Go Therefore (2022 Vision Message)

Today we are going to be in the book of Hebrews.

So we're taking another break from the book of Mark because this is the Sunday that we've set aside to really kind of cast vision for the church.

And I was able to get away for a day in December and just really kind of pour over some things and spend some time in prayer, but I'll tell you a little bit more about that as we go.

If you need a Bible, you can raise your hands.

We would love to bring one to you.

And if you don't have a Bible, you can keep the one that we bring to you.

Brian's in the back, ready and waiting to deliver those.

But before we jump in and actually read out of Hebrews, we're going to be starting in verse 23 while you're finding it.

Like I said, this is the vision message for 2022.

So we're actually going to be jumping to a couple different scriptures here this morning.

And before we read this verse, I want to highlight and really celebrate some of the things that God has done in the last 15 months.

And this is not bragging, this is not look at us, this is truly just wow.

We need to give praise to God for all that He's done in the last 15 months.

So in October of 2020, we started out as a church with home groups, and then once a month doing that outreaches down at Lake Park.

And we started to just kind of begin to gather people and just let the community know that we were starting this church.

And God gathered a number of people during that time, which was incredible.

I remember before our first kind of outreach worship night in the park, my prayer was honestly, Lord, just please bring more than four people.

That was and that was my honest prayer because I just we had no idea.

We had a planting team of 14 people that came over from Shoreline to plant this church.

It's like just four more than the 14.

If we had 18 people, I think that would be success.

We ended up, I think like over 30 people showed up, and I was just ecstatic at the results.

But my prayer, honestly, from the beginning of starting Sunday morning services as well was Lord, just bring please bring enough people to where it's not awkward.

Where somebody new walks in and is like, oh, there's four people here, and I'm the new person, you know.

But um that's kind of where we started and where we come from.

But since last October, since of uh 2020, we've been able to establish as a church an elder board.

We've been able to establish a business board to kind of handle all the finances and be able to really remove me from that process for accountability purposes.

Um, and both of those boards are boards that we're hoping to expand this year uh and just find new people that can start participating in the business board and in the elder board.

Now, in March of 2021, we started our first Sunday morning services.

And as I look around, I think probably half of you were at those first Sunday morning services, and we've been in three different locations.

We started over at Grace North County out on the lawn, we spent about three months there, and then in the summer we moved over to the Kwanis Hall and we spent about three months there, and then now we've been here at LCR for a little over three months uh as well.

And this location is obviously working out the best of all three that we've had.

We have two children's ministry classes that we have.

We have access to the kitchen, we have room to expand and put more chairs as needed.

And another thing that's really uh incredible is from day one of our Sunday services, we have been able to start out with a fantastic children's ministry where our kids are truly being discipled in God's word to be followers of Jesus Christ.

And then, since moving here at LCR, like I said, we've been able to expand into a second classroom for our littlest members that we have, which also serves as a place for our families to hang out as well if their kids get a little wiggly and the parents want to go in and spend some time with them in there and then watch the service if the Zoom link is working.

So, but since day one, we've we've had an amazing hospitality ministry, we've had an amazing prayer ministry, we've had a men's and women's ministry that do various things.

And like I said, this isn't bragging, this isn't look at us, it's just like wow, a lot of churches that plant aren't able to plant in this way.

And we've been able to plant with just an amazing team, and God has blessed this plant.

Like, if you don't know much about church planning, God has blessed it, you wouldn't believe.

If you would have told me this is where we would be in nine months after starting Sunday morning services, I would have said, I'll take that every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Like, we're just so thrilled to see what God is doing.

Uh, another thing that we should celebrate.

I started uploading the sermons as a podcast from day one, just as a way to give our children's ministry workers a way to listen to the sermons that they're missing.

And I and I literally thought, like, oh, we'll probably get a couple downloads a week.

Well, I just checked, and a couple weeks ago, we just hit our 1,100 download uh for the sermons just in nine months, which I was shocked.

I had no idea that many people were actually, you know, jumping in uh and listening to those sermons.

And then also something that we need to celebrate is we were planted, like I said, from Shoreline Calvary Chapel.

They sent 14 of us over here to plant.

So before we ever had a Sunday morning service, they gave us a very generous lump sum of money to get started, to get the 501c3 going, to buy sound equipment and stuff like that, and uh to help with the kind of the general startup costs that we had.

So they um they did that in the beginning, and then once we started our Sunday morning services, then they paid the first three months of my salary just to kind of help us get going.

And then after those three months, then they gave us a very generous monthly donation just to kind of help fund us and keep things going.

And they told us, hey, just let us know when you don't need that monthly support anymore.

And in December, so last month, I got to make that phone call to Pastor Ed and say, hey, through the generosity of our church, amen.

Yeah, amen.

Through the generosity of our church, we no longer need that monthly support from Shoreline, which is just blows my mind.

I mean, it's just incredible.

So praise God for that.

And like I said, these are just a few of the things that we should be praising God for.

To see who he's brought and to see how far he's brought us just in the past 15 months and then the last nine months of Sunday morning services is just incredible.

So I just wanted to make sure that we were celebrating those things as a congregation, that we're praising God together for all that he's done before we look ahead to the things that he's showing us uh for 2022.

So, I like I said, I was able to get away for a day in December and just pray and seek the Lord and get a lot of the things that were kind of rattling around in my head over the past year down on paper, so to speak.

So today I want to share with you the things that the Lord's been showing me and kind of give you an idea of the trajectory of where our church is heading.

And in all of this, I want to revisit our church values.

We went through those when we first planted over uh on the lawn at North um Grace North County.

Uh, but I want to revisit those things and really weave them into the message today.

Because before we ever had a Sunday morning service, a couple months before that, actually, I got away with our elder board and we prayed and we sought the Lord and we asked ourselves this question: if we could imagine the ideal church that we would all want to belong to, what would it look like?

And what would the culture of that church be?

And we came up with these seven values that we wanted to make sure our church embodied.

Things that we wanted to make sure we were fostering on a day-to-day basis.

You want to throw those up, those seven?

Yeah.

So as we go through this passage, I'm gonna be reiterating and explaining those values as they come up.

And not necessarily in order.

So if I skip one, don't worry.

I'm gonna get back to it.

Uh, but the first value that we have is the word of God is the compass that directs everything we do.

And that's why we're starting with scripture.

That's why we start with scripture every Sunday morning.

Because we don't want to ever do anything just because, or just because we feel like it.

We want to take everything back to Scripture and allow Scripture to inform and direct every single decision that we make as a church.

And that's including our vision that we have for abide moving forward.

So, like I said, we're in Hebrews 10, and we're gonna read verses 23 through 25.

So if you're able, will you please stand with me?

It says, Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.

And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Will you please pray with me?

Lord, I thank you so much for this church.

I thank you for all that you've done in this past nine months, in the past 15 months.

And just to see your faithfulness of what you've done and who you've gathered and who you consider to be a part of your body here at Abide Calvary.

Lord, we thank you so much for your faithfulness and for your goodness.

May this truly be a day of celebration for all that you've done.

Lord, I pray that you would open up our hearts and our minds and our eyes and our ears to the things that you have for us.

Lord, that we would be attentively listening to your spirit speak here this morning.

So use me as your mouthpiece, I pray.

Help me to rightly divide your word.

Pray that this would all be understandable and something that we can unite behind.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So we're just gonna start off right there in verse 23.

It says, Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.

So that word right there, confession, it's looked at subjectively.

Uh, when we look at it subjectively in the Greek, so when we look at it with human emotion, with personal feelings, that word confess that confession, the definition is actually whom we profess to be ours.

So we could read verse 23, let us hold on to whom we profess to be ours, our hope.

Meaning, let's hold on to Jesus, because he is the hope that we have.

Now, as we look around our own community, as we look around our own state and our own country, if we turn on or read the news for any amount of time, what does the world need more than anything?

Jesus.

Absolutely Jesus.

But hope, hope, hopelessness surrounds us, and it's hard to not be dragged down into that hopelessness.

When we look at our government, when we look at the COVID crisis, when we look at attacks on Christian values or on a biblical worldview, when we look at attacks on biblical sexuality, it's hard to not be hopeless.

Now, for the kids in the room, this is a family service, so I want to involve the kids this morning too.

What would you do if somebody said the world has run out of the ingredients that we need to make cupcakes?

Forever.

That'd be a pretty hopeless situation, wouldn't it?

Somebody doesn't like cupcakes in the back, apparently.

That would make me feel pretty hopeless, especially if I was a kid.

So, regardless of how hopeless things may seem, Jesus has given us a hope that no one else can give.

And if you want to stand out in a crowd, and if you want to absolutely bewilder people, have hope.

The world needs what we have right now, and that is hope in Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ alone.

And if you're looking at me right now and saying, you know, I consider myself a follower of Jesus Christ, but I really don't have hope.

Or I feel like I've lost hope.

Let me remind you that the Almighty God that spoke all of this into creation loves you so much that he sent his one and only Son to sacrifice himself and to pay the debt that we owe.

So that we could be in a relationship with God right now and we could enjoy him forever.

We can enjoy him now, but we can enjoy him through eternity as well.

So if you're saying you're a follower of Jesus and you have no hope or you've lost hope, then I don't think that you've grasped that concept completely of just how much Jesus loves us.

There is so much hope just wrapped in that one sentence.

It means that even if our life is threatened, we can still have hope.

Because we not only know where we're going after this life, but we're actually looking forward to where we're going after this life.

It means that you can be having the worst day or the worst month or the worst year of your life, and you can still have hope.

Hope that the God that saved you is never gonna leave you or forsake you.

That he that began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

Hope that no matter your circumstance, God is still on his throne, and that is never threatened.

Hope that God can work all things together for good for those that love him.

So let us hold on to the confession whom we profess to be ours, our hope without wavering.

So that's my first encouragement to you here this morning for this year, to hold on to hope, to hold on to Jesus with everything that you have.

Verse 24.

And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works.

So we need to be thinking about how we can encourage each other to love more deeply and to serve each other better.

It says to provoke those things.

So, for the kids again, what does it mean to provoke your brother or sister or friend?

What does that mean?

It's like backseat of the car, right?

Poke, poke, poke, poke.

You're trying to provoke something out of them, right?

Something that gets a reaction.

The word literally means irritate.

And we usually think of this word provoke, you know, in the negative, you know, to irritate in a bad way.

Like in provoking anger in someone else, right?

But here in this verse, it means to provoke good things.

It means to not let anyone become stagnant or get complacent.

Don't let someone sit around and not do anything.

And if they do, this verse is saying to stir the pot a little bit.

And whatever has settled to the bottom, whatever has separated, to get it back in the mix again.

It's kind of like salad dressing.

Balsamic vinegar.

You know, it's not good by itself, is it?

Anybody ever go out to a nice dinner and ask for the finest glass of balsamic that they have at the restaurant?

It's not good by itself.

The only reason it has value is because of what is going to be mixed into it or what's going to be dipped into it.

So I needed a volunteer, so I asked Ellie, Ellie, can you come up and help me out with this?

Woo!

Alright.

So we have balsamic vinegar and we have olive oil.

And I want you to see these as the gifts that God has given each one of us.

And the balsamic vinegar has settled to the bottom.

So by itself, right there, nobody's gonna want to just sit there and drink that or add it to anything.

So here's what I need you to do, Ellie.

I need you to pull this for me, okay?

Can you do that?

Okay.

So to make a good salad dressing, I think we should put some garlic powder in it.

Yes.

Anyone want a spoonful?

Just uh it's not very good by itself, right?

Yeah.

So we're gonna put some garlic powder in there.

Okay, and then I like to put in some Italian seasoning.

Okay.

Anybody want a spoonful just of this by itself?

No, we're gonna put some in there.

And then I love some fresh black pepper.

Anybody want a spoonful just of the by itself?

No, probably not, right?

Alright, that should be good.

Let's put the lid on.

Okay, now irritate it.

Shake it.

Get every okay, keep doing that till the end of the service, okay?

And then we'll okay, now let's take a look at it.

That looks pretty good.

I would put that on my salad, I don't know about you.

But individually, we wouldn't want a spoonful of any of that, of olive oil, of the vinegar, or any of the seasonings, but then together, you pour that on a salad.

And uh I love balsamic dressing, so this looks really good to me.

Thank you.

Great job.

And I'm gonna leave this up here.

And I'm gonna leave that up there because even by the end of the service, we're gonna see that those gifts are gonna start to separate again.

But what Ellie just did is she provoked, she incited, she irritated, she stirred up the love and the good works in each other through that salad dressing right there.

So I think what we need to focus on is we need to get our gifts, the gifts that God's given us, the balsamic vinegar, the olive oil, the seasonings, we need to get those in circulation.

We need to get those mixed with the body of Christ.

And if they aren't, it's time to provoke those things in one another.

So I think the question really now is how do we do that?

And I think the key is part of verse 24 where it says, consider one another.

That means take the focus off of self.

And as Philippians 2, 3 says, consider others as more important than yourself.

You know, it starts with looking around this group right here, looking to your right and left, and asking God, how can I serve my brother or sister this morning?

How can I serve them tomorrow?

And how can I serve them through the week?

Which is really core value number two, that we are spiritual gardeners.

It means that we believe that followers of Christ are instrumental in the spiritual growth of each other as we become more like Jesus.

It means that we believe in cultivating and watering and fertilizing for the sake of spiritual growth in others.

Now, for the kids, I have a question.

And you please respond.

What is church?

Caleb absolutely.

Anybody else want to take a stab at it too?

Everybody being a little shy?

Okay, that's okay.

Church is all of us.

It's all the people that come here.

You know, it's not just the building, and it's just not a service, but it's each person that is sitting here in this room today and joining us on Zoom as well.

But unfortunately, I think in our American culture, we've revealed church down to a building and down to a once-a-week service.

Where we come, we consume, and then we go about our week.

But if we're going to be spiritual gardeners, then we need to embody the next core value, which is core value number three, that we are spiritual contributors, not spiritual consumers.

Meaning we don't approach the body of Christ or a service asking, what can I get out of it?

But we come to the body of Christ asking, what can I put into it?

Now, how many you don't have to raise your hand, but how many prayed that as they were coming to church this morning, as they were on their way, or when they woke up, of Lord, how can I bless the body with what you've given me, which with what you've gifted me with this morning?

Lord, how can I contribute this morning?

How can I bless your body?

You know, every single one of you has something to contribute here every single Sunday.

Even if you're not on any kind of schedule or team or serving in any ministry, every single one of us has a spiritual gift that's not for us, but for others.

All but one, if you look at all the spiritual gifts that are listed in the Bible, all but one of the spiritual gifts is for the edification of others.

Now, the gift of tongues can be for the edification of the body of Christ, but it can also be for personal edification.

But all the others are to encourage and uplift and edify the people that are sitting around you.

And you might be asking, okay, you know, if I'm not scheduled to serve somewhere on a Sunday morning, then how do I do that?

Well, that leads me to my second encouragement, which actually might be more of a challenge for most of us.

But I would like to challenge you, all of you, to start coming to church 15 minutes early and ask God before you get here, what can I put in to the church this morning?

And it might be something as simple as talking with somebody that needs a listening ear.

It might be praying with someone that's going through something.

It might be greeting someone that is new and then saying, Hey, would you like to sit with me this morning?

And go and find a seat together.

But my challenge to you is to come with eyes that are looking for ways to lift up the members of the body of Christ.

And this really has the heart of value number five that we go out of our way to make people feel at home.

And the idea behind that is we're all greeters.

We're all a part of the prayer ministry.

We all have gifts that God wants to use.

And it's our hope as a church to see each person using that gift that God has specifically gifted you with.

And I know I'm making all the introverts really nervous right now.

I can see you squirming out there.

But for all of you introverts, I just want to ask, how does it feel when somebody approaches you and just says, hey, my name's so-and-so?

You know, it's really nice to meet you.

Do you want to sit together?

You know, that really helps people feel at home and feel welcomed in that way.

So if you consider this your home church, would you now treat our service time as if it starts at 8 45?

And I know that's early.

But if this is your home church, would you consider that?

And on your way to church, would you just be asking God, what is it that you want me to contribute to the giftings that you've given me?

So that's the second encouragement and challenge.

Come asking to be used by God.

Verse 25.

It says, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day approaching.

So, as we're gonna see in Acts 2, gathering is a key component to any church.

We were not made for independence.

God made us for dependence upon Him and for dependence upon each other.

When we see the word encouraging right here in verse 25, this really speaks to relationship.

This doesn't mean the encouragement, like, hey bro, you've been working out, looking good, man.

It's not that kind of encouragement or complimenting somebody's hair or their clothes.

It's the encouragement that means to exhort one another and to admonish one another.

You have to know the people around you if you're going to encourage and exhort and admonish one another.

And hear me.

Your gifts cannot be provoked or stirred up if you're in isolation from the body of Christ.

There has to be times of gathering if the church is going to function like a body should.

The Barna Research Group did a study back in 2000, and they asked pastors in particular how many times a person would need to attend a church in order for them to be considered an active member in the pastor's mind.

And in 2000, so 22 years ago, that's oh man, that was 22 years ago.

In 2000, the pastors responded that somebody would need to attend in some form or fashion the church three times a week in order for them to be considered an active member.

Now in 2020, so 20 years after that, they asked the same question.

And pastors responded to that same question with three times per month.

They would consider somebody an active member of the church.

And what's happened is I think we've allowed our busyness to get in the way of the body of Christ coming together.

We've allowed other things to take the place and that priority in our life.

And verse 25 ends with, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

So what day?

The return of Jesus.

The end of our time on this earth.

And the closer we get to the end of our time on earth, this verse is saying the more that we need to be around each other, encouraging, admonishing, and exhorting each other.

It means the more involved we need to be in each other's lives.

And I know you introverts are getting even more uncomfortable now talking about this.

You know, because we like to think, especially in American culture, you know, give me my space, stay out of my business, let me go about things the way that I want to go.

But if we're not in relationship with each other, then we really can't function as a church.

We were created for fellowship with each other and with for fellowship with God.

But as we see the day approaching, the reality is the church is starting to meet less and less and less.

We're doing the opposite of what this verse is telling us.

But verse 25 is saying that as the day approaches, we need to be around each other more and more and more and encouraging each other more and more and more.

Which leads us to value number six that we place great worth on genuine community.

Where we just don't say hi on Sunday, but that's it.

We want to be in a place where we can have relationships, where we can support each other, where we can call each other, text each each other, just check in and see how each other are doing.

And being there for each other in places of emergency.

You know, that's what real community looks like.

And real community takes time.

Like I said, we've only been doing this for nine months together.

And genuine community usually takes years to accomplish.

But there are ways that we can speed up genuine community in natural, organic ways, which leads us to our next topic.

We're going to be talking about discipleship and how our church as a whole views discipleship.

And discipleship simply means becoming more like Jesus through the help of another follower of Jesus Christ.

And this really speaks to value number seven.

We raise up leaders and help them find their calling.

We want to help people grow closer to Jesus and help them figure out what God has for them in regards to his kingdom.

We see this played out in three ways here at our church, here at Abidon.

The first way is what we're doing right now Sunday morning services.

You know, it's a time to gather, it's a time to worship corporately, it's a time to fellowship before and after the service.

And it's really a very structured time.

It's a more formal time where there's a schedule and there's one person speaking to many.

And it's a good thing, and it's needed.

It's like we see in the book of Acts, chapter 2, specifically in verse 46.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And it's a picture of what the first church was doing after they first came together and they first started.

And Acts 2.46 says, Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple and broke bread from house to house.

They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts.

What we do on Sundays is about the equivalent of what they were doing, meeting in the temple.

It was a more formal time of gathering at a certain place and time for worship.

And it's exactly what we're doing right now.

It's a formal in the sense, like I said, that it's one teaching many, and we're kind of following a set pattern and a set timeline.

Now, that's Sunday mornings, great and awesome.

That's the first way, the most formal way.

The second way that we see discipleship happening is through our home groups, as Ben was mentioning earlier, and through our Bible studies that we have through the men's and women's ministries.

I'm just going to call them all home groups for the sake of ease as we continue going on, though.

But the idea is to come to accomplish the second part of verse 46, which we read, and then also verse 42 of Acts chapter 2, where it says, And they broke bread from house to house, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

You know, home groups are our less formal time spent together in each other's homes, breaking bread, fellowshipping with one another, and studying God's word together.

But it's really more than that.

It's also a way that we see of stirring up the gifts.

Like we saw with the salad dressing.

To stir up those gifts in each other.

And more people are able to contribute in home groups.

That's one of the things that we love about it.

To use those giftings that God has given you in a smaller setting where you might not be able to use some of those gifts on a Sunday morning.

You know, if you have the gift of hospitality, maybe you can host a home group.

Or maybe you can bring some food to a home group.

Or if you have the gift of teaching, you know, it's a great place to develop that gift in a smaller, less formal setting.

Or maybe you have the gift of encouragement or exhortation.

Now, this is the perfect place to use that gift.

Or maybe you have the gift of giving, and I'm not talking about monetarily.

Maybe you simply just have the gift of giving your time and your attention to somebody that needs it in that moment.

Or maybe you have words of wisdom or words of knowledge.

Home groups are the perfect way to exercise those gifts in ways that it's really hard to do on a Sunday morning.

And just on a personal note, you know, the closest friendships and the deepest sense of community that my wife and I have ever found has been in the context of a home group.

Where we found that true koinania that we see in Scripture.

The fellowship that goes far beyond just a greeting or small talk on a Sunday morning.

You know, there have been times where our family has been in an emergency situation.

And the first people to show up and the first people to bring a meal to us were the people that were in our home group.

You know, times where somebody else was in an emergency.

There's one time where we homeschooled somebody else's kids for them for a couple days.

We, my wife homeschooled.

My wife homeschooled some children of some people in our home group because they had a family emergency.

And I yeah, bring them over.

We'll do them with ours.

Yeah, we'll we'll run them through.

That's where we've found the deepest sense of genuine community in our own personal experience.

You know, everything that we just talked about with the using of the gifts are really hard to do on Sunday mornings.

Not impossible, but it's hard to find a place for everybody to use the gifts that God has given them specifically just on a Sunday morning.

And we as an elder board, we really see home groups as the perfect complement to Sunday mornings.

We see them going hand in hand.

Because more people can use those spiritual gifts in a home group than they can on a Sunday morning.

And honestly, if you were to come up to me and tell me, you know, due to my work schedule, I have to choose.

I can either come to a Sunday morning or I could come to a home group.

I would honestly tell you to go to a home group.

I think you will have more spiritual growth and see more spiritual growth in your life through that than you would here.

Ideally, max growth is doing both because then we kind of get a balance of both sides.

But I really see living in community as being better than coming here on a Sunday morning and listening to me drone on for like 30 or 40 minutes.

So that's the second less formal discipleship.

Now, the third way that we see discipleship as a church is when it takes place in a one-on-one or maybe a one-on-two setting, where there's one more mature Christian taking the time to spend with a less mature Christian that hasn't been walking with the Lord as long.

You know, this can be as simple as grabbing coffee or sharing a meal, even if it's just twice a month.

Going over a book of the Bible together, talking about life, praying for one another.

You know, if you've been walking with the Lord for any length of time, I can't tell you how valuable your experiences are for somebody that hasn't been walking with the Lord for very long.

And I get it that discipleship is intimidating.

And you may be thinking right now, you know, I really don't have anything to offer.

I've been walking with the Lord for 20 years, but I don't have anything to offer.

I don't have the degree, and I haven't been trained to disciple.

The thing is, you have experience and you have stories and you have wisdom that's gained over the years that somebody younger than you craves.

I promise it that they crave to hear those experiences and to know how you went through those things, you know, when you were in the same phase that they were.

So here are the two questions that I want us to consider for the year ahead.

Who am I pouring into?

And then also, who is pouring into me?

I really want us to sit on that and to think about that because that's what Jesus told us to do, to go out and make disciples of all of the nations.

Now, I know for some of you that have little ones that are sitting out there right now, you're thinking, there's no way I could fit that into my schedule.

It's just too crazy right now for me to be in that relationship.

And I want to tell you, you don't have to.

Because your disciples are living with you right now.

Your goal as a parent isn't just to keep your kids alive until they can fend for themselves.

God gave you those kids as disciples to teach them how to live a life that glorifies God.

You know, whether we like it or not, much like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11 1, imitate me as I also imitate Christ.

Regardless of if you're imitating Christ, your kids are imitating you.

So your parenting needs to be imitating Christ.

Put all of your discipleship time and energy into your kids if you have little ones at home right now.

Because the sad thing is, is we don't oftentimes get do-overs with our kids.

But those are the most important disciples that you're ever going to have.

Now, this doesn't mean that you can't have kids and pour into somebody else as well.

But don't feel like you can't disciple because you have kids.

Because you already have disciples and they're living with you.

So I would encourage you that if you're in the throes of parenthood right now, that you ask one of the people in our church that have already raised their kids into adulthood to go get coffee.

Or if you don't even have time for that, have them come over to your house for coffee.

And I keep saying coffee because young parents usually live off of that for a little while.

But nobody's gonna understand more of what you're going through than that person will that's already raised their kids into adulthood.

And nobody's gonna have better advice for you than somebody that's been walking with the Lord for a long time and has already gone through that experience themselves.

And just so you know, in May, we're actually gonna be doing a parenting class that's gonna focus specifically on how to disciple your children.

So I want to encourage you to mark that on your calendars.

We're gonna be talking about that a little more.

We're gonna make it as easy as possible.

Dinners provided, childcare is provided, you just have to get here.

And that's all you gotta do, and we'll take care of the rest.

So here's my third encouragement.

If you're not being discipled, or if you're not discipling somebody else, would you consider it?

Would you pray about that?

And if you'd like to be discipled and you just don't know who to ask, just come talk to me or one of the elders.

We'd love to pair you up with somebody that we think would be a good fit to get that relationship going.

Now, as I look at those three forms of discipleship that we talked about Sunday mornings, home group, and then the more intimate one-on-one or one or two, one-on-two settings.

I really want to evaluate, and I spent some time kind of evaluating how we're doing as a church in those three areas.

And as a church, I think we're doing well in the formal setting.

You know, the Sunday mornings.

But Sunday mornings only lead to fat sheep.

Where we come and we eat and then we sit around spiritually all week.

Where we have a ton of head knowledge about the Bible, but putting it into action is a different story.

Because all we want to do is we want to come and eat and then leave and then come back and eat some more and then leave and come back and eat some more.

We need to take in our spiritual calories, so to speak, and then burn them off during the week to prepare and encourage us to give.

That's really what this is for.

The Sunday mornings is to prepare and to encourage so that when we go out, we have those spiritual calories to expend, to energize us for the tasks that's ahead.

That's Sundays.

As far as how we're doing with home groups, I think those that are participating are really enjoying it.

They're really growing, really finding a sense of community.

I think a lot of people are still a bit hesitant to check them out.

And we get that, we understand.

Maybe you're just not ready yet, you're not at that comfort level.

But I do want to encourage you this year to try one out.

Even if it's just a couple times, just to see what it's like and what it's all about.

And if the thought of that really freaks you out, you know, going into somebody's home full of people that you're not too familiar with, bring a friend and do it together with them.

Then you're guaranteed to know somebody there and have somebody that you're comfortable with.

So, as far as the one-on-one discipleship goes, when I look at that and kind of evaluate it as a whole church, I think we have a long way to go as a church when it comes to the one-on-one or the smaller group discipleship.

And I think it's mainly because discipleship can be so intimidating, especially in this setting.

Because you're thinking, you know, what on earth are we going to talk about?

And I don't know how to do this.

Nobody's done this with me before, so where do I start from?

And those doubts really start to creep in of I just don't know what to do with that person once we actually sit down and start that conversation.

So, because we know this is a reality, starting in March, we're going to be doing a class going through a discipleship book.

Um, once you've gone through this book, that's really all you need to get that discipleship relationship going.

And this book is called The Anatomy of a Disciple.

If you want to get the book ahead of time and start reading it, go for it.

We're going to be meeting every Tuesday evening in March, and we're going to go through a couple chapters at a time in that book.

And that's it.

It's going to be a simple class, just one month of Tuesdays.

So, would you consider giving each Tuesday night in March to invest in God's kingdom?

To give you a game plan and to remove all of the doubts and the fears of moving into a discipleship relationship with somebody else.

And we'll give you more details as that gets closer.

The thing is, that book, The Anatomy of a Disciple, I'm taking two people in our church through it right now.

And honestly, it is so easy.

We just cover one chapter each time we get together.

We catch up on life, and we pray for one another, and that's it.

And the conversation always leads to things that are not in the book, but are amazing life conversations that are truly discipleship conversations.

And it's really just a conversation starter, just using this book to get things up and rolling, and then allowing that conversation to morph into whatever it is that's really on that disciple's heart.

And I want to ensure you that you don't need this class to start discipling somebody.

You don't need this book.

This is just to remove the intimidation factor to show that if you've been walking with the Lord for any amount of time, you can do this.

You can sit down with somebody and share your life experiences with them, share the wisdom of God, share God's scripture with them, just to help them grow in their own relationship with Jesus Christ.

And by going through the book, I guarantee that you are going to be blessed as well.

That you're going to grow as well.

So it's really a win-win.

It's going to be a blessing to you, and then you'll be able to take that and use it as a blessing for somebody else.

Now, the last thing that I want to talk about today is what our focus is going to be on as we approach this year ahead as a church.

You know, last year, kind of really since October of 2020, we really felt like the Lord gave our leadership team 1 Peter 5.2, which just simply says, Shepherd God's flock among you.

And we really felt like the among you part of the verse was the key part of the verse.

Taking care of those that God brought here.

Not really trying to do a ton of outreaches, not trying to build up our numbers quickly, but really just focusing on who God brought to us.

And looking back, I think God wanted all of us to really just kind of settle in and settle down as a church family to become a bit more stable.

Before we started reaching out and inviting a ton of people in.

And I think we've come to that place where God wants us now to start reaching out more.

You know, sometime in December, I was reading through the book of Ezekiel, and I had been praying about what God has next for abide.

And I was reading, as I was reading through chapter 34, verse 4 jumped off the page at me as if it was highlighted and bold, even though it wasn't.

And I knew immediately that this is what God had for our church for this year.

And it's kind of strange because it's a verse about the things that the shepherds or the leaders of Israel were doing wrong in this time.

And Ezekiel was taking God's word and spreading that to those people.

And I'll explain that a little bit after we read it.

But remember, he's speaking to the shepherds and the spiritual leaders of Israel.

He says, You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost.

And as I read this and then reread it, and then sat with it for a bit, I sensed the Lord saying that he had us focus on the first three things in year one, as we tended the flock that was among us, that we strengthened the weak, that we healed the sick and bandaged the injured through his power alone, as we shepherded the flock that was among us.

And as, and we're going to continue to do those first three and keep a focus on those, but then I sense that the Lord wanted us to also focus on the last two parts of Ezekiel 34, 4.

Bringing back the strays and seeking the lost.

And this really is about core value number four, where we intentionally step out of our comfort zone to love our neighbor.

Because bringing back the strays, it really involves all of us.

I would like to encourage you to think about all the people that you know that consider themselves Christians but are not attending a local church right now.

And then I want you to pray about inviting them to church.

Even if they say that they're doing church online, I still don't know exactly what that means.

Because we are the church, the people are the church.

But would you be willing to personally reach out to them and tell them that you will meet them here or that you will give them a ride on a Sunday morning and that you will sit next to them and never leave their side the whole time that they're here?

Would you consider that this year moving forward?

Because I've never seen someone not attending a local church that was truly growing in their faith, that was truly experiencing the hope of Christ or showing the joy of their salvation.

And I'm not saying joining on Zoom is a bad thing.

We'll probably all have to at some point this year, but it never takes the place of gathering as a church body together.

So please encourage those that you know that are not attending a church right now to come and to join us in person.

Now, as far as Ezekiel 34:4 goes regarding seeking the lost, you know, as a church, we're going to be looking for opportunities to reach out to our community this year.

Ezekiel 34:4

But what we can do as individuals, and what I would encourage you to do is start praying about who you might invite to church that doesn't know the Lord.

Whether that's a neighbor or a co-worker or a family member or a classmate or a friend that you have, would you pray about who that might be and how you might invite them to come and join you here?

Now, along with that, we want to let the community know that there's a church in Atascadero called Abide Calvary.

And I've talked to a lot of people over this last year that say, oh, you know, what's your church?

And I tell them like, nah, I haven't heard of it before.

Which first year, that makes sense.

But we're gonna do some things to kind of help let the community know that there is another church here in Atascadero.

So you may have noticed as you drove in or up on the slides that uh we have a new logo.

And so we're gonna be putting that on some signs.

We're working on getting a sign placed up uh top here on El Camino Real to be placed up there with the uh LCR sign as well, so that we actually have a permanent fixed sign in front of the building.

And we're trying to um uh we're gonna be working on getting a Google listing as well.

So if people search churches in atascadero, that we will actually pop up as an option here.

And we're gonna be um doing some other things as well.

Carrie's been working on some invite cards.

You might have seen them on your way in, but on the table, there's invite cards, it has all the things that you need to know to know how to get here on a Sunday morning at nine o'clock.

It has our website address, it has the new logo on it, all that kind of stuff.

So I just encourage you, take a couple of those cards on your way out, keep them in your purse or your or your wallet, and then go ahead and if the Lord prompts you, hand it to somebody and say, Hey, would you like to come to church with me uh on Sunday?

Let's see.

And then uh also we're working on getting some stickers made that can be put on water bottles or on the back of your car or anything like that.

And really the heart behind all of this, it's not building a brand or anything like that.

It's just really letting people know that there's another church in a taskadero and that those people are welcome to come and to join us.

But even with all of that, it never takes the place of a personal invitation.

The sticker's not gonna do it by itself, the card by itself, but that personal invitation.

So, to sum this all up, I think there's four things that God has for us specifically for this year, and I'm gonna end with this.

One, it's time to stir up the gifts in each other.

Two, it's time to dive into community, and even more so as we see the day approaching.

And three, it's time to start discipling and being disciples, formally and informally.

And the fourth and last, it's time as a church to gather the strays and to really seek after the lost in our community.

So would you please pray about what God wants you to do and the part that He wants you to play in these four aspects as we move forward in 2022?

Would you please pray with me?

Lord, I thank you so much for this body.

Again, we celebrate all that you've done, all that you're doing, all that you're going to do.

Lord, what may we just be servants that are like clay in your hands?

Lord, I pray that we would walk so near and close and abiding in Jesus and walking by your spirit.

Lord, that our relationship first would grow in you, but that our hope and the light of Jesus Christ inside of us would shine into this community, into our friends, into our neighbors, uh, our co-workers, into this community as a whole.

Lord, I pray that you would start stirring the heart of the people that you want us to invite, whether they're strays or whether they're lost sheep.

Lord, would you show us who to talk to and who to invite and who to bring in?

And Lord, may they find an extremely welcoming place here, a body of believers that's sitting here with open arms for anybody that's looking for you, with hearts that are ready to pour into each other, to use our gifts for each other, to disciple one another, to grow and to become more and more like you, Jesus.

Would you accomplish those things?

I pray it wouldn't be more effort on our part, but it'd just be more dependence and then listening to the Holy Spirit's direction.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.