Today. Today. We're celebrating five years. Celebrating
five years. Now, if you meticulously know our
history, you know that we started the first week
of April, not the second week. But how many of
you know we had plenty going on last week being
Easter that we shouldn't throw in a five -year
celebration on Easter too, right? Because it
was happening around here last week. Even more
than today. But today we're celebrating five
years. I forgot the percentage, but a lot of
church plants don't make it. I think it's about
30 % of them never make it to the five -year
mark. So we're here. Look at the person beside
you and say, we're here. And then go ahead and
tell them this, we're just getting started. We're
just getting started. This is not the end. We're
just getting started good. It took us five years
to get started good. Now, how many of you believe
it's always important to be aware of who you
are and where you're going? Who you are and where
you're going. Those are two very important things.
Now, when I was a kid, I was a preacher's kid.
Somebody say, I'm sorry. I've shared this before,
but most of you haven't heard it. When I went
to get my driver's license, when I was doing
my driving test, I did okay on the written test
where it was just, you know, multiple guests.
I did okay on that. But when I took the driving
test with a patrolman, I'm sorry, children's
church, I just get to go on and forget. All right,
back at it. When I took my driving test with
the patrolman in the car, he talked to me while
we were driving. And he says, what does your
mom do? I said, well, she's a school teacher.
He said, what does your dad do? I said, he's
a pastor. And I did not make this up. He looked
at me at the end of the driving test and he said,
normally. You made too many mistakes to get your
driver's license today. But then he said, but
you need to get out of the house. That's what
he told me. I'll never forget that. So I'm a
preacher's kid, and just about every time, when
I got my driver's license and started going out
with my friends and going out on my own, my dad
would always say this before I left. He would
say, remember who you are? Remember who you are?
Now, why would my dad say that? Because every
decision that I made, everything that I did would
reflect on more than just me, right? It would
reflect on my dad because I represented my dad.
I represented my family. It wasn't just representing
myself, right? I represented the church. Being
the preacher's kid, I represented the church.
And whether I would have been a preacher's kid
or not, I would be representing God. So my dad
would always say, Hey Dean, remember who you
are. That would be the last thing he would tell
me. Now my mom would say, Be careful. Right?
But my dad would say, Remember who you are. Before
I walked out the door. And we need to remember
who we are. Right? Every day we need to remember
who we are. If you're in Christ today, you're
a new creation. You're righteous. Not based on
your ability to perform, but based on what Jesus
did on the cross. You are right with God. And
get this, you won't be any more right with God
when you get to heaven than you are right now.
You're righteous. You're complete. You're filled.
You're well supplied. You're satisfied in Christ.
Now, if this doesn't describe you, then you're
missing out on who you could be in Christ. Because
Jesus has already made all this available to
us. Satisfied. Redeemed. Ransomed. Justified.
You're dead to sin. You're alive to God. You're
free from guilt, shame, and condemnation. You're
free from the law of sin and death. You're loved
and accepted by God. You're a gifted part of
the body of Christ. You're a gifted part. God
has gifted you to function in the body. You're
a gifted part of the body of Christ. You might
not know what that gift is. But it's not because
God's holding out on you. It's because you're
not pressing in. Gifted part of the body of Christ.
You are sanctified. You are a saint. You don't
have to wait until 40 years after you die for
somebody to say that you're a saint. The Bible
says you're a saint. You're alive unto God. You
are established. You are anointed. You are sealed.
You're an equal child of God. Don't ever look
at somebody else and say, well, you know, they're
just a better child of God than I am. We're all
equal. Now, we might not... You know, you may
be ahead of me spiritually, and I may be... head
of you spiritually, but that doesn't make us
unequal. We're equal. You're an equal child of
God. I hadn't fully figured this out yet, but
I'm seated with Christ in heavenly places and
so are you, because that's what the Bible says.
So we should live our lives from heaven. In the
earth. I mean, I could preach a whole message
over every single thing that I'm saying, and
I have. But not today. But you need to know who
you are. If we know who we are, then our life
is not going to be some kind of roller coaster
all the time. If we know who we are, and we're
standing in it, and we're established in it,
we're not going to be like, whoo! All the time.
We're seated with Christ in heavenly places.
You are God's masterpiece. And you're close to
God. Every bit of that is available to everyone
in the room if you're in Christ. And that's where
God wants you to live. Today and every day. Standing.
In that reality. Because it's a spiritual reality.
So we need to remember who we are. When we face
challenges in this fallen world. We need to remember
who we are. When I faced challenges out with
my friends. It was important for me to remember
who I was. That I'm the preacher's kid. And I
represented. My dad, my family, the church, I
represented God. I wish I could tell you that
I always remembered it. But I tell you what,
if I would have, it would have been better for
me. Hello? See, I thought when I didn't remember
it, it was better for me. But now that I'm older
and I'm looking back, it would have been better
for me in every single one of those situations
if I would have remembered who it was. So I'm
going to go ahead and extrapolate. I think that
will apply here. I'm going to go ahead and extrapolate
a little bit. I don't normally use big words
like that. But it will be better for you tomorrow
if you remember who you are in Christ. It will
be better. And it won't be as good if you don't
remember who you are. I'm sorry, but it won't
be. So we need to remember who we are. Who are
we as Elation Church? Every church has an identity.
Have you figured that out? Has anybody ever been
to a different church and every church has like
their own identity? It's kind of an identity.
There are three things that are very important
from our foundation. And some churches that I've
been to, it seems like that this is all they're
about, is fellowship. But I'm going to go ahead
and tell you, we're about fellowship. We're about
fellowship. I can't tell you how many people
have come up to me and said, this is the friendliest
place I've ever been, going to a church. I mean...
So many people have told me that recently. And
that's not just on me or Gayna or Jeffrey or
Caitlin. I mean, that's us. The church is us.
And one thing that we always need to be about
is fellowship. Now, that doesn't mean that we
are a religious social club and that's all that
we're about. But we are about fellowship. Acts
2, 42 says this. All the believers devoted themselves
to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship.
Everybody say fellowship. And to sharing in meals.
I've been in some churches, Irv, that if they
say we're going to have fellowship, it always
meant we're going to have food. But fellowship
is bigger than food. But it includes food, right?
And to fellowship and sharing in meals, including
the Lord's Supper and the prayer. Now that word
fellowship, the Greek word is koinonia. And it
means more than food. It means partnership. That's
what fellowship is. Fellowship is partnership.
It's participation. Fellowship isn't just coming
on Sunday and taking all you can Never given
anything. I'm not talking about money. I'm talking
about yourself. Partnership. Participation. And
it does mean social relationships. It does mean
that. It means connections. It means giving.
Communicating. Communication. Communion. Distribution.
And fellowship. That's what that word means.
So it's bigger than just social relationships.
It's us coming together and working together.
Right? Together. Being connected. And in koinonia,
it's very important that we find unity in koinonia.
It needs to be unity. That we're rallying together
around a single purpose. And these are our purpose
statements. Everybody say fellowship. But it's
more than fellowship. It's not just fellowship.
It's also teaching. Everybody say teaching. Now,
if you want to be real spiritual and biblical,
we could use the word discipleship. Everybody
say discipleship. Teaching. I use the word teaching
because we have people all the time that have
never been to church or they went to church a
little bit. So teaching is important. Can anyone
in the room say that you have grown spiritually
and learned a lot since you've been coming to
Elisha Church? You've been discipled. And you've
grown. Right? Matthew 28, 19. It's a commandment
of Christ. He said, go and make disciples of
all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So
the first thing is making disciples. That word
disciples is... You can pronounce it however
you want to. And here's what it means. It means
to become a pupil. To be a student. To disciple.
To enroll as a scholar. To instruct. To teach.
So that's what we're about. It's not just the
social and the partnership. It's about growing.
It's about spiritual growth. Becoming a follower
of Christ at a greater level gradually. Not just
stepping up once, but stepping up on a regular
basis. And then we're about the gospel. We're
about the gospel. Everybody say gospel. Everybody
say good news. Good news. We're about the good
news. Luke 2 .10 says this. I bring you good
news that will bring great joy to all people.
Now this is the angels talking at the birth of
Christ, announcing to the shepherds. And the
angels said, I bring you some good news. Jesus
coming is good news. His entire life was to bring
us some good news. From being born in a manger
to being resurrected from an empty tomb that
we talked about last week. The entire process,
the entire plan. was to bring us some good news.
That God loves us. God wants to be in a relationship
with us. Sin has separated us from God. But Jesus
came to die for our sin and our place so that
we could be in relationship with Him, so that
we can have eternal life. This good news brings
great joy. If you look at the original language,
it says mega great joy. Mega great joy to all
people. Good news. Evangelizo. Here's what it
means. It means to announce good news. Especially
the gospel. To evangelize. To bring. to declare,
to show good news, to preach the gospel. And
every week when we talk about the 100 ,000 people
plus the visitors that are here, we're talking
about this mission. We're talking about what
we are about. I've been in so many churches.
I know most of you probably don't believe this,
but we've been in over 800 churches. We've ministered
in over 800 churches. And so many times, people
got comfortable. And we just like our fellowship.
And we're not really interested in reaching out
to anybody else. And if anybody even tries to
come, they better not sit in my seat. I mean,
we were the visiting ministers. And somebody
moved all of Gayna's purse, and it was when Jeffrey
was little, had a diaper bag and all that kind
of stuff. Somebody moved it. I mean, what did
that person think when she stepped down off the
platform from singing and went to try to find
her stuff, and it was gone? So she was looking.
And the lady that moved it looked at her and
said, was that your stuff? That's what she sounded
like. I'm not making fun of her. I mean, was
that your stuff? And here's what she said. I
could hear from, and I'm about to preach. What
do you think I want to preach about at that point?
Was that your stuff? And then she said this,
your stuff was in my seat. So I moved it. And
she didn't even tell her where. She said, I put
it back there. If that ever happens at a Lation
church, you're going to find out what the word
church discipline is about. Somebody tells me
that. Look at the person beside you and say,
he's a nice person. But you don't want to push
me to that point. I'll still be nice. You just
won't like what I say, but I'll still be very
nice in the way I say it. I'll say it with a
smile and with all the love in my heart. So that's
who we are. Everybody say fellowship. Everybody
say teaching. Everybody say the gospel. You know,
that's what Elation Church is about. That's what
we're about. And if you don't want to be about
that, then this is probably not the place for
you. But that's what we're about. So, my dad
would ask me, he would tell me, remember who
you are. Everybody say who you are. And then
he would ask me, where are you going? Where are
you going? They wanted to know where I was. I
mean, no such thing as a cell phone. No such
thing. No. Did not exist. No way to get in touch.
No little GPS tracker, you know, like on my wallet.
None of those little trackers. I'm just leaving
my house in a car, and they would say, where
are you going? I wish I'd always told the truth.
Looking back on it, I wish I'd had a cell phone
and I wish I'd had a tracker. It would save me
a lot of heartache. Save me a lot of regrets.
Can anybody witness to what I'm talking about?
Anybody? Come on, go ahead and raise up your
hand. On up to it. On up to it. Did you ever
tell your parents you was going one place and
then you went somewhere else? So I had to tell
them where I was going. It's important to know
where you're going. Tolkien said this, not all
those who wander are lost. I mean, if you're
just walking around, I don't even know. I don't
even know how I can support that statement. He's
like a famous guy from a long time ago. Is that
a good enough explanation? Famous guy from a
long time ago. Writer. He said, not all those
who wander are lost. And the more I think about
that, the more I had to come up with my own saying.
And at one time it was on a bumper sticker on
some people's cars outside. Here's what, here's
my saying. If you're going nowhere, you've already
arrived. We need to be going somewhere. Right?
Where are you going? If I'd have told my parents
I'm not going anywhere, they'd say, well, sit
back down on the couch. If you're not going anywhere,
why do you need to get in your car? If you're
not going anywhere, you're going somewhere. I
never was brave enough to say, well, I'm just
going to go wander around. I wouldn't have been
able to leave the house if I'd have told them.
I'm just going to go wander around in my car.
See what I can get into. How many of you know
you can probably get into some things you shouldn't
get into? If you're just wandering around with
no purpose, no destination. So if you're going
nowhere, you've already arrived. I'm going to
tell you this. Where are you going? Where are
you going in life? Unless you're completely satisfied.
exactly where you are right now, you need to
be going somewhere. Because if you don't have
any plans or goals or vision, you know what?
You're just going to be exactly where you are.
Then you wake up. If there was no goals or vision
for Elation Church, we'd wake up at 10 years
and we'd just be... We probably wouldn't even
be what we are today. With no direction. Proverbs
19 .18 says this, Where there is no vision, the
people perish. Now, I always have to share the
context when I say this, because we can just
pull this completely out of context. What it's
saying is this, where there's no instruction,
where there's no law, if you look at it in context,
Where there's no law, a completely lawless society,
where there's no rules, where there's no law,
when that's not communicated, the people will
perish. Let's break down the rules, the words.
Where there's no vision. If you look up that
word vision, it means this. It means mental sight.
It means dream. It means revelation, and it also
means prophetic word. Where there's no mental
sight, where there's no dream, where there's
no revelation, where there's no prophetic word,
the people, which is a congregated unit, a tribe,
or a flock, we could even say family, the people
perish. And that word perish is like things are
bound together, but then they begin to be loosened.
It's loosened, dismissed, falls apart, where
there's no vision. I mean, how many of you could
easily think that if we lived in a lawless society,
completely lawless society, that everything would
just fall apart? Well, in context, that's what
it's saying, but when we look at these other
words, it's still saying, I believe it's still
talking about a vision for a people, or a vision
for a family, or a vision for even personally.
Remember, if you're not going somewhere, you're
already there. So if you're completely happy
where you are today, then you can just go to
sleep during the rest of this message. But I'm
going somewhere. I'm going somewhere. Does anybody
say, I'm going to go somewhere? I mean, I'm content
in God and I'm satisfied in Christ, but I'm going
somewhere. Where there's no mental sight, no
dream, no revelation, no prophetic word, the
people will fall apart. So I'm going to ask you,
has anybody ever been to like a leadership thing
where they say, all right, I want everybody to
write down your goals. Do you have a one -year
goal? What's your goal for one year? I've recently
been encouraged by Jordan. Jordan's on, I mean,
he's on Facebook and he's saying, well, write
it down every day. I start out my day by writing
out my goals. And he's encouraging other people
to do that. What are your goals? Where are you
going? Where do you look to go in one year? Does
anybody see your life? Is there a mental sight
of your life being different a year from now?
Y 'all are thinking way too hard. Just go ahead
and smile and make it easy for me. Where are
you going five years from now? Where are you
going ten years from now? Has anybody ever been
in a meeting where they had you write those things
down? Raise your hand if you've ever been in
that meeting or a meeting like that. Only half
of us. But we need to think about it. Where are
we going? Where are we going? What are your personal
goals? Then I'm going to ask you this. What are
your spiritual goals? Does anybody in the room
have a spiritual goal? Because I think it's just
as important for every single one of us to have
a spiritual goal as is to have a worldly goal
or a natural goal. What's your spiritual goal?
Listen, if you don't have a goal to share your
testimony with somebody, chances are you will
never do it. Because you will miss it when the
opportunity comes because you're not looking
for it. Because that's not a goal. If you don't
have a spiritual goal to invite somebody to come
to church, a neighbor, a co -worker, or something
like that, if you don't have a spiritual goal
to do that, chances are when the opportunity
arises, you will not do it. Because you don't
have the want to built up as a goal. Does anybody
have a goal to actually not just get the text
on Monday, but to actually read five chapters
in the New Testament every week to complete the
New Testament? Does anybody have that as a goal?
If it's not your goal, it doesn't matter how
much information you get. Because if it's not
your spiritual goal to read through the New Testament,
then you're not going to do it. You won't do
it. My pressure won't make you do it. Just make
it available. But it has to be your goal. Does
anybody have a goal to not miss a Sunday? I mean,
back in the day, man, they would give you a pin
if you came every Sunday. Anybody remember that?
If you came every week, man, you would get a
pen. And I've been in churches, in those churches
we've been in, people come to church and they
just got a big old thing with a bunch of pens.
They ain't missed a service. In probably 20 years,
had all them pens lined up. If it's not your
goal, you know. When anything else, when there's
an opportunity for anything else, it's like,
oh, church don't mean more than this. Does anybody
have any spiritual goals? If you don't have spiritual
goals, you won't wind up accomplishing them.
It has to be a goal. Those are just a few. But
do you have a spiritual goal? Do you have personal
goals? Goals are important. When we have goals,
all of a sudden we have a course and we know
where we're going. When we have goals. Philippians
3 .14 is a very amazing text. I mean, there's
a lot of amazing texts. I'm not going to say
it's my favorite or anything like that, but Philippians
3 .14. Paul knew something about goals. This
is breathed by the Spirit of God through Paul
for me and for you today. Here's what he said.
He said, I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I
press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. That means he's
going somewhere. He's pressing. Look at the person
beside you and say, he's pressing. He's pressing.
He's going somewhere. I press. That word press
means he's putting out some maximum sustainable
effort. Maximum sustainable effort. Not just
a flash here and a flash there. Everybody say
consistency. Consistency. We have to have consistency
to reach our goals. We have to have consistency
to reach our spiritual goals. There has to be
a consistency. I mean, put it this way. I can't
have a goal to get back to my high school fighting
weight of 183 pounds. I can't have a goal to
get back to 183 pounds and just say, well, that's
my goal. And then I'm not doing anything. I'm
not putting forth any effort, no sustainable
effort in any area of my life to get there. I'm
just thinking that one day, I mean, God, can't
you just zap me and make me 183 pounds? Instead
of 230 none of your business? Right? How many
of you know I've got to have some sustainable
effort in order to see that? That's not my goal,
but I was just giving you. There has to be some
effort. In our goals. And Paul says, I press.
And what's he pressing towards? He says, I press
toward the mark. Everybody say the mark. We need
to look at the mark as intermediate goals. So
if I wanted to get to 183, how many of you know
I'd have to get to 220 and 210 and 200 and 190
before... I could get to 183. Unless I go have
some kind of liposuction and just suck it all
out and tie it all up. But if I got it the easy
way, I would lose it. Unless I put forth the
maximum sustainable effort towards it. Because
when Jeffrey was born, I'd gone from where I
am now, and I was wearing 31 jeans. That's my
high school fighting weight right there, wearing
31 waist jeans. So there's got to be some intermediate
goals. Where are you going? You can't say, oh,
I want to be a millionaire in 10 years and not
have any intermediate goals in between here and
there. It's not just going to happen. It's going
to have to be some effort and some planning and
some... So what are your intermediate goals?
Do you have any? Well, if you don't have a goal,
chances are you don't have any intermediate ones.
I remember talking to Robert. It's like, I had
a goal to get to a certain number, you know.
It's like, I think we started at like 1 ,200,
didn't we? We wanted to get 1 ,200 a day at the
restaurant. And then after we hit 1 ,200, I started
praying for 1 ,500. Now their goal is only 1
,400, but I started praying with them for 1 ,500.
And the last I saw for the whole month, it was
like 1 ,800. So you know what I need to start
praying now? 2 ,000. Because there's intermediate
goals, right? We need to get to 2 ,000 a day
in order to grow the restaurant. And it's not
just... Don't just look at Robert and Alyssa
and say, well, yeah, this applies to them, but
does it really apply to me? It depends on what
your goals are. Somebody smile or something.
So what are your intermediate goals? What are
your marks? Where do you see yourself next year?
Where do you see yourself in five years? Where
do you see yourself in ten years? What are your
spiritual goals? Maybe your spiritual goal, the
first mark is just to invite somebody to church
and make sure Pastor Dean knows he needs to share
the gospel because I don't know if this person
is a Christian or not. Maybe that's your first
mark. Leading to your second mark of even sharing
your testimony with somebody. Leading to a third
mark of you actually sharing the gospel with
them and lead them to Christ before you even
bring them to church. What are your goals? Over
the last six months, we've averaged 36 and a
half people. That's why I say shake hands with
five and a half. We've averaged 36 and a half
people. But ever since we started, our goal has
been to reach 50. At least have 50 every week.
Now, some of you may not know that this is a
goal if you haven't been coming that long. Just
really want to get to have 50 every week. Every
week. Jeffrey keeps saying, well, we're going
to have to have about 70 or 80 to have 50 every
week. Last week was very encouraging to me. I
mean, we didn't have a room filled with all the
tourists and all the visitors. But last week
told me something. And I was very encouraged.
Because if the people who live here and are connected
to Elation Church would all come every Sunday,
we'd have over 50 every Sunday. So I was encouraged.
But our average over six months has been 36 and
a half. See, we've got to get to 50 before we
can get to our second mark of 100. And I've got
a friend who has been involved in planting several
churches. And he said this, he said, Dean, the
hardest number to get to is 50 every week. He
said, and then after you get 50 every week, it's
a whole lot easier to get the next 50 than it
was the first 50. That's what he told me. And
I'm crazy enough to believe it. Right? First
mark's 50. Second mark is 100. Third mark for
me should probably be 250, but I'm going to go
ahead and throw out 300 for the third mark. Go
from 100 to 300. Because what I showed you last
year at our anniversary service, that banner
out there, we printed it. It's been up for a
year now. And every time we come into worship,
we look. You know what? One day, one day, we're
going to have a place of our own. And guess what?
That's only the first mark of a place of our
own. That's not the final. One day we're going
to have a place of our own. And that room will
hold 300 people. I believe when we hit that 100
mark, it's going to be a whole lot easier to
get that building. And when we get that building,
it's going to be a whole lot easier to get to
300. But 300 is not the final. Mark? It can't
be, can it? Because there's 100 ,000 people.
The fields are wide under harvest. There's 100
,000 people who need to be in a relationship
with God through Jesus. There's 100 ,000 people
that need to be connected to a faith family.
Why could we ever be happy with 300? Oh, I'll
be happy. But I won't say we're done. And some
people get really wigged out when you start talking
about numbers. It's like, well, he's just about
numbers. I talk about this once a year or whatever.
He's just about numbers. Well, get this. Numbers
are important. Because numbers represent our
mission because our mission is people. And if
you've read your Bible lately, There were 12
disciples. There were 72 that Jesus sent out.
There was 120 at the upper room. Why did they
count them if numbers aren't important? There's
3 ,000 coming to Christ and 5 ,000 coming to
Christ. Numbers represent people. And I'm one.
I'm one. Friday morning, vacation Bible school.
I'm one of those numbers. My dad had a vision
to baptize 2 ,000 people over the life of his
ministry. He started out with that being a vision
to reach. And he made it right before he was
done and went to heaven. He made it at some interim
churches that he was at. actually made it to
that number that had been his ultimate goal and
vision for his ministry outreach. Why do we need
to have 300? Why do we need to have more than
50? Why do we need to have more than 100? This
is just... You can take this any way you want
to. 7 out of 10 people who regularly attend church,
7 out of 10 people who are in church today across
the United States go to churches who average
250 people or more. Now, 50 % of some denominations
have 50 people or less, 50 % of all the churches.
But 7 out of 10. choose to go to a church that
has 250 or more people. Why? Because it's comfortable.
I mean, you can slide in and slide out and nobody
will ever notice you or miss you. Nobody will
ask you to do anything. Nobody will ask you to
volunteer. You can just slide in and slide out
whenever you want to. When there's 50 people
in the room, everybody sees everybody. Right?
You might get asked to do something. It's just
comfortable. When there's that many people, you
can have facilities. You can have more programming.
You can offer more programming, different age
groups, different demographic groups, all those
kind of things. So, I want you to think about
this. As a church, as a body, everybody say,
we are the church. Everybody say, I'm the church.
This isn't Dean's church. This isn't the Forest's
church. Even though God called us here to start
it, it's not our church. It's our church. And
the way that we're headed is, we're going to...
Do the maximum sustainable effort to share the
gospel, to see people come to Christ, to teach
believers, the people who are here, to grow in
their faith and to walk with God. I mean, really
know God and walk with God. Not just have religion,
but have a relationship. And we're going to continue
to be a constantly growing and welcoming family.
Got to keep everybody has to play a part. where
more and more people will come up to me and say,
you know, this is the friendliest place I've
ever been. I believe we can be. I believe we
are. Habakkuk 2 .2 says this, write the vision.
Jordan's writing it every day. During this time,
in the Old Testament, you could think about it
as a stone. Writing on a tablet. Write the vision.
Make it plain on tablets. So you got to scratch.
How do you write something on stone? You got
to scratch it. Can you just scratch it one time
and write on it? Is it going to be there long?
Somebody help me out. You got to keep scratching.
Reach over and scratch the person's back. Tell
them you got to keep scratching. You got to keep
scratching. Write the vision, make it plain on
tablets. Every day. I've really been encouraged
over the last month. Every day, Jordan's like,
write it down. Let that be one of the first things
you do before you do anything else. Write it
down. Write it down. It's not just good professional
advice. That's biblical advice. Hello? Write
the vision. This was said way more, way earlier
than any business help book was ever written.
This was written. Write the vision and make it
plain on tablets that he may run who reads it.
If you don't know what we're about and where
we're going, then you can't run with us. If you're
in business, if your employees don't know who
you are and where you're going, then the employees
can't run with you. Right? If you're the head
of your family spiritually, Unless people know
who you are and where you're going, the family
can't run with it. Are you with me? If the church
don't know who we are and where we're going,
then we can't run with it together. We can't
run together. And here's the deal. Without a
vision, the people perish. Remember, it was mental
sight. It was a dream. You have to see it. How
do you see it with your mind when you can't see
it with your eyes? How do you see it? You have
to use your God -given glorified imagination.
And I want to ask you, can you see it? That's
why we put that banner up there, so that you
could see it. It would help you. But can you
see it? Right now it just has a bunch of empty
chairs, but can you see it filled? Can you see
a Saturday service and three Sunday services,
and it's just all packed? Can you see people
coming to Christ every weekend? Can you see us
even having to leave up our baptistry pool because
we're baptizing people every week? Can you see
it? Can you see it? Because it's going to take
more than just me seeing it before we can see
it. We've got to see it. We have to see it. Imagination
without truth is just fantasy. If it's not connected
to anything. And I want to tell you what I see
is connected to a promise from God. And connected
to the word of God. We have to see it. Imagination
with truth leads to hope and it leads to faith.
Hebrews 11 .1 Now faith is a substance of things
hoped for. The evidence. of things not seen.
Faith is the substance of the things hoped for.
Remember hope? Y 'all remember what the definition
for hope is? Have confidence. Because it's founded
on something, it's established on something that
God has said, or God's Word, or the Holy Spirit
has spoken, And now because you've heard, you
have confidence even before you see it. Faith
is a substance of things hoped for. And you can
go ahead and get happy about it. We have to see
it with our imagination. We have to see it through
hope. We have to see it through faith before
we will see it reality. All those things have
to happen. And I'm not just talking about the
church, and I'm not just talking about the building,
I'm talking about every area of your life. Your
family, your business. You have to see it. You
have to see it first. In your imagination and
hope and faith before you're going to see it.
Now, one thing I always said, even before we
ever planted this church, I said, you know, I've
talked again to Jeffrey and Caitlin about it.
I said, you know, when we plant a church, one
of the big things is I don't want our church
just to be local focused exclusively. I want
us to be world focused. And I've said a long
time, years and years before we ever came here,
that I believe our church, would come to a point
where the sun never sets on the ministry of our
church. Now, if you're here on a regular Sunday
and there's 36 and a half people, you're like,
how's that going? I still see one day that we
will actually strategically plant churches around
the world and we'll support pastors and build
buildings. We don't even have our own building
yet. But I think we're going to build at least
four churches strategically around the world
where the sun will never set on our ministry,
on our church. Through technology, I don't know
what has happened. Did anybody see the ad that
we did on Monday? It's just a targeted ad. I
didn't send it. It's not even a post. It's just
an ad. And the ad says this. It says, How can
a church meeting in a gymnasium in Davenport,
Florida, reach 46 countries around the world
and 47 states? That was Monday. Since Monday,
Jeffrey and I have had to update this artwork
three times. I don't even know what's happening.
I don't know why it's happening. Other than,
I've been praying for open doors. Everybody say
open doors. I've been praying for open doors,
and not just here in our community, but open
doors to the world. I've been praying for open
doors, and guess what's happened? Just since
Monday, I mean, like two weeks ago, it was like
36 countries. On Monday, it was 46 countries,
or 43 countries. And now, this isn't even correct,
and we did this last night. I mean, I've never
met people from these places. But they're listening,
they're downloading the podcast, and this is
certified. This is not just, if you just click
on it, it shows up. No, it's a certified download
through a third party, not even the people that
we do our podcasts through. Certified downloads.
There's 47 states in the United States, even
though Fawn, does everybody know Buffy's friend
Fawn? She said her son listened to it in Alaska
because we're missing Alaska, Wyoming, and Washington.
But it didn't show up, so it's not as certified.
I'm not putting anything up here that's not certified.
My sister listened to my podcast in Turkey, but
Turkey's not on the list. These are just the
certified downloads. 47 states in the United
States, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas,
Bahrain. I didn't even know where a lot of these
places were. I had to look them up. Bangladesh,
Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Canada,
Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Egypt, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala,
Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Italy,
Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon. Malaysia, Mexico,
Morocco, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan
has blown up this past week. Philippines, Romania,
Russia, Rwanda, Scotland, Senegal, Singapore,
South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tanzania,
Tunisia, United Arab Emirates. Uruguay, Uzbekistan,
Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, and there's one that
we didn't get the words on there, and then Paraguay
came up this morning when I looked. It was Paraguay.
I had to look at where it was. It's kind of down
here, you know, in between Brazil and, I don't
know, near Uruguay. Yeah, Paraguay. Uruguay.
They must have used to been friends. I don't
know. But anyway. I had to look them up. I had
to look up some of them. But from right here.
See, you can, from this free throw line, you
can get anywhere in the world. And we're a part
of that. You're a part of that. I'm just blown
away. And then the picture of the building. It's
who we are. It's where we're going. You need
to see it. So I've tried to make some pictures
so you can see it. But we need to see it. But
you also need to see 50 people in these seats
every Sunday. You need to see 100 people. You
need to see 300 people. You need to see it. And
we all need to have marks towards getting there.
We don't see it like I see being 183 pounds in
six months when I don't plan on doing anything
about it. Hallelujah. I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling. So we have
intermediate marks, but the prize is the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus, and that's different
for every single person in this room, but it's
together corporately, but it's your business.
There's different high callings that God gives
each one of us high callings for our families,
high callings for the church, for each church
in this area. But we've got marks to get there.
But the high calling is when the vision is fulfilled.
And I don't see my high calling being fulfilled
until 1 ,900 people are worshiping God. I don't
care if it's in one building or... or multiple
buildings, to 1 ,900 people being at Galatian
Church on a regular basis. That's my high calling,
that I've worked out with God, that He's laid
on my heart. And you might say, you're a fool.
I don't care if you call me a fool or not. That's
where this bus is going. So that's a high calling,
is when the mission is accomplished. So again,
where are you going? Look at the person beside
you and say, where are you going? Where are you
going? And what are you doing to get there? What
are you doing to get there? What are your goals?
What are your spiritual goals? I encourage everybody
in the house to have some spiritual goals, not
just personal goals, but have some spiritual
goals. What are they? And then what are you going
to do about it? What are the steps that you're
going to take to accomplish those goals? Because
it's not just having a goal. It's pressing toward
the mark that's leading you to the goals. Let's
pray. God, thank you for today. Thank you for
your word. Thank you for what you're doing and
what you have done. Thank you for what's ahead.
And we pause to say thank you for where you've
brought us so far. Oh, I can remember the days.
God, if we could just have more than 12. It'd
be amazing. God, if we could just have 20, it'd
be amazing. God, if we could ever hit 30, boy,
that would just be... And we thank you. Because
it's been you. It's been you. So we pause to
say thank you for where we've come from. to where
we are today. God, we thank you that people are
saying we're the most friendly place they've
ever been. God, we thank you for that. Thank
you for working in us and through us. God, we
thank you for where we're going. In Jesus' name,
amen. This online worship experience was brought
to you by the friends and partners of Eulation
Church.