Part 1 | Life. Legacy. Eternity.: God’s Call in a Broken World

I want to

talk a little bit from my heart this morning.

About recent events,

about our life and our legacy as a church and individuals

and about some next steps.

There's no doubt that our world

is in turmoil

for many different reasons, on many different fronts.

And that turmoil was heightened

and exacerbated by the events of a week ago on the 10th.

Certainly.

And it's interesting in the week that has gone on,

after Charlie Kirk's assassination,

I've noticed some shifts and some change that are somewhat concerning.

I got a call from a friend of mine,

sometime this last.

I forgot what day it was in the evening time, and he said.

He said, pastor, is part of another church or another church that we helped plant.

And he said,

pastor, I respect your biblical view,

your theological view of reality and earth and eternity.

Help me understand how I should view and talk

to people about Charlie's assassination, he said.

I don't know anything about Charlie Kirk.

Never heard him, and he doesn't come up on any of my algorithms.

He said he's is not one in my culture

that is listened to or respected.

He said, so I want to be able to respond

with intelligence and integrity and biblically.

And so we had quite a long conversation, and I think it was fruitful.

But he had listened to sound bites

and sound bites are dangerous,

that were not favorable and is looking through the lens

from his culture through political, completely political lenses.

And so it was it was it was a

difficult conversation, but I think it was I think it was beneficial.

But what I've noticed in the last 11 days or so

is the current has shifted

from shock and outrage,

to anger, not just about the event,

but people are angry.

Some are angry at Charlie Kirk and Turning Point, and some are angry

at those who are angry at Charlie Kirk and Turning Point.

The reality that we've got to keep in mind

is that we don't wrestle and fight against flesh and blood,

but against rulers and authorities and principalities

of this very dark and evil world.

That has always been the case, and it still is,

and will continue to be until Christ returns,

until he completely does away

with even the presence of evil,

and he establishes his kingdom on earth as it exists in heaven.

But until then,

there is this struggle in the unseen world that sometimes shows its

face in the seen world.

And that's what we're seeing.

The one of the things that I hold on to,

especially in light of Charlie's assassination, is this

is this truth from Psalm 116.

Precious in the sight of the Lord

is the death of his saints.

God is present.

He's near.

Things don't haphazardly happen.

And he's still good.

And what I'm realizing over and over and over, and especially

in light of what happened last week when truth is viewed as hate,

it's a clear sign that the culture has absolutely lost its moral compass.

And when

some in our culture are more outraged

that Kimmel got canceled, more

than that, Charlie got killed.

It's a sign that things are terribly wrong.

And what I've convinced more and more and more and more

and more is that Christ is the only hope

for humanity.

And our response?

The Christ followers or his followers response

rather than getting more angry at others.

We must become more passionate about the Kingdom.

It's the only hope of salvation.

I'm not saying don't post or I'm saying don't be concerned.

I'm not saying don't honor.

Charlie's assassination is no doubt

was politically and morally motivated.

By an evil man.

With political and moral motivations.

But I want us to be very careful that we don't

make a bigger deal out a turning point than we do the kingdom of God.

And I think

that's exactly what Charlie would say.

Christ was more important than him, and he.

Christ is more important to us.

When I look at what happened, I have to realize

the reality of who I am,

that it was me.

And this is what gets difficult because we want to rage against others.

But I have to realize first that was my sin

that put Jesus on the cross,

and it's the sin of humanity

that both drove the nails and pulled the trigger.

And the only hope for the sin of humanity

is Christ him crucified and resurrected.

He is the only hope for this world.

And so we will continue to pray.

One for the witness of this church

in a dark world.

And we will pray

for Erica and the kids.

And we will be very focused

on the Kingdom of God.

Father, I thank you.

I thank you

that we can remember the truth that your sovereign

and that you're a good God

and you are close to your kids.

And I pray in the name of Jesus

that this world will draw close to you.

I pray you help us be mindful.

Of your mercy and your grace, that you would help us

be mindful of your righteousness.

That you'd help us

to trust you in difficulty,

honor you in tragedy.

And pray for the salvation

and the blessing of even our enemies.

And father, I pray over this moment right now

with the honoring of the service in Arizona of Charlie.

I pray over Erica and the kids,

your peace that passes, understanding, a comfort that cannot be explained

and that somehow.

That you reach.

And this is what you do.

More people,

even in death than you have in life.

We trust you.

And that's in your name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

It don't have a lot of notes and a lot of scripture to put on the screen behind me.

I want to talk to you from my heart a little bit,

not just about the temperature

of the culture that we're in, the climate of our culture.

But I want to talk to you about our church

as we closed the first chapter in the first two decades

and open a new chapter over the next two decades

about what we will live for,

what's worth bleeding over,

where our legacy will be.

And what we want God to say about us when we meet him.

Through God's

purpose in sending Jesus to the earth is that people who are far from

him will be made right with him

through faith in Jesus,

the cross, his death and resurrection.

The best way to do that

to help people come to Christ is by planting churches.

It's the best way under heaven to reach people for Christ.

And so to that end,

we have always been about planting churches.

And to that end, we will continue

to double down on that purpose through this church.

I've never been concerned

about a big footprint.

I've always been motivated and passionate

about a big impact.

His kingdom come.

His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And the best way to do that is to plant churches, not to build a bigger campus.

And so in part of that, we

start this next chapter in Ukraine.

God's opened up a door

that we never saw coming.

To plant churches in Ukraine in profound numbers.

Here's the thing.

When you get close to your own mortality, you start asking questions.

You should be asking before you realize you were close to your mortality.

And that's what's happening in Ukraine.

And so the door to plant churches is wide open there.

And I have the opportunity to go train and set up a system there

to call, affirm and train church planters

to plant churches all over that country, as we've done in Cuba,

as we've done in Guatemala, as we're doing in America.

Because God has asked that.

We don't have the option to tell him no.

So that's one of the things,

as we go into this next chapter, that it's going to continue to be a focus,

but because God's heart is to reach those who are far from him,

the way we will do that locally, rather than planting

a bigger campus, is to start another service.

And so we'll move to three services

on November 2nd,

and those services will be at 8:00

and 930 and 11.

And so I'm gonna talk more about that in a little bit.

But I just want you to know upfront that's where we're headed.

We will continue to plant churches wherever God gives us an opportunity,

and we're going to expand what we do here by starting another service,

three services eight, nine, 30 and 11 starting November 2nd.

Now let me unpack it.

Why Ukraine?

Whenever we talk about reaching people with the gospel, we talk about

looking for people in two scenarios people under tension and people in transition.

And you talk about a war torn country.

Everybody is under tension and in transition.

And so God oftentimes works.

He always works,

all the time.

But people are more attuned to his work

when their intention and transition.

And so the door is wide open in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, I'll fly from here to Krakow,

arrive in Krakow on Wednesday,

and I'll go to Auschwitz.

And then on Thursday, travel to Ukraine.

And in Ukraine we will run a couple day

discovery center for people who feel like they're called to plant churches.

And we'll do a lot of training and calling and affirming and

and just assessing what God is doing and helping them learn how to do it.

Well.

And then we'll take about a three day break

and I will drive.

So they'll get a driver for me, to what they say right now

is about ten miles from the Russian troops on the frontline.

And I will get to minister to the Ukrainian army

and to their chaplains and to some people

who are just now coming to faith.

And I'll spend two of spend two days in the night there,

and then we'll drive back just south of Kiev

and do another discovery center for people who are planting churches.

And then the following Sunday, which would be,

I think, the first or somewhere around there, whenever that Sunday is,

I'll get to be in another church in Ukraine ministering as well.

So the church has my full itinerary

and they know when

that when I'll be on the front lines, they know when things are happening,

and I'll get information as I'm available to,

so you'll know

more firsthand what's going on, and what's happening.

So thank you for your prayers.

I've given Brenda and Scott a list of of almost all 14 couples

who will be trained to plant churches and their kids

so you can be praying for them. Here's what I'm asking for.

Your prayers.

Real simple.

Pray that the kingdom of God advances.

Is that clear?

Your tendency is going to be to pray for my safety.

I'm asking you to pray that the kingdom advances regardless.

Is that clear?

Is his kingdom overall?

And so I've just told you more than a lot more than I told the first service,

because as some who were in the first service and I want to be sensitive.

And so I trust that you'll be sensitive as well.

Do you hear what I'm saying? Yes.

We do this because of who God is,

and I think we've lost sight of who God is.

I think the church in general has become too familiar

and too comfortable with who God is.

And I want to remind us this morning on who God is.

We have a Bible and brought one with you.

I want you to go to Isaiah chapter six.

It's in the Old Testament just past

Psalms and Proverbs and

the first of the three great prophets, Isaiah and Isaiah.

Chapter six says this

in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high

and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above him stood the seraphim.

Each had six wings, with two he covered his face.

With two he covered his feet, and with two he flew,

and one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory,

and the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called.

And the house was filled with smoke.

And I said, woe is me, for I am lost.

I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Chapter six starts with this statement.

In the year King Uzziah died, that's important.

UJA became King over God's people.

When he was 16 years old and ruled for over 50 years.

It was a prolific reign.

It was a beautiful reign.

He I wouldn't say that he's the the lead or the second

top king in Israel, but he's certainly in the top five.

He was the last of the reformer kings

that brought real reformation and revival to the people of God.

And it was in that year that he died.

The year that he died, that Isaiah the prophet says

he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne.

That word, Lord, if you look in your Bible, it's

probably capital L, little o, little r, little d.

That's the Hebrew word Adonai.

The word Adonai is the supreme title of God.

This is the master.

This is the Supreme.

This is the sovereign God over all things life

and death, creation, heaven, hell, the God over all.

He saw that God sitting upon a throne high and lifted up.

That word Adonai has been reserved

for what we would consider God the Father.

In this instance, I believe it's attributed to God the Son,

a pre incarnate Jesus,

the second person of the Trinity.

And what Isaiah sees here

is the in the enthronement

of Christ on his throne, the supreme God.

This reminds us of the most often

uttered and referred to Psalm in the New Testament.

Psalm eight, verse one.

In Psalm eight one it says, O Lord,

our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

When the Bible says in Psalm eight one, and that's

what this verse reminds us of in Isaiah, O Lord, our Lord.

It uses two different words for Lord, O Lord,

capital L, little o, little r, little d, o Adonai, O sovereign one,

O master, O Supreme one, O Lord,

our Lord, Jehovah, the personal God,

O Supreme one, you are the personal one.

That's what that's what Psalm eight one says, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic

is your name, O sovereign master, ruler of heaven and earth, how majestic are you?

The personal one to me.

Do you understand that?

And what Isaiah sees here in Isaiah chapter

six is the sovereign master, ruler of the universe,

the Most High and Exalted, one

God above all gods.

That's who he sees attributed to

Jesus on the throne, the enthronement of Jesus.

And we don't know.

The text isn't clear if Isaiah is actually in the temple,

having this vision or somehow, as God did with the Apostle John

on the island of Patmos, pull back the curtain to heaven

as John penned the words of the revelation.

Perhaps what Isaiah is seen here has God pulling back the curtain

and peering into heaven and seeing Christ, the sovereign Supreme,

enthroned in heaven above.

And it's this that he sees high and lifted up the train of his robe,

filled the temple, and above him stood your Bible, says Seraphim.

That's a plural word in the Hebrew.

Any time of the Hebrew it word ends in I'm.

That's the plural of that word.

So these are seraph, which is an angel, and there's multiple of them.

Seraphim.

We don't know much about these angels.

This is the only place are listed in Scripture.

It appears that these are created angelic beings with the sole purpose

of worshiping the Supreme, Almighty God.

Day and night, night and day.

Now it's important to realize what these angels are like.

God's creation is the creation of economy.

What that means is that he doesn't waste creation.

Everything created is created with a purpose for a purpose.

These angels, it tells us what they're like.

What are they like?

They have how many wings?

Six. It's not that God just got super excited about wings and made six.

They have a purpose with two.

They flew with two. They covered their feet.

And with two, they covered their eyes.

Let me explain one aspect of these six wings.

With the two, they cover their eyes. Why?

They're created to worship the Almighty, supreme, majestic God.

Day and night, night and day.

And so holy is him.

So righteous is God that these angels were created to worship him day and night.

And I can't even bear to look at him because he's so holy.

They have to cover their eyes.

This God that we become

so comfortable with and so familiar with is so holy

that these otherworldly angelic beings created to worship him

day and night, night and day, cannot even bear to look at him,

but through veiled eyes, because he is so holy.

Do you understand?

And we come to him with such familiarity

that breeds contempt,

as if we have the right

to stand before him with unveiled faces

and unveiled souls.

And what do they say?

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

There's no other characteristic.

There's no other quality of God that is mentioned in thrice form.

The Bible doesn't say God is love, love, love.

It doesn't say God is peace.

Peace. Peace.

The Bible doesn't say God is grace.

Grace. Grace.

The only character of God that's mentioned three times.

Like this for emphasis.

Purpose is holy, holy, holy.

How dare we come before him?

With such familiarity.

That we would have the audacity.

To be bored, disinterested,

or God forbid, tell him no.

So holy is God.

Angels can't even look upon him.

It reminds me of Exodus chapter 33

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

when Moses is on the mountain with God receiving

the commandments, that would become what we call the Mosaic Law.

The Ten Commandments,

chapter 33 and verse 17, the Lord said to Moses, this very thing

that you have spoken, I will do, for you have found favor in my sight.

And I know you by name.

Can you imagine God saying, I know you by name?

Guess what he does?

Moses said, please show me your glory.

And God said, I will make all my goodness pass

before you, and will proclaim before you my name of the Lord.

And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,

and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

But you, Moses, cannot see my face.

For man shall not see me and live.

And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me

where you shall stand on the rock.

And while my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock,

and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

Then I will take away my hand,

and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.

Here's what's happening.

God is saying, I am so holy.

You can't see

my holiness because it would destroy you.

And so the Bible says, God carved out a hole in the rock

and stuck Moses in a hole, and then covered his face.

And as God

passed by, he said, then I will let you see.

The Hebrew word is the hind parts.

God is so holy.

Moses had to be covered by a rock, and then the hand of God to see very dimly

a muted, a muted view of the back

part of God's passive glory.

And the result of that.

Exodus 34

and verse 29, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai

with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand

as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know

that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

The implication shone as bright as the sun.

Merrin, Aaron, and all the people of Israel saw Moses,

and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid.

They were terrified to be near him.

So powerful is the glory of as the holiness of God,

that a man

hidden, covered by a rock, and the hand of God that got a passing,

muted glimpse of the backside of his glory,

so changed him

that others were terrified of him.

Do you understand?

Are you getting a glimpse of the holiness of this God?

He's not to be trifled with.

He's not to be approached with familiarity.

This is a holy God.

I know during the late

1990s and 2000, there was

there was this thing on the coast.

It was kind of like a a Christian Woodstock called Spirit West Coast.

It was it was pretty cool.

It's pretty cool.

But I remember those days

when people came to supposedly worship

this move that tried to make God so common

and so familiar.

There was a deep and profound

loss of his holiness, so much so that I remember T-shirts being printed

by people just trying to make a buck off of ignorant Christians.

That said, Jesus is my homeboy.

The contempt.

We would say,

yeah, God's my blood, just my blood. The.

I understand the heart behind it.

I do.

But we've got to be very careful about this

God that we treat.

With such familiarity

and far too much comfort from.

Holy, holy, holy.

That indicates two things.

One, the Trinity.

God the father. God the son, God the spirit.

Holy, holy, holy, but also indicates emphasis

in our world.

We would put exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation

mark.

This emphasizes emphasis.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him

who called that which is inanimate and has no

life moves

at the holiness of God.

And the response is, I'm a man of unclean lips.

I am undone

because of this dirty man has seen the glory

and holiness of God.

We've become too familiar.

And too comfortable.

He is the sovereign.

He is the ruler.

And as a sovereign, a sovereign is not a sovereign.

A Lord is not a Lord without subjects and slaves.

He is sovereign.

He is mighty.

He is majesty, and we are but slaves,

not duty bound.

Because we know in John 15

that though a slave and subject to of Christ,

now I am his friend.

And we know from Romans eight

that not duty bound as a mere subject or slave,

I am not only a friend of the master, I am also a co heir of him.

But yet still his slave.

And because God is holy, holy, holy

I, we must be about his business.

See, here's how I say it.

God's holiness demands my allegiance.

You follow me.

Are you okay? Yes.

His holiness demands my allegiance.

We can do no other.

I want you to understand something

that Christianity at its heart,

at some level, is treasonous and subversive.

Christianity, at the heart of it, is treasonous and subversive.

We get our name flip side from act 17 six,

and then at 17 six, it's the Jewish leaders

that are making a charge against new Christ followers

and their charge against them is this they've turned the world upside down.

That was a Jewish idiom

for their subversive, their treason us.

And they are counter to the prevailing

rulers and authority and culture by which we live.

That's what Christianity is.

That's what Jesus was.

That's what all of his followers were.

And that's what got him killed.

John John the Baptist was beheaded.

Not because he told people they could be saved,

not because he said, Jesus can be your forgiver.

He was beheaded because he was treasonous and subversive to the king,

and called the king out for his immorality.

He says,

you say that reality is this, God's reality is this, and you are in error.

And they took his head.

In acts

one eight, if you know what acts one eight says,

some of you do.

You just realize the address.

You don't know where it lives.

Let's say, David, be my witness.

That's it.

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth.

I want you to understand something.

That Greek word witness is Marta's.

Guess what word we get from Marta's

martyr.

You understand what Jesus is saying?

Sometimes that word is translated.

A witness.

But we get our word martyr from that word.

Jesus is it.

You will be my martyr

in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria,

and to the ends of the earth.

That's the call of Christ.

And lo,

I am with you to the very end of the age.

We've

become so familiar with this God that we say, yeah, I'm going to follow you.

I will sometimes I want sometimes some things I will.

Some things are wrong.

Jesus has said, you, O follower of me,

will follow me.

To the cross.

If you have to,

and you will be my martyrs, right here

in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And I am with you always.

And he is so holy and so supreme,

that the follower of Christ says, here I am.

Send me.

Yes, Lord.

Do you know the moment

Paul gave his life to Jesus, his life got worse?

Think about it for a minute.

The moment Paul said yes

to Jesus, saying yes to Jesus was detrimental

to Paul's health and to Paul's longevity and to ball's very life.

Saying yes, Jesus was detrimental to that.

When I when I look at Scripture and people who follow Christ,

they look so different than me.

And it's probably different for you.

All I know is me.

Like you're probably a lot more holy and righteous and sacrificial than I am.

I just know me.

And there's so much of me

that wants to add Jesus to something in my life to make it better.

Stuff gets haywire.

Jesus. Come on, I need you now.

Make this better.

And what I see in Scripture, when people added Jesus to their life,

it got worse.

So I did some study this week and I want to share this with you.

When Paul said yes to Jesus, this is an outline of Paul's life.

Is difficulty.

Once he didn't have any of these problems before Jesus.

Once he said yes to Jesus.

Here it is in the first three years of saying yes to Jesus.

He faced a plot to kill him.

He was forced to escape the city under the cover of darkness.

He was lowered in a basket from an opening in the city.

Walton's run for his life at that point.

Would we have said, okay, hold on. Jesus, I think you got something wrong.

He had to

run to Tarsus while he was in Jerusalem.

A plot was made against his life, forcing him to leave

and go to his hometown, where people wouldn't try to kill him.

In the first three years of accepting Jesus.

And then he took this missionary journey.

Within ten years, this missionary journey.

And when he was in position, Antioch, they stirred up

a persecution against Paula Barnabas and kicked him out of the city.

And then they stoned him, and they left him for dead.

They pelted his head with rocks, so much so that it busted everything in.

And they checked him and they pronounced him dead.

And miraculously, he was revived.

And we would say, well, wait a minute.

Like God can't be in that county.

Do you see how it Paul added Jesus to his life.

It got worse,

And then in his second

missionary journey, Paul and Silas were flogged

as Jesus was before being crucified and thrown in prison.

And then the Jews stirred up a mob against Paul and Silas,

and they were forced again to run for their lives on the cover of

darkness, to get out of the city.

And then they were dragged before the pro council on other charges.

Did Paul's life ever get better?

No. Don't be spiritual and say, well, you know, he's in the will of the Lord,

so it's all better because that's not how we respond to ourselves

when stuff goes wrong, right?

And in his third missionary journey in Ephesus,

they instigated a citywide riot, forcing Paul to leave.

And at his home in Ephesus, they were in a state of that he was.

He said that he was afflicted and he was despaired of.

Life itself,

like he thought he was going to die again.

And then Paul learned of a Jewish plot to kill him and had to change his plans.

Like, over and over and over.

They're taking shots at him.

20 years

after he accepted Jesus, 25 years after year after Christ,

he was arrested in the temple courts in Jerusalem after

being falsely accused.

And then he was saved from me, killed

by a Jewish mob, by Roman soldiers.

And for two years, he was thrown in prison in Syria.

And then he was sent to Rome.

And the ship

he was on shipwrecked on the storm, and he was stuck on the island of Malta.

And then he spent the last two years under house arrest in Rome.

After that,

and after brief reprieves,

he was again arrested under Emperor Nero

and then martyred by beheading.

30 years after giving his life to Jesus.

Did his life get better

because he put Jesus in the middle of it?

Accepting Jesus as his Savior

was a detriment to his health

and his livelihood and his earthly future.

And look at what Paul said about himself.

I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself.

If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I've received

from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

He says, my life is not precious to me at all,

except that I may testify about the grace of God.

For I'm already

being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

Paul never said death. He never talked about it.

He always talked about departure.

Because for him, it was like getting on a plane and taking a trip

to a new home,

a better home.

For whoever would save his life.

Well, what? Lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake

will find it.

So is what it means to follow Christ,

to serve a holy, holy, holy God.

Indeed, I count everything as lost

because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them

as rubbish trash, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him,

not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,

but that that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God

that depends on faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection.

Absolutely.

But resurrection only comes through suffering and death.

That I may know the power of his resurrection

and share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead.

This was the focus of Paul's earthly life.

It was live for one purpose,

and it was counted as loss,

because Paul understood what he'd been told about the words of Christ.

You will be my martyr in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

and to the ends of this earth, and I am with you always.

And because God is holy, holy, holy,

the slave has no right to say no.

Lord.

So be it.

God's business

is about seeking and saving those who are far from him.

And God has no other business in this world.

And God has a plan for reaching people.

And that plan is me and you.

And he has no plan B,

and that's why we will plant churches,

and that's why we will give and lead and serve and invite,

because a holy God

has said, I am your sovereign, I am your master, and this is my business.

And that's why we're

going to start three services

on November 2nd,

because there are people in the ranchos, there are people in Riverstone,

there are people in Tesoro.

And God knows there's people in Tula that do not know him.

I have to give you a chance to breathe in this.

That's your chance to breathe.

You understand? Yes.

We will not build a bigger campus.

We'll start another service.

I've never had the desire.

I've never been about a big campus.

I've been about

a big impact.

Because that's biblical.

And so we'll start

churches and start campuses

and start services.

And here's why.

Let me read this just real quick. Let me read this to you.

This came from our birthday celebrations.

What someone said about

these past 20 years.

I first came to a flip side back in 2018.

I still remember

walking through the doors, feeling so scared and unsure of what I was doing.

Faith wasn't something I grew up with.

In fact, it was pretty. It was.

It was pretty discouraging in my home.

And to be honest, I was embarrassed.

I knew a lot of people from school who went to flip side, and I was so aware

of my reputation, the life I was living and how others saw me.

That first Sunday Carl preached, and for the very first time

in my 17 years of life, I heard the good news.

I realized I wasn't too far gone.

Slowly but surely, God began lifting the shame I had carried for so long.

After that day, I gave my life to Jesus.

Fast forward a bit, and in 2020, I was baptized

right alongside the man who would later become my husband.

Things at home didn't magically change,

but something in me had the light of Jesus began to shine in me.

And even in that darkness, my family started to notice.

My mom and siblings began asking questions about Jesus.

Now years later, not only do they come to flipside,

but they've come to know

what it means to have a real personal relationship with Jesus.

That's something I never thought I'd get to see.

My husband and I have grown

so much together, both as a couple and in our faith.

On September

15th, we'll celebrate one year of marriage and seven years of being together.

And this October, we're expecting our first baby boy.

God has been so incredibly faithful.

I grew up with every card stacked against me.

The environment I came from was heavy and hard.

But Jesus met me right where I was

and flip side.

Was a place

where the seed of faith was first planted in me.

And I'll never stop being thankful for that.

Yeah.

And that's why I will add services.

And that's why I will start churches.

And it will require sacrifice.

And you will sacrifice right along with me and right along with each other.

And so while I am in Ukraine, you will pray

that the kingdom of God advances throughout that country.

And you will pray over yourselves in this place.

What is your part?

Decide what your sacrifice is

for some of you, as a martyr.

Your sacrifice will be showing up at 8:00.

And some of your sacrifice

will be coming to the late one at 11.

And some of you will sacrifice

your time and your energy.

You pray about what your role is

in leading, not just helping,

but also in helping

what your role is in giving

and what your responsibility is in inviting.

Because we serve a holy God.

And because of his holiness,

it will always be kingdom over party and because of God's holiness,

it will always be kingdom over politic and because of God's holiness

it will always be kingdom over personality and because of God's holiness.

It will always be the expansion of his Kingdom, regardless of the cost.

And because of his holiness.

We will respond with, here am I, send me.

Because of the holiness of God,

give him your life and don't take it back.

This is the God we serve,

and this is why we do what we do.

You understand?

Father.

Thank you

that you love us,

that you've loved us with an everlasting love.

That we could never separate us

from your love.

And I thank you that you are the Holy God.

Who has stepped into our existence

and drawn near to us so we could draw near to you.

Thank you that you took the initiative.

I pray that we respond

with unwavering commitment,

with steadfast love,

and with a heart that says, here am I.

Send me,

oh God, that your kingdom would come on this earth as it is in heaven,

that your will would be done on this earth as it is in heaven.

Friends, I want to invite you in this moment.

To come before a holy

God, not a familiar one.

But a holy, holy, holy God.

And before that, Holy God,

admit who you are.

God, you are holy.

I am not.

Tell him I cannot make myself

right with you.

Say, Jesus, thank you

that you made it possible.

For a sinful person like me.

To be accepted by a holy God.

And Jesus,

I accept the work you did on the cross for my forgiveness.

Thank you.

And now make this commitment.

God, because you are holy.

I will stop telling you no.

I realize Your Holiness

demands my allegiance.

And so today, I'm giving you all of it.

We love you, Jesus.

Thank you

for the opportunity you've given us to be made right with you.

Do what only you can do.

Grow your kingdom through this church.

I pray that we would reach the ranchos, that we would reach Riverstone, that we

reach to soil, that we would reach beyond our own borders, beyond our country,

that we'd get to be a small part of your groundwork, of the redemption of humanity.

You're the only hope of salvation.

You're the only hope for this world.

Thank you that we get to be your torchbearers, your image in this world.

I pray we carry it well

and that whatever it costs us, God,

we willingly

as your slaves, martyrs,

friends and co-heirs,

give and sacrifice

because you're holy.

In your name I pray.

Amen. Church, I love you.

I'm proud of you.

Let's storm the gates of hell with a water pistol,

Cause we already won.

Let's sing.