, uh, you know, part of being in mission with Christ is realizing that you're you're gonna have some adversity you're gonna face. Are we willing to face that adversity at the loss of comfort? Uh I think in the the suburban church in America today, so often we we you know the faith is a mile long and two inches deep. You know, Jesus would say, You guys gotta go deeper with me. Engage these disciplines of prayer and fasting and of you know, devouring my word to go deeper with me. Yeah, that don't worry about going long or go deeper.
SPEAKER_03That reminds me of the in our small group study, Mark Batterson in one of his videos, he shares with us the illustration of there's a big difference between someone who's a 30-year Christian. Yeah, uh, some 30-year Christians have repeated the first year of being a Christian over and over and over. For 30 years. They never go deeper, yeah, as opposed to there are some that you know slowly and intentionally get deeper into the word of God and become more mature over those 30 years. Yeah, I've heard that illustration as a as a uh engineer. There are some people who repeat their first year of engineering over and over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_01It's a phenomenal illustration. I love it. I think that would be uh something a point Jesus would make about the church in America today. Uh I think another one is the idea of consumer Christianity. Uh I think we need to realize it's not about us.
SPEAKER_03It's not well, and it's not about our feelings or experiences. Oftentimes we want to be the experience culture. I didn't get I didn't get the warm and fuzzies when I was uh in worship this morning and all those types of things. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's like, oh well, it wasn't worshiping you, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. But consumer Christianity would be another thing. Um maybe fear of sacrifice to a degree. Uh being, you know, the the issue being shaped more by our culture than by Christ. And then finally, maybe losing passion for evangelism. Um we can't. We we need to make sure that we keep the main thing, the main thing. I, you know, just as an aside, you know, in my small groups, I have a number of people that have prodigal children who aren't raising their children, which would be these people's grandchildren in the church. And it got me thinking how difficult it is to evangelize your own family. But I know that if that was me and I had a prodigal child who wasn't raising my their children, my grandchildren in the Christian faith, I would hope and pray that somebody within their circles would engage them with the good news of Jesus so they would maybe come back to faith and start raising their kids in the faith. Right. And so I thought to myself, well, we we need to be that for other people's prodigals that are within our community.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And if we're all that for everyone else's prodigals, guess what? You know, people maybe fall in love with Jesus all over again, or they come to Jesus in faith for the first time.
SPEAKER_03But we're often uh comfortable in our situation and we're afraid to upset the outer. So we don't evangelize.
SPEAKER_01We really need to evangelize.
SPEAKER_03Well, I just keep reminding myself of the parable that Jesus says we're supposed to be sowers of seed, and some seed's gonna fall on rocky ground, we thorny ground, good soil, so on and so forth. But it is it is God who makes the seed grow.
SPEAKER_01Our job, our faithfulness comes in just the scattering of the seed.
SPEAKER_03And sometimes it's uncomfortable. Results are God's. And uncomfortability is something that we gotta fight against. Well, thank you, Jared. Thank you for walking us through this today. I know I'm excited to go to the book of James, but I I just really wanted to emphasize again, you know, this is a year-long mindset that we're starting to cultivate. We're not even halfway through. And if we forget the beginning where we started, um we're missing the whole point because this is a slow study build. Often, as I'm reminded of some of the great quotes of our faith, of slow, slowly plodding along is sometimes the appropriate way to approach scripture and to approach um our theology so that we don't become discouraged or um you know push beyond our limits. But praise be to God that we have someone who walks besides us and comforts us. And uh that is why Paul says, rejoice again. I say rejoice. Um Yeah, so just some things to go over before we end here today. You know, Jared, I I'd be remiss if I didn't say that Church of the Lakes is a very busy congregation. Uh at this time of year, I'm so excited that we are about to send out a mission tree, uh mission team down to Henderson, Kentucky to the settlement where they're gonna be doing work in Appalachia. Um, you know, that's coming up. Um, also our VBS ministry is about to kick off. Habitat is kicking off this way as we're starting our, I think, 14th build here at Church of the Lakes. Uh none of this is to pat ourselves on the back. Rather, this is saying, you know, we are becoming uncomfortable for Jesus Christ, giving people the opportunity to stretch themselves, to be squeezed.
SPEAKER_01And expand the boundaries of God's kingdom. Yeah. So we're excited that those to bring other people to faith in the Lord through our action.
SPEAKER_03We're excited those things are upcoming. Please visit us at churchlakes.org. You can find out our service, uh, you can find out our ministry teams, uh, you can find out our small group times, uh, and get involved. Uh uh, don't be don't be comfortable. Um maybe if this season of life you're you're looking for something new. Well, guess what? There are new things to get involved with here at Church of Lakes, whether that's Grace68 or otherwise, with our foster care ministry. And I just want to say a big thank you to uh people like Matt Ritzer, uh people like Nicole Bowman, uh, thank you to uh you know your wife and and your daughter, you know, Meredith and Maggie for coming on. I thought it was really powerful to go through our foster care ministries here at Church of Lakes. Being May was foster care awareness month. I did that intentionally as we recorded their podcasts and shared uh the ministry of foster care. And Jared, I wanted to give you just in closing here in these last you know 30, 60 seconds, uh, foster care. What does it mean to you to be a part of affiliated of a church that is so heavily involved in foster care? Can you can you just wrap up our our our foster care ministry here uh as we end this this podcast today?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I I, you know, uh feel as just an individual person that I'm living out a call to as I foster children in my own home. And I I I just absolutely love the fact that our congregation feels this as a collective call. Yeah, Amen. And and that we as a collective congregation are are really trying to make a difference in the life of the modern-day orphan for the sake of disrupting dysfunctioning and drawing these kids and into the to the family of God. I I I truly believe uh, you know, that our faith is is not necessarily an intellectual ascent, it is a demonstration of power, as Paul says in in Corinthians. And uh as we get out here to get our hands dirty doing good for these children, it you know, we are demonstrating the power of God in us, in working through us to really affect and change lives eternally. Um, just to throw this out there, you know, my family is in the process right now. June 29th is a big date for us. Uh, one of our foster boys, Jaden, uh, who's been with us for three years, we are going to the courthouse and being uh adapting him. It's amazing.
SPEAKER_03And and Jared, I, you know, I intentionally didn't want to give you the the uh whole entire episode to talk about foster care because I know how hard it is, um, how emotionally hard it is. Uh it's not it's not a painful process, it's just you know, there are moments that bring you to tears, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_01Uh pain and you're much like Paul, there's adversity and hardship in it, but it is also exhilarating.
SPEAKER_03But when foster care squeezes on you uh emotionally, physically, mentally, um, what is amazing is Jesus pours out. Amen. Yeah. I'm so so thank you. Thank you for helping us and giving uh us the opportunity as a congregation to share that platform on the podcast. You know, certainly I'm sure people like to hear you every week on this podcast, but I thought it was important to ask, you know, your wife, uh to ask Maggie, to ask uh Nicole through Hope Ridge, to ask Matt about RFKC, all these ministries that we've built upon one another, because once we got comfortable in one area of that ministry, we said, let's make ourselves uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01And it's grown, right? This is awesome.
SPEAKER_03It's so cool. So thank you everyone for you know listening along to our uh our mini-series, as I'm gonna call it, in our foster care dive. But thank you. Of course, a big thank you goes out to Betsy Canis, our director of communications here at Church of Lakes. A big thank you goes out to Len Brown, who does a lot of the editing with our podcast. A big thank you to Stephanie, my wife, who helps get this up on our platforms and share it out, um, whether that's on Facebook, Instagram, so on and so forth. Uh but Jared, until next time, I want to just remind people that uh it's our mission here at Church of Lakes to connect all to Christ to become healthy and God and courageous in love. And until next time, when we go over the book of James and open up our next sermon series, God bless.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for listening to this episode from Church of the Lakes with Pastor Jared Priestett and Pastor Robbie Strott. If today's message encouraged you and helped you grow as a devoted follower of Christ, we invite you to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also help others discover this podcast by leaving a five-star rating or review and sharing it with your friends, family, co-workers, and others in your circle of influence. We're also grateful for your generosity, which helps make messages like this available to more people. If you feel led to give, please check the link in the description. And if you're in the Canton, Ohio area, we would love to invite you to join us in person on Sunday and worship together. To learn more about Church of the Lakes, visit Churchofthelakes.org or click the web link in the description. Until next time, stay encouraged and keep walking in faith.