The Best is Yet to Come

While I was serving at seminary, I had been telling one of my professors about God's call on my life to plant a church.

And we were at dinner one night after we'd been in class at a seminar all day, and he leaned across the table, looked at me eyeball to eyeball, and he finally said, When are you gonna stop talking about planting this church and step out on faith and actually plan it?

And so I began to put in motion after that challenge.

Um, and and we we saw Summit Church just up the road.

We also had North Star Church that was over in Cobb County.

They became our two primary supporting partner churches.

And with the help of Craig's story, um we begin to gather a team of people that felt called to join us, and we begin to prepare them for launching a church that would reach these people that were far from God.

We we begin to read the book of Acts with fresh eyes and deconstructing what the old mindset of church was and then reconstructing this new idea of church based upon what Scripture said.

And so we we knew that from wherever we lived, whether it was in the middle of Walton County or down in Walnut Grove, with it within a rock's throw, there were people that weren't involved in church.

There were people that were probably either not interested in God or church, or maybe some people that were spiritually curious, but they were hesitant to walk into an established church.

God created those people to be in a relationship with Him, and we knew that God wanted to use us as a church, a new church, a new expression to potentially reach those people.

Been at Church at the Grove since the very beginning, the very first Sunday.

Actually, I was part of the Sunday night crew that met with Russ at Summit Baptist Church for a while.

And when he gathered us all together and said, Hey, I'm gonna start this new church, I would love for you to come along.

That was a no-brainer because that group on Saturday night was like a community group.

And so in my mind, in my family's mind, it was like we were just moving our community group from one place to another that hopefully it would gather more people and have more opportunity for other people to join us in that community group.

And we've talked about this um how many times over the years that we we've mentioned people that we that we met at the front door greeting, and a lot of those people went on to be leaders in the church, uh, elders, uh leaders of different uh, you know, committees, and it's just it's just amazing the growth that we witnessed, uh, and it was evident from the very beginning when we were meeting in the elementary school, probably from the first week, that uh the God was gonna do something special with this church.

So, what led me to church at the grove um was well, ultimately, I think a uh a desire to seek something greater than myself, and Russ happened to be there at the right time in my life.

Um, but what I noticed when I came was how authentic the people were and how engaging they were, and um they I felt like they genuinely cared about me.

I wasn't a believer.

Um, this is the church where I got saved at, and it'll always be special to me because of that.

So, what's meant the most to us in the past five and a half years being part of the Church of Grove?

Um I'm gonna say that the connections.

The relationships that we've made that helped carry us through a lot that we've been through in the past several years, but um the connections and relationships that no matter what we're going through, they always tend to lead us back to Christ and what he wants on our lives and making sure that we're praying with each other um separately, um, as well as our children and what they were going through.

I think, I mean, honestly, if we weren't coming to church at the grove, I'm not sure when Landon would have our oldest, um, when he would have accepted Christ, but to know the relationships and the people who helped guide us to get him there is really cool.

And then to see our youngest already asking questions, um, I do believe is a result of our church family and what they mean to not only us but our children.

What really excites us about church at the Grove and the future in our community is just how we, since we've been here, we've seen the children and that were in the youth ministry um when we came on board just grow spiritually and take the reins and fill leadership positions within the church.

Um, Reese Baker, Jonah Faulkner, um Abigail Butcher.

Yeah.

Um, and it it's really exciting watching them grow spiritually because they're becoming the leaders in our community.

They they're the ones that are just mobilizing and taking the gospel out into the community.

And they're also uh I mean they're they're nurturing our girls' spiritual development, um, which is just really awesome, and it and it shows the power of discipleship and and how what the what Church at the Grove did for us when we came on board.

Um, we're seeing that continuously lived out through these youth that are growing up and awesome leaders in our community.

See, I take I see us taking new ground.

I see us taking new ground spiritually, where people um who've just been attenders move into leadership and they begin to see how God can use their gifts and their talents to sacrificially provide for these new initiatives that we'll see rolled out over the next three to five years.

See, I see potentially uh needs for additional gatherings because people are going to continue to come and we're gonna need space for children.

We're gonna add gatherings and add uh opportunities for people to worship, options for people to gather at different times.

I see a season where we'll have to prepare potentially for new facilities because God is doing so many great things and so many new people are being reached that are far from God.

Are you ready to see what God has in store for us over the next three to five years?

I hope you're ready, and I can't wait to share this new vision initiative with you in person coming soon.

My biggest prayer is this is that our memories, we're celebrating 15 years, but my biggest prayer is that our memories will never exceed our dreams.

And as I say, as we keep saying it, and I mean it, that the best is yet to come for Church of the World.

Isn't that great?

Praise God.

Are you excited about what God is gonna do?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Praising God.

Um uh but can we just do something?

We're we're we're celebrating, we're celebrating a church, we're celebrating people, we're celebrating all things, but you know what we need to really focus on is we need to focus on Jesus.

It's all about Jesus, nothing but Jesus, everything Jesus.

Because without Jesus, none of this would ever be possible.

Without Jesus reaching into this world, stepping out of his heavenly abode, his heavenly place where he has always existed, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Jesus being the Son, him stepping into this world, making it possible.

And so we need to understand that the heart of Jesus is to continue his work that he began 2,000 years ago, even before that, back at creation.

And so we need to we need to focus on Jesus.

But we need to understand how Jesus thinks about the church.

What does Jesus think about the world?

When he looks out at our world, what does he see?

What is his, what are his emotions?

What moves Jesus?

When he looks at this world, I think his heart breaks because he knew that, and and he never intended for the world to be the way it is.

The world is broken.

The world is fallen.

When you look at the world, I mean, this just in the past month, um my heart breaks over either what's happening uh around uh people in my own personal family, my own uh personal circle of friendships.

Um you heard me share about the uh my wife's best friend that passed away, um, and we did her funeral uh two weekends ago.

Well, she yesterday attended the wedding with my two oldest kids of her best friend's oldest son.

And so that's not the way it's supposed to be.

A mother's not supposed to pass away two weeks before her son gets married, but that is the way the world is.

That is the results of fallenness and brokenness and sin and disobedience and rebellion against a holy God.

So God is holy.

We listen, we know that God would be just if he just poured out all of his wrath upon us, but that is not God's heart.

His heart, when he sees the world, is the heart of his son Jesus, who would be willing to leave the confines of his heavenly existence to step into our world.

And I think Jesus, when Jesus looks at people, Jesus sees them very in very simple ways.

Very simple ways.

They are either far from God or they are in Christ.

They are outside of Christ or they are in Christ.

There is nothing in between.

There is no third or fourth option.

People are either outside of faith or they're inside the faith.

That is what Jesus sees when he looks at a lost and broken world.

And if you're not a follower of Jesus this morning, when Jesus sees you, he doesn't necessarily focus on the bad things or the sinful things or the habits that you want to hide and that are the dark places of your life.

He sees you as you potentially could be in him, in Christ.

He wants you to know him, he wants you to follow him.

And I love this passage.

And it was a passage that was that was essential, and it was central to the passage that really helped helped launch the idea of planting a church.

And at the heart, at my heart, I am a church planter.

It says Jesus, Matthew chapter 9.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

You follow along, it should be on the screen.

Matthew 9, 35.

It says, Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news, announcing the gospel about the kingdom.

And he healed every kind of disease and eat and illness.

And so Jesus cared about people.

He was, he wanted to be with people.

He left and he came to this earth to be with people.

Listen to verse 36.

When he saw the crowds, what does it say?

He had what?

He had compassion.

See, we live in a world where everybody wants to be critical.

Everybody wants to be critical.

Even church people want to be critical.

We look at this world and we we focus on what's happening and what the news presents to us, and we find ourselves cynical, negative, and critical.

Man, people need to get their lives right.

They need to get straightened out.

The world is going to hell in a handbasket.

And so we we look at the world in a sense, this perspective is imposed upon us rather than seeing the world through the eyes of Jesus and the lens of compassion.

It says he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

And so I think that we should have the same heart that Jesus has for people.

I wrote down, we should be consumed by the love of Christ for the people of this world.

When Jesus saw people, he's moved with compassion.

There's this word, compassion, that's a little bit hard to explain out of the original language, but it's it's this idea of being pained, a pain that just hurts you in your gut.

Have you ever just felt it?

And when you've experienced uh bad news, you've experienced loss, or you have experienced uh you've observed people going through loss, and there's something that hurts you down to your gut, it hurts in your bowels, it hurts you all the way down into your physical being.

People will say, I just feel sick.

And that's what that word means when Jesus was moved with compassion.

It wasn't just a fleeting thought, it wasn't a fleeting emotion, it was something that affected him in all of his being.

And we should have the same heart that Jesus has for people.

The heart of Christ for sufferers, the heart of Christ for sinners, the suffering that people are going through now.

We should be, we should be compassionate toward people.

That word harassed means to be distressed or troubled and to be torn apart.

The word helpless means to be thrown down and to be utterly weak without anything.

Some of you have been in circumstances you have experienced loss or you've experienced bad news where it literally took you to your knees.

It shook you so bad it affected you physically.

That's how Jesus felt when he looks at a lost and a broken world.

And so, yes, Jesus is holy.

Yes, God is a God of justice, and he is just and wrath will be poured out on all sin.

But the heart of the Father was to send his son to come to earth and to show us what righteousness looked like and to live righteous on our behalf, ultimately to surrender his life, and to suffer and die, and taking upon himself all of the punishment and all of the wrath that all of us deserved, he took it upon himself.

And so as a result, we should have the same heart that Jesus has.

He said to his disciples, verse 37, he said, the harvest is great, but the workers are few.

I want you to listen to this.

The harvest is great, but the workers are few.

So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest.

Ask him to send more workers into his field.

We should be committed.

Or maybe today is a recommitment.

Today is about celebrating, but it's really recommitted to doing whatever it takes to get the good news, this gospel to the peace people that Jesus is compassionate.

Stop criticizing.

Let's be compassionate.

That word compassionate is not just to hurt and to be pained, it's to respond and to take action.

And I want to I want to here's my confession.

Here's the confession.

I and this is this is can I just be vulnerable with you for a second?

Um I'm good at starting stuff.

Not real good at finishing stuff.

So my prayer has been that our church would overcome my weakness in such a way that we could equip our believers that God has already reached and become more effective in reaching the people that have yet to be reached.

The people who have no interest, the people who are spiritually curious, the people that are looking for hope and joy.

And so my confession is that we would be better, and that I would lead us better in this next season of ministry in such a way that we would be, that we would recapture the energy and the passion that we began with.

To compassionately go after people with reckless abandonment.

But that we would be willing to sacrifice just like the team that we started with was sacrificial, just like the people that gave to property, gave to buildings, gave to ministry to be developed.

Let's step out again sacrificially.

And let's raise the level of commitment to intentional discipleship.

And let's raise the level in launching leadership initiatives where all of us would be equipped and have the heart for Jesus to go after people that have yet to be reached.

So, so so I know this is not going to surprise any of you.

I'm sorry for the people on camera.

By the way, uh we're we're we are broadcasting to people at home.

Would you join me saying saying welcome to all the people at home?

So this won't surprise you.

I because when you look at me, you just you probably think, man, oh, he used to be a lifeguard.

I was a lifeguard in my early 20s.

You're not supposed to laugh.

I was a lifeguard in my early 20s.

And so uh often confused for David Hasselhoff and Dwayne Johnson.

Um and and so I I uh I worked at the YMCA, I worked at a YMCA, I was a program director, and and so I had to go through all this training to be a lifeguard.

I mean, they they train you um how to how to look, how to watch, how to how to keep your eyes open and how to observe what's happening around you at all times.

You've got to be aware.

Somebody's struggling, you you've got to see it, you've got to be aware.

You've got to have your eyes open.

Somebody could be struggling, and you might be needed at any moment.

And then if I if I had to leave the chair, then I've got to be willing to, I've got to be trained to help somebody.

I may have to pull them out of the water, I may have to uh to give them CPR, I may have to provide some first aid.

There's all types of training that goes into being a lifeguard.

And you're sitting in a place observing.

Bless you.

And so you you're observing, and so you're observing potentially for people who need rescuing.

Somebody's in trouble.

They go down to the water, they don't come back up.

And I just going about what my what what I what I like about sitting in this chair, I just continue to bathe in the sun, and I or maybe I'm reading a book or whatever.

Whatever it is, I ignore what's happening around me.

The training and the equipping and everything that was poured into me means nothing.

If I'm not willing to leave the chair.

And so you'll see lifeguards at the beach.

They've got binoculars.

They're constantly looking.

I mean, they're constantly observing.

They are ready at any moment to grab what they need, to blow a whistle, to sound a horn, and to leave the chair and to go after somebody who needs rescuing.

Because the people that need rescuing don't realize it, but they're looking for somebody who is looking for them.

Listen to this.

Every person in this world is looking for someone who is looking for them.

And so you got to be willing to come out of the lifeguard chair.

You've got to be willing to jump into the broken world, the water, the current, whatever's needed, because everybody in this world, every person in this world is looking for someone who is looking for them.

They may not know it.

They may not be aware of their own lostness.

They may be completely oblivious.

But deep down, because they're created the image of God, and they're a human being that has the same needs that all of us human beings have, everybody is looking for someone who is looking for them.

And so Jesus in Matthew 10, this next section, he calls his disciples, and he calls them by name.

And he says, You're commissioned, you have authority to cast out evil spirits to heal every kind of disease.

Then he runs through their names.

And then he says, Don't go to the, don't go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel, God's lost sheep.

Go and announce to them that the kingdom of heaven is near.

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons.

Give as freely as you have received.

Here's what he's saying.

You've got the blessing of a relationship with me.

You need to give just as freely as you have received.

I walk my neighborhood.

Six mornings out of the week, I walk my neighborhood.

Unless it's raining.

And I pray over each home.

I use, I've got a tool that we we've shared called Bless Every Home, and I'm able to know every the name of every person that lives in those homes.

And I pray for those people by name.

Here's a question that I have.

Do you realize that there's people in your circle, the people in our neighborhood, people in this world, people all around the planet that have never had their name lifted up in prayer before the Lord?

Does that not just break your heart?

There's some people that's never, they've never had anybody pray for them.

And so part of what God's called us to do as found people is to find people.

Found people, find people, because every person is born looking for someone, looking for them.

And I believe the most effective way that we'll continue to the vision to reach people that God's called us to reach is for each one of us to take responsibility for our area where God has placed us.

Because here's the reality.

Most people come to Christ on the arm of a trusted friend.

Listen to me.

If I asked you all of your stories, if I asked you to tell me your story, most people come to Christ on the arm of a trusted friend.

Some of us came to Christ maybe as a child, maybe, maybe it was our parents, but especially as children grow up into elementary, middle, and high school and go into adulthood, most people come to Christ on the arm of a trusted friend.

And so the question is, are we going to be willing to step out of our place of comfort and observe this world through the eyes and through the lens and the heart of Jesus Christ and to be willing to step out and to be a part of God's rescue team?

I believe over the next three to five years, and we're going to be sharing some more details about this over the next few months, that God wants to see and he wants to work in a way that can only be explained by divine intervention.

I believe God wants to do something through his church that can only be explained by a move of God.

This is all God.

This is not strategy, this is not just vision of some person or a group of people.

This is something that I intend to do, where I get the credit, and Jesus and God, his heavenly father, gets the glory.

But in order for that to happen, there's going to be some people that need to step up and live sacrificially in how they give and how they serve.

And there's going to be a recommitment, if you will, and maybe a re uh new launching, so to speak, into another season of ministry where all of us together can do more if we engage sacrificially with the mission of God.

And part of that is a renewed vision for seeing intentional discipleship.

Simple but intentional.

And that we as a church are committed to grabbing people by the arms or by the hand and shoulder to shoulder, walking them through a process where they learn how to develop and grow their relationship with Jesus.

And then finally to launch a leadership initiative where we move from just sitting in a seat on Sunday morning to not only serving, but possibly leading other people that are ready to jump in and serve.

I believe that's the heart of the Father.

And I can't wait to continue to unveil what I think God is revealing to us and our leadership after praying and going through some seasons of conversations.

And so here's what I asked our staff a few weeks ago.

If God has his hand on this, are you willing to give your life to it?

Now when I say that, I'm like we didn't have any Kool-Aid we were serving.

You know, Kevin Gibson, man, Kevin Gibson's our online pastor right now.

He's in the final stages of his battle with cancer.

One of my best friends.

One of my biggest encouragers.

And when I shared with him about this idea to plan a church, he said, Have you lost your mind?

I said, Yeah.

He said, Well, where's the Kool-Aid?

Because I'm ready to drink it.

And Church at the Grove wouldn't be where we are without him.

And so I'm not talking about drinking Kool-Aid.

What I'm saying is, if, listen, if you understand the big picture of the heart of Jesus and you believe we are a local expression of his heart and the mission, is it not worth giving our life?

Sacrificially to see new disciples made, new leaders developed, and to see a new community that is growing and developing beyond what you can imagine over the next three, five, ten years.

Why would we not say yes?

Let's jump in.

If it's the heart and the vision that Jesus has given us.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you.

Thank you for what you have done over the last 15 or 16 years.

God, thank you for people you've reached.

Thank you for baptisms we've witnessed.

Thank you for disciples that have been made.

Thank you for a campus and social circle, Lord.

Thank you for Craig's story.

Father, thank you for Nathan Boyd.

Thank you for our team and the leaders.

And I thank you for each one of those that has played a huge part.

Thank you for my friend that challenged me on a golf cart and said, Listen, this is something you've got to do.

And then he said, I'm willing to help.

Thank you for each and every individual that's contributed to what's happened over the last 15 years.

But Lord, we feel like the best is yet to come.

We feel like there's something else that you've called us to.

We still feel that we're called to multiply.

We're called to see new people reached that are far from God, new disciples intentionally made, and new leadership, new leaders launched into service so we can finish what we see you have started.

And Father, I pray for revival.

Because none of this is possible without the awakening of the Holy Spirit within us.

None of this is possible without you awakening us to the need for something different in this world.

None of this is possible until the Holy Spirit fills us up and is poured in us and out of us.

And so we pray you would be God.

A God that would bring a movement, a revival.

And so, Father, would you continue to work?

We ask, we beg, and we plead in the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus.