Reflecting Christ: Embracing Our Role in Community Transformation - Jeff Ryan - 3TC Podcast - 2/23/2025

Jeff Ryan discusses the theme of human sinfulness, forgiveness, and the Christian's role in embodying Christ's presence in their community. It begins with an acknowledgment of human sin and the necessity of confession to God, emphasizing that this confession leads to forgiveness and renewal through Jesus Christ. We, as the Church, have the role of demonstrating the grace and compassion of Jesus, akin to his ministry. We are called to engage deeply with those around us, embodying Christ’s kindness, compassion, and engagement, ultimately aiming to make a transformative impact on others and fulfill the church's mission of making disciples. 

Welcome to Three Timbers Church! We are so glad you found us online and encourage you to explore all there is to learn about our church located in beautiful Bennington, Nebraska. When you come to Three Timbers, you can come as you are to experience the love of Jesus through the people of God. ​

Whether young or old, single or married, new to church, or a lifelong attendee, there's a place for you here. We invite you to join us toward a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. Our goal is to share the passion, power, and presence of Jesus with others. We believe in supporting families through service, education, and loving one another as Jesus loves us, unconditionally.

Transcript

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Welcome to the three timbers podcast. We hope this will encourage and uplift you today. One of the things that I'm reminded of every time I look in the mirrors, not just that I'm getting older and I have no hair, is that I'm a sinner, and there's no way around that. And I don't know if you know this, but you're a sinner. Uh, all of us are sinners, and we don't like to admit that. We like to look at the sin in other people's life and say, Well, look what they're doing. But the bottom line is, we're sinners, and so we have to own who we are, so we can celebrate who God is, the one who gives us forgiveness and grace and mercy. And so we are very intentional about every week coming and confessing to God what he already knows. God knows the areas in which we have fallen short, the areas which we have not lived up to what we said we would when it came to being a Christ follower. And so we come, we confess to him. That's the bad news. And then the good news is we are forgiven, we are washed clean. We are made new because of the grace of Jesus. And so we'll read joyfully the news of that forgiveness that we have in Christ. But let's take time now just to bow our heads and close our eyes and come to confess to God when he already knows and receive His forgiveness. Let us pray Father, as we gather in this place sometimes that we can feel like we're alone, like we're the only ones struggling with sin or a particular sin. But Lord, Your Word tells us, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And so Lord, we come to you as people who have fallen short in many ways. This week we come, Lord, because you are a God of grace and forgiveness and mercy and love. So Lord we come confessing, and Lord we come, and we are taught to come to me all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. So, Lord, I pray that we would seek the rest from the guilt of sin, Lord, from the fear of punishment of sin, Lord, and we would leave it at the cross where it is meant to be left. And so, Lord, that we could rejoice in your grace, Father, we do. Thank you so much that that we get to come and lay those burdens down, Lord, and that we can start anew and start fresh and So Father, after confessing our sins, we now have the joy Lord, to read these words of Scripture from Proverbs, 2813, join me as we read together. Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them amen for mercy. In our life, we have been talking the last few weeks about the purpose of the church, which we know is to make disciples. We've been talking about passion. What is passion? Passion and worship? Why do we worship God passionately? Because he is worthy, because he is the one that has saved us from hell and judgment. We talked last week about the power of God's word, how the power of God's word transforms us in every way. And so today, we want to talk about presence, having a presence in our community. So what does that look like? Well, let's take a look at the macro view of this the state of Nebraska. If we want to have a presence in our community, we need to understand our community. For example, did you know that there is 77,000 square miles in the state of Nebraska? There are 93 counties, 58 cities, 582 zip codes, and 2 million people across our state. And if you were to travel this state and go to every one of those counties and every one of those cities and meet the majority of those people, a question. They say, is there one thing that every one of these counties and cities and communities has in common? Is there one thing where there is a similar presence in every community? And I thought about this, and I came up with the one thing that I think is present in every community in our state, and it is this, whether you are a fan for a lifetime or a new fan. You know about the Huskers? You talk about the Oscars, whether it's good or whether it's bad, it depends. Businesses are named after the Huskers. The economy can be driven by the Huskers. They say that on game days, that Memorial Stadium is the third largest city in the entire state. So this is something that has a presence in everybody's life, across our community, and that's great, and that's wonderful, but that's not the job of the Huskers. That's the job of the church. That's our job. It's our job as the people of God to have a presence in the community, and we need to understand what that looks like and why we are called. To do that. And so we're going to be taking a look today from the Gospel of Matthew I'll be reading from the NIV version. And again, we encourage you bring your Bibles to church. Have a Bible app. We feel it's important that you read the Word of God instead of having it read to you, because when you read the word, the word reads you. And so we're going to be in Matthew nine. We're going to be at verse 35 and as you look at that, it's important we understand that it's always about the message and not the messenger. And so I would ask for us just to take a moment to pray that God would speak through me and despite me. Let's pray, Father, Your Word is a lamp unto our feet. Your word is the thing, Lord that guides us. Lord, I pray that you would get me and my sinful heart and my sinful ways out of the way. Lord, I pray that your spirit would speak to each of us where we are, Lord, whether we need comforting or convicting. Lord, that You would speak to us today and we would hear you. Lord, we would just be hearers, but we would be doers. We ask this in your son's precious Name. Amen. So Matthew, chapter nine, verses, 35 through 38 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers into his harvest field. This is the Word of God, amen. It's always important that we understand context of Scripture, and when we read through this, we see that Jesus has been healing quite a number of people. He has healed a paralytic. He has raised a child from the dead. He healed the woman, He healed a blind man, He healed all types of muted people. And I tell you this for one particular reason, that maybe you've read this and you say, Well, I know that, but I want you to hear from this perspective, Jesus did all of those things in community. He was in the community. When he did those things. He had a presence in the community. Jesus did not set up shop and say, this is where I'm going to be, and you need to come to me, because I'm not moving right. We are a set people. What did Jesus say at the ascension? Go and make disciples. We talked last week about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. What did he say to Philip, go, that we need to have a presence in our community. And when Jesus performed all of these miraculous feelings, he did them in community. He had a presence in the community. People were able to interact with him. He was able to interact with them. Now understand the area that Jesus would cover in his ministry. It was probably about 200 cities and villages, a 40 by 70 mile area and about 3 million people. And if Jesus as one person could impact that amount of area, shouldn't we as the church be able to impact our community? Because there are so many of us, should we be able to have a presence in our community that lets people see the miraculous healing from sin that Jesus gives us through our relationship. And so what we see in this text here is that Jesus has done the thing that we don't do is the most powerful tool in ministry. We underestimate it and we under use it. And if we can harness this ability, this tool, we will have a kingdom impact. It is the ministry of presence. It is amazing. What happens when you show up. God shows up, and I have shared this story with you. When I first began in ministry, I was a hospital chaplain. I was very young, and I would be in rooms with families who were saying goodbye to a loved one, and I didn't always know what to say, and a lot of the times, I didn't say anything. And can I tell you how many people after their loved one was called home to be with the Lord, but say, Oh, thank you so much. We really appreciate everything you did. And I said, I didn't do anything, I didn't say anything. I didn't offer a prayer, I didn't read any scripture. I didn't know and they said, but you were there, you were in the room. The ministry of presence is the most underutilized and most powerful tool that you and I have to make a kingdom impact on somebody else's life just by being present, just by being in the room. So what is a ministry of presence? Look like? It looks like the kindness of Jesus, the engagement of Jesus and the compassion of Jesus. See if you and I want to have a presence in our community and our communities where you live, where you. Work, where you shop, where you go. If we can share the compassion of Jesus, the kindness of Jesus, the engagement. Do you know how powerful it is when you're going through the line at the grocery store and the person that's checking back, you just say, How's your day going? All of a sudden they realize, hey, I'm being noticed. I'm not just a nameless, faceless person scanning if somebody's actually asking me, how are you doing? That is having a presence in the community. I was someplace this week, and I was talking to a young man, and I said, How are you doing? He was telling me. He says, Well, what are you doing? I still a lot of a pastor. It says, Well, I really need prayer. I said, Okay, tell me what exactly you need prayer for. And he just started telling me all the things that were going on in his life, all the challenges that he was facing. He started opening up, and I said, I'm going to pray for you. And I did, and when I left, I said, I'm praying for you. The ministry of presence is just to show someone that kindness, compassion and engagement with other people, and that's what Jesus did. When we embody the characteristics of Jesus, authentically, not forced, but authentically, it will have a kingdom impact. It will change somebody's life. Think about when you read the scriptures and you read the story of Jesus. How did he change and impact people through authentic relationships in community? That's how he did it. He built relationships with other people, and he was patient and he was loving, and he had an impact. You guys have heard the the analogy of the pebble in the pond, right where you've gotta cut the glass, the glass looking like pebble or water you throw a pebble in and all of these ripple effects. Well, see, the Pebble is Jesus, and the ripple effect is now a tidal wave of God's compassion and kindness and engagement that is moving across the world, and we as the church are called to be a part of that, to have a presence in our community through engagement and kindness and compassion of Jesus to other people, because when we do that, we fulfill the purpose of the church. The purpose of the church is not just for the church. The purpose of the church's disciples is that more people come to be a follower of Jesus, that more people come to know the forgiveness of Jesus and the hope of Jesus and the promise of Jesus, but people can't come and experience that if we don't have a presence in our community, if we just say, well, it's all about getting people to come to the church. No, it's not. It's about getting the church to go to the people. See, when we are going, when we understand that we are sent to have a presence in our community. We are bringing the hope of Jesus to other people. And the reason that Jesus did this, and it says this in the text, is that he was motivated by compassion. He had compassion for people because they were harassed and they were helpless. People were struggling, people were burdened, people were heavy laden, and he had compassion. And how many times when we see people who are struggling, should we not have compassion for people, regardless of why they're struggling or what they're struggling with, it doesn't matter. It's not about well, that's their own fault. Well, they make poor decisions. That's not the compassion of Jesus. It's just saying someone is struggling in their life, whether by their own choices or by circumstances. And compassionately, I want to be the presence of Jesus in their life. I want to show them that compassion so often, and we've talked about this so often, people believe that the church is about nickels and doses and Nichols is, how big is your budget? Noses, how many people do you have? We are not here to grow the church. We are here to grow the kingdom. Amen. We are here to have a presence in our community. We are here to say, I want the gospel to advance in the community. I want people's lives to be changed and transformed. I want people to say yes to Jesus and no to self, but that's why we have to say, as the church, we are going to have an intentional presence in our community. We are going to reflect the joy and the promise of Jesus. And somebody may be out there standing to say, well, I done that, and I see any results. But you know what? We are not a results driven people. We are a purpose driven people. The results are not up to us. The results are not up to us. It is the purpose of being obedient to say, Yes, Lord, I will have a presence in my community. We try to do a video before every service to kind of post on social media encourage people to come and to watch it. Today, I had my Phillies sweatshirt out because it's baseball season, and I said the reason that I'm wearing this jersey is I always want to have a presence for Philadelphia and my favorite sport teams everywhere I go. It doesn't matter if it's not like. It. I just want to have a presence. But we need to have a presence as a church, everywhere we go intentionally having that presence. See the reason that Christ had compassion on the people, because the shepherds, the the the priest, the people were supposed to be helping people kind of just deal with life and process life. They just kept throwing legalism on top of them and more and more and more requirements, and people were stressed. People were filled with anxiety, people were run down, people were burnt out, people were helpless, people were were struggling. Doesn't that sound familiar today? Do you ever feel like that? Do you ever feel just like one more problem, one more challenge, one more piece of bad news that's in my life. Why do I keep feeling so anxiety ridden? Why do I keep feeling so stressed? Why do I keep feeling this way? I think the answer is clear from this text. We have the wrong shepherds. We have allowed other things to become the shepherd in our life, and they do not have the compassion and the kindness and the engagement that Jesus gives us as the shepherd. So many times we allow our shepherd to be our job. Well, my job will bring me happiness. My job will bring me providence. My job will bring me this. And then you don't have a job. Next Shepherd is looking down. For some people, it's a paycheck, it's money. Hey, as long as I get that raise, as long as I have this much money, I know if I have money, then I will be happy. And then you don't have it, or then you do have it, and you're still unhappy. Then you say to other people, if other people, we just do what I want them to do, say what I want them to say, respond the way I want them respond. If my spouse would only do this, if my kids would do this, if my boss would do this, if people, the public, would do this, then then I would be happy, and then they let us down, because people are perfect. And sometimes we let so many things become our shepherd, things that are innately good, but can become the wrong Shepherd, whether it's an activity or whether it's our kids activity, we can allow that to become the shepherd of our life, that everything revolves around that, and if that goes well, then we're happy. If that doesn't go well, that we're not the difference the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is based on happenings. Joy is based on Jesus. And see, we have to have a presence in our community. We have the wrong Shepherd. Think about what a shepherd is supposed to do. In the literal sense, a Shepherd provides for the sheep. Do you know that the sheep are considered one of the dumbest animals? You also know that in the Bible, we are referred to as the sheep. Point that out, so we need a shepherd that will provide for us, because we can't provide for ourselves, just like sheep cannot provide for themselves, they need the shepherd to provide. Another thing a shepherd does is a shepherd, guys sheep don't know where to go or how to get there. They're just going to wander. But a shepherd says, I will guide you. I will guide you in the right way to go. A shepherd protects. The shepherd knows where not to go. Shepherd said there's danger over there. The shepherd said there's wolves over there. So a shepherd will protect, and a shepherd will direct. See, when we have a presence in our community, we're showing people our shepherd. We're saying that God is my shepherd, and he is guiding me. He is providing me, he is protecting me, he is directing me. And when we have a presence in our community, people see the joy that we have, that our shepherd loves us that our Shepherd is compassionate and he's got kindness and he engages us. But when we don't have a presence in our community, people will find another shepherd. People will find another shepherd to guide their lives and think that it's okay until it's not. In order for people to see the viability and the joy of our shepherd, they have to see the visibility of God's people. There cannot be viability without visibility, if we are not present in our community, if we don't have such a reverence for God, to say that God has chosen me, God has called me in a relationship with Him, not because I'm so good or so wonderful, because he's so glorious, he's so merciful, he's so joyful, that God has sent me to have a presence in my community. I represent Him, then other people aren't going to know the joy of Jesus. Presence in our community isn't just about showing up for worship. It's a part of it. To take a big part of it, we need to be in worship all the time. So people say, why those people keep gathering? Why? People keep coming up so happy on Sunday morning, because they're the people of God. They're filled with joy and compassion and kindness. That's a big part of it. That's not the only part of it. We're called to have a presence in our community everywhere we go, and it needs to be intentional. The reason we have an intentional presence is to fulfill our purpose, which is discipleship. But when we as the people of God have an intentional presence, it impacts people, and God does cool things. I want to read to you, if you can flip in your Bibles to Acts two. Okay, Acts chapter two. Matthew, Mark, John, Acts you. Acts two. I want to read to you what the early church did by having an intentional presence in the community, and in doing so, what we will see are examples of passionate worship, the power of God's word, a presence in the community, and how that changes people. So let me read you Acts two, starting at verse 42 they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, there's power, there's God's word. They were devoted to God's teaching, there's power, and to fellowship the breaking of bread into prayer. That's passionate, that's passionate worship. They were celebrating communion. They were together. Everyone was filled with awe after many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple court. Presence. They were in the temple courts. They were present in their community. They broke bread in their homestead together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God, enjoying favor of the people. And look what God does here. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. God added to their number because they had a presence in the community. God added to their number because they passionately worship God added to their number because they were powered by the word of God. And when we live a life of passionate worship the power of God and have an intentional presence in our community, we will then fulfill the purpose in our community, which is duplication, which is discipleship. And God added to their number of daily those being saved. Notice. He didn't say and God grew the church. The church became used. He had seven services on a Sunday. Instead of God added to the number of those being saved. That's what we're about. We're about growing the kingdom because of God's presence and when we live as the church intentionally, not only do we make the gospel appealing, we make it irresistible. We make it irresistible that people say, I've gotta be a part of what those people are a part of, because they have a joy and they have a peace and they have a purpose, and I want to be a part of that. And when we have a presence in the community, we show people who Jesus really is. And when you think about all of this, it's all about presence. It's about relationship. Listen to why Jesus came in, John 114, The Word became flesh and made he was dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth that God wanted to have a presence with us. So that's why Jesus came to dwell, to have a presence with us each and every day. See, without, without the presence of God with us, we can't have a presence in our community. And so if God has changed your heart, if you are a Christ follower, if you love Jesus, and you are learning and thirsty to be more like Jesus, that you are called to have a presence in the community. And when we have a presence in the community, two things happen. Number one, God is glorified. God is glorified. And number two, lives are transformed, and we are connected to the community we are in. God has told us this in Jeremiah 29 he says, also seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I had carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you will prosper. When the city prospers, the Kingdom prospers, and the only way the city prospers is if we have a presence in the community, that we shine the light of Jesus for people to see the city prospers that people give their lives to Jesus. See we think cities prosper when there's more businesses, more homes, more difficult prospering in a city in a Biblical sense, his people have given their lives to Jesus, and if the city prospers well, then the kingdom prospers, and the people of God prosper. But we have to be intentional. It cannot be accidental. We have to be so intentional. And Jesus gives the charge on how to. Do that here in Matthew five. He says this, listen to the followers. He says, You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trembled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town that built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamb and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. We are called to be salt and light. We can't do that if we don't have a presence in our community, we cannot be salted light inside. He said that if salt loses its saltiness, what lose it for? What is the purpose of the church? If we don't have a presence in our community, we're not useful to the kingdom anymore. Who has a light and lights it and then hides it. That doesn't make sense. As you know, I am a huge Eagles fan all the time, and I wanted people to know that, and so I went and I got myself an Eagles championship shirt, and I will be wearing that probably way too much. But I want people to know who my team is. I want people to know that my team won the Super Bowl, and I know that's not a welcome team necessarily in this community. So frankly, I don't care because, but I'm doing it because I believe in my team. And don't we believe in Jesus so much more than we believe in a sports team? Now let's say you gotta go out and wear a t shirt, though you're welcome to, but she may say, I'm going to have an intentional presence in my community, right? You've heard the the story that if you were put on trial for being a follower of Jesus, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Some days there would some days there wouldn't. For me, I don't know about you, but we must be intentional. So how do we how do we do that? How do we have that compassion, that kindness, that engagement? Listen to how Paul told the church in Philippi, he says, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility. Value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Do we look to the interests of others? Do we look at people with compassion and say they need the shepherd of Jesus? Do we look at people and say they are so lost that they don't even know that they're lost? And Jesus says the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few that heart is the judgment of God is coming. The judgment of God is coming, and it is our job to labor in the vineyard so people don't experience the judgment of God. Our job, to put it very bluntly, is to depopulate hell. That's our job, is to depopulate hell, and if we don't have a presence in our community, then we are allowing hell to become more populated than it should be. So Jesus said the harvest is few, but the laborers, or the harvest is good, but the laborers are few. We need to say, I will have an intentional presence in my community. There was a dearth of people then, and there is a dearth of people now. That will not be the presence of Christ in the community. So the question is, why? I think there are a few reasons. I think one is here, what if somebody rejects my faith? What if somebody doesn't like that I'm a Christ follower? What if somebody responds negatively to me? So what? They're not rejecting you. They're rejecting Christ. If you do it lovingly with compassion and kindness, you're not blunt or bold or in the face of somebody and making them feel bad. You're lovingly building a relationship with them, praying for God to give you the opportunity when to share. So sometimes we're so fearful when we make it about us instead of about God. Sometimes it's selfishness. I don't really feel like it. I'm tired. I've got a lot of things that I that I want to do and and so I'm just not going to do it. We can become very selfish and say, That's not my job. That's the that's the pastor job. That's the staff of the church. Your job. It's all of our jobs. I think another reason is we're uneducated. We think, well, I go to church, right? That's all I need to do. We don't know what God's Word says that we were called to be salt and light. We're called to be it. If you have a job and you don't do a portion of your job and your boss says, Why don't you do your job? Why didn't know. Well, you gotta know what your job is. We have to know what our purpose is to make disciples. And the last thing I think is we're not committed. We want God to be completely committed to us. God answer my prayers, bless me, give me all the green lights, give me everything in life that I want. But yet we're uncommitted to him. It's like saying I want full time bed. At this for part time work. We have to be intentional and have a presence in our community. See, when we have a presence in our community, we become the anchor of a community. We become the thing that everybody in the community says, I know where to go from home. I know where to go. Think about when, when tragedy hits communities. What is the anchor of that community? It's a church. We need to have a presence in our community so that we can continue to be that anchor in the church. Think about this, where do you live? Where do you work? Is not an accident. God has given you that job. God has given you that place to live. God has given you the place to go to church. For a reason, God wants you to be the presence for him in the community. You've got that house because God said you'll be the presence in the neighborhood. For me, you have that job so that you'll be his presence at that company. You shop at that store, your kids play in that league, so that you can be a presence in the community, that people can see the hope of Jesus, if we are going to recapture our reverence for God through passionately worship Him, through the power of God's word that guides us to have a presence in our community that is intentional, so that people can see our shepherd. Only when we do those things will we fulfill our purpose of making disciples. There are a lot of counties, there are a lot of cities, there are a lot of places in our state ensure that one thing that we put up that everybody knows when you see that. You know what the Huskers are all about. You know you can have a conversation. It is the one thing that everybody can gather around, talk good, bad or whatever about. But shouldn't the church be the constant that has a presence in the community? So I want to encourage you. I want to challenge you, to look at where you live, where you work, where you shop, where you everything is saying, How am I having a presence in the community for Jesus Christ, so that people can see the shepherd? Amen. Let's pray, Father. We thank you so much that you have called us, you have equipped us, you have sent us. You have called us to go, Lord we are ascent people that Lord we can have a presence in our community, and Lord that we would be intentional. I pray, Lord that you would help us just see people through the lens of compassion. That Lord, we would share your kindness, your engagement with other people. Simple as asking somebody at the store, how you doing today? You can say to somebody, how can I pray for you today? Or checking out a co worker, or just extending a hand of friendship Lord to somebody who's new or somebody who's struggling, Father, we thank You that You have called us to be your presence, your ambassadors in the community, so people can see what a loving, kind Shepherd you are. You provide, you guide, you protect, and you direct. So Father, I pray that we would be intentional, that we would need a presence for you in the community. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen, thank you for joining us for more information about three timbers, church ministries and services. Visit three timbers.org we would love for you to join us in person. You.