Ownership | Pastor Morgan Butcher | Venture Church

Hey everybody, this is Pastor Brandon. I want to thank

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from around the world. Thank you for watching. Enjoy the service.

Happy Labor Day, friends. Happy Labor Day weekend. Welcome everybody

joining us online this morning at Venture Church. It's great

to have you here. Man, it is Labor Day weekend.

The Huskies are playing at one, and it is full

in here. Praise the Lord. Come on. If I haven't

met you yet, my name is Morgan. I'm blessed to

be one of the pastors here at our Mill Creek campus.

And it's great to have you here with us this morning.

Everybody doing good? All right. I'll take your word for it.

Take your word for it. Well, this morning, as we

dive in, we are capping our series titled All In.

And in this series, we have been kind of laying

out what we've been referring to as the All In track.

And we've been using an illustration that we started in

week one, and it's just kind of continued to be

brought up all throughout the series. We've been using the

illustration of the rings on your Apple Watch. Who's wearing

an Apple Watch today? Any Apple Watch people? I am

proudly wearing an Apple Watch today. Week one, when I

started this series off, I was a little ashamed to

be wearing an Apple Watch because the Apple Watch that

I had, I purchased on Facebook Marketplace and paid the

person real money and then went home and realized that

what I had paid money for was a woman-sized watch.

And I am not a small person. This is just

how God has made me. But as I wore this

very small watch, I felt, well, I just felt a

little insufficient. And so I actually was wearing a watch

week one that was not charged because I never wore it,

but I needed it for the sermon illustration. But after

I spoke on that Sunday morning, an incredible family from

our church came up to me and they said, Morgan,

you're not going to be ashamed to wear a watch anymore.

We're going to buy you a man's watch. So I

got this baby right here. That feels good. Feels good.

We've been talking about closing the rings on your Apple Watch.

And this illustration that we've been using has been this

reminder that, you know, when you close rings on your

Apple Watch, your Apple Watch will remind you, hey, you

need to get up and start moving. You've got this

many steps to complete. You know, you need to drink

this much water. It has all these different metrics for

you to follow that are helping you to be a

healthier person. But it's not like closing the rings on

the Apple Watch really make you a healthy person magically.

What they're doing is they're reminding you of the kind

of person that you want to be. They're helping you

to reach these goals because as you close these rings,

the thought is that I'm living out being a healthier person. Well, friends,

let's just bring that to our faith as we've been

unrolling this all-in track. You can throw that slide up

on the screen of all of these different things that

we've been talking about. The goal isn't to just check

these boxes. The goal is to evaluate how much I

am really all-in by closing the rings because we believe

that as we close these rings and we step into

what it means to be all-in, it really gives us

an idea of what the rhythms of our life are

actually revealing. about how we are doing as we engage

in God's church. We're not focused on checking boxes. We're

not using this as something that we try to earn

God's love for. That is not what this is about.

We are working to close these rings of engagement that

give us a picture of the rhythms that our life

are already showing. And we're honestly asking ourselves one question,

am I all in? And today, as we put a

cap on this series, I want to talk about one

final piece of this all-in track. I want to talk

about the idea of ownership. Everybody say ownership. Ownership. Other

churches maybe that you've attended before have maybe used words

like membership or membership. Honestly, I can't think of any others.

I think it's probably just membership. I honestly keep on

thinking there might be another one. But probably membership is

what you've heard before. But I really like the word

ownership because it communicates something totally deeper than just having

your name on a list. There's something about the word

ownership that communicates a sense of responsibility. Ownership says, this

matters to me. These people matter to me. This mission

matters to me deeply. For instance, how many of you

are members at Costco? The Costco membership? Man, there's like

levels of membership too. There's like some elitism in the

Costco membership structure. You go in there with that plain

white card and you're like, all right, get in here.

I guess you can come in. You walk in there

with that executive black card, they're like, oh, welcome. You know,

I feel honored guest, right? I'm just one of the

normal people. So actually, I'm not even, this is so bad.

I hope, I use my dad's card. And we're both bald,

so I just don't think they notice and they just

let me in. It's what happens, honestly. But I totally

wasn't going to say that. But if you remember at Costco, man,

I was walking through Costco just a couple days ago,

and I was walking down this aisle, and on the

ground was this shattered glass jar of sauerkraut just everywhere, right? Like,

is there anything worse that could break open, right? I'm

not sure. And I look at that, and I think,

Somebody's got to clean that thing up. What is that doing?

How long has that been sitting there? That is a

membership type of reaction, right? I'm a member here. I

pay my dues to be at this place. Somebody should

clean that up. But what an ownership mentality says is, like,

if that jar of sauerkraut broke open in the home

that you pay a mortgage for, you'd be the first

one over there cleaning up that sauerkraut, right? That is

an ownership mentality. The word ownership, it implies this sense

of responsibility. This place matters to me. And right up front,

I just want to bring some clarification for those of

you here. Becoming an owner of Venture does not make

you a Christian, okay? It doesn't even make you a

better Christian. And you don't need Venture's permission to go

out and live the Great Commission with your life, amen?

But while that may be true, what I also see

is Scripture encouraging us with a whole different truth. What

I see Scripture encouraging us with is the reality that

you and I were never meant to carry the mission

of Jesus alone. We were meant to do it in community.

And that is really what I want to talk about today.

Ownership is not just about what you are committed to.

Ownership shows who you are committed to. So before we

talk any more about ownership, let's just talk about the

mission that we've been given. Are you guys with me

this morning? Ready to go? Okay. At the end of

the book of Matthew, Jesus gathers his disciples together and

he gives them what we know now as the Great Commission.

Matthew 28, verse 18 through 20, it says this. Jesus

Matthew 28:18–20

came to them and he gathered them and he says,

all authority in heaven and on earth has been given

to me. Everybody say authority. Authority. All authority in heaven

and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go

and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the

name of the Father and the Son and the Holy

Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have

commanded you. Here's what I want us to catch this morning.

Before Jesus tells his disciples what to do, here's what

I want you to catch. He reminds them of who

he is. He's making something very clear. He says, all

authority in heaven and on earth belongs to me. It's mine.

All the authority. And friends, hear me say, this matters

because the Great Commission doesn't begin with our ability. It

doesn't begin with our skill. It doesn't even begin with

our willingness to participate. Do you know what the Great

Commission begins with? It begins with the authority of Jesus Christ.

It's his authority. I know that this is going to

blow some of your minds this morning. You're going to

go home and you're going to look at your spouse

and you're going to be like, Morgan just absolutely ruptured

every brain cell that I have. Okay? This mission that

we read about in Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20,

Matthew 28:18–20

did you know that this mission was not created by

Venture Church? this mission did not originate with a pastor.

It didn't originate with a ministry. It didn't originate with

a church program. Can I tell you what it originated with?

It originated with King Jesus. The king and authority over

heaven and earth. And because he has all authority, hear

me say, he has the authority to give us a mission.

And his mission that he gives to his people is

to go and make disciples. notice what he doesn't say

he doesn't say to the western church come on he

doesn't say go and gather a crowd he doesn't say

to the church go and fill a big room he

says make disciples What is a disciple? A person who

knows Jesus, who follows Jesus, who learns to obey everything

that Jesus commanded and lives that way. The Great Commission

is not Venture's mission that we're asking you to join.

It's Jesus's mission that Venture exists to participate in. It's

the thing that Jesus has asked Venture Church to take

part in doing. The mission is way bigger than this church.

It's way bigger than venture. It's way bigger than our pastors.

It's way bigger than this building. It's way bigger than

our preferences. This thing belongs to King Jesus, amen? This

is his idea. We simply get the privilege of being

a part of it. What an honor. What an honor

that the King of heaven and earth would invite us

to take part in his mission. And that should absolutely

change the way that we think about church. Because a

consumer mentality can slowly creep into almost everything in life.

And a consumer mentality starts to ask questions, starts to

have us ask questions like, what do I like? What

works best for me? What am I getting out of this?

And friends, those are fine questions to ask when you're

considering what to go have for lunch after this. Those

are fine questions to ask when you're figuring out what

subscriptions you want to pay for for streaming platforms, right?

Those are fine questions to ask for those things. But

consumerism becomes incredibly unhealthy when we bring that mentality into

God's church. A consumer mentality in the church asks the question,

what does this church have for me? But where the

mindset of an owner would start asking the question, what

has God entrusted to us? What has he asked me

to take part in caring? There's nothing wrong with finding

a church where you grow, where your kids love to be,

where you have friends and meaningful relationships. Those are all

good things. In fact, I pray that Venture Church is

that place for you and your family. I pray that

all of those things happen here at Venture Church. Those

are good things. But eventually, following Jesus has to move

us beyond the question, what am I getting? And actually

teach us to ask the question, what am I carrying?

What am I carrying? What is my part in this thing?

Because Jesus didn't say, go find a church that you

enjoy going to. He said, go and make disciples. The

mission belongs to all of us. We're all a part

of that mission that Jesus gave. So if the mission

belongs to all of us, the next question we need

to ask is how did Jesus intend for us to

carry it? How did Jesus intend for us to carry

the mission? When you open the book of Acts and

you begin reading, it becomes very clear very quickly what

his idea was. Jesus intended for us to carry his

mission together. Acts 2 gives us this picture of the

earliest followers of Jesus learning what it meant to become

the church. We get this picture of overnight the church

going from 150 people to 3,000 people being baptized. Fastest

growing church in the history of the world. Explosive growth.

Every magazine they just knocked out of the park, right?

They're killing it. When we talked about this at the

beginning of the series... This idea that they're coming together,

it's referenced right at the beginning of the book of Acts,

Acts 2.42. It says this, it says, they devoted themselves.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings and the fellowship

and the breaking of bread and the prayer. And we

have to come back to this language, friends. It's so

important and so vital for what we do in this

space as a gathering of people, as a body of people.

It says that they devoted themselves. They learned together. They

prayed together. They ate together. They shared what they had together.

They met the needs together. And while they were building

this kind of community, it says in verse 47, and

the Lord added to their number daily those who were

being saved. Does anybody desire to see that here at

Venture Church? Come on, man. I desire, man, for the day,

for the days when our church gathers together devoted people

following God's mission. And, man, we can't even get enough

seats in the room. Because Jesus is flooding this place

because God's people were devoted to the mission that he

gave us. People were being baptized and saved by the droves.

The seats were being filled every single week. And here's

what I want you to catch, people. Their commitment to

one another and their commitment to the mission were not

competing priorities. These were not things that were working against

each other. They were connected. Their commitment to one another

and their commitment to the mission that Jesus gave them

was working together in unity. Let me tell you, your

faith is deeply personal. Like it is so uniquely personal

to each and every person in this room. Because at

some point in our life, we're going to have to

choose what we decide about who this Jesus guy is.

We're going to have to make that decision. I can't

live your faith for you. Your spouse can't live your

faith for you. Your family can't live that faith for you.

You can't live your faith off of your parents' faith.

You are going to have to make that decision at

some point in your life. It is deeply personal. Your

faith is personal. But hear me say, it was never

intended to live privately. It was never intended to be private.

Jesus calls individuals. This is what he does from day one.

In fact, let me make a bet. He probably did

it for you. There's probably a moment in your life

that you can look back on, whether it was at

a Sunday service or a youth service or a camp

that you attended, or maybe it was right here in

this room at one point where Jesus called your name

and you knew he was calling you out of the

crowd and you received that gift of salvation. You said, yes, Jesus,

I will follow you with my life. It was a

deeply personal decision. And this is what Jesus does. He

calls the individual and then he begins to form a people.

He takes all the individuals that have been called out

individually because he individually knows you and I at a

deep personal level. And then he calls them in and

forms them into a people. And the early church didn't

just show up for the same 10 a.m. gathering and

then call it a week. They devoted themselves. They devoted themselves.

They belonged to one another. And together they carried the

mission that Jesus had given them. Paul takes that truth

even further in 1 Corinthians 12. He doesn't describe the

church as an event or an audience. Do you know

what he describes it as? He describes it as a body.

He says in verse 21, he says, The eye cannot

say to the hand, I don't need you. And the

head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you.

And then Paul says this in verse 27. He goes

on and he says, Now you are the body of Christ.

Who is you? You! You! Like he's talking about you.

He's talking about me. He's talking about all these individuals

that he has called at one point or another to

begin a relationship with him. And he's forming them into

a people. And he says, you are the body. You

are the body. You're the body of Christ. And each

one of you, individuals who have made a personal decision

to follow him, are part of that body. Paul's picture

of the church is not an audience, it's a body.

How many of you are thankful for the body working

together in unity? I don't know about you, but man,

I am so thankful for the most part this body

is still working in unity. It has its off days.

The head has been looking at the hair saying, where

are you at?

It's fine.

It's fine. I don't know about you, but I mean,

I am eternally grateful that my stomach is working in

unity with the hand. Because your boy likes some food.

And when I'm hungry, I need that hand to receive

that piece of pizza, right? Like I need the thing

working together. And this is the body. The body. And

what he's saying is, look, an audience can fill a

room and it can look really nice, but you know

what an audience does? An audience sits back and it

evaluates what happens. But a body has a role to play.

Hear me say this, church. I don't care who you are.

I don't care how long you've been a Christian. I

don't even care if you haven't made the decision to

follow Christ yet. I know that God has created you uniquely, individually, specifically,

and you have a role to play on this team.

We need you. The body of Christ desperately needs who

you are, who you have been created to be. And

Paul is saying it's a body working together. It's connected.

And a body carries responsibility for every other part of

the body. That's why there's a difference when we say

things like, yeah, that's the church I attend. And there's

a difference between that and saying, that's my church. There's

a difference. And I don't mean that possessively. We all

know that this church belongs to Jesus, amen? We can

all agree on that. But there is something different about

the word my when it carries responsibilities. Man, I start

thinking about my family. Bro, I mean, my daughter, Brinley,

if that girl gets bullied, I might end up in jail.

There's a sense of responsibility that comes with my, my wife,

my kids, my family, my neighborhood. My church, right? My team.

Go Dawgs.

There's something different when it carries responsibility. What we're really

saying is I have responsibility in that place. I have

responsibility with those people. I am invested there. These people

matter to me. What happens here matters to me. The

mission happening here matters to me. And attendance says, hey, guys, look,

I'm here. But ownership says, you can count on me.

I'm growing. I'm serving. I'm praying. I'm giving. I'm carrying

this with you. Not because I'm trying to earn salvation.

Not because I'm trying to earn this check on the box.

But because I have made a decision. I've decided these

are my people. This is our mission. And I want

to help carry it. Ownership is different when the word

my is attached to it. But here is the thing

about mission, the mission that Jesus gave us. It's that

taking responsibility for my church can never mean caring only

about my church. Let me say that again. Taking responsibility

for my church can never mean caring only about my church.

Jesus will never allow our vision of his kingdom to

become that small and isolated. He just won't. It's incomplete.

Acts 1.8 says this, says you will receive power when

the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be

my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and

to the ends of the earth. From the very beginning,

Jesus himself gave his church a mission that was both,

get this, here and there. It was here and it

was also there. He says, you will be my witnesses

in Jerusalem. And all the people that are standing in

Jerusalem when he's saying this are like, yeah. Yeah, we will, Jesus.

This is my people. This is my town. This is

my city. This is where I'm at. I'm going to

be witnesses to my place. And then he keeps talking.

He says, and you will be my witnesses in Judea

and Samaria. And people are like, whoa. Whoa. Because all

of a sudden it starts to stretch outside of what

is familiar to them. But the mission of Christ is

both here and there. He says it's Jerusalem, but it's

Judea and Samaria where it's going to push your comfort.

And guess what? It's even further than that. It's to

the ends of the world. It's to the places that

you might not even feel like you can reach. Here

means the people that God has placed right in front

of us. It means you and you. And you and

you and you and you online and you and you

and me. Like this is here. But did you know

that here is also more than literally physically here? I

am so grateful for what God has just orchestrated in

my family's life. I don't even know if they recognize

what's happened yet. But for the last seven years of

my life, I've been praying that my family would begin

a relationship with Jesus. And for a long time, I

thought that I was supposed to be the hero of

that story. And God spoke to me one day and

he said, Morgan, what if you're not the hero? But

what if you're a piece of the puzzle? And so

I started praying this prayer that goes something like this. God,

I pray for my family. I pray that you would

put somebody in their life that would know you and

would be able to speak to them about who you

are for their life. And just this last week, I

was brought to tears when I received a text message

from my parents. Because our campus pastors at the Seattle campus,

not Tony and Ariel, but the former campus pastors of

the building that we merged with, Val and Richard McNair,

they met my parents at a garage sale. And somehow

it came up that they were a venture church and

that I was their son. And they exchanged phone numbers.

And Val has made it her personal mission to become

friends with my parents. Now, I don't know what that's

going to mean. But it means that Jesus definitely hears

our prayers. But here's what hear also means. It means

that I have a responsibility to care for not just you,

but I have a responsibility to care for your family.

And you have a responsibility to care for my family.

And we have a responsibility to fight in prayer and

in action for each other's families. It also means that

we have a responsibility to fight for our neighborhood, our workplaces.

our schools, our community, and yes, this place here. Next week,

we're going to celebrate something really, really exciting here at Venture.

We're getting ready to unveil our newly remodeled Kids Lightbearers headquarters. Man,

I am so proud of the work that has been

put towards this project. I'm so proud of our church.

For doing this together. It looks amazing. It was a

lot of work. It was a lot of planning. It

was a lot of hours. But the most exciting thing

that I'm excited for, for you to see in that

space next week. We're going to cut a ribbon. We're

going to let you walk through it. We're going to

let you see it all together. The thing that I'm

most excited about is not the paint on the walls.

It's not the environments. It's not the things that we built.

I love most what the space represents. Because what it

represents is a church full of people who have decided

the next generation matters to us. That's what it represents.

Many of you gave generously so that that space could

become a reality. Many of you have prayed until that

space became a reality. Many of you have put your

hands to work making that space a reality. And people,

for years and years and years, in Jesus' name, amen,

are going to serve in that space. There will be kids,

my kids included, who will walk into those rooms and

encounter Jesus because our church decided those kids are our

responsibility too. And I know that in this room, some

of you gave towards a project, and you don't even

have kids in that space. You gave, and you don't

know any of the kids' names. You gave, and you

have no idea all the kids that will be impacted

in that space. You may never know all the kids

who meet Jesus or the future leader who gets called

into the mission in one of those rooms. But ownership

says this. Ownership says, their story matters to me anyways.

Even when I don't know. Even when I don't have

a single name or a single story to attach to it,

that's what shared responsibility looks like. Paul says it this

way in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 26. He says if

1 Corinthians 12:26

one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Can

we rejoice for what God's doing in our kids' ministry?

Come on, man. I'm excited for the kids that are

going to meet him. I'm excited for the families that

are going to come in and know who he is.

Those are our kids. Their faith matters. Their future matters.

Their families matter. And if we can help create an

environment where another generation can meet Jesus, then we should

want to be a part of that. This is what

ownership does. Ownership expands the circle of people that I

consider my responsibility. And here's what consumerism is always going

to try to do. It's going to try to shrink

our circle down more and more to me and mine.

But friends, hear me say, Jesus will not allow that

to happen to the church. He will always expand it

to my neighbor, my church, my community, the next generation,

and ultimately to the ends of the world. Because he

is not just concerned with here, he is concerned about there.

The Great Commission does not just give a responsibility here,

it also gives us a responsibility there. And I love

that while we have been working on building this Lightbearers

headquarters here, we have also helped bring physical light to

a church in the Dominican Republic. We're doing it here

and we're doing it there. That's the responsibility that Christ

has laid out for us. It's not just about us

doing the thing here. It's about us realizing that it's

so much bigger than just here. And this is one

of the main reasons that Kingdom Builders is so important

to us as a church. It's not just another opportunity

to give. It reminds us that the kingdom of God

is so much bigger than Venture Church. Amen. Amen. Through

Kingdom Builders, we get to invest in local impact. We

get to support global missions. We get to help raise

up the next generation of leaders.

Why?

Because we refuse to believe that our responsibility ends at

the door frames of this church. It's here and it's there.

If people need Jesus, we're going to help them. If

missionaries need to be sent, we're going to support them.

If communities need to be served, we're going to help them.

going to serve them. Or if future leaders need to

be raised up, we want to ask ourselves, how can

we help? You may not be able to go everywhere, friends,

but hear me say, together we can take the gospel

farther than any one of us could alone. And that

brings us back to this question. That I think oftentimes

we ask ourselves when we come to church on a

weekly basis, when we've grown up in church communities and

we start to ask ourselves these kinds of questions of like,

why does ownership matter? Like, can't I just go to

the church and not be an owner? Yes, you can.

In all honesty, you totally can. You can do that.

Paul gives us some helpful language in Philippians chapter 1

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

that I think should shape the way that we rethink

what ownership means. He's writing to a church that he

deeply loves in Philippians chapter 1. And this is what

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

he says in verses 3 through 5. He says, I

thank my God every time I remember you because of

your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

I love that phrase, partnership in the gospel. You know,

because Paul wasn't just grateful that these people attended the

same thing that he was doing. It was more than that.

They had become partners. They prayed, they gave, they served,

they sacrificed, they helped carry the mission together. And friends,

maybe you're here this morning and you've honestly been asking

that question, why does ownership matter? And just hear me say,

that's an okay question to ask. But I would say

ownership matters because it's choosing partnership in the gospel. When

we invite you to become an owner at Venture, we're

not inviting you to partner with a brand name. Dude,

who cares? Who cares about the brand Venture? Who cares

about the merch, right? Who cares about the bumper sticker

that we put on? Who cares? Like that does not matter.

That is not the thing. We are inviting you to

not partner with a brand. We're inviting you to partner

with people in spreading the most important message that has

ever touched the earth. Healthy churches need people who are

willing to take responsibility together. And ownership says this. It says,

you can count on me. Not because I'm perfect. Not

because I'm going to show up every Sunday. Not because

I have every theological question answered. Ownership is not saying,

I have arrived. You know what it's saying? It's saying,

I've decided. I have decided. I've decided that this is

more than a church that I visit. These are the

people that I want to walk and do life with.

I believe in what God is doing here, and I

want to help carry the mission that Jesus has given

all of us, saying, you can count on me. Again,

ownership is not a spiritual status symbol. It's not. But

if venture is the church where God has planted you,

where your family is growing, where you worship, where you're

building relationships, then maybe it's time to move from saying,

I attend venture, to saying, I'm responsible there And if

that's you, I want to just invite you to take

a really simple step this morning. I actually want to

invite you to take out your phone right now. And

on the seat back in front of you, there's that

little tap tag. And when you tap that tag this morning,

it's going to give you a link to sign up

for our ownership class. And maybe you've never decided to

be an owner here. And by tapping that disc, it's

not making you an owner. Don't worry. But it's going

to give you an opportunity to sign up for an

ownership class so that you can continue to ask that question.

Am I ready to learn what ownership means? Am I

ready to take that next step? Maybe you've been here

for seven days. Maybe you've been here for seven weeks,

seven months, seven years. But maybe today the all-in step

that you take is simply moving from this is the

church I attend towards these are my people. These are

my people. Throughout this series, this is really what we've

been asking. Jesus, am I really all in? Am I

all in with you? Am I all in with the

people that you've put around me? Am I all in

with the mission that you've entrusted to us? Because there's

a community of people outside these doors, friends, who desperately

need Jesus. There is another generation coming up behind us

who desperately needs Jesus. There are people around the world

who need Jesus, and none of us can reach all

of them, but all of us can reach more of

them together. Next week, when you walk through that kids

ministry space, man, I hope you see more than just

new paint in a remodeled space. I hope you see

what happens when people decide we will carry this mission together.

People gave, people served, people sacrificed, people prayed, and they

did it because somebody else's child matters. And that's ownership.

It carries us from here to there, from our communities

to the nations and around the world, from generation to next,

because the great commission belongs to all of us. So

maybe the question today is not just simply, do I

go to venture? Maybe there's a better question to ask.

And maybe the question to ask is, am I willing

to help carry what God has entrusted us? These are

my people. This is my mission. And you can count

on me. In fact, just really honestly, as one pastor

on the staff, I want to say that to you

personally today. You are my people. My family loves this place.

You're my people. Our family needs you. And I hope

that you sense a sense of belonging when you say,

these are my people. This is our mission. You can

count on us. And that's an all-in kind of ownership

that I pray that you and I could give our

lives towards. The mission of making Jesus' name famous all

over the world, here and there. Today I want to

pray for us to close our time. Would you just

bow your head and join me in a word of prayer?

Father God, I'm so thankful for this place. so thankful

for the community that you've blessed our family with, and

I'm so thankful that you've invited us to share in

this life together. God, I'm thankful that you not only

ask us and invite us to share in life together

devoted to one another, but God, you invite us to

partner with you in carrying a mission that is so

much bigger than any one of us can carry. But God,

together we can go farther, we can reach more, we

can make your name more famous in and we could

on our own. And so, Father, I pray that you

just speak to our hearts, God. Maybe there's some of

us in this room who have never even considered the

idea of being an owner and having that kind of

ownership mentality. But, God, I pray that maybe if that's

somebody in here, God, that they would just make that

decision today to say, these are my people. This is

my mission. This is my community. And that they would

take up carrying what you've entrusted to us as a body. God,

I thank you for each and every person in this room. God,

I pray that you would use us mightily, God, I

pray that Acts chapter 2 verse over our church, God,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

that because of their devotion, the people would come in droves, God.

People would find you and know you and fall in

love with you, and we wouldn't have enough space in

this dang church building, God. We love you. In Jesus'

mighty name, and everyone said, amen. Amen, amen, amen. Come on,

let's give it up for Pastor Morgan. Let's go.

I was like, Danny, turn the lights off on me.

I'm closed.

Okay.

Okay.

Hey, I want to draw your attention to the What's

Next page and how we can practically apply this deeper

into our lives. I also want to make space for

this morning's tithes and offerings.

Come on. That's something we celebrate here.

We celebrate the opportunity to give because the opportunity to

give is an opportunity to worship. And that's how we extend.

There's two ways that you can give your regular tithe,

but also in Kingdom Builders. Pastor Morgan mentioned this earlier,

but our Lightbearers Project strives to bring not only light

to the Dominican Republic, but also here in Mill Creek.

with the next generation as we invest in future leaders.

And so we're excited for this grand opening that's happening

next week. I want to pray over this gift as

we go out. And then we have a video for

you that we want you guys to watch. But dear Jesus,

we give.

You our time.

We give you our focus. We give you a gift.

And Lord, we trust what you're doing with it. So God,

bless this church. Bless this gift. Let it build up

your body. In your name we pray.

Amen.

Sunday, September 13th, it's Back to Church Sunday.

We have three big things we can't.

Wait to celebrate together.

Our Lightbearers project is finally complete and we cannot wait

to celebrate and show everybody.

Come see for yourself after third service for a tour.

And I'm... Really excited about this brand new series that

we are launching on the 13th through the books of

Ezra and Nehemiah. It's called Ruins to Revival. I bet

many of you can think about times in your life

where it seems like everything has fallen apart. But you're

going to see through this series that God is able

to take these ruins and put it back together again.

and build something beautiful out of it.

It's also Grandparents Day. We can't wait to celebrate and

honor all of our grandparents here at Venture. So whether

you're a grandparent or you're bringing your grandparent, come meet

us under the front awning for Root Beer Floats. You

don't want to miss Back to Church Sunday.

Come on, the video tells no lies.

Next Sunday is going to be a cannot miss Sunday.

As we start this new series through Ezra and Nehemiah,

I'm so excited as we get to this exegetical series.

But also, come be a part of it. If you're

a grandparent, you know a grandparent, bring a grandparent. whatever

extension you can be for a grandparent, root beer floats,

all of that and more. I want to invite you

to stand up on your feet, praying for you guys

as you go out.

Have a blessed day. We'll see you later. Go Huskies,

come on.