Vision Sunday: 5 Year Anniversary

Today. Today. We're celebrating five years. Celebrating

five years. Now, if you meticulously know our

history, you know that we started the first week

of April, not the second week. But how many of

you know we had plenty going on last week being

Easter that we shouldn't throw in a five -year

celebration on Easter too, right? Because it

was happening around here last week. Even more

than today. But today we're celebrating five

years. I forgot the percentage, but a lot of

church plants don't make it. I think it's about

30 % of them never make it to the five -year

mark. So we're here. Look at the person beside

you and say, we're here. And then go ahead and

tell them this, we're just getting started. We're

just getting started. This is not the end. We're

just getting started good. It took us five years

to get started good. Now, how many of you believe

it's always important to be aware of who you

are and where you're going? Who you are and where

you're going. Those are two very important things.

Now, when I was a kid, I was a preacher's kid.

Somebody say, I'm sorry. I've shared this before,

but most of you haven't heard it. When I went

to get my driver's license, when I was doing

my driving test, I did okay on the written test

where it was just, you know, multiple guests.

I did okay on that. But when I took the driving

test with a patrolman, I'm sorry, children's

church, I just get to go on and forget. All right,

back at it. When I took my driving test with

the patrolman in the car, he talked to me while

we were driving. And he says, what does your

mom do? I said, well, she's a school teacher.

He said, what does your dad do? I said, he's

a pastor. And I did not make this up. He looked

at me at the end of the driving test and he said,

normally. You made too many mistakes to get your

driver's license today. But then he said, but

you need to get out of the house. That's what

he told me. I'll never forget that. So I'm a

preacher's kid, and just about every time, when

I got my driver's license and started going out

with my friends and going out on my own, my dad

would always say this before I left. He would

say, remember who you are? Remember who you are?

Now, why would my dad say that? Because every

decision that I made, everything that I did would

reflect on more than just me, right? It would

reflect on my dad because I represented my dad.

I represented my family. It wasn't just representing

myself, right? I represented the church. Being

the preacher's kid, I represented the church.

And whether I would have been a preacher's kid

or not, I would be representing God. So my dad

would always say, Hey Dean, remember who you

are. That would be the last thing he would tell

me. Now my mom would say, Be careful. Right?

But my dad would say, Remember who you are. Before

I walked out the door. And we need to remember

who we are. Right? Every day we need to remember

who we are. If you're in Christ today, you're

a new creation. You're righteous. Not based on

your ability to perform, but based on what Jesus

did on the cross. You are right with God. And

get this, you won't be any more right with God

when you get to heaven than you are right now.

You're righteous. You're complete. You're filled.

You're well supplied. You're satisfied in Christ.

Now, if this doesn't describe you, then you're

missing out on who you could be in Christ. Because

Jesus has already made all this available to

us. Satisfied. Redeemed. Ransomed. Justified.

You're dead to sin. You're alive to God. You're

free from guilt, shame, and condemnation. You're

free from the law of sin and death. You're loved

and accepted by God. You're a gifted part of

the body of Christ. You're a gifted part. God

has gifted you to function in the body. You're

a gifted part of the body of Christ. You might

not know what that gift is. But it's not because

God's holding out on you. It's because you're

not pressing in. Gifted part of the body of Christ.

You are sanctified. You are a saint. You don't

have to wait until 40 years after you die for

somebody to say that you're a saint. The Bible

says you're a saint. You're alive unto God. You

are established. You are anointed. You are sealed.

You're an equal child of God. Don't ever look

at somebody else and say, well, you know, they're

just a better child of God than I am. We're all

equal. Now, we might not... You know, you may

be ahead of me spiritually, and I may be... head

of you spiritually, but that doesn't make us

unequal. We're equal. You're an equal child of

God. I hadn't fully figured this out yet, but

I'm seated with Christ in heavenly places and

so are you, because that's what the Bible says.

So we should live our lives from heaven. In the

earth. I mean, I could preach a whole message

over every single thing that I'm saying, and

I have. But not today. But you need to know who

you are. If we know who we are, then our life

is not going to be some kind of roller coaster

all the time. If we know who we are, and we're

standing in it, and we're established in it,

we're not going to be like, whoo! All the time.

We're seated with Christ in heavenly places.

You are God's masterpiece. And you're close to

God. Every bit of that is available to everyone

in the room if you're in Christ. And that's where

God wants you to live. Today and every day. Standing.

In that reality. Because it's a spiritual reality.

So we need to remember who we are. When we face

challenges in this fallen world. We need to remember

who we are. When I faced challenges out with

my friends. It was important for me to remember

who I was. That I'm the preacher's kid. And I

represented. My dad, my family, the church, I

represented God. I wish I could tell you that

I always remembered it. But I tell you what,

if I would have, it would have been better for

me. Hello? See, I thought when I didn't remember

it, it was better for me. But now that I'm older

and I'm looking back, it would have been better

for me in every single one of those situations

if I would have remembered who it was. So I'm

going to go ahead and extrapolate. I think that

will apply here. I'm going to go ahead and extrapolate

a little bit. I don't normally use big words

like that. But it will be better for you tomorrow

if you remember who you are in Christ. It will

be better. And it won't be as good if you don't

remember who you are. I'm sorry, but it won't

be. So we need to remember who we are. Who are

we as Elation Church? Every church has an identity.

Have you figured that out? Has anybody ever been

to a different church and every church has like

their own identity? It's kind of an identity.

There are three things that are very important

from our foundation. And some churches that I've

been to, it seems like that this is all they're

about, is fellowship. But I'm going to go ahead

and tell you, we're about fellowship. We're about

fellowship. I can't tell you how many people

have come up to me and said, this is the friendliest

place I've ever been, going to a church. I mean...

So many people have told me that recently. And

that's not just on me or Gayna or Jeffrey or

Caitlin. I mean, that's us. The church is us.

And one thing that we always need to be about

is fellowship. Now, that doesn't mean that we

are a religious social club and that's all that

we're about. But we are about fellowship. Acts

2, 42 says this. All the believers devoted themselves

to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship.

Everybody say fellowship. And to sharing in meals.

I've been in some churches, Irv, that if they

say we're going to have fellowship, it always

meant we're going to have food. But fellowship

is bigger than food. But it includes food, right?

And to fellowship and sharing in meals, including

the Lord's Supper and the prayer. Now that word

fellowship, the Greek word is koinonia. And it

means more than food. It means partnership. That's

what fellowship is. Fellowship is partnership.

It's participation. Fellowship isn't just coming

on Sunday and taking all you can Never given

anything. I'm not talking about money. I'm talking

about yourself. Partnership. Participation. And

it does mean social relationships. It does mean

that. It means connections. It means giving.

Communicating. Communication. Communion. Distribution.

And fellowship. That's what that word means.

So it's bigger than just social relationships.

It's us coming together and working together.

Right? Together. Being connected. And in koinonia,

it's very important that we find unity in koinonia.

It needs to be unity. That we're rallying together

around a single purpose. And these are our purpose

statements. Everybody say fellowship. But it's

more than fellowship. It's not just fellowship.

It's also teaching. Everybody say teaching. Now,

if you want to be real spiritual and biblical,

we could use the word discipleship. Everybody

say discipleship. Teaching. I use the word teaching

because we have people all the time that have

never been to church or they went to church a

little bit. So teaching is important. Can anyone

in the room say that you have grown spiritually

and learned a lot since you've been coming to

Elisha Church? You've been discipled. And you've

grown. Right? Matthew 28, 19. It's a commandment

of Christ. He said, go and make disciples of

all the nations, baptizing them in the name of

the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So

the first thing is making disciples. That word

disciples is... You can pronounce it however

you want to. And here's what it means. It means

to become a pupil. To be a student. To disciple.

To enroll as a scholar. To instruct. To teach.

So that's what we're about. It's not just the

social and the partnership. It's about growing.

It's about spiritual growth. Becoming a follower

of Christ at a greater level gradually. Not just

stepping up once, but stepping up on a regular

basis. And then we're about the gospel. We're

about the gospel. Everybody say gospel. Everybody

say good news. Good news. We're about the good

news. Luke 2 .10 says this. I bring you good

news that will bring great joy to all people.

Now this is the angels talking at the birth of

Christ, announcing to the shepherds. And the

angels said, I bring you some good news. Jesus

coming is good news. His entire life was to bring

us some good news. From being born in a manger

to being resurrected from an empty tomb that

we talked about last week. The entire process,

the entire plan. was to bring us some good news.

That God loves us. God wants to be in a relationship

with us. Sin has separated us from God. But Jesus

came to die for our sin and our place so that

we could be in relationship with Him, so that

we can have eternal life. This good news brings

great joy. If you look at the original language,

it says mega great joy. Mega great joy to all

people. Good news. Evangelizo. Here's what it

means. It means to announce good news. Especially

the gospel. To evangelize. To bring. to declare,

to show good news, to preach the gospel. And

every week when we talk about the 100 ,000 people

plus the visitors that are here, we're talking

about this mission. We're talking about what

we are about. I've been in so many churches.

I know most of you probably don't believe this,

but we've been in over 800 churches. We've ministered

in over 800 churches. And so many times, people

got comfortable. And we just like our fellowship.

And we're not really interested in reaching out

to anybody else. And if anybody even tries to

come, they better not sit in my seat. I mean,

we were the visiting ministers. And somebody

moved all of Gayna's purse, and it was when Jeffrey

was little, had a diaper bag and all that kind

of stuff. Somebody moved it. I mean, what did

that person think when she stepped down off the

platform from singing and went to try to find

her stuff, and it was gone? So she was looking.

And the lady that moved it looked at her and

said, was that your stuff? That's what she sounded

like. I'm not making fun of her. I mean, was

that your stuff? And here's what she said. I

could hear from, and I'm about to preach. What

do you think I want to preach about at that point?

Was that your stuff? And then she said this,

your stuff was in my seat. So I moved it. And

she didn't even tell her where. She said, I put

it back there. If that ever happens at a Lation

church, you're going to find out what the word

church discipline is about. Somebody tells me

that. Look at the person beside you and say,

he's a nice person. But you don't want to push

me to that point. I'll still be nice. You just

won't like what I say, but I'll still be very

nice in the way I say it. I'll say it with a

smile and with all the love in my heart. So that's

who we are. Everybody say fellowship. Everybody

say teaching. Everybody say the gospel. You know,

that's what Elation Church is about. That's what

we're about. And if you don't want to be about

that, then this is probably not the place for

you. But that's what we're about. So, my dad

would ask me, he would tell me, remember who

you are. Everybody say who you are. And then

he would ask me, where are you going? Where are

you going? They wanted to know where I was. I

mean, no such thing as a cell phone. No such

thing. No. Did not exist. No way to get in touch.

No little GPS tracker, you know, like on my wallet.

None of those little trackers. I'm just leaving

my house in a car, and they would say, where

are you going? I wish I'd always told the truth.

Looking back on it, I wish I'd had a cell phone

and I wish I'd had a tracker. It would save me

a lot of heartache. Save me a lot of regrets.

Can anybody witness to what I'm talking about?

Anybody? Come on, go ahead and raise up your

hand. On up to it. On up to it. Did you ever

tell your parents you was going one place and

then you went somewhere else? So I had to tell

them where I was going. It's important to know

where you're going. Tolkien said this, not all

those who wander are lost. I mean, if you're

just walking around, I don't even know. I don't

even know how I can support that statement. He's

like a famous guy from a long time ago. Is that

a good enough explanation? Famous guy from a

long time ago. Writer. He said, not all those

who wander are lost. And the more I think about

that, the more I had to come up with my own saying.

And at one time it was on a bumper sticker on

some people's cars outside. Here's what, here's

my saying. If you're going nowhere, you've already

arrived. We need to be going somewhere. Right?

Where are you going? If I'd have told my parents

I'm not going anywhere, they'd say, well, sit

back down on the couch. If you're not going anywhere,

why do you need to get in your car? If you're

not going anywhere, you're going somewhere. I

never was brave enough to say, well, I'm just

going to go wander around. I wouldn't have been

able to leave the house if I'd have told them.

I'm just going to go wander around in my car.

See what I can get into. How many of you know

you can probably get into some things you shouldn't

get into? If you're just wandering around with

no purpose, no destination. So if you're going

nowhere, you've already arrived. I'm going to

tell you this. Where are you going? Where are

you going in life? Unless you're completely satisfied.

exactly where you are right now, you need to

be going somewhere. Because if you don't have

any plans or goals or vision, you know what?

You're just going to be exactly where you are.

Then you wake up. If there was no goals or vision

for Elation Church, we'd wake up at 10 years

and we'd just be... We probably wouldn't even

be what we are today. With no direction. Proverbs

19 .18 says this, Where there is no vision, the

people perish. Now, I always have to share the

context when I say this, because we can just

pull this completely out of context. What it's

saying is this, where there's no instruction,

where there's no law, if you look at it in context,

Where there's no law, a completely lawless society,

where there's no rules, where there's no law,

when that's not communicated, the people will

perish. Let's break down the rules, the words.

Where there's no vision. If you look up that

word vision, it means this. It means mental sight.

It means dream. It means revelation, and it also

means prophetic word. Where there's no mental

sight, where there's no dream, where there's

no revelation, where there's no prophetic word,

the people, which is a congregated unit, a tribe,

or a flock, we could even say family, the people

perish. And that word perish is like things are

bound together, but then they begin to be loosened.

It's loosened, dismissed, falls apart, where

there's no vision. I mean, how many of you could

easily think that if we lived in a lawless society,

completely lawless society, that everything would

just fall apart? Well, in context, that's what

it's saying, but when we look at these other

words, it's still saying, I believe it's still

talking about a vision for a people, or a vision

for a family, or a vision for even personally.

Remember, if you're not going somewhere, you're

already there. So if you're completely happy

where you are today, then you can just go to

sleep during the rest of this message. But I'm

going somewhere. I'm going somewhere. Does anybody

say, I'm going to go somewhere? I mean, I'm content

in God and I'm satisfied in Christ, but I'm going

somewhere. Where there's no mental sight, no

dream, no revelation, no prophetic word, the

people will fall apart. So I'm going to ask you,

has anybody ever been to like a leadership thing

where they say, all right, I want everybody to

write down your goals. Do you have a one -year

goal? What's your goal for one year? I've recently

been encouraged by Jordan. Jordan's on, I mean,

he's on Facebook and he's saying, well, write

it down every day. I start out my day by writing

out my goals. And he's encouraging other people

to do that. What are your goals? Where are you

going? Where do you look to go in one year? Does

anybody see your life? Is there a mental sight

of your life being different a year from now?

Y 'all are thinking way too hard. Just go ahead

and smile and make it easy for me. Where are

you going five years from now? Where are you

going ten years from now? Has anybody ever been

in a meeting where they had you write those things

down? Raise your hand if you've ever been in

that meeting or a meeting like that. Only half

of us. But we need to think about it. Where are

we going? Where are we going? What are your personal

goals? Then I'm going to ask you this. What are

your spiritual goals? Does anybody in the room

have a spiritual goal? Because I think it's just

as important for every single one of us to have

a spiritual goal as is to have a worldly goal

or a natural goal. What's your spiritual goal?

Listen, if you don't have a goal to share your

testimony with somebody, chances are you will

never do it. Because you will miss it when the

opportunity comes because you're not looking

for it. Because that's not a goal. If you don't

have a spiritual goal to invite somebody to come

to church, a neighbor, a co -worker, or something

like that, if you don't have a spiritual goal

to do that, chances are when the opportunity

arises, you will not do it. Because you don't

have the want to built up as a goal. Does anybody

have a goal to actually not just get the text

on Monday, but to actually read five chapters

in the New Testament every week to complete the

New Testament? Does anybody have that as a goal?

If it's not your goal, it doesn't matter how

much information you get. Because if it's not

your spiritual goal to read through the New Testament,

then you're not going to do it. You won't do

it. My pressure won't make you do it. Just make

it available. But it has to be your goal. Does

anybody have a goal to not miss a Sunday? I mean,

back in the day, man, they would give you a pin

if you came every Sunday. Anybody remember that?

If you came every week, man, you would get a

pen. And I've been in churches, in those churches

we've been in, people come to church and they

just got a big old thing with a bunch of pens.

They ain't missed a service. In probably 20 years,

had all them pens lined up. If it's not your

goal, you know. When anything else, when there's

an opportunity for anything else, it's like,

oh, church don't mean more than this. Does anybody

have any spiritual goals? If you don't have spiritual

goals, you won't wind up accomplishing them.

It has to be a goal. Those are just a few. But

do you have a spiritual goal? Do you have personal

goals? Goals are important. When we have goals,

all of a sudden we have a course and we know

where we're going. When we have goals. Philippians

3 .14 is a very amazing text. I mean, there's

a lot of amazing texts. I'm not going to say

it's my favorite or anything like that, but Philippians

3 .14. Paul knew something about goals. This

is breathed by the Spirit of God through Paul

for me and for you today. Here's what he said.

He said, I press toward the mark for the prize

of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I

press toward the mark for the prize of the high

calling of God in Christ Jesus. That means he's

going somewhere. He's pressing. Look at the person

beside you and say, he's pressing. He's pressing.

He's going somewhere. I press. That word press

means he's putting out some maximum sustainable

effort. Maximum sustainable effort. Not just

a flash here and a flash there. Everybody say

consistency. Consistency. We have to have consistency

to reach our goals. We have to have consistency

to reach our spiritual goals. There has to be

a consistency. I mean, put it this way. I can't

have a goal to get back to my high school fighting

weight of 183 pounds. I can't have a goal to

get back to 183 pounds and just say, well, that's

my goal. And then I'm not doing anything. I'm

not putting forth any effort, no sustainable

effort in any area of my life to get there. I'm

just thinking that one day, I mean, God, can't

you just zap me and make me 183 pounds? Instead

of 230 none of your business? Right? How many

of you know I've got to have some sustainable

effort in order to see that? That's not my goal,

but I was just giving you. There has to be some

effort. In our goals. And Paul says, I press.

And what's he pressing towards? He says, I press

toward the mark. Everybody say the mark. We need

to look at the mark as intermediate goals. So

if I wanted to get to 183, how many of you know

I'd have to get to 220 and 210 and 200 and 190

before... I could get to 183. Unless I go have

some kind of liposuction and just suck it all

out and tie it all up. But if I got it the easy

way, I would lose it. Unless I put forth the

maximum sustainable effort towards it. Because

when Jeffrey was born, I'd gone from where I

am now, and I was wearing 31 jeans. That's my

high school fighting weight right there, wearing

31 waist jeans. So there's got to be some intermediate

goals. Where are you going? You can't say, oh,

I want to be a millionaire in 10 years and not

have any intermediate goals in between here and

there. It's not just going to happen. It's going

to have to be some effort and some planning and

some... So what are your intermediate goals?

Do you have any? Well, if you don't have a goal,

chances are you don't have any intermediate ones.

I remember talking to Robert. It's like, I had

a goal to get to a certain number, you know.

It's like, I think we started at like 1 ,200,

didn't we? We wanted to get 1 ,200 a day at the

restaurant. And then after we hit 1 ,200, I started

praying for 1 ,500. Now their goal is only 1

,400, but I started praying with them for 1 ,500.

And the last I saw for the whole month, it was

like 1 ,800. So you know what I need to start

praying now? 2 ,000. Because there's intermediate

goals, right? We need to get to 2 ,000 a day

in order to grow the restaurant. And it's not

just... Don't just look at Robert and Alyssa

and say, well, yeah, this applies to them, but

does it really apply to me? It depends on what

your goals are. Somebody smile or something.

So what are your intermediate goals? What are

your marks? Where do you see yourself next year?

Where do you see yourself in five years? Where

do you see yourself in ten years? What are your

spiritual goals? Maybe your spiritual goal, the

first mark is just to invite somebody to church

and make sure Pastor Dean knows he needs to share

the gospel because I don't know if this person

is a Christian or not. Maybe that's your first

mark. Leading to your second mark of even sharing

your testimony with somebody. Leading to a third

mark of you actually sharing the gospel with

them and lead them to Christ before you even

bring them to church. What are your goals? Over

the last six months, we've averaged 36 and a

half people. That's why I say shake hands with

five and a half. We've averaged 36 and a half

people. But ever since we started, our goal has

been to reach 50. At least have 50 every week.

Now, some of you may not know that this is a

goal if you haven't been coming that long. Just

really want to get to have 50 every week. Every

week. Jeffrey keeps saying, well, we're going

to have to have about 70 or 80 to have 50 every

week. Last week was very encouraging to me. I

mean, we didn't have a room filled with all the

tourists and all the visitors. But last week

told me something. And I was very encouraged.

Because if the people who live here and are connected

to Elation Church would all come every Sunday,

we'd have over 50 every Sunday. So I was encouraged.

But our average over six months has been 36 and

a half. See, we've got to get to 50 before we

can get to our second mark of 100. And I've got

a friend who has been involved in planting several

churches. And he said this, he said, Dean, the

hardest number to get to is 50 every week. He

said, and then after you get 50 every week, it's

a whole lot easier to get the next 50 than it

was the first 50. That's what he told me. And

I'm crazy enough to believe it. Right? First

mark's 50. Second mark is 100. Third mark for

me should probably be 250, but I'm going to go

ahead and throw out 300 for the third mark. Go

from 100 to 300. Because what I showed you last

year at our anniversary service, that banner

out there, we printed it. It's been up for a

year now. And every time we come into worship,

we look. You know what? One day, one day, we're

going to have a place of our own. And guess what?

That's only the first mark of a place of our

own. That's not the final. One day we're going

to have a place of our own. And that room will

hold 300 people. I believe when we hit that 100

mark, it's going to be a whole lot easier to

get that building. And when we get that building,

it's going to be a whole lot easier to get to

300. But 300 is not the final. Mark? It can't

be, can it? Because there's 100 ,000 people.

The fields are wide under harvest. There's 100

,000 people who need to be in a relationship

with God through Jesus. There's 100 ,000 people

that need to be connected to a faith family.

Why could we ever be happy with 300? Oh, I'll

be happy. But I won't say we're done. And some

people get really wigged out when you start talking

about numbers. It's like, well, he's just about

numbers. I talk about this once a year or whatever.

He's just about numbers. Well, get this. Numbers

are important. Because numbers represent our

mission because our mission is people. And if

you've read your Bible lately, There were 12

disciples. There were 72 that Jesus sent out.

There was 120 at the upper room. Why did they

count them if numbers aren't important? There's

3 ,000 coming to Christ and 5 ,000 coming to

Christ. Numbers represent people. And I'm one.

I'm one. Friday morning, vacation Bible school.

I'm one of those numbers. My dad had a vision

to baptize 2 ,000 people over the life of his

ministry. He started out with that being a vision

to reach. And he made it right before he was

done and went to heaven. He made it at some interim

churches that he was at. actually made it to

that number that had been his ultimate goal and

vision for his ministry outreach. Why do we need

to have 300? Why do we need to have more than

50? Why do we need to have more than 100? This

is just... You can take this any way you want

to. 7 out of 10 people who regularly attend church,

7 out of 10 people who are in church today across

the United States go to churches who average

250 people or more. Now, 50 % of some denominations

have 50 people or less, 50 % of all the churches.

But 7 out of 10. choose to go to a church that

has 250 or more people. Why? Because it's comfortable.

I mean, you can slide in and slide out and nobody

will ever notice you or miss you. Nobody will

ask you to do anything. Nobody will ask you to

volunteer. You can just slide in and slide out

whenever you want to. When there's 50 people

in the room, everybody sees everybody. Right?

You might get asked to do something. It's just

comfortable. When there's that many people, you

can have facilities. You can have more programming.

You can offer more programming, different age

groups, different demographic groups, all those

kind of things. So, I want you to think about

this. As a church, as a body, everybody say,

we are the church. Everybody say, I'm the church.

This isn't Dean's church. This isn't the Forest's

church. Even though God called us here to start

it, it's not our church. It's our church. And

the way that we're headed is, we're going to...

Do the maximum sustainable effort to share the

gospel, to see people come to Christ, to teach

believers, the people who are here, to grow in

their faith and to walk with God. I mean, really

know God and walk with God. Not just have religion,

but have a relationship. And we're going to continue

to be a constantly growing and welcoming family.

Got to keep everybody has to play a part. where

more and more people will come up to me and say,

you know, this is the friendliest place I've

ever been. I believe we can be. I believe we

are. Habakkuk 2 .2 says this, write the vision.

Jordan's writing it every day. During this time,

in the Old Testament, you could think about it

as a stone. Writing on a tablet. Write the vision.

Make it plain on tablets. So you got to scratch.

How do you write something on stone? You got

to scratch it. Can you just scratch it one time

and write on it? Is it going to be there long?

Somebody help me out. You got to keep scratching.

Reach over and scratch the person's back. Tell

them you got to keep scratching. You got to keep

scratching. Write the vision, make it plain on

tablets. Every day. I've really been encouraged

over the last month. Every day, Jordan's like,

write it down. Let that be one of the first things

you do before you do anything else. Write it

down. Write it down. It's not just good professional

advice. That's biblical advice. Hello? Write

the vision. This was said way more, way earlier

than any business help book was ever written.

This was written. Write the vision and make it

plain on tablets that he may run who reads it.

If you don't know what we're about and where

we're going, then you can't run with us. If you're

in business, if your employees don't know who

you are and where you're going, then the employees

can't run with you. Right? If you're the head

of your family spiritually, Unless people know

who you are and where you're going, the family

can't run with it. Are you with me? If the church

don't know who we are and where we're going,

then we can't run with it together. We can't

run together. And here's the deal. Without a

vision, the people perish. Remember, it was mental

sight. It was a dream. You have to see it. How

do you see it with your mind when you can't see

it with your eyes? How do you see it? You have

to use your God -given glorified imagination.

And I want to ask you, can you see it? That's

why we put that banner up there, so that you

could see it. It would help you. But can you

see it? Right now it just has a bunch of empty

chairs, but can you see it filled? Can you see

a Saturday service and three Sunday services,

and it's just all packed? Can you see people

coming to Christ every weekend? Can you see us

even having to leave up our baptistry pool because

we're baptizing people every week? Can you see

it? Can you see it? Because it's going to take

more than just me seeing it before we can see

it. We've got to see it. We have to see it. Imagination

without truth is just fantasy. If it's not connected

to anything. And I want to tell you what I see

is connected to a promise from God. And connected

to the word of God. We have to see it. Imagination

with truth leads to hope and it leads to faith.

Hebrews 11 .1 Now faith is a substance of things

hoped for. The evidence. of things not seen.

Faith is the substance of the things hoped for.

Remember hope? Y 'all remember what the definition

for hope is? Have confidence. Because it's founded

on something, it's established on something that

God has said, or God's Word, or the Holy Spirit

has spoken, And now because you've heard, you

have confidence even before you see it. Faith

is a substance of things hoped for. And you can

go ahead and get happy about it. We have to see

it with our imagination. We have to see it through

hope. We have to see it through faith before

we will see it reality. All those things have

to happen. And I'm not just talking about the

church, and I'm not just talking about the building,

I'm talking about every area of your life. Your

family, your business. You have to see it. You

have to see it first. In your imagination and

hope and faith before you're going to see it.

Now, one thing I always said, even before we

ever planted this church, I said, you know, I've

talked again to Jeffrey and Caitlin about it.

I said, you know, when we plant a church, one

of the big things is I don't want our church

just to be local focused exclusively. I want

us to be world focused. And I've said a long

time, years and years before we ever came here,

that I believe our church, would come to a point

where the sun never sets on the ministry of our

church. Now, if you're here on a regular Sunday

and there's 36 and a half people, you're like,

how's that going? I still see one day that we

will actually strategically plant churches around

the world and we'll support pastors and build

buildings. We don't even have our own building

yet. But I think we're going to build at least

four churches strategically around the world

where the sun will never set on our ministry,

on our church. Through technology, I don't know

what has happened. Did anybody see the ad that

we did on Monday? It's just a targeted ad. I

didn't send it. It's not even a post. It's just

an ad. And the ad says this. It says, How can

a church meeting in a gymnasium in Davenport,

Florida, reach 46 countries around the world

and 47 states? That was Monday. Since Monday,

Jeffrey and I have had to update this artwork

three times. I don't even know what's happening.

I don't know why it's happening. Other than,

I've been praying for open doors. Everybody say

open doors. I've been praying for open doors,

and not just here in our community, but open

doors to the world. I've been praying for open

doors, and guess what's happened? Just since

Monday, I mean, like two weeks ago, it was like

36 countries. On Monday, it was 46 countries,

or 43 countries. And now, this isn't even correct,

and we did this last night. I mean, I've never

met people from these places. But they're listening,

they're downloading the podcast, and this is

certified. This is not just, if you just click

on it, it shows up. No, it's a certified download

through a third party, not even the people that

we do our podcasts through. Certified downloads.

There's 47 states in the United States, even

though Fawn, does everybody know Buffy's friend

Fawn? She said her son listened to it in Alaska

because we're missing Alaska, Wyoming, and Washington.

But it didn't show up, so it's not as certified.

I'm not putting anything up here that's not certified.

My sister listened to my podcast in Turkey, but

Turkey's not on the list. These are just the

certified downloads. 47 states in the United

States, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas,

Bahrain. I didn't even know where a lot of these

places were. I had to look them up. Bangladesh,

Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Canada,

Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,

Egypt, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala,

Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Italy,

Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon. Malaysia, Mexico,

Morocco, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan

has blown up this past week. Philippines, Romania,

Russia, Rwanda, Scotland, Senegal, Singapore,

South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tanzania,

Tunisia, United Arab Emirates. Uruguay, Uzbekistan,

Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, and there's one that

we didn't get the words on there, and then Paraguay

came up this morning when I looked. It was Paraguay.

I had to look at where it was. It's kind of down

here, you know, in between Brazil and, I don't

know, near Uruguay. Yeah, Paraguay. Uruguay.

They must have used to been friends. I don't

know. But anyway. I had to look them up. I had

to look up some of them. But from right here.

See, you can, from this free throw line, you

can get anywhere in the world. And we're a part

of that. You're a part of that. I'm just blown

away. And then the picture of the building. It's

who we are. It's where we're going. You need

to see it. So I've tried to make some pictures

so you can see it. But we need to see it. But

you also need to see 50 people in these seats

every Sunday. You need to see 100 people. You

need to see 300 people. You need to see it. And

we all need to have marks towards getting there.

We don't see it like I see being 183 pounds in

six months when I don't plan on doing anything

about it. Hallelujah. I press toward the mark

for the prize of the high calling. So we have

intermediate marks, but the prize is the high

calling of God in Christ Jesus, and that's different

for every single person in this room, but it's

together corporately, but it's your business.

There's different high callings that God gives

each one of us high callings for our families,

high callings for the church, for each church

in this area. But we've got marks to get there.

But the high calling is when the vision is fulfilled.

And I don't see my high calling being fulfilled

until 1 ,900 people are worshiping God. I don't

care if it's in one building or... or multiple

buildings, to 1 ,900 people being at Galatian

Church on a regular basis. That's my high calling,

that I've worked out with God, that He's laid

on my heart. And you might say, you're a fool.

I don't care if you call me a fool or not. That's

where this bus is going. So that's a high calling,

is when the mission is accomplished. So again,

where are you going? Look at the person beside

you and say, where are you going? Where are you

going? And what are you doing to get there? What

are you doing to get there? What are your goals?

What are your spiritual goals? I encourage everybody

in the house to have some spiritual goals, not

just personal goals, but have some spiritual

goals. What are they? And then what are you going

to do about it? What are the steps that you're

going to take to accomplish those goals? Because

it's not just having a goal. It's pressing toward

the mark that's leading you to the goals. Let's

pray. God, thank you for today. Thank you for

your word. Thank you for what you're doing and

what you have done. Thank you for what's ahead.

And we pause to say thank you for where you've

brought us so far. Oh, I can remember the days.

God, if we could just have more than 12. It'd

be amazing. God, if we could just have 20, it'd

be amazing. God, if we could ever hit 30, boy,

that would just be... And we thank you. Because

it's been you. It's been you. So we pause to

say thank you for where we've come from. to where

we are today. God, we thank you that people are

saying we're the most friendly place they've

ever been. God, we thank you for that. Thank

you for working in us and through us. God, we

thank you for where we're going. In Jesus' name,

amen. This online worship experience was brought

to you by the friends and partners of Eulation

Church.