We Are Access – Up There, Down Here

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason Burns and Access Church in Lakeland, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

Every once in a while, usually about once a year, we do a message series called We Are Access.

And this is really about some of the distinctives that make this church such a beautiful and life-giving church.

Last week, if you missed it, last week I preached a message that said, We are accessed and we are made new.

And what that means is because of what Jesus did for us, we aren't made into a better version of ourselves or a more polished-up version of ourselves.

He makes us entirely new.

That's the reason baptism was such a celebration today.

It's because we're celebrating the fact that the old us is dead, buried, and gone.

And because of Jesus, we are made new in him.

I love it.

Today I've got a different message for you.

And what we're going to do in this message is we are going to construct a very awkward sentence, and it'll make sense at the end of the message.

So buckle up, it's going to be a ride.

Let's get after it, okay?

Several years ago, I was in the car, it was just me and my daughter Ella.

And at this point, Ella was maybe three or four years old.

And whenever we're in the car together, I try to make it fun.

And so we play games and I ask lots of questions.

And on this particular day, we were just kind of driving, and out of nowhere, Ella said these words.

She said, I can't wait to die.

And I said, What?

What?

Hold up, hold up, hold up.

Like you're three.

Like you're supposed to not, you can't wait for ice cream, like not to die.

What do you mean?

And she goes, No, no, I can't wait to die.

And she said, I really want to go to heaven.

But this was an interesting thing.

I found out later the reason she knew about heaven is they were talking about it in her class at Access Kids, just for all the parents' peace of mind.

We don't talk about death, but they did talk about heaven.

And they said, Heaven is this beautiful place.

The streets are paved in gold.

Uh, scripture actually doesn't say a lot about heaven, but what it does, it sounds like this incredible, beautiful place.

Heaven is this reality that is coming for us.

You ever known someone who like they couldn't wait to get to heaven?

Some years ago, I was in North Carolina.

We were visiting Liz's grandparents who have since gone on to be with the Lord in heaven.

And I was driving around town with her grandpa, and he was so funny.

As we would drive around town, he did that thing that people who've lived in a town for a long time do.

He'd be like, See that that cow pasture?

Yeah, yeah, I mean, see that bank?

That used to be a cow pasture.

See, see that building right there that used to be an orange field?

There used to be a lake right there.

They must have dug it up and filled it in with something.

And he showed me what all used to be, and as we were going, he's like, That used to be a cow pasture, and we're gonna get buried right over there.

And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I said, Why would you say it like that?

He goes, Oh, because we can't wait.

It's like, what do you mean?

For some people, the reality of heaven is such a beautiful thing.

Now I said this earlier, scripture doesn't talk a lot about heaven.

The book of Revelation, chapter 21, verse 4, John gives us this beautiful picture of heaven, and he tells us what heaven is not.

Revelation 21:4

He says, in heaven there will be no more suffering, no more death, no more darkness, no more sadness, no more mourning.

It's this beautiful picture of heaven, and I think it's funny that he doesn't tell us what it is, he tells us what it is not.

It'd be like trying to describe Chick-fil-A to someone who's never been to Chick-fil-A.

You could say, it's not Taco Bell, it is not McDonald's, it's something better and more beautiful.

We don't have this full picture of heaven, but what we know of heaven is heaven is a place where forever we get to be in the presence of God.

No more sickness, no more shame, no more darkness, no more, no more pain, no more death.

It just sounds like an amazing, beautiful place.

And here's what I want you to understand today about heaven.

Heaven is both a reality that is coming, but it is also something that as followers of Jesus, our mission is to take heaven and to bring it to earth.

It is to make earth a lot more like heaven.

Many years ago I was teaching this, and I came up with this phrase that I said, as Christians, we are to bring up there, down here.

We are to bring the kingdom of heaven from up there down here to make our place, our world, our city a lot more like heaven.

So here's what I want you to get today.

The whole message centers around this idea that our mission as a church is to do whatever it takes to reach people until Lakeland looks like heaven.

Now I want you to get this.

This isn't just our idea.

Like I didn't come up with this.

There's not some pastor or some theologian that came up with this idea.

This was like Jesus' idea.

You know the Lord's Prayer Jesus was teaching, and we have it in the book of Matthew and Luke.

In Luke, Jesus' disciples watched him pray.

And they said, Teach us that.

Like, teach us how to pray.

In the book of Matthew, we have the Lord's Prayer the way that most of us might have heard it or memorized it.

If you've heard it before, it goes like this.

Jesus says, Pray this way.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

You've heard this before, and and maybe the next line is something you've said.

The words have come across your lips, but they've never really planted themselves in your heart.

Because here's his next line.

He says, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in our world, in our city, as it is in heaven.

Now, this is interesting because we say these words in the prayer, and if you don't really think about it, it's easy to skip right over it and to not know what you're saying.

I want to teach you what you're saying.

I think part of the reason we struggle with this is we don't live in a world that's run by kingdoms.

We we live in a democracy.

In a democracy, we vote for the president, and if we don't like that person in four years, we vote for a new president.

That's how a democracy works.

Kingdoms are different.

Kingdoms are run by kings and queens.

Didn't anyone else have this experience a year and a half or so ago when Queen Elizabeth died?

Anyone remember this?

I was glued to the news, glued to the TV.

I never thought she was going to die.

I'm gonna be honest about that.

I thought she was gonna live 4.3 billion years, is what I thought was gonna happen.

I thought she was gonna outlive her son.

That's what I thought.

That's be honest, that's what I was kind of hoping for.

I didn't know, but I was it was interesting.

And when she died, it was fascinating to me to watch all the pomp and circumstance, all the changeover of power, all the honor that they gave to the queen for her million years of serving the country.

It was just beautiful.

They changed the national anthem from God save the queen to God save the king.

It was just, I was glued to my TV set watching all of this because I don't understand kingdoms.

I don't.

Like, here's the definition of kingdom from the dictionary a kingdom is a country, state, or territory ruled by a king or a queen.

And we don't have this.

This is not our normal, we don't have kings and queens here in America.

So I want you to think about this for just a moment.

Jesus said that when you pray, pray that God's kingdom will come and his will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

I want to read you the same verse, but from the King James Version.

If you're new to the Bible, King James is one of the oldest English translations.

It's a little Shakespearean and flowery in its language, but I love this because there's one difference in one small preposition.

It says in the King James, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

Well, what's the difference?

It's not just a preposition.

Both are absolutely right.

We are to bring God's kingdom to earth and do whatever we can so that it makes a difference here on earth.

But the King James says, in earth.

I want you to think about this.

Have you ever heard the colloquialism from dust to dust?

It's because when God created the world, Scripture says, Genesis chapter 2, that God formed the dust of the earth together, and he breathed into the nostrils of this formed body the breath of life, and Adam came to life.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

We were created from dirt, and eventually, if we die, we will be buried, and eventually our bodies will return to dirt.

So essentially what he's saying is pray that God's kingdom will come and his will be done in you and in me.

Well, what happens when God's will is done in you and me?

We get so consumed by doing what God wants that it spills out into our life.

In fact, can I teach you the most dangerous prayer you can pray?

God, do your will in me.

Here's what it looks like.

God, I want what you want in my life, in my heart, with my dreams, with my future.

God, I want what you want in my relationships, in my marriage, in my friendships, and in my parenting and with my kids.

God, I want what you want in my job, in my career, with my money, with my energy, in my emotions.

God, I just want what you want.

I gave you a definition of king from the dictionary.

Here's my definition of kingdom.

A kingdom is wherever the will of a king is carried out.

When you pray, according to Jesus, we are to pray, God, I want what you want.

I want your will to be done in me, through me, and then as a result, on earth or in our city.

So today I want to talk to you about what it looks like to be a part of a church that is so consumed with doing whatever it takes to reach people until Lakeland looks like heaven.

Today we're gonna construct an awkward sentence, three different phrases that will come together at the end of what it looks like when Lakeland looks like heaven.

Let's start with this.

Mark chapter 6, it says this.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

I want you to think about your hometown: the place you were born, the place you were raised, the place where people know you, the place where you went to kindergarten and elementary and middle school.

I want you to think about that because it says that Jesus comes back to his hometown.

This is a place where people knew him.

They knew him as Mary and Joseph's son, they knew him as the carpenter's son.

They just kind of knew him not really as the son of God, not the one doing the miracles and teaching about God.

They just knew like little Jesus.

That's who they knew.

And it says he was accompanied by his disciples.

Well, when the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

Kind of an interesting word.

Amazed can mean two things.

On one hand, it could be wowed or in awe of, but amazed can also mean cynical or skeptical of.

And there are these people who are cynical and they're skeptical of Jesus because he was just marrying Joseph's boy.

Like he's not that big of a deal and he's just back in town.

And so they started saying some stuff about Jesus.

They said things like, Where did this man get these things?

What is this wisdom that has been given him?

What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?

And then I'm gonna add a word to the next couple sentences to help it make a little bit of sense.

They say, Isn't this just the carpenter?

Isn't this just Mary's son?

Just the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon.

Aren't his sisters here with us?

And I want you to see what they did.

They took Jesus, the Son of God, and they treated him as common, ordinary.

They dishonored him.

And it goes on to say this, and they took offense at him.

And Jesus said to them, Look, a prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives, and in his own home.

Essentially, what Jesus is saying is that it's hard for him to be there because they don't know who he is, and as a result of not really knowing who he is, they have dishonored him.

And then the next few words haunt me.

It says this about Jesus, he could not do any miracles there.

Except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

He was amazed, there's that word again, at their lack of faith.

The words that floor me, it says that about Jesus that he could not.

Not that he chose not to, or that he he wanted to, but it says he couldn't.

He couldn't do any miracles.

What does this mean?

It means that there was something that restrained Jesus from doing what he does.

So I could explain it like this.

If we understand what restrains Jesus, we'll understand what restrains us.

What was it that caused Jesus to not be able to do miracles in his hometown?

A lack of honor.

I want you to understand, if you're gonna be a part of this church, we are access and we are going to be high honor people.

What does this mean?

It means that we find the good, the beauty, the joy in everyone around us.

Instead of looking for the dirt and the reasons to dishonor, we are always going to look for the best in people.

We are gonna celebrate the best in people.

Why do we do this?

It's because people rise to the level of standards that we set for them.

And often if all we ever do is criticize, we'll never call out of them the goodness that God has for them.

Let me explain it like this.

Honor means valuable, precious, weighty, such as gold.

Dishonor conversely means to devalue, to treat something valuable as common.

I wonder how many of us, if we could just do a quick assessment of our lives, we're not the most honoring people.

Like we think we're right and the world around us is wrong.

We want more sermons on the sins that we don't struggle with.

We celebrate the people who are out preaching hate against the world around us.

Has that ever worked for you?

Okay, let's get political for a second.

Have you ever been on your social media of choice and seen someone who had a diametrically opposed view politically than you on some rant that you diametrically disagree with, and you read their words and you thought to yourself, wow, that really changed my heart.

It doesn't.

It never changes anything.

Why?

What changes people is when they know you love them, you care for them, you value them, it actually buys you the right to have a voice in their life.

So I can say it like this as a church, we want to be known for what we're for, not what we're against.

What are we for?

We're for people finding Jesus.

Here's what we know if we can get people to Jesus, Jesus will work out whatever the other issues are.

Like, like we a person doesn't have to get their life perfectly together before they can come to Jesus.

We can just bring them to Jesus and then let Jesus do what Jesus does.

Scripture teaches it is the kindness of God that leads to repentance.

It doesn't say it's the criticism of God or the judgment or the conviction of God.

It's the kindness of God that leads to forgiveness.

So, so what if we do?

If I were to say to all of you, leave this room and when you go outside, find dirt.

That'd be really easy to do, wouldn't it?

But if I were to say to you, go out and find some gold, it would take time, intentionality, and focus to do it.

It might take you some time, but what if you made the decision that I'm gonna find the gold in every relationship I have?

In fact, let me send you out with this.

Why don't you leave this place and be a gold digger for Jesus?

Come on, somebody.

Like that's messed up.

Um, don't laugh at that.

But let's do it.

Let's find the gold in others and let's call them higher.

Number one, we are high honor.

Number two, we are hope dealing.

What does this mean?

It means we live in a world that is devoid of hope.

Did you watch the news yesterday?

Yesterday I was sitting on my couch like a responsible adult man watching the Masters Golf Tournament.

I'm praying that Tiger somehow comes back and has this dramatic win.

I'm watching it.

And as I'm watching it, all of a sudden it's like breaking news.

News anchor comes on, and this lady says, uh, ladies and gentlemen, breaking news from the Middle East.

And I don't really have like a full understanding of everything that happened, but the conflict between Iran and Israel is at an all-time high.

Missiles and drones are being shot at each other and it's getting nasty.

And I'll be honest, for just a moment, as this happened, I thought, oh, no.

No more innocent lives need to be lost.

No more casualties, no more kids killed in like casualty fires.

No, that doesn't need to happen anymore.

I thought to myself, oh no, I hope this doesn't bleed into something bigger, I hope this doesn't turn into World War III.

I thought, oh no, oh no, oh no, and every single path I went down got darker and darker and darker, and I could feel hope like deflating like a balloon that's been pierced in my heart.

If you watch the news just yesterday, the news broke in Australia, the stabbing in a mall.

Six people stabbed.

And thought to myself, like, we can't even go to the mall.

Like, what a weird, jacked up, messed up world.

And that's in the last 24 hours.

Many years ago, I would check this news site multiple times a day, and this site claimed to be an unbiased news site, and it was a really simple, almost like elementary type website.

It just had a single white background, and all the text was just black, just black text.

And if there was a big, big national headline, it would be in red.

And I would read it and I would just scan it quickly, and I didn't even have to click the links.

I would just read the headlines, and I could feel my heart sinking further and further into depression and anxiety.

Like there is hopelessness all around us.

Study was done two years ago.

It was from the Wall Street Journal and the University of Chicago, and they surveyed people, and here was the result.

It set a record 78% of those surveyed didn't think their children's generation will live better than their own, up from 67% in 2019.

This is staggering.

Like we are convinced that the world is gonna get darker before it gets better.

We are convinced that there's no hope really to be found.

And I just want to say, as a follower of Jesus, and even more specifically, if you're gonna be a part of this church, we're gonna be people that bring hope everywhere we go.

So let me say it like this.

Okay, um, I've done a lot of funerals.

I have stood right here with the podium right here, and I have preached some of the hardest funerals imaginable.

Funerals can be so devastating.

I'm of the opinion that there should never be little caskets.

I'm of the opinion that there shouldn't be car accidents that take a father and son in the same moment.

I'm of the opinion that life is fragile and it comes and it goes.

And I've preached lots of funerals and I have a lot of insight on funerals.

Funerals where the person lives a long life and dies in an old age as a believer in Jesus are some of the best funerals.

They turn into parties.

People celebrate a life well lived, and we don't say goodbye, we say I'll see you later.

See you on the other side.

It is really hard to do the funeral of a person who died, in our opinion, too young.

And it is so so dark when you have to stand up and teach people about God when the person that's lying dead, if you don't know if they were a follower of Jesus.

What is the hope we have?

When I do a funeral, one of my favorite verses is 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

Paul says, Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope.

What is the hope that we have?

The hope we have is that this life isn't all that there is to this life.

The hope we have is that when we say goodbye to a believer, we're not saying goodbye, we're saying I'll see you on the other side.

The hope we have is that this life isn't all that there is.

So, what would it look like if you and I just made this decision?

That because we have the hope of the world, we won't keep it to ourselves, but we'll throw it around like confetti, we'll pass it out like candy, we will be people who bring hope to every relationship that we have in our lives.

We are access and we are high honor.

We are hope dealing, and I want you to get this last one.

We are party throwers.

What does this mean?

Well, I love I love Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

It's one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible.

It starts like this Jesus is teaching, and all these people gather around to hear Jesus teach.

And I love this because there's this massive dichotomy of people.

On one hand, it says there's the religious elite, the people who went through the theological training, they're the smartest about God.

And then there's these people that scripture calls sinners.

In some translations of the Bible, it puts sinners in quotation.

That word sinners in Greek is kind of this junk drawer catch-all word for the worst of the worst kind of people.

Liars and cheaters, adulterers, pedophiles, Philadelphia Eagles fans, like the worst of the worst.

The worst of the worst people.

And I want you to get this is that all those people who gathered around Jesus say like this, the people who were nothing like Jesus, like Jesus.

Okay, let me ask you a question.

I must have olive in your business, I must have all of out of it, ready?

Do the people in your life who don't think, believe, and vote, the same as you, do they like you?

This is an important line of delineation for you.

I think a lot of people are gonna die thinking they were right, but they didn't reach anybody.

Like, I'd rather be effective.

Like, this is a big deal.

People that were nothing like Jesus, like Jesus, Jesus was right, but he was also likable.

It is our likability that buys us a voice with the people around us to teach them that which is right.

So then Jesus tells three stories, and Luke accounts for all three of them.

Back to back to back, all the stories have the same meaning.

The first one is of a shepherd who has 100 sheep, and Jesus says, He loses one of his sheep, still got 99.

And he he thinks to himself, I could I could just go on with 99, but instead he says, No, I love my sheep.

And so he goes out and finds the one that's missing.

And Jesus says, when he finds him, he throws him over his shoulders, and he's so excited that when he comes back into town, he says to all of his friends, hey guys, gather around, look at this.

I found my sheep who was missing, and they threw a party, and then Jesus takes the story and he flips it upside down.

Here's what Jesus says Jesus says, I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent.

For those of you who don't get it, he says, To heaven throws a party whenever one person who was lost and separated from God comes back home.

Then Jesus tells another story.

He says, Imagine there's a woman with 10 silver coins.

In Jesus' day, that could have been representative of the same thing as like an engagement ring.

And he says, Imagine she loses one of the coins.

Well, she's thinking to herself, I've still got nine.

90% is still an A, I'm good.

No, no.

He says she would turn her house upside down, sweeping every corner and lighting a lamp until she found every dark corner of the house to find the coin that's missing.

And when she finds the coin that's missing, what does she do?

She gathers her friends and says, Celebrate with me, the coin that I lost is now found.

And then Jesus flips the story upside down and goes down to verse 10.

He says, In the same way I tell you that there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

In both stories, something that was valuable was missing, and when it was found, there was a party thrown.

Jesus is going to teach us another lesson, and here's what he does next.

He says, If those two things, like shepherds and coins, don't matter to you.

Let me make it immensely more personal.

There was a dad who loved his two sons, and one of his sons said to him, Dad, I wish you were dead.

Because if you were dead, then I could get my half of the inheritance and I could go live my life.

Well, the dad does the unimaginable.

He says, Okay, fine.

He sells his stuff and he gives half of all of his possessions to his son.

The son goes off and he lives a wild life, partying it up.

He has the money, there's lots of people around, but the moment the money dries up, all the friends scatter.

And he has this moment where all the money's gone and he has no food, he has no job, and he hits rock bottom.

He finds himself one day feeding pigs.

Now, this may not make a lot of sense to us, but in that ancient Jewish world, this was like the lowest of low.

No self-respecting Jewish boy would do anything with pigs because they were seen as unclean.

And he's there feeding pigs, and he has this moment of crisis and a moment of revelation where he realizes that he's hit rock bottom, and even the people who work in his father's house as servants have it better than he has it.

So he comes up with this beautiful speech.

He says, I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna tell my dad three things.

Number one, father, I've sinned against heaven and against you.

Number two, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

Number three, make me like one of your hired servants, and I'll just work for you.

So the son gets all of his courage, he walks home and he's practicing his practicing his speech.

And on the way, as he's getting close, Jesus says, He looks off in the distance and he sees his house, he's rehearsing his speech.

And standing on the porch of the house is the father.

When he sees his son, he takes off running after his son.

Some years ago, I preached this message in Barcelona, Spain.

And after the sermon, a man came up to me and he goes, I have my PhD, and I wrote my dissertation on that story of the prodigal son.

He goes, I need to tell you something.

In that ancient Jewish world, fathers were seen as so proud that they would never run for someone else, because to run for someone else assumes that the thing you're running to is more important than you.

Secondly, the reason the father would never run in that culture is because they were in the Middle East.

It was hot.

A person would wear these long tunics with no sort of undergarment on.

And to run and not trip, you'd have to bend down, pick up your robe, and take off running.

You're potentially exposing yourself.

And he takes off running for his son.

Why would he do that?

Because it's his boy.

Because he loves his son.

And he sees his son and he goes running to him and he throws his arms around him, and the son starts and speaks, Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you.

I'm no longer working.

And before he can get point two out of the net's like, shut, shut, shut your mouth, stop talking, listen to me.

And then he says this just a few verses down.

The father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him.

Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Bring the fattened calf in and kill it.

We are having New York strips, fillets, and prime rib for everybody up in here tonight.

He says, Let's have a feast and let's celebrate.

A feast means it comes with a baked potato, and celebrate means cheesecake.

Come on.

It goes on.

It's lunchtime.

It says, For this son of mine was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

And I want you to see this last phrase.

So they begin to celebrate.

They begin to party.

The father thought his son could have been dead and he's alive again.

And I've heard this story taught before, and that's where the story ends, and that's wonderful, and that's a good sermon.

You can't outrun the love of your father in heaven.

It's beautiful, but the story that Jesus tells in Luke 15 goes on.

It says they throw a party.

And at this party, they've killed the fat and calf.

Everybody's eating good and celebrating, and there's dancing and laughing and celebrating.

And standing on the outside of the party is the second son.

And he stands there, I imagine, with his arms folded in protest, and the dad comes out and pleads with him.

It's like, buddy, come on inside.

Your brother was dead, and now he's alive.

We're throwing a party in his honor.

And the second son goes, What about me?

What do you mean, what about you?

He goes, I never left you.

I never told you I wish you were dead.

I never wasted your money.

I've been here working for you, loving you, and serving you.

Where's my party?

Dad says, son.

You've always been with me.

But this other one, I thought he was dead.

He's alive.

Let me ask you in this room a question.

Do you think the father loved both of his sons?

Of course.

I have two boys and I have a little girl.

I love my kids.

Of course he loved it.

But in that moment, his heart was broken.

His focus was squarely on the son who had run and was gone.

I think for some of us, we hear that story and we think, man, thank you, Jesus.

I was like that prodigal son.

I was like the one who ran away, and I was the one who needed you to save me, and we we still identify with that.

But I think it's possible that some of us over time have drifted towards becoming more like the second brother sitting on the outside of this party.

We say things like, okay, great, all these people got baptized, 60-something people.

Golf clap.

What about me?

Now you wouldn't say that because you're awesome, but in your heart there is this temptation to be like, yeah, but what about me?

Like I serve at this church, I show up, I share my faith.

I'm a tither.

I give 10% of my money to God.

I I believe in this.

What about my what about my party?

Somewhere along the way we drift and we miss it.

The story is called the story of the prodigal son.

If I were to ask everyone in the room to define the word prodigal, maybe you would define it like I did years ago.

I thought prodigal meant bad or wayward.

I thought it meant rebellious.

Prodigal means wastefully extravagant.

The story is called the prodigal son.

I'd actually like to submit to you, it maybe also could have been called the prodigal father.

Why?

Because what was he wastefully extravagant with?

Love, forgiveness, and grace.

This is a picture of God towards humanity.

You cannot outrun the love of God.

If you are in a relationship with God, if you are serving God, if you are giving your life to making Lakeland feel a little bit more like heaven, if you're doing all of those things, God loves you, he's proud of you, keep it up.

But I want you to understand his heart is broken for and his focus is squarely on his children who are far from him.

So when he finds them, when they come home, when they come to faith in Jesus, we better not stand on the outside of the party with our arms folded, but may we join the chorus of angels in heaven.

And may we celebrate because it matters to Jesus.

So let me end with this.

I want you to get this.

Like we want to do whatever we can as a church.

This is why Survey matters.

This is why all the baptisms matter.

This is why we don't just do church to fill up an hour of your Sundays.

We're doing everything we can to partner with you to make a difference in our city until Lakeland looks like heaven.

And I want this to be kind of like a battle cry.

I want this to be something that we rally around, something that matters to us.

So in two weeks, we have a gift for everybody who comes.

In two weeks, we want to give this shirt that just reminds us that we will do whatever it takes until Lakeland looks like heaven.

My prayer is that every time you put it on, it's not just something you put on, but it's a prayer that you wear.

My hope is that this isn't just another t-shirt that fills your closet with more t-shirts, that this is the anthem of your heart.

We will do whatever we can.

That's why we're opening another location in North Lakeland.

It's why our eyes are open to other cities around us that we can try to start another location in another location of our church until Lakeland and the surrounding areas look like heaven.

Told you we were gonna construct a weird sentence.

Here it is, you ready?

We are access, and we are high honor, hope dealing part of ours.

We are access, and we are gonna find the gold in people around us.

We are gonna throw hope around like it's confetti, and we won't ever stop celebrating because people matter to God, and if they matter to God, they matter to us.

Can I get a good amen from anybody up in here?

Love it.

So let's not talk about it.

Let's do it.

Will you bow your head and close your eyes and let's pray?

So, God, we ask you to give us courage to actually do this.

It's easy to come in and hear some inspiring words and delief saying, Yes, let's do it.

But may the words that we've said not fall on deaf ears when we leave this room, but may they become the anthem, the song, the soundtrack, the underscore of our lives.

God, I pray that our church will be known for what we're for, not railing against what we're against.

May we be a high honor kind of church.

God, I pray that we will throw hope around like it's confetti.

I pray that the world around us will start to see the light, the hope that is found in Jesus.

And God, my prayer is that we will never get tired of celebrating.

Heaven throws a party every time someone comes to faith in Jesus.

May we be the loudest voices on the front row screaming until we have no voice.

Because if people matter to you, they matter to us.

God, I thank you that we have been on this mission for 17 plus years as a church, and you keep showing up and you keep blessing.

We'll stay on mission.

You keep doing your thing.

We love you, we thank you for it.