Become Rooted - Part 5

Everybody got Joshua 4?

Alright, there's like three of y'all.

Everybody else is still flipping.

Good, good, good, good, good, good.

Uh, if you're new to us, our custom, what we do here is we want to read a lot of scripture because how many of you know my opinion will not change your life, but God's word will change your life.

Uh and so we want to go into God's word hungry, want to receive from him.

And so Joshua chapter four, I'm gonna give you the context.

Uh, for generations, the people of God have been crying out for a deliverer.

They've been in slavery in the nation of Egypt.

And so uh God sends a deliverer, the deliverer's name is Moses.

Moses brings them out.

Uh, it's a really fun movie called The Prince of Egypt.

Highly recommend, nine out of ten.

Uh, it's really, really fun.

After Moses brings them out, Moses uh disqualifies himself from leadership.

God says, Moses, you're not gonna bring my people into the promised land.

Uh, my servant Joshua is gonna bring into the promised land.

So Joshua starts bringing them in.

And so God is speaking to Joshua, and I want to give the emotional context.

How many of y'all ever been waiting for something to happen?

Like you've been in line, like we don't even have, like, now we have digital pre-orders for stuff.

Back in my day, you had to get in line at a store to buy things.

The people of Israel have been waiting to get into the promised land.

They've been waiting on this land of milk and honey, this amazing place that God has promised them.

And so God is parted the Jordan, He's about to bring them into the promised land, and that's where we find them, where they are anticipating all that God is about to do.

See, I think there's even some of that in my spirit today where I'm looking at what God has done over this past year.

I'm looking at the miracles he's performed, I'm looking at the lives he's changed, I'm looking at the people that have given baptized.

But how many know God has a vision for our future that is greater than our past?

There are things that God wants to do in and through us.

Uh, and so this is where we find them emotionally, I believe.

Joshua chapter 4 says this.

Joshua 4 · chapter mention

When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and can command them, saying, Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priest's feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.

Uh, let me give a little bit of context behind that.

So, generations, a generation before, when God had brought them out of Egypt, God had parted the Red Sea so that they could cross through it.

And when it was time for them to go into the promised land, God had done the same thing.

He parted the waters so they could walk on dry land.

I don't know if there's anybody that's facing waters that you can't part, a mountain that you can't move, you're leaning away through a through the wilderness.

Can I tell you this is God showing them, I'm gonna make a way where there seems to be no way?

And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.

So Joshua comes and he sets up the stones.

And he said to the people of Israel, When your children ask their fathers in times to come, what do these stones mean?

Then you shall let your children know, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.

For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

Over the next few minutes, I'm gonna preach to you from this subject called Remember When.

Remember when.

Let's pray together.

Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us, Jesus, not into temptation.

But would you deliver us from the evil one?

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory.

And God's people said, Amen and amen.

Uh, my wife and I, this past a couple, about a week and a half ago, celebrated our 10-year anniversary, y'all.

I always like to say that is a praise report for me and a prayer request for her.

Uh man, 10 years I've gotten to enjoy this young lady, and 10 years she's had to put up with my shenanigans.

And uh, we've been married for 10 years, and one of the things that we did for our 10-year anniversary is we went back to the spot that we got married.

Uh, the church that we were at at the time was set up and tear down, like we are here, so we couldn't have the wedding in the church, so we rented uh a country club, and we went back to this country club.

Uh let me rephrase that because some of y'all might think, man, Pastor is fancy.

He's renting her parents rented the country club.

Just want to be clear.

Uh her parents rented the country club, and so we went back and we were like, hey, let's go grab dinner there and hang out.

And uh, y'all, uh we showed up and it's been 10 years, and the place has not changed at all.

The carpet is the exact carpet from 10 years ago, the chairs, the exact same chairs from 10 years ago.

I think the employees were the exact same employees from 10 years ago.

The smell was the exact same smell from 10 years ago.

Uh, and we were walking around this little place that we got married at and uh remembering some of the events of our marriage, I remember our wedding ceremony.

Uh, this was funny to me.

You know that little runner that they pull out and it's all nice and pretty?

People need to stop doing those at weddings because I do a lot of weddings, and something always goes wrong with the runner.

Like the people are pulling it out at the very beginning.

I'm standing there with the pastor, and they get halfway through and the runner rips in half, y'all.

So me and the pastor have to like chimmy and find it, chase the runner so we can stand on it.

I'm like, uh, there's all sorts of stuff that was happening.

My family got the memo that the wedding was at three, so they thought, oh, the wedding's at three.

We should get there.

Guess what time?

At three.

So Kia is walking down the hallway, and my mom and dad are like, hey, baby girl, you look cute as they're going to their seat on the front row.

We we were reminiscing, really thinking back about uh man when we bought our first house and uh raising our kids there.

We were thinking back to the good times, but how many of y'all know we also were thinking back to some of the hard times?

Like one of the we did a little questionnaire of like your 10-year memorial, and one of the things that I was that we asked was, what is the dumbest fight that you've had in 10 years?

And y'all, we went for a good 15 minutes on the dumb fights we've had over 10 years.

We're like, why did we lose sleep over that argue over that fight about that?

Uh, but one of the things that we also did as we were looking back is we started looking forward.

God, what are some of the things that you want to do in the next five, 10 years?

God, what are you gonna do in my life when them kids are finally out of my house and they stop eating everything in my fridge, and I can go on vacation with my wife all by myself?

Started looking forward to what God was doing.

See, this is the moment that the Israelites are in here.

They're looking back at what God has done.

And Joshua knows this.

Joshua knows that if we're not careful, how many know we are gonna forget what God did?

See, as we go through life, as we're living our Monday through Friday, going through our nine to five, dealing with our problems, we can get so used to the normal that we forget what God has done in the supernatural.

Joshua is looking here, and God is instructing him, God is saying, you need to write this stuff down so that the people can have a place to come back to, so that when the youngins look at you and say, Hey, why are these 12 stones?

It's an opportunity for you to look at them and say, Let me tell you about what God did for me and let what let me tell you about what God did for people that came before me.

See, we're gonna have baptisms this coming Sunday, and uh, when people step into the water, I love Baptism Sunday because baptisms for me are an altar to God.

It's an opportunity for me as a believer to be reminded.

It's not about how good I am, it's not about my pedigree, it's not about my resume, it's not about my accolades, it's not about my network, it's about the blood of Jesus that washes my sins away.

We gotta remember when God saved us.

Remember when God found us, you gotta remember what God did for us.

Uh, see, back in those days, you have altars that were built.

And uh here's what I want to tell you, because today I want to talk to you about being rooted in an altar.

We want to be a church that's not rooted in our preferences, that's not rooted in our pedigree, that's not rooted in our accomplishment.

We want to be a church that always keeps the position to go.

God, if it wasn't for you, if it wasn't for the blood, if it wasn't for your word, if it wasn't for your spirit, if it wasn't for you, God, I don't know where I would be.

See, as I was walking through that country club, I was reminded without the blood of Jesus, without a spirit of Jesus, we are not a church, we are just a country club.

If we're just here to gather and live for ourselves and uh play some cornhole and eat some good food and hang out every once in a while, can I tell you we are just a country club with really good music and a really decent speaker?

But God hasn't called us to be a country club.

God has called us to be the church.

God has called us to go into the dark places of our community.

God has called us to encounter his presence weekly.

God has called us to see everywhere we go that people would gain a vision for life in Christ because of him.

But for us to do that, we have to be an altar church.

And here's what I want you to know today an altar is a place, an altar is a place where I meet with God.

And if you're gonna do the thing that God's called you to, how many of you know you're not gonna do it because you're good, you're gonna do it because he's good.

You're not gonna do it because you're able, you're gonna do it because he's able.

You're not gonna make it through because you're faithful, you're gonna make it through because he is faithful.

In the Old Testament, we saw a bunch of altars.

Uh, Noah built an altar after the flood uh out of a spirit of gratitude to the Lord.

Uh Abraham built many altars everywhere he would go.

He built altars of presence, saying, God was with me in this place, and then I showed up to this place, and God, you are with me there, and I showed up.

Can I tell you how many know God isn't limited to one, two, three, one, eight, Borden Plank Road.

God does not live here, God goes with you wherever you go.

He was with Isaac, Genesis 26, 23, and 25.

And even Moses set up an altar saying, God has brought us through, God has made us a victory.

But here's what I want you to tell you know today.

Uh, can I borrow?

Can I borrow?

Can I borrow?

I need a chair.

I need a chair.

Uh, somebody toss me, don't toss a chair at me.

Some of y'all are, hey, hey now, y'all calm down.

Uh here's what the world will tell you.

The world always drives all of us to thrones.

The world is always telling you, find a place where you can have position, find a place where you can have pedigree, find a place where you can where you can lord over other people, find a place.

And in the kingdom, God is not pushing us to thrones.

God is pushing us to altars.

God is putting us in a position where we're saying, God, I need you.

God, I need your presence.

God, I need your spirit.

God, I need your power.

God, I need your strength.

God, I need your hope.

Can I tell you, if you want to impress God, you do not need to get a throne, you need to get an altar.

If you want to see God move in your life, you do not need a throne, you need to get an altar.

If you want to see God move in your school, if you want to see God move in your family, if you want to see God move in this church, we do not need a third trophy room in the back, we need altars in the front.

Because we can talk about how good we are, but can I tell you, how good we are will never change anybody, how good he is is what will change everybody.

Clyde, bless you.

Thank you for giving up your chair for the kingdom of God and for the advancement of the kingdom.

May the Lord bless you and protect you, my friend.

The altar isn't just a place, it's a it's a posture.

John, why are you talking about altars on anniversary Sunday?

This is supposed to be like a party it up Sunday.

Like, I hear we got cupcakes in the back and donuts in the back, and we got cold brew in the back.

Like we never get cold brew.

This is fancy today.

Can I tell y'all?

Uh, the reason why I wanted to share this message with you is because I believe that what God wants to do next in our church is dependent on a spirited people that say, God, not by my mind, not by my power, but by the Spirit of the Lord, I'm gonna go in.

See, some people would say, Well, John, year one was great.

Can I tell you?

Year one is just the beginning of what God wants to do.

And what God wants to do is not build a big church, not build a church of shallow people, but build a community of people who love God, love one another, and serve this community and see God move in it week in and week out.

See, in Joshua, that's where the people are about to be.

They're going to go into a place of victory and of battle for them.

See, altars are a place of remembrance.

I've been reminded a lot of this verse recently, Revelation 12 and 11.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

You know what's crazy for me about parenting?

My kids forget.

My kids forget that I'm in charge all the time.

I'm like, I don't think you understand.

Like, I am enjoying this season of life while I'm like much bigger than them.

I'm like, you will sit down.

They're like, Yes, sir.

My kids also forget that every like every single day of their life there's been food in the fridge.

And I know that's a blessing.

But some days they go and they're like, Are we gonna eat now?

And and I can judge them, but then sometimes I go to God and I go, God, are we gonna eat now?

I forget the faithfulness of God in my past.

See, the people of Israel are about to go into this place of battle, and God wants to remind them to remember who he is for a couple of reasons.

One, they're about to go into enemy territory, y'all.

Somebody say enemy territory.

See, some of us fought, man, year one was great, we've made it.

But can I tell you there are some of you that are in this room and God has brought you in and he's changed your life, and you think to yourself, we've made it, we've arrived, but I've got bad news for y'all.

The greater battle is ahead.

Because the victory that God did in you over this past year, he wants to bring that same spirit of victory to through you to your whole family, to your workplace, to wherever you go.

And how many know when there are people that are far from God, if you're trying to take ground for the kingdom, there's gonna be a battle.

And in those moments when you're struggling, in those moments when you're doubting, in those moments where you're asking questions, you need to have altar moments where you can look back and go, God, I know you were faithful back then.

And because you were faithful back then, I'm gonna trust you in the battle that's right now.

God, I know that you answered my questions when I had doubts, so I'm believing you'll answer their questions when they have doubts.

God, I know I've seen you heal these people.

So God, I don't know what you're gonna do, but I'm gonna step in faith that you're able to heal that person.

God, I didn't believe they would ever get saved, but then I showed up at their baptism service, and if they can get saved, I can believe for the rest of my family, for the rest of my community, for every addict that will be set free, that they will get saved.

We can look forward with anticipation.

But the other reason we gotta remember is because we have this bad habit as Christians: the longer we follow Jesus, the more we stop pointing people to him, the more we start pointing people to us.

Man, don't you like we can start if we're not careful going around even this community and going, Man, I I go to vision church.

I'm I'm real special.

My pastor, my pastor's better looking than your pastor.

Can I tell you it's all about Jesus?

It's all from Jesus, it's all for Jesus, it's all through Jesus, it's all because of him.

Uh, and places of remembrance, altars remind us that at the end of the day, not by my mind, not by my power, but by Jesus.

And altars also remind me that God has a future for me.

I want to tell you this today.

I here's what I want know about Jesus.

I may not be where I want to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be.

Man, sometimes you gotta look back.

Uh, this morning uh Facebook was decided to mess with my emotions, and it showed me a picture of my son from seven years ago.

And he was a little bit like vision back in the day, like just kind of getting up on his legs, trying to figure stuff out.

And uh, it's literally this video.

I wish I could, I tried to download it to get it for you guys, but it's this video of him like playing with toys above him.

He literally couldn't walk it, and I was like, that is not like the almost teenager I feel like living inside my house.

But when we look back, you forget how far you've gone until you take a second to look back.

And altars, one of the things that altars are that is important, is altars are mile markers.

See, some of us are having fights with our spouses, some of us are walking through singleness, some of us are going through financial breakthrough, and we are tired because we are in the middle.

But can I tell you the middle is better than the beginning?

And it's important for us when you're in the middle of your story, you get tired because the end feels like it's forever away.

But altars are to remind us, God, I know where you found me, and I'm grateful that you knew me.

See, Romans 6 says this we know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives.

We are no longer, somebody say no longer.

We are no longer slaves to sin.

I don't care what your issue is, if you said yes to Jesus, what whatever is facing you, you can say, I don't have to be a slave to that pattern, I don't have to be a slave to that mindset, I don't have to be bound up in this depression, I don't have to be destroyed by this pat by this habit.

Can I tell you, you can look forward and go, I have a future in Jesus.

I'm not a slave to sin.

For when we died with Christ, we were set free.

Somebody say, Set free.

We are set free from the power of sins.

And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.

See, altars are a place of remembrance.

I want to encourage you.

Uh, if you just started with Jesus, you need to remember where God found you.

John, I don't want to want to think about that.

Can I tell you?

Because sometimes here's what I know about one of the tools the enemy uses is the tool of shame.

One of the groups of people that really breaks my heart as a pastor are people that come to church for a little bit.

God saves them, redeems them, they start making some choices, and then they have a bad day.

Has anybody ever had a bad day?

If you're like, I've never had a bad day, you lying in church, you just had a bad day.

And they think, oh, because I've had a bad day or a bad experience or I messed up.

Man, I need to not chuck.

Can I tell you, if you've messed up, the first place you should try to get is the house of God.

The first place you should try to get is the presence of God.

The first thing you should try to get is around the people of God.

Well, they might judge me.

Well, you can look at them and tell them they're sinners too, saved by grace.

You can ask them where Jesus found them when they got saved.

Man, I don't know about you.

I was messed up, broke up, depressed in my mind, addicted.

Can I just tell you where God found me is not where I am today?

And I'm not where I want to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be.

Altars are places of remembrance, but altars are also places of encounter.

See, here's what I know for you to sustain the life that God has for you.

Uh here's the mistake that we can make as believers.

Here's the mistake that God is encouraging the Israelites to do is don't get so excited about who you are that you step in to fight battles that are bigger than you.

Well, John, I know I can fight the devil.

You can't fight the devil, the devil's been fighting people bigger than you his whole life.

But you know who can fight the devil?

God can fight the devil for you.

And if you're gonna have the Spirit of God in you, you need to encounter.

Somebody say encounter.

You need to encounter the presence of God.

See, I don't need a word for yesterday.

I don't need a word of grace from what God did a year ago.

How many of you know I need a now word from God?

I need to have a word for what God is helping me with.

With God, I'm struggling right now because thank you that you helped me when my child was one year old and they were not sleeping through the night.

Thank you that you helped me when they were a four-year-old and they were in preschool and they punched that kid that one time.

Thank you, God, for when they were six and they and they bit that other kid.

And I can I tell you, God, thank you that you freed me through that.

But now they're seven and they're asking questions about prayer and worship and what the Bible is.

God, I don't need a used-to-be word, I need a now word.

God, we made it 10 years as a married couple.

That's awesome.

I praise God for that.

Man, I'm glad we made it through all those battles.

But God, I know I'm not gonna make it to year 11 unless I get a word from God for now.

Man, as a church, can I tell you I'm glad for what God has done?

I'm glad for where we started, I'm glad for who we used to be.

But I also know that there are things that God wants to do now through our church that He didn't speak to us a year ago.

See, my favorite thing about church is not the planting or the growing, it's the becoming.

It's you and I together saying we're gonna be a church together.

That's gonna move to God together, that's gonna love one another together, that's gonna make a difference in our community together.

And we get that out of a place of encounter.

I've read it, I'm gonna read it again because it's good scripture.

Zechariah 4 and 6 says this not by my not by power, but my by my spirit says the Lord.

I wanna hear John, what does that look like?

Everybody, did anybody walk to church today?

Anybody walk to church today?

Anybody walk to church?

Nobody?

Okay, cool.

Uh good.

On a side note, this is completely irrelevant.

Did anybody see the horses on route one when they were coming to church today?

Okay, that was just me.

There was this, there was two people on a horse, on horses, riding down Route 1, and I was like, I think I accidentally time traveled when I was going to church.

Okay, it was okay, it wasn't just me.

Okay, praise God.

Uh I can still be your pastor because I haven't gone crazy quite yet.

Um back to the message.

Sorry.

Where was I?

Oh, here's here's here's what I want to tell you.

Uh, I don't care what kind of car you drive.

How many of you know you gotta go to the gas station?

Here's what I want to tell you today.

Here's what I want to tell you today.

This is the same about your faith.

Your car won't go far without gas, and you won't go far without God.

Your car, like, when that when I I know some of y'all, some of y'all got better prayer lives than I do.

So when that gas light comes on, you're like, like, like you start praying in tongues, you're like, Lord Jesus, should have bought a hundred, but about a Kia.

Keep that Kia going, Jesus.

Like you are praying, and I've I'm glad that you're praying.

But how many of you know at some point that gas is gonna run out?

Just like the car is designed to run on gas, you are not designed to do the amazing things that God has called you to without coming back to a place of encounter where God fills you with his presence, fills you with his power, fills you with his purpose, so that you have fuel to do what God's called you to do.

See, God, sometimes the reason the reason I have grace to put up with some people that are difficult is not because I love them, it's because I have fueled myself enough with the word and the love of God inside of me that I can walk up to you and go, I want to hit you right now, but Jesus loves you, so I'm gonna keep my mouth shut.

Some of y'all are like, I say amen, but I might have to testify in court after this.

So let's as a believer, you need to come back to places of encounter with Jesus.

I love when we worship together because there's a refreshing that comes.

There's this sense that the Spirit of God is here, there's this sense that his word is equipping us, there's a sense that he is transforming us when we get to places of encounter.

And last but not least, we need to have places.

The altar is a place of grace.

Somebody say grace.

Leviticus 17 and 11 says this for the life of the body is in its blood.

I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord.

It is the blood.

Somebody say the blood given in exchange for life that makes purification possible.

Um, so altar is a place where back in the biblical days, you didn't just come to church and uh say a prayer.

What would have to happen for the forgiveness of sins is uh a life had to be shed because the the payment for our sin is death, and so something would have to die.

But I'm grateful for the Spirit of God and the blood of Jesus because of him.

We get to walk into the presence of God, we get to be fully restored and praise God, hallelujah.

I don't have to kill any animals on a Sunday morning.

Mike, could you imagine that for guest experience?

We're having to set that up, get the cleanup team like there's a ram.

Man, uh an altar is a place of death.

See, before we get the grace of God, we have to allow our sin to die to God.

See, when I stopped at a place of an altar, here's what we can think.

We can think, man, if I show up, uh, how many know the hope of the church is that you walk out different than how you came?

I want to walk out different than how I came.

But I cannot walk out different unless I let something that God wants to die lay down and die.

The altar is a place of death.

Romans 6 says this, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift, somebody say free gift.

Free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Anybody grateful for the life we have through Jesus today?

Um today, all across America, there are dozens of churches that are celebrating their birthdays, and there are some churches that just so you know, because of your generosity, we get to partner with some other churches that are launching today.

And so today, we can give God praise for that.

And and here's here's what's happening, because they're gonna preach the gospel, they're gonna share the good news of Jesus.

Here's what's happening.

They're setting up, they're not just setting up churches, they're setting up altars where people's old lives are coming to die.

Their old bitterness, their old selfishness, their old addiction, their old fear, their old anxieties, their old separation from God, their old pride, their old, all those things are coming, and they're they're coming, and when they have an encounter with the person of Jesus who laid down his life, they can walk out going, I came in one way, but I'm gonna walk out another.

See, altars are a place of grace.

And I love the grace of Jesus because the grace of Jesus is freely offered.

But how many know it might be freely offered, but it wasn't free to him.

See, altar is also a place of exchange.

So, John, what do we do with this?

With this weird message about altars you added on um anniversary Sunday.

Well, I want to I want to encourage us in three ways today, if I can.

One is this uh we need to get in the habit of coming to the altar together.

Somebody say together.

We always say this all the time.

Church is in an event.

I got a new one for y'all.

Church is at an event, it's an altar.

You know what I love about church?

I love, I don't, I don't, uh the worship is good.

The message I pray blesses you.

The kids' ministry is crushing it.

But one of my favorite things about being at church is not what happens on the stage, it's what happens on the seats of people next to me.

Man, I'm looking around at this room, and the biggest blessing to me as uh somebody who gets to serve and get I get to I get to watch people that when they showed up to the church, they said, we never have a baby, and God's given them a baby.

I get to see people who go, we're looking at divorce lords when we walked into the church.

And now we're like, like, I'm like, y'all need to stop it, gonna like go out of the church to make out like that.

I get to watch people who go, I hadn't had a relationship with this family member for years, and now they're sitting next to each other and doing sports events together.

I get to watch prodigals come home.

I get to can I can I tell you, we need to come to the altar together because when we come together, we are reminded that what God did for somebody else, he can also do for me.

See, in Joshua, Joshua, God is setting them up to remind them, you need to you need to come to the altar so that you can remember what I did for the Moses generation.

You can you gotta remember that I I brought out the ten plagues and brought them out of Egypt so no one can make a slave of you because your God is bigger than anything that could ever enslave you.

You they can look back and go, okay, we are the people that when we were in the desert.

Anybody ever been in a desert and you feel like, man, how am I gonna pay those bills?

How am I gonna make it through those relationships?

How am I gonna take care of it?

And God took care of them and provided manna by day.

Man, they can look back and go, God was faithful.

There wasn't, there wasn't a day where he didn't take care of me.

Man, sometimes the account got real low.

But God, somehow, my stomach never became empty.

We can look back and say, God, you led them with a cloud by day and a fire by night.

And sometimes, God, I don't know what you're doing, but I know if I keep my eyes on you, you're gonna take me where I need to go.

So you need to come back to the altar together.

Here's the other thing that I know.

How many of y'all know sometimes I'm not a good enough Christian all by myself?

Sometimes I need somebody when I'm struggling, when I'm weak, when I don't have faith for the future, I need somebody to look at me and go, hey, I believe God still has a purpose for your life.

I still believe God wants to do something amazing through you.

I still believe God wants to bless you.

Can I tell you, we need to get in the habit of encouraging one another in the Lord?

If you ever want to depress your pastor, here's what you gotta do: you gotta just get church canceled.

Last week we came in and somebody had done something with the water.

It's okay, it's fine.

I just pray that the Lord makes their pillow warm on both sides for the next week or two.

But because they messed with the water, we had to cancel church.

And uh Kia was gonna preach an amazing message that we believe was gonna encourage you.

And uh, I'm preaching at another church serving my my pastor, and uh, I get the message right as I'm about to step on stage.

Because how many know the enemy has perfect timing?

So I'm all the way across town, I'm about to encourage these people, and I'm just thinking, I'm thinking about y'all because y'all always have my heart.

And I'm just thinking to myself, oh, the enemy done done messed up today.

But one of my favorite things is there's a a part of our part of our team, Jenny, texts us, she texted me and Kia, and she said, Don't you be discouraged.

And what Jenny doesn't know is I was being discouraged.

I was like, Lord, it's the week before anniversary Sunday, I've been faithful to you.

How come my Sundays get kind of canceled?

Lord, how come we don't have our own building?

And Jenny was like, just be encouraged because God is still faithful.

And she said that, and I started thinking to myself, God, last year there wasn't even a vision church.

The enemy thinks he can stop us just because he can take away one Sunday.

Watch us drop 52 on them right now.

Oh, oh, oh, you think you can cancel our church Sunday?

Watch us go to two services, watch us plant other churches, watch us start marriage ministries, watch us start financial ministries, watch us set addicts free, watch us increase our kids' ministry.

You better, you messed with the wrong church today, not because of who we are, but because of my big brother called God.

Have fun with them, devil.

Not by my mind, not by my power, but by his spirit.

We need to come to the altar together.

You need to come ready to encounter God, you need to come ready to experience the presence of God.

Your spirit needs to come and go.

Listen, I didn't come to hear from John, I came to hear from God.

Would you come to a meeting with God not prepared, not hungry, not having questions?

Come ready to meet with God.

You need to build an altar together.

You need to build an altar, hear this, for yourself.

As the man comes up to play.

You need to have places where you go back to and you go, God, I remember when.

God, I'm grateful for what you're doing now.

Uh this past Friday, uh, I think it was Thursday or Friday, but our local football team, there's some teams that there's different ministries that go in and you know, like give them food and make sure that they're doing good and pray for them and encourage the boys and all that.

This past week, um by Benny's invitation and uh Kevin got to share the word to a bunch of teenage boys.

Now, now here's here's what's crazy.

A year ago, Kevin wasn't even in church.

He was working in the school that we're meeting here.

We got a bunch of people together.

We were giving out donuts and coffee because of your generosity.

Uh, and literally, like, we were doing practice Sundays.

We didn't even have church yet.

Uh, and Kevin and Summer walked into church on Sunday morning.

We're like, We're ready for church.

And we're like, we are not ready for you.

It's still August.

Go back home.

Uh, and it it wasn't the altars of Sunday mornings that built him, it was the altars he built on his own with the Lord that blessed him.

See, the power for him to share that devotional, man.

Yeah, 100% Sundays matter, but the power for that comes when you get on your own with Jesus.

Jesus is not limited to 10 to 11:30 at 12318 Borden Plank Road.

Jesus will go with you wherever you need him to go.

So you need to build an altar for yourself.

You need to get to a place where you're going.

I love meeting with the other believers together, but I have my own prayer closet that I go into where I meet with God because I don't know about you, but I need God on Monday.

I need God on Tuesday, I need God on Wednesday, I need him on Thursday, I need him on Friday nights because my kids just gotta let out of school, so I'm gonna have them for a whole weekend.

I'm gonna need God every day.

Because there's no separation, we get to be with God.

So come to the altar together, build an altar for yourself.

But here's a third one that I think is even more special.

Some of you, God is calling you in this season to become an altar for the world.

John, what does that mean?

Well, we talked about it that altars are a place of remembrance, that when you show up to an altar, you're reminded about the goodness of God, you're reminded about the faithfulness of God, you're reminded about the grace of God.

Altars are a place of encounter, that when you get at an altar, you get a sense that there's something special happening here that isn't happening everywhere else.

And altars are a place of grace where people that are not perfect get to meet a perfect God.

And can I tell you, altars are not just a place you go to, Christian Vision Church, altars are also a place that you are called to become.

When people walk up to you and they're sharing about their brokenness and they're sharing about their hurt, you can look at them and go, Hey, I know you're struggling, but let me tell you about what God did for me.

When somebody comes and says, I'm walking through depression, I'm walking through hurt, I'm walking through difficulty, I just need some hope.

You don't have to wait for a pastor to get to them because God has sent you to be a place of encounter for a world that needs to encounter the God we know.

John, they don't even let prayer into public schools anymore.

As long as we have Christians that are willing to pray.

John, my coworkers, like they're not about the Jesus thing.

Okay, tell them, hey, I know we're not about the Jesus thing, but how about I buy you dinner after hours and I want to tell you about the God I know?

Be a place of encounter and be a place of grace.

See, Christians are often known for how judgmental and self-righteous we are, and how we think we're better than everybody.

But I I don't share the gospel by telling people, well, you need to change and you need to become like Jesus.

And I'm like, bro, you're messed up.

You will not believe.

You think you were bad, you will not believe where I was when God found me.

When God saved me, when God rescued me, when God changed me, you can be a place of grace for people.

Vision Church, would you stand to your feet today?

A couple moments we're gonna sing.

I got two last notes for you, two last notes for you.

Because we're we're gonna be a church of the altar.

If there's anybody from our prayer team that wants to come up and uh to receive anybody, if you if you have either a need or there's something going on, or you need somebody to pray for you, that's what that team is for.

Here are two more things that an altar is.

One, an altar is a place where you have the opportunity to get all of God.

How many of you need more of God in your life?

But here's the second part an altar is a place where God gets all of you.

One last joke, one last story, and then the band can sing and lead us in worship and into the presence of the most holy God.

Anybody ever get on Facebook Marketplace?

Sketchy, right?

Like, I hope I'm not getting scammed.

No, I'm not giving you my credit card information.

You don't need to know where I live.

But the the best place that they recommend if you're on Facebook Marketplace is to go to these exchange spots.

And I want to tell you, the altar is a place of exchange, it's a place where you go to lay down your burden, lay down your brokenness, lay down even some of your blessings to pick up the word of the Lord for your life.

As a church, that's what we want to be.

We want to be a church where people can come in, and it doesn't matter what they carried in, they can lay it down and pick up the goodness of God for their life.

Because He's the name that's above every day.

Can I pray for you?

Lord Jesus, we love you.

God, thank you that you've created an altar where we can come and receive the presence of God.

We can be changed by you and for you.

So, God, I pray if there's anyone under the sound of my voice that they've never said yes to Jesus.

They've never committed their lives, they've never can today be the day of their salvation.

It's not about the words that they say, it's about a choice that they're making to turn around from the old and to step into your presence.

And God, if there's some of us that are in need of remembering how good you've been, remembering how to encounter you, God, we need a fresh dose of your grace today.

May we come into the altar in Jesus' name.

Let's sing together.