We Are Venture: What It Means to Be Missional

I want you to grab your bibles, want you to turn to Matthew chapter five. As you are turning there, I want to remind everyone. Maybe this isn't reminding, maybe it's informing some of you that on August twenty seventh, that evening at six o'clock, we have one of our two owner meetings every year. So one of the things at venture if you become an owner of our church through the discover process, we like to say that our owners get lots of inside information about where the church is going. And this particular owners meeting, we have two important things. Number One, we will be presenting new by laws that they will be available to our owners within the next week week and a half. You'll have an opportunity to review those send the email questions off. But we had to modify and adjust our by laws based upon the Washington Attorney General made some changes for nonprofits, so we have to have our church come in compliance with that. At the same time be able to keep our unique distinctives about us, and our by laws kind of had to be modified for that. So that will be available to you in the next week or so. We'll send an email that shares how you can access that online and review it. But then in addition, at the end of the month, we have so many cool things that we cannot wait to share. There's so many things that the church is about to do, plans that we have to deal with the fact that we're full, even in the middle of the summer. What are we gonna do, parking issues, overflow issues, kids, ministry, space issues. We're going to address and share our plans with all of that. You will not want to miss it six o'clock August twenty seventh. If you are not quite an owner yet, you are welcome to come, and we have a specific area where we'll have our not quite owners sit, just mainly because we have to do that vote, but we do want to invite everyone to come out August six. So I'm good, all right? Matthew, Chapter five, verse thirteen. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father that's in heaven. Everyone by your heads, close your eyes, repeat this prayer after me. Everyone say, dear Jesus, speak to my heart, change my life in Jesus's name. Amen. Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth. Then he said later, you are the light of the world. I know this is rude, and I know this is very not Seattle of us to do something like this. Point at your neighbor and say you point behind you at someone, Say you point at someone in front of you, say you take your finger, point at yourself, and say you you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. In the next few weeks, we are going to look into the culture and the values of this church community. If you've been here for a long time, this is going to be a little refresher course for you. If you're new to venture, you are going to get an idea of who we are and why we do what we do. You see, we are a church that is structured around our values. That our values drive our decisions, they drive our finances, they drive our staffing, they drive the programs that we do in the programs that we don't do, they drive the events that we do, activities that we do, and the ones that we don't participate in. The reason that we don't have an eleven thirty service is because we're all going together to a picnic at Bob's farm to get an idea that's part of our value. One of our values is community. We want to know each other and we live life together. And believe it or not, there's over five hundred people preregistered for that picnic at Bob's, so I'll get done soon, so you can start driving there. But you cannot separate vent your church from our values. When you walk into our lobby, you'll notice that there are these three pillars in our lobby that really hold our roof up. And written on each one of these pillars is a word, and those words are our values. And we did it that way to really illustrate that these are what hold our church together, that what unites us together in the person of Jesus are these three values that we want to embody and if you've ever gone to one oh one, you've heard me make this statement, and it is the church exists for mission. The church exists for mission. The church does not exist so that your kids find friends in the youth ministry. The church does not exist so that there's a safe place for your children in the kids area. The church does not exist so you can find a small group to find people that you can connect with. Those are not the reason the church exists. They're important, but they're secondary to the primary reason the church exists, which is mission. One of the things that I say about Venture Church. If people say, Brandon, what is Venture Church life? Describe Venture Church? Want me to say our church is evangelical, or they want me to say our church is Pentecostal, I always tell them our church is a spirit filled missional church. Now, when I use the word missional or mission, most of us we immediately engage with foreign missions. We get the word mission, it means people that go overseas, people that we send money to support. I would say that that is a very limited perspective of what mission is. While we believe in foreign missions, when we talk about Venture being missional, we are even more so emphasizing the place that we have locally, not just globally. So missional to us here describes that you and I are to live our lives in a missionary lifestyle, so that all the same things that a missionary would do on a foreign field, you and I get that we have to do that here. In fact, I think it's pretty easy to argue twenty years ago America sent missionaries around the world to places that didn't know Jesus. But I think it's pretty easy to argue that one of the greatest mission fields that we have in the world just happens to be in western Washington. That there are less Christians, there are less people that have our faith here by percentage, then there are a lot of countries around the world. So oftentimes we spend our whole life gearing up to go on a short term mission's trip. When I just tell you go into your neighbor's house, go next door, go to the mall, go to a coffee shop. There is equally, if not a greater mission field in your neighborhood, then there is a foreign country. Not that that's not important, but we don't do that at the exclusion of where we live and where we are. Missional means embracing the posture, the thinking, the behaviors, the strategies, the practices of a missionary in order to reach others with the message of the gospel. A missional church is a community of God's people that defines itself and organizes its life around its purpose of being an agent, a representative, a collective of God's people on his mission to the world. That's what it means to be missional. You see, the church lives on mission because Jesus had a mission. I believe that the church is true and authentic organizational value and principle is mission. When a church is on mission, that church becomes Jesus's intent for the church. So I say in one oh one the church exists for mission. I also say in one oh one this not only does the church exist for mission, but you exist for mission. That a missional church has to be full of missional people who aren't content with mission being solely a church based responsibility. And I really hope you got that one. You see, you don't come and become a member at Venture Church. We don't even have membership, we have ownership. The reason we don't have membership is because when you're a member of something and you see trash on the ground, you walk over to people that work there and you say, did you see the garbage on the ground? You should pick that up. But when you're an owner and you see garbage, you have ownership, you pick it up. When you're a member of an organization, you hold your organizational accountable by living according to its mission and values. But when you are an owner in that organization, you hold yourself for living according to that missional value. Every follower of Jesus, let me say it again, you you, every follower of Jesus, should strive to be an agent or a representative of Jesus in every sphere of influence in your life or in our lives. In essence, being a follower of Jesus, being a follower of Jesus in a broken, fallen world that does not see things the way that you see things, that does not ideologically look at the world the same way as you. They don't have the same world view, they don't have the same morals, they don't have the same values. In a world that has increasingly become secular over the last twenty five years, you you are a missionary everywhere you go, every where you live, everywhere you work, where you shop, where you eat, where you buy coffee at, where you frequent, where you sit on airplanes, where you travel to wherever you go. One of the things my wife likes to tell people when she's counseling them and they're talking about all the problems they have and why they want to move or like move on from this relationship or this marriage, she always says, everywhere you go, there you are, Like everywhere you and I go, we are there and we represent Jesus. One of the most cliche things that the church has said for years, and I don't think it's been more true than it is today in America. The you and I might be the only Jesus that our neighbors ever see. We might be the only Gospel that they ever hear. The way we live and neighbor coworkers that you have, you might be the only Gospel they ever see. So the way you interact with your fellow employees, you represent Jesus. I tell everybody that my personal mission statement is that Brandon exists to make Jesus look good, so that everywhere I go, I have to step outside of myself and say, I am kicked that that person cut me off, and Brandon has a way he'd respond to them. When that person's tailgating me and I'm already driving ten miles over the speed limit. I know what's going through Brandon's mind. Slam on my brakes and then I pause and I just say, I drive a big Jeep with a UFC license plate. People figure out who I am. I represent Jesus. Don't do it because in everything we do, we need to make Jesus look good. That's what it means to be missional. Bill Hybels famously stated this, and it's a statement that he said. It's been re quoted. It's so amen worthy, you're ready. Bill Hybels said, it's it's got to be sort of true. The church is the hope of the world. I just think it's totally a wrong statement. Bless Bill Hybels. He had a bigger church than I'll ever passed through my entire life, but he missed the whole point. While it sounds good, while it's super amen worthy, while it makes pastors feel awesome about ourselves, because when you make statements the church is the hope of the world, you don't need the Avengers to save you. You've got me. Forget the Guardians of the Galaxy. Yea god venture, no reason. I don't like the statement the church is the hope of the world. Is it means if you really want to figure stuff out, just buy my book. You really want to figure stuff out, you should go to my seminars and you know, follow me on Instagram or go to the conferences. Bring me into speak and give me a big honorarium. I got it like figured out because I'm a part of the thing that is the hope of the world. I think what it does that statement. It places a massive over emphasis on the messenger. When all can I say, all that matters is the message you never had John the Baptist stand up and say, all right, repent and be baptized, for the Kingdom of God is near. He didn't say I'm the hope of the world. He didn't say my message was the hope of the world. What did you say? He said? When people wanted to worship him, wanted to honor him, he said, when the Messiah comes, man, I'm not even worthy to wear his sandals. Man who I'm talking about? When the Messiah comes, he is so much greater than me that you won't even remember who I am. And in fact, if you remember who I am, then I made a mistake to begin with. Like I would argue to say that overall the messenger, the agency, the organization, the collective that is called by God to share the message that Jesus is the hope of the world. If all people remember is us, we made a mistake. Because Jesus is the hope of the world. We say this all the time at venture, that Jesus is the hope of the world, that the Gospel changed his lives. Why do we preach nine months through the Book of Acts because I want you to learn the Book of Acts. I want you to hear things from the Book of Acts and say, if that is in the Bible and the Bible, is that applicable to the situation that I'm dealing with in my life. Maybe I should study that book more, and maybe you'll open up your Bible and you'll read it more. And I believe that the words of God in his Word, that they will transform your life from the inside out, that the Gospel changes lives. And then finally, I believe that the church has a place. The Church through all of its imperfections, is God's chosen agency, representative collective to share that message with the world. But our job is not to make venture famous. Our job is to make Jesus famous. Our job is not to make you or me the hero of any story. Our job is to make Jesus the hero of the story. Quickly, today, I want to share with you what I believe is the biblical theological foundation. Put on my teaching hat, take some notes, get ready. A biblical theological foundation for a missional perspective of church and life Number one distinctive. A missional church understands that the church is sent by Jesus. The church is sent by Jesus. John chapter seventeen. The words will be right up there. Jesus made this statement. What's really fascinating about this portion of scripture is this is Jesus praying for his disciples who he's about to send out. So, in other words, this is Jesus praying for you. So if you want to know how does Jesus pray for you and me, here's how he does it. So this prayer two thousand years ago that Jesus prayed was him with you in mind. Create z he says this. He says, I have given them your word, so we have God's word. Jesus is the hope of the world, and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world anymore than I am in the world. From the very beginning, Jesus said, you ain't gonna be popular. People are not gonna like you. Doesn't have anything to be with you. You're great. It's gonna be because your morality is based upon scripture and we can't change it. And I realized that my scriptural morality in the twenty first century is not politically correct. And you realize this that the majority of people don't agree with us. They think we're narrow minded, they think we're wrong, they think we are the problem. I think we become the problem when we're convinced they're the problem. That is a shortsighted understanding of what Jesus warned us, what happened, and what is actually taking place. Remember, we live in a fallen, broken world. I can't believe we have so many friends that are surprised that people don't think the way that we think. The Church is sent by Jesus. Let's keep going. I'm gonna try to not get in trouble. This is just so good. So this is remember Jesus praying for you. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world. Wait a second, So because my agbors don't agree with me, Seattle is not politically aligned with me, It doesn't share my values. I'm not supposed to get ticked off, sell everything and move to an area where everybody agrees with me. You mean, I'm I'm maybe not supposed to do that. What did he say? My prayer is not that you will be taken out of the world, he says, but that you protect them from the evil one. Is it possible that God needs you here? Is it possible? That is frustrating as it is to live here, that in all of God's sovereignty he saw fit to place you here. Is it possible? I use every sport, metaphor imaginable. This is the way I put it. God wants to win the super Bowl. You win to a superway, your best players, the quarterback. God wants to win the super Bowl, and he looks at the West Coast and the East Coast is the two most difficult places to exist. I think He's gonna put his best players there. People tell me all the time, you realize I go to Venture It's amazing church. And they visit from all over and they said, you realize if your church was in Texas, it'd be twenty thousand. Yeah. But God want Adventure Church here. Why because He needs us to play quarterback. So maybe all of this whining and complaining and this being upset that politics and reign and all of these things that frustrate us living in this culture, maybe God wants you here. Oh my gosh, I'm gonna skip the picnic. So what God's hope is is that you and I can live in an area that desperately needs the Gospel, but we won't be influenced by the culture. That's where it says, protected by it, you'll be protected from the evil one. He doesn't want us to conform to the image of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So you and I have got to walk this fine line where we live and dwell and exist in this world, but we are not seduced by it. That we get to keep our Christian distinctives in the middle of living in a world that doesn't view itself the way we do. You gotta just figure out how to do it. And then he says, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. I mean, doesn't that just humble You're we are apart of the apostles being sent into the world. If there's anything that should throw you on your knees an absolute utter humility, it's that through like how utterly imperfect Brandon is, God in all of his providence, chose to send me into the Seattle area to represent him to be Jesus to this world that desperately needs hope. Where everywhere I go, I'm confronted with people who don't believe. And God saw fit that I was capable of not just successfully ministering in this area, but that you and I were capable of not falling into the pressure and seduction that this area has to offer. Is the humbling you see, Jesus literally said, my mission in the world is to be carried out by my followers. I just gotta say, Church, if there's anything that should get you going to prayer meetings on Wednesday nights once a month more, I don't know what it is. Is the absolute reality that this mission of Jesus, which was so important to him that he died on the cross, for that he called us to fulfill. It's crazy, Luke, Chapter nine, verse one. Jesus said he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure all diseases. So not only did Jesus send us, but he gave us the ability to execute on his mission, gave us power and authority. But he gave it to us for one reason. And he sent them out to proclaim, not that the Church is the hope of the world. Sent them out to proclaim Jesus is the hope of the world. What you need for your marriage, Jesus in the middle of it. What you need for your finances Jesus in the middle of it. How do you be a better parent Jesus in the middle of it? How do you fix your situation? Jesus? How do you deal with your health issue? Jesus? You want to know the answer to the question. The answer to the question is not Church. You know what else isn't the answer to the question? Donald Trump? Why did so many Christians throw a conniption fit over this last election? Why it's because our perspective is so limited. We became convinced that we fixed the world through the political process, and then because we had a candidate that was willing to placate our beliefs, we elevated him. And then when he doesn't get reelected, it's almost like half of us lost our religion. And I just say that it's the failed perspective. He was never the hope of the world. Joe Biden's not the hope of the world. We don't save the world through the political process. It's such a shortsighted view on history. The nation of Israel existed ten times longer than America. Yet for some reason, we have some supernatural purpose in the middle of all of this. Maybe we do, maybe we don't. I just know that the message has never changed. It has always been since Jesus sent them out in the beginning. He is the hope of the world. So we do not save the world through the political process. We save the world one heart at a time. We save the world by twenty people getting baptized on Wednesday night. We save the world by giving an altar call and seeing people say I'm just going to surrender my life to Jesus, Nato is not the hope of the world. America is not the hope of the world. The church a preacher, a prophet, a worship leader, They're not the hope of the world. Jesus is the hope of the world. The church is the agency, representative, collective assigned to shout it to everyone. Put the verse back up. I didn't even get to the end of it. Sorry, Proclaim the Kingdom of God. That's what it's all about. So the Church is sent by Jesus. The Church is sent with the message of the Cross. Our message of hope in Jesus is because of the Cross. Why is Easter such an important holiday for followers of Jesus. Why is it the largest Sunday of every church attendance wise across America. Because we share the message to the Cross. Paul said this, He said that message of the Cross. So you're gonna preach Christ crucified because that's what you're supposed to do. And he said it'll be a stumbling block to the Jews, many Jewish people, they won't understand. And he said it will be foolishness to the Gentiles when you tell people you're a Christian when you tell people what you value, When you tell people what you believe and they roll their eyes at you, that's called foolishness to the gentiles. Paul told us this was gonna happen. But it's amazing to me that in twenty twenty three people are still shocked by Brandon. None of my neighbors go to church. Yeah, you're right. Isn't it amazing you live there. I'm gonna read Claussians to here real quick. The guns still with me? Okay? Have I mentioned it that I love you? I think you're great? Please forgive me. Following into my message from last week, I'm sorry if you did believe Donald Trump is the hope of the world. Will power to you. Just listen to these Listen to this. When you were dead in your sins and uncircumcised in your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. Wow. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us. He's taken it all away, nailing it to the cross, and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross pass Randall I've done is live. That's not that big a deal. A person over there they murdered. Did you know Jesus is like anything that you have done that his sin separates you from me. But I did this all inclusive thing. I just said, all your sin, all your brokenness, all your mistakes, all your failures, your worst moments, your worst thoughts. You take it, and you hand it to me, and I'll take them all on my shoulders, and I will go to the cross, and I will die in your place, and I will pay your debt so that you can stand before God, righteous and forgiven man. You talk about the least discriminatory thing that has ever happened. Jesus didn't care your race. Give me your sins. He didn't care your economic background, Give me your sins. He didn't care your family of origin. He didn't care your personality, your likes, your dislikes. He just says, give it all to me, and I will go to the cross. That is our message. It's kind of crazy to take like the three thousand people that come to venture church in any given week. We're so radically different. Some of you have the worst taste in movies, I don't understand you. Some of you you like the worst sports teams. But we come together united because Jesus forgave us all and that is what made us venture. And we're a bunch of radically different people that God has assembled in this region together to shout to the region, Jesus is the hope of the world. All right. Jesus sent the church. The church is sent with the cross. The coolest thing is the church is sent in community. Why did he send the church and not an individual? That song that Cole and David sang is actually from Ephesians too, and it describes that when you're a follower of Jesus, you think differently, you act differently, just everything about you is different from a fallen broke in secular world. You feel like you're a foreigner in a foreign land. Do you ever feel like sometimes you don't even speak the same language as your neighbors, You don't have the same habits, you don't have the same thoughts. Paul said, you're strangers. You're not of this world. That is why we come together in community. That is why we go to a picnic together in community, because we need each other. Okay, I gotta read this verse in depth Ephesians two. And I know it's getting late, but I don't have another service, so I'm getting the whole thing in for the podcast. So this is the word of God to you. And if you've ever felt like a stranger in a strange land, if you feel like people don't get you, people don't see the world like you, you feel very lonely at times. Here's what Paul said. You are no longer foreigners and strangers. You're not but fellow citizens with God's people. We are venture the godstris united us together. We have the same life change because of Jesus Christ. But we gathered together on Sunday and Wednesday, and we're gonna be united as a community of faith with a purpose to reach our region together. But no, keep it up too far to fellow stands with God's people. We're all members of his households. This is like God's house. This thing here is God's house. Now let's look at what it's founded on. Built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elishah, Daniel Nathan. He passed the baton to live missionary and proclaim to the world. Jesus is the hope of the world to the apostles, and the apostles went out and they spread it all over the world. And then they passed the baton to you and me. Is that overwhelming to you? Did like the foundation of venture church? We are built on the foundation laid by the apostles. Matthew, Mark, Peter Paul. The same mission that Jesus gave them, he gave you and me. Man, if there is anything more humbling than that, I don't know what it is. And he says, the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Jesus himself as the chief corner stone. Those might be the pillars of our church. But the cornerstone of this church is the fact that you and I got one thing in common. At just the right moment, Jesus crossed our path and everything changed. And that same hope that you and I found in Jesus, we gotta tell everyone else about it, because if we truly love other people, we would want them to know that same hope in freedom that we found in Jesus. All Right, I gotta reland this ship, don't I? Okay? Sent in community and finally, the Church is sent to every culture. That's what it means to be missional John one fourteen. It says the word became flesh in Jesus and made its dwelling among us. That we're dwelling in Hebrew means tabernacle. In the Old Testament they talked about the tabernacle. It also means settle, It means a boy, It means dwell. So when it says the word became flesh and dwelt among us, the word tabernacled among us, the word abided among us, what does it mean. It means Jesus came and he hung out with us, just became us. If Jesus was walking this earth today, go to raider games with me. If Jesus with you here today, he'd go to our church, picnic with us, dwelt, abided, tabernacled amongst us, Which means this. We are sent into our culture, not just a foreign culture, our culture. If you're a comic book guy, Jesus sent you to that culture. You're one of those obsessed with coffee Seattle people, Jesus sent you to that culture. If you're one of those moms that does the stroller down Main Street, and Mill Creek. God sent you to that culture. If you're one of those senior citizens that shows up at the mall two hours before it opens and just walks around it, God sent you to that culture. If you're into sports, God sent you to that culture. If you're a soccer mom, God sent you to that culture. If you're a dude who's obsessed with softball, God sent you to the softball culture. He sent you to Bowing. He sent you to Microsoft, he sent you to Pillow, to the tech industry, the construction industry. He sent you to the city, to the suburbs, to the rural. He sent you to the music community. Going back to that verse, we are the salt of the earth. You are the salt of the earth. You are a light on a hill. This is the way I explain it. Individually, we are the salt of the earth. We blend in, we dwell, we tabernacle amongst everyone else, representing Jesus the best we possibly can. We're not perfect. We make mistakes, we trip, we have to say Jesus, I'm sorry. Help me be a better example of you. We are salt. And then when we come together as venture, we are light. And the more people that come. The brighter that light shines. We are gonna be at that picnic on Fails Road. People are gonna drive by and they are gonna think, what is going on at Bob's farm. You know what's going on. Venture. We stand out because we are the light of the world, and the darker the world gets, the brighter. This light united together shines individually. You're salt together, we are light, all with the same purpose to tell everyone Jesus is the hope of the world. By your heads, close your eyes, Lord Jesus, right now, I thank you for our church, and we do want to live missionary. We want to accept where we are, love where we are, do our best to work where we are, and most of all, to represent you as well as we can in the Lord. In those moments where we come together as Venture United, God, I pray that you are honored by our worship, that we would come together, expecting, hoping, anticipating you to move in our midst and Lord, we just in all humility ask that you would use us, that you would place us where you need us to represent the hope of the world to a place that desperately needs it. In your name, I pray amen,