1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 It's wonderful to have her as a guest today. 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:06,400 As we think about going toward the promised land, I think about the journey that God has 3 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:07,920 called us to be about. 4 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:16,600 Dave, I cannot believe it's been more than two and a half years since you and I connected 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:21,560 as friends a long time, but we connected in a different level. 6 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:26,440 And that was a discussion regarding the possibility of bringing our two ministries together. 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:28,760 You were over there on that side of the valley. 8 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,200 I was over here on this side of the valley. 9 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:38,000 And we began to dream about what would happen if God would bring together these two bodies 10 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:42,440 of believers that we're a part of. 11 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:44,520 God began to do something in our hearts. 12 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:52,680 And over the course of a number of months, and then a year, and then two years, the churches 13 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:57,440 came together and we saw Venture Christian Church birthed. 14 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:06,460 And a year ago today, we began to worship together as one congregation in Jesus Christ. 15 00:01:06,460 --> 00:01:08,080 That is God's vision. 16 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,200 And today we say happy birthday. 17 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:11,520 Yeah, amen. 18 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:12,520 Happy birthday to you. 19 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:13,520 Happy birthday. 20 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:14,520 You bet. 21 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:18,560 And so we've come together. 22 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,980 And inside your worship folder today, you're going to find the little blue sheet, which 23 00:01:22,980 --> 00:01:24,920 we normally have our sermon outlines. 24 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:29,720 But today we're doing it just a little differently because this is going to be a dialogue sermon. 25 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,600 In fact, it's rather spontaneous. 26 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:36,000 We have some things we know we want to talk about, but I don't know what he's going to 27 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:37,720 say or do. 28 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,040 And he doesn't know what I'm going to say. 29 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:41,040 No surprises here. 30 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,680 No surprises here like last night, right? 31 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:50,320 I want you to take a look at that because Venture's vision, the vision that gave us 32 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:52,000 birth is right here. 33 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:58,800 And we believe with all of our hearts that this is God's vision for us as a congregation. 34 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,040 We have been on a journey. 35 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,200 God has said, step your feet into the water. 36 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,480 I'll part it. 37 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:09,000 God has said to us, I have a land for you to possess. 38 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:14,400 And we have said by God's grace and goodness, yes, Lord, we will go toward that promised 39 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:15,400 land. 40 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,760 And this is the vision God has given us. 41 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:20,800 I wish I had time to read all of this. 42 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:25,240 I don't, but I do want to point out to you the paragraph that says, knowing Christ and 43 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:34,480 making him known, loving God and loving others, growing into a real community of heaven on 44 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,160 earth, a part of God's kingdom. 45 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:42,640 That's something that matters. 46 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:47,880 Everybody wants to be a part of something that matters. 47 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:54,720 We believe with all of our hearts that what we're about here matters and it matters forever. 48 00:02:54,720 --> 00:03:02,760 Now as Pastor David and I have thought about this vision, we've had a dream ourselves. 49 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:04,640 We call it our pastoral dream. 50 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:10,400 And on the back, on the other side, you'll find that the Venture's vision actually runs 51 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:11,400 over into the back page. 52 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:17,680 But then you'll notice a line that says, a pastoral dream for Venture. 53 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:23,440 We want to share with you that dream this morning and some implications of it. 54 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:26,640 Pastor Dave is going to talk about that, but Dave, you know this last year has been a year 55 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:30,400 of rather unusual focus, hasn't it? 56 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:31,400 Absolutely. 57 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:37,760 Well, as Gail and I talked about the message, we understood that for this last year, we've 58 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,080 had a focus. 59 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:42,600 Now how many of you have ever built church buildings before? 60 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:44,520 Can I see your hand? 61 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:50,480 Well, if you have, you know that in building church buildings can sink the church because 62 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:54,640 there can be tremendous conflict there as well as financial responsibility. 63 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,920 But quite often, it sinks the pastor. 64 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:03,640 It is not unusual that as a pastor gets into some type of building program within a few 65 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:08,480 months or even during the building or the building itself, they resign and go someplace 66 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:09,480 else. 67 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:11,240 I've seen that over and over again. 68 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:16,280 The other thing that we have known is that as we have studied mergers, we understand 69 00:04:16,280 --> 00:04:21,680 that the majority of churches who work at merging don't make it. 70 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,480 And the congregation can sink or particularly the pastorate can sink. 71 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,560 Matter of fact, I knew of another church right here in town, two pastors were going to merge, 72 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:34,000 some things didn't go right, and neither one of them are in the positions they had before. 73 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:35,880 So what are we saying? 74 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,200 This last year, we've had a focus. 75 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:44,040 And it's been a tremendous focus to do two things that one by themselves could have drowned 76 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:45,320 us. 77 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:51,360 Remodel a building and get it all done and to merge a congregation. 78 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,680 And one of the things that we're about saying today is that that focus now is going to shift 79 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,960 to the task that God has called us to. 80 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,280 Now what's the task that God has called us to? 81 00:05:01,280 --> 00:05:05,920 Well, if you go over to Acts chapter 6, it says that when the apostles saw all the things 82 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:10,440 growing in the church and all the things that needed to be done, they called the whole congregation 83 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,360 together, made sure that some deacons were selected to take care of the things that the 84 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:15,880 church needed to have done. 85 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:20,880 But the job of the apostle was to minister in the word of God and for prayer. 86 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:26,840 And so we want to say to you, for this whole last year, we have been focusing on merger 87 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:29,440 and on building. 88 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:31,320 It's now time for us to get back. 89 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:32,320 Hallelujah. 90 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:33,320 To our focus. 91 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:37,800 Yeah, I got to tell you, God didn't call me in the ministry, didn't call Galen into the 92 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:41,360 ministry to be a contractor. 93 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:44,400 I didn't call us to sit down in all kinds of business meetings and take care of every 94 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,360 finance thing in the world. 95 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:52,240 Didn't call us just to merge churches, but to be about the kingdom's business and the 96 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:57,400 kingdom's business always involves people. 97 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:03,040 And so there's a focus shift coming into our life because God has blessed us and a merger 98 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:04,480 has come together. 99 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:07,920 We're in this building now for our second weekend. 100 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:12,880 And now we're kind of excited to get back to the focus that we're talking about. 101 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,880 People and Jesus, the word of God and prayer. 102 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:21,440 And you need to know that we're excited about getting back into that area. 103 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:25,240 Listen, there's a pastoral dream for venture that comes our way. 104 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:30,360 If you want to pull out this little blue sheet, let me encourage you to do that. 105 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:36,080 Now, let me ask you, as you read the Bible, how many of you remember there are Jewish 106 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:38,720 believers and what's the other group called? 107 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:40,680 What kind of believers? 108 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:41,800 Gentile believers? 109 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:46,520 How many of you know that they had different food habits? 110 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:50,800 Can you imagine like the picnic that we're having today, the Jewish believers all bringing 111 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:58,720 their kosher food and the Gentile believers bringing their pickles, pig feet? 112 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:02,760 Can you imagine what kind of consternation that would have caused within the life of the 113 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:03,760 congregation? 114 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,400 Well, that's kind of what's happened to us over this last year. 115 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:10,280 We've come from a similar but yet different culture. 116 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,440 God is always about blending His family together. 117 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:15,440 And that's what we've experienced. 118 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:16,840 So where do we go now? 119 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:21,680 Well, if you take a look under a pastoral dream for venture, it says, our shared dream 120 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:29,280 for venture Christian is that of a church known as God-centered, purpose-driven, people 121 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:30,760 empowered. 122 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:33,840 Everybody has a right to minister as the children of God. 123 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:42,320 It is a congregation full of life and exciting to experience with a place for all ages. 124 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,080 I don't know if you know or not, we've got some great things going. 125 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:48,600 We have 80 young people coming to our college group now. 126 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:50,000 Some just tremendous things. 127 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:54,400 We've got all kinds of people, young people in our children's program, a place for all 128 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:55,400 ages. 129 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:56,400 Now, you've got to grab this. 130 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:57,640 We're not talking about a small church. 131 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:02,400 It is both numerically large and spiritually deep. 132 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:11,040 Its methodology is fresh and innovative, respectful of tradition, but not bound by it because 133 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,640 we live in a changing culture. 134 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:17,480 Don't change the word, but sometimes you change your style. 135 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,960 And openly trust God for supernatural results. 136 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:21,960 What are we saying here? 137 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:26,120 We're saying unless God shows up, we've just wasted our time. 138 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:32,200 Unless God comes to us in the midst of our worship and our prayer and our study, there 139 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:38,440 isn't any transformation within us individually or collectively, and we invite the supernatural 140 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:43,880 nature of God to show up and to bring results in the midst of what we're doing. 141 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:44,880 It is a church. 142 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:48,600 It is characterized as a community of joy. 143 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:53,000 We'll say some more about that in a moment, but notice that the dream continues with a 144 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:54,480 very significant sentence. 145 00:08:54,480 --> 00:09:01,960 It says, venture is renowned for its integrity, reflecting its highest priority, which is 146 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:10,800 to glorify God by bringing his wonderful life and message of grace to others by serving 147 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:14,040 them in the name of Jesus Christ. 148 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:19,720 Our mission is to serve others, to love them in the name of Jesus Christ, and in doing 149 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:21,360 that to glorify God. 150 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:22,360 Yeah, amen. 151 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:24,360 Guess that next one. 152 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:27,200 Let me ask you something. 153 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:29,840 Have you ever known some ugly, attractive people? 154 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,520 You know what I'm talking about. 155 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,100 There's something compelling about these people. 156 00:09:36,100 --> 00:09:39,280 You want to be with them, but as you looked on the outside, they're not the most attractive 157 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:41,120 people in the world. 158 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:43,660 Now we're talking about an inward attraction here. 159 00:09:43,660 --> 00:09:49,800 We're talking about a church that is attractive with compelling worship, powerful teaching, 160 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:57,320 and real relationships that equip people to live extraordinary lives of God-honoring purpose. 161 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:05,560 As God's forever family, it cares for the hurting, restores the fallen, embraces the 162 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:08,160 lonely, and offer hopes to the desperate. 163 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:12,600 And I have to tell you, after last night's service, one of our key leaders in recovery 164 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,840 ministry grabbed me and said, do you know why I'm doing this? 165 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:23,400 And then began to share with me what he sees taking place in the heart of the desperate, 166 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:29,680 those who have been downfallen and lonely as he cooks for them and shares with them. 167 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:35,000 And a community has been made out of those who have had some desperate struggles in the 168 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,280 midst of their life. 169 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:42,920 He told me that, and he wasn't boasting in this, he said he had put in 400 hours this 170 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:43,920 last year. 171 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:44,920 Isn't that great? 172 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:51,400 In cooking primarily for CR and their Friday evening events. 173 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:55,440 I love those phrases in that last paragraph. 174 00:10:55,440 --> 00:11:01,880 That closing sentence captures so much of our passion for serving others. 175 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:07,600 So we ask the question, does this church, this kind of church, exist? 176 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:10,520 Frankly, not yet. 177 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:11,680 Not perfectly. 178 00:11:11,680 --> 00:11:12,820 Not here. 179 00:11:12,820 --> 00:11:14,720 Not anywhere. 180 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:22,080 But the dream is becoming a reality because God is at work in the people of Venture Christian 181 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:23,080 Church. 182 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,000 Do you believe that? 183 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,060 Is God at work in our midst? 184 00:11:27,060 --> 00:11:29,200 Is he making us this kind of a church? 185 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:30,840 That is our dream. 186 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:33,520 And I know that all of you share that dream with us. 187 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:39,960 Our aim is real people who have real stories that they're willing to share honestly and 188 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:44,520 transparently and who form together real community. 189 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:51,560 And our question is, will you share the dream and its implications with us? 190 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:56,360 We want to talk about some of those implications this morning because they really begin to 191 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,580 flesh out this dream. 192 00:11:58,580 --> 00:12:05,040 The first implication is this, that we dream of a church with dynamic worship services 193 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:14,440 that no one will want to miss and a congregational life that is God-filled, attractive, and life-changing. 194 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:18,000 We have just come together in this beautiful new worship center. 195 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,440 And it's comfortable and it's beautiful to the eye. 196 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:21,440 It's pleasing. 197 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:24,400 And I think those things are pleasing to God. 198 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:28,760 He's given us wonderful technology that we can use. 199 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,560 But you know something? 200 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:36,040 Powerful worship is not about any of these things. 201 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:41,360 Powerful worship is about experiencing God together. 202 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,780 It's about being a God-filled people. 203 00:12:44,780 --> 00:12:47,360 That's what powerful worship is about. 204 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:51,920 And therefore because our congregational life, and that means us individually and as we come 205 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:58,960 together because we are God-filled, because our lives are attractive, and because our 206 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:06,160 lives are changing, being transformed by the power of God, when we come together that worship 207 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:08,400 is going to be powerful. 208 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:16,840 And the result of that is when people come here onto this campus and there are guests 209 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:22,120 and they visit with us, as they will on October 4th and 5th in a big way we trust, on our 210 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:24,320 grand opening weekend. 211 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,600 As they come here, they're going to sense God is here. 212 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,460 Is that a dream you share? 213 00:13:31,460 --> 00:13:34,520 We want people to know that God is at work here. 214 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:42,440 And what He's doing is not because of the things, but it's because of what He desires 215 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:48,640 to do in the lives of people to change us all to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. 216 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:55,000 We want to see our congregational life more infused by prayer. 217 00:13:55,000 --> 00:14:00,280 One of the dreams I have in this coming year is that we will see prayer begin to emerge 218 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,780 in new ways in our congregation. 219 00:14:03,780 --> 00:14:08,560 And that as we begin to express our worship and our trust in God through prayer, then 220 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:12,960 God is going to begin parting those waters and doing those extraordinary things to enable 221 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:17,640 us to possess the land. 222 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:23,120 I think most of you recognize it because you were here when we did it. 223 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:32,920 But underneath your feet and on the wall surrounding you are the scriptures and the prayers that 224 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:38,680 we wrote before the carpet went down and for all the walls were painted. 225 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:44,680 We are surrounded by God words and by prayers that we've offered to Him to make this a place 226 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,280 to His glory and to His honor. 227 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:49,760 Listen, that really begins to happen. 228 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:54,640 What Galen was talking about is that life transformation begins to come to us, not just 229 00:14:54,640 --> 00:15:00,320 the knowledge of a word, not just knowing about Jesus, but becoming Christ followers 230 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,600 in such a way that Jesus is revealed within us. 231 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,680 By the way, as Galen and I have talked about this, we're so excited about you. 232 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:10,200 You guys have done such a great job. 233 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,760 And this is all part of the celebration that we're having today. 234 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:18,280 But I don't know about you, but I played some golf this last week and it was a thing where 235 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,000 the four of us were against all the other foursomes. 236 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:22,760 It was what they call a scramble. 237 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,880 And when we got on the green, which was good for us, and when we were able to sink the 238 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:31,040 putt, we all kind of rejoiced together, so why don't you just turn around and give some 239 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:34,280 high fives to some folks and say, you've done good. 240 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:38,240 Just give a high five to someone around and say, you've done all right. 241 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:39,240 Hey, Galen, I'll be there. 242 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:40,240 You've done good, man. 243 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:41,240 This is great stuff. 244 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:46,600 Because I got to tell you, you've done a great job. 245 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:51,620 Listen, we know the difference between a congregation that's responsive and willing and ready to 246 00:15:51,620 --> 00:15:55,680 go somewhere with God and the transformation that comes with Jesus Christ. 247 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:57,880 And we know when that's not happening. 248 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:01,560 And when that's not happening, you got dead church and we don't have dead church. 249 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:03,360 I mean, God's just doing some great things. 250 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:05,720 I want you to take a look at the next thing that we have here. 251 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:06,720 I like this. 252 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:08,540 Galen said this one was mine. 253 00:16:08,540 --> 00:16:14,240 We dream of a church where holiness and joy, love and laughter abound. 254 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:15,240 Now what does that mean? 255 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:16,240 What does that mean? 256 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:20,720 Well, the first of it says this, we expect you to behave yourselves. 257 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:25,600 Can I put it any better than that? 258 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:30,040 You know, the kids begin to leave home and they go out the door and they go to school 259 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,040 and you kind of say, don't embarrass us. 260 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:36,240 Or sometimes the kids say to the parents, my kids say to me, Dad, we're going out to 261 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,520 eat, don't embarrass us. 262 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,840 Because I'll talk to the waiter or whoever like they're a long lost friend. 263 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:43,480 You know, we'll do things. 264 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:48,240 I remember my dad, remember those days when somebody else filled your gas tank? 265 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:49,920 Do you remember that? 266 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:54,120 I remember being in the car with my dad and we pulled up to the service station and dad 267 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,480 would start talking to the attendant like he had known him forever. 268 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:01,080 And that was all right when I was five years old, but when I was 15, it made me want to 269 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:02,840 kind of crawl underneath the dashboard. 270 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,080 Dad, you don't even really know this guy and you're talking to him like this. 271 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:08,880 I had to learn that's just who my dad was. 272 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,320 But listen, people say, well, we go to church here, but people don't know we go to church 273 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:13,320 here. 274 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:14,320 Oh yes, they do. 275 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:15,320 Oh yes, they do. 276 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,760 Occasionally I'll have somebody walk up to me and they'll point to somebody over there 277 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:21,160 and they say, do they come to church here? 278 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:25,280 And the way they ask the question, like they're surprised. 279 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,560 We know that people see us within the midst of the community. 280 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:33,280 Somebody said to me, pastor, how come you don't have any Jesus bumper sticker on your 281 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:34,280 car? 282 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:41,640 Well, because sometimes I don't want to embarrass Jesus. 283 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,760 You cut somebody off in traffic or something, you got that Jesus little thing on your thing, 284 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:47,240 what in the world's going on? 285 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:49,680 Listen, behave yourself in the midst of the community. 286 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:53,760 In the midst of that, listen to what we're saying here, is that we want to be a joyful 287 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:54,760 community. 288 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,720 Now, part of that joyfulness is expressed in the fact that we have laughter here. 289 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:00,560 Now, what are we saying about laughter? 290 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:06,880 Well, what Gail and I, whatever time that Gail and I have here, we want to promise you, 291 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:13,360 we are still going to keep sharing with you the same bad jokes. 292 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:14,360 And maybe some new ones. 293 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:16,360 And maybe some new ones that are bad. 294 00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:17,360 Whatever. 295 00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:20,280 I mean, just so there can be a midst of joy and laughter. 296 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:23,320 By the way, Gail, happy anniversary. 297 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:25,320 Oh, you're so thoughtful. 298 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:28,480 Now, I want you to see this. 299 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:29,480 I need to open this up? 300 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:30,480 You need to open it up. 301 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:37,520 I want you to, you know, what does it say? 302 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:38,520 You did it. 303 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:41,520 Put it up close. 304 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:49,040 And you did it big time. 305 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:52,520 Little rap going on here. 306 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:57,120 Now, listen, I expected the next service where you'd be able to sing that and to do some 307 00:18:57,120 --> 00:18:58,120 stuff here. 308 00:18:58,120 --> 00:18:59,120 I'm really touched. 309 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:03,120 You go this way or this way? 310 00:19:03,120 --> 00:19:06,120 I'll go one way, you go the other. 311 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:09,120 We'll see what happens. 312 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:10,120 We'll stir up something. 313 00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:16,000 Listen, we believe that coming into the presence of God is a joyful experience. 314 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,840 Now, how many of you are 60 years old and older? 315 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:20,840 That's a good part of this. 316 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:24,120 How many of you remember going to church when you were younger, particularly you guys, where 317 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:27,160 you had to wear those narrow ties and those tab collars? 318 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:28,960 Do you remember that? 319 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:32,160 And if you didn't dress up with that, that looked like you were half choked to death, 320 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:33,160 you couldn't go to church. 321 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:35,240 Do you remember that? 322 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:38,120 Your blood supply was being cut off to your head. 323 00:19:38,120 --> 00:19:43,520 As a teenager, I look back and say, how didn't we pass out during the middle of service? 324 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:48,100 There was kind of a thought that said, if you didn't look like you had been pickled 325 00:19:48,100 --> 00:19:52,560 in some type of juice and frowned when you went to church, you weren't serious enough. 326 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:57,960 But I got to tell you, something happened in the Jesus revolution here in the United 327 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:03,320 States where all of a sudden, to me, the joy of Jesus came back into the church. 328 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:08,960 So we can be very, very serious about our faith, but at the same time, we can rejoice 329 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:11,160 in him and celebrate in him. 330 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:13,360 Now, Jesus kind of said it this way. 331 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:19,200 He said, everybody will know that you are my disciples by the way that you love one 332 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,720 another. 333 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:23,960 Our fellowship is precious to us. 334 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:29,680 It is in the midst of the fellowship, which the love of God has revealed that takes us 335 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:35,320 all the way to heaven and we begin to enjoy each other here. 336 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:41,360 Because I have to tell you, you are not just my here and now brother and sister. 337 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:45,240 You are my forever brother and sister. 338 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:51,840 In the meals that we share together, like at the picnic today, we'll just go on forever 339 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:54,600 and ever and ever. 340 00:20:54,600 --> 00:21:02,320 For we are loved in Christ Jesus and he has given us to each other and our love is a forever 341 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:03,320 love. 342 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:04,320 Can you say amen to that? 343 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,320 We want a church like that. 344 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:08,320 Amen. 345 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:11,440 How many of you believe that God is full of joy? 346 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:12,440 Do you believe that? 347 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:14,640 How many of you believe that God is holy? 348 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,080 Yeah, God is both, isn't he? 349 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:23,120 Somehow we get in our minds that holiness and joy don't work together. 350 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:24,120 But they do. 351 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:26,280 They are mutually exclusive. 352 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:28,480 Holiness produces joy. 353 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:33,600 And our heavenly father said, you be holy because what? 354 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:34,600 I'm holy. 355 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:35,600 Because I'm holy. 356 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:36,600 That's right. 357 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:38,600 And the joy that he produces in our life is deep. 358 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:39,600 It's not flippant. 359 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:40,600 It's not superficial. 360 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:50,080 It's a deep, abiding delight in God and what he's doing in our lives. 361 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,460 Well the dream continues as we think about another important concept. 362 00:21:53,460 --> 00:22:00,120 And that is we dream of a church in which Christ followers are growing towards spiritual 363 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:01,120 maturity. 364 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:05,820 Notice that it says towards spiritual maturity because it's difficult for us to ever say 365 00:22:05,820 --> 00:22:07,880 we really arrive, isn't it? 366 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:13,720 Now if you have arrived at complete, full spiritual maturity and you are perfect, please 367 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:18,720 come up afterward and share your secret with me because I need to learn that. 368 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:23,000 I'm still growing towards spiritual maturity. 369 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:27,760 And we see a church where we as the people of God are growing. 370 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:35,640 We've been born into God's family and now we're growing up and deeper in our faith. 371 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:42,800 This happens in a process that Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter 4. 372 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,800 He says that God gives different spiritual gifts to a church. 373 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,080 Apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers and evangelists. 374 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:57,120 And he says, and he does this to prepare God's people for works of service. 375 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:00,320 You know we're all ministers, aren't we? 376 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,440 We're not just the ministers of the church. 377 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,040 The staff is not the ministers of the church. 378 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,160 We have that title but we're all ministers. 379 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:10,880 We're all to be doing the works of ministry. 380 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:17,800 And he says that God wants us in our role to prepare all of us to do the works of service 381 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:26,440 so that the body of Christ, that is the church, may be built up until we all reach unity in 382 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:32,560 the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the 383 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:34,760 whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 384 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:42,000 In other words, that we become fully developed and like Jesus in the way that we live our 385 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:43,000 lives. 386 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:52,200 Then, when that happens, then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves 387 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:58,520 and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness 388 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,680 of men in their deceitful scheming. 389 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:08,120 You all saw pictures of that terrible hurricane that struck Texas this week and how the winds 390 00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:10,160 blew and the waves came in. 391 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:12,000 And we live in a world like that, folks. 392 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,160 There are assaults against us as people who are made in the image of God. 393 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:21,800 There are assaults against us as the people of God who are walking with God made all the 394 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:22,800 time. 395 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:26,600 What we believe is under assault in our culture. 396 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:33,120 He says if we want to avoid being tossed back and forth, then we need to grow up to spiritual 397 00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:34,120 maturity. 398 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:40,240 He says, speak the truth in love and we will in all things grow up into Him who is the 399 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,840 head that is Christ. 400 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:49,680 And so we dream of a church that is in process, a church that is growing, pressing on the 401 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,800 upward way as we used to sing. 402 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:57,680 You notice that the evidence of spiritual maturity in this text is at least twofold. 403 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:02,800 There's unity and then there's stability. 404 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:04,320 Unity. 405 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:08,600 This has not been an easy process, we know, as we've come together. 406 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:15,280 And some of you emotionally are still kind of caught in that process of coming together 407 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:17,200 as one body. 408 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:22,000 What we want to say to you is that today as we celebrate this anniversary, it's time to 409 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:30,000 recognize that this is God's calling in our lives and to press on toward unity. 410 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:34,720 To put aside whatever differences there may be. 411 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,720 To forgive one another if that's what is required. 412 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,440 And then to press on to become one. 413 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:47,840 Paul says in Romans chapter 15 that we are to accept one another in Jesus Christ. 414 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,940 And there he's talking about the Jew and the Gentile that Dave was talking about earlier 415 00:25:51,940 --> 00:25:54,280 with their vast differences. 416 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:57,800 And Paul says, hey, get over it. 417 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:02,120 You are in Jesus Christ, now accept one another. 418 00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:03,760 Dave and I are very different. 419 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,800 That's no surprise to any of you. 420 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,080 We're different in style, we're different in personality. 421 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,560 But you know what? 422 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:14,800 We're unified in the purpose of God in this place. 423 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:16,400 You need to know that. 424 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:22,000 We're on the same page in fulfilling God's vision for this place. 425 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,240 That doesn't mean we're going to agree on everything and there are times we don't agree 426 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:26,480 on things. 427 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:30,680 But we work through that and press on toward the purpose of God. 428 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:32,000 Paul says accept one another. 429 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:36,440 So spiritual maturity means that we grow into unity. 430 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:41,760 And this next year I pray with all of my heart that that is a focus for all of us. 431 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:47,280 That we focus on what God is calling us to be in Christ Jesus and we accept one another. 432 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:55,860 And he says along with unity is stability. 433 00:26:55,860 --> 00:26:58,000 Spiritual maturity means I become stable. 434 00:26:58,000 --> 00:26:59,440 I'm not tossed around. 435 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:03,000 I don't get thrown back and forth by the things that hit me. 436 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:04,840 By the things I hear. 437 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:08,600 By the cunning and crafty scheming of men. 438 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,560 Rather I am growing stable in Christ Jesus. 439 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:13,440 I'm growing up into him. 440 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,920 So we dream of a church that's growing toward spiritual maturity. 441 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:22,720 And this happens by a lot of tools in our lives including being here like this, spending 442 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,640 time with God in prayer, but also in connectedness. 443 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:32,000 And you need to know how important that is, that we be connected. 444 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:37,120 We rejoice in what God is doing in the mid-sized groups of our church. 445 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:43,080 We have seen growth in the terms of numbers of groups and in the groups themselves. 446 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:48,720 We have one group, the one I call Horizons a while ago. 447 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:49,720 Coi Inia. 448 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,720 I don't know why I can't get that in my mind. 449 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,600 Coi Inia has grown, what, 100 did we hear? 450 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:01,880 We enlarged some rooms up there to increase capacity for our life communities and that 451 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:05,500 group is already starting to fill up the larger room. 452 00:28:05,500 --> 00:28:07,400 How frustrating is that, right? 453 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,460 Oh, that's a great problem. 454 00:28:10,460 --> 00:28:15,040 We have almost 400 adults now coming to life communities. 455 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:16,360 Praise God for that. 456 00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:21,600 We have a lot of connectedness happening in small groups as well in the church. 457 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:22,600 What do we hear this week? 458 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:23,600 How many women are in? 459 00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:24,840 250 this week. 460 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,760 250 women in our Bible studies. 461 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,680 That's without Jewel and some of the other things happening yet. 462 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:34,280 These are just the seven or eight women's Bible studies and there are other ministries 463 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:35,640 as well where women are connecting. 464 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:42,720 We had 60, maybe 80, we've had different numbers on the number of men who were in the men's 465 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,400 Bible study on Tuesday night. 466 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,880 And Dave mentioned to you, we have 80 in our college group. 467 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:49,440 Isn't that amazing? 468 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,760 80 students in our college group. 469 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,520 We don't have a real residential college here either. 470 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:55,520 That's right. 471 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,100 Which is the typical place where these things grow. 472 00:28:58,100 --> 00:29:02,680 We have 80 students and it doesn't count those who've gone away from here to school and other 473 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:03,680 places. 474 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:04,680 So folks, God is at work. 475 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:11,160 He's building us into communities and out of that community, out of that being together, 476 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:12,800 He brings us to maturity. 477 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:17,100 I just hope that if you're not a part of one of these groups that you will get connected 478 00:29:17,100 --> 00:29:22,720 because coming here on Sunday for one service is not enough. 479 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,520 It takes more than that to grow to spiritual maturity. 480 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:30,880 We have to decide that we're not going to be people who are one year old in Christ 10 481 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:35,840 times over, but rather we're 10 years old in Jesus Christ. 482 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:41,600 That there's a growth, not just a repetition, but a growth in Jesus Christ leading us on 483 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:43,200 to the greater things. 484 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,440 Hey, I got long winded on that one. 485 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:46,440 I apologize. 486 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:52,520 Listen, we decided that when God first put this vision into Galen's heart, that if we 487 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:58,880 were going to do this, we would be Jesus's odd couple. 488 00:29:58,880 --> 00:29:59,880 Which one are you? 489 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:00,880 I'm the messy one. 490 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:01,880 I'm the messy one. 491 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:02,880 I know who I am. 492 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:03,880 I'm the disheveled guy. 493 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:04,880 That's why you're so good to me. 494 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:05,880 Oh yeah. 495 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:06,880 It's just that simple. 496 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:07,880 We understand God gives us different gifts and talents. 497 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:21,760 We come from different backgrounds, different parts of the country, different ways in which 498 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:23,240 we'd go about church at times. 499 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:26,200 If we were the same, one of us would be unnecessary. 500 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:27,200 Absolutely. 501 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:28,200 That's right. 502 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:29,200 And that's true of the whole world. 503 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:30,200 That's right. 504 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:31,360 God uniquely gifted us. 505 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:37,040 I have to tell you, we believe in what we call the priesthood of believers. 506 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:42,160 That means every child of God has a right to serve in the kingdom ministries. 507 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:45,480 So one of the things I've always said to the church, if you go to the hospital and somebody 508 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:47,120 says, who are you? 509 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,520 You say, I'm one of the ministers from Venture. 510 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:54,480 Now that gets kind of funny because a number of years ago when we're over at the old South 511 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,400 Valley Church, I gave people the same permission. 512 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:02,220 I got to church on a Sunday morning and one of our church leaders had had a mild heart 513 00:31:02,220 --> 00:31:04,160 attack late Saturday night. 514 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:08,000 And I was busy that day, but all through the day people had gone to the hospital over at 515 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,080 Santa Teresa at Kaiser to see him. 516 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:14,080 I didn't get there until nine o'clock at night. 517 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,280 And I wasn't quite sure what room this guy was in. 518 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:18,480 So I went walking up to the nurse's station. 519 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:22,680 I knew the floor and I went up to that station and this gal looked at me and I said, I'm 520 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:23,680 looking for so-and-so. 521 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:26,320 And she looked at me and said, do you know how late it is? 522 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,160 And I said, yeah, but I'm looking for so-and-so. 523 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:30,440 And she said, well, who are you? 524 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,240 And I said, well, I'm Pastor Sackins from the church. 525 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:38,400 And she kind of looked up to me and she says, how many pastors do you guys have? 526 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:39,400 You know? 527 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:43,760 And then she said to me, there have been too many pastors here already today. 528 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:45,200 You can't see them. 529 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,080 And I said, but I'm the pastor. 530 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,720 Listen, I've been to the hospital a lot so I found the guy. 531 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,440 Anyway, but listen, God has called us wonderfully together to minister together. 532 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:59,360 I want you to look at the next thing that we're going to talk about. 533 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:05,040 This thing simply says this, we dream of a church where joyful, generous giving is the 534 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:10,880 norm because of an eternal kingdom perspective has gripped our imagination. 535 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:11,880 Here's what we're saying. 536 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:15,480 We believe because we have a great vision that God will provide great resources for 537 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:16,480 it. 538 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:21,240 Now, I realize that people who come to church, the last thing that they really want to talk 539 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:26,560 about is giving and finances and so forth, but yet it's an integral part of my relationship 540 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:27,560 with God. 541 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,440 And when Gail and I were talking about who was going to do what, I said, man, I'll take 542 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:36,120 that and as we always do, we say, God, we got something that we're supposed to talk 543 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:37,120 about. 544 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:38,320 Now give us something to say. 545 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,880 Give us some biblical insight that we haven't had before. 546 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,520 Teach us some truths that we haven't seen before. 547 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:49,480 And I got to tell you, the way it came to me this week is that I was in this charity 548 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:54,080 golf tournament and I had a foursome that I was part of a foursome. 549 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:58,840 And one of the guys that's part of the foursome is a Christian businessman in our valley. 550 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:00,160 I've known him for years. 551 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:06,240 He doesn't live here, real close to us, and he doesn't attend church here. 552 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:07,240 And I saw him. 553 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:12,640 Matter of fact, I'd been out practicing a little bit and got done doing that and he 554 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:14,040 arrived a little bit later. 555 00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:16,440 He wanted to get some practice before we went up. 556 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:20,920 And I saw him and we greeted each other and then he went off to the driving range and 557 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:22,040 he came back. 558 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:26,840 And we talked about very quickly, you know, how's the family, et cetera, et cetera, very 559 00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:31,160 shallow, you know, at first. 560 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:32,480 But all of a sudden he looked at me. 561 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:36,280 He looked at me with an intensity. 562 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:40,080 Very early on in our conversation and he says, how's your tithing? 563 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,960 And just the way he said it surprised me. 564 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:47,600 I looked at him and I said, well, if you're asking me personally, I'm fine. 565 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:48,720 And you need to know I am. 566 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:52,840 I've just practiced tithing for a long time in my life and the blessings of God have flowed 567 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,680 into my life, I think, because of that. 568 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:57,720 God promises it. 569 00:33:57,720 --> 00:33:58,720 And I said, well, I'm fine. 570 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:00,080 And he said, no, no, no. 571 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,280 He says, how's the church's tithing? 572 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:03,280 And I said, what? 573 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:05,920 You know, he's never said anything like that to me before. 574 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:10,200 The only time we talk about money is when I would say, how's the business going? 575 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:11,860 You're being prosperous or not? 576 00:34:11,860 --> 00:34:15,160 Because I've known them when the business is up and I've known them when the business 577 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:16,160 has been down. 578 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,960 And I said, what's up? 579 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:25,640 And he said, well, Dave, he said, you need to know that joyous giving has broken out 580 00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:26,640 in our church. 581 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:31,800 And he says, it's broken out in me. 582 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:34,480 He says, I've never seen anything like this before. 583 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:35,840 And I said, well, what's going on? 584 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:39,080 He says, you know, we're in the midst of the recession. 585 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:46,360 And last month in August, without any campaign, without anything, we doubled our monthly need. 586 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:48,600 And I said, what happened? 587 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:53,640 He said, God has broken out in generosity in our people and our congregation has been 588 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:56,480 filled with joy. 589 00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:00,160 And I said, God, that's what I'm talking about this week. 590 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:05,160 To know what it is to be a part of God's great venture of knowing that it all belongs to 591 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,720 him, to know that I can't out give him. 592 00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:13,000 And listen, people say to us all the time, how's the finances going? 593 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:19,360 Well, praise God, last week, our finances begin July 1, our fiscal year begins July 594 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:23,520 1, right in the middle of summer when all of you are gone. 595 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:27,080 And so last week was the first week that we made budget. 596 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:28,360 Last week was the first week. 597 00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:30,520 So somebody says, well, what does that mean? 598 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:34,720 That means all summer long, it's like breathing air through a straw. 599 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:38,960 Just trying to keep the general fund strong. 600 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:44,280 But we know that God is the God of our resources. 601 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:47,160 Somebody asked me last night, they said, what kind of home did you grow up in? 602 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:51,080 Well, I grew up in a wonderful, loving home. 603 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:56,240 Have to tell you something though, my dad all of his life struggled with this thing 604 00:35:56,240 --> 00:35:57,240 called tithing. 605 00:35:57,240 --> 00:36:00,320 And I know he struggled with it. 606 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:06,000 I have to tell you, there were some blessings that probably would have come to our home 607 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:11,440 if my dad would have gotten hold of those principles earlier. 608 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:20,680 Because when you begin to follow the principles of God in celebratory giving, the windows 609 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:23,960 of heaven just breaks open. 610 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:29,160 Somebody said it this way, you got to practice the I-O. 611 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:30,520 Those are just two letters. 612 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:33,520 Somebody says, what does that mean? 613 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:34,520 Instant obedience. 614 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:37,200 By the way, do you have your wallet with you? 615 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:40,000 Would you just take your wallet out if you have your wallet with you? 616 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,760 Would you just grab it and take it out? 617 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:44,760 I left mine home. 618 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:45,760 Yeah. 619 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:46,760 You have your wallet, I want you to take it out. 620 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:47,760 Take your wallet out and hold it up. 621 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:48,760 Just kind of hold it up here. 622 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:50,440 I'm going to have to hold this one up. 623 00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:51,440 Just hold it up. 624 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:54,960 Now here's what we're going to do. 625 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:59,760 I'm going to ask you in a moment to give your wallet to the person next to you. 626 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:02,120 Now not your husband or wife, got to be somebody you don't know. 627 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:15,600 And I'm going to ask them to give like they've always wanted to give. 628 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:20,940 Now how do you celebrate giving? 629 00:37:20,940 --> 00:37:27,120 You hold the wallet up to God, checkbook, whatever, and you say, God, what do you want me to do 630 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:30,400 with this? 631 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:34,200 And then you listen and hear. 632 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:43,600 In an instant obedience, doing what God tells you to do, the windows of heaven are broken 633 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,000 open with blessing. 634 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:51,960 Let me tell you, I need to be blessed, so do you. 635 00:37:51,960 --> 00:38:01,320 And when I hold it before God and ask him what he wants me to do with it, and I respond, 636 00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:05,240 God opens up the windows of heaven. 637 00:38:05,240 --> 00:38:06,240 Can you say amen to that? 638 00:38:06,240 --> 00:38:07,240 I will say amen to that. 639 00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:09,560 I will say amen to that. 640 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:10,920 We need to wrap this up. 641 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,200 What are we asking from you? 642 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:19,680 Here's the question I have, what step would God have you to commit to this morning to 643 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:20,680 be a part of this dream? 644 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:26,400 For some of you it may mean coming next Saturday and joining us at the Discovery 101 class 645 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:30,320 and getting into the groove for membership here at the church. 646 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:34,440 For others of you it may mean getting into a small group or into one of the mid-sized 647 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,560 groups, one of the life communities we have as a church. 648 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:40,640 For others of you it may mean taking a step toward tithing. 649 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:45,280 If you can't do 10% right now, if you don't have the faith to do that joyfully right now, 650 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:47,720 then give 5% or 1%. 651 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:51,640 So you're just talking about that because the church is sucking air through a straw. 652 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:53,240 Let me tell you something. 653 00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:57,960 If you think that's my motive, then you make the decision what percentage God wants you 654 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:02,040 to give and give it somewhere else. 655 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:06,000 And try him and see if he doesn't bless you when you give. 656 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:11,520 The reason that we want you to give joyfully is because that brings the blessing of God 657 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:15,520 upon your life, upon your life. 658 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:20,680 Maybe it's a step of saying, Lord, I am going to be inviting my friends. 659 00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:22,960 We're going to give you a postcard next week. 660 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:25,140 Do you have that postcard with you? 661 00:39:25,140 --> 00:39:27,160 This postcard is something that looks like this. 662 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:31,160 We're going to give it to you and you can give it to people, you can mail it to them 663 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:33,720 and invite them to be here for the grand opening. 664 00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:37,600 But folks, we need you to be a part of the dream. 665 00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:41,680 And we need you today to say, I'm going to take this step, at least this step is going 666 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,160 to be my part. 667 00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:46,720 I'm going to be growing towards spiritual maturity this year, whatever it is. 668 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:47,720 Let's pray together. 669 00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:52,320 Would you stand with me as we close our service in prayer? 670 00:39:52,320 --> 00:40:02,360 Father, I pray that we will catch the vision, that we will see the dream you have for what 671 00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:08,480 this body of believers can do, not only in our day, but in the generations to come. 672 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:15,720 Lord, help us to see the legacy that we're leaving to the kingdom of God. 673 00:40:15,720 --> 00:40:23,240 And I pray today, whatever that step is for each one of us, that we will take it in faith 674 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:27,760 and with joy and with I.O. 675 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:33,320 and obedience, knowing that when we do that, it blesses your heart and your blessings will 676 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:34,640 come upon us. 677 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:39,840 Father, thank you for this wonderful group of people who are here in this service. 678 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:41,120 Thank you for their support. 679 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:45,600 Thank you for their love for us. 680 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:47,420 Thank you for their love for this church. 681 00:40:47,420 --> 00:40:49,360 Thank you for their love for Jesus. 682 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,240 As in his name I pray, amen. 683 00:40:52,240 --> 00:41:00,400 God bless you.