"Coming Home" Pt.4

Hi, this is John O'Zanting, lead pastor of Evolve Church, and this is the Evolve Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

Well, as promised, here I am, back.

I know.

Um Part 4, Coming Home.

Uh, what have you learned so far in this series as we've been asking some big questions about new things?

As we look at this picture of the next season for Evolved Church and not really focused on the past, but on what God has us stepping into as a faith community, as a family, as this tribe built on belonging and hope and growth.

We're so excited to see how God's growing our house right now, even as we're in faith talking about setting bigger tables, creating larger spaces for people to gather and come home.

We're seeing this happen, and we're so encouraged.

So thank you.

We're reading from Isaiah 43, verse 19.

Isaiah 43:19

Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past.

See, I'm doing a new thing.

Now it springs up.

Do you not perceive it?

I'm making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Church, I want to tell you today, across Canada and parts of the U.S.

and around the world, McCole and I have friends in ministry who pastor churches, and so many people are struggling.

So many people are in the desert and in the wasteland.

And we are in awe of God's favor on us right now and how he's providing for us and this new thing, these springs that are coming up in the season of wasteland, making a way in the wilderness for Evolved Church.

And we're just honored that we get to build something beautiful together.

2 Corinthians 5.17 says this.

Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, they have become an entirely new creation.

Hey, that's you.

If you're in process, if you're brand new to faith, you've just enfolded your life into Jesus, you've just started this journey, or if maybe you've been serving Christ for a long time, you have become an entirely new creation.

All that's related to the old order has vanished.

Behold, everything is fresh and new.

So I have a big question for us today, and then we're going to pray together.

But here's today's big question.

What new thing?

What new thing does God desire to draw out of your purpose?

To help others to come home to family and to make room for all humanity.

For all humanity.

That's the heartbeat of today's message.

But I can't help but wonder, Father, what new things are you wanting to do to draw out of our purpose?

Together as a church family, but every individual life watching and the purpose and plans you have for them, for me?

What new thing do you desire to draw out of our purpose?

To help others come home to family and to make room for all humanity.

So, Father, in Jesus' name, we just open up our lives to you today.

We open up our hearts to you and say, Father, would you change us yet again?

Would you shape us?

Would you fashion us today, bit by bit, into the image of your Son Jesus?

Father, when we look at the new things and the new seasons that you're drawing us into as a church family, we desire a clearer ability to hear your voice, an enhanced understanding of your purpose for us.

And so we open up our lives to you today, open up our hearts and say, Would you change us?

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

My prayer for everybody watching today, myself included, for each one of us together, my prayer is for the Father to do a new thing in our purpose.

Maybe COVID's stripped you of your purpose.

Maybe the last six months has brought you to this place of feeling like you have no significance, you have no value.

I want to look through this camera today and remind you that your voice matters, your personality, your unique story, the gifts and the abilities inside of your life matter.

They matter to Jesus, but they matter to his church.

They matter to other people.

What new thing does God want to do in your purpose today?

A new thing in our purpose, in our in our values, in our time, in our priorities, in our schedule, our purpose.

There is no plateau in life.

We are either moving forward or we're sliding backwards, okay?

We're either slipping back, regressing and getting sloppy, or we're learning, we're growing, we're progressing, we're moving forward.

The Christian life is very much like climbing a hill of ice.

You cannot slide up.

You have to cut every step with an ice axe.

Only with incessant labor in cutting and chipping can you make any progress.

If you want to know how to backslide, leave off going forward.

In other words, stop moving forward and you'll slide back.

Cease going upward and you will go downward of necessity.

You can never stand still.

When it comes to your purpose, you can't stand still.

When it comes to the gifts and the abilities God's placed within you, we've talked about relationships last week.

When it comes to how we're stewarding our God-breathed purpose, you're either growing, moving forward, or you're sliding backwards.

That quote from Charles Spurgeon, today's big question: what new thing does God desire to draw out of your purpose to help others to come home to family and to make room for all humanity?

One year ago, right now at Evolve, we were working our way through a series called What's the Point?

And if you remember our What's the Point series, if you were in the room for that series, uh just give me some praise hands or a thumbs up emoji or one of those like big gun show, you know, uh muscle emojis, something like that.

Um, throw that into the chat for me right now if you were in the room for our what's the point.

And we talked about this picture of church and not a thing that we attend, but a mission and a vision that we live out.

This theology of not going to church, but of being church.

We took an in-depth look at what this thing called church was really meant to be.

This thing that Jesus died for, that Jesus is the cornerstone of, and that Jesus is still building today church.

So hit me with some emojis if you remember that series.

But through that series and since that time, we celebrate and honor that Evolve has become a family for so many people.

It's become home for so many beautiful lives and so many incredible stories.

We want to share one of those stories with you right now.

I didn't actually find and meet the real Jesus until probably my mid-20s.

I didn't really believe or understand the things I was taught growing up.

The biggest switch for me was having men in my life who were open to having a relationship and discuss and mentor me along the way.

I was introduced to Evolve from another leader in another church in Emmonton here, who I knew from a friend of a friend.

We went out for coffee.

He asked me some great questions, which led me to telling him me and my wife believed that we were to be a part of a church plant.

We just didn't really know where or when what that was going to be like.

He sent me in the direction of Evolve Church.

We started following him online, and then eventually we had the Zantigu family over for dinner.

Since finding Jesus in Evolve, my life has grown immensely.

Through the good and the bad, I believe God has a plan for my life.

And I honestly don't always know what that means, but I know he's got a good plan.

Our family is stronger than it's ever been.

My relationship with my wife is better than it's ever been, and I owe that a lot to my relationship with Jesus.

I'm now a leader in the church, and I love every minute of it.

I love sharing and enjoying the story of Jesus with everyone we meet, and I know he has a plan for my life.

We celebrate and honor that Evolve has become this beautiful family, this beautiful home for so many people, for so many lives.

It's become home, it's become family.

We love that language, we love that culture.

Today I want to look at Hebrews chapter 10, a few verses there, as we take some time together to talk about your purpose.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Um, so Hebrews 10, 19 to 25, here's what it says.

And now, now we are brothers and sisters in God's family because of the blood of Jesus.

And he welcomes us to come right into the most holy sanctuary in the new heavenly realm, boldly and with no hesitation.

For he has dedicated a new life-giving way for us to approach God.

For just as the veil was torn into, Jesus' body was torn open to give us free and fresh access to him, to God the Father.

Verse 21.

And since we now have a magnificent king priest to welcome us into God's house, we come closer to God and approach him with an open heart, fully convinced by faith that nothing will keep us at a distance from him.

For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity, and we've been freed from an accusing conscience, and now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out.

So now we must cling tightly to the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises.

Verse 24 discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them towards acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as an expression of love.

This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing, or has, or as COVID has forced us to do, because we need each other.

In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage, eager to urge each other onward as we anticipate the day of dawning.

Hebrews 10, 19 to 25.

Today's big question: what new thing does God desire to draw out of your purpose to help others to come home to family and to make room for all humanity?

For some listening right now, God the Father needs to rework, rewire, and redeem what you believe to be true about family.

Somebody listening to this conversation right now, even hearing the word family, leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

God wants to rework, rewire, and redeem your view of family so that you can begin to thrive as a meaningful part of his family.

You will never step into your purpose as a son or daughter, building Jesus' church connected to God the Father in this beautiful thing called family.

You will never discover your purpose if you don't allow Holy Spirit to redeem, rework, and rewire your view of what family is.

When I say family, it immediately pulls up memories and feelings attached to whatever your paradigm of family is.

For many, when I say family, you think pain, hurt, shame, embarrassment, brokenness, rage, disappointment, anxiety, sadness, indifference, emptiness.

You will never fully grasp God's heart for his church until you allow God's spirit to restore and redeem and rework your understanding of family.

At the heart of God for creating people has always been a meaningful expression of this thing called family.

Hebrews 10, 19.

And now we are brothers and sisters in God's family because of Jesus.

Jesus made that possible.

The narrative of God's people has and always will include powerful imagery of sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, generations, and beyond.

The picture of church all throughout the Bible is family.

Psalm 68, verse 5 and 6.

Psalms 68:5

To the fatherless, he is a father.

To the widow, he's a champion friend.

To the lonely, he makes them part of a family.

And to the prisoners, he leads them into prosperity until they sing for joy.

This is our holy God in his holy place.

A clear and powerful picture of who God is today, even more so because of Jesus, Jesus bringing us into real relationship with the Father as sons and daughters.

But God has always been a father to the fatherless, a friend to the widow, creating family for those who are lonely and setting captives free.

And in a colossal display of putting his money where his mouth is, God even placed Jesus, his own son, into a broken, human, foster care, adoptive situation as his best and final plan for restoring humanity, for bringing life back to his family.

So what new thing does God desire to do in us and to draw out of our purpose to help others to come home to the family and to make room for all humanity.

Okay.

All right, family, let's get into it.

You are a son or a daughter of our faithful father.

You are.

Not will be, not was, you are.

You are a son, a daughter of our faithful father.

Not distant and removed, not kind of working on it, the present tense, because of Jesus, your family.

You are a son, you are a daughter, you are finished, complete.

So as you invite God's spirit into this moment, wherever you're watching from today, ask, ask God for an honest ability to look at the questions I'm gonna ask today and look at them personally and with vulnerability.

And to all the note takers, I want you to write these questions down.

And I want you to pray into this week, pray into these questions with some quiet time, with some journaling, as you examine your heart and what you believe to be true about your purpose in your place, connected to family, and inviting other people to experience what we have.

So, number one, at what point does a family member hold value and qualify as family?

At what point?

This might be your first time at Evolve Online today, and you're like, okay, he's not talking to me.

I'm brand new.

I'm not even sure where I fit.

So at what point does somebody become a family member?

The answer is simple.

It's now.

It's right now.

Ask any brand new parent.

Right?

When that life is, before it's even presented itself outside of the womb, that life is valuable and very much a part of family.

The moment that son or daughter is being creatively fashioned and formed inside, they're all in when it comes to family.

Whether or not you believe in Jesus and see yourself as a part of God's church, his family, the moment you were being creatively formed, God declared you his own, all in, his son, his daughter.

You can't earn that.

You don't need to.

Jesus paid for it, makes it possible.

So at what point in my parenting journey, or to all the other moms and dads watching today, at what point did you feel qualified to not only be a parent, but begin sharing the wisdom, some of the things you'd learn with others who were brand new to parenting?

Hebrews 10, 21.

And since we now have a magnificent king priest to welcome us into God's house, we come closer to God and approach him with an open heart, fully convinced by faith that nothing will keep us at a distance from him.

Is your heart open today?

Fully convinced that nothing is keeping you at a distance from your father?

I hope so.

And if not, then I sure hope these words from Hebrew 10 bring you back to your true north, bring you back from a place of distance to a place of intimacy with the Father.

You hold tremendous value as a daughter, as a son.

You qualify as family in God's eyes.

You do.

So now here's where it gets personal.

You can ask, at what point does a family member hold value and qualify?

And the answer is right now, but that still leaves you with an ability to walk away unchanged today, unaffected by that truth.

So we have to flip it.

I want to dig a little deeper.

At what point do I hold value and qualify as family in God's eyes?

And the answer is right now, right away, Jesus made it possible.

The deeper question is at what point are you gonna realize that your purpose in your life is to help others hold value and qualify as family.

And you need to do it today.

I mean, not this second, but that you need to have this as a priority for your time, for your schedule, and for your purpose.

Not just to live in the surrender of being a son or daughter, but to help other people find that value as well.

God's whispering in the ears, he's whispering in the hearts right now that you, daughter, that you, son, that you hold value, that you qualify as family, and you have the capacity and the purpose to help others see their value in this family, that you do.

Second question: at what point does family stop deserving grace and forgiveness?

The answer is simple.

It's never.

And yet, I know a lot of families that are riddled with bitterness and anger and unforgiveness.

But in God's kingdom, in God's economy, in God's counterculture way, at what point does family stop deserving grace and forgiveness?

The answer is simple.

Never.

You will never stop deserving grace and forgiveness.

The father heart of God for family says that his grace is sufficient, period.

His forgiveness is for this moment, right now.

Even if you messed up 30 minutes before you hit play on this online experience, his mercy is new every single morning for you, for every son and daughter.

In God's unpacking of forgiveness and grace, it's infinite and always and forever.

Hebrews 10, 22, for our hearts have been sprinkled with blood.

Pause.

That sounds kind of gross.

But what that means, our heart, our mind, our will, our emotions have been covered with the sacrifice of Jesus.

Sprinkled with blood sounds kind of creepy, but it's not.

It's a picture, an image of Jesus surrendering and sacrificing his life, paying our price for our hearts, for our redemption.

Our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity, and we have been freed from an accusing conscience.

And now we're clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out.

So now we must cling tightly to the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises.

You will never stop receiving, experiencing, living in the grace and the forgiveness that God has freely given to you.

But here's where it gets personal.

That's beautiful and good, and we can receive that today.

Somebody is feeling already set free by this accusing conscience where you're like, man, God's forgiven me.

I can experience grace as a son, as a daughter.

It's for me today.

But you could experience that and still leave here unchanged.

So what new thing does God want to draw out of your purpose?

Well, here we go.

Let's flip it two different ways.

Yes, I will never stop deserving the grace and the forgiveness.

God's freely given it.

It's mine, it's yours, it's ours, but at what point will I use my purpose to help other people step into grace, step into forgiveness for the first time?

How will I use my life and my experience as a son, your experience as a daughter to be a conduit of grace for other people who are far from Jesus?

And the answer should be never.

It's a part of who you are.

It's a part of who we are as a community to extend life and freedom, to extend his grace and his forgiveness to others.

Answer doesn't change when we flip it and attach it to our purpose.

God's whispering into ears, into hearts today, you, daughter, son, you not only get to experience the fullness of my grace, the full measure of my forgiveness, but you get to be a conduit of grace and freedom for other people.

And third and lastly, at what point does a family member share in carrying the vision and the work and the burden of family?

And by burden, I don't mean like, oh, it's heavy.

I mean there's a job to do, there's work to be done, right?

At what point does a family member share in carrying this vision, in seeing it played out in my time, in my values, in my priorities?

The answer is simple.

As soon as possible, think about it.

At what point do you start teaching your son or your daughter to fold the laundry, set the table, scrub toilets, mow the lawn, care for the younger siblings, and put the trash out?

At what point did you start, if you if all the parents watching, if you're a son or daughter and you haven't had your own kids yet, you probably remember, at what point do you start teaching your kids to contribute and to roll up their sleeves and to build this house that we call home as soon as possible?

That's the answer.

As soon as possible and as soon as it's appropriate.

Hebrews 10, 24, discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them towards, listen to this, toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love.

I gotta tell you, a couple weeks ago, Nicole and I were on a Zoom call with some of our leaders, and we had this profound emotional moment where we're like, dear God, these people are carrying in the vision of this house.

They are working in such a way that they're expressing their love for others through beautiful actions, through acts of service, through volunteering.

I think of even right now, as I'm recording this message, I've got Jace in the other room, color correcting some video footage.

I've got Cale, you can't see him, but he's right here with me, giving up his evening to be here to help capture audio and video.

Beautiful works.

Why?

So that we can share the hope that we have with other people.

My goodness.

Two years ago, all these people we call family today, we didn't even know them.

We just met them.

And here we are, serving, building church together, laboring, serving, sharing in, carrying the vision and the joy and the work, the burden of this beautiful thing called family.

Hebrews 10, discover creative ways to encourage, to motivate, doing beautiful works.

And here's what it says: this is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing, because we need each other.

We're better together.

In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and eager to urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.

It's one of the beautiful tensions about family.

Everyone can contribute, and everyone should.

Everyone should take part in this beautiful thing called family.

Your purpose connected to the mission of Jesus.

Jesus is building his church and he's using family to do it.

He's using imperfect, broken, hurting, separated, but brought together under the banner of Christ and the grace and the forgiveness and the identity of sons and daughters.

He's using us to build something beautiful, but not just for ourselves.

It is to draw others into family.

For all humanity to find home and to find belonging.

Come on.

Here's where it's going to get personal, though.

You can say, you know, at what point does a family member share in carrying the vision, carrying this thing called family?

The answer is as soon as possible, as soon as it's appropriate.

But you could still leave here unchanged and unaffected by the truth.

So we flip it.

Come on, here we go.

At what point do I share in carrying the vision and burden of family as soon as possible?

At what point do I discover my purpose to lean in and serve, but to invite others into carrying the load.

As soon as possible.

That's the answer.

The answer doesn't change.

The revealed and simple truth doesn't change.

Your family.

Not will be one day, not used to be but aren't anymore.

You are family.

And as you step into this understanding of being a son, being a daughter, as you live out daily the grace and the forgiveness, as you choose to roll up your sleeves and attach your purpose to the family to get involved, then guess what?

You also find a place where you get to pull other people into discovering their worth and their value as sons and daughters.

You get to draw others, other beautiful human beings, into the grace and the forgiveness that Jesus so freely gave.

And you get to use your purpose to pull other people into standing with us, setting bigger tables, creating larger rooms, setting up more chairs.

Why?

So that we can gather together, encourage each other on, grow in the sense of family, and then live out our purpose in this beautiful world we call home.

You have something to contribute.

You do.

Not because it's a law, but because you can, and you you can share in carrying the vision and the and the gift of this thing called family.

God places hurting, wounded, broken, orphaned, widowed, fatherless, and captive people not into an institution or a religion or an organization or a not-for-profit.

He places them into family.

So this next month, as we gear up, as we come home, don't just attend in person.

Live as family.

Live as a son and daughter.

Live with your life riddled and marked and changed by the grace and the forgiveness.

Live with a sense of vitality and purpose on mission.

Serve as a part of a small group.

Open up your life with vulnerability in relationship to others.

Get serving and volunteering on a team somewhere.

Come be a part of this thing.

We'd love to pull you into teams and helping serve.

Help us love and serve our city.

Help us live on point, on mission for Jesus.

Today's big question: What new thing does God desire to draw out of your purpose to help others to come home to family and to make room for all humanity?

As part of God's family, living out the mission of church in this coming home season, we all hold value.

We all qualify as family.

We all will never stop experiencing his grace and forgiveness.

And we will all share the load in carrying the vision and the work of building this thing called church.

So invite Holy Spirit today to help show you which one of these things can you respond to, which one of these things can you take a step forward in.

I pray in Jesus' name that God's voice will be clear as we continue to dream and plan, make room for more in coming home.

Listen, if you're watching today and you've never made a decision to receive the grace and forgiveness of Jesus and step into relationship with God, the Bible's made it so clear that when you believe it in your heart and speak it with your mouth, a miracle takes place and God does the heavy lifting.

And so we want to pray a simple prayer with everybody watching today.

You desire community, you desire relationship with others, you desire right standing with God, right relationship with God.

You want to step into this relationship as son, as daughter?

Would you pray a simple prayer with me?

Just repeat after me.

Say, dear God, today I call you father.

I choose to accept the grace and forgiveness that Jesus made possible.

I walk into this new relationship as a son, as a daughter, forgive me, restore me, renew me.

I'm yours today.

Every part in Jesus' name.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurchO.com.

We hope to see you soon.