Impact Teams

Gathered - Impact Teams

Week 5

Pastor Mandy Barkhaus

Who's ever heard someone say we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus? Yes. Okay, one person. Okay, great. Um, well, that's a saying that people say. I'm just kidding. Uh, it's kind of funny though when you think about it. Um, Paul did say that we are the body of Christ, but I don't really remember Jesus ever saying like, "Hey, you'd you'd make a really good pinky toe over there and you you'd make a really good thumb." But the phrase makes sense, right? We're called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. It's a way that it's to say that Jesus is no longer physically walking on this earth. So now we are the ones to carry out Jesus's missions. Our hands are meant to serve. Our feet are meant to go. Our voices are meant to speak hope into the world.

So today, we're going to play with that idea a little bit. And you'll find pipe cleaners on your chair seats. And I invite you to take them and make a little hand and foot as best you can right out of these pipe cleaners today as a reminder that it's not about sitting still, right? We’re called to go and to move. So, it is about that. Now, if yours looks like mine, a little… I think this one only has one, two, three, four… oh, it has five fingers. Okay, it's good. It's good. Uh, but you know what? It doesn't matter, right? It doesn't matter. God can still use it no matter what it looks like.

Now, over the past several weeks, we've been exploring why gathering together is really important for our faith. We started talking about table groups—these places of belonging where we gather to eat or we gather to do a hobby together or just share laughter together. Then we talked about grow groups—spaces where we dig into scripture and we grow. Fusion and Arise and DZ are good examples of grow groups. Last week we talked about spirit groups—places where people speak truth into our lives, sometimes difficult truth, sometimes hard things to hear, but the kind of help that helps us follow Jesus more faithfully.

So today, we're wrapping up this series and we're talking about impact groups—or as we’re calling them, impact teams. These are places where our faith overflows into action. So we're not just learning about Jesus, but actually together we’re making a difference in the world. This is where we become the hands and feet of Jesus.

Now here's the truth: if our faith only stays in this room—if our faith never leaves the worship center or the DZ hall or the BOB or our small groups—then we've completely missed the point. At Horizons, one of our values is “We are impacting the world around us.” That is what we want to do. That is what we hope to do. That is what we are doing. Because faith was never meant to be contained. It was always meant to move forward and outward.

[Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and skit section unfolds here — already well written in your transcript.]

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We are imperfect, but God uses us to bring God's perfect love into the world. So impact is pretty simple when you think about it. It's one need. It's one act. It's one neighbor that you can connect with. And Jesus said, "Go and do likewise." Go and do the same thing that the Samaritan did. Don't just talk about love. Don't just talk about compassion, but go do. Be. Use your hands and feet to continue the work that Jesus already started—maybe in a way that stretches you just a little bit out of your comfort zone.

So, let's pray.

Lord, we open our eyes to the needs around us. Give us the courage to cross barriers, to think about the story of the good Samaritan and where Jesus taught us to go outside of our comfort zones to do a little extra, even when it's uncomfortable. Help us to impact our world around us as your hands and feet so that our neighbors experience your love through us.

It seems like such a simple message that you are telling us, but God, sometimes it can be really, really hard because sometimes we're selfish and sometimes we're uncomfortable and we just sit in that uncomfortable. But God, we know that you have great things in store for us and for this church and for the people here, whether they're guests or they're part of Horizons. We know that you have a purpose for us as individuals and as the church, as the body of Christ. So help us and guide us as we move forward, as we go, be and do. We say all of this in Jesus's name. Amen.