We're Better Together | Pastor Chris Kouba

Hey, it is great to see you.

My name is Chris Cuba.

Privilege of being lead pastor here.

Do me a favor, grab this card that you saw in your seat whenever you got here today.

Make sure to grab this, take a look at it.

Uh, we are starting Holy Week.

This is the best week of the year, in my opinion, on perhaps the best day of the year, Master Sunday.

But that's a side note.

Uh, and then after that, it begins the uh beginning of Holy Week.

Man, we got a lot planned.

I want to make sure that you're fully aware of all that is going on.

We literally have egg hunts starting tomorrow night that are gonna be all throughout this community.

We have 18 different egg hunts at all different places, 11 different public schools that we're doing egg hunts at.

We're gonna have the opportunity to be able to go there, to be able to lead in some of those egg hunts, and then invite people to Easter services.

We have people that we know of whose very first interaction with us as a church was because somebody went to their neighborhood, did an egg hunt for their kids, and then they came and came to United City Church and ultimately gave their lives to Jesus.

So that's what we want to see happen.

So if you are not already signed up to serve in one of those egg hunts, you can go online and you can sign up to serve in one of those.

We'd love to have you be a part of that.

Friday night is when all of the services really begin.

Friday night is a good Friday baptism and Lord's Supper service.

It's a separate service from the rest of the weekend, a very special service, though.

If you are interested in being baptized, if that is your next step, it's a great opportunity for you to join many others who are already scheduled and lined up to be baptized a good Friday.

We'll be serving the Lord's Supper together.

And then at 7 30, we're doing the same service in Espanol.

Should be a great night.

And then Saturday is where it all begins Easter services.

Saturday night at 6 o'clock, Sunday morning, 8:30, 10, and 11:30 are our English times, and then 1 o'clock in Espanyol.

What we're asking you to do is to consider attending one and serving one.

All right.

We've got online, I've got a QR code I'm gonna put up that you can check out.

We need folks to help us serve at Easter weekend.

We are expecting our biggest crowds at 10 o'clock and at 11:30.

So what we're asking all of you people that are here today at 10 o'clock, to not come to this service next week, okay?

We're asking you to go and serve maybe at this service or at 11:30, but attend Saturday night or attend at 8:30 so that we can have maximum capacity and availability for those who be believer guests.

Unless our preference is, if you invite someone to come to Easter services and they say, Yeah, I'll come at 10 o'clock, then you come and sit right next to them.

Okay.

That's what we want you to do is to bring someone with you.

And that's why we've given you this.

This is not for you.

This is not to throw in your car and just so you can have an info deal.

You can figure that stuff out another way.

This is an invite card that we're asking you to prayerfully invite.

82% of people, when invited to Easter or Christmas Eve services, respond favorably.

Yet only 2% of Christians actually invite someone to those services.

Let's not let that be the case for us.

We've given you these tools in your hands for you to help us out.

So we've got a big, big weekend, seven total services coming up.

Pray for our team, pray for our staff, uh, pray for the follow-up.

It's gonna be exciting as we jump into this.

Grab your Bibles, Ecclesiastes chapter four, Ecclesiastes chapter four.

Back in the 1990s and the early 2000s, the Boston Celtics, who was is one of the most storied franchises in all of NBA history, had been marred in a season of mediocrity.

In fact, it had gotten so bad, they found themselves literally at the bottom of the barrel, the last team in the Eastern Conference.

They decided to draft Paul Pierce, who ended up being a superstar player, and he turned things around a little bit, but not a lot.

The reality was they weren't able to get over the hump.

They just still were kind of on the edge, right on the outskirts of making the playoffs.

And when if they got in the playoffs, they weren't really doing anything.

And this one storied franchise found themselves sort of stuck, not being able to move forward.

Fast forward to 2007, on draft day, they began to make a series of trades that was unlike anything the NBA had ever seen up to that point.

No question about it, they had seen teams in the NBA with multiple superstars on the team, but never before had there been a big three brought together with three players all in the prime of their athletic NBA career.

It was Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen.

These were all three guys who were used to be in the dude, who were used to be in the man, who, when it came down to needing the final shot, these three guys for their respective teams were gonna take it, yet none of them had experienced any sort of success, and none of them had won an NBA championship.

The team decided to hire Doc Rivers to be their head coach.

Doc Rivers had a very interesting and challenging job.

Doc Rivers' assignment was to take three guys who were the stars and to get these guys to come together and be willing to make sacrifices of their individual stats, of their individual situation, to come together and play as a team.

The Boston Celtics ended up winning the NBA championship one year later after that trade in 2008.

But the story goes that they would not attribute that their success and the championship they experienced in 2008 all back to the draft day trades that took place.

Instead, they would point to a time in history, right before the 2008 NBA season.

When Doc Rivers, the head coach, called all three of them to his penthouse in Boston, which was seated at the top floor overlooking a very prominent popular street in the city of Boston.

Story goes, he has all three of these guys up there in his penthouse looking over these windows, and he says, Guys, what I want you to do is I want you to catch a vision.

I want you to look out on this street, and I want you to envision tens of thousands of people all lined up on this street.

Right outside this window is the parade route if we win an NBA championship.

He said, The only way you're gonna get to experience tens of thousands of people lined up as far as you can see in that direction and as far as you can see in this direction, is if you guys are willing to sacrifice some things and come together as a team.

What it means is instead of always leading the team and scoring, you may need to lead the team and assist one night.

What it means is instead of you taking the last shot, you may need to get the key rebound.

Instead of you being the guy, you've got to be willing to at times let other people be the guy.

This is what it takes.

But this is what we can have if you guys will come together.

This morning we're finishing up our sermon series called Anchored, where we're looking at the four core values of United City Church, those things which we desire that not only you individually, but that we collectively are grounded to.

These are the things that we prioritize, these are the things that are gonna shape and determine the decisions that we make, the choices that we go, all the things that we do are birthed out of these four core values.

And I would ask your permission today to be your coach.

I'm not Doc Rivers, but I do have a vision.

This vision is not for you to be able to hear tens of thousands of people cheer your name because of the accomplishments that you've achieved.

This is instead a vision of the advancement of the kingdom of God, where the Bible says every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we have an invitation to participate on a vision of that scale and of that size, but here's what it's gonna mean.

The exact same thing Doctor Rivers told the big three.

You're gonna have to lay aside your preferences, you're gonna have to lay aside your stats, you're gonna have to lay aside your desires, and be willing to come together because ultimately the way we're gonna experience the fulfillment of this vision is the fourth core value of United City Church.

You embrace this idea.

We're better together.

We are better together.

What do we mean by that?

Literally, we mean you can do more together than you could ever do on your own.

This is true in sports teams, this is true in families, this is especially true when it comes to the church.

There are many reasons for this, but primarily is because God created us not to be individuals, but God created us for community.

Ecclesiastes chapter 4, let's begin reading in verse 9.

Ecclesiastes 4 · chapter mention

It says, Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil.

For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up.

Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?

And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him, a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

There is strength in numbers, there is power in numbers, there is force in unity.

Even though you may be told Jesus and me is good enough, that's not what the Bible says.

The Bible says we were created and we operate best when we live and experience community.

And that's what happens when the people of God act as a team instead of operating their Christian lives like they are alone.

It is for this reason that we do certain things the way that we do at United City Church.

The world celebrates individual accomplishments, the Bible celebrates community.

I want to walk through three areas where I believe that we are, God has designed us to be better together.

First one is this we're better together in our gathering.

We're better together in our gathering.

There's something important and significant about the gathering of believers that takes place in a building on a Sunday morning.

The word church actually means in the Greek language, ekklesia, which means literally dwelling or gathering or assembly.

Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25 says it clearly.

Hebrews 10:24

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

The idea of us wanting to encourage and gather together is not just a suggestion.

Hey, this would be a good idea if you look into it, it's a command.

There's this idea that we should like want to get together and want to see each other.

When we gather, there's like something unique that happens in this place.

There's an opportunity for you to be able to see people and say hi to people and to interact with people you might not otherwise, to push each other, to stay the course, to persevere, or to celebrate their wins.

The actions are not called, are not passive, they're active, they're expressive.

You're to spur one another on, you're to encourage one another.

You can totally do these things from a distance, you just can't do them very well.

There's this implication of like being close together, both in proximity and in relationship.

Where we are we don't have to look far to know what this looks like because we can see images of this played out in the early church.

Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 47.

Acts 2:42–47

It reads, And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

And all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

And day by day, in the temp attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Two things I want to mention from this passage.

One, the great success and the influence the people had.

I mean, the church was blowing up, the church was growing, the church was expanding, but it wasn't just in numerics.

Also, it said there that everyone who had need, all of those needs were getting met.

People were serving, people were helping each other.

But there's something key about that passage that is fundamentally important in order for the success that they had to be accomplished.

It was the fact that they were regularly gathering together.

Folks, the average, we looked at this a couple of weeks ago, a study came out.

They said the average believer attends church 1.3 times per month.

1.3 times per month.

Average believer.

We were like, I wonder what that looks like for United City.

So we did some deep dive and we kind of looked at the people that attend United City.

How often do they come on average?

And we are grateful to tell you that it is better than 1.3.

It's 1.6.

It's 1.6.

Anyway, that's good, all right.

Here's what we determine.

Less than half of you show up more than half the time.

Less than half of you show up more than half the time.

Now here's the thing.

If I was to interview you in the lobby and ask how many times to come to church, I guarantee you you would grade up.

You would assume you come way more often than you actually do.

And so what I'm asking and advocating for is for you to prioritize the gathering.

Why?

You just want a bunch of people here.

No, no, no, no.

Something happens when we're together.

Like there's something that's unique that you can't replace any other way than by being in the same room, worshiping the same God, hearing the same words being taught, praying together.

There's just something that God says that his blessing comes down upon that is different than if you did it any other way.

Here's the thing.

I know some of you are like, well, you telling me I can't ever miss church.

I'm not telling you that you can't miss church.

I'm just telling you, don't miss it as often as you do.

I'm saying you don't miss it for as flimsy reasons as maybe you do.

I'm gonna state this and I hope that this gets drilled into your hearts, all right?

Sunday morning church is a Saturday night decision.

Sunday morning church is a Saturday night decision.

Men especially, please let me encourage you to remove these words from your home vocabulary.

Are we gonna go to church today?

If you ask that question on a Sunday morning, you've already lost.

Alright?

Don't ever ask it.

There's no reason to ask it.

Instead, make the decision.

Of course.

Get it to the point whenever your kids, they never even bring it up because they know the answer.

There's no reason to ask.

Of course, we're gonna go to church.

Prioritize what you do on a Saturday night so that you're not having on a Sunday morning to decide, are we gonna do this in the morning?

Are we gonna go?

But instead, you've already made up your mind.

Sunday morning church is a Saturday night decision.

Prioritize the gathering.

Number two, we're better together in our serving.

We're better together in serving.

I'm gonna ask the band to come on up here, up on stage, if they would.

One of the key things that we do here at United City is even in our language, we're trying to communicate something.

Uh we don't have volunteers.

It's not bad to volunteer.

I just when I hear volunteer, I think of like getting service hours for school.

That's what I think about.

Or when I hear volunteers, I think I'm in some sort of organization or club and I've got to volunteer with my work or something like that, and so therefore I got to go do these certain things.

Not bad, it's great.

I think you should all volunteer.

What we have here in the United City, though, is serve team.

And the reason we call it serve team is because we want you to realize that you are serving and you are a part of something way bigger than yourself.

So it's not just like you checking out a box getting hours.

You're like a part of this larger thing that Christ calls his church.

That's an amazing thing that he sent his son Jesus to die for.

Romans chapter 12, it talks about this, talks about spiritual gifts and the emphasis of that.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Verses 4 through 8.

It says, For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function.

So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.

I got the band up on stage.

Don't these guys look good?

They look great.

Up here, and all of them do different things and play different instruments and things like that.

You got Rex over here.

Rex uh is uh, he and Amanda both Amanda was up on stage today, both serve in our ministry, did an incredible job.

Rex is the guy you either love or you hate, okay?

There's really no in-between.

And we don't need to project any of your hatred towards Rex individually, all right?

Rex is a great guy, all right?

He doesn't need to absorb that.

But I know some of you, you're just like, those drums are just too loud, those drums are too much, right?

And I can see how that could potentially be the case, but also some of you are like, I need more drums.

I need the drummer to kind of let us let it let him go.

Rex, give us a little taste of what it is that you do.

Come on.

Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

Good job, good job, good job, good job.

All right.

If you're a parent trying to get your kid to learn music, it's a commitment level to have a drummer in your house, right?

I mean, it's it's just loud, all right?

It's really loud, and without anything else, it just it kind of just sounds loud, right?

It sounds rhythmic and whatever, but it just is a lot of banging and clanging, whatever else, okay?

You got Alec up here.

Alec looks pretty cool.

Doesn't Alec look good right here?

Many of you may not know this, but Mara, his wife, is the one who sings right here.

We just always make sure they're aligned at all times, right?

Just always together, right in line here.

Alec, though, plays bass, all right?

And he's just cool and he's just relaxed and just doing his sort of thing.

Every once in a while he'll do the whole lean back kind of a thing, but otherwise it's just Alec, show us a little bit of what you do.

Go for it.

Pretty good, huh?

Not bad.

All right, it's good.

Here's the deal.

All of you folks that email me about how much you don't like the music and it's too loud, it's his fault, all right?

That's what you're feeling, is that bass, okay?

It's feeling it inside of you.

Then over here, you got the electric guy.

The electric guy gets all of the attention.

He makes all of the money.

He's the one who, you know, everybody kind of pays itself attention to.

And the electric guy, here's the thing.

You can always tell an electric guy when he's just playing what he's supposed to play, and then you can tell when he goes off script and he's playing kind of like the lead line.

You want to know how he does it?

Lifts the knee up, right?

You start to kind of go.

This is Nick, he's our electric player today.

Nick, show us a little bit what you do.

Okay, that's good, that's good, that's good, that's good, that's good.

And that's the problem.

That's the problem with the electric.

It just kind of keeps going.

It just keeps making noise and keeps keeps doing stuff, right?

You know?

But here's the thing: you never get on Spotify or Apple Music and find out just like electric songs, you know, like electric just playing it.

You instead hear what?

Acoustic stuff.

Like this is James Byrd, all right?

He's like playing the golden instrument, all right.

This is the one which just sounds amazing.

James, show us a little bit what we got.

Sounds so good, doesn't it?

Nice.

Very good.

There you go.

We love it.

Next, we got Richie over here.

Richie plays keys, but you may not realize this.

Richie isn't just playing keys.

Richie also is doing what we call an MD.

And MD stands for musical director.

And what happens is that Richie isn't just trying to like make sure everybody hears him by having multiple microphones that he gets to sing into.

That's not what that's for, right?

He actually has one of those mics that goes, it's called a talkback mic.

That mic actually goes to all of the people that are on stage.

You notice they're all wearing earpieces.

They're not doing that because they're trying to make sure security, they're like looking out and checking what's going on.

They wear those because basically you've got something called the click, which is basically the little sound you're gonna hear in just a moment.

But you also have Richie directing traffic while he's playing on the keys.

Richie, show us what you're doing.

You're still going, but we can't hear you.

Let me introduce to you the guy that no one ever wants to know who he is.

That's David Carrion back here at the soundboot.

David, would you raise your hand?

Okay.

Here's the deal.

We love David, but David doesn't want any of you to know who he is, okay?

Because here's what happens the moment there's some kind of sound football or some kind of somebody does a mic different or whatever, everybody turns around and looks at him.

Even dresses in black for the sole purpose of trying to just fade away, all right?

So that no one can see who he is.

But you can see how vital what David does in the background is in order to make everything take place that happens here.

In fact, you can have the best musicians all doing their various things, but at the end of the day, none of it works if that guy back there doesn't do what he does, and he does a phenomenal job.

Let's give it up for David, by the way.

All of these instruments on their own just sound like noise.

You put all of these things together, take a listen and see what happens.

Folks, this is what happens whenever you have people who use the gifts that God has given to them, and they don't just use it to do their thing, but they instead come together whether you are in the drums or whether you are in the bass, whether you are electric, whether you are acoustic, or whether you are keys, or whether you are behind a sound booth behind the scenes that nobody sees.

When we all come together in serving, something happens.

Things change.

The atmosphere changes.

What used to be racket turns into worship.

And folks, what I want you to hear is this some of you are like the missing band member.

You've got a tool, you just didn't show up.

And you're the expression of what we are doing is not as full as it could be ultimately because you're not using the gift that you have.

Or for some of you, you're just interested in making sure you get your line.

You're making sure you get your moment and what God desires and what God wants to do is for you to sometimes just lay aside your preferences, lay aside your desires, and allow music that is transformative to take place so that he can get all of the praise and he can get all of the glory.

Let's give these guys a hand, thank them for all they've done.

Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Let me read this to you.

And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always.

To the end of the age.

Third way that we're better together is we're better together in miss.

We're better together in mission.

Folks, this is where I believe all of our core values kind of come together.

You've got the fact that we want to be a church that is grounded upon God's word.

We want to make sure that we follow God's word and allow the Bible to speak.

We're gonna be a church that is gonna view growth as not just something that's for some people, but for all people.

And we're growing in our relationship with Christ, and we're growing in our discipleship, and we're growing in our knowledge of Him and our service of Him.

And it's gonna lead us all to begin and to take that next step.

And that next step, of course, we also believe, talked about a couple weeks ago, is the fact that lost people matter.

We exist for those who are not yet here.

And so, therefore, we want to lead the Roadhouse revival wherever we are, whether it's in Huffman I just heard, or wherever it is that you may find yourself.

And what we want to make sure that we do is we're not a country club to entertain its members, we instead are an army unit that has a mash unit on the side that takes care of its wounded as we go on mission to reach people for Jesus.

But folks, here's the deal: all of those core values are great.

But what we desire most is that these are our core values, that we would come together on mission.

Matthew chapter 28, the Great Commission.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

We know this verse to be great.

It says that we are to go into the world and make disciples, but please hear me.

That word in the Greek is not singular, it's plural.

We go.

All of us go, all of us are mobilized on mission.

I believe we have one of the greatest opportunities before us to be able to go and immobilize and to give people to be able to experience the love of Jesus Christ this Easter week by simply inviting someone to one of our seven services and allowing them to experience the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Folks, we gather collectively and then we leave individually.

We take what we've learned here, what we do here, how we're inspired here, and we go and we live on mission so the more people will come here.

A church that is inwardly focused is gonna end up dying.

A church that is externally focused together on mission, it will thrive.

And folks, let us be a church that isn't so much interested in taking care of ourselves, but a church who collectively we say, Who else can we go reach?

Who else can we go after?

Who else can we go share the gospel with?

Psalm 133, verse 1 says, Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

Psalms 133:1

We want to be unified in our mission and celebrate the diversity of our expression.

We are truly better together.

You may not love everything about the church.

Please hear me.

I don't love everything about the church.

But at the end of the day, whenever you put aside those preferences and those desires, and you unite on mission, and you unite in serving and you unite in the following after Jesus in all things, what you will begin to discover.

Whenever we gather together, is that the church changes.

Stephen Foster was a lawyer who had four young daughters.

And he would say he was just kind of attending church, but he didn't really like it.

But he kept going and watching to see what happens.

If I'm honest, I never really liked the church.

I didn't even really like Christians that much.

I used to think of it like a package deal.

Like you get Jesus, and so you get the church and Christians thrown.

It's just part of the package, and uh there are some bits you like Jesus, some bits you don't like so much, which is like the church and Christians um used to find that a bit annoying.

But I turned up the church and go through it.

I don't really enjoy going to church.

And then one day uh I was at the back of our church in East London, and someone said to me, Oh, we need help to run the coffee team.

That's like I was like working like seven to eight hours a week.

I'm like, what?

And they were like, Yeah, we Steve, we really need your help running the coffee team on a Sunday.

And I was like, Well, I'm a barrister, I'm not a barista.

Like, I've got a job, I don't even know jobs on the coffee team.

I just, you know, sometimes you just can't even think of what to say, so I was like, okay, I'll do it, I'll do it, okay.

And and I instantly, why did I do that?

So I turned up next week, like, you know, can we get the cups and everybody get the coffee right?

As I handed these cups to people, something really changed in me.

I found myself as I handed coffee to these people, growing in love for them.

I was like, these people are amazing.

Like, this is this extraordinarily diverse community.

It's been gathered from across the area, probably not another place that looks as diverse and integrated as this.

This is a miracle.

And then I even people I found a little bit more frustrating and complicated.

As I handed them their coffee, I kind of grew in love for them.

And I kind of basically fell in love with the church.

Then I kind of went back to the person who'd asked me to do it.

I said, we need a new coffee machine, we need better beans, we need better monks.

Like, we come on, these are amazing people.

I want this to be the best coffee that they get.

You know, they're coming to church on a Sunday morning.

I got more and more passionate.

I started to build a team to serve coffee on a Sunday morning.

And I sometimes think making coffee changed my life because I fell in love with the church of Jesus Christ.

I didn't realize why it was special, I didn't realise why it matters.

And as I made coffee for people, I suddenly realized, oh, the church is like the bride of Jesus Christ.

It's like the thing he gave himself.

Like the church is God's plan for the salvation of the world.

There's no plan B.

And God is gonna build his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

So, like, God is putting all his eggs in the church basket.

And I realized over those few weeks there's a beautiful thing here.

Yes, it messes up.

Yes, it makes mistakes.

You'll never find a perfect church, but it's a beautiful thing.

And I thought, that's what I want to spend my life building.

That's what happens when you gather.

God not only changes you, He changes your love and your desire and your heart for others.

Like it just kind of gets in you and on you.

And all of a sudden, the thing that maybe used to frustrate you, or maybe burned you, or maybe offended you in the past, becomes the very thing that God uses to begin to bring healing, hope, salvation.

We're truly better together.

In closing, I want to give you three application points for these messages, for these points.

First one is this we're better together in our gathering.

Here's what I want to ask you to do.

I know that immediately what you're gonna think is like, oh, I can't do this.

I've got this, I've got this, I've got this.

Would you just prioritize coming to church every week for two straight months?

Two straight months, eight weeks.

I'm starting a brand new sermon series right after Easter.

The number one requested topic at our Easter survey last year was on spiritual warfare and end times and the unseen world.

This new series is called Invisible.

We're gonna look at heaven, we're gonna look at hell, we're gonna look at angels, we're gonna look at demons, we're gonna look at spiritual warfare, we're gonna look at end times, all of these type of topics, which you just commit.

Like right now, I'm gonna be here for eight straight.

Some of you like, well, I mean, I can't do that.

Well, that's what I'm asking you to do.

I'm asking you to let somebody else suffer, not the church.

I'm letting you somebody somebody else figure it out, not the church.

Did you instead prioritize?

I'm gonna be here for eight straight weeks.

Okay.

Second thing, we're better together in our serving.

What I'm gonna ask you to do is get on a serve team.

If you're already on a serve team, praise God for that, then here's what I'm gonna ask you to do is attend one serve one next week at Easter.

We need a ton of folks to help us to be able to pull off what we believe is gonna be an amazing week.

Did you know right now it already takes 470 people to pull off a normal Sunday morning at United City Church, and we're growing like crazy.

Meaning that there's plenty of opportunities for you, but next week in particular, we've got a number of different surf team opportunities, and so we're asking you to do is attend one of the services and serve one of the services.

Would you help us out next week by doing that?

Number three, we're better together in our mission.

Here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.

Would you invite someone to church next week?

Would you invite someone to come?

I've given you invitation cards, we've given you yard signs, we've given you every resource possible.

Here's the key.

At the end of the day, we're doing all the things that you're supposed to do, getting the word out digitally and billboards and all the things.

It's a personal invitation.

Would you invite someone?

Hey, would you come to church with me next week?

Would you come and experience Easter at United City?

We'd love to have you be a part of that.

Would you bow your heads and would you close your eyes all across this room?

Let me ask.

We have the opportunity to be a player in that celebration parade.

When we gather, when we serve, and when we live on mission together.

Would you commit to stop dating, you see, and be all in?

Others need to express that through church membership, making this place your home.

Just a moment.

What we're gonna do is we're gonna have an invitation, and I'm gonna ask you, would you lead the way today?

Others of you need to be baptized, like the four that we saw earlier today.

This is your next step.

You come forward and let us schedule your baptism.

Still, others need to enter into the community of Jesus by giving your life to Him.

Come to the end of yourself and turn to Him.

He died on a cross, He rose from the dead, and He gives you the opportunity to receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior.

So today, would you come?

Let Him change your heart and your life.

Maybe some of you need prayer today.

You want to pray with and pray for you.

Our team is up front, our team is at the bottom of the aisles.

I want to ask is that you honor the sacredness of this moment.

If you're making a decision, you come forward.

If not, would you pray?

Father, I pray that you'd move in these moments that we have left, leading people to make life-changing, bold decisions.

They'll be so grateful that they did.

God, I pray you draw people to yourself.

Like the young man that I met after the first service who gave his life to Jesus.

I pray, God, more people would make that same decision today.

I pray, God, for those that need to be baptized, for those that need to join the church.

I pray for those that need prayer.

God, would you honor this time?

In the name of Jesus, I pray.

Amen.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We can't wait to see you next week for any of our services at 830, 10, 1130, or Espanol at one o'clock.