Good morning, Foundry. If you missed the, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that. Well, feedback's good.
I spent six years in youth and children's ministry, so I was constantly used to the back and forth. So just shout out anytime, we'll be good to go. I promise you. I'm Sean Hornsby.
If you missed that little intro that Meredith gave for me earlier, just let me just tell you, I've enjoyed Chad and Meredith's friendship over the last several years since my family and I have been in this area. And it's especially been a blessing to watch Foundry, take root from this idea that Chad talked about to a group of people who were meeting and worshiping God and changing their community and their lives together. So it's a treat to be here with you. I have with me my wife and three kids, so Courtney's with me and then Peyton and Emily and Cooper.
And so I knew at least five people would be here, right? Me and the kids, okay? That way they're faithful like that. It's a treat to have everyone in worship together.
Chad and I grew up in the same parish. So if we occasionally, if my stories tend to drift like Chad's, like I sometimes see he does, just forgive us. It's Rapides Parish, okay? I grew up on the other side of the river over in Tioga.
If you don't know where that is, look for Pineville and then go out towards the country, okay? And that was a beautiful place to grow up. And I love that I got to come preach this Sunday because I noticed after I started planning and getting ready for Sunday, that Vacation Bible School is this week, is that right? So I came with a Vacation Bible School story before I knew you were getting ready for Vacation Bible School.
How many of you all went to Vacation Bible School as a kid? You can grin or nod or raise a hand? Yeah, okay, good. So you did some of the same things that I did.
And I didn't go often. I didn't go often. We were not a very churched family by any means, but I did go. And largely we went because in the early 80s, I'm 42.
I'm just a little bit older than Chad. But in the early 80s, me and my two younger brothers, we're born one right after the other. We were a handful. And in the early 80s, we stayed with Ms.
Cheryl. And Ms. Cheryl lived, we lived on Rogale Road, okay? Rogale is not spelled like it sounds, kinda like Shini over in West Monroe is Shiniier.
If you were, you know, saying at the proper French, Rogale would be Rigolettes, okay? How we read neckified Rogale out of Rigolettes, I don't know. But we did, just like they do in this part of the country. They say, Shini, can you imagine how long it took me when I moved to West Monroe and I was trying to look up?
Shini, and then I figured out it was Shiniier. Anyways, we grew up on Rogale Road. And down Rogale towards the bayou, there's a little place called Haines Road. And a little, yes sir, you got a question for me?
I saw a hand go up, okay. Down there's Haines Road. And on the corner of Haines Road in Hap Hazard Loop is Central Missionary Baptist Church. And in 81 or 82, this is my earliest, my first memory of going to vacation Bible school.
And Hap Hazard Loop used to have the Hap Hazard trailer park there, and that's where Ms. Cheryl lived. She was the one that watched us after school and she watched us during the summers in those early years. And we were a handful.
We do crazy things like try to, I remember trying to, I had a skeleton key that I got somewhere, try to stick it in the electrical outlet, okay? Praise God, Ms. Cheryl saved me from myself. We would often look at the goats that got to eat the grass around the shiny green pond with the fence around it and wonder why we couldn't go swimming at pond.
Some of y'all are from the country, you know what I'm talking about? It was an oxidation pond, okay? You know what I'm talking about? And we were wondering why, as little boys, why we couldn't go swimming there, and Ms.
Cheryl couldn't ever come up with a good enough reason. We want to get into that pond. Praise God, she kept us out of the pond. One summer, one week during the summer, she sent us to vacation Bible school at Central Missionary Baptist Church, which is still there today.
And I don't know anybody at Central Missionary Baptist Church, and I don't know if they'd ever remember me, but I gotta tell you friends, that little week, there's one little part that is still with me, 30-some-odd years later, and it shapes my ministry and my life to this day. So I just wanna tell you, as we talk about movements and the way God is at work in our lives this morning, I want you to know that you may never see or hear about or realize the fruit of what you do in the lives of others, but know that God is at control. God is working in the lives of others. You see, that little VBS, we sang songs.
I can't remember any of the songs we sang. We did crafts, I remember two of the crafts we made, because they were for mom and dad. One was this little planter, and we took clothes pins. Yeah, we still hung our clothes up at that time, okay?
We had clothes pins, so we all were shaking your head. Good. And we decorated them, and this little plant was from mom, and I was so proud of it. And then I cut out this amazing picture from the magazine of a grizzly bear.
And the teacher came by, she wouldn't let us do this part, but she cinged the edges, she wouldn't give us fire, I don't know why. But she cinged the edges, and we glued it on this board, and we sprayed it with this cool stuff. It was back in the day when filters were before, we could just swipe and make a filter. We actually had to spray something on, and I looked at it, I said, boy, that looks really good.
I think I'll give mom and dad the plant, and I'll keep the bear. That's what happened, I kept it, and my wife finally convinced me when we were dating, that I should part with that bear. I don't know, it's a teenager, maybe even in college, I can't remember, you remember what I'm talking about, don't you? It may have been last year, even.
I don't have it anymore, oh, wish I did. Been a great prop to bring this morning. But I made crafts, we sang songs, and the other thing we did was we memorized scripture. Anybody do that when they went to vacation, because anybody remember any of the scripture they learned back then?
Okay, good, I remember this verse, and it's at the end of our reading for today, and I'll share that with you in a moment. And I just want us to think about the way that God is moving, no matter how our relationship is with God, no matter how closed off we feel from God or how distant we may think that we're making ourselves from God, God is at work, he is moving in our lives. And before we read from this section of Romans, chapter 10, I wanna give you just a brief brief synopsis of Romans one through 11, because it kind of sets the scene and just a little bit of integrity as we look at the whole picture. The first four chapters of Romans, if we had to say put broad, broad strokes on it, are about our unrighteousness and God's justification.
Those are the big words for we sin, and God makes it right through Jesus, right? And then the next four chapters are about, now that we've been made right with God, how do we live a godly life? The big theological word for that is sanctification. How do we live a godly life in Christ?
That's what the next four chapters five through eight are about in Romans. And then you get to nine, 10, 11, and it seems it kind of makes this turn, but it doesn't really, because what's going on when Paul writes this letter to the Romans is to this Roman church, this church of Christ in Rome, is that the truth is there's a population of the people of Israel, Jewish people who are part of this church. And then within Rome itself, there's a great population of Jewish people as well. And so he says, in these three chapters, he reminds him that in chapter nine, the people of Israel, they're God's people.
He's not forgotten him. He chose them many generations ago when he talks about that. And then he says quite honestly in chapter 10, he says, but the truth is they've stumbled over Jesus. They read you a couple of those verses from chapter 10 in the early part.
It says, I know Paul's writing this, I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it's misdirected zeal for they don't understand God's way of making people write with himself, refusing to accept God's way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. So he's just brutally honest with him about the people of Israel in chapter 10. And then chapter 11 is this promise, he says, but don't worry, God's gonna restore Israel. He's gonna restore Israel.
He's gonna use this church, the church of Jesus Christ to do that. And friends, that's where you and I come in. That's where all the believers come in. And that's why chapter 10, although it's talking about the Jewish people, is really about the people of Jesus Christ being on the move, taking up this movement of who God is and who he's called us to be in the world, to bring all of his people, all of his people to be a part of the kingdom of God.
So let me read to you five through 15. And in the verse 15, you'll hear my memory verse. In a different way though, I think if I remember correctly, central missionary Baptist Church, Dick King James, we're not gonna go there. It says, for Moses writes that the law's way of making a person write with God requires obedience to all of its commands, but faith's way of getting right with God says, don't say in your heart who will go up to heaven, it is to bring Christ down to the earth.
And don't say who will go down to the place of the dead to bring Christ back to life again. In fact, it says the message is very close at hand. It is on your lips and in your hearts. And the message is the very message about faith that we preach.
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart, that you were made right with God. And it is by openly declaring your faith, that you were saved. As the scripture tells us, anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.
Jew and Gentile are the same in disrespect. They have the same Lord who gives generously to all who call on him. Everyone calls on the name of the Lord. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
What a great promise. But now, but how can they call on him to say them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him unless if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells him?
And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the scripture say, how beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news. Lord, I ask that you bless this time together as we share scripture and your thoughts. And Lord, may your voice be heard and may it be spoken through me.
And Lord, may we just come to a better understanding of how you call us to be a part of this movement, of sharing our story and bringing people closer to the kingdom of God. This week, praying the name of Jesus, amen. So as I told you, this is the memory verse and it went something more along the lines of how beautiful for the feet of those who bring the gospel and glad tidings as sort of the more formal version. Some of you may have heard that if you read in some of the other versions of the Bible.
And I never understood that verse. Never understood that for years. I memorized it and it stuck with me and it would pop up in different times. Matter of fact, several years ago when I was at West Monroe at First Methodist there, I was reading the scripture for John Teller Fair who was gonna preach in just a true confession.
We don't always read the scripture days ahead. Sometimes we read it. If we're gonna read that morning, we just show up and read it. Okay, is anybody ever done that?
Should we just read something and then you just show up at the last minute, read it? Well, if you do it all the time, you can be okay with it. And I had done that. I just showed up that morning, it was gonna read it.
And it was this passage and it was the week before VBS and I thought, oh man, what a great passage to preach on. At least for me, because it meant something. So this verse has come up several times in my life. And I never understood the part of those feet, those beautiful feet.
I never understood that part. And then I heard a fellow talk to us a little bit about it a few years ago and he talked about this very verse. And you see, it comes from Isaiah 52, 7. Isaiah the prophet actually says this in his writings.
And that section of Isaiah, that last third or so of Isaiah is all about the restoration of Israel. It's all about the coming kingdom. It's all about what God is gonna do in his final work to bring heaven and earth back into reconciliation with God. And he uses the same verse about the beautiful feet of those who bring the message of good news and glad tidings.
You see, what's going on here is the truth that you and I are often caught up in our own baggage, in our own fears. And so we kind of hold back from that message. We hold back from sharing that message. Here, verse 15 again, it says, the first part says, and how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?
Now, I want you to hear the anticipation and the expectation that's laced in that verse, in that first part of the verse, because who is it that sent into the world? It's not just the preacher who stands up on Sunday morning. As a matter of fact, even more so, it's not that person. It's the whole body of Christ who is sent into the world to share the good news.
And this is a part that we in the church sometimes just terribly struggle with. We stumble over this. We think that sharing the good news with others is a gift for some and not for all. But it's actually a call that we all have in our lives.
Now, some do it this way. Others do it through working with children and youth. And some do it in the kitchen during vacation Bible school. I can name you some folks in my ministry who were there cleaning up and serving quietly behind the scenes.
They were serving cookies and dino nuggets and macaroni and cheese and all the things that you serve. And in the summertime and do all the other things, they were there faithfully, year after year. That was their way of showing up and preaching the gospel. So we all do this in different ways.
It's not just right here on Sunday morning. As a matter of fact, it's more important that we're not here on Sunday morning, only sharing our message, but we're out in the world sharing it. And so we get a little scared about that. Has anybody ever had any fear about that?
You might get in a situation where you have to share some of your faith. And it can be a little bit intimidating. But then we get equipped, we get convicted, and we share. Let me tell you the rest of that story about the beautiful feet, because at the heart of it, if you hear what Paul does, he gives a wonderful, wonderful little chain of events that must happen.
He says in verse 13, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, but they can't be saved unless they believe, and they can't believe unless they hear. And they can't hear unless someone comes with a message, and the person with the message will never become unless they are sent. Well, I'm here to help send you, as I know Chad is a part of sending you. And I want to send you with this story that was shared with me several years ago.
Dr. Lynn Sweet is a seminary professor, author, speaker. He's wonderful guy, Chadwood. I'm sure, endorsed several of his books.
He's written a ton of them. And he shared the story about understanding what's going on with the feet. Do we have a picture of the feet? Just pull one up, and we'll talk about that.
I just want you to look at that while I tell you this story. See, back in the days of Isaiah, the ancient Near East, they obviously got around on two feet. And they weren't shot in ikis or boots or anything else like that, right? They got around on leather sandals.
And if you were fortunate, you might have an animal to take you. And if you were a certain part of the army or something, you might have a chariot. But for the masses, you got around on your feet. And see what would happen is when two civilizations, two groups of people would go to battle if there was an aggressor coming to attack another, that one defending their home would send an army out.
And the army would go out to meet in the battle. And then a messenger would watch from the hilltop, somebody that would run with the news of what happened in the battle. And they would wait to see which way the battle was going to go. Because if there was defeat for the ones defending their homes, then they would run back with all the speed and might they had to let them know that their army had fallen, and that they didn't have much time to gather what they could carry to gather their children.
And women, this is mostly going to be you, I'm talking to, to gather your children and your elderly. And it's time to run because the conquering army is on its way. And we could be enslaved or killed, or who knows what. But if there was victory, if there was victory, that messenger would run back to the town shouting the good news of victory.
And I want you to think about this is the Mara Tara Umar. I had a hard time saying it, but I found it. These are pictures of the Tara Umar. There are people and ancient people of Mexico that predate the Spanish influence.
They've been there for tens of thousands of years. And there are people who, too this day, continue to run in leather sandals. So I want you to see what their feet look like. Matter of fact, any deer hunters in here?
Yeah, OK. The way they hunted deer, they run the deer to death. OK? Some of us would starve.
I know. We'd be just downright hungry. They would run until the deer gave up. These people routinely run 50 miles in what you see right here.
Their feet don't look that beautiful to me, do they? You can get an image of what the ancient Near East, the time of Isaiah, the time of Paul, and all that in between what their feet look like. And so when the prophet writes in Isaiah, beautiful for the feet of those who bring good news and glad tidings, what he's saying is the means by what you get there is a part of your story. As long as you're bringing victory, a message of good news, of gospel, it doesn't matter what your feet look like.
And the problem is that some of us who have come into the grace of God by way of addiction, or lies, or theft, or rebellion, adultery, or any other form of rebellion that we're brokenness that we've experienced, we're afraid of what that dirtiness and that brokenness in our life looks like. But we forget that because we now have victory and we now have restoration and redemption in Christ, that they're not looking at our feet anymore. They're not looking at the means by which we come to the grace of God. They're desperately wanting to hear that message.
I think the world all around us wants to know their creator. Oh, I know that there are some who seek the creator in science, and there's some atheist out there who deny the existence of any kind of God, any kind of extraterrestrial, kind of supernatural events. They want to explain God in the form of physics and other things. That's fine.
They still want to know their creator. They want to know their origin. How did this world come to be? And then there are those who meditate and they think about this great collective and this great consciousness that is well beyond our own.
And they think that there might be 330 million gods in the case of Hinduism. People want to know their creator though. And you and I have a message of a creator who is not only on the move in our lives, but a creator who has called us to be a part of the movements of bringing victory into lives of others. I want to encourage you.
Don't let the fear of the baggage of what you've been through that's brought you into the grace of God. Keep you from sharing your story because we all have a story, right? And I realize there's some of us in here. Whose story was that maybe we were just raised up in the church and we didn't really know much of the world around us.
And we've always had just kind of a cookie cutter life, a beautiful life. And we've come in and we think that that story is boring and that there's not a whole lot to tell. But I assure you, until you said yes to Christ, you were as far away from Him as anyone else. You might have taken a shorter route to get there.
But you've been saved by the same blood of the cross that anyone who's taken the scenic route has. You've got a story. You're part of a movement. And yeah, I realize that some of you have got some uglier parts of your story than others.
But that's the way that you've come to be a part of the grace of Jesus Christ, the grace of the Kingdom of Heaven, the grace of the world that redeems us and brings us all back into this wonderful relationship of knowing and loving our God. Because I can tell you from my own story that He was at work in my life long before I knew or understood what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. 30 something years ago, He was giving me a verse that would continue to shape my life, that would continue to be a part of my life, that would continue to be a part of my story so that I could share with others. What's your story?
What's your part to play in this movement of God in our world? I want to invite you to be bold in telling it and sharing it with others.