World Changers: Protege Sunday | Part 1

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Okay, Awakening Church.

We are so glad that you're here.

You can go ahead and take a seat.

We uh welcome you to Protege Sunday, as Eunice said, if we haven't met yet.

My name is Chris.

I'm one of the pastors here, and I get the privilege of leading alongside Nassim, another pastor of ours, uh, this amazing Protege program.

We love leading this.

This last year has been a blast.

And as Eunice shared, Protege is our nine-month leadership development experience where people at Awakening, those of you that are just a part of Awakening, end up joining with us in a deeper level for those nine months on discipleship and mission for the church.

Uh, it's an incredible, incredible thing.

And I gotta say, it's just the joy of my role here, and it's so fun to partner with Nassim and leading this together.

And this is what we're gonna do as a church.

Um, you know, at Awakening, if you have been around for any amount of time, we constantly talk about really our vision and our mission, which is to awaken this generation to new life in Jesus Christ.

That is what we're all about.

That's what we're here to do.

We're here to partner with God in that activity.

And one of the vision pieces we have is that at Awakening, and in our body, we would be a strategic training center for the next generation of world changers.

So for actually the next three weeks, we are going to do a series called World Changers.

Can you say world changers?

Yeah.

We are going to do this series around three parts of our church protege this week, next week, our youth ministry, and then finally, kids' ministry.

Here's why.

We want to always orient our life as a church, kind of looking towards what's next and who's next, who's coming up and what is uh how what's the god what is God's activity in the next generation?

And this is what we want for you, for all of you.

There's kind of a twofold purpose.

It's like one is we want you to see the church.

We want you to see parts of the church you've never seen before, but also in seeing the activity of what God's doing in these parts of the church, maybe you only visit occasionally.

We want you to be inspired to grow in your faith.

Like we don't want to just show these parts of our ministry to pat ourselves on the back and go, oh, look, you know, look, we're such a great church.

Um, we want to say we serve a great God who's doing great activity in specific parts of our church.

And we want to highlight that so that you might see God's activity and sense his own activity in your life.

Like, what's God doing in your life that is gonna be shaped by these proteges?

And I'll tell you, um, firsthand experience, having walked with these proteges for the last nine months, Nas and I talk about this.

Man, we deposit into them a ton over nine months, but they deposit into us.

And so we're gonna allow you to be experiencing that for one Sunday here, to just be encouraged by their faith, see God at work in their life and thinking about how he might be working in yours.

That's the next three weeks.

Sound like a plan?

Good, because that is the plan.

Okay, cool.

Awesome.

Okay.

Uh not changing it because you're like, I don't like that.

Um here are proteges, a little bit about them.

There's 14 of them over this year.

Every year we have a new cohort of proteges.

Some of them uh sign up for a second year, but uh this year there's been 14, and they are from all different kind of walks of life and ages and life stages and ethnicities and even like length of time they've been following Jesus.

Some of them, it's like, man, they've been following Jesus since the day they were born.

They were born in a Christian home and raised in the church, and then others that have just been following Jesus for like a matter of months that joined the program.

And it's so cool to see that diversity come around this program for kind of one purpose.

All of them signed up and showed up throughout these nine months because of this.

They wanted to invest in their own leadership and in their own discipleship.

They wanted to do something with their faith, and they sensed God was asking them to greater activity in their faith.

And they said yes, and they continually showed up.

And here's how they showed up.

Every week, uh, a protege's week might look like this.

Uh, there's Wednesdays in the morning before many of them go to work, by the way.

Uh they have jobs, and uh they before work, we meet at our offices, and um, Nassim and I get to spend time with them, and we talk and read tons of books and read tons of scripture and memorize scripture, and we're talking about theology, about leadership, about what it means to be a leader, about spiritual formation, about community.

Uh, we pray together.

Man, we just spend a ton of time nurturing one another and pushing each other on in the walk of faith in Jesus Christ.

Then, like through the week and on Sundays, these proteges are actually everywhere.

Maybe you interact with uh Awakening and you just may not know it.

There's proteges that serve on worship, there's proteges that serve on production.

In fact, right now, Andrew and Cindy are in the back, give it up.

Uh, they're two proteges working on production team, they work in groups, they uh groups ministry and in like uh kids and in youth and in prayer team.

And I mean, they're at there, I'm I'm saying everywhere at awakening, every corner of awakening, there's a little protege power there.

And you just may not know it.

You just may not know it.

And I think it's a really beautiful thing for one Sunday for us to kind of show some of these leaders, and you might be like, oh yeah, I've seen them like in kids' ministry, or like, oh, I've seen them like on stage at worship, or I see them always setting up and tearing down, you know, um, because our prototype do a ton of setup and tear down.

And here's the thing: I want you to see their life, I want you to see God's work in their life, and I want you to begin to think about this one word invest.

I want you to think about this word because it's the word that has come to my mind when I think about this program and when I think about this year of these proteges.

They have invested in something.

They gave up some time, but they didn't just give it up and burn it.

They gave it up in an investing fashion, right?

They put into and gave up time in order to help their faith grow.

And they produced some activity in order to help their faith grow in some unique way.

And I want you to think about this question for you as you think about how these projects have invested.

This question.

How are you investing in your faith this next year?

How are you investing in your faith this next year?

How have you invested in the past?

Maybe some of you are like, man, there's this season in college, like I was a part of this group and I was just growing so much.

Or, you know, you have different seasons of your life where you felt like your faith was growing a lot.

But I can tell you one thing, um, and I don't have a lot of time to talk because we're gonna hear from proteges today, so I just want to cut to the chase.

There's there's some of you that your faith is not moving and it's not growing because it's it's stagnant and it hasn't been in vet you haven't invested into it.

And um I don't know, you know, I think sometimes we think we're gonna wake up one day and automatically become a humble and helpful citizen in the kingdom of God.

Like it's just gonna happen.

And we might just wish, and we show up on Sundays and kind of just keep thinking one day we'll just wake up to be that sacrificial and generous person we've always longed to be.

You know, the person that's like Jesus.

And I'm here to tell you, you know, it just it just doesn't work that way.

And what I've watched with these proteges is like they have gone all in on investing in their faith, and the fruit, the return on the investment is unbelievable.

It's like, you know, I've gave this image first service.

Like, I think we we we if you were to put a stack of cash right here and you were to just wish that that stack of cash were to grow and become, you know, more profitable, and it just sat there.

Again, uh like I'm not a um financial analyst or anything, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna stay the same amount of money in a year.

And you know what?

With inflation, it's actually gonna lose, right?

We're all learning this right now.

It's actually gonna be more like 90 bucks in a year, right?

Right?

It's actually gonna lose value as the economy changes.

Okay, a lot of us with our faith, it's like we put it down at one point and we never go back and do anything with it.

We never put a risk out and take that money and invested.

And by the way, this is just a biblical metaphor.

Jesus uses this several times in stories that he tells in the New Testament to say this: like, if we're not investing, there won't be any return.

If we're not doing anything with our faith and stepping out and praying and joining a group, and yes, maybe I think some of you after this Sunday, I would hope you would think about joining Protege.

Yes, that's part of the purpose for this.

But also part of the purpose is to use Protege as almost this platform to help all of us grow as a church and go, how are we growing and investing so that there might be a return, so that our communities flourish, our city cities flourish, our families flourish, because we're investing.

And the return on that investment comes and pays out in spiritual dividends.

How are we doing that this next year?

Um, that's the word I want you to think about, investing.

And I want to just share a few scriptures before we have some other proteges share with you just to set the scene.

A few months ago, I was reading through the pastoral epistles, which are like 1st and 2 Timothy and Titus in your New Testament.

These are letters that one pastor wrote to another pastor.

His name was Paul, and he wrote to Timothy and to Titus, and these were like his proteges.

So when we were thinking about Protege Sunday, I was thinking about his letters.

What was he saying to his proteges?

And just that first letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy, there's a couple of passages that really jump out because they're really books about investment and about Paul warning Timothy, like to be careful with what he's been given, but to also be active with what he's been given.

Okay, look at some of these verses.

Here's 1 Timothy 1, verse 3.

1 Timothy 1:3

He opens this at the very beginning of his letter.

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus, he tells uh Timothy.

Why?

So that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor devote themselves to myths.

Look at this.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

There's a charge.

That word is used twice in that passage.

Like, do something, you know?

I'm charging you.

Be careful.

Like, watch out for people that are teaching other doctrines and make sure you're teaching and protecting the doctrine of love that issues from a pure heart.

Just a couple of verses later, 1 Timothy 1.18, he says this this charge, there's that word again, I entrust to you.

I'm entrusting you with something.

Like I'm giving you something, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies.

Look what look at this.

That by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.

By rejecting this, some have made a shipwreck of their faith.

There's there's people that their faith was cruising and it ended up being careened into a rock and having damage to their own faith.

Why?

Because they weren't protecting the charge entrusted to them.

They weren't doing anything with what had been given to them.

And what has been given to you?

What's been given to you is faith.

The gospel, the work of Jesus has been given to you.

What will you do with what you've been given?

That's a huge New Testament question.

That's a big New Testament question.

And I see in here that there's this charge that he's giving Timothy for an initial investment.

Some of you remember or maybe are currently or are about to make your first investment.

Maybe not now because the stock market's a little crazy.

But at some point, we all had one time where we like put money into something to hope it to grow, right?

For some of you today, I think that's where you're at.

You're at like an initial investment spot.

Like you just need to do something.

You've been coming to church and God's been working in your life.

You've been blessed by the sermons, you've been worshiping with the community here, but it's time to join a group.

Or it's time for you to sign up to serve and just be like, hey, you know what I'm gonna do today?

I don't have anything going on.

I'm gonna help tear down after this service.

That would be cool.

That would be an investment, that would be a way to step out and put an investment in your faith in some way.

Some of you need that initial investment, but also there's a call for an ongoing investment in this letter.

Look at 1 Timothy 4.

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths, Paul tells Timothy.

Look at this.

Rather, train yourself for godliness.

Like that language tells me it's when you're training, training is not one time.

You don't do it once.

Training is an ongoing activity wherein you discipline yourself for some future goal.

I've seen that with the proteges this year.

Like they have trained themselves in godliness, an ongoing investment.

And you know what I know?

Because they've given this night these nine months, in the future, they're going to continue to train in unique ways.

And there's gonna be this muscle that is built because of their investment.

So I wonder that for you.

Like, how are you training yourself in godliness?

Okay, look at 1 Timothy 6, 20.

At the end of the letter, Paul says, Oh Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.

Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.

I love this in the letter, he talks about shipwrecking the faith, swerving from the faith.

One is like a complete disaster, the other one's kind of adrift.

Yeah.

I think there's gotta be some of us in this room where that's true, whether it's a shipwreck of the faith or a swerving of the faith.

And what what is being said to Timothy is being said to you now, which is how might you guard the deposit that's entrusted to you and invest it well?

Man, you have a seed of faith.

Man, you have a little bit of how are you gonna water that?

That's another biblical metaphor, like an agricultural metaphor.

Like you've been one seed's been planted.

How are you gonna just nurture, care, and water that seed?

Well, here's the last verse, 1 Timothy 4.

He says this here's kind of how the ongoing investment is gonna be made.

Command and teach these things, he tells Timothy.

Do not neglect the gift you have.

Look at this.

Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.

Something's changing, something's growing.

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.

Persist in this, for by doing so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

But I think some of us don't realize that the way we grow in our faith, it affects other people.

Like he he says some are shipwrecking, some are swerving, but some are also being saved.

Some are being saved because of the progress you're making.

And I can tell you, you guys, man, watching these proteges grow in these things, persisting, not neglecting the gift, practicing, keeping a close watch, all these things that Paul is telling Timothy, as I've seen them invest, one of the ways that investment is returning is in their relationships.

In their relationships with their family, with their friends, you guys, in this church, our church is a stronger and better church because of 14 people that have invested in their faith over these nine months.

My question to you is how are you investing?

How are you not just having your faith sit there and just wishing that it would grow?

It's going to take a risk.

And yes, some of you need to sign up for Protege come September, the next cohort that starts.

But for others of us, we need we need to ask that question and go, how what do I need to do next?

Some activity is going to be necessary.

You can help us set up and tear down this, you know, this doesn't just happen every week, you know?

You can help us join in the connection team and serve there, serve in our kids' ministry.

I mean, how are you going to invest?

That's the question to leave before you.

And I'm gonna let the proteges and Nassim share the rest to inspire you so that again, by looking at this vision of this part of our ministry and this part of the church, you might be encouraged to invest more deeply in your faith.

We'll start by rolling a video of some of the stories of our awesome proteges.

You'll be blessed by them.

My name is Diane Hahn, and I'm part of this year's Protege class.

I was a part of Awakening since the beginning of the summer of 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, and currently I serve on Care Team with some awesome people.

Hi everyone, my name is Sam Matheson.

I've been at Awakening since 2017, and my ministry focus is with the youth team.

So before I joined Protege, I was actually in a place of figuring out if Awakening was the right church for me, if this is where I wanted my home church to be.

Um, and this was around May of last year, so exactly a year ago.

Um, I felt like I had spent a couple months trying to get to know people in my midweek group, and they're awesome, but I just didn't feel tied down to awakening, and so I was considering looking at other churches, and then I got nominated for Protege, um, and I was like, oh, wonder what this is.

And so I learned a bit more about the program.

And um after some prayer and after applying and talking to Nasim and Chris, I just felt like this was um one thing that God wanted me to say yes to, um, for me to just give up a couple months to see if this is really where he wanted me.

Prior to joining Protege, I was very at home at Awakening, was attending church on Sunday, was attending a small group and even serving on the worship team about once a month.

But it always felt like there was a little bit more that God was wanting from me.

When I had first heard about Protege over the last couple years, I had always thought it was something specifically for college students and not for people who work full-time like I do.

But showing up and hearing more about it ended up learning that it was something that I could fit into my work schedule.

Um so that kind of helped a lot, but still was a little concerned about what does it look like for me to actually commit and do this program for nine months.

So as I thought about doing Protege, I feel like I had a lot of questions and concern.

Um were answered and resolved, but then some of them weren't.

And that was kind of okay.

It ended up being, I feel like, something that I felt God wanted me to do, and I just kind of had to take a leap of faith and jump into it.

So looking back at the past nine months of Protege, I think a lot has happened in my life that I'm really thankful for.

I think one thing that I'm taking away from this program is just expanded knowledge and a lot of tools in my, I guess, theological toolkit, my faith toolkit.

Um, and I didn't expect this to happen, but a lot of what we covered um this past year, I think God used in conversations with friends who don't go to awakening, friends who are figuring it out in terms of faith.

And um, yeah, I just felt equipped to have discussions and more rich discussions with them about it.

Um so I was not expecting that.

Uh, the other thing that was really great was I felt like I started to dig deeper roots into community.

The Purge Day class meets every Wednesday, so I felt like after a couple months I started to get to know them pretty well and uh felt like I had community there.

Just a great group of people with bright minds and the same heart for the Lord that just wanted to talk and connect.

So I'm really thankful for the ways that God has provided community and uh a more rooted down sense over the past year through Protege.

Now, after nine months of doing Protege, as the program's kind of wrapping up, it's cool looking back and seeing all the things that I've learned through the program.

A lot of the stuff that I feel like I've taken away from Protege has been learning about myself and how I fit into the kingdom of God and how my personality affects my leadership roles within the youth team at Awakening.

But then a lot of it too has affected my work life, even just with these personal skills and learnings of what that looks like and how it plays out in work in my own life as well as at awakening.

I'm honestly just so happy that I did Protege.

It's been such an amazing experience, and it feels like I really have been put in a place where God's using me for his kingdom every day in a way that I never really could have imagined.

So for anybody who, I don't know, is at awakening and just doesn't feel like they have grown their roots into community or awakening yet, um, something I would say is just say yes.

Like there's no harm in applying to protege and seeing what God will do as a result.

Um, really, I think uh it comes down to keeping your hands open and being in a posture of surrender and allowing God to do what he wants to do with your nine months, your Wednesday mornings, whatever day it ends up being.

I think um you really don't know what God has in store, but saying yes is the first step.

So wanna encourage you there.

Woo! Yay! Let's give it up for our proteges, Diane and Sam.

Yeah.

Guys, thank you for sharing.

Hey church, if we have not met, my name is Nassim, and thank you.

Chris mentioned this before, but we get to co lead protege together.

And so now it's my turn to gush on them a little bit, even though he already did.

And this has really, really been the highlight of I would even say me working on staff here, honestly.

The last nine months with this group of people has been so just rich and filling and so amazing to partner with God and with these proteges.

So we're just so excited for them graduating today.

And we love that you get to celebrate this with us this morning.

So thank you for being here.

And as I think about, you know, the stories we just watched and another story you're gonna hear in a few moments, I'm reminded back to this verse that actually was spoken in one of our worship service back in the fall.

And it's funny the timing, because that verse was spoken in the fall.

Protege started in the fall.

And as I've been reflecting on Protege ending, I'm a very nostalgic person.

It's very on brand for me.

And I was just thinking about the last nine months, and this verse kept coming back to me.

It's been with me the last nine months.

And it's this verse in Romans 1.

And Paul is talking to the people in the church, and he's like, Hey, I'm about to come to you, and I'm so excited.

I'm paraphrasing here.

I'm so excited to encourage you in the faith.

And yet, as I come, I also want to be encouraged by your faith, right?

I'm coming to encourage you because it's Paul, and of course, Paul's amazing.

But he's telling the church, I want to be encouraged by your faith too.

And as I think back to that verse, that would be the perfect summary of my experience leading protege.

I've been encouraged by their faith.

I've been so encouraged by these 14 different stories and lives and the ways that God has just uniquely woven this beautiful tapestry of investment that we've talked about in the lives of our 14 protege.

So it's just God is so cool when I think about me coming into it thinking I would pour in whatever I have.

And God's like, Nassim, you're also going to be encouraged in your faith.

And so this morning, our prayer and our hope is that you get a little taste of that.

That you're all your faith is also encouraged as you hear these stories and that you'd really get to witness the ways that these proteges have been like just an extension of Jesus' hands and feet in our church, and ways that you maybe see it or maybe you don't.

And as I think about investment, you know, we've talked about that a little bit.

I think when we think of like us making an investment, it can seem also pretty like obvious, like, oh, well, investing my time or this sacrifice.

And as I've gotten to know our proteges more and their stories, it's so cool to see that for a lot of them, that investment piece has looked a lot more abstract.

It's looked a lot more like an investment in surrender.

It's looked a lot more like an investment in humility.

And this next story that we're gonna hear from our protege, Kristen, is really an investment in perseverance.

And I want to invite her to come out here.

And she has been so gracious to share her story with us.

And come on out.

Yes.

And I I love that she's willing to share because Kristen's story, you know, is one that's unique in the sense that I think for a lot of people, they might think, I'm gonna join protege, and life is gonna be easy and everything's gonna be great, right?

Have this, like, you know, all the you know, things in my toolkit and you know, good with God and great, and you know, all that.

But with Kristen's story, if anything, it's been an it's got harder and it's been an investment in her perseverance.

And so we're so grateful you're gonna share.

So take it away.

Thank you, Nas.

Hi, everyone.

So good to see you.

Um, yeah, thank you for showing up today and for showing the love to our protege class.

I think I've been really honored to do life alongside them for nine months, and I hope you've been encouraged today by all their stories.

Um, but yeah, like Nass said, I uh my name's Kristen.

I've been coming to Awakening for four years now, so two years on and off during college, and then after I graduated, I became more involved, obviously got plugged in more and joined Protege.

And I just want to share a little bit about that and how that experience went.

So I there, yeah, NASA.

I joined Protege, and I think if I go back, I just want to say my day job is that I work in tech.

Um, and that's really hard for a lot of reasons.

I think having a tech job, especially as a Christian, it's kind of like we know that we have a greater, a greater God that we serve, and that our deadlines and everything that we um struggle with at work, we know that he is bigger than that and he is faithful, um, even despite that.

But I think it's still really easy to forget.

So I applied to Protege, and I was like, if I'm going to show up to church every Wednesday morning for nine months straight, um, right before church, and learn about God and pray and just be in community, I was so certain that when I went to work, I was going to be just so happy and so filled, um, just really not phased by anything that work through at me.

But obviously that didn't go that way, and I'm gonna share about that.

Um, yeah, the beginning of the year, so 2022, I actually got a new job.

Um, I was promoted, so I got more responsibility.

And at first I was very thankful because I was saying, wow, God, you're so good.

I feel very called to workplace ministry.

So just being able to um yeah, have an opportunity to talk to more people and to be able to connect more, I was very excited.

Um, but then in the end, ultimately work just became extremely, extremely hard.

And I think that sometimes feels almost trivial to say.

Um, it feels kind of embarrassing at times just being so bogged down by work.

But I think we can all relate to some extent in just the the weight that work holds on us.

And um, that's kind of how I felt, just felt a lot of anxiety, a lot of worry.

And it got to the point where I kind of thought, God, I don't know if you're actually a good God.

I wasn't, I wasn't sure why he had me where he was.

And I also didn't think he really loved us as much as he did, because I thought, God, if you loved us, I don't think you would let work, especially in the Silicon Valley, I don't think you would let it get this hard and this tiring and this exhausting.

Um, so I wrestled a lot with that.

Um and thankfully, there's scripture that definitely helped me stay rooted and stay grounded.

Um, that's not to say scripture is like a band-aid fix over anything, but I think I was just very encouraged by this um verse, and I want to share with you as well.

So if you guys would all open your Bibles or take out your phones, we're gonna be in um James in the New Testament, and um yeah, I'll read it out.

Just at the very beginning, we're gonna be in verses one through four.

And James says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations, greetings.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

And I think this verse, the main thing for me is that word perseverance, like Nasim said, that was just something that I was investing in this year.

Because I think perseverance has a weight or just a meaning of being more like strong, and just by the skin of your teeth, you you just barely get by what you've what you've struggled with and the challenges and the trials.

Um I think it it represents a lot of grit.

I don't know about you guys, but that's kind of how I read that.

Um but the word perseverance in the Greek translation is actually a little different and it has a bit more meaning.

So I want to share that with you all.

Um, the Greek translation for the word perseverance is to persist, to withstand, to patiently bear all things, and to be immovable or firmly fixed in place.

And the patiently bear all things part is something that really stood out to me because I think when we go through trials and we're being more patient with it, it's more that surrender of saying, God, I I don't really know why I'm in this situation, but I don't want to rush through it and I want to be patient with it.

Um, because I think a posture of patience is is a little different than an attitude of perseverance.

So as you guys go into your weeks, um I just want to be reminded, I just want to remind you that um what you're going through right now is not where God plans to have you forever.

And um yeah, he gets the final say in what's going on in your life.

And um yeah, nothing you go through, whether it be work or family or anything, right when you leave these doors, whatever you might be facing this week, nothing is being wasted by him.

So um I just want to leave you with that.

And I want also want to leave you with a couple questions, and I think it's really cool because Chris, um Chris and I kind of had the same question.

So I'll repeat his first one.

It's that um, what are you going to invest in this week?

Um where are you gonna say, God, I have I know I have little to give, but I just want to give you all of it and see what you'll do with it.

And I think for me, this investment did not make my life easier, it didn't make life better immediately, um, but it did give me a different posture and it made me feel a little more confident and just helped me grow.

And I can share kind of a little bit of what that looked like because for Protege, we all, all 14 of us, we actually shared a sermon with our Protege class, and it was really sweet hearing from everyone.

But when I shared like a similar message that you guys are hearing right now, I I was up at the front and I finished, and then Chris and I asked, like, oh, how do you feel?

And it was supposed to be a question of like, how do you feel about how your presentation and your communication went?

But I just stood there and then I just started crying in front of everyone.

And um then Ryan gave me a tissue box and no one else knew what to do.

And so that was something that that's where I was at, like to the point where I would just cry in front of anyone and everyone who would ask me about work, and that's the way it is here sometimes, and I think that's okay because God has been very faithful and so very, very um, yeah, just He's proven that what I'm going through is not a waste.

So, my second question for you all is what is the one thing in your life that you've invested in that you're just about ready to give up on?

Um, where you're just so tired and you want to say, God, I'm done.

I just want to encourage you all that again, it's not, he's not wasting a single second of it, and he he sees you in it, and you will be made so much more complete.

Um yeah, at the end of it.

So I just want to pray for you all.

Um, as I wrap up, if you all could bow your heads and close your eyes.

God, I thank you for this church and the proteges and Chris and Nassim and Ryan and everyone who's support supported us in these past nine months.

God, I pray for my brothers and sisters who are here and who are so tired, who are so exhausted of the work and are so frustrated and drained of everything life has thrown at them.

God, I pray that you would just be be with them and be close to them this week.

I pray that they would have a posture of patience as they leave this building.

And I pray that you would use whatever season they're in to make them more complete and more like you.

God, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kristen.

I love how real that is because yeah, investment is hard work sometimes and painful and raw, and it takes vulnerability.

So we love you, Kristen.

Thank you.

Yeah, church, this morning, um, you know, we hope that you've been encouraged by the faith and the testimonies of our proteges within our church.

And as we get ready to worship in a few minutes, we're gonna be taking communion.

And before that, I just want to kind of help us just posture our hearts in a way of reflection.

You've heard a lot, and I want to give you some next steps.

Kristen gave you some questions.

I want to give you some next steps to reflect on.

And as you've heard these stories and thinking about what investment in your faith looks like for you.

Maybe for some of you that is taking a bold step in investing and being more involved in our church community.

Maybe it's taking a step in pursuing your faith in a deeper way, making a new commitment with the Lord with what your discipleship looks like.

Maybe it's coming to our open house in two weeks.

Maybe Protege is for you.

And can I encourage you to take a bold step?

I'm all about the practicality.

Can I encourage you to take a bold step and write it down, right?

Because we forget things.

You might leave here today and forget it.

Would you write it down either on a connection card and give it to one of the pastors or in your own journal?

Write it down between you and God.

What does that investment in my faith look like?

What step is God calling me to take?

And as we get ready to take communion, our proteges are going to be serving you communion this morning.

And I think there's something so powerful about being reminded verbally, someone looking in you in the eyes, telling you why you were taking the communion, right?

What does this symbolically represent?

The blood, the juice, the bread.

What does this represent?

And as we think about Jesus, it all comes back to him, right?

We're not doing any of this to self-help or grow within, you know, just like our own best version of ourselves.

No, this all comes back to looking more like Jesus Christ.

Amen.

That's our call as disciples.

So that's why we do this.

And it's such a blessing that we get to be a part of a church that has a mission to do this, and we are all a part of that in one way or another.

So can I invite you to stand with me?

Thank you.

And close your eyes.

Maybe take a breath.

Just let the week go.

Let this morning go.

Maybe even open up your hands in a posture of surrender if you'd like.

And I want to read over us these verses in Colossians 1 that I think perfectly summarize why we do communion and who Jesus is, because it all comes back to Jesus.

So let me read this over you.

Paul says, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

By him, all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Jesus is the head of the body, the church.

In him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

Through him, he reconciled to himself all things, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you who were once alienated and hostile in mind, he has now reconciled in his body by his flesh, by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before God.

If indeed you, awakening church, you and I continue in the faith, stable, steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard.

Lord Jesus, we come before you.

And we just pause and say thank you, Jesus, that in you the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

And because of your sacrifice, we have access to God.

Lord, that is something to celebrate every hour of every day.

So, God, we just say thank you that this morning, this time, this service, this is all thanks to sacrifice you have made, Jesus, to reconcile us back to you, God.

Just say thank you.

And Lord, as we take communion this morning, we say thank you that in our investment, it's because you're strengthening us.

God, I pray over my brothers and sisters who are struggling with maybe perseverance or endurance or a trial or hopelessness.

God, thank you that in all things, you're the one that helps us to remain steadfast.

You're that solid rock where our feet are planted.

And I pray, God, in those investments, would we know that it's a partnership with you?

It's not on our own, thank God.

It's not on us, Lord.

So we just say, would we be so much more attuned to your Holy Spirit?

Would we surrender to what you're doing?

And I just pray, God, even in this worship song, Lord, as we reflect on you, Jesus, that you would speak.

You would speak to hearts in this room.

And God, finally, I just pray, I just feel led to pray for people who might not know you, Jesus, right now.

Maybe someone who's their first time hearing this.

Jesus, I pray that you would reveal yourself so as the loving, loving gentleman you are.

I pray that you would reveal yourself.

And I pray, Lord, that hearts would be open to you, and we just say thank you for the ways that you transform and restore and bring hope.

And we look to you now in worship.

In Jesus' name, amen.

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