20 Years of God's Faithfulness

take a seat uh we do have a we do have a video this morning for you and i just want to i just want to say real quickly um we we could i mean this is this only begins to scratch the surface uh of the impact that church of the grove has had uh in our community and around the world over the last 20 years and if we had done all of the things we had everybody um send in a video from everywhere that we've ever ministered we would be here for hours and so know that this is just scratching the surface of the impact of Church of the Grove over the last 20 years we wanted to create an environment we wanted to create a church that would reach out to the people that we call the least likely people to show up in a church on any given Sunday we wanted to create a place and an environment and a faith community where people could come hear the gospel of Jesus Christ explained in a very simple way and in a way that they could respond to it.

We've had a heart and a vision for the community of social circles since the very beginning of Church of the Grow.

The Advanced Faith initiative will allow us to launch a brand new Sunday morning gathering that is set to begin in the fall of 2010.

This beautiful community that sits right along a major interstate highway is staged for future growth and up to this point it does not have a church with a similar environment as Church of the Grove.

I am asking each and every person that considers Church of the Grove to be their home church to prayerfully consider how they will help take these next steps for Church of the Grove.

Please pray about your involvement in advancing the gospel to this generation and the next Church of the Grove my name is Roscoe I'm the pastor at Star Point Church in upstate New York and we have known your Pastor Russ for a long long time.

In fact he's invested in us and specifically my wife when she was on staff with him at Northstar uh in the youth ministry and it has been such a joy for us to see all that God has done in and through you and through your church and we're excited for the next 20 years and what God wants to do.

Hello Church of the Grove Happy 20 year anniversary my name is Brian Brock I pastor at a church plant in Monroe Georgia called the Gathering Church and you guys have partnered with us and over the years you've partnered with me through a couple of different projects plants and I'm so appreciative of that.

It's meant so much to us to be able to reach the community you guys set the example for that.

We follow your lead and see how how you love on your community and so we thank you for that.

I cannot wait to see the next 20 years.

I love you guys.

Hey listen thank you for all that you do hi my name is Grace Frazier and I am in a Grove Student Ministry and I've been attending this church for three and a half years just about and somebody who has really impacted my life here is my small group leader Miss Ashley Sarolis.

And she has impacted my life so greatly and has been such a mentor in my faith because she is such a light for the Lord and she's really showed me many many things and uh gave me a lot of guidance.

And I would tell someone who is newly visiting Church of the Grove that this is a very welcoming church.

As soon as I first stepped in these doors when I first came here I felt so welcomed and so loved and I truly felt the Holy Spirit and his presence here just walking around at each of these people and I'm so excited to see how the Lord moves in the lives of church hey it's Mike Lynch from North Star Church in Kennesaw.

Thank you thank you thank you for being who you are 20 years at Church of the Grove unbelievable we're so proud of Russ and Jill and your amazing team there and we're honored at what God has done and we're so excited about what God's going to still do.

Congratulations and I pray your best days are way way out in front of you and just hang on for the ride.

Hey Church of the Grove fam I am so excited to be a part of this 20 year celebration.

My name is Lindsay Krause and I began attending Church of the Grove when I was in the seventh grade and was able to stay through high school and even some in college before moving away.

It was in the seventh grade and through those years in Church of the Groves youth group that the Lord really began to cultivate a heart in me for the local church and for ministry.

And I get to spend time today as an adult giving back by investing in teenagers the way that you guys invested in me.

So I want to say thank you to those who are in the room who spent time with me invested in me and poured their time into my life along with all of our other students because I am still seeing the fruit of that investment today.

Well happy birthday Church at the Grove my name is Chip Wheeler I'm the pastor of River Hills Church in Winder, Georgia and whether you know it or not I have been watching or part of your journey for the last 20 years.

Church at the Grove was the very first church even when you were less than a year old that chose to financially and prayerfully partner with us to start River Hills Church.

And that is something that is in your DNA that is in your culture and that you need to be congratulated for and commended about it.

You do great things and God has used you guys in some profound ways in the entire Walton County area in Walnut Grove Social Circle wherever God may have you in that different pockets of that community.

Russ and Jill have been heroes for me and my wife Sarah Beth.

They are a blessing to me they are a blessing to you and this community and I am so grateful for their partnership friendship accountability prayer and encouragement.

You have an amazing team of leaders you have an amazing children's minister my little sister Katie Landris.

We won't go into that however God has used you guys.

If it weren't for Church at the Grove I don't know if our church would be here I don't know if it weren't for your pastor if I'd still be pastoring the Lord has used you guys and I am so much looking forward to seeing what the next 20 years is going to look like as you grow more so into your new facility, as you speak truth in the school systems, as you serve others in the community and as you expand the gospel.

We love you here.

Jill and Russ, we I love you, Sarah Beth and I both love you and are thankful for your friendship.

And I can't wait to see how God continues to bless and we are praying a blessing over you from here in Wyander saying hey keep sharing the gospel.

Thank you for doing what you do.

Hey my name is Pastor Joseph Villarde and I am so excited to celebrate 20 years of Church at the Grove.

I am so grateful for the impact you've made at our church at Riverbend Community Church as you poured into us, invested into us and also invested into the local community there.

Just want to say congratulations we can't wait to see what God does as you celebrate this 20 year mark.

But the best is yet to come my name is Luke Camera and my family and I are your missionaries here in Portugal and I just want to say congratulations on celebrating 20 years as a church family.

This 20th anniversary is a testimony to the impact that you have been having there in Social Circle in Walnut Grove.

And not only have you brought a gospel witness to those communities there in Georgia but also around the world including here in Portugal.

So thank you for your 20 years of faithfulness may you celebrate well and may the Lord give you the next 20 years as a beacon as a light there in Georgia but also around the world isn't that awesome and I am trying not to cry and uh and get emotional because some of these relationships go they go both ways.

And I'm so thankful for all of these and and many more that have been such an incredible part and incredible partners with us at Church at the Grove.

And so I want to um I want you to help me do something we're we're broadcasting live this morning down to our campus in social circle so hey can we give it up and and and give a big round of applause maybe some shouts of join social circle yes yes we are so thankful and uh and I promise social circle Pastor Nathan will be back uh preaching there probably next week and uh and and so I know you miss your pastor and I am so thankful for Nathan because he has been probably with us the longest on this journey he and Caitlin and uh and they're such a a blessing to to us you know God gave God gave me and God gave me a group of families that that had a vision to reach people in this community and to reach people that that didn't even know that they wanted to go to church yet.

Now by the way um has my hair color changed really that much oh my goodness that's what I looked like when I was uh when Jill saw me as a good looking guy potentially as a husband um anyway I don't know not that I was good looking but anyway um and listen our mission has been simple the whole time it's a reflection of the mission that God has given us as a big church capital C.

Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and he says he will be with us until the end.

And so our mission is to reach people far from God and to lead them to become disciples and followers of Jesus.

And so just a couple of things thinking looking back that first year you know I always say the first service we had it was it was I think there were 186 people at that very first service at youth middle school and it was so good next the next week 130 came back.

And so but from there we started growing and I think that first year we averaged 238 people and this is before Social Circle this past Easter this past Easter combined campus wise we had almost 1600 people on our two campuses and and so that just gives you a little bit of a picture of how we've grown our first year's budget was$234,581 and um this this this past year our budget was was 1.9 almost$2 million you know you think of the percentage increase our mission funds and what we give toward our partnerships locally and globally now is more than the first year's budget that we have and and so one one one of the things Greer yes yes one of the things you know so so thankful for Rush Greer his he's got family here from out of town and so we want to say uh thank you for being here with us and um and thanks for putting up with with your in-law son uh you know uh and so we we've learned in a in a short time uh uh what what what that's like um but it but it's we we have he he he has brought uh uh uh we're so thankful for us he's raised the bar for us and he's just he's a good friend and and and uh and a good guy he's he adds some uh humor to our uh whatever environment we're in which is uh so desperately needed um and and so uh last year to this year our growth rate has been 26 percent now a a a normal growing church is going to be 10 to 15 percent growth per year which puts us far out um ahead of that and so one of the things I was saying is that Russ Greer who really would tell you he he's he he has grown up in church he has worked in many in church work in many churches and so when he looked at what we give away to support local ministry and our global partnerships um he said guys I don't I have never seen this this is not the norm this is not what what what is is normally uh the what he's accustomed to and so it what it says is that God has given us a heart I believe God's given us a heart to be a giving church a multiplying church and and so so listen instead of me going through some of the history of our church listen we we've got photographs we've got these big photographs if you start at this end of the hallway and just walk along and look at all the pictures you see how God has blessed us and and how our environments have changed and how God has has worked in a powerful way to bring us to a point where we now have this facility and and we're continue to see God bless what's happening in social circles.

But as one of my pastors said and he instilled this into me he said Russ when your memories exceed your dreams the end is near I just want you to think about that for a second.

When your memories exceed your dreams the end is near and so a lot of churches have have what's called homecoming right they have homecoming and so maybe maybe maybe today would be you know you know we don't call it homecoming but it's a a little bit of a modern version of the homecoming as we celebrate 20 years.

And so we can talk about the past and it's okay to talk about the past it's okay to to to look at the relationships that have been here from the very beginning and some of you that are here maybe in the last few months certainly this year but but when memories exceed our dreams the end is near.

So over the next few minutes I'm gonna talk less about the past and I'm gonna talk more about what God has lying for us in in the future in the near future and the distant future that we we've all seen our community grow and change.

And some of us would say hey we don't want our community change and grow but I'm gonna tell you just the fact it's gonna grow whether we like it or not.

And here's our choice are we going to be a church that resists that or are we going to be a church that leans into it to reach people here's some uh some some stats from uh uh Matt Rutledge who who's done so much work in helping us build um both buildings um that that we have on our campus and and and he sent me some uh some census uh stats and and so the first group is on about is is around the Atlanta metro area the 2020 census for Atlanta the metro Atlanta area was 6.1 million people the 2050 projection for metro Atlanta is 7.9 million people that's an additional 1.8 million people um between now and 2050 now let's talk Walton County where we are right here in our county and I know people come to church from Newton County they come from Rockdale County they come from uh Morgan County they come from Gwnette County but but let's just talk Walton County because that's kind of the center of of our place we've got two campuses one here in in in in Walnut Grove and we've got a campus in social circle and so the the the 2020 census for Walton County was 96,673 people listen which is which is double of what the population was back in um 2006.

2006 I think it was around 45,000 people that lived in Walton County so that shows you the growth over these 20 years.

The 2050 projection is 145,977 that's an increase of basically 50,000 or a total growth rate of 50% which is about 2,000 people per year which equates to about 7,000 new households which is about 300 new households per year and it's and it's listen it's a cinch right now to find a great house it's easy to find homes right especially for young couples we all grown we know that's not true and here's here's here's here's the question are we going to retreat from the opportunity or are we going to retreat from the opportunity that God has given us or are we going to reach the community in which God has placed us let me ask you again are we going to retreat from the growth?

Are we going to run away?

Are we just going to move on down the road and and and and I know there's some people that that don't like growth and don't like congestion and all that but or are we going to reach are we going to settle in and set our feet and reach the community that God has placed us in.

If you've got your Bibles I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 29 reading through scripture this year I've spent a good portion of the last you know month it seems like in some of the major prophets and Jeremiah is one of them and so I came across this passage and I thought man this is the passage for our 20th year anniversary and so are we going to retreat or are we going to reach the answer that God has put on my heart is that we will not retreat.

Jeremiah 29 · chapter mention

Instead we will reach our community with the gospel and tour in order to bless the community and multiply disciples and churches which leads me to the big idea you know the sermon in a sentence so to speak it says this where God has planted us we are called to bless and multiply I just want I want you I want us to say together bless and multiply if you're in social circle say it with me.

I'm gonna count to three and we're gonna say bless and multiply because we're gonna talk about that we're gonna we're gonna hear that over and over this morning.

One, two, three bless and multiply one more time bless and multiply.

Here's what that means we don't retreat from the community we reach our community and we've got a campus in Walnut Grove in 2012 we established a campus in social circle and then in my notes I I put question mark because we're not finished yet.

We're not done yet the question that I think we're praying over as a staff moving forward is really about okay two things location and leadership location and leadership where is the next place that we will plant a church or where is the next place that we will plant a campus and who is the leader and the group of leaders that will take the lead on that who will be who will be willing to step out of their comfort zone just like we had 45 people multiple families that stepped out of their comfort zone that left churches with established children's ministries that left churches with established youth ministries and were willing to step into something that that they had no idea that it would turn out to be what it is today.

And we have ministries that that bless our our our children that bless our young people that bless young couples that blessed singles and single agains and that blessed and listen my heart is to bless every age at every stage that means listen I came across some statistics that would blow your mind I'm not gonna share them this morning but but about basically how our nation shortly in our nation there'll be more people over 65 years old than there are that 18 or younger.

And so that age group is growing which is which is you know who fits in that age group almost and so I'm I'm I'm I'm like I gotta own this I've got to own this we need to reach every person every stage every age we don't retreat we reach and so as I as as we as we We move forward.

My prayer is, matter of fact, can we just pray together?

God, I pray that you, through the power of your Holy Spirit, God, through the teaching of your word, through sharing uh truth, through the personality of the leadership that you've given us, God, that you would use what we share today to instill a vision in us that is way beyond ourselves.

And we ask this in Jesus' name.

And everybody said together.

Amen.

See, there's this blatantly false narrative that says, and we're about to get into Jeremiah 29.

Um, there's this blatantly false narrative that says, if we always do the right thing, God won't let anything bad happen to us.

Does anybody know that that's not the truth?

And and he'll rescue us.

He'll rescue us from the furnace and the lions, like he did with Daniel.

But remember, Daniel experienced all that while he was in exile in Babylon.

About 586 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon came and invaded Judah, the southern kingdom, and he he took people like Daniel, the youngest, the smartest, the ones that had the most ability to add value to the kingdom of Babylon, and he marched them all the way back to Babylon.

And Daniel is among them.

And so that's why I bring up Daniel.

But Daniel experienced God's miracles while he was in exile in Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar had invaded and carried so many people of God and taken them and marched them back to Babylon.

Jeremiah 29 is a letter written by the prophet Jeremiah to God's people who've been carried away from Jerusalem into Babylon.

They're living in a place that they didn't choose.

I chose.

Well, maybe you chose, and that's the way it feels, but God has placed you here.

God has chosen to put you here.

They're surrounded by beliefs and values they don't share.

They're experiencing a culture that doesn't honor their God, and they might be wondering, how are we supposed to live faithfully here?

There's no temple, there are no synagogues, there's no fellowship with other believers.

They're all servants, they're slaves.

You say, what does that have to do with us, Russ?

We're not in Babylon.

Or are we?

I don't know about you, but the values, the values and beliefs that were instilled in me after I became a follower of Jesus, many of the values and beliefs that were instilled in you as you grew up, especially if you're around my age, which is is is is is whether you're around my age or not, the values that were instilled in in many of us, they're not the same values that we are experiencing today in our culture.

So, in a sense, are we living more like a Babylon than a Jerusalem?

More like a Babylon than the nation of Israel.

Or what we would say Christendom.

To see, there's an increasing relevant question for the American church.

We aren't living in ancient Babylon, and we shouldn't force every detail of Israel's exile onto modern America, but there are some striking parallels.

We live in a culture that is increasingly what we would call post-Christian.

So even though I didn't grow up in a Christian home, I remember growing up when you couldn't go shopping on Sunday because everything was closed.

I remember growing up, not necessarily growing up as a believer, but even in my household, there was probably a healthy respect for basic Christian beliefs.

I remember growing up, not necessarily going to church as a young person, but having people in my family like my grandmother, whose Bible that she gave me the year after I was born, is buried right below me, six feet down, underneath, below the slab of this church.

You know why I wanted it there?

Because it is the foundation of our beliefs.

It's the foundation for our life.

It holds the truth for how we should live and practice our faith.

And so there's some similarities.

Biblical convictions are increasingly unfamiliar.

Many people around us don't share our understanding of God, our understanding of scripture, marriage, sexuality, identity, morality, or even truth itself.

And here's the temptation.

Our temptation as Christians is to be one, is to go into one extreme or the other, to either assimilate into the culture, to assimilate in and just kind of accept the way things have changed and say, you know what, this is just what the world is like.

Or the other direction is to isolate.

Assimilation is where you just kind of take the values that are being imposed upon us and you just accept them.

Hey, hey, the world's changing, right?

We got to change with it.

The other extreme is to isolate.

It's to say, you know what, we don't want to be around people that don't believe like us.

And so we're gonna go build a compound and we're gonna isolate ourselves.

We're gonna build a compound with people that believe like us.

And we're gonna isolate ourselves.

We're gonna be one of those churches that said, hey, we're gonna we're gonna protect our culture at all cost.

And so so that that isolation keeps us from being a welcoming, warm, um, hospitable church.

And we we basically, at that point, you hang a banner out in front of the church that simply says, hey, you can go to hell.

Either let's become like the culture so we fit in, or let's withdraw from the culture so we can protect ourselves.

But Jeremiah 29 gives us another way.

Jeremiah 29 gives us another way, and there's two words faithful presence.

Faithful presence, that we would live faithful to the truth of God, faithful to the reality that Jesus has changed our life, that the gospel, Jesus coming from heaven to earth, born as a human, fully divine, leaving, leaving the confines of his safe heavenly existence and becoming a human being.

Faithful to what he was called to.

That's what Jesus was.

And he says, I want my I want to get up close and personal.

God says, I want to be close and personal to the people that need me the most.

And so the two words are faithful presence.

Can you say that with me?

Faithful presence.

God essentially is saying, you're gonna live here.

So live faithfully here.

And it leaves us with several implications that are major.

And number one is this God has placed us here for a purpose.

God has put us here for a purpose.

We're not here playing church, we're not here just to check off a box.

We are here for a purpose.

God has placed us here for a purpose.

Look at verse 4 in Jeremiah 29.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles.

Now look at these, this next phrase, whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Now, you know that what that points to?

It points, for me, it points to the sovereignty of God.

Even in unpleasant circumstances, God sent those people.

He sent them.

He is sovereign.

He sent them.

Those whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

God has placed you here in Walton County.

God has placed you here in Social Circle.

God has placed you here in Loganville or Monroe or Conyers or Covington or Oxford or Gwinnett County, Loganville, where all the places that people live.

God has sent us here.

And some of you would say, Man, I wish you'd have sent me somewhere else.

I understand that.

But notice that, whom I have sent.

See, there's no place, including Babylon, that is outside of God's sovereignty.

The exile wasn't God's failure.

God had a purpose even in the difficult cultural moment of the exile.

That matters to us because we can spend a lot of time asking, how did we get here?

A better question is, why has God placed us here?

See, we celebrate the last 20 years, that's great.

But when churches all they do is celebrate the past, they lose vision for the future.

Why has God placed Church at the Grove in Walton County?

Why here?

Why now?

Why this community?

Why this generation?

Why people who are currently uh why why the people who currently live here?

Why Walnut Grove?

Why social circle?

And perhaps the most important question, or the most important thought, is why the thousands of people who will move here over the next five to ten years, and I refer back to the statistics that Matt Rutledge shared with me.

See, God is not surprised by the growth coming to this region.

He's not scrambling to develop a plan for Walton County.

The city and the county leaders might be scrambling.

They might be trying to get it together, but God is working his plan.

By the way, I'm thankful for those county leaders.

I'm thankful for our city leaders.

God is already working here.

God is already work at work here.

He's placed his church here to participate in what he's doing.

I think back to Henry Blackaby and experiencing God, and I've gone through that study several times.

And the theme of that is that God is already work at work.

Wherever you are, God is already at work.

All you've got to do is find out where he's working and join him there.

Here's part of the vision for the future.

I see us becoming a welcoming home to thousands of people seeking Jesus Christ and growing in the grace of the gospel.

When I say thousands, I don't, I could, listen, I don't care about attendance.

As a matter of fact, I this is what I say about attendance.

God doesn't take attendance by who's here on Sunday morning.

God takes attendance by who's not here.

You drive down the park, you drive down 81.

I drive down 81 every every every day.

But when I come in on Sunday mornings, that parking lot is full where people are playing ball.

And I pray, God, would you help us reach those people?

God, would you help them understand how much you love them, what you've done, and sending your son for them?

And so I see us becoming a welcoming home to thousands of people seeking Jesus Christ and growing in the grace of the gospel.

You know what I see?

I see social circle.

That one of the values of social circle, and I hope I'm speaking correctly, is the fact that it has a distinct, small hometown feel.

And that that is something that they are very protective about, and rightfully so.

But as as even if the growth is fast or if the growth is slow, there's going to be change, and we as a church need to be ready to reach the people that God is bringing.

This isn't a statement about attendance.

It's a declaration that we believe God is going to bring people here who need Jesus, people who haven't met, who haven't, uh, people that haven't met Jesus yet, families who haven't moved here yet, children who haven't been born yet, neighbors who don't know the church, that church at the grove even exist.

God is calling us to prepare now for the people who will arrive later.

Here's the second implication for today is that God is calling us.

God calls us to flourish, not just to survive.

God calls us to flourish, not just to survive.

Look at verses 5 and 6 in Jeremiah 29.

Here's what God tells the people.

They're in exile.

They've been kidnapped.

It's not something they voluntarily chose.

They lost the battle, and they're paying the price by being servants living in Babylon.

But here's what God tells them: He says, Build houses and live in them.

Plant gardens and eat their produce.

Find wives for yourselves and have sons and daughters.

Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters.

And here's what he says: multiply there.

Multiply there, do not increase, do not decrease, do not decrease, is what he says.

Multiply there, do not decrease.

In other words, don't put life on hold and spend the next 70 years complaining about Babylon.

He says, live, build, plant, multiply.

Here's how we say it in our discipleship pathway at Church of the Grove.

Believe in Jesus.

Belong to the community of God, become like Jesus in his character, and then join God in building his kingdom.

Believe, belong, become, and build.

God doesn't tell them, keep your heads down and just survive until I get you out.

He tells them build something, plant something, raise families, multiply.

There's this powerful picture of what God may be calling Church at the Grove to do.

We aren't simply trying to maintain what God has given us.

We aren't simply trying to preserve a church for our generation.

We are building beyond ourselves.

We're building beyond ourselves.

And if you're if you've been around a while, if you know me at all, if you're part of our staff, you know that I will never settle for just a church existence.

I'm always thinking about there's somebody else to reach, there's somebody in my neighborhood, there's somebody on the ball field, there's somebody that needs to hear the message of the gospel.

And so this is a powerful picture of what God may be calling Church at the Grove to be.

We're not simply trying to maintain, we're building beyond ourselves.

And so this is part of the vision.

I believe God is has given us every day in all spaces, through each season of life, we are joyfully building beyond ourselves, living the greater story together, creating a kingdom legacy for generations to come.

Every age, every stage.

Ministry that reaches everyone, despite where they are from or the circumstances of life that they are in.

So that's Jeremiah 29 language.

Hey, build beyond yourself.

Build beyond yourself.

Let's say that together.

Build beyond yourself.

And so plant things that you may not personally get to enjoy.

I say this all the time.

I'm a short timer here, whether you know it or not.

And I don't have any dates or ideas.

I know this.

I do not want to stay in the way of what God wants to do.

I don't want to hang around too long.

I want it to be the right timing.

But I realize, hey, you know what?

I'm planting trees that I may not get to enjoy the shade from.

We are digging wells.

Some of us, Pat, me and you, we're digging wells that we may not draw water from.

Now I'm not trying to say that you're old or anything, but but I mean, we're listening that that's the reality.

Plant things that you may not personally get enjoy.

Invest in people who will one day lead what you built.

Reach children who will become tomorrow's parents, disciple students who will become tomorrow's leaders, trained pastors and missionaries who will serve somewhere we've never been before.

Plant churches that will reach people that we will never meet.

We make our commitment clear that we are investing in the next generation.

But we also want to be clear that those of you that might be around my age or older, you have a place here to invest your life, and you are a priority at Church at the Growth.

Every age, every stage.

Now, that's not maintenance, that's multiplication.

And that is at the center of the biblical story.

That's at the center of how the church exploded in growth.

Which leads us to the next implication of what we're talking about.

God's people are called to seek the good of the city.

God's people are called to seek the welfare of the city.

Look at verse 7.

Uh what Jeremiah says, he says, but seek the welfare of the city.

And I can imagine a listener here reading Jeremiah's words here.

Jeremiah, you are off your rocker.

We have been taken captive to a foreign land.

Are we supposed to resist?

But he's saying, hey, once you're there, seek the welfare of the city where I've sent you in exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf.

For in its welfare, you will find welfare.

Prophetically, they we know that they were there to be 70 years, 70 years.

That is that is a that's a pretty long time.

It's time to, it's time enough to invest in a family, to build a house, to establish a life.

And that's what he's calling us to do.

To seek the welfare of the city.

We want to seek the welfare of the place that we live, whether it's Walnut Grove.

We care about this city.

We care about this county.

We care about social circle.

We care about what God is doing now and wants to do.

And God, God, I'm praying that God will clarify vision as we move forward.

He says, seek the welfare of the city.

This is the heart of the passage.

I love this.

I love this.

God doesn't tell Israel, ignore Babylon.

He tells, He doesn't tell them to curse Babylon, He doesn't tell them to separate yourselves from Babylon.

He says, seek the welfare of Babylon.

Which to me goes against all of the ways that we're wired.

That's extraordinary.

That is extraordinary because we have an extraordinary God.

The people of God were supposed to become a blessing to the very place where God had placed them, especially considering that they were not there on their own terms.

So this is where our vision becomes much bigger than Church at the Grove.

The question isn't simply how can we just grow our church?

The better question is, how can the church help our community flourish?

Can I say that again?

How can we as a church help our community flourish?

What would Watton County look like if the church, if Church at the Grove became known as a people who genuinely sought the good of the neighbors around us?

What if marriages became stronger because they were here?

What if children were more loved because we were here?

What if broken people found hope because we were here?

What if teenagers discovered their identity in Christ because we were here?

What if the retired people of our community had a place where they were valued and had a place to belong and to minister and to pour into others what they've learned in the years of wisdom that they have accumulated?

What if people had who have never entered a church discovered Jesus because someone from Church at the Grove entered their neighborhood or moved into their neighborhood?

What if our schools were stronger because of our people serving in those schools?

What if our businesses were healthier because Christians operated them with integrity?

What if our community became a better place because the church at the grove was here?

See, see, there's a part of this vision that's supernatural.

It can't happen just by our mere strength and effort.

It has to be something that God does through his grace and his supernatural power and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

See, we are a refuge for the broken and suffering to receive hope and care and a place where God heals and enriches marriages and families, singles and singles again.

Those moving into their golden years, and I could go on and on and on.

Everyone matters.

Everyone matters.

Now I want you to pretend we're in a Pentecostal church.

And I'm gonna say something that is significant, and then you're gonna respond.

Outside of your normal look whatever background, for some reason you feel like a bit Presbyterian or Baptist this morning.

Hey, listen, everyone matters.

All right.

All you need is some good coaching.

That's all you need.

See, that's seeking the welfare of the city because every growing community has a hidden pain.

Behind the new houses are marriages that are struggling.

Behind the new businesses are people who are lonely.

Behind the new families are people carrying grief.

Behind the successful exterior of people battling shame, people are battling shame and addiction, fear, anxiety, disappointment, and spiritual emptiness.

In the middle of all that, the church gets to say, man, there's a place for you here.

Not because we have all the answers, but we know the one who has all the answers, Jesus.

And our goal isn't just to create a bigger church, is to create a bigger, more impactful, faithful gospel presence in our community.

And this fourth implication is our presence should point to Jesus.

Amen.

Our presence should point to Jesus.

Verse 7, but seek the welfare of the city where I've sent you in exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find welfare.

The exiles were told to seek the welfare of the city and pray for the city.

That combination matters.

Presence and prayer.

Presence and prayer.

It's being in the community.

It's showing up at the ball games.

It's showing up in your neighborhood.

It's showing up at the grocery store.

And listen, life happens.

But when the Holy Spirit indwells you, the Holy Spirit can overcome even moments of despair where you get to exhibit the character of Christ in all that you do.

We don't serve people so that they'll like Christians.

We serve people because we love people and we pray because we believe God alone can change hearts.

And our vision for the next five to ten years captures this beautifully.

With all of our efforts, wholly dependent on God, we make disciples across every age group.

There's this tension.

We work as though it depends upon us.

We pray as though it depends entirely upon God.

We're people who believe the gospel.

We invite people to belong to community, become like Jesus and all they do, and join him in building his kingdom.

But underneath all of this, it's the idea that God, unless you do it, none of it matters.

God, unless you do it, none of it matters.

And then finally, we've got to think generationally.

God wants us to think generationally.

Jeremiah 5 and 6 says, Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce.

Find wives for yourselves and have sons and daughters.

Multiply there.

Do not decrease.

God's telling them, have children, have grandchildren.

One of the greatest challenges facing the American church, we tend to ask, what does the church need today?

But kingdom-minded churches ask, what will the church, what will the next generation need from us, the church?

We impact thousands of kids and students.

Have over the years, week in and week out.

And every stage of life has a place in believing, belonging, becoming, and building in the church.

See, the gospel isn't for one generation, it's for every generation.

The church, part of the vision is the church will become the sending center.

We have the potential to plant, and we we have the potential, I believe, to plant and revitalize 30 churches over the next five, ten, to ten years.

That would impact communities and reached, unreached people groups.

That's bigger than church at the grove.

That's exactly the point.

God's vision for his church should always be bigger than just one church.

Now let's finish this passage right here.

He says, For this is what the Lord says.

When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place, for I know the plans that I have for you.

Now we know that verse, don't we?

That's a coffee cup t-shirt verse.

But these are not coffee cup t-shirt circumstances that we're talking about.

They're in exile.

It's not pleasant.

Which to me makes this verse even more powerful.

For the I know the plans I have for you.

This is the Lord's declaration.

Plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Amen.

You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

I will be found by you.

This is the Lord's declaration.

I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you.

This is the Lord's declaration.

I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.

Hallelujah.

You know what God is saying here?

He's saying, I haven't forgotten you.

And we're talking about we're talking about big church growth, big church vision.

We're celebrating 20 years, we're looking ahead, but I don't want to lose sight.

Jonah, let me see if I get this right.

I want you to listen.

Listen to me.

Some of you came in here this morning, and you probably didn't need to hear a message about the vision of a church over the next five, ten, twenty years.

If you're in social circle, you didn't come in wanting to hear about this grandiose thoughts about the next 20 years.

You came in here desperately wanting to hear a word of hope about where you are right now in your life.

Whether it's loneliness, marriage issues, broken family, identity.

And I want to tell you, God is God has not forgotten you.

God cares about you.

As a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, this story right here, it's a picture.

It's a picture that points forward to a God who would send his son out of his divine existence in heaven into exile on the earth.

So Jesus would leave his divine existence and become a human being on a broken, chaotic planet, marred by sin and disobedience and chaos.

And Jesus would come and he would model what it means to go into a difficult place for each individual person.

Because you matter to God.

God's promise was never you won't experience difficulty.

God's promise is I haven't forgotten you.

That's the promise we need for the next five or ten years.

We know that God holds the future in his hands.

But can you just imagine with me for a second what God could do through us as a church five years from now, ten years from now?

Imagine thousands of people seeking Jesus.

Imagine 300 plus baptisms.

We've seen God grow our baptisms exponentially this year.

But I believe there's going to be a year coming up in the near future where we'll baptize 300 people in one year.

Imagine children and students whose lives have been transformed by the gospel.

Imagine marriages restored.

Imagine broken people finding refuge.

Imagine people who moved here from somewhere else discovering a church that feels like home.

Imagine small groups filling up neighborhoods.

Imagine disciples being sent into the workplace, schools, homes, businesses, communities.

Imagine Church at the Grove helping plant and revitalize churches throughout our region and beyond.

Imagine missionaries feeling the call of God to carry the gospel to people groups who've never heard the name of Jesus.

Imagine tens of thousands of people being reached through the collective ministries of this church.

Imagine millions of dollars being given away to advance the gospel around the world.

And imagine generations, generations from now looking back, looking back and saying, because they were faithful, because they were faithful, we have heard the gospel and Jesus has changed our life.

Because they were faithful, we now know Jesus.

That's the kind of future worth giving our lives to.

See, where God has planted us, we are called to bless and multiply.

Can you say bless and multiply with me?

Bless and multiply.

Social circle, let's say it again.

Bless and multiply.

Now, I'm gonna turn it back over to Pastor Nathan.

I'm gonna hand him the baton, and Nathan's gonna lead our campus and social circle into their time of response and prayer.

Which means here, it's just me and you.

And I hope that the result will be a church that has a faithful presence in our community.

If you're here and you never put your faith in Christ, there's no better day than to do it today.

Jesus left his safe place to come almost into exile in a broken world where he would teach, he would heal, he would cast out demons, he would perform miracles, but ultimately he would surrender his life to die cruelly on a Roman cross.

And in doing so, he would accept all of the wrath of God and the punishment and the consequences that you and I deserve because of our sin and disobedience.

So I want you to put your faith in Jesus if you never have.

So would you pray with me?

Father, God, I pray for the person that's here that's really, really, really had no idea what we're gonna be doing and celebrating, but but but God, hopefully, by the Holy Spirit's power, you have spoken something that has drawn them to a place of interest where they want to reach out and put their faith in Jesus to repent and believe the good news of the gospel.

So, God, would you bring that person to a place where they would just simply admit they're a sinner and that they would believe in what Christ has provided in his life and his death and his resurrection, and they would confess Jesus as Lord and Savior?

That's you this morning.

Please let one of us know.

Tell somebody you came with, tell a family member.

Father, would you continue to work?

Everybody, look up at me.

Look up at me.

Here's the question I'm gonna leave you with.

Are you with me?

Are you in?

Are you in for the ride of your life?

Hey, it's been fun 20 years.

We've seen God do miracles, we've seen God do some crazy things.

Are you with me?

Let's see what God can do.

Amen.

At the center of it, at the center of it all is the fact that Jesus is worthy of all our praise and all the glory that we could give him.

And so would you stand with me right now and let's appropriately respond to the presence of Christ in this room right now.