Sermon
Writing Our Destiny - Difference Maker Part 6
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Here I am, Here I. AM.
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You can have it all. You can have it all.
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Here I am, here I am. And you can have it all.
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You can have it all. Man, can we give it up for God
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this morning man, that simple act of saying, yes, Lord, I'm
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available man, we're here to give it all but has to start
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with our hearts and who we are before God because that's what
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he's really trying to capture man.
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He wants us to live on mission for him.
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So man, let's give it for God one more time.
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Can we man, love hearing you guys worship Hey, we have a ton
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of new people with us. They with this in person, can we
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show those people some love man? Thank you guys.
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If you're new with this, thank you for joining with us to
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worship at this gathering. Hey man, it has been so awesome.
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If you guys have been here for the last several months, you can
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just see and and feel a sense of of the spirit moving.
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And can I get you let you guys know something awesome.
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There have been 39 people commit their lives to Christ in the
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last three months. Isn't that awesome, man?
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It's why we do what we do. And so having said that, we're
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going to do something we've never done at this coming time
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of the season, we are going to do baptism on December the 28th
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at 10:00 in our year end social. This is a time we've never done
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baptism, but man, we feel that God's calling us and we want you
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guys to take that next step of faith because really that's what
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baptism is. And so if you've committed your
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life to Christ the last several months, your next step is
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baptism and baptism and we'll let you guys know more about it.
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But baptism is a sign, is a of a change in your life.
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You pass from death to life, doesn't have any salvation, but
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it's a public proclamation of what God's doing in your life
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and the story that God's writing in you.
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And we want to celebrate with you.
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So get signed up and we can't wait to celebrate with your
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story on December the 28th. And we do every last thing,
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including baptism because we are a church on a mission.
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And that mission is to see people farm for God, discover
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their real life and their purpose in Jesus.
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And all that means is this is that man, Satan wrecks people's
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lives. And we know that God repairs
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him. God restores him, and he needs a
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community to do that in or he chooses to use the community to
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do that in. And that's why we're here.
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We get to see people come in, come in broken and destroyed,
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and not know what to do next and walk out completely different
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people with a family, with a purpose, with their God and
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Jesus in their hearts. And so it is so cool to see that
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week in and week out. And that's why we exist.
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So we're so glad that you're here with us today.
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We're in the we're in the the home stretch of what has been
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the most powerful series that we've ever done here in real
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life. It's called difference maker.
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For the last eight years that we've existed, God has used this
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community, this gathering to bring hope and transformation to
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so many people's lives. But God doesn't call us to the
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status quo, does he? Church?
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And he calls us to do something bigger and better and to lean
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into what he's got for us since the next season.
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And so that's what we've been talking about the last several
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weeks about not a building initiative, but a building a
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movement. And so today we're going to step
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into this last week of difference maker.
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And I want you guys to really lean in.
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And I want you guys to think of yourself as personally being
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involved because that is the truth.
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Every last person. I don't care what seat you're
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sitting in, have the role to make a difference where you're
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at and wherever you go. And so today we are going to
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lean into that. And so I can't wait to see what
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God does with your lives and your generosity and your
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sacrifice to change to the next generation, to bring a hope and
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transformation. So take this opportunity, put
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your hands together as Pastor Sean comes up for Difference
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Maker. Good morning, guys.
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Welcome to Commitment Sunday. I thought it would be.
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It's going to be good. This is like a holy moment in
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our church. And by the time today's over,
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you're going to feel it and you're going to experience man,
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we're doing something so big together for God to step out of
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faith. Before we jump in, couple
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things. Want to celebrate number one,
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last week, 15 kids, nine families dedicated to the Lord,
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Amen. Give it up big for those
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families. Super exciting.
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Last week was amazing. We had 306 people in person,
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which is a really, really amazing number for us.
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But if you think about over last year, that's actually 34% higher
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than the same Sunday last year, which is significant.
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Amen. But what's really cool is we had
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six people that raised their hand and said yes to Jesus last
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Sunday. So give it for those people.
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It's fun just being a part, a little small part of the story
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that God is writing. And the way this happens is by
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you guys investing and going out with the gospel, just
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encouraging people, meeting people they're AT.
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And sometimes it's a small act that makes a big difference.
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And I want to share a story and it's a story of Toby.
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I don't know if Toby is in here. If you're in here, Toby.
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No, no, didn't make it to the first yet.
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OK, well, Toby came out yesterday to our real life men's
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ministry, which was one that's one year anniversary of real
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life men's, by the way, which is really, really cool.
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And yeah, give it up for that. That's fantastic.
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It's cool getting just guys together for Jesus, man, that
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power. But I met Toby yesterday.
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He shared how he came to real life and he said he saw one of
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those yard signs and he was on a walk.
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And I was like, man, that's really cool.
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So I started talking a little more and he's telling me how he
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got on the walk and he's trying out different churches.
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And, you know, you kind of felt like, man, you know, I just got
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to find something that God leads me to.
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And he just saw the yard sign. He took a picture of the QR,
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went to the website. Man, it felt good.
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And yesterday he sat at a table and he was sitting with Drew.
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And I don't know what Drew said to him, but he's probably trying
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to figure out which yard sign this is.
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He's shaking and said, yes. He's like, where's that yard
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sign at, man? He's like, I think sunset is
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that. Yeah.
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And Drew's like, well, I think that's, that's my yard sign.
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You're welcome. You know, and it had a great
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conversation with Drew and it's just cool I put together.
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So afterwards I'm talking a little more and I said I didn't
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know the whole story. And he told about Drew and
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stuff. And he says really cool cuz I
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signed up like man, I want to plan my visit.
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And I started texting this lady holiday and we're texting back
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and forth and blah, blah, blah. I said, you want me to blow your
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mind real quick. Holly's married to Drew and
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that's their sign. Is that amazing, Amen.
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Just how God does some small act, you just never know.
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And so introverts love it. I'll encourage you to grab a
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sign like you just don't know. It's scattering out like the
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world needs to Jesus, Amen. And we forget as the people of
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God like how good we have it, like we have the presence of God
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and the Holy Spirit of God. And there's people that are on
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the verge of giving up on their life, on their family and just
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trying to find the next step. And we just put a sign out is
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the simplest thing we could do. But more importantly, we can
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just invite them to Jesus, Amen? Like we got to recognize that
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people aren't what they seem and we need to help them in their
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hurting, in their pain, their loss.
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And so we get the opportunity to be a salt and light to a lost
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and dying world, Amen. And so this was all difference
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makers really about, it's about souls.
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It's about making a bigger impact together than any one of
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us can do by ourselves. And so we've been in the series.
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This is our 6th week and kind of a quick recap through all the
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weeks. We start out with a message
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called This is the Moment. This is our moment.
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And we talked about Joshua and Caleb.
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You guys remember them. They want to step into the
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promised land and they were the some of the spies and they're
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only two full of faith. And they said, yes, we can
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because God just took us to the Red Sea.
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He didn't bring us this far to quit on us.
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So let's go in. And of course they didn't.
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But eventually they did. And God honored their
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faithfulness and just the how how we should have bold faith
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like them. And I don't remember that story
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because it's come full circle later day.
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Then we stepped into a message called Everyday difference
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makers. That was maybe 1 of the
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favorites, right? Just one small act of faith can
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change the community and change people.
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Talk about Rahab, we talked about Andrew, invited Simon to
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to meet Jesus. We shared stories in our church.
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I think we've even talked about some signs and how people came
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to our churches from a sign and made a difference.
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We talked about message the third week called Motivated by
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Faith. We talked about David and how he
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was counting on his own ability. He counted the sin census of all
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his people. So I'm going to try to slide
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that around, you hear me? Like blow into the mic.
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It's great. But he had this sin census.
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He was kind of his own ability instead of counting on God's
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power and God's ability and he humbled himself.
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He was broken when the Angel came down.
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He humbled himself and he bought that threshing floor of Verona.
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He said this is going to be the holy holies.
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This is the presence of God. I no longer counted myself, but
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I'm going to count on God himself.
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The 4th week about ready fire, aim man this that.
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We're not always going to be ready, but we should always be
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willing. And how Abraham was called to a
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place he didn't know, but he stepped out on faith.
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And we talked about Joshua again, where he stepped out to
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cross the Jordan and how people have to go first, be willing to
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get their feet wet, Amen. Somebody has to step.
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And that's what today's going to turn into.
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Last week, we had a just amazing day, just story after story
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after story after story of their forever.
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Like, you know, you think about a building, we get fixated on
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where and how much and when and all the details and all these
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little things. But ultimately, the building's a
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tool and we should be fixated on souls.
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Amen. She fixated on what God can do
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through a space fixated on our community, on a lost and dying
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world. And you guys heard those stories
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in the morning and we had no thing in the evening heard even
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more stories. But this there forever.
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And I'll say before we jump in today, thank you guys who have
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been fasting it it it is totally behind the scenes.
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But I believe the power God has unleashed through that.
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And so for some of you guys have been faithful to do that and he
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made a commitment to the Lord and I pray that God's been
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speaking through through that. There's always a purpose of
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fasting. We talk about Jehoshaphat and he
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fasted that they're they would be rescued from their enemy and
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everyone was killed as they praised God give thanks to the
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Lord for his love endures forever.
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And the enemy slaughtered each other right And they just took
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the plunder like that's what they fast for Esther, she fasted
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for freedom that they'd Edith would go away and they'd be
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saved. I was reminded of Isaiah.
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They fasted and they took what they were going to give to the
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poor or for themselves, and they gave it to the poor and they
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fast on purpose. And I've been fasting with Diane
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for the last few weeks, like intentionally fasting, which it,
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it, it really, honestly, I think Diane likes to eat in the
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morning. And I'm like, I could eat like
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at 5:00 at night. So I was like, I could do this
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forever, you know, And Diane's like, I'm going to die, you
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know. So I think next time she's like,
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we're going to go noon to midnight.
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So anyway, we've been fascinated.
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We've been asking God like, do a move, like help us find that
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space, Lord, let's move together as one.
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Like, let's just be the church that's just so bold, that's so
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courageous, that can accomplish great things that only you can
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do. We're just asking you, Lord, to
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make a move. And this we've been asking the
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Lord for the last few weeks. And so it's really that
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question, Lord, what would you have me to do?
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And so I'll lead you to church. What does it look like to step
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out in the faith together? Like how do we do this?
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Like what does it look like for us as one big body of Christ to
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step with a move of faith? And so we're going to look
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through Scripture. It's going to be in First
1 Chronicles 28 chapter mention
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Chronicles chapter 28. It says this King David rose to
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his feet and said, you have to keep in mind he had all these
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leaders around him, all of his around him.
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He said, listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people.
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I had it in my what? What's it say?
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He had in his heart like he had a dream, like he had a vision,
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like he had a godly burning desire to accomplish something
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great for God. And he said, I want to build a
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house as a place of what? What's it say?
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Yeah, I want to build a house for the Ark of the Covenant as a
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place of rest. Like he, he wanted a permanent
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place. Like he wanted a permanent home
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instead of going to the tent. He wanted a place where the
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glory of God could go out to all humanity.
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And so I want to build a house, a place to rest for the Ark of
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the Covenant. Remember the Ark of the
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Covenant? We talked about this quite a
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bit. It's it's this, it's this the
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ark inside of it has the 10 commandments.
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It has the staff of Moses and it has the man of bread in a jar.
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And it's God's presence and it represents God's power and God's
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provision. And on top of those angels and
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they face each other. And then the leader of Israel
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would go in front of this mercy seat is what they called it.
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And they hear from God. But this is the place where God
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would speak to them. And even David said for the
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footstool of our God, like I want to build a place of rest,
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the Ark of Covenant of the Lord for a footstool of our God.
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I think that's just so special because it's like the place
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where God is stepping into humanity.
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Like this is where the presence of God was and the power of God
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was. And God spoke to the leadership
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and he want to make it accessible for every single
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person that God could step in to our world.
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And you find that all throughout the Old Testament that the
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centerpiece of what was to follow God was the Holy of
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holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was at.
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And that is everything revolved around it.
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And so he says this about he was so passionate about it.
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He said, I made what very end of the verse.
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I made plans to what to build it.
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He he made plans. He, he, he stayed up at night
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like he'd even shared this vision with anybody else.
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He literally was wrestling with God and the Holy Spirit.
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And he, he made plans like he had desire and passion and he
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put pen to paper or pen to parchment or whatever, right?
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And he drew up this vision of what God had for God's presence
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to be permanently accessible to all humanity.
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And the reason I'm so passionate about it because Saul, his
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predecessor, was actually killed for not going into God's
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presence and David had neglected it for 30 years.
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He he got comfortable. He wasn't at God's mercy seats
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out of brokenness and humility. He was no longer content with a
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tent Amen. He was no longer like this is
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it? This is as good as it gets.
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I've got my awesome house. I got my dream.
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I got all these things. He looked out and said, Lord,
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I've totally missed it. There's something far better for
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my life. There's something greater that I
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should, I don't know, Like if the word sacrifice is the right
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word, it should just be called an honor to give to God.
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Like it's no longer a sacrifice. Because I'm so humbled, Lord,
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that you just use anything of mine and he just humbles himself
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and he lays it down for God, no longer content with the ark of
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the covenant is just floating in a tent around.
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And he wanted to God's presence. He wanted to elevate his power
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and his provision to a lost and dying world.
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So he made plans. And it's really unique.
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And I caught this last week in a prayer actually, because Barry
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Barry was praying and I, I listened to this prayer and I
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thought it was really good. He just made this point as he
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prayed. But it's unique because in the
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Old Testament, when Moses built a Tabernacle in Exodus 32, God
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told Moses like everything. Like, he gave him a blueprint,
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like make it this long, this high, it should look exactly
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like this. He gave them all the details of
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what to do. But when the temple was built,
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God's not go to David and say, here's the blueprint of the
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temple. He didn't give him a plan.
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He didn't give him all the pieces and how this should work.
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What God did is he was waiting for a man no different than any
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of us to have the boldness and the courage and the faith to
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dream of what that would look like.
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And then the Holy Spirit says met with David and he designed
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and made plans for the temple. That's pretty amazing.
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Amen. That the God was like waiting to
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get more worship because it's one thing for God to do it, but
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it's another thing for us to say, God, you can do it.
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And he's waiting for us like step into this vision and to
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give God more glory and more devotion from his people.
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And David, when he made plans, he made extravagant plans.
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We are not making these plants. He lined the House of the temple
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with gold. You didn't walk in and there was
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wood. You don't use no pine.
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Come on, somebody. Right.
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I mean, he took what was built and then he covered it with gold
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and silver. It just like the vision he had
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was so grand. They called it a palatial
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structure. Like, I've never met somebody
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that had that kind of vision. I've seen a lot of vision, but
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that is a whole nother level, the architecture and the
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details. Have you ever seen it or thought
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about? What he did is absolutely
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amazing and he gave him a desire.
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Now I'll tell you behind the scenes, we've been making plans,
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Amen. We've been dreaming.
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We we, we know like, hey, we're not going to be portable
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forever. We've been sitting in board
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meetings and leadership meetings.
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I said, Lord, what would it look like for us to have a permanent
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space? And there's lots of factors,
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right? You can look at costs and this
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and that, but it's like, what could we do?
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And so we started dreaming and started looking at different
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designs and we sat at the Hope Center with our board and we
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flipped through like, what could look like this and how could
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look like that? And we came up just the
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different drawings and ideas, none of which we know the Lord,
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like that's what the Lord's going to give us, but just to
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dream, right? And so I'll just throw up like
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this is something we looked at as a board.
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I don't know, eight months ago more we said this would be cool.
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Now we have no idea. Like if that's it, we know this
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isn't the picture, right? So don't take a picture and fall
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in love with it. Amen.
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But we just started looking like, man, they could seat those
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people. And this, oh man, last week we
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were at church Four Corners. We had this advance commitment
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night. We took some of our leaders, our
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staff, our elders, our team board members, and we just got
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together and said let's go 1st. And it was amazing because we
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met in a permanent home at a different church, right?
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And I don't know about you, but eight years in, we've gotten
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really comfortable and portable. We got real comfortable.
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Like you come in, you got your seat.
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I noticed you guys sit in the same seats, by the way.
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Hey, man, you could be a missionary in your own church.
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You just go front to back and you can hang out with the
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visitors, right? Or the church heathens.
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I'm just kidding. We love you Baptist, right?
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Or you can move seats. You can meet some neighbors,
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right? You can hang with people.
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But we just get really in a routine and we get kind of used
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to like, oh, that is pipe and drape.
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And it was great last week. We had child dedication.
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Maybe it's right here. Yep.
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Maybe it's here. Oh, this is it.
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This is it, right here. I was literally with a mom.
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She was carrying her, her daughter right here.
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This is it. Oh, yeah.
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And we had came over to pray over her.
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And this is literally what she said.
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Is this stage in the collapse. Lord bless you and keep you.
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May his face shine upon you. And you know, anyway, we get
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really comfortable with that, don't we?
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Like the bands, Like just don't step on that part of the stage.
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You know, we get like how it is, you know, and you kind of get
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used to like the dysfunction. Like they put stuff in the
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closet and, you know, it's just not what God's calls to do.
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Amen. But it's really cool at church
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Four Corners because I was just watching the team and, and you
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can just look, it was like this. It was like, wow, this is pretty
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cool, man. Like you just see it in their
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eyes. Like they're picking things up.
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They're kind of opening doors. They're just watching.
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And it's just you can see like the lights flick on like, OK,
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we've been missing a lot. Like we got, we got used to like
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the tent, like we got used to the rickety put it together.
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Like it's just comfortable now it's it's convenient, like, and
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if you're not set up and tearing down, like it's real convenient,
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you know? But has the Lord called us to
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more like, are we going to be status quo or we're going to
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say, Lord, we want to be a permanent place for God's glory
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to go out into not just our community, but around the world.
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And that's the decision that we get to make today together.
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Because here's what's really cool about David's vision.
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It's way bigger than himself. And David was extremely wealthy
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and his vision, he could not fund his own vision.
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And so for us, it's for the people that aren't here yet.
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It's it's for a world that needs Jesus.
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We don't have to over complicate this, Amen.
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I think just all step out on face together.
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Like if one of us is like, ah, it's cool, I'll see what they
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do. I think we've, we've missed it.
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Like I think it's going to take all of us to step into what
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God's asking us to do. And I think God just sees our
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faith and he just opens opportunity like whatever is
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going to happen is not from us. Like I'm just going to tell you
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straight up it, it cannot be and should not be from us.
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It's from the Lord, Amen. We just we're giving to Lord,
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we're trusting Lord. I want you to see how David
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shared his vision and really his plan to fund the vision.
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And so in First Chronicles 29 two, he says this with all my
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resources I have provided for the temple of my God, and this
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is what we provided. This is like from, you know, the
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business or from collection from other wars he's won, right?
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He said gold for gold works, silver for silver, bronze for
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bronze, iron for iron, wood for wood as well as Onyx for
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settings, turquoise stones of various colors, all kinds of
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fine stone, marble and all these and what?
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Yeah, large quantities. Like he just took out the
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business, you know, like I'm just going to give that in large
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quantities. Besides, in my devotion to the
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temple of my God, I now give my, what's it say?
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His what? His personal treasures.
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They do something very special as a man and woman of God, when
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you get personal, well, it's not like, oh, I'll just take from
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here or like I'll watch them else do it.
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But David is going to give out of his own personal wealth and
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he gives gold and he gives silver for the temple of God.
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He says over and above everything I've provided for the
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simple, I've already given out of the business, I'm just going
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to give out of myself. And he says there's 3000 towns
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of gold, gold from Ophir. Now, the Ophir was like the
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finest gold of the day. This is like the the nicest gold
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you could ever find in the ancient history.
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He says also 7000 talents of refined silver.
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This isn't just like lame silver.
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This is the best silver, right? Like you don't be purified.
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It's already purified. He didn't give his leftovers.
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Amen. He gave his very finest things
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for the temple. It says for the overland
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overlaying of the walls. Now I don't have that kind of
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vision. Hey, man, he's going to overlay
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the walls with gold and silver. It's amazing of the building for
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the gold work and the silver work and for all the work to be
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done by the Craftsman. You think about this, David went
-
first, Amen. Like David had the vision, David
-
heard from God, David drove the plans and he's been behind the
-
scenes going, Lord, how can we do this?
-
Lord, I'm going to trust you with this.
-
And he stepped out on faith 1st. And if you think about this, I
-
did the math on the number, like what he actually gave towards
-
the temple, and it's just shy of $14 billion towards the temple.
-
Now, if Envy has $14 billion, today's the day.
-
But it's really not about the money.
-
Like David doesn't say it so you can match his wealth.
-
He says it so you can see his sacrifice because David took it
-
personal. David took it personal what God
-
was calling him to do and he invites everybody else to take
-
it personal with him. He says now and ask this
-
question, who is willing to what consecrate themselves to the
-
Lord today? And when you say consecrate
-
yourself to the Lord, that means to give yourself fully to the
-
Lord. If you said you'd consecrate
-
yourself to the Lord and you gave half of of yourself that,
-
that's not what that means. It, it doesn't mean like, I'm
-
going to sit back and I'm going to see what everybody else is
-
going to do and then we maybe get there.
-
It doesn't mean like, well, I'm going to hold on to this and
-
then somebody else can make up for that.
-
It means, Lord, what what would look like for us to fully give
-
ourselves to this divine purpose?
-
And that's what David's asking all of all of his leaders and
-
all of Israel. Will you fully concert yourself
-
to Lord in faith, not to match the gift, but to match the
-
faith? And David took this bold step of
-
faith. Why did he ask all these people
-
to give? It's because even David is
-
wealth and everything he had with $14 billion, he still
-
couldn't reach the vision and the desire that God had for the
-
temple. It was outside of his own
-
ability. Amen.
-
That's where it takes faith. He asked them to go together.
-
And I would say for us as well, the vision is way outside of my
-
reach, but it's not outside of ours.
-
Amen. It's outside of mine.
-
It's way beyond my ability, but it's not outside of the ability
-
of God. And God uses all of us and all
-
of us is what the big key point is.
-
It's not that we match gifts, it's that we match faith.
-
And so I'm inspired by this. I've read this passage and I'm
-
like, OK, Lord, like, well, I'm the David in the story, right?
-
Like I'm called to go first. I'm called to sacrifice, I'm
-
called to lead. And so at the risk of making it
-
really awkward for, for a church, and I don't know if
-
there's a good thing or a bad thing, but I'm going to go with
-
it. I'm going to tell you my number.
-
But the reason I'm telling my number is not.
-
So you go look, look at Sean. And for somebody to go, man,
-
that's big and somebody to go, that's it.
-
That's not the point of the number.
-
Amen. The, the point of the number is
-
to recognize this number is a sacrificial number.
-
Like when this will change, like our lives, this will change what
-
we can't afford, what we don't buy, what we do buy, it'll be
-
the largest check by far. We write every single month it
-
it will change. They'll delay things in our
-
life. They'll be avenues we can't go
-
down for a season because we're trusting God.
-
And so by faith, like we started out with our card and of course
-
we're like David, we've known about this for quite a while and
-
we've been praying on our card and we started out at 50,000.
-
It's OK that, that, that's a that's excel sheet number for
-
us, right? Like that's, that's the stretch,
-
but we can do it. And we're like, well, maybe we
-
can get 75, you know, like 75 that that that could happen.
-
Like that take some acts of God that we can get there.
-
And we finally settled on right after Halloween, we settled on
-
$100,000 and we said, Lord, we're going to commit this.
-
Now. I don't know how exactly.
-
Like if you said, Sean, how's that going to happen?
-
I could tell you like about how 2/3 maybe happen, but I know
-
what God's going to provide because I've been here before
-
like this in the first time that I've gone all in on Jesus and
-
seen him take care of it. And when I look at the future of
-
what God's going to do, I mean, maybe I'm a spiritual gold
-
digger, but I'm going to look back and be like I sowed some
-
major seed in that. Like I saw what God did.
-
Like the glory of God that goes out through our church from here
-
on. There'll be some part of it that
-
I can go. Thank you, Jesus, I got to play
-
just a small part of the story. Amen.
-
Now when I say the number, whatever number you give is the
-
number between you and the Lord. Amen.
-
But here's what you do. I'm going to match.
-
I don't want you to match my number.
-
I want you to match my faith. I want you to match my faith.
-
I want you to look at me and say if you know what I made of this
-
church, some of y'all know because you're on the board,
-
right? I mean, you're like, dude,
-
that's a big number for somebody.
-
That's a stretch. And I don't want you to think
-
like that Macedonian church that just ground the everything they
-
could and then it exceeded with their own ability.
-
And then Paul took their number and took it to court.
-
They said, listen, guys, there's these gentiles.
-
They're not even from the Jewish custom at all.
-
Don't know anything about this. And they went all in and they
-
went beyond they even really do match their faith.
-
There's a man last Thursday. I was so moved by him.
-
His name is Johnny. He's a he's just playing to the
-
church him and his buddy and recovery church independence.
-
They deal with 12 step program tie tie to Jesus.
-
This is just, they're trying to take addicts and help them find
-
God and it's amazing. And they're like just, I mean,
-
everything you don't say at church, you should say at
-
church. They say it's all salty.
-
It's not polished. It's just what it is.
-
I'm like, dude, this is so awesome.
-
You know, any committed to give to this church planting group in
-
Kansas City called New Thing, which is very significant.
-
We give as our church to them. And I know behind the scenes how
-
many churches really give and there's probably about six that
-
give the new thing in Kansas City.
-
And for him to step up doesn't literally just start a church
-
two months ago and they committed 50 bucks a month.
-
Well, you know what? That's 50 bucks a month that
-
there's other mega churches that aren't committing anything.
-
And he stepped out and he's like, I'm giving him 50.
-
And he's like, and he asked him, why are you doing that?
-
He goes, well, because when somebody helps you out, don't
-
you do like, you know, believe in it and go, There's just like
-
not even a question that he would just go.
-
And I told the guys on Thursday, I said, listen, we don't need to
-
match his gift. We need to match his faith,
-
Amen, Because he believes in what God can do through this
-
group. And if you've been fed by that
-
or fed by our church or made an impact like you've, you've
-
experienced God through a church, you just kind of feed
-
the thing that feeds you, Amen. Like you said, God, what can you
-
do? And it is a step of faith for
-
yourself personally as well to see what the Lord can do.
-
And so just think about like what it looked like to our Lord,
-
what you have. And I believe the goal today is
-
100% participation. It's not the it's not the amount
-
because we're all going to different amounts, right?
-
And some of you are going to be that spot.
-
And I'm that spot too. I wish I could do more.
-
I mean, honestly, if I could write a bigger number, I'd write
-
a bigger number. Like I just want to do it as I
-
could afford the whole thing I'd do right now, I would just do
-
it. But it's bigger than any one
-
person. Amen.
-
So I'm just asking you guys humbly locking arms to the Lord
-
and matching the faith and sowing some seeds for eternity.
-
This will happen when David presented this to them, they
-
said then the leaders of the families is verse 6 and the
-
office of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands,
-
commanders of hundreds officials in charge of the King's work.
-
It says gave how willingly they're just moved like if David
-
is going to give 14 billion and he's passionate about the Lord's
-
in this come behind it. And they just went and says they
-
gave toward the work of the temple of God 5000 talents of
-
and 10,000 talents or thousand darkest of gold, 10,000 talents
-
of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze, 100,000 talents of iron.
-
And anyone had precious stones just gave them to the treasure
-
of the temple of the Lord in a custody of Jahil the the
-
Gershonite. I mean, it's going to take all
-
of us, Amen. And his people just gave what
-
they had. Like you can't give what you
-
don't have, Amen. Like no one's asking, like to
-
like just go some crazy thing that make no sense.
-
But like, look and say, Lord of my honoring youth, What, what,
-
what I've got the vision is inside our reach.
-
If we all move together as one, there's something special.
-
I was reminded of this week as well, that when when you give to
-
God, it shifts your heart. And it was best said this way.
-
If you want to be close to God, then start with your giving
-
because where you're giving is and your treasure is then your
-
heart is also. It will just be there.
-
Like I don't know if you've like invested in something or someone
-
or something, or maybe it's a stock.
-
All of a sudden you have a lot of interest in it.
-
All of a sudden you start really tracking Bitcoin or way Amazon
-
or whatever you're in, right, Berkshire Hathaway and them
-
selling all these pieces as he retires, right?
-
You're like, what's going on with this?
-
And when you give to the Lord, your heart just next to the
-
Lord. And I want you to just
-
understand how significant it was because last Sunday night we
-
had a group went together. I'm going to show a highlight
-
video here in a second and was really cool because at the end
-
of the day, we all met up, had a social and hung out and the
-
energy and the momentum and the heart was like, we just
-
relaunched our church and God's going to do something so
-
significant. I'm so excited to play a part of
-
it. There's no doubt their heart was
-
like right there with the Lord. So I want you to check out this
-
video and just see the heartbeat of our people that night from
-
basically nothing. And you saw the story of how
-
church reporters has blessed us and they just did this stuff out
-
of nowhere. Somebody that's kind of been
-
here for the whole time. Like what's your thoughts and
-
feelings for tonight? We're trying to accomplish with
-
the building it. Was kind of just a moment for me
-
and God to kind of like reflect on like what I've seen real life
-
start as to where we are now. Not a moment just between me and
-
God to really just give it to the Lord.
-
I gave a number even bigger than I was like expecting to, but it
-
was kind of just like this moment where it's like God,
-
you're going to use it. The four corners Church of the
-
corners jump in on that with their own like December thing
-
that they're doing for the next two years.
-
That was even even cooler because it was like people that
-
are just coming alongside us watching what we're doing and
-
they were like push us and they're we're sitting on their.
-
Shoulders it's our baby what they did 2. .5% of all giving
-
for this December and next December is going to our
-
Difference Maker initiative. And that's huge.
-
That is huge. That is, you got to figure what
-
they're it's. It is a generous act.
-
Yeah, for them to do that in December, which is the largest
-
month of giving in any church, is beyond generous.
-
I watched earlier you getting emotional like, what's up?
-
What's what was God showing you? I just keep saying like today
-
has just been so overwhelming to be here from the beginning till
-
now. God has been so good to us.
-
We came to real life out of a season of her and I was almost
-
saying no, like I didn't give up on God.
-
I really had given up on people. And so to see that the way that
-
it's made a difference in our lives and to see just how's just
-
the impact that God is going to use and make through our church,
-
just saying yes and being obedient and not even knowing
-
how we're going to get $1.9 million, but believing and
-
trusting in God. Basically tonight you played a
-
huge part of it. Run the whole event behind the
-
scenes. What do you got to show you like
-
with Faith tonight? It's really funny because when
-
this whole like conversation just initially started, I had a
-
really big number that God had given me and Jared was not on
-
board with said number, and tonight we actually came right
-
at that number. How encouraging is it?
-
Just have everybody together. Oh, I think it's awesome,
-
especially the leadership because we got, we need to lead
-
out to show the people what to do to see for this group of
-
people in the heart of the people.
-
So tonight's post tonight, Vince Kittman, I obviously lean this
-
for a long time. See what God's going to do.
-
What did God say to you tonight? Like what?
-
What do you show you? To be uncomfortable, to step out
-
and to actually change the number that we came in with, We
-
made that change. So we had that moment where we
-
already had a number and God was like, Nope, that's not big
-
enough. So that was huge.
-
That's amazing. So what?
-
What did God say to you in that moment?
-
I felt like God was saying you can do better than that.
-
Wow. It brought it all home to me.
-
It made it feel special. It made it feel like this isn't
-
just us being a part of giving to our church, but it's a part
-
of the big capital city church and like what we're really in.
-
Pulling you back to the fact that it's not just real life
-
that's making something happen right now.
-
It's the it's the universal church as a whole.
-
And we're like really going in with our brothers and sisters in
-
Christ that want to see us succeed.
-
Because I know that it's all for the the forevers of the people
-
in our city that we're trying to affect.
-
Just seeing the passion from you and others willing to give love
-
what they actually could. Yeah.
-
And that's very encouraging. God, it can leave you more than
-
what we ever imagined. We've been talking about a
-
building, we've been looking, we've been exploring on the
-
board and I'm excited. I mean, just coming into this
-
space tonight as a real estate agent too, I'm like, I'm ready
-
to make some some sweet offers and since the right space.
-
So if you say something to a generation or a group, people
-
are like, kind of struggling to step out on faith.
-
Like what would you encourage him?
-
Live on the unexpected. Like don't always just be so
-
focused on what you expect to be coming the next paycheck, But
-
like what is God expecting and how is he expecting to move?
-
Take that leap of faith. God's going to honor it.
-
Whatever number you have on like your heart, like that's your God
-
number. It's not your particular like AU
-
number. It's it's your God number.
-
And that's the uncomfortable number.
-
So step out and faith on it. Think about where where you
-
could end up and think about the church that the building, the
-
people that you could impact. Just finding that, you know,
-
money under the couch and the couch cushions, cutting that
-
coffee out, the little things that you could do to try to make
-
an impact so that we can have a permanent space to affect the
-
community. You can come in with a number,
-
but really just let God move in and move your heart and give you
-
that number. And I really just think it's
-
trust him. He's going to provide for you.
-
So go big. I'd always just say go big or go
-
home baby. Yeah.
-
Cool, Amen. Go God.
-
It was it's fun just hearing the stories.
-
Like I was surprised, like how much power and unity just in the
-
conversation I had and how many people said I came with a
-
number, but the Lord showed me a different number.
-
And so I just crossed that out and said I'm I'm going to try
-
something different. Like I'm going to step out on
-
faith. And it's amazing.
-
Like this is the response they had here in the Bible.
-
In verse 9 says the people rejoice at the willing response
-
to their leaders, for they'd given freely and wholeheartedly
-
to the Lord, Amen. And then David the king also
-
rejoiced greatly. It makes me excited that our
-
Staffs behind it, our elders behind it, our boards behind it,
-
our leaders behind it, Amen. Like they're all behind it.
-
They want to see God do something very special.
-
And this is a very special night of moving by faith.
-
And so this what happened down the road when they actually
-
built the temple. This is really cool.
-
So you got to Fast forward like David, he's going to pass away.
-
He's going to hand the man thought to Solomon to build the
-
temple. And they do build it.
-
And this is what it says when they opened it in Second
-
Chronicles 7 verse one, it says when Solomon finished praying,
-
it's like the dedication of the temple.
-
It says fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt
-
offering and the sacrifices and the what held me out.
-
The glory Lord filled the temple.
-
Is that a holy moment? That's one of those moments
-
you're like, I'm so glad I sowed some seeds for the glory of the
-
Lord and his presence to come fill this place.
-
I'm just going to tell you like those guys that like didn't that
-
might be a bummer. You look at that moment like I
-
wish I would have pirate probably the story.
-
I do believe there's going to be a time in real life's life like
-
where God puts us in the building and you're going to go
-
thank you Jesus. That played a part of the story
-
that I sowed seeds in the impact, not just in my life, but
-
in generations and people to come that the glory of the Lord
-
can go out through our church to a lost and dying world.
-
Amen. That's division.
-
That's what that's what I see. That's why I believe.
-
And it's like a proud moment, you know, like go God and like
-
every person that gets saved from that time on and every
-
person getting baptized and every person that has a marriage
-
is healed or comes off drugs or the light goes out as we send
-
people to get scattered out. Every yard sign and somebody
-
comes in and just hears about Jesus.
-
By the way, I saw Toby come in at the end.
-
He, he made it. Toby, give it up for Toby.
-
By the way, we told your story. You have to go back and watch it
-
a little bit. Thank you, Jesus, for a sign.
-
Amen. But that's just the small part
-
we get to play today. And it is so amazing to do it
-
together because now all of a sudden there's expectation that
-
God can and will move, and He does.
-
And so then I'm actually doing something very special.
-
I'm actually doing something that's physical but represents
-
something spiritual. On your chair.
-
There's a commitment card and I just want to kind of walk
-
through it because it can be a little confusing.
-
OK, so just let me go through it one more time.
-
Make sure you understand it. On the back of the card is
-
different types of gifts that we believe that we'll need to reach
-
our one point million dollar goal over 2 years.
-
Now remember the first 900,000 is really our budget.
-
The second part, that million will go to that space.
-
OK, so you can look at that chart and you know, like me and
-
Diane, we started a number and we're like, Lord, what about the
-
next level? What about the next level?
-
And say what would look like potentially, Lord, for me to
-
step in a different number Now on the inside, OK, so you won't
-
pay attention to this a little bit.
-
OK, please fill all the way out. It will really be helpful.
-
But on the top, this is like your first box is your annual
-
giving. OK.
-
So whatever number you normally give in the course of a year,
-
that's your number and hopefully you know that number has been
-
given, you're right. But fill that number in and that
-
next line is expanded giving. So that expansion is really what
-
will go towards our first permanent home.
-
That that first number is really just our normal ministry fund.
-
But that second number is like that's the number that's above
-
and beyond that's going to help us get in that space.
-
That's really the number that you're going towards that
-
million, if that makes sense. And then if you multiply by two,
-
you can add them together, multiply 2, you get that box
-
down there. So I'll see your phone's out on
-
that one, right? And then this next line is a
-
line that if you have the ability to not we all can,
-
that's OK. But stored resources, you might
-
have the ability to have stock, you might have requirement
-
distributions. We can take stock.
-
By the way, we're connected to the different opportunities
-
through overflow to manage stock or sell and put it in their own
-
stuff. You might have savings, It might
-
be some kind of CD you, you might be thinking through like,
-
OK, two years of tax returns. I usually hopefully, Lord Jesus,
-
right, I get that. You might have an investment,
-
you might have an inheritance, you might have an asset, you
-
might have something that's been sitting around collecting dust.
-
You're like, I can leverage this for a Lord.
-
You, you might have land, you might have a second home, you
-
might have a, a fun toy. You're like, man, it's kind of
-
run its course. Like I can, I can find ways,
-
Lord, or you're asking me to do that.
-
And I think that's where it gets a little fun.
-
If you have that ability that that's kind of fun.
-
So I encourage you to think of that and whatever it is, just
-
fill it in and the ad in together.
-
That's how you come up with the yellow box.
-
So that's that two year commitment.
-
And that we'll start on the 14th of December is when we'll start
-
like giving towards that and be a part of that.
-
But today it's like, Lord, what you have me to do.
-
So what you do is just kind of converse with your spouse, like
-
pray together, look at it, ask yourself, Lord, is this the
-
number? Is this my number, your number?
-
And for some of you to be honest, you might have already
-
filled a card in you. I already came in with a number.
-
And the Lord may say, you know what?
-
I've heard the vision, I see the passion, I know what Sean's
-
doing. Like my number needs to be
-
changed. Baby.
-
Lord, just speaking to you. So we're going to take like 4 or
-
5 minutes. We're just going to play up here
-
the the music and really pray, think through it.
-
And I'll give you some next steps here in a second.
-
Amen. Thank you Jesus, Amen.
-
Hope the Lord spoke a clear number for you guys.
-
This can be the act of faith. We do things as a family and
-
this is one of those family moments, right?
-
Like we do something bigger than ourselves.
-
This who the Lord can do so invite you guys to stand to your
-
feet. I'm going to pray in a second.
-
The band's going to just play through Parva song.
-
And when I'm finished praying, I invite you guys to come up and
-
just as an act of commitment and consecration, just take your
-
car, just come up the aisles and just drop your card in the
-
basket and say, Lord, I consecrate this to you, I trust
-
you. And then we'll head back to our
-
seats. We're going to pray.
-
I have a couple of elders come up.
-
We're going to worship and just consecrate ourselves to the
-
Lord. So probably God to come before
-
you. God, we thank you that what we
-
have God is not ours, but it's yours.
-
Thank God we see souls today, and God we give our best.
-
We give a number. God, you've given to us.
-
God, we trust it to you. God, we thank you for providing
-
for us. Now we ask you to do it again.
-
God, what you've done for Moses and Joshua and David and
-
Solomon, that you do it again for us.
-
God, you bring us to a place. God, we can have a greater
-
gathering and greater scattering, greater worship.
-
So God we trust you. God, we consecrate this to you.
-
Praise in Jesus name. The church said Amen, God lead
-
you. Guys, you do something big.
-
Amen. Thank you guys for all playing a
-
part of that. I'm going to invite up a couple
-
of our elders, invite up Scott Kuyat and very Hardy to pray
-
over our commitment cards today and just trust the Lord with
-
this. So, Scott, if you lead us out,
-
Barry's looking for his mic. Dear Lord, you are an awesome
-
God. Lord Father, you give us so many
-
blessings. Lord, Father, you, you bless us
-
with the ability to gather together.
-
Lord, Father, you bless us with with the community that we have.
-
Lord, you've blessed us with your son, Jesus Christ.
-
Father, I thank you for all these things.
-
Lord Father, I just pray that that we can bless you in a
-
manner that that we can't even fathom what that is right now.
-
Lord, Father, I just, I just know that your, your blessing is
-
on this, on this gathering, on this.
-
Group Lord, Father, I just pray that we would use your treasures
-
for your Kingdom Lord and build all those around us.
-
I thank you for all you do for us Lord, to Jesus name.
-
Fathers, I come before you and as we come before you as a
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gathering, as a family, as a consecrated group of believers.
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God, I'm humbled just to be with men and women that have so much
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faith and God in this moment. I'm just going to take the
-
opportunity to E2 of the of the great men that Sean has
-
referenced today and God in David's prayer, I want to echo
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the fact that he came before and the congregation came before you
-
and they recognized who you are. God, you're the creator, you're
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the author and the finisher of our faith and everything that
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flows through our hands is ultimately from you.
-
And in that moment that David prayed that prayer, he
-
recognized that the second thing that he recognized and that he
-
loved was the willingness and the joyfulness of your of your
-
people to come forward and to and to live on mission and to do
-
what their leaders had put in their heart just to please you
-
and to seek a desire to, to live before you.
-
And so God, I echo that today. God, the families, the
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individuals that have walked forward today and made a
-
commitment to you. God, just thank you for their
-
heart. God, thank you for their love.
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Thank you for their for their story that you've that you've
-
planted and God, I pray that in this moment of commitment that
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their story is to make your story famous.
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Amen. And God, my second echo is from
-
Solomon. And and as Sean was reading that
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and talking about the fire coming down, I know this, you
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always do a movement that is has already started, but there's a
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moment of not yet. And I see that today.
-
It's good God. Sean read that that the the the
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story of of the fire coming down the the presence filling the
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temple. I do look forward to that
-
moment. I honestly do that whatever you
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give us, whatever's in your hands to do and that moment will
-
be 1 of celebration. Then we're sitting in an
-
anticipation of that. But the difference that I see
-
today between US and Solomon is that your presence already here.
-
The fire of the Holy Spirit is in each believer's heart.
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And God, as I see that ignited and that fan flamed God, I can't
-
wait to see the people in this gathering influence the circles
-
wherever they're at. And this, this, this small
-
actual gratitude that they're giving back to you just
-
radically changes their faith and how they live and how they
-
love you and how they love people.
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So God, we give the day-to-day to you.
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Stay through the heart of your people.
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God, thank you for your faithfulness.
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Thank you for everything you've done for us in this moment.
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And we pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.
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Amen. Amen.
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This is an act of worship, Amen. It's an act of worship and now
-
we get to worship together and with our voices and just declare
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God is good and just sing praises to him so he's more than
-
able. Amen.
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Are more than able you are. More than able, you are.
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You are. You are More than able.
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You are more than able. Who am I to deny what the Lord
-
can do? So I've come a long way.
-
I've seen how you work. There's so much goodness and
-
grace, much more than I deserve because I know who I am and I
-
can't stay where I'm at. And we've come this far by our
-
faith and I just can't turn by. He's not done.
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You're not with me yet. Come on, he's not done with me
-
yet. There's so much more to the
-
story. You're not done with me yet.
-
You're not done with me yet. You're not done with me yet.
-
There's so much more to the story if you're not done with me
-
yet. You're not done with me yet.
-
What church? You're not done with me yet.
-
There's so much more to the story if you're not done with.
-
Me. Remind to deny what the Lord can
-
do. God is more than able.
-
God is more than able. Yes he is.
-
Yes he is. God is more than able.
-
God is more than able. Who am I to deny what the Lord
-
can do? Who am I to deny what the Lord
-
can do? Who am I to deny what the Lord
-
can do? We commit to you today.
-
Use these gifts, God, not just for us, but for their future,
-
for the city, for your glory. And who am I to deny what the
-
Lord can do? Amen, Amen.
-
Just Galloway and let God do something amazing.
-
And this whole series has been built on faith.
-
And I started out this year with a verse that God just, I mean,
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just gave to me, give the seasons like I'm not enough.
-
And God, where you at? And Lord, what can we do?
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And there's a lot of stretching in the season.
-
And I thought of Moses, and he gave these words to Joshua.
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And then David, 600 years later, is wrestling.
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Lord, what would you have me to do?
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And he didn't have the ability to build the temple, but he
-
passed on this same Scripture to his son Solomon.
-
And he said this in First Chronicles 2820.
-
He said David also said to Solomon, his son, be strong and
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courageous and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged.
-
Amen. Let me praise courage what the
-
Lord you're going to do for the Lord God.
-
My God is with you. He will not fail you or forsake
-
you until all the work of the service and temple of the Lord
-
is finished. Have some faith, Amen.
-
You have some boldness. Every season, every day, like
-
months, Lord, make me bold, make me very courageous, like we're
-
not hiding, we're going. Amen.
-
So Father, come before you. God, thank you so much that your
-
promises always come true just for Moses and for Joshua.
-
It was on David's heart for Solomon.
-
God, we, we pray this over our church today.
-
We pray for boldness for every person who's given and taking a
-
step of faith. Good.
-
Let's not be discouraged or afraid as you step into the
-
future and the unknown for the next two years that we trust
-
you, Lord, you're faithful. You'll never leave us or forsake
-
us. God, you're with us.
-
And so God, we declare it to you.
-
God with open hands and open hearts, we trust you.
-
And maybe today is your day. Like we've been talking about
-
building a building, but you recognize that these guys are a
-
little crazy about this. Like they're really excited
-
about this space. And you're recognizing that we
-
are worshiping a living God. And today our gifts are living
-
proof that Jesus has changed our lives.
-
And maybe today you recognize the fact that there is someone
-
that's so much greater than yourself.
-
And today I want to tell you his name is Jesus, Amen.
-
That He loves you enough to die on a cross of your sins 2000
-
years ago. And he has changed our life
-
enough that we're going to lay our life down for Jesus in honor
-
of him. Why?
-
Because Jesus paid every one of our sins, everyone in the wrongs
-
in that cross and give us every one of his rights.
-
And so today, if you need Jesus, you're the reason that we are
-
having today. You're the reason we want to
-
build a space. You're the reason for Jesus
-
coming. And so if you need Christ today
-
without me looking around, if you say yes to a risen Savior
-
who died on the cross for his sins and humble yourself and
-
say, I believe Jesus is Lord, he is God.
-
He's worthy of my life. Want to lay it down today and
-
call on Jesus? That's you.
-
Just lift your hand high in this place and say I need Jesus today
-
all across this gathering, you say yes to Christ.
-
You want to see your hands say yes to Jesus.
-
The Bible says when you call on God, he'll forgive you every
-
sin. You have a new family.
-
You're part of the family God be a son of God, a daughter of God,
-
son of the King, doubt of the King, the damage to leave
-
through a prayer. The prayer is not save you, but
-
your heart towards him. That humble heart you saw of
-
David. Just crowd, crowd to Jesus.
-
Say thank you Jesus that you love me enough got to bring me
-
to this place today. Not an accident that I can see
-
your glory through these people and recognize that you are God
-
and so thank you for down across my sins God I give you glory for
-
who you are God surrender my life to you and I pray this in
-
Jesus name. The church said Amen.
-
Give some glory to God today Amen.
-
You guys may be seated. Man, what just just an amazing
-
Sunday to come together. Man, just a reminder to take
-
just a bold step of faith together and the unity that
-
there is in that man. It's just so encouraging to do
-
that with you all today. And some of you took a bold step
-
today and maybe that bold step was a step of saving faith for
-
you and you raised your hand, you prayed that prayer and
-
committed your life to Jesus today.
-
If that is you, we are so, so excited for you as you take this
-
journey with Jesus. We've got a couple things for
-
you. If you would just let us know
-
you made that decision. You can do that by by grabbing
-
that card that is on your seat, fill out your information there
-
and check that box that says I committed my life to Jesus and
-
you can drop that in the giving buckets as they pass here in
-
just a few minutes. I just by doing that allows us
-
to get you a free book in the mail tomorrow.
-
You'll have it by midweek that you can dive into that.
-
It's called begin. It's a great resource for you as
-
you're taking this journey with Jesus and also as you exit
-
today. There is a table with some red
-
bags. Please feel free to grab one of
-
those. There's a Bible in there for
-
you. We would love to get to you and
-
if you are newer with us, if this is your first time here at
-
Real Life Church, thank you so much for spending your morning
-
right here with us. We love that you were here.
-
We would love for you as well just to introduce yourself to
-
us. You can do that just by grabbing
-
that same card for all your information there.
-
If you want to drop it at the New Here booth as you exit the
-
worship center just to your right, you could turn it in
-
there. We have some smiling faces there
-
that would love to get you a free gift as well.
-
Just our way of saying thank you so much for being here and we
-
would love to see you next week right back here to worship with
-
us and to hear from God together.
-
And hey, what just a shot in the arm today was just to be able to
-
come together and and commit to be difference makers together.
-
And I want to let you know too, we will be collecting commitment
-
cards for the next few Sundays. And then I want you to mark this
-
day down. It is Sunday, December 14th.
-
It's a Sunday you're not going to want to miss.
-
That's a Sunday. We're going to celebrate all
-
that God has done through our commitments to be difference
-
makers and that's on Celebration Sunday.
-
So that is Sunday, December 14th that that's a big Sunday.
-
This is the Sunday that we get to give our first gifts to
-
difference maker. And so on that Sunday, we're
-
asking that you would bring your stored resources gift if at all
-
possible on that Sunday to celebrate all that God has done
-
to give first on that Sunday through that.
-
And stored resources looks like a lot of things.
-
I know Sean mentioned a few of them.
-
Maybe it's property or inheritance or stocks.
-
We have that ability through Owner Advised Fund.
-
Drew and I were looking around like we got this old van sitting
-
around. It's not worth a lot, but it's
-
worth something. Let's sell it.
-
So maybe you have something like that, some stuff sitting around
-
that you just want to get rid of.
-
You can give that too. But really we're mimicking what
-
the early church did in the first days of the church, what
-
they did. So check this out.
-
It's in Acts 244 through 45. All the believers were together
-
and had everything in common. They sold property and
-
possessions to give to anyone who had need.
-
And that is what we're doing on Sunday, December 14th, coming
-
together to give that stored resources gift together.
-
And I don't know if you felt it in the room today, but that
-
feeling of just unity coming together.
-
I was getting the goosebumps on my arm again today, just like I
-
did at Advanced Commitment night.
-
That feeling that you're feeling is because your heart is close
-
to God. And when you write a number down
-
on the card, when you pray together over that card, when
-
you walk forward and turn the card in, your heart is following
-
your treasure and it draws you closer to Him.
-
And so that's what it's all about to be difference makers
-
together, to draw near to Him and to do that.
-
And so once again, mark your calendars down for December
-
14th. Just be thinking about that, be
-
praying about that, to give those first gifts on that
-
Sunday. We can't wait to do that
-
together with you guys. Hey, I'm going to pray real
-
quick and then I'm going to pass it over to Diane.
-
God, we just love you. Father, we thank you for your
-
goodness to us, God, your faithfulness to us.
-
Father, I just pray God just blessings over us today.
-
Father, as we make these commitments, God, just to be
-
difference makers together to draw closer to you through this,
-
God, I know that you'll bless us.
-
Father, we are just so expectant for all that you're going to do
-
through this. God, we love you, we praise you,
-
we give everything back to you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
-
Yeshers are going to go ahead and pass those buckets.
-
Amen. What a blessed day we have had
-
here in the house together. Yeah, give God a hand.
-
It's so cool to put feet to the movement of what God is doing.
-
And I'm so expectant for what he is going to continue to do
-
through each of us. I have just a few things I want
-
you guys to be aware of so you can come together with all of
-
us. And the first one is this next
-
Sunday as we lean into Thanksgiving season, we are
-
going to take communion together as a church.
-
So mark your calendar next Sunday.
-
Come with a heart prepared to worship, a heart prepared to
-
just be grateful for all that God has done, and we will share
-
the Lord's Supper together. The second is this.
-
I want you to mark your calendars for real life
-
Christmas Eve gatherings on December 24th, this 2:00 PM and
-
a 4:00 PM gathering option. We're going to have two options
-
that day for you to come and worship and we get to celebrate
-
Christmas together on Christmas Eve.
-
You're not going to want to miss it.
-
It's such a wonderful time to be together as a family and invite
-
out some family and friends who may also want to come and
-
experience just the goodness of Jesus in this season.
-
And next is this. So next week we're starting A2
-
week series called Grateful, leaning into this Thanksgiving
-
season just with gratitude for what God has done for us.
-
And I know that living a life full of gratitude can truly
-
change your heart, change your mind, change your perspective.
-
And so you're not going to want to miss these next two weeks as
-
we lean into grateful. And the last thing I want to
-
share with you is this. I want to end with a Psalm that
-
David actually wrote for the music director, which Sean and I
-
got a chuckle about this morning in our roles.
-
But he wrote this for the music director, for the people of God
-
to sing before they went out to accomplish great things for the
-
Lord. And so this was their assignment
-
when they went out. And it's in Psalm 20.
-
It says, may the Lord answer you when you're in distress.
-
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
-
May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support
-
from Zion. May he remember all your
-
sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings.
-
May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your
-
plans succeed. And may we shout for joy over
-
your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
-
May the Lord grant all your requests.
-
Now this I know. The Lord gives victory to his
-
anointed. He answers him from heavenly
-
sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand.
-
And some trust in Chariots and some in horses, but we trust in
-
the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees
-
and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.
-
Lord, give victory to the King and answer us when we call.
-
Amen. What a call to victory, a call
-
to the battle. And when God answers this Psalm
-
21 right after is a song of victory that we get to see.
-
There's so much faith in these back-to-back Psalms saying I
-
know God will do it. And when he does, we get to give
-
him all the praise and the victory.
-
What a day. So if you need prayer for any
-
reason, we'll have someone down here to pray with you.
-
We would love to see you next Sunday at 9:00 or 10:45.
-
And remember this, whoever finds Jesus, Nope.
-
Whoever discovers Jesus finds real life and purpose.
-
I've been here a long time. I don't even know the words.
-
Guys, have a great day. This is the end of this podcast.
-
We hope you've enjoyed it. If you have, be sure to hit the
-
subscribe button so you don't miss another inspirational
-
podcast. For more great content and
-
updates, visit reallifechurchkc.com.