What Changed? | Pastor Brandon Beals | Venture Church

That they teach you when it comes to growing as

a leader. They always say you just need to get

in the room with certain people. You need to get

in the room. The same thing applies to us with

our spiritual lives, that something happens. Now we know theologically

that Jesus is every that God is everywhere, that he's omnipresent,

but something happens when we gather together corporately in worship.

There is this keen sense inside of us that wow,

something's different here. And it's this idea that Jesus is

in the room, his spirit is present in the room.

And there are some of you.

You came to church today and this was a rough week.

Maybe you're still looking for a job, maybe just got

a bad report from a doctor. Maybe there's challenges in

your marriage. Maybe you're worried about your kids. But there's

been a lot of heaviness in your life. And you

come into this place and you just sense it's something

different here, and sometimes you just need to get in

the room with Jesus. And I want to pray for

you right now. If you're here, close your eyes, if

you're here, and you would say, hey, Brandon, man, I

really need man I need the Holy Spirit to come

into my life, touch me, heal me, give me faith,

restore my marriage, get my kids, whatever it is. If

you're here and you need something significant from Jesus, raise

your hand.

Lord.

You know every story, you know every tear that has

been shed, You know what every person in this place

is facing at this moment. And now, Lord, I want

to pray that your spirit would flow through this place,

that you would begin to heal, that you would begin

to restore hearts. Lord, I pray that bitterness would go away,

that unforgiveness would go away. God, I pray that faith

would well up in the side of every person that's here.

They might have come in doubting, but I pray they

leave full of faith, believing you for the impossible. And now, Lord,

I ask that you would touch every person that's here.

They would know that they have entered in to.

The House of God today, that every one of us

would leave thankful that we met Jesus today. In Jesus' name,

I pray, Amen, keep standing. I want to ask every

one of you to repeat this prayer after me. Everyone say,

Dear Jesus, speak to my heart, change my life in

Jesus' name. Amen, you can go ahead and grab a seat.

I know the service order is a little bit different.

It's can be a little bit different for the next

month and a half. Uh, we're testing some things. And

by the way, it's flowed a lot better this service

than it did the first service.

So you're.

You missed it if you weren't in the first service.

I told you last week that we have had some adjustments,

some transitions on our team. I shared with you last

week that Pastor Christian Lenback has accepted the position at

Northwest University as the Diana Ministry. We're excited for him.

We're excited to continue the partnership that venture has with

Northwest University in Kirkland. Now you might have missed this,

but Christian is still going to be on staff, but

just on a part time basis. You'll see him on Sunday.

He's on vacation. That's the reason you don't see him today.

But Christian will still be around. In the next several weeks,

we'll talk more about what Christian's new role is.

But I told you last week.

That all of these adjustments and changes that have happened

that we have already replaced and hired those positions. So

Christian's role the new exec pastors started this week. He

is here with us today and I'm excited to introduce

you to Tyrone and Amy Rinta.

Stand up right there. They are.

Longtime friends of mine and dies years ago, like several

buildings ago, they were on staff as the youth pastors

at Venture in our journey, and they have been senior

pastors at a couple different churches over the last twelve years.

In the weeks and months to come, you'll get lots

of opportunity to get to know Tyrone and Amy. They're amazing,

their family is incredible. You're gonna love their kids, and

they're gonna be a huge blessing to our church. And

as I shared last week, you know, transition and change

is super hard for a lot of people.

And instead of.

Being sad that people's jobs are changing because Christian is

still here and Kaylawney is still here, be excited that

you get a love new people. So that's what I

want to challenge you to do. Tyrone and am You'll

be hanging out in the lobby afterwards, overwhelm them with

love and welcome them to Venture. We will introduce our

new Junior high pastor next week I'm preaching next week.

You get to hear that next week. So there you go.

Got to give you reasons to come back in the summer.

By the way, we changed our service times in the

summer to nine and ten forty five. I bet we're

gonna We're gonna we're changing back on August twenty third,

and people still aren't going to know the new service

times leading up to that. It's just it's great, but

I'm sorry if you came early or if you're late,

and all the people that stroll in at eleven thirty

right as we're going into the altar call, they'll be

really late. But there you go.

Can you think of someone in.

Your life that you knew previously, didn't see maybe ten

twenty years and ten twenty years later, they're a totally

different person and you look at them now and you think,

what happened to this person? How did they change this dramatically?

Maybe it was.

The person You went to high school with them and

there was no chance that you would have ever said

this person is the most likely to succeed. I mean,

they were like the high school screw up class clown.

Didn't do well in school.

You thought, I just hope this guy is able to

find a job someday. And then you show up at

a reunion twenty years later and they're like incredibly successful

doctor in front of their name, their lawyer, you know whatever,

and you want to ask them what happened to you?

What changed?

I didn't see this coming some of you here, you

are the what happened person. People knew you a long

time ago and they thought, I hope they survive and

they see you now and they're like, I don't get it,

but something happened.

So what happened? What changed?

I want to tell you the story about one of

jesus first disciples and the dramatic change that we see

in this person's life.

Many of you, if you're.

Asked of all of Jesus' disciples, which one do you

relate to the most. Most people will say Peter. We

say Peter because Peter.

Was far from from perfect.

Here are things that we know about Peter. Of all

the twelve disciples. Peter was the oldest, you know, he

was that early thirties guy hanging out with all the teenagers.

Peter was married, and we relate to Peter because.

Peter was rough around the edges.

Peter was brash, arrogant, he had narcissistic tendencies. Peter was

incredibly impulsive. There is this moment where Peter is with

Jesus and the other disciples. We read about it. You

can turn there. It's Matthew chapter sixteen. This was Peter

at his best moment. And explain this in.

The first service.

And got a question from somebody, so I have a

little bit more time, so I'll explain this a little

bit more.

Here's the setting.

The disciples and Jesus are in cesarea. So there's two

different cesareas in Israel. There's cesarea by the sea, and

they's cesarea up north. This is the cesarea up north.

And in this cesarea there was an area that was

a cave that inside of this cave, the Assyrians believed

that this was the gate of Hell, and they referred

to this as the gates of Hell. And Jesus was

teaching his disciples near what people believed was the gate

of Hell. And Jesus said, who do people say I am?

And they were saying, some say you're a prophet, some

say you're a teacher, and then Jesus says, well, who

do you say.

That I am?

And Peter said, in a moment of clarity for Peter,

in one of those moments when he was doing well,

he says, you're the Messiah, you are the Promised One.

And this is Jesus' response to Peter. Now you gotta

understand the setting. So remember there's this huge cave. And

by the way, if you ever do an Israel trip,

we'll take you here.

You'll see this setting.

It will make this passage come alive and bring a

lot of understanding to it. But so Jesus is there

and he says, blessed you Simon's son of Jonah. Basically,

blessed you, Peter, for this was not revealed to you

by flesh and blood, but by my father in Heaven.

And I tell you.

Are, Peter.

And on this rock I'll build my church. And you

can get the image that Jesus pointed at this cave

and said, the gates of Hell. Remember the people believed

this urban legend. They were afraid, and he said, the

gates of Hell will not prevail against it.

This was Peter at his best.

Jesus is whatever your interpretation is of that passage, Jesus

is implying that Peter, that you are going to be

the foundation of the church. In the way that this

New Testament works, you see the ministry of Jesus, it's

handed off to the ministry of the apostles. Then the

apostles hand the ministry off to us the church. That

was always the intent that we would be a part

of this journey of carrying on the ministry of Jesus.

Catholics believe that Peter.

This is the moment Peter became the first Pope. Now

I want to be clear, I'm not telling you you.

Should be Catholic. Was the question I got asked.

So, if you understand the whole thing in context, that's

what it was. But this was a moment where you

saw Peter at his best, you saw what he could be.

It was like Jesus was saying, Peter, you have the

potential to be this. My basketball coach in high school

always talked about potential.

He would say, you have potential. You're your potential.

You probably had somebody say that to you before. You

have potential to be really successful in this career.

You have potential to be a leader.

And at first when my coach would say, you have potential.

Made me feel awesome, and then he.

Would pause and he would define potential. He'd say, you

know what potential means, means you haven't done anything yet.

So Jesus was saying, Peter, you have some potential. But

the problem for Peter, and maybe it's why we relate

to him, as Peter was his own worst enemy. Peter

kept putting his foot in his mouth. Peter was one

of those guys that would take two steps forward and

then he wouldn't take one step back.

He'd take two steps forward.

And he would sprint all the way back past the

starting line. I mean, Peter was the epitome of a

screw up. It wasn't even a couple months later interesting

because it's only six verses later in your Bible. So

if you go to verse twenty three, here's what's happening next.

Jesus another setting. So over here he's saying, Peter, you

got some potential. And in a short time later, Jesus

is telling his disciples, Hey, here's what's gonna happen. I'm

gonna get arrested, I'm gonna go through a trial, and

I'm gonna get sentenced to death.

Then I'm gonna.

Die, but three days later I'm gonna rise from the grave.

So here's what Peter does in the middle of this.

Remember a few weeks beforehand, he said, oh, you're the Messiah,

You're the one that has been promised to the.

People of Israel.

And here, Peter, here's this from Jesus, and he pulls

Jesus aside to correct him. Peter has the audacity to

rebuke God. I think you could say Peter was getting

a little bit too familiar. Peter got a little bit

too cocky about his own leadership and his own influence.

And uh, this is what Jesus says to Peter in

that moment, verse twenty three. So it's after Peter corrected Jesus,

Jesus turned and he says to Peter, get behind me, Satan.

He calls him the devil. And then listen to this.

He says, you are a stumbling block to me, Peter.

I'm God, I'm the Messiah, and you are a bad

influence on me yet alone these other guys. And then

he says, you don't have in mind the concerns of God.

You only have human concerns.

He said Peter.

You're you're more concerned about what other people think. You

don't have like a spiritual perspective on life. You only

see life through your fleshly worldly eyes. You're more worried

about optics with your friends than you are the things

of God.

Get behind me, Satan.

I mean, it's pretty bad if Jesus says you're like

the devil. Well, several months later, about four months.

This is the screw up that we most know Peter four.

It's Peter's most famous mistake.

We know it. He denies Jesus three times.

The interesting thing about the story of Peter's big screw

up is it's in all four gospels. So many times

there's a story, and it's in two of the four gospels,

three of the four.

Maybe it's in one of the four.

But this epic screw up was so known by everyone

that it was front and center in all four gospels.

Now there is a slight nuance, slight difference in the

story and each one of the gospels, but they all

agree on this. When Jesus needed Peter the most, when

he needed his friends the most, Peter wasn't there.

Here's what happened.

Jesus gets arrested, he gets tried, and he gets sentenced

to death. Now, this all happened in a very short

period of time, like about eight hours, and there was

a crowd that was following behind.

This whole procedure. It was like they were far.

Enough away to be disassociated from him, but close enough

to hear what was happening. And then beside them was

another group of people that could see what was happening

but didn't want there to be any connection that maybe

they would be seen as someone associated with Jesus. Peter

was in that crew. So while all this is going on,

Peter is near. And this is Matthews's version, and I'm

gonna read Matthew's version because it's the most.

Concise n it says this.

Now, Peter was sitting out verse sixty nine of chapter

twenty six. A servant girl came up to him. So remember,

so all this is happening to Jesus, there's this crowd

up here, and there's a crowd back here, and that's

the crowd that Peter's in.

And a servant girl.

Comes up to him and he said, Hey, you were

with Jesus in Galilee.

I recognize you.

But Peter denied it before them, and he said, I

don't know.

What you're talking about. Then a little bit later.

He went to the gateway where another servant girl saw

him and said to the people there, this guy he

was with Jesus of Nazareth. Peter denied it again with

an oath. He said, I don't know the man. Literally,

he's like I swear upon the Bible that was not

written yet that I don't know who this guy is.

I've never even heard his name. Jesus, who is that?

Then a little bit later, while those were standing there

went up to Peter and they said, surely you're one

of his followers.

Your act gives you away.

This time Peter had had it.

What does Peter do?

Peter all of a sudden says, all right, No, everybody's

arguing with me. Everybody keeps saying I'm a follower of Jesus.

It says that he called down curses on this person. Interestingly,

we find out who this person was. This was a

servant girl of the high priest. So imagine like a

twelve thirteen year old says, wait a second, I recognize

your accent.

You must have been a follower of.

Jesus too, and Jesus crosses the girl out like he's like,

I don't even know what to say, and so Jesus.

So Peter starts dropping f bombs on.

This little girl to shut her up.

Now, I always say this, I don't cuss. I'm not

like you know, the cool cussing pastors, and I know that,

like I'm a Christian, but I swear I know that,

like those tiktoks and things whatever. Here's what I always say.

People cuss because their mind isn't sharp enough to think

of something else to say in that moment that was free.

So in the moment Peter gets confronted by the servant girl,

he doesn't know how else to.

Get out of it, so he just starts cussing her out.

That's Peter.

Fast forward fifty three days later, turn to Acts two.

I want to give you the setting of what this is.

Jerusalem was smack in the middle of a festival that

they'd been celebrating for several thousand years. It's the festival

of chavous at chavou Oat. I got corrected on how

to pronounce it after the first service, but let's just

go with it. I'm the one with a doctorate.

You're not, So we're just gonna pretend.

I know what I'm talking about. This is the Festival of.

Weeks and it's happening in Jerusalem.

It's one of three pilgrimage festivals where Jewish people from

all over the nations around the world come to Jerusalem

to celebrate and worship. So imagine many nations, many languages

have come.

So what is this festival.

It was the harvest festival, the harvest celebration. At the

very beginning of the harvest, people from all over would

come to Jerusalem to present their first fruits offering as

a sign of gratitude to God. It is saying we

thank you for the harvest, and it's also faith that

God is going to continue to provide a bountiful harvest

for the future.

People from all over.

Would come to honor God in this way. They estimate

that in the first century, about two hundred thousand people

would have been in Jerusalem. Now imagine there was about

one hundred thousand residents, so twice the population would show

up to celebrate this festival. Imagine, I get the image

that like people are like, it's really too crazy. During

the chavahut, chavu at, I don't know how you pronounce it, festival.

So they're thinking, I just want to get.

Out of town.

So I'm going to rent out my house, put it

up on Airbnb, let somebody stay there.

I'm going to go into it.

Just think in terms of when those events happened. Think

the World Cup in Seattle. You know how bonkers it was.

And this festival was such a big deal that people

from other nations that weren't Jewish would come to Jerusalem

because it was a bucket list thing to witness.

They wanted to see it.

Can you think of those festivals in other countries that

you think, someday.

I would love to see this.

It'd be really cool to be in Spain when the

bulls are rushing down, or to be in Germany during Octoberfest,

or whatever you.

Would want to do.

It was like that, So people from all over the

world had come to Jerusalem. The city was buzzing with

excitement and anticipation, worship, joy, celebration, thanksgiving, all of the

above is going on there. Some of you are thinking,

I thought this was the day of Pentecost. Well, it's

called Pentecost in the Greek. Remember, the Bible eventually got

translated from Hebrew into Greek, and the word Pentecost in

Greek means fifty And that is because the Pentecost festival

happened seven weeks after Passover forty nine days. Fifty days

means Pentecost. So this festival had been celebrated for thousands

of years. A couple hundred thousand people are there. And

now we come back to Peter again, and I want

to ask you what happened to Peter? I mean, a

couple months before he denies knowing Jesus, three months before

Jesus is so frustrated with him. He says, You're not

only a bad influence on them, You're a bad influence

on me. And I'm God and he calls him the devil.

What happened to Peter?

What changed?

Acts two tells the story of the first sermon that

Peter ever preached. Remember, this is the same guy who

wouldn't admit he knew who Jesus was to a servant girl.

This is the same guy who denied knowing Jesus to

a group of guys around a campfire. And now he

stands up and he's preaching in front of thousands of

people in Jerusalem, right outside of the temple where it

was the center of activity. Now, when we think street preachers,

we think those guys that's set up in front of

mariners games that embarrass us that we're always thinking, Yeah,

like if we're there with a friend, we're like, yeah,

I'm a Christian, but I'm not that Christian. You know,

we don't like they mean well, you know, we're always

hoping they're not there embarrassing us. So in the first century,

this was a normal setting, Like you would stand up,

try to get the attention of the crowd, and people

would stop. If they're interested, they would turn and listen.

So this thousands of people are there and Peter's their attention.

Hey, I want to tell you guys something. And he begins.

To share the story of God's blessing for the people

of Israel throughout history, God's provision to them, and he

culminates the story by saying, all of history culminates in

the person of Jesus. He said, Jesus is the pinnacle

of human history. These are the very streets that just

fifty days before Jesus was crucified at and now he's

standing up saying this Jesus was the culmination of human history.

What happened to Peter? What changed?

Something must have happened to take a guy who wouldn't

even admit he knew who Jesus was. Something had to

have changed to take a guy who cussed out a

junior high school girl.

That now he's willing to stand up in front.

Of thousands of people where everybody just remembered what just happened.

Here's what he said, Acts Chapter two. This is the

end of his sermon. He says, therefore, let all of

Israel be assured of this.

God.

This God who has provided and protected Israel throughout history

made Jesus. That in itself was a pretty provocative thing

to say.

But then this new Peter. Here's what he says.

He says, Oh, and you killed him?

What changed? Who is this guy? What happened?

The crowd was glued to every word, thousands of them.

The Bible says this was their response. When the people

heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they

said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall

we do? What does it mean that they were cut

to the heart? It means the words so penetrated the

hardness of their heart that all of their doubts were

pushed aside, that in that moment, it cut through their

church hurt. It cut through all their religious baggage, all

their church traditions, it.

Cut through all their hate.

It cut through everything, pierced to the heart, and the

message began to penetrate it, and they said, we've got.

To do something with this.

Man, I can't just hear this and not do something

about But have you ever been to a service where

the message so penetrated all the walls that you'd built

up before you came in that you thought, I have

got to do something. I cannot just hear this and

leave and go to a zool for lunch, like I

have to do something. One of the favorite conversations I

have whenever we do discover one on one discover venture,

it's all the new people in the church. And my

staff that goes will tell you this happens every single time.

Someone will come up and they'll say, man, there was

this sermon that you preached three weeks ago. The whole

time you were looking at.

Me, I preached.

There's like five to eight hundred people. When I speak,

there's lights on me that are blinding me. You are

like a blur of peace people out there. And he said,

it's like you were preaching right to me.

And I wondered, did my.

Did my wife talk to you this week about what

was going on in my life?

That's what happens.

When the spirit of God through the proclaimed Word cuts

to the heart of your life. It is as if

in a crowd of people, you were the only one

there and it is the preacher speaking to you. Imagine

that with this crowd of thousands, and they were like,

what do we do with this? And Peter, who just

finished preaching his first sermon, now preaches his first alter call.

What happened to Peter?

What changed?

Peter says this verse thirty eight, repent and beat back,

tied every one of you in the name of Jesus

for the forgiveness of sins.

I love it.

He says, now that Jesus that you crucified, repentant, be

baptized in his name so that your sins will be forgiven.

And now we get a hint at what changed. And

he said, and you will receive the gift of the

Holy Spirit.

There it is. There's what happened there's what was different. Now.

I have many different teachings that I do on this,

but I want to say this. Peter, when he was

following Jesus was firmly saved.

He was a follower of Jesus. He was saved. But

this is a.

Different Peter because after he got saved, there was another

event that happened in his life that fully changed him,

and that was him being filled with the Holy Spirit.

And Peter says this. He says, all right, here it is.

This is the promise for you. He said, it's not

just for us, this is for you. It's for your children.

And then he said, and it's for all who are

far off. Who are those that are far off? I

think it's safe to say that's us. Like we weren't

there two thousand years ago when all this happened, so

we're a bit far off. But this same promise is

for you and I too. Here's the cool thing. Peter

is different. You can't argue it. Even the biggest skeptics

on the move of the Holy Spirit in the room

cannot argue that a guy who wouldn't stand up for

Jesus innocently with a group of people around a campfire,

professing the name of Jesus in front of thousands, where

now he is speaking in such a way that it

is penetrating the heart of every listener is a different person.

I like to describe it this way. I'll use some words.

The Holy Spirit gives you. This a church word. You

probably heard it before.

It gives you unction. Unction.

That's like a word you don't use a normal life.

You only hear it at church. What does unction mean?

It is describing what I call the I can't help it.

There is this moment you.

Just think, I gotta talk to that person.

I gotta invite that person to church.

I gotta pray for that person, like I cannot leave

until I do that. Because the Holy Spirit is welled

up inside of you and said, go. You get this

unction from the Spirit that you have to do something

the other thing that the Holy Spirit does. You are

now seeing the difference from somebody who went to your

high school and gave an assembly speech versus an anointed

preacher sharing the gospel. You see, the anointing comes from

the Holy Spirit. I've defined it to you many times,

but here's how I define the anointing. I define it

as a spirit filled person gets super natural favor from God,

anointing to accomplish the task that God has called him

to or her to.

For some of you, that is, you make planes at Boeing.

You are gifted by God, called by God to work

at Boeing. I always joke I want the person that

is anointed by Jesus to build planes, building the plane

that I'm flying on. Some of you, you work at

Microsoft and you are anointed by God to work there.

You can't figure out. I don't know why.

I just have favor with my boss because you're anointed

to do it. You're anointed to be a computer programmer,

a project manager, software engineer. That is what happens when

you are filled with the spirit. You get unction, you

get anointing. Last week, Pastor Eileen did a great job

explaining who is the Holy Spirit, what is the person

of the Holy Spirit, What is the purpose of the

Holy Spirit. I just want to tell you that if

you will put yourself in a position that says, if

there's more of God to have, there's more of God.

I want the Holy Spirit. This might be a mystery

to me.

I don't understand it, but I cannot deny that this

guy would have been voted least likely to succeed in

high school, and now.

He is the foundation of the church. Something happened.

Here's the crazy part. I love the end result verse

forty one. So Peter says, repent and be baptized, each

one of you in the name of Jesus. Those who

accepted the message that day and were baptized was about

three thousand. That's how the church started. Church started because

someone that is filled by the Holy Spirit had the

unction of the Holy Spirit testify about me. Now, he

preached an anointed message, gave an anointed alter call, and

the church that you and I are a part of

today was birthed in that moment. I think it's safe

to say that if this is a promise for us,

and that's what happened, and that's what changed. We need

that in us. And the coolest part about the Holy

Spirit is this is for us. So I want everybody

by our heads, close your eyes. I want to listen

to me just for a second. Next week, I'm gonna

preach on I'm gonna come up with a group of

I'm gonna bring.

Up some locks.

And these locks are straight. The things that you have

to unlock in your life, to put yourself in a

position to receive the Holy Spirit. And I'm doing that

because of the number of you that I've talked to

that this topic is frustrating to them because you've prayed

for it, you've sought it out, and you feel like

nothing has happened. And I'm gonna talk to you about

putting yourself in a position where you can receive the

Holy Spirit. So we're gonna do that next week, but

this week, I just want to ask you this. If

you were here and you want to happen to you

what happened to Peter with no one looking around, I

want you to raise your hand. Okay, you can put

your hands down. If you were here and you would say,

I even want more of the Holy Spirit in my life.

I want you to raise your hand. All right now,

I got everybody. Everybody's stand up on your feet. I

want you to raise up both your hands, close your eyes,

put yourself in a position to receive.

Lord Jesus.

Right now, I ask that your spirit would flow through

this place. Lord, that you would begin to soften hearts.

That you would begin to.

Cut to the heart of people, and you would fill

them with your spirit. There are some here they have

been seeking after this for years and feel like nothing

has happened.

God, I pray that this month is their month.

What I ask for those that have been filled before,

that you would fill them again.

Lord.

May they sense your presence in their life.

You're anointing in their life.

Lord. Your word says that if we ask, it will

be given to us. Seek and we will find. Knock

in the door will be open.

Lord.

I pray that our attitude for out this month is

if it doesn't happen the first time, I'll ask again,

I'll seek again, I'll knock again. And Lord, I pray

that we start hearing stories in growth groups this week

in the.

Lobby this week of people that.

Say Jesus touched me, Jesus used me, I felt the

presence of God in a supernatural way.

Lord.

That's our desire, that's our heart, that we would have

the same thing happened to us that changed Peter. We

asked you would change us in Jesus' name.

Amen, Amen, if you'll grab a quick seat, I just

want to reference our What's next page. So Brandon has

provided next steps for us, which is a great way

to apply today's message, I specifically want to highlight the

Bible Plan this week. If there are questions you have

or ways you want to grow, you want to learn

more about Peter, about Jesus, building is church on Peter.

All of that is included on our What's Next page.

I'm going to invite our ushers now to come forward

to take today's ties and offerings, which we celebrate. This

is our opportunity to give.

In just a moment.

The buckets will go by if you're in the room,

or you can use the givetab if you're in the room,

or if you're joining us online. But when the buckets

go by, you can place in there any giving you

can't prepared to give, as well as a paper connection

card if you fill that out. Around here, there's two

big categories that we give to. One is our regular

ties and offerings, and that goes to just keep the

mission of Venture up and running here. We also give

towards something called Kingdom Builders. And Kingdom Builders is how

we fund everything that goes outside of our church. So

it's everything from how we support our missionaries, how we

support local missions, local outreach that's happening today down at

Mill Creek in the downtown area. We're a part of

the Mill Creek Festival, just serving our community. It's also

how we fund Next Gen Ministry. And I have Nya

up here. Nya is not but blood related to me,

but she might as well be because she is basically

like my niece.

I'm adopted in.

She's adopted into my family. And this month you probably

don't know this, or maybe you haven't heard. All of

our Kingdom Builders giving in the month of July is

going towards sponsoring kids going to camp Nia. Would you

tell us why kids going to camp is so important?

Yeah?

So, Kingdom Builders they invest in the next generation and

this summer they're helping send venture kids in Venture Youth

to camp and this has the possibility to be life changing.

I know personally it has been for me. So we

just wanted to say thank you for your generosity and

seeing the importance of investing in.

Us just before the buckets pass. This is who we

invest in. Do you know that our staff is full

of people who came up through our Kids in Youth Ministry.

It's important, So thank you for your generosity. Nai. Will

you pray a blessing over the offering?

Yeah, Dear Jesus, we thank you so much for all

the generous hearts in our church. God, we pray that

you would bless everyone, Lord, and you would use their

generosity to build your kingdom forward.

Amen. Amen.

I think when the scripture says that God inhabits the

praises of his people, what happens when we get into

the presence of God is we begin to worship. I

think it's not so much about where God is, it's

about what we see. It's about the You and I

suddenly quld look at it, how big the problem is,

and suddenly we start to see how big our God is.

But let me give you even a little deeper level

of this importance of worship in God's presence, because the

word inhabits the praises of his people literally means to

say down. So in other words, as you and I worship,

it's almost as if by extending our hands by singing

our songs, that we're building a throne, and then God

sits down on that throne.

That's it.

Next Revival Night is coming on August second morning and night.

If you are a youth parent in the house and

you have a kid going to summer camp, there is

a youth parent meeting upstairs right after this service and

before you stand, Luke, Maddie Swamberg, are you in the room,

Stand up, Stand up, Congratulations mister and missus Swanberg. Hey

everyone stand to your feet. If you're near them, give

them a high five. Otherwise, have an awesome day.

We love you.

We'll see you next Sunday.