Day 1

Happy New Year! Guys, thank you so much for being here tonight.

Um, we've never done this before.

We've never done an evening, you know, get together like this.

And uh and for those of you that waited for chairs to be set out, thank you guys for your patience.

Y'all are awesome.

It is it is so good to be here always, but to be here tonight I think is really special because this is the start of a new year.

This is that this is a beginning.

And I cannot think of a better way to begin a new year, a new chapter in all of our lives than to be here and to be in God's presence and to worship him and to come together for the purpose, really, this is why we exist, for the purpose of experiencing the real love and the real life that he gives us.

You know, if you're new to his hands, this is why we exist.

We exist to connect people to the real love that Jesus gives, because most of the love, most of the life that people experience in this world is just not real.

But what Jesus gives us, it is absolutely genuine, which means it lasts, that means it endures, that means that it's stronger than anything else in this world.

Nothing can overcome it.

And that's what we want every person in this community to experience.

That's what we want to experience tonight.

So thanks for being here.

Uh, a few quick things, then we're gonna talk a little bit about new beginnings, about what God maybe wants to accomplish in our lives this year.

Number one, I hope you're hungry because we've got a bunch of food trucks outside.

And uh, if you've never had food from a truck, you haven't had food.

I don't know what it is, but like when it's in a when it's in they're called food trucks, they're really food vans.

But either way, it's it's awesome.

And so here's how that's gonna work logistically, just so you understand.

We have a bunch of tables set up, we have the fireplace room, the coffee shop, you're free to use that.

Um, and even though it's it's kind of drizzly raining outside, we've got tents set up from the lobby to each of the food trucks, and so you can just jump in a line and and you're free to hang out afterwards and grab some food and and and be here and talk to people and just enjoy the start of a year.

And I I said this at Christmas, I meant it.

I hope you haven't made a New Year's resolution, food-wise, yet.

Like, wait until tonight, give yourself that exception.

It's gonna be awesome.

I'm so excited about that.

Uh, we we kick back off on Sunday mornings like normal, this upcoming Sunday, on January 8th at 9 o'clock and 11 o'clock, like usual.

We're kicking off our year with a series called A Year of Real.

And we want to experience all the real things God has for us this year: real love, real purpose, real passion for living, real life, real hope, all the things God gives us.

We want to have a year that is filled with the real gifts, the real blessings that God has.

And that's how we're gonna start our year.

That starts next Sunday, so be here for that.

All right, quick question as we as we talk a little bit tonight.

I'm just I'm just curious, really.

I want to understand sort of the temperature of the crowd.

How many of us are over New Year's resolutions?

Like, we just don't do those anymore.

We're past it, we don't need New Year's resolutions, we're we're done.

Okay.

All right.

Some people are offended right now because you're really goal-oriented people, and and it's hard for you to recognize that.

So, to those of you who say you're you're burned, you're jaded, you don't want to do a New Year's resolution, I I'm not where you are quite yet, but I'm getting there.

Because I've found that every year my my resolutions are getting less and less aggressive.

Naturally, I always have big ideas.

I want, I want to do big things.

I've always kind of been like that.

I just sometimes lack the discipline and the follow-through to actually see it happen, but I'm really good at the idea part.

And so every year I have this desire inside of me to see things happen.

I want something to happen, I want things to change, I want to see big things happen in my life, and so I create these goals, and they're they're big, they're usually super aggressive.

A few years ago, I made this resolution from like a spiritual standpoint.

I was gonna read every single New Testament commentary that I had.

Just so you know, when you're really spiritual, you read the Bible and books about the Bible.

So that's what a commentary is.

And uh, that was a joke, by the way.

So, you understand?

So I was gonna read every single one of these commentaries that I have, these long, thick books that are about the books of the Bible, which may seem redundant because it is, but I was just gonna do that.

It felt super spiritual.

And about May, I had read the first half of the first volume of Matthew, which, if you don't know the Bible, is the first book in the New Testament.

And so I fell kind of short of that goal because I just kind of stopped there.

I lost hope.

I lost hope.

Every year I set these goals and then I just I I downgrade them as the year goes on.

You may have done that before.

You're like, I'm gonna lose 30 pounds, and then you know, January is done, and you haven't really gotten started, you're like, I still have time to lose 30 pounds, and all of a sudden it's May, you're like, 20 pounds would be great.

You know, you get to December, you're like, you know, I'm I held steady.

I'm good.

I held steady.

This is this is good.

This year I have I have one New Year's resolution that that's food related, it's health related, it's not as aggressive.

It's it's gonna be challenging, I think, but it's not that aggressive.

I'm just not gonna eat any food through a drive-thru.

That's what I've said.

And uh, food trucks do not count.

Food trucks don't count.

I'm gonna say that.

Yes, it's through a window, but I'm not in my car.

So it's totally, it's it's in a it's a loophole.

So I might be eating in a lot of food trucks this year.

That might be what ends up happening.

We'll see.

Whether you're a resolution person or not, there is something about the start of a new year that that does stir up this desire inside of us to see something happen.

I think we just we feel the possibility.

I think God's created us to be people who dream, to be people who who reach for the stars in a matter of speaking.

And so there is something about a new year that makes us go, you know what, this year could be different.

This year could be great.

Something could happen this year, and I want to see something happen.

I've heard so many people tell me that 2016 was a rough year.

There's a lot of people that are really excited that 2016 is gone.

And maybe you had a great 2016, maybe, maybe 2017 couldn't get here fast enough, but but the fact that you're here today, that you're here tonight, I hope you have a desire inside of you to see something happen in your life and in the the world around you.

I do.

I want to see, I want to see big things happen.

I want to see God do some amazing things.

This this last year was kind of hard for me.

In February, we had our third child, Judah, who's gonna be you know a year old in February.

That's how how life works.

You get older as time goes on.

And I'm just gonna say this.

I'm curious, does anyone here have more than two children?

You guys are amazing people.

I applaud you.

It's so hard.

It's really hard.

I really underestimated how hard having three kids is.

I really did.

In fact, I, Megan, people ask us, so what do you guys do with three?

One of them is being neglected at all times.

That's the only way that it works.

I mean, we just hear we hear things crash and we go, uh, which one can't we see?

That's and then we hear a cry, and it's hard.

2016 kind of kicked my butt.

It's the year that got away in a lot of ways.

I started off 2016 with these big goals, big goals for my life, big goals for for the church.

I had all these dreams, and I I even prayed and I asked God to bless them.

I asked God to favor.

That's a really churchy word, but you know, you grow up in church, you know, God favor this.

In other words, I really want this to happen.

Do your thing, God.

I asked God to get behind all these goals that I had, and about midway through the year, I was frustrated, super frustrated, because things weren't happening the way I'd planned them to happen.

God didn't seem to be that interested in my goals.

And I was really frustrated with God.

And so I prayed frustrated with God.

I I set some time aside this one morning, and I just spent time with God, essentially scolding him for not backing me up, not getting behind the things that I had planned.

And I was really, I was really, I was making some great points.

I mean, really, I was, I thought I I made a lot of sense.

And and God, he really changed my perspective in that moment.

I spoke about this on a Sunday this last year, but but today it's just really it's relevant on my mind.

There's been a very, very small number of times where God has spoken to me in such a way that it has completely and totally changed my perspective, and I know that it's not just my perspective for a moment, but it's for my entire life.

God speaks all the time.

God created all of us to have a relationship with Him, and communication is part of relationship, so you can hear God speak to you.

And it's not like the sky's part, you hear a voice from heaven.

For me, at least, it's this thought that enters your mind and it resonates with all of you, with your spirit, with your soul, and you know that it's not from you because you're just not that smart.

That's how it is for me.

And so I'm praying, and I'm telling God, I'm lecturing God, saying, Hey, you're not doing this, and what about this?

I mean, I I told you this needed to happen, this isn't happening.

And God, God spoke to me and He and He said so clearly, Justin, because he calls us by name, which is so awesome.

He said, Justin, you're always trying to get me involved with what you're doing.

What are you gonna start trying to get involved with what I'm doing?

And it was one of those moments where I just was like, dang it, God.

That's so true.

And it humbled me and it and it it quieted my soul.

And I started to think about the goals I had for last year at the beginning of the year and the resolutions I had, and they were all they were all about me for the most part.

I think that's one of the reasons that so many New Year's resolutions fall short, because most people, and it's not it's not a bad thing to do this, it's just interesting to think about.

Most people make New Year's resolutions that are about nothing but themselves.

And we're not created to live just for ourselves.

We're created to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

God did not make us to simply live life serving our needs, our wants, our desires.

It's nothing wrong to have those things and to set goals and to be disciplined.

That's good, but God has created all of us to be part of something much bigger than just us.

And I started looking back on my goals and my dreams, and very few of them were bigger than me.

And so all of a sudden I'm sitting here midway through my year, going, okay, God, I'm sorry I've never asked this question before.

I'm sorry I've never taken the time to actually seek this.

What are you doing?

What are you doing, and how can I be involved?

Here we are at the start of a year, and I think we have a question, all of us, a question that we can ask ourselves would I rather God get involved with what I have going on, or would I rather be involved with what God has going on?

And if you're struggling to figure out where you stand on that question, just ask yourself a few follow-up questions.

Ask yourself whose plans are bigger, yours or God's?

Whose dreams are grander and better, yours or God's?

Who's less likely to fall short of a resolution?

You or God.

See, I'll take God every time because my dreams don't touch God's dreams.

My plans, my desires, they don't even scratch the surface for what God wants.

Not just for me, but for everybody.

And so I want to be part of what God is doing.

I want to be part of something big.

And look, there's nothing bigger than God, there's nothing greater than Him.

There's no movement on the earth that's that's more powerful than the movement of Jesus.

A movement where God wants to go to every single person in this world and turn their spirit on and bring them to life so that they can understand what real life actually feels like, so they can have a passion for living, so that they can know what love really is, so they can understand what it's like to have purpose, to have something in your life greater than yourself that that makes you wake up in the morning ready to breathe and ready to live.

There's nothing greater than that, and that's what what God is up to, that's what God is doing.

It's this movement that He started that He's gonna see to completion and He allows us to be part of it.

And so here it is, day one, 2017, and I want to be part of what God is doing.

I want to be part of what God is doing in my family, I want to be part of what God is doing in our community, I want to be part of what he's doing in my neighborhood, where I work, wherever I am, I just want to learn what God is up to and I want to get involved with it because I know what he's up to is big.

He's always doing amazing things.

And so, what if 2017 was a year where all of us, all of us, got in on the ground floor from day one on the amazing things that God has planned.

How do we do that?

Practically speaking, how do we do that?

How do we put ourselves in the place where we can understand what he's up to and get involved?

There's a verse in the book of Joshua that I think is the key.

Joshua, if you don't know the story, is this young man that has been asked to lead Israel after Moses is gone.

Those are pretty big shoes to fill if you don't know the story of the nation of Israel.

Just know this.

Moses is a big deal.

He's this amazing leader, like one time Moses stood at an ocean and then it just got out of the way.

And so if you have to follow that guy, it's a lot of pressure.

But Joshua was the right person to lead Israel.

He happened to lead Israel into the promised land, this fulfillment of a dream God had given them centuries and centuries before, a dream that seemed like it would never happen, and he's the guy, but in order for it to happen, miracles have to take place.

Because let's be real, in order for most important things to happen, something miraculous has to take place.

Which is why it's so good that we have a God who does the miraculous.

Miracles are normal for him.

And so Joshua speaks to the people right before this this miracle takes place, and here's what he says to them it's Joshua 3 5.

Joshua says, Consecrate yourselves.

For tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.

Consecrate yourself.

Because God's going to do something, and he's going to do it among you.

It's powerful.

I heard a pastor talk about this verse once, and he he made a very astute observation.

We get really excited about the amazing things part, the whole consecrate yourself part, not as exciting.

Right?

I mean, if I stood here trying to hype everybody up, saying, hey, who wants to see God do amazing things in the right moment?

You know, music's playing and all that kind of stuff, people might go, yeah.

If I sat here and said, hey, who wants to get consecrated tonight?

No.

Sounds painful.

And we call this this event day one.

If we had called this consecration Sunday, I just don't think many people would have shown up.

Because that sounds like some type of surgery, like something you don't want to experience.

Sometimes there's words that are very, very powerful in Scripture, but because of religion and how religion gets a hold of things and just messes it up and makes it all about striving, it makes it all about performing, it makes it all about you trying to do whatever you can to please God, because by the way, that's not how God is.

He's pleased with you because he's chosen to be pleased with you, because he loves you, because he's decided to love you.

Religion gets a hold of these words and it kind of robs them of their beauty and their power.

And we hear these words and we go, oh, I consecr- I'm I'm so far away from whatever consecrated probably is, there's no reason for me to even try.

But consecration is actually a really, really normal thing.

Every single one of us consecrates things all the time.

Because to be consecrated simply means to be set apart for a special purpose, to be reserved for some special occasion.

Most of us probably just put away some consecrated decorations that we have that we bring out every holiday season and we put them back.

You can tell that we as a church have yet to put up our stuff.

Sorry.

I put mine up last night.

Anyone else still haven't put up your Christmas decorations yet?

Yeah! You guys, you're good, you're honest people.

I love you.

There's a lot of liars here.

I know there's a few that didn't raise your hand.

It's okay.

See, those are consecrated things.

Those are things you set aside for a special time of the year.

We all do that.

As a kid, I played basketball.

I love basketball.

And I remember when my parents would buy me new basketball shoes for whatever season we were in, and as soon as they did that, my old basketball shoes would become my normal shoes if I still fit in them.

But those new basketball shoes, they were consecrated.

They were set apart for playing basketball at a basketball court.

I did not wear them outside.

If we had a game, I didn't wear them to the game.

I didn't wear them until I was inside the gym.

Those shoes were not going to touch concrete, they were set apart for a special purpose.

My wife Megan is like the queen of consecration.

Because there's all this stuff in our house we're not allowed to touch, because it's hers and it's set aside for like a special purpose.

If you sense a small amount of bitterness in me, it's because it's there.

And it's always it's normal stuff.

My wife is very crafty.

When I say that, that sounds bad.

I don't mean she's sneaky and has ulterior motives.

I mean she likes to make things.

She's crafty, she she does crafts.

We have a whole room in our house that's the craft room.

And so Megan has all this stuff like pens that you're not allowed to use.

Because they're her crafting pens, and she only uses them when she writes on her special stationery.

And if you grab that pen to write something down to make a note yourself, you you will hear about it.

She'll know.

A couple years ago, I was I was in need of scissors.

I just needed to cut something.

And so I went and I went to her little her little crafting cabinet, which is this gigantic monstrosity in our house that has an entire section of Joanne's fabrics in it.

By the way, Joanne's fabrics is the worst place on earth.

If you work there, I'm I'm I'm not gonna change my stance.

For me, it's the worst place on earth.

Because I'm not into crafts, but whatever.

So I go to this cabinet and I get these scissors out and I start cutting something, and Megan comes down the stairs and she's like, What are you doing?

And I'm sitting there going, I think it's pretty obvious.

Scissors, paper.

I'm like, I'm cutting something.

She's like, Yeah, yeah, but why are you using scissors?

Because that's what scissors are made for.

This is their whole purpose in life.

They are created for a very specific purpose.

You need something to be cut in pieces, you use scissors.

I mean, I have hedge trimmers in the back, but I thought it was a little overkill for this piece of paper, right?

And she's like, no, no, no, why are you using those scissors?

And I'm looking at these scissors going, ah, because they're here.

She's like, those are my cloth scissors.

Those scissors are only to be used to cut cloth.

What why are you even doing that?

What does that mean?

All these people are like, oh my, what is this still makes no sense to me?

She's like, you're gonna ruin my scissors.

Put those back.

And I'm like, fine, but do you have some other scissors?

Like, I don't know, you're just gonna have to find them.

And and I made the point, hey, how was I supposed to, how was I supposed to know?

Right?

So I come downstairs the next day and I see over in the the craft room, because it's light in our front room, that these scissors have had Sharpie written all over the handle, and it says, do not use cloth scissors.

Justin is not allowed to use all over them like that.

So total confession, she's probably in here, she may not be.

I've totally used them several times and just put them back, so whatever.

It's cloth, it's not like it's wood, it's not that hard to cut cloth.

I don't know.

I don't really make things, but those those scissors, they're they're consecrated, they're set apart.

I think Megan got this behavior from her family.

Her dad is like that.

Her dad has this bowl, and it's a consecrated bowl.

It is set apart for a special purpose.

It's his breakfast bowl, and every morning he makes the same breakfast.

It's this breakfast he makes in this 1970s like guacamole green bowl.

And it's grits and tuna.

First time I saw him make that, I threw up in my mouth just a little bit.

Because grits, I mean, we're in the south, grits are a good thing, right?

Grits, and even seafood and grits, like shrimp and grits.

I go, yes.

Tuna and grits, like tuna just out of a can in grits, it's gross.

And so that bowl is only to be used for that purpose, and honestly, once you know about that bowl and what it's used for, you don't want to use it.

So that's a bad example, I guess.

But it's a consecrated bowl.

Look, to be consecrated just means to be set apart for a purpose.

And so, through Joshua, God tells the people of Israel, hey, you want to be part of the big things I'm doing, you want to see me move, you want to see a miracle happen, you want to see me do something, just consecrate yourself and I'll do the amazing thing.

So often we get caught up trying to be the ones doing the amazing things, but that's God's job.

The Bible is not the story of incredible people doing amazing things, it's the story of an amazing God doing miracles through broken people.

But he's the one doing it.

It's him that does it.

That should give us all hope.

And so if we want to be the people who experience the amazing things that God does, we just have to consecrate ourselves.

That means we just have to say, God, I'm available.

My life belongs to you.

I'm setting myself apart for your purpose.

What do you want to do in my life?

I'll do it.

Isn't it amazing to think about the fact that God wants us to be his consecrated thing?

That you can be God's basketball shoes or God's cloth scissors or his avocado green tuna gritz bowl.

You can be that to God?

That's still a bad example as it came out of my mouth.

I knew that.

Ephesians 2.10, and it's one of my favorite verses.

And it just says this we are God's masterpiece.

Created anew in Christ Jesus to do the good things he planned for us long ago.

And the context, by the way, of that long ago is before the earth was created.

Just think about what this verse is saying.

You're God's masterpiece.

A masterpiece is an artist's most precious creation.

A masterpiece is whatever whatever an artist creates that that most displays how talented and gifted that artist is.

And you look at this world that God's created, you look at all the beautiful things he's made, and you think about the fact that he says, You are my masterpiece.

Of all that I've made, you're what you're what blows me away.

You're what fulfills every wish and every desire that I have as a creator.

That's you.

You're his masterpiece.

But you're not just a masterpiece that was made to be looked at, you're a masterpiece that was made to be used.

Because he says that he's created us anew in Christ Jesus, he gives us new life through Jesus.

Why?

So we can do things, so we can do the good things that He has He's called us to do, that He's planned for us to do.

God has a plan for your life.

God's plan is for you to be part of His plan.

And if you have this desire on day one of this year to see something happen in your life and in the world around you, it's simple.

Say to God, I am consecrated for you.

Set apart for you, God.

I'm available to you.

What do you want?

What do you want to do?

What are you doing, God?

Show me what it is.

Let me be part of it.

I'm available for you.

My whole life is available for you.

My mind is available for you.

My words, they're available for you.

If you want, if you want me to say something to someone, to encourage them, to give them life, to give them hope, I'll do it.

My energy, my talent, my time, my resources, everything I have, God, it's it's yours.

It's available for you.

When you do that, you're living a consecrated life.

Being consecrated does not mean you're perfect, because we're not perfect, and God doesn't ask us to be.

It doesn't mean that we've got it all together.

We're messed up.

But He uses us.

And if you're new in His hands, we're a bunch of broken people.

And even though religion would like to have us pretend that we're not, we're sick of that.

We're people that are willing to say, I've got plenty of issues, and God loves me through every single one of them, and He'll use me despite every single one of them.

There's freedom in that.

You are intended to be God's consecrated thing.

And he wants to use you.

He wants to involve you in the big things that he's got planned for 2017.

So here's what we're gonna do tonight.

We're gonna finish up with some worship, a couple more songs.

I'm gonna pray here in a second.

Worship team, if you guys want to come back out, that's great.

And we're just gonna go to God and we're gonna we're gonna pour our hearts out to him.

We're gonna ask him to make our hearts available for him to move in this year.

I want to see something happen.

I want to see lives changed.

I want to see marriages healed.

I want to see people healed physically, I want to see people healed emotionally.

I want to see, I want to see people come to life.

I want to see people enjoy living life.

I want to see this community completely and totally changed by the love of Jesus.

I want to see people become generous with their lives, with their hearts.

And every every part of them.

I want to be part of that.

I want to see 2017 be a year where God does things I couldn't imagine, and I know that the only thing he asks me to do is make myself available for him.

I want to encourage all of us, challenge all of us, that in these next few songs of worship, let the cry of your heart be God, I'm available from day one.

My 2017 belongs to you from day one.

I'm yours.

Let's pray.

Jesus, thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Lord, for choosing us to be your consecrated things.

I think back to that song that we sang right before we we talked together, Lord, and just finish with those words that we're yours and and you're ours.

I am yours and you are mine.

It makes complete sense to me that you could look at us and you could say, they belong to me.

But the idea that we can look at you and we can say that you belong to us, that that's crazy, God.

You love us so much that you don't simply take possession of us, you allow us to take possession of you and to have you in our lives, to have your spirit connected to our spirits, to fill us with your hope and your love and your peace and your joy, to give us everything that we need for life.

You say in your word that you've given us everything we need for living life.

And you want to grow us, you want to develop us, you want to, you want to make us and mold us into the people that you created us to be in God as a church, as a family of people, because that's what a church is, Lord.

We're here on day one of 2017, and we're here to say that this year is yours.

We're here to say, God, that we want, we want to see you move.

We want to see you do things that only you could do.

We want to see you do things that take us from simply believing in you to knowing that you're real, to knowing that you have power, to knowing that you're with us and among us, God.

We want to see you move.

We want to see you work.

This is your year, God.

2017 belongs to you, starting now on day one.

And as your people, we're here to say we're available.

What are you doing, God?

What do you want to do?

Show us what that is and let us get involved in what you've got planned.

Because we need to be involved, Jesus.

We need to be involved in something bigger than ourselves, and there's nothing bigger than you.

We ask all this in your name, Lord.

We love you.

Amen.