CHURCHING

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

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

Thanks for tuning in.

I was newly married.

We were pregnant with our first Ella.

And we're moving from Chicago, where I had gone to school at Moody, to Atlanta.

I was stepping into my first and our first full-time pastoral ministry role.

I was going to be a youth pastor at this church startup in Atlanta, Georgia, at this new church.

It was one of those churches that grew really fast, grew from 100 to 1,000, you know, in a few months, type deal.

And we were met at a high school.

We had that 5 a.m.

setup time with the trailers and all the rest.

We kind of know the drill around here.

I remember that first year, Jenny saying, you know, ministry was easy until you really got to know people.

Isn't it true?

Just like you start to get to know people, and sometimes that's how your small group may feel.

Small group was easy until we really got to know people, because we were here and we began to get to know these teens and these families, and everyone presented this picture perfect outside, but then the messiness started to leak out.

It was amazing, though.

We got a front row seat to see how God was working and moving in these teens and families' lives.

I'm so grateful for that.

A couple years in, we got a front row seat to seeing the ugly side of church.

Maybe you've experienced it where it's political manipulation, mismanagement of finances, and all sorts of things I don't have time to go into, nor would it probably be appropriate.

But it was in that season, just a couple years, a couple years into stepping into the full-time, going, This is what we trained for, that I began to question should we still be a pastor?

Do I still want to be a part of the church?

My brother was in Nashville, still is doing music full-time, and that was a bit of my background.

I'm like, maybe we move to Nashville and you know go back into music.

And began to just wrestle with this question.

Why church?

Why the messiness?

Why stick with it?

Maybe you've had that question.

Maybe you've been hurt in the past, poor leadership, something's happened, and you're wrestling with, like, maybe with what you see, you know, out there.

Like, why?

Why, why, why lean into this?

Or maybe in the valley we ask a different question from a different angle.

It's why church, but it's we're busy.

Work's intense, schools a lot.

Why, why carve out time to be around the let's be honest, we're all a bunch of messy people.

It's not just them out there, it's us in here.

Um today we're in a little bit of a like pause between series.

Next week, we're gonna launch a brand new series called Rooted.

We'll talk more about it.

I'm really excited for what God's doing in our church.

Today, I want to talk just about the church.

So if you're like really brand new to church, this is so good.

Because you're gonna get it here, like, what is church all about?

What is going on here?

And if you're part of us, this is for us to begin to reframe and realign our hearts and our lives around what does Jesus have for us, for his church.

Now, the sermon title is this it's churching.

Yeah, I made that up.

Would you say that with me?

Churching.

No, try it again.

I need you with me this morning.

Ready?

Churching!

Fantastic.

If you got your Bibles, would you open up to Matthew chapter 28, verse 18?

Matthew 28:18

I want to take you to a, if you've been around church, if you've been churching for a little bit, I want to take you to a very familiar passage to many of us.

It's called the Great Commission.

It's the moment before Jesus ascends uh into the heaven.

And let me just kind of paint the context for you really quick.

Jesus spends three years uh earthly ministry pouring into his disciples.

He's traveling, he's teaching, he's doing incredible signs and wonders, miracles.

The deaf hear, the blind see, even dead are raised to life.

It threatens the religious ruling party of that day.

They co-op Rome to help them execute Jesus.

And Jesus is executed on a Roman cross.

This movement that thousands and thousands of people were getting excited about in an instant.

It was hopeless.

Now, the curious part, and his disciples didn't fully understand it, he predicted his death and his resurrection many times, and they're like, I get it.

We wouldn't make sense to us, too, if somebody said that.

But three days later, three days later, the tomb was empty.

Amen.

Yeah.

The tomb was empty.

Jesus defeated the grave and he appears to his disciples, and not just like a one-off.

Over the course of 40 days, he appears and teaches his disciples about the kingdom of God.

In fact, at one point he appears to over 500 people at the same time over these 40 days.

And this is his final moment after the resurrection, where he is commissioning his disciples.

Here's what you are called to do.

This is what I'm leaving you on this planet to do.

This is your purpose, this is your mission.

So listen up.

Then Jesus came to them and said, say this with me.

All authority.

Let's try it one more time.

All the all the upper, all those yellow words, say them with me, okay?

This means yes, this means no.

Okay, good, good.

We're there.

Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore, and of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you, and surely I am to the very end of the age.

It's been said, people, we need to be reminded far more often than we need to be instructed.

I want to remind us, church, of a few things of why, church.

Why we gather.

What is so important about what's happening right now in our midst?

Three things from the text here.

The first is simply this the church of Jesus is under the authority of Jesus.

You said it out loud.

The church of Jesus.

Now, I just want to let you know I had a really simple outline, and today I'm gonna make it work.

Like if you want the outline in three words, it's power, purpose, and presence.

You can take those words, you're like, sweet, I got the outline.

But I wanted to give it to you, like unpack it.

The church of Jesus first.

Let's just remind ourselves.

This is the church of Jesus right here, right now.

This is like sometimes we talk about church this way.

Oh, I go to so-and-so's church, I go to Ryan's church, I go to Jay's church, I go to John Mark, John Mark, I go wherever, you know.

Like, I no, you don't.

No.

By God's grace, man, Jenny and I had the honor of being a part of help like start a new movement here in the valley, but this is not ours.

It always has been, always will be.

This is the Church of Jesus Christ.

And it is under, it is under his authority.

That word authority, excusia, means to have all power, all control, all dominion.

It's interesting.

Uh, one of the pictures for the word church used throughout the Bible uh scripture, Apostle Paul especially used it is the word body, that the church is the body of Christ, and he uses it, it says that we are the body.

Like what's happening here isn't individuals just showing up.

It's not random, like like autonomous like people, like I got my thing, you got your thing.

He says, No, you're the body, and we're all members of one another.

Like we all are part of one body.

Like some of us are the fingernails, some of us are the finger, some of us are the kneecaps, some of us are the eyes, some of us are the head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.

Some of us are just part of the body.

Like we're all part of the body, like we're all members of one another.

We're connected.

Because to be disconnected is to be, well, that's gruesome.

But do you know what it says about Jesus is part of the body?

It says that Jesus is the head of the body.

Nobody else gets to be the head of the body.

And the head, my head, tells the rest of my body what to do.

My head is right now moving, it's not moving, it's flailing my arms in lots of different ways, isn't it?

Like if I want to move this way, my head tells it everything happens, the entire body is under the control, under the authority, under the power of my head.

That is the picture of the church.

That is the picture for us.

That is what the church, why church?

The church of Jesus is under the authority of Jesus.

And when it's not, just like if my right arm wouldn't move because something's disconnected, you'd go like, oh, that's actually it's broken, it's not working.

So maybe we can start a little convicting this morning.

But could I just ask, like, how much authority does Jesus have in your life?

Like as a church, we need to ask, like, how much authority does Jesus have in our church?

Honestly, for some, like, and it's rightfully should be here, like you say no authority.

Like you've never trusted Jesus.

You don't have a relationship with him.

And I want to invite you to like explore Jesus.

Get to know him.

He changed my life and he can change your life.

But for some, like you just want to live life on your terms, and you don't want anyone to tell you how to live life.

Let me ask you, how's that working for you?

For some, it's no authority.

For most of us, it's kind of some authority.

He gets some authority in parts of our lives in some of these areas, and like, well, you know, like we have this religious side, and then we have this like secular side.

We have like the church Ryan, and then we have the work Ryan, and he gets some authority, and we give him bits and pieces.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

I am the savior of the world who defeated the grave and who has called you by name.

Come follow me.

And we look to him and say, Jesus, you indeed are the king, the savior, my leader, my rescuer, and you have all authority.

So how I work, Jesus, you have all authority.

How I spend my finances, Jesus, you have all authority.

When it comes to my sexuality, when it comes to my time, when it comes to my future, you have all authority.

Who you date, who you marry, how you raise your kids, where you work, why you work, how much authority does Jesus have in your life?

One thing that might help us unpack why church is really talk about what the church is not.

First thing the church is not is um the church is not an event you attend.

Church has always had events, by the way.

Like uh from the very beginning, the church started with this big event called Pentecost, where the Spirit of God came on the 120 disciples like tongues of fire, and in a moment Peter preaches this incredible sermon, and 3,000 are added to their number.

And there's this incredible event where they would gather at the temple courts and they'd listen to the apostles preaching.

But the church is not an event you attend.

We have turned this into like going to the movies or to a sporting game.

I show up, I watch, and I leave.

I don't really know the person three rows in front of me or the person three rows behind me.

I just kind of uh like consume and take it in.

The church is less like a movie theater and more like a family gathering.

That's another picture that the scripture tells it says this is family.

Um, okay.

Um I didn't do this first service, so this may just totally fall flat.

So here we go.

Would you turn to the person next to you and whether say, hey brother, hey sister, just do it for me real quick.

I don't know if you know them or not.

I don't know if you're related to them or not, but according to like like if you have placed your faith in Jesus, you have been adopted into the family of God.

You are a son or daughter of the King Most High, and what you look around in this space, are family.

We're part of the family of God.

And so how we do family matters.

And so it's a family gathering where we come together to encourage and to uh support and to strengthen and to meet and to hear from the word of God and to respond to that in community, in family together.

It's not an event you attend, and it's not content you can consume.

We're not trying to do a TED talk.

And we've become experts at consuming content, haven't we?

And the thing today, like the thing that's kind of muddied the waters, is like you can listen to the best preaching, the best podcast, the best books from anywhere around the world, and that is and much of that is good and helpful for you to grow.

But church, church is not content you can consume.

And yet we've always, from the very beginning, we've taught, Jesus said, remember, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you.

We don't gather together to become smarter Christians.

We don't sit under the teaching of the word to know more about Jesus.

We come and we gather together as the church to become more like Jesus.

Period.

The most fundamental question we must ask every time we hear the preaching of the word is what must I do with what I just heard?

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourself.

Just listening to the word, you can deceive yourself.

No, do what it says.

We become practitioners, teaching them to obey, do everything he has taught us.

An event to attend, content to consume, and church is not a building.

Yeah, we get that.

That even hurt, didn't it?

You're like, oh, we want a building.

Like we've done temporary space for so long, haven't we?

Fourteen years, temporary space.

Church is not a building.

And we get that.

We know that.

But we say things like, well, I go to the church over there.

Well, I go to, you know, and we understand what we mean, but somehow we have replaced a building, which is good, it's important, with the church.

Now, um the church has always had spaces that they meet to meet with God.

It happened in the temple courts where they gathered and listened to the apostles' teachings in the very first days, and they met home to home in smaller groups.

Church has always had places and sacred spaces to meet and be with God, but it is not the church.

Just like um, so my my family, we have we get to live in a home.

So grateful for that home.

Like I woke up this morning and I was warm and it was cold.

It was cold, it was cold.

I mean, it's nicer now, but it's good.

California cold is the worst.

Am I right?

It's, I mean, it got down to like maybe 60.

Um, I live in that home, but it is not family.

That family isn't home.

My family, my kids.

Right?

So I'm so grateful for that home, but if that home, God forbid, ever burns down, if that home by someone like we move, which we're not planning on moving, but if we ever move, like our family doesn't cease to exist.

The building, the home, does not define the family.

In fact, the family inhabiting the home begins to define the home.

See, the church is not a building, it's a family.

And we get to utilize a building for a like a tool for what God wants to do in creating spaces just like for our family, where we get to sit, enjoy, celebrate, grieve together, be family.

Like, and we're praying for a home.

That's what rooted is part of it about.

Like we're gonna talk about God.

We we believe you're taking us into this next season, into more a more permanent place, not for like a place sake, but for his mission, his calling sake on the church.

Okay, I preached that part way too long.

We're gonna have to get going.

The church is not an event you attend, content you consume, or a building.

So, what is the church?

A church is a people being formed by Jesus and sent together on mission.

The church, the church of Jesus is a people.

I don't know what I don't know what that is either.

We got yes, Jesus?

Okay.

Um the church is a people, the church is a family, the church is the body of Christ being formed by Jesus and sent together on first.

The church is under the authority of Jesus.

You want one word?

It's his power.

Okay, let's move into the purpose then.

What is the purpose of the church?

The church of Jesus exists to make disciples of Jesus and stop.

The church of Jesus does not exist to entertain you.

The church of Jesus doesn't exist to grow a big crowd.

The church of Jesus exists.

Its one purpose is to make disciples.

Therefore, go.

I like one translation says, move out.

Move out and disciple.

Get it going.

Like, like your purpose and my purpose, our one purpose in life is to know God and help others know God.

It is to love God and help others love him.

My one purpose and your purpose, our collective purpose, because we're family, and our family has a purpose.

Our purpose is to help other people step into relationship with Jesus and come to know him and become more like him.

This is why we gather.

And why we scatter.

The Church of Jesus exists to make disciples.

I don't know what the next slide is.

If you can go there, I've been off my notes for quite some time.

Oh yeah.

The way we say it here.

Yeah, you got you had it exactly right.

Is we exist to awaken this generation to new life in Jesus.

Like our purpose the way we say it here.

We exist to awaken this generation to new life in Jesus.

Say it like this: that we're a four-generation church.

We have baby boomers, we have Gen Xers, we have millennials and Gen Zers.

We are a four-generation church that's for this generation.

We want to get after how do we awaken this generation to new life.

Now, one of the things, unintentionally, that we don't always communicate well is that we are for every generation.

We want to minister to every generation.

In fact, we're going to do a survey at the end of this service, and we want your feedback, we want your insight because we want to help minister to you well.

There's times where I think right now we need to minister better.

We've heard from some people like, how do we minister better to our young families?

How do we minister better to our baby boomers?

How do we minister better in this?

And yet at the same time, we can hold that and go, and we are for this generation.

We want to see this generation awaken to new life in Christ.

And so let me ask and just answer real briefly: what is a disciple?

This will be a review.

Luke 6, 40, Jesus says, when the student is fully trained, he'll be just like his teacher.

When the student is fully trained, he'll be just like his teacher.

A disciple is simply this: a disciple is one who trains under a teacher to know what they know in order to do what they do.

A disciple is one, and that word is really intentional, trains, apprentices, comes under, so when we follow Jesus, when Jesus calls you to be a disciple, when Jesus called his first followers as disciples, when he said, follow me, the expectation the disciples had was that they were going to come and learn from Jesus to know what he knew and then do what he did.

This is amazing, by the way.

When Jesus was walking on the water, Peter says this.

If it is you, Lord, tell me to come to you.

And the reason he says that, do you know why?

Because he's a disciple.

And Jesus said, follow me.

And if you follow me, you can do what I do.

And so if it's you, Lord, I can do what you are doing.

So tell me to come out there.

And he gets out of the boat and he begins to walk on the water.

There's an expectation of disciples when they look at Jesus that we're called to follow him and that we get to know what he knows, and we get to step in and do what he does.

And we bring his healing, his wholeness, his purpose, his life to those around us.

Well, what does a disciple look like?

We call it the profile of a disciple.

A disciple has a compelling faith.

Jesus saved my life.

Not a condemning faith.

Jesus saved my life, and I want the whole world to know.

I want my neighbors to know.

I want my coworkers to know.

I want my classmates to know.

I want everyone to know.

I don't want anyone to miss out on his grace and his love.

He changed my life.

He can change your life.

There's a compelling faith.

There's life-giving practices.

Like I don't want to just know about Jesus.

I want to know you, Jesus.

This is not a religion, friends.

It's not a checkbox.

And God is actually, believe it or not, he's not down on you if you don't like have a quiet time, if you miss it.

That's religion.

He wants to have a relationship with you, and relationship begins with conversation, and conversation begins to take us deeper, and we begin to have conversation by prayer.

We get to know his heart through his word.

And you just begin to spend time where you go, God, I want to know you more.

They have life-giving practices, intentional relationships.

Hebrews says, let us, you know, gather together, encourage one another, to spur one another on towards love and good deeds.

You all need three types of relationships in your life.

And I know we're in the loneliness epidemic, right?

And you're like, what do you mean, three types?

I'm just hoping for one type, Ryan.

Well, here, let me tell you this: pray for it, pursue it, and be intentional about your time with it.

Okay?

Like hoping, oh, I hope I get a friend.

Come on.

Has that worked yet?

Have you prayed about it?

Are you pursuing it and then be intentional about your time?

So here's here's the three types of relations.

Everybody needs a Paul, everybody needs a Timothy, and everybody needs a Barnabas.

A Paul is someone ahead of you that can build in and pour into your life.

Our proteges get mentors every year that pour into their life.

Go ask somebody out for coffee that you want to go, like, I would love to get to know them and know Jesus the way that they know him.

Everybody needs a Paul, everybody needs a Barnabas.

I mean a Timothy.

So often we got a bunch of lazy, fat Christians.

I'm a little offensive.

I get it.

I probably shouldn't have said that.

I take that back.

But all you do is all we do is consume.

Pour your life into somebody else.

I need to be fed more.

Actually, you probably just need to give your life and pour it into somebody else, and you'll find yourself growing in ways you hadn't before.

Who is somebody that you can pour into?

You need a Paul, somebody that you're looking ahead to.

You need a Timothy, somebody that you're intentionally pouring into, and you need a Barnabas.

Barnabas was son of encouragement.

Who's an encourager in your life?

We had Dr.

Charlie Self a few weeks ago speak.

One of the things I love, I just call him Barnabas.

He's an encourager.

He's an encourager of the church.

Look for a friend that can encourage you.

Pray for it, pursue it, and be intentional about your time with it.

Extravagant generosity.

The church was known for their generosity.

Why?

Because they had a savior that gave it all for them.

How could they not give it all?

In fact, the early church description was they sold their property and just gave it freely.

All that they had.

And then meaningful ministry.

If we are members of one another, if we are family.

And this Bible's real clear, the Holy Spirit of God lives and dwells inside of you and has given you a spiritual gift that is to build up his body, the church.

And we are less than what he intended when we are not engaging in the body and bringing what he's given to the entire church.

You have a meaningful ministry to be a part of, both here, building up the body of church and where he's placed you at your work, at your campus, in your home.

So how do we go about doing that?

We just call it the discipleship pathway.

We want you to come to know Jesus, grow as a disciple of Jesus, serve in the name of Jesus, and then simply share the love of Jesus.

That's it.

Come to know Jesus.

First, if you don't know Jesus, would you explore and come to know Him?

Our Sunday services are designed to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus, where you step in, like you have a life-changing encounter with God, maybe for the first time, or deeply grow in Him.

At some point, you have to make a commitment to grow as the disciple of Jesus.

One of the fundamental ways we do it here is through small groups.

We don't want to be a church with small groups, we want to be a church of small groups.

That we're growing together in community to become more like Jesus.

We're launching a new series rooted next week.

We're launching tons of new groups.

If you are not in a group, the truth is, is you're not really a part of awakening.

Would you lock in and be a part of awakening?

See what God might want to do if you commit to at least six weeks of being a part of a group and leaning in and saying, No, no, I want to grow as a disciple.

Now we just talked about meaningful ministry.

Serve in the name of Jesus.

Where you recognize, gosh, God, would you take the little in my hand and would you multiply it?

Would you use it for your glory and your name's sake?

And then share the love of Jesus.

Where we can't help, but begin to help other people come to know Jesus.

What's your next step?

Where are you on the discipleship pathway?

Would you take your next step as the church?

Doss Willard said this: the greatest issue facing the world today, and he wrote this a while ago, but I want to add to it.

Even with AI, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who by profession or culture are identified as Christians will become disciples, student practic apprentices, practitioners of Jesus.

The Church of Jesus power.

First under the authority of Jesus.

The Church of Jesus exists to make disciples of Jesus.

And then presence the Church of Jesus is sent with Jesus.

Now notice that Jesus ends, and surely I'm with you, even to the very end of the age.

One of the things that we naturally do is we turn this into this, it was very comforting for the disciples, it was.

But we turn it into Jesus is with me, and he's always with me.

And as I sit and enjoy my cup of coffee in the morning, he's with me.

And when I go to work and drive in the car, he's with me.

Which is all true, so I'm not trying to like be harp on that, but what we miss is the broader context of this scripture and the broader context of scripture itself.

Jesus is following a commissioning uh pattern that we see throughout scripture.

Uh, Moses to Joshua.

When Joshua's batana leadership is passed to Moses, um, or passed to Joshua, God comes to Joshua and he says, Be strong and very courageous.

Be careful to obey everything I've commanded you, and I'm with you.

As you step into the battlefield, as you step into the promised land, as you take a step forward on the mission I've called you, you be strong, obey, I'm with you.

My presence, by the way, is for confidence and courage as you step onto the mission field of God.

The witness is as to give you confidence and courage as you step forward into the mission Christ has for us.

David to Solomon.

As David passes the button to Solomon, God meets with Solomon and says the same thing.

Be strong and courageous.

You're gonna lead a nation.

Be careful to obey.

He struggled with that one.

And I'm with you.

And then Jesus looks at his disciples, the church.

And he says the same thing.

But instead of be strong and courageous, what he says is, I have all authority.

I have all power.

Like nothing is out of my control or my domain.

Don't worry, like that whole be strong and courageous.

Like just lean on my strength.

Lean on my authority.

Come under my authority.

Be careful to obey all that I've taught you.

And I am with you even to the very end of the age.

The church of Jesus is a people formed by Jesus and sent together on mission.

See, when we gather here, we are the gathered church.

But when we say amen and the doors open and you leave, church does not stop.

Church is on the move.

Church doesn't end when the song ends.

Church doesn't ever end.

It is the people of God.

And you now, this is like a holy huddle right here.

We're huddling together.

God, what are your marching orders?

And as we step into this week, church is on the move.

And wherever you go, wherever God has placed you, whether it's your campus, whether it's your workplace, your home, you are the church sent by Jesus to be the light of the world, to bring his hope, his purpose, his peace, to a broken and hurting world.

Back to Atlanta.

To opting out of pastoring.

Why church?

You know, one of the other pictures that's used for the church throughout scripture is the bride.

The bride of Christ.

Those church leaders, what they did was wrong.

Inexcusable.

And they certainly marred the bride of Christ.

But they don't get to define the bride of Christ.

Jesus does.

Jesus does.

And for Jenny and I, as we sat with that and wrestled, we just began to think, like, okay, in light of this, could we help make the bride of Christ just a little bit more beautiful?

Could we just help make the bride of Christ just a little bit more beautiful?

I don't know.

Like, like we our little, like the little that we have to offer, we don't have much and we're kind of hurt and we're kind of broken.

We don't know a whole lot.

We're in our 20s, but but could we just help make the bride of Christ just a little bit more beautiful with her marriage, with her family, with her work?

Like at the end of my day, I hope to stand before Jesus and Him say, Well done, good and faithful servant.

My bride's just a little bit more beautiful.

My bride's a little more beautiful.

Oh, that we would be a church in the midst of all whatever.

That we'd be a church that presents to him just a little bit more beautiful bride.

The step for us was we needed to get around good, healthy leadership.

We moved back to San Jose, served under Steve Clifford, experienced healing through that, and eventually they launched awakening as a church.

And for some, your first step is just a step into healing.

Step of honesty, come come be here, come get healing.

Allow Jesus to minister to you through his people.

For some, it's a step into discipleship, a step into group, a step into belonging, a step into leadership.

Oh, that we might present to him a beautiful bride.

Jesus, we invite you to have your way in us.

That you would speak to us real clearly.

That we might be your church, your bride, your body.

That brings your healing and your hope and your purpose and your presence to Silicon Valley, to a hurting, lonely, lost generation for your name's sake, in Jesus' name.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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