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If you're joining us here in our room,

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the sanctuary for the first time,

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or if you're joining us online for the first time, welcome.

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We're so glad you're here to worship with us today here at Hosanna.

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We are going to be celebrating in communion together today.

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If you're in the sanctuary here,

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hopefully you got your communion emblems as you came in.

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If you're watching online,

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I do encourage you to get those ready to celebrate communion with us towards the end of service.

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But yeah, we are gathered here today on the last day of 2023,

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New Year's Eve, to celebrate so much,

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to celebrate what God has done this year at Hosanna, your church,

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and really to look forward to what God is going to do in this upcoming year 2024.

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Obviously, praying and hoping that he comes to take us home,

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but if he continues to tarry,

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what it is that we are going to look forward to doing as a church.

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2023 saw quite a lot that was noteworthy.

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Some of you were excited to go through Twitter being rebranded to X.

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Oh, wow, that changed so many lives.

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There was a new king crowned in the United Kingdom.

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That's a pretty big deal.

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India, I was surprised, I missed this one.

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India surpassed China as the most populated country in the world in 2023.

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And I also missed this,

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became the fourth country in the world to land a spacecraft on the moon.

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India, pretty impressive, huh?

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We also had some difficulties in 2023,

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like massive earthquakes that took place in Turkey and Syria and Iceland.

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The earthquakes in Iceland actually resulted in a volcanic eruption.

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We had the wildfires in Maui that devastated the historic town of Lahaina.

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There was catastrophic flooding in Libya.

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Obviously, the Ukrainian war continued.

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And then we had the start of the latest war

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between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

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So a lot happened.

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But despite difficulties, God was working.

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God was working as he does every year.

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Millions and millions and millions of people worldwide

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received the gospel.

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You know, the gospel went out through outreaches

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like Franklin Graham's outreaches,

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William Graham's outreaches,

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Greg Laurie with the Harvest Crusade,

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and many, many more around the planet.

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You had organizations like Living Waters,

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who we are great, great friends with.

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This year, they had 27 million gospel tracts

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sent out and distributed around the planet.

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That's a lot, right?

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What's really cool is during the coronation in England,

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16 million of that 27 million,

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16 million tracts went out right there at the coronation.

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Just amazing.

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And then in local churches all over the world,

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you know, the gospel going out through evangelism ministries and whatnot,

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you know, God is working.

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God is at work.

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And the new year simply brings another opportunity

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to be a part of what God is doing in our world.

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And so I believe, I feel that the beginning of the year

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is always a great time to remind all of us

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what your church is about, what Hosanna is about,

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what our mission is, what our values are,

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what governs the decisions we make as a church

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as we move out and move forward into the world

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to bring the gospel to the lives of those who don't know Him.

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And so today is going to be an overview of our mission and values.

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For those of you that are aware of what our mission statement is,

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consider this a reminder and an encouragement.

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For those of you that maybe have started coming to Hosanna

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over the last year and have not heard any of this,

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I pray that this is an encouragement to you to be fully in tune

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with what this church is about and what we pursue as the church called Hosanna.

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So today will be a little bit of a state of the church address, if you will.

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We're going to walk through our mission and values.

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We're going to look at what God did through you, the church here at Hosanna,

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what God accomplished.

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We're also going to look at what's ahead

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and cast some vision for the next year in 2024.

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You know, and the reason we're doing all this is because Scripture is very clear

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about not ever thinking that we've arrived,

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because we haven't arrived and we won't arrive until we arrive in heaven with our Lord.

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And so there is always work to be done as believers.

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There is always growth to be had as individual Christians, right?

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We are on a journey in this life to continually grow and mature in our walk,

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our relationship with Jesus Christ, to continually grow and learn

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and understand what our giftings are, that we would be a part of the work of the kingdom

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that God is doing here on this earth.

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And then specifically to be a part of what God is doing

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through your local fellowship here at Hosanna.

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And so we're going to be looking at all of that really as an encouragement

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to continue making every effort to fully take hold of the prize

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that is promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

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But first we're going to worship.

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We're going to praise God because he is worthy.

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And I just pray that that worship is a blessing to you guys.

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You know, worship isn't something we do just as a, you know, a traditional part of the service.

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It's not something we do just to bookend the teaching.

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This is really an opportunity, a time to stop, to set aside everything else

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and just to focus on our glorious Lord and Savior,

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to praise him for who he is and what he's done and what he's going to do.

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And so join me in prayer and then join us together, join together with us in worship.

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Father, we love you so much.

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God, we thank you for what you've done and we thank you for what you're going to do, Lord.

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We know, God, that you've blessed this church, Lord,

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and you're using this church as you are using many, many others, Lord,

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to accomplish your work in this world.

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Lord, that as a body of believers, God, we endeavor to live obedient lives, God,

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that our lives would be a witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Lord, we go out and evangelize and pass out tracts and have conversations with people, Lord,

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that those who don't yet know you would come to know you,

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the truth of the glorious gospel, that they too can be saved and forgiven.

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And Lord, this last year as we've been studying the book of Revelation,

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looking ahead at what's to come on the eschatological calendar, Lord,

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we know that the time is short.

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And so, God, we want to be a church.

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We want to be people who are redeeming the time,

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taking advantage of the time we have left, Lord,

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to not just live our lives, God, but while we're living our lives,

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to be people who are going forth, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ,

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seeing people come to know you to be saved in the glorious truth of who you are.

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And so, God, we want to start this year, God, by worshiping you, praising your name,

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because, God, you are glorious.

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God, we are nothing without you, and you deserve all praise.

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You deserve all worship.

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You deserve all honor, all glory.

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And so, God, be blessed.

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We love you. We thank you.

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It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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As I said, we wanted to kind of overview to start out this year,

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our church's mission, what we're all about, what your church is about,

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the church that you're a part of, that you call home here at Hosanna,

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and our mission statement that we have on stickers and our logo

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and written in various different places is to know the truth,

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to live the truth, and to share the truth.

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That is what this church is about.

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That is what Hosanna is about.

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Now, everything we do as a church is governed by that mission.

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Everything we do is filtered through that mission,

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and obviously all of it is done under the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit.

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But it all comes from Scripture.

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You know, in John 17, 3, as Jesus was praying at the end of his earthly ministry,

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he said this,

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This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God,

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and the one you have sent, Jesus Christ.

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And then Jesus himself said in John chapter 14, verse 6,

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I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.

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And so guess what?

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Hosanna is all about knowing Jesus, living Jesus, and sharing Jesus.

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That's what governs everything we do.

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We want to be a church that if nobody ever knows anything about our church,

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do they know that we love Jesus, that we lift Jesus on high,

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that we follow him, that we glorify him, that we learn about him,

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that it's all about Jesus.

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That's really what church is about, is about lifting his name up,

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that people would come to know him, that we would grow in our relationship with him.

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And so that is obviously the mission of our church.

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Now, when we say knowing him and knowing the truth,

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it's about knowing him personally, knowing who he is,

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not just knowing about him, but knowing him personally as your personal Lord and Savior,

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and then obviously who he is broadly and what that means for us daily.

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But knowing Jesus comes from knowing his word, knowing the Bible, which is truth.

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John 17, 17, Jesus said this, sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth.

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And so Hosanna is obviously a place, a church,

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where he put great emphasis on studying through his word,

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studying through the truth, studying through the Bible.

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We teach verse by verse through the Bible.

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If you've been here for any amount of time, you know that.

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Periodically, we do take a break for a topical message of some kind,

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but this is a church where you can expect to go through the entire Bible,

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every single verse of it, eventually.

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Okay.

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I don't move very fast through Scripture.

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I do always pray, like, God, am I going too slow?

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And so far, I'm at the pace that I feel God is leading us, you know?

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And that may change from time to time,

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but when we get done with studying the book of Revelation, guess what?

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We're going to go back to Genesis, chapter one, verse one,

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and start again at the very top of Scripture,

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and then teach our way through the entire counsel of God's word.

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And then studying the word of God is what leads us back to knowing Jesus, right?

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Because John, chapter one, verse one, it tells us that Jesus is the Word.

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God.

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And then John, chapter one, verse 14,

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then the Word came and dwelt among us, became flesh, right?

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And we know that that's Jesus.

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So studying the Word is really getting to know Jesus,

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to know the truth of who He is and what He's all about.

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But knowing the truth also involves knowing God's will for our lives,

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and knowing God's call on our lives, the gifting that He's given us.

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And so the idea is that we study the Word so that we can figure out

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who God wants us to be, and what He wants us to do, and how He wants us to serve.

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It's all about knowing the truth of all of this.

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Now, we're not just called to know the truth, just to be intellectually informed, right?

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The demons know God, but they tremble.

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They don't obey Him, but they know Him.

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So we know that knowing is not the whole deal here.

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As God's children, as Christians, we are called to be different in this world.

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We are called to live different in this world.

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We're called to live differently from the world around us

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based on the truth that we learn and know through the Word of God.

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And so we labor, as we labor to know the truth,

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we do so that we would then live the truth.

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And that's the second part of the mission statement of this church,

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that we are then people who go out and live the truth,

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that we, as we go through our lives and go to work

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and interact with our families and our hobbies and everything we do,

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that we live Jesus, that we live His example,

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that we live His teachings, that we live sanctified,

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we live set apart from this world is what that word sanctified means, right?

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Jesus said, sanctify them by your truth.

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That word sanctified when it means we're set apart

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is that we are different from the world,

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and we're called to follow an example that is different from the world,

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and that example is Jesus Christ,

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which is why we put such a huge emphasis on studying Him and knowing Him.

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You know, in 1 John 3 verse 11, John the Apostle said,

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this is the message that you have heard from the beginning,

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that we should love one another.

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Jesus himself said, this is how the world's gonna know you're my disciples,

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by your love for one another.

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It says, Christians within the body of Christ love

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the way God teaches us to love, that's how the world comes to see

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that there's something different about us.

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That's how they come to see the love that is literally the God that we serve.

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And so this involves discovering our gifts so that we then serve one another in love.

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This involves being involved in and connected to one another's lives

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as we endeavor to live as the body of Christ.

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You know, I think one of the pandemics of the church today is,

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and it's been a challenge for a long, long time,

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and I say church, I'm talking about church globally,

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is a consumeristic idea of church.

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Right, church isn't for you.

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You are for the church.

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Right, we come to the church to learn and study the word together,

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yeah, we come to get fed, absolutely.

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But we come to get fed so that we are equipped to do the work of the ministry.

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That's what the point of this is.

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It's not about us just coming and sitting and hearing and being taught and going,

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that's nice, and then going home and going about our lives,

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but it's that we become different people,

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and that we become people plugged into the work that God is doing through the church,

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that we then go back out into the world to do the work of the ministry.

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And that's what it's all about, and that's living the truth.

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It involves our behavior, right, how we do things, right?

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Our witness is often tied up, or is tied up in how we live,

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how we work, how we talk, right?

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Do we go back to our workplaces and cuss constantly,

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and then come to church and go, oh, my language is clean?

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That's called hypocrisy.

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Do we go back into our relationships and lie, cheat, and steal,

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but then come to church on Sunday and go, oh, Jesus, you're my Lord and Savior?

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That's hypocrisy, right?

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And a lot of times the world sadly can look at Christians and go,

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Christians are the reason I want nothing to do with God,

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because Christians can sometimes live hypocritically.

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Wow, I was about to say, hypocratically.

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I'm like, that's medical, right?

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Anyways, so we put a great emphasis on living the truth, right?

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We want to encourage and equip you as the body here at Hosanna

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to not just know the Word, to know Jesus, but then to go live,

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and to take the stand for righteousness that God calls us to do,

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and then that, through all of that, through our living Jesus and living righteously,

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we end up then sharing the truth, which is the third part of our mission,

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that we're greatly invested in sharing Jesus with the world.

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Yes, by the Word, by us talking to people, yes, by direct evangelism, right?

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We just talked about our evangelism ministry.

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We put great emphasis on that, you know,

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and one of the biggest hangups with people in sharing their faith is,

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I don't know what to do.

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That's why our ministry has skills meetings every single week,

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so you could learn how to share your faith.

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But then also, it's by our witness of our individual lives and how we live,

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and that ultimately is a part of the witness of our church,

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because, you know, when the world sees Jesus in Jesus' people,

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man, it's a powerful evidence to his transforming power.

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I can't tell you how many people that I've known or I knew in high school

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that I haven't talked to in years, when they find out what I do for a living now,

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go, what?

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You do what?

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And it's like, yeah, my life is a testimony of the supernaturally changing power

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of salvation, and I'm blessed when people see that.

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But as a part of our mission, there are some organizational values

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that Hosanna has that we focus in on in fostering or values that we want to foster

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in the church culture here, and these are things we encourage in all our different

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ministries and community groups and stuff, and one of them is obviously community.

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That is a value that is important to me as your pastor and I think is important

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to our church, because we value community because we grow better when we grow together.

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Right?

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Christianity is not meant to be an isolated thing.

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We're called to be a part of one another.

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That's why we're called the body of Christ.

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That's why scripture spends a lot of time and Paul talking about, like, hey,

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we're all connected to one another, and we're not all fingers and we're not all feet,

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we're not all kneecaps, right?

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We all have a different part to play.

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But as Paul said, guess what?

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If your feet decided to say, no, I'm not a part of this, the body's not going very far,

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is it?

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If the hands decided to say, we quit, we're out of here, the body's not going to

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accomplish very much, right?

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And so we're all called to be connected together, so community is a great value here

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in our church.

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Now, obviously, we see this in our congregational gatherings here on Sunday

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mornings, and it's such a great blessing to gather together, but we especially see

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this in our community groups, and that's why we do these community groups and

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promote these community groups, because we want to give you guys opportunity to go

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deeper in your relational connections as a body, as a family here at Hosanna.

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And so I encourage you guys to plug into the community groups if you haven't, to go

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and find one that's on a day and a time that works for you, that you would build

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a deeper relationship with your family here at Hosanna.

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So it's not just a Sunday thing, hi, how you doing?

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Okay, cool, I'll pray for you.

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Oops, I forgot.

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But it's a regular relationship that we have together as a body, that we support

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one another and pray for one another and grow together.

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The second value that is very important to me is discipleship, because the idea

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here at Hosanna is that we intentionally discover and develop our own calling so

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that we could then help others intentionally discover and develop their calling.

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That's the essence of discipleship.

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Christianity is meant to be a flame that passes from one person to the other as we

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move forward.

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That's how Christianity has spread down through the centuries.

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It's one person's life who's changed by Jesus, and they want to tell someone else

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about that.

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And that person comes to know Jesus, and then there's one person going, hey, I've

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been walking with Jesus a little bit longer.

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Let me share with you my ups and downs.

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Let me share with you my experiences.

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Let me share with you my challenges.

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It's the new baby believers that are able to come to the more seasoned Christians and

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go, how did you deal with this, and how do I deal with that?

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That's discipleship.

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It's the idea of that we're constantly training the next generation on how to do

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this Christian thing.

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And discipleship isn't just learning and hearing.

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The idea is not just so that we could learn and grow and be a Christian ourselves

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individually, but that we then take on the responsibility of passing that flame.

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Our third value that I think is critical here at Hosanna is self-sacrifice.

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Self-sacrifice, you know, because when everyone is sacrificially serving one

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another, everyone's needs get met.

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That's just a part of the deal.

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We see that in the book of Acts, where as the church came together and everybody was

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like, hey, we're all here to take care of one another.

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Now, I'm not here to promote, you know, a socialistic type of environment and all

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that, but the idea is that as the family of Christ, we are here for one another, to

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take care of one another, to help provide for one another.

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We're here as the body of Christ to sacrificially serve and be a part of the

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mission of what this church is accomplishing, and that involves serving,

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that involves giving, not just when it's easy or convenient to do so, but because

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it's the right thing to do.

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You know, we're called to be people who follow the example of our Father, and

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sometimes that self-sacrifice is in our tithing and our giving, and we all go

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through times where that's really, really difficult to do.

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But our God's a giver, and He wired us to be the same way as His children, and so

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we're called to step in obedience in our giving.

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You know, and we're going to be doing a teaching on biblical finances later this

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year, and I hope that's just a blessing to everybody, but the idea, the culture

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that we want to develop here at Hosanna is where every member of this church

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desires to be an active participant in the work of the kingdom here at Hosanna.

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And I've seen that in so many different ways, especially when we do these

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community outreaches on the boulevard, and how many of you show up to help with

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that?

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It's just so cool.

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What a blessing, you know?

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But some of you, I know, are missing the boat.

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You're missing out on the blessing God has for you in service, and so that idea

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of giving, being self-sacrificial in your time is the idea of getting involved, and

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this involves volunteering for ministries, right?

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Periodically, we'll have different needs in the church, and I encourage all of you

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to pray, like seriously pray about those things and say, God, would you have me

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get involved in my church in some way?

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Maybe it's something that I don't know how to do, but I'm willing to learn, right?

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And watch God use you to do some awesome things.

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And then the fourth value that I think is just very important, it's important to

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me, and I really love to see this down through the churches, is the idea of

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innovation.

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Innovation.

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That's a value that's important to me.

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What do I mean by that?

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Well, it's the idea of intentionally seeking better ways to meet the need,

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right?

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Our world is constantly changing.

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Technology is constantly changing.

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Methods of communication are constantly changing, and so as a church, we're

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always saying, okay, God, what do you want to do, right?

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I think it's a very important thing to never get caught up in the idea of this

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is how we've always done it, so that's how we're always going to do it mentality.

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Now, in some cases, that's good, but not in all cases.

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So we're always open up to the Holy Spirit leading us into new or different

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ways to do what we do as a church.

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But at the same time, we don't want to abandon things that are working just

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because we have to chase the new shiny way of doing things.

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So that's what we're about as a church, you know?

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I always like to keep the door open in a sense that if the Lord is putting a

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ministry on your heart that maybe you don't see happening here at Hosanna, and

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you think, gosh, this is something I really feel like God wants to do, please

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come talk to me.

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Let's talk.

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Let's pray together.

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Let's fast together over that.

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Let's see what God will do because God might be gifting you in a certain way to

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reach a group of people in a way that nobody's ever thought of before, and

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we're open to that.

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We're open to that type of innovation and reaching out in new and different ways.

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But this mission and these values, they are the filter that we here at your

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church use to decide and discern what God wants Hosanna to do.

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They are so important.

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They're on the south wall as you walk into the sanctuary.

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If you've never noticed it, next time you walk out the front door, look on the

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south wall, and you'll see there what used to be the bulletin board is our

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values and our mission so that you guys can look at that and know that as people

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walk by the front of their church, as they peek in the doors, which happens

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quite a lot, I want them to know what your church is about, this church is

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about, that we are a part of.

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So they understand the priorities here.

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We want to always be doing what God is directing this church to do.

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That is always the goal and the direction, and that's an important thing

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because there are many, many, many good things that a church can be doing.

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Many good things that you and I could be doing individually as Christians.

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I mean, the list is pretty infinitely long of good things, but we can't do

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everything, right?

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No church can do everything.

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No individual can do everything, and if one entity tries to do everything, what

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happens in most cases is that you end up doing everything kind of subpar, right?

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You're kind of weak at everything, and so with the people and the time and the

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resources that God has provided here at Hosanna and the body that God has

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brought together here at Hosanna, the culture that we want to see and that I

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just pray that happens in your lives is that as a church and as people, we're

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constantly saying, God, what do you want us to do?

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God, what do you want us to do?

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How do you want us to do it?

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And man, I will tell you, when you pray that prayer, sometimes you'll get crazy

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things come into your mind, but God does crazy things, right?

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I mean, just I was talking about what Living Waters did this last year and

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going to the coronation, and I've heard some of the stories, right, when Ray

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Comfort was like, hey, we're going to go to the coronation and pass out millions

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of tracts, and everybody's like, whoa, that's a little crazy, right?

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Guess what?

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They did it.

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God provided it happened, and millions of people got the gospel.

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So it's always in this idea of, God, what do you want us to do?

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And then as a church, your leadership here, myself and the board of directors

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and the elders here, we're constantly praying, God, what do you want for this

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church?

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God, what are the needs of the people in this church?

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How do we meet the needs here?

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How do we meet the needs of our community?

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We're always praying these prayers so that we can maximize the effect that God

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desires your church to have.

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So in 2023, I just want to share with you some of the things God did this year at

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your church.

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I mean, we continued the pursuit of our mission and our values by obviously

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gathering each Sunday, right?

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We're here every Sunday at 10 a.m.

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to study and to worship together, both in person and online, and we've seen tons of

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new faces over the last year, which has been great.

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New faces, new people that have found Hosanna and said, hey, this is a place I

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want to call home, and that's such an incredible blessing.

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Most of the year, we spent studying Revelation.

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We have just a few studies left, and that's been a blessing as we've been looking

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ahead to what's to come, what to prepare for, and then really using all of that to

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motivate us now today to be urgent because the time is short.

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We've encouraged growing and living the truth through our community group

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ministries and really in those different community groups, they're designed to give

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you an opportunity to exercise your gifts, your spiritual gifts in ministering to one

467
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,760
another and building deeper connections with one another.

468
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:16,720
This last year, we had 215 signups over 42 different groups in our four community

469
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:18,520
group seasons here at Hosanna.

470
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:19,880
What a blessing.

471
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,040
I want to see that just keep growing.

472
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:26,040
I want to see those of you that haven't experienced the blessing of that yet

473
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:29,360
experience the blessing from the many stories I hear from people that are like,

474
00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:30,200
gosh, I plugged in.

475
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:30,800
This was great.

476
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:32,160
We were so ministered to.

477
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:35,720
I want to see that just flourish in all of your lives.

478
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:39,760
Last year, we talked about starting prayer and fasting days as a church, and we

479
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,560
successfully implemented that and did that all the way through the year, and

480
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:44,840
we're going to continue to do that as well.

481
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:49,120
We had our first women's conference in many years, and that was a huge success.

482
00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:54,080
Yeah, the ladies, I mean, you guys, you ladies, were just so blessed with all of

483
00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,120
that, you know, and that conference was all about teaching the gifts of the

484
00:27:57,120 --> 00:27:58,280
spirit, right?

485
00:27:58,280 --> 00:27:59,520
What are the gifts of the spirit?

486
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:04,080
How to identify what your gifts are, and then there was a really big push in the

487
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:08,560
thing to say, okay, now how do you use those gifts here at your local church?

488
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:12,760
What a beautiful thing that the Lord led our women's ministry leader, Irene, to

489
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:13,400
put together.

490
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:15,440
It was just awesome.

491
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:16,000
Well, guess what?

492
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,760
The guys are doing the same thing here in a couple months, and I'm super excited

493
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,000
about that, that the men are going to come together, and again, we're going to

494
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:24,720
study the gifts of the spirit.

495
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:28,640
We're going to labor to identify what are my gifts, and then we're going to

496
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:33,600
actively say, okay, now this is where you could plug in so that we could, as a

497
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:37,200
church, as a body together, just keep moving forward and growing and all of

498
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:38,360
that.

499
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,040
We had our first all-church midsummer barbecue fellowship.

500
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:45,160
That was fun, you know, with the inflatable water slides and stuff.

501
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:50,040
We participated in all kinds of outreach events and outreach opportunities as a

502
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:51,120
church.

503
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:55,240
Our ministry, we call it Hosanna Community Care, is the ministry that is

504
00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:58,520
running all these outreaches that we've done during the street fest, and we just

505
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:03,320
did one during the Christmas tree lighting, and through those ministries, we

506
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:08,880
had hundreds and hundreds of families get blessed, that were able to just get

507
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:14,680
gifts, gifted things like household wares and clothing and school supplies and

508
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,560
backpacks and all this kind of stuff that the Lord allowed us to bless the

509
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:21,520
community with to say, hey, we care about you guys.

510
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:23,800
And it was hundreds of families.

511
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:28,120
We had our second Hosanna Kids Vacation Bible School this summer.

512
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,520
Obviously, we participated in things like Operation Christmas Child, where we did

513
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:33,840
210 boxes this year.

514
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,840
Our Halloween outreach, Realm of Shadow, reached 1,500 people with the gospel over

515
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,080
three nights during Halloween.

516
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:45,360
Adopt-a-Family this year reached 67 children in struggling families, got them

517
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:47,480
gifts, Christmas gifts this year.

518
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:49,200
This is the work that you guys are a part of.

519
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:53,160
This is the work that you as a church have been laboring in, and it's such an

520
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:54,640
incredible blessing.

521
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:58,640
Our own evangelism team here at Hosanna, this one just really blessed me.

522
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:00,920
I asked them, I go, hey, do you have stats for this year?

523
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:05,400
Like, I don't know if you keep that type of stuff, but how did it go this year?

524
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:10,040
And what was reported back to me is that our own Hosanna evangelism team passed

525
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,480
out 20,000 tracks this year.

526
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:17,760
That's amazing.

527
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,480
They said they passed out over 300 gospel of John books.

528
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:26,280
The team participated in 40 different evangelism outreaches, all the things we

529
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:28,960
were talking about, where they go to the pier, they go door to door, they go to the

530
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:30,320
convalescent home.

531
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:33,520
And then just really blessed, which is the point of all of it, is they had the

532
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,280
opportunity to lead 12 people to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior through

533
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:40,760
those outreaches.

534
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:42,200
That's just the evangelism team.

535
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,520
That's not including what all you guys are doing on your own that I don't know

536
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:46,640
about.

537
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:50,640
But that's why we supply tracks and we encourage it so much, because it's a part

538
00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:54,720
of the work that we're called to be a part of as the church.

539
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:59,320
And then we started our baptism services over a year ago, and this last year we

540
00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:03,280
had about 20 people get baptized over our four baptism services.

541
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:08,160
And that's just amazing, because baptism is a first step of obedience, right?

542
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:12,080
And so again, if you haven't been baptized, if you've given your life to the

543
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:16,280
Lord and you've never taken that step to make that public profession, get into our

544
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:17,200
church app and sign up.

545
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:18,560
We're having one next week, all right?

546
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:22,200
And we do them here in the building now so that the rest of us can participate in

547
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,880
that moment and celebrate with those that are getting baptized.

548
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:30,480
Some other things that we accomplished this year as a church is we successfully

549
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:34,400
moved our Hosanna Youth and Kids Ministries back into the Hosanna building

550
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:39,200
down the street, and we renamed that the Student Ministry Building, or the SMB,

551
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:41,160
for those of you that like acronyms.

552
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:45,480
We renovated the space and repainted, and we actually built a sensory room in there.

553
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:50,360
And again, this was a part of the support that you guys as a church brought in.

554
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,200
We were able to build a sensory room, which is a place for kids that have

555
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:58,280
special needs, kids that maybe are on the spectrum that need a little bit extra

556
00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,120
attention or need some sensory attention.

557
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:04,960
And we were able to put that together and build that for those kids and minister to

558
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,680
kids and families that have a need there.

559
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:12,680
And then, Hosanna as a church, we supported over 13 different missionaries and

560
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:16,720
parachurch organizations throughout the year, like far-reaching ministries.

561
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:21,480
That does work all over the planet, taking the gospel into really difficult places.

562
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:26,440
Pacific Justice Institute, which does so much work in our country, helping defend

563
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:31,560
churches and Christians with religious rights issues and getting into the courts.

564
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:36,400
We supported an organization called A21, which actively tries to rescue children

565
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:40,720
from trafficking situations and save the storks, which I don't know if you're

566
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:44,600
familiar with them, but they actually build these big sonogram buses.

567
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,440
And they go park them in front of abortion clinics.

568
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:51,280
And then when there's women showing up to get an abortion, they say, hey,

569
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:55,240
would you like to see your baby before you make this terrible decision?

570
00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:59,280
And hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of babies have been saved because they took

571
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:02,680
the opportunity to see them.

572
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:07,000
And so that's just a short list of the different missionaries and organizations

573
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,120
that we as a church support.

574
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:13,640
But this is all a sampling of what God has accomplished through you, through

575
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:18,240
Hosanna, through this body here, through your volunteering, through your faithful

576
00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:21,400
giving, through your generosity, through your prayers.

577
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:25,120
But all of it, in all of it, Jesus has been lifted high.

578
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:26,800
Jesus has been lifted high.

579
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:28,880
We have all come to know Him more.

580
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:33,720
And in knowing Him more, I just hear testimony after testimony of how people

581
00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,400
are living for Him more and serving Him more.

582
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,800
The community around us here in Bellflower and the communities you guys

583
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:42,880
are in have seen the fruit of His love in our lives.

584
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:47,280
And then when they see that fruit in His people, as we share that love with people

585
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:51,720
to just want people to know what we're about, many have come to know Him as Lord

586
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:52,200
and Savior.

587
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:57,400
And so thank you, church, for your participation and all of that.

588
00:33:57,400 --> 00:33:59,640
But ultimately, we praise God.

589
00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:03,320
We praise God for using us as His people to do His work.

590
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:08,520
And so this next year coming up in 2024, Hosanna will continue to listen to the

591
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:08,920
Lord.

592
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:13,040
We'll continue to filter our decision-making through our mission, right?

593
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,760
Does it further know the truth, live the truth, share the truth?

594
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,400
Does it fall under that idea?

595
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:21,600
Does it reflect the values that the Lord wants us as His church to embrace, right?

596
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:25,680
Does it support the values of community and discipleship and self-sacrifice and

597
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:26,760
innovation?

598
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:30,200
And of course, we're always open to the Holy Spirit going, hey, let's change

599
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:32,680
everything, because He can do that.

600
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:33,160
He's God.

601
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:34,400
He has the authority to do that.

602
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:36,480
And so we're always open to that as well.

603
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:42,200
But all of it in pursuit of Jesus, knowing Jesus, living Jesus, and sharing

604
00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:42,640
Jesus.

605
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:46,960
So that's really the overview of 2023 for your church.

606
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:51,360
I do want to take a brief moment to encourage you guys through the word here

607
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:55,080
because there's a few scriptures here that Paul wrote in Philippians that really

608
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:56,760
tie into how.

609
00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:02,880
They're an encouragement of how to keep seeking the truth, how to be people who

610
00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:06,000
seek after that mission of knowing the truth and living the truth and sharing

611
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:06,400
the truth.

612
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,880
And so if you will read with me in Philippians chapter 3, verse 10, Paul

613
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:15,560
says this, my goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the

614
00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:20,000
fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death, assuming that I

615
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:23,160
will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

616
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,920
Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every

617
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:32,800
effort to take hold of it because I have also been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

618
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:37,960
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it.

619
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:42,360
This piece of scripture should be a great encouragement to every believer because

620
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,440
here we have Paul the apostle.

621
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:49,040
This is a man at the time of this writing had been walking with the Lord for 30

622
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:50,560
years.

623
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:55,960
This is a man who is a high achiever, an incredibly intelligent guy, someone that

624
00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:59,800
was greatly, greatly used by the Lord who had accomplished so much.

625
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:03,320
And what he's saying here in the letter to the Philippians is I still have plenty

626
00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:05,320
of room to grow.

627
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,320
I have not reached the goal.

628
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:09,720
I'm not done.

629
00:36:09,720 --> 00:36:10,640
I'm not perfect.

630
00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:12,640
I'm not complete yet.

631
00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:16,880
And so the first thing I want to encourage all of us this year in seeking

632
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:21,840
the goal of knowing the truth and living the truth and sharing the truth is to not

633
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,960
settle for what has been, to not settle for what has been.

634
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:30,760
You know, God has done wonderful things here at Hosanna and I know he's done some

635
00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:35,720
wonderful things in many of your lives, but that in no way means that we should

636
00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:40,840
cease to anticipate God doing wonderful things in our lives, God doing great

637
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,840
things in the future here in our church.

638
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:48,920
Paul, we see after 30 years of walking with the Lord, was still anticipating God

639
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:49,920
doing amazing things.

640
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:54,640
He was still moving forward and this teaches us just some very important things

641
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,320
as we live our lives as Christians.

642
00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:02,040
You know, we're never people who reach perfection this side of heaven.

643
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:04,160
We're never done.

644
00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:04,320
Right?

645
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:05,360
We're never done serving.

646
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:06,560
We're never done being involved.

647
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:07,520
We're never done growing.

648
00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:08,560
We're never done maturing.

649
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:10,800
It's a lifelong process.

650
00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:14,320
And if we ever think that we've spiritually arrived and therefore I don't

651
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:18,920
need to be involved anymore, if we ever come to that type of thinking, we find

652
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:25,160
ourselves entering into spiritual pride, spiritual arrogance, and spiritual

653
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:27,080
complacency.

654
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:28,440
And that's not what God wants for us.

655
00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:30,480
That's not what God wants for our church.

656
00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:33,280
He wants us to keep moving forward, you know.

657
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:37,720
As we see here, the second thing I see here in Paul is that his sense of

658
00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:41,760
imperfection drove him upward and drove him forward.

659
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:43,680
And it's that same thing with us.

660
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,040
You know, like we realize we haven't arrived.

661
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:47,840
We realize we still have a lot of work to do.

662
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:49,280
And so let's keep plugging in.

663
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:50,040
Let's keep reading.

664
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:51,160
Let's keep gathering together.

665
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:52,080
Let's keep worshiping.

666
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:56,160
Let's keep praying so that we keep growing.

667
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:59,040
You know, Paul uses the analogy of a runner a lot.

668
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:00,760
And he says, I'm running the race.

669
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:01,000
Right?

670
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:04,720
And that idea of a runner running the race, you guys have heard this story

671
00:38:04,720 --> 00:38:09,720
before, but if the runner is at the head of the pack and he lets up even a

672
00:38:09,720 --> 00:38:11,480
little bit, he could lose the race.

673
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,760
I just saw a video yesterday of one of those guys at the end of a very long

674
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:15,680
marathon.

675
00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:16,200
He's coming.

676
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:19,320
The finish line is in front of him and he starts to slow down and celebrate.

677
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:23,440
And then the guy goes, flies right past him, boom, through the finish line,

678
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:25,240
gets first place.

679
00:38:25,240 --> 00:38:26,840
And the guy's like, wait, what?

680
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:29,080
He took his foot off the gas pedal.

681
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,560
He let up because he thought, oh, I'm done.

682
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:32,840
I'm going to win.

683
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:34,960
And then he lost the first prize.

684
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:38,720
And it's that same idea with us that we keep pushing, we keep going, you know,

685
00:38:38,720 --> 00:38:42,440
that angst that we still have stuff to do, that I'm not yet perfect, that I'm

686
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:47,400
not yet arrived is something that we should embrace as God's people.

687
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:51,480
You know, Paul says in verse 12, not that I've already achieved the goal, not

688
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,120
that I'm already perfected.

689
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:57,800
Verse 13, he says, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it.

690
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,720
It's important to learn from that lesson, that example that he's given us here.

691
00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:06,400
You know, I believe it's an important truth that a growing Christian, a growing

692
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:12,360
believer, and a growing church is never satisfied with their present spiritual

693
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:13,320
state.

694
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:15,400
They're thankful for it.

695
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:20,200
They're grateful for what God has done and where they are at.

696
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:22,000
But they know there's more to do.

697
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,440
And they know there's more to step into.

698
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:28,320
And so there's that sense that they want to keep growing.

699
00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:30,120
And as a church, we want to keep growing.

700
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:31,720
We want to keep moving.

701
00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:35,800
We want to keep innovating to fulfill that mission that God has given to us in

702
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:36,280
our church.

703
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:38,440
And so don't settle for what has been.

704
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,600
The second principle, I think, in seeking to know the truth and living the truth

705
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:46,080
and sharing the truth in 2024 is don't try and do everything.

706
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:47,360
Don't try and do everything.

707
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:52,640
Focus on what you are called to do, right?

708
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:56,760
Because you'll probably find that God has gifted you to do exactly that.

709
00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:01,480
Look at what Paul says in verse 13, he says, but one thing I do.

710
00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:02,720
One thing I do.

711
00:40:02,720 --> 00:40:05,320
And then he goes on to say, forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to

712
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:11,280
what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in

713
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:13,880
Christ Jesus.

714
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:18,600
Yes, there are things that all believers are commanded to do as believers.

715
00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:20,960
And those are kind of the universal givens.

716
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:23,040
But not all believers are called to do everything.

717
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:26,720
And not every church is called to do everything.

718
00:40:26,720 --> 00:40:28,280
Some people wrestle with that, you know.

719
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,960
There are people within our church that are called as evangelists.

720
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:35,600
And they are leading evangelism ministries and participating in evangelism

721
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:36,040
ministries.

722
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:40,280
And they're going out and they're constantly out there passing out tracts and

723
00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:41,320
doing all this stuff.

724
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:44,760
But not everybody is called to evangelize that way.

725
00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:47,880
We're all called to do the work of an evangelist.

726
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:50,160
And so do the work of an evangelist.

727
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:55,080
Now, if God is calling you to be, you know, a part of a ministry that is walking the

728
00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:58,120
piers and going to the car shows and stuff, please get involved in that.

729
00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:00,280
It's important.

730
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:05,240
But if your evangelism is, you know, tracks to the Starbucks barista as you go

731
00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:07,080
through the drive-thru, do that.

732
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:08,120
Be a part of the work.

733
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:11,480
But figure out what God is calling you to do in that.

734
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:15,640
I have a very specific call to this church to teach so that I can equip you

735
00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:18,160
guys to do what?

736
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:20,320
The work of the ministry.

737
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:21,440
Right?

738
00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:24,680
I've often shared that that's a favorite verse of mine.

739
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,080
Because a lot of times people think, oh, you're the pastor.

740
00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:29,800
You're the one that's supposed to do everything.

741
00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:31,320
And I can't.

742
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,040
I can't do everything.

743
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:37,040
I have my part in the body of Christ here to equip and to teach and to encourage

744
00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:37,880
and to lift up.

745
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:40,560
But we're all called to be a part of that work.

746
00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:44,680
And so Paul says the one thing that I do, I'm focusing on that.

747
00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:49,840
And he says that my goal, verse 10 of Philippians 3, Paul says my goal is to

748
00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:52,520
know him.

749
00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:56,080
So Paul's overriding purpose and goal was to know Jesus more.

750
00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:57,920
And then he defines that goal in a few ways.

751
00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,440
He goes, I want to know the power of his resurrection.

752
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:03,200
I want to know the fellowship of his sufferings.

753
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,840
And then he says, being conformed to his death, meaning I want to experience, I

754
00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:09,680
want to know what that is like.

755
00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:12,080
Not just that he's saying I want to die.

756
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:15,760
He goes, I want to be conformed to that idea of dying to self.

757
00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:17,160
Right?

758
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:20,360
Now we could do a whole series on what each of those means, but the point for

759
00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:25,720
this morning is that Paul focused in on what he was called to do and he sought to

760
00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:28,720
identify that and then he pursued that.

761
00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:30,040
And he never thought I arrived.

762
00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:31,000
He never thought I was done.

763
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:33,080
He kept going after what it was.

764
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:37,560
And sometimes in our lives we could expend a whole bunch of energy

765
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:39,200
accomplishing very little.

766
00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:41,720
I don't know if you've ever done that.

767
00:42:41,720 --> 00:42:44,560
Like man, I feel like I was just laboring for hours and hours and hours.

768
00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:48,200
I got nothing accomplished, right?

769
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,440
And spiritually, when it comes to the work of the kingdom, the work of the church,

770
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,720
and the work we're called to be a part of together, Satan is very good at

771
00:42:54,720 --> 00:42:58,560
distracting us from what we should be doing with everything else.

772
00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:00,880
He's really good at that.

773
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:01,080
Right?

774
00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:05,120
And there's a million good things you can be involved in, but what is the God

775
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:08,280
thing that God is calling you to do?

776
00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:11,520
I'm not saying don't do the good things.

777
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:14,280
But I'm saying seek out God, what do you want me to do?

778
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:18,440
What am I gifted to specifically be a part of?

779
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:23,000
Maybe you're musically inclined and God's going, hey, I'm calling you to be a part

780
00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:27,240
of the worship community and you're going, nah.

781
00:43:27,240 --> 00:43:29,800
Listen to the Lord.

782
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:33,400
Maybe you're great with talking to strangers and he's going, hey, I want you

783
00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:36,560
to be involved in the ministry of evangelism here at Hosanna and you're

784
00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:37,880
going, nah.

785
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:40,200
Listen to the Lord.

786
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:45,800
There's a whole bucket load of things that God is doing and wants to do here at

787
00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:48,160
Hosanna and you're all a part of it.

788
00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:50,680
And so listen to what he says and find out what it is.

789
00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:54,240
Now, yeah, do the good things, but endeavor to find out what the God thing

790
00:43:54,240 --> 00:43:56,480
is for you.

791
00:43:56,480 --> 00:44:04,440
And so he goes on, says, you know, well, the idea is I'm encouraging all of us to

792
00:44:04,440 --> 00:44:05,680
ask this question.

793
00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:08,320
What is God calling us to do this year?

794
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:11,680
You individually, and what is God calling us to do as a church?

795
00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:14,320
That's what the leadership is always praying about.

796
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:17,400
For some of us, it's going to be spiritual improvement, right?

797
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:19,560
Some disciplines need to be readjusted.

798
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:23,360
Some of us, it's going to be serving, like God is calling you to step in and serve

799
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:25,200
and volunteer at your church.

800
00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:28,960
Some of us, it's going to be in the area of giving and trusting.

801
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:31,640
Some of you aren't tithing at all, you know?

802
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:32,840
Now, I say that broadly.

803
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:33,840
You know, I don't know who you are.

804
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,640
I'm not looking at people right now, you know?

805
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:40,120
But in every church, there are people who aren't giving for one reason or another, and

806
00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:43,080
maybe this year is going to be a year where God is going to call you to say, trust me

807
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:45,600
and step out in faith in those things.

808
00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:53,600
Maybe it's something relational, a relationship that God is calling you to repair, a relationship

809
00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:57,640
that God is calling you to invest in, something relational that God is calling you to do.

810
00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:00,320
The idea is, God, what are you calling me to do?

811
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:01,320
Is that my thing?

812
00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:03,640
And step into it and do it in obedience.

813
00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:09,320
So, for 2024, you know, just keep your main thing your main thing, you know?

814
00:45:09,320 --> 00:45:11,720
That's what we're going to be trying to do as a church.

815
00:45:11,720 --> 00:45:15,080
You know, we have like five or six things we focus on as a church that I'm like, look,

816
00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:18,120
as a church, I want to be really good at these things, you know?

817
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:20,600
One of them is obviously teaching the Word.

818
00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:23,720
One of them is family and children ministry.

819
00:45:23,720 --> 00:45:27,140
I just want to continually get better at that so we can minister to your families and the

820
00:45:27,140 --> 00:45:29,720
kids and just do a better job at that.

821
00:45:29,720 --> 00:45:34,040
I think we do a great job now, but I just want to keep moving forward in that.

822
00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:38,600
Evangelism, obviously, you know, I want to see our evangelism team do 30,000 tracks this

823
00:45:38,600 --> 00:45:39,600
year.

824
00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:40,600
That would be awesome.

825
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:43,720
And if they blow that out of the water, how cool, right?

826
00:45:43,720 --> 00:45:45,880
But that means more of us got to get involved, you know?

827
00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:50,140
And if that's something God's laying on your heart, do it.

828
00:45:50,140 --> 00:45:55,480
One of them is serving, you know, and giving opportunity for people to serve and plug in.

829
00:45:55,480 --> 00:46:01,560
And so these things, these areas of focus, find out what it is and focus on that.

830
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:06,240
You know, some things are going to stay the same for sure, you know, like obviously he's

831
00:46:06,240 --> 00:46:10,100
given us the mission of know the truth and we're going to keep teaching the Word.

832
00:46:10,100 --> 00:46:13,700
He's given us the mission of living the truth and so we're going to keep equipping and teaching

833
00:46:13,700 --> 00:46:17,440
and doing everything you can to help you, the body, live for Jesus better.

834
00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:19,880
And he's given us the mission to share the truth.

835
00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:24,500
And so, yeah, we're going to keep emphasizing evangelism here at Hosanna.

836
00:46:24,500 --> 00:46:27,080
But in the process of that, God, what do you want to change?

837
00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:29,200
God, what do you want to stay the same?

838
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:32,360
God, what do you want us to keep doing but do it in a different way?

839
00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:35,360
These are the ideas that as we move forward.

840
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:40,700
So don't settle, don't try and do everything and then don't dwell on what's behind you.

841
00:46:40,700 --> 00:46:42,020
Don't dwell on it but move forward.

842
00:46:42,020 --> 00:46:46,920
Look what Paul says, one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what

843
00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:49,120
is ahead.

844
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:54,640
If you want to live a stagnant Christian life, live it looking backwards over your shoulders,

845
00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:57,920
dwelling on past success and past failure.

846
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,000
That's the quickest way to stagnate.

847
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:04,680
I don't mean that we don't look at the past and learn from it.

848
00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:09,640
Like I'm not saying pretend the past didn't happen or didn't exist.

849
00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:12,760
But we look at our past and the experiences and we learn and grow from those things.

850
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:17,140
But what Paul is saying here is don't dwell on that, move forward.

851
00:47:17,140 --> 00:47:18,140
Move forward.

852
00:47:18,140 --> 00:47:19,760
Don't go to the past, it's in the past.

853
00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:23,140
You can't do anything about it and some of us are crippled by the past.

854
00:47:23,140 --> 00:47:28,800
We're paralyzed by bitterness and we're paralyzed by grudges and fears and we're paralyzed by

855
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:33,220
past hurts and yeah, they're there.

856
00:47:33,220 --> 00:47:36,180
But figure out how to forgive.

857
00:47:36,180 --> 00:47:42,500
Figure out how to move past and move forward in what God has for you.

858
00:47:42,500 --> 00:47:45,040
This includes victories, this includes successes.

859
00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:46,040
God did amazing things.

860
00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:48,000
Praise God for that.

861
00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:51,260
It's wonderful that the way you did things then worked so well, but is there something

862
00:47:51,260 --> 00:47:54,280
new God wants?

863
00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:59,880
Because when we dwell on what's behind, we're not reaching forward to what is ahead.

864
00:47:59,880 --> 00:48:03,440
And that word there, reach forward, he uses there means to strain with everything you

865
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:04,520
got.

866
00:48:04,520 --> 00:48:06,200
It's not a casual glance ahead.

867
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:08,920
It's not a, well, you know, there's something up there, I'll think about it.

868
00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:12,880
He's straining, he's reaching, he's figuring out what the goal is and he's going, I'm going

869
00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:15,120
to go after that with everything I got.

870
00:48:15,120 --> 00:48:17,580
That's the encouragement from the word.

871
00:48:17,580 --> 00:48:22,360
When he says I make every effort, when he says I pursue the goal, it's his Greek word

872
00:48:22,360 --> 00:48:23,360
dioko.

873
00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:29,040
But what's very interesting is in verse six of chapter three, Paul says I persecuted the

874
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:30,880
church.

875
00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:33,300
Same Greek word dioko.

876
00:48:33,300 --> 00:48:37,100
So the same word for persecuted is the same word for making every effort is the same word

877
00:48:37,100 --> 00:48:38,980
for pursuing.

878
00:48:38,980 --> 00:48:40,640
What is the point?

879
00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:45,160
Paul is saying the same amount of energy I expended before I was saved doing the devil's

880
00:48:45,160 --> 00:48:52,040
work is now the same amount of energy I expend as a Christian pursuing God's call on my life.

881
00:48:52,040 --> 00:48:55,360
And that's the biblical encouragement for all of us.

882
00:48:55,360 --> 00:49:00,280
So the question I put before all of us is if we put as much effort into pursuing and

883
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:07,540
pressing into our spiritual life and our spiritual calling as we did into our hobbies or everything

884
00:49:07,540 --> 00:49:13,480
else around us in our lives, what would our lives look like in 2024?

885
00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:15,440
What would our church look like in 2024?

886
00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:20,080
What would your walk with Jesus look like in 2024?

887
00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:23,400
And there's nothing wrong with hobbies and other things.

888
00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:29,680
But when we set aside our pursuit of Jesus for everything else in life, we stagnate.

889
00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:31,360
So Paul says I'm reaching a forward.

890
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:35,640
And what was ahead for Paul, verse 14, he says I pursue as my goal the prize promised

891
00:49:35,640 --> 00:49:41,000
by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

892
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:46,440
A prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

893
00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:51,040
You know what is promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus?

894
00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:53,080
Christ Jesus.

895
00:49:53,080 --> 00:49:54,960
Him.

896
00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:56,760
Knowing Him.

897
00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:58,720
Experiencing Him.

898
00:49:58,720 --> 00:50:01,720
Experiencing Him move through your life, bless your life.

899
00:50:01,720 --> 00:50:04,120
Experiencing the miracles of Him working in and through you.

900
00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:08,920
Experiencing the work of the Spirit just ministering gifts through you to people.

901
00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:10,560
It's Jesus.

902
00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:11,600
It's about Him.

903
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:12,600
It's all about Him.

904
00:50:12,600 --> 00:50:14,780
It will always be about Him.

905
00:50:14,780 --> 00:50:15,780
That is the prize.

906
00:50:15,780 --> 00:50:20,520
And as a church I am so thankful for what God has done over the years at Hosanna.

907
00:50:20,520 --> 00:50:25,380
You know there's so many have been saved and lives have been changed and relationships

908
00:50:25,380 --> 00:50:28,080
have been healed and on and on.

909
00:50:28,080 --> 00:50:30,560
And there's still a lot of work and all of that to be done.

910
00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:35,440
And God is still doing that.

911
00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:38,640
But there are still so many unbelievers out there that need Jesus.

912
00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:41,160
They need the gospel.

913
00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:45,740
There are so many believers out there who need solid biblical teaching.

914
00:50:45,740 --> 00:50:46,920
They need discipleship.

915
00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:47,920
They need community.

916
00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:48,920
They need growth.

917
00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:52,600
They need training and equipping for ministry.

918
00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:55,800
We're not done.

919
00:50:55,800 --> 00:51:00,320
And understanding that knowing Jesus is the root of all of it.

920
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:01,880
He's the prize.

921
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:03,280
He's the point.

922
00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:10,840
And so we together turn our eyes forward to the goal, reaching out, straining that we

923
00:51:10,840 --> 00:51:14,400
as a church would elevate Jesus high in our community.

924
00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:17,120
That He would be elevated high in your own lives.

925
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:20,060
The purpose, the point, the priority of living.

926
00:51:20,060 --> 00:51:26,120
That we would all collectively experience what God has for us to go through the things

927
00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:28,440
He wants to take us through.

928
00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:31,720
But it's important to not do that alone.

929
00:51:31,720 --> 00:51:34,720
Look at verse 15 and we'll close on this.

930
00:51:34,720 --> 00:51:36,400
He says, Therefore, Paul.

931
00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:39,840
Paul says, Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way.

932
00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:43,400
If you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you.

933
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:46,680
In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.

934
00:51:46,680 --> 00:51:51,040
Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live

935
00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:55,920
according to the example you have in us.

936
00:51:55,920 --> 00:52:00,520
You see, isolation kills.

937
00:52:00,520 --> 00:52:01,800
Salvation kills.

938
00:52:01,800 --> 00:52:05,000
As I said earlier, church isn't for you, you're for the church, right?

939
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,880
We gather together here, yes, to learn.

940
00:52:07,880 --> 00:52:10,120
But every single one of you are gifted in some way.

941
00:52:10,120 --> 00:52:15,360
God has given you gifts, gifts of discernment, gifts of exhortation, gifts of prophecy, gifts

942
00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:18,180
of whatever it may be.

943
00:52:18,180 --> 00:52:22,840
And there's somebody here in this room right now that needs your gift.

944
00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:25,440
Are you seeking them out?

945
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:28,080
Are you praying, God, who do you want me to pray for today?

946
00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:31,320
I'm here with my family to encourage and lift them up.

947
00:52:31,320 --> 00:52:35,040
God, thank you for feeding me, thank you for equipping me for the work of the ministry.

948
00:52:35,040 --> 00:52:37,940
Now let me do the work of the ministry.

949
00:52:37,940 --> 00:52:39,120
Are you seeking that out?

950
00:52:39,120 --> 00:52:42,080
Do you pray for that?

951
00:52:42,080 --> 00:52:45,120
That's one of the things that I find difficult with online ministry.

952
00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:50,720
I know there's many good reasons that people need to be home watching online, and so I'm

953
00:52:50,720 --> 00:52:54,400
not condemning anybody that's watching online right now.

954
00:52:54,400 --> 00:52:59,960
But if you are able to be in church, you are missing out on a whole half of what this is

955
00:52:59,960 --> 00:53:01,800
all about.

956
00:53:01,800 --> 00:53:07,240
You're missing out on the opportunity to pour your gifts into someone's life.

957
00:53:07,240 --> 00:53:09,680
And so I just encourage you to pray.

958
00:53:09,680 --> 00:53:12,600
Pray about what God would have you do.

959
00:53:12,600 --> 00:53:17,360
And again, there are reasons people have to be at home and have to watch online, and I'm

960
00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:20,440
not saying there's anything wrong with that.

961
00:53:20,440 --> 00:53:24,920
But if you're intentionally not coming to church just because it's easier to stay home,

962
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:29,920
I really challenge you this year to reevaluate that thought, to see what God would have you

963
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:35,880
do plugging into the body of Christ that is your local church.

964
00:53:35,880 --> 00:53:43,200
And so when we gather together as a congregation, there's something very special that happens.

965
00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:44,200
It's a blessing.

966
00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:48,740
We worship together, we partake of communion together, we hear the word taught together,

967
00:53:48,740 --> 00:53:51,000
we minister to one another.

968
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:54,600
But sometimes even here in this room, people can find themselves isolated.

969
00:53:54,600 --> 00:53:59,840
You're here physically, you're here bodily, and you come, you listen, you sing, but you

970
00:53:59,840 --> 00:54:03,000
don't plug in.

971
00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:07,520
You kind of sneak out the back at the very end.

972
00:54:07,520 --> 00:54:12,080
And this is meant to result in relationships.

973
00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:16,680
This is meant to result in relationships and community as we are connected together in

974
00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:18,280
Jesus Christ.

975
00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:21,920
Our congregational gathering should result in those real relationships that carry on

976
00:54:21,920 --> 00:54:24,800
outside of Sunday morning.

977
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:27,880
I know it's not realistic, and I'm not saying that everybody is supposed to be best friends

978
00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:28,880
with everybody.

979
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:31,760
You know, that just can't come to play.

980
00:54:31,760 --> 00:54:33,800
But are you connected with people here in your body?

981
00:54:33,800 --> 00:54:35,120
Do you have a relationship?

982
00:54:35,120 --> 00:54:42,200
Are you living life together, this Christian life, with other people from your family?

983
00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:47,020
You know, because sometimes gathering here on Sundays just doesn't afford the same opportunity

984
00:54:47,020 --> 00:54:53,640
to grow as if you're sitting in the living room with somebody else and just talking life,

985
00:54:53,640 --> 00:54:55,960
having coffee with somebody, right?

986
00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:58,200
That's a part of this whole deal.

987
00:54:58,200 --> 00:54:59,420
It's a part of growing.

988
00:54:59,420 --> 00:55:03,080
It's a part of what Paul says here, look, when he says, join in imitating me, that means

989
00:55:03,080 --> 00:55:08,000
people are observing his life.

990
00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:11,240
He says, brothers and sisters, pay careful attention to those who live according to the

991
00:55:11,240 --> 00:55:13,200
example you have in us.

992
00:55:13,200 --> 00:55:18,300
If you only see your Christian family for an hour and a half on Sunday morning, how

993
00:55:18,300 --> 00:55:20,640
are you able to observe?

994
00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:23,380
How are you able to pay careful attention to their example?

995
00:55:23,380 --> 00:55:27,520
How are people able to pay attention to your example?

996
00:55:27,520 --> 00:55:31,880
And that's why we're called to springboard from this gathering, this congregational gathering,

997
00:55:31,880 --> 00:55:36,600
and then to live life together as the body of Christ.

998
00:55:36,600 --> 00:55:40,340
And in living life together is where we learn how to pray for one another and support one

999
00:55:40,340 --> 00:55:46,560
another and hold each other accountable and all that comes from being a part of the body.

1000
00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:53,880
And so 2024, I'm just encouraging you as the body here at Hosanna to plug into those opportunities.

1001
00:55:53,880 --> 00:55:57,780
As a church, we're going to continue to try and equip you for those opportunities and

1002
00:55:57,780 --> 00:56:00,560
provide opportunities for you to do just that.

1003
00:56:00,560 --> 00:56:04,740
That's why we mentioned our next community group season is starting in a couple of weeks.

1004
00:56:04,740 --> 00:56:06,200
Plug in.

1005
00:56:06,200 --> 00:56:10,640
Our men's ministry is having its first men's conference in years, in a couple months.

1006
00:56:10,640 --> 00:56:12,100
Men, sign up.

1007
00:56:12,100 --> 00:56:14,400
You're going to be blessed.

1008
00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:19,200
Both our men's and women's ministries are going to be rolling out discipleship programs,

1009
00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:22,360
kind of more on a one-on-one discipleship thing this year.

1010
00:56:22,360 --> 00:56:25,840
Take advantage of the opportunity.

1011
00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:29,700
As I said, we're going to be doing a short series after Revelation on biblical finances

1012
00:56:29,700 --> 00:56:33,020
and stewardship because I know everybody's struggling.

1013
00:56:33,020 --> 00:56:34,020
Everybody is struggling.

1014
00:56:34,020 --> 00:56:37,480
But what does the Bible say about finances?

1015
00:56:37,480 --> 00:56:40,340
What does the Bible say about trusting God with what he's given us?

1016
00:56:40,340 --> 00:56:43,780
And so we're going to be going through some of these principles and teaching what that

1017
00:56:43,780 --> 00:56:49,500
means and then after that, we're going to start the book of Genesis and start with,

1018
00:56:49,500 --> 00:56:51,620
in the beginning, God.

1019
00:56:51,620 --> 00:56:54,800
And I think that's a great place to start the year.

1020
00:56:54,800 --> 00:56:59,300
In the beginning of 2024, God.

1021
00:56:59,300 --> 00:57:01,020
God is here.

1022
00:57:01,020 --> 00:57:02,420
God is in our church.

1023
00:57:02,420 --> 00:57:05,060
God is in your lives.

1024
00:57:05,060 --> 00:57:07,700
He is working.

1025
00:57:07,700 --> 00:57:11,620
We're trying to work towards having a family camp this summer.

1026
00:57:11,620 --> 00:57:13,300
We'll have more information on that as we come up.

1027
00:57:13,300 --> 00:57:15,240
We haven't done that in years.

1028
00:57:15,240 --> 00:57:19,220
And then again, we're just praying that God's reach through this church would continue to

1029
00:57:19,220 --> 00:57:21,980
go out into the community.

1030
00:57:21,980 --> 00:57:25,940
So pray for what God would have you do as a part of this church with the gifts he's

1031
00:57:25,940 --> 00:57:30,580
given you and the calling he's put on your life, how to get involved.

1032
00:57:30,580 --> 00:57:33,660
Because there are needs, we've announced a couple of them this morning.

1033
00:57:33,660 --> 00:57:35,640
We have needs in our children's church.

1034
00:57:35,640 --> 00:57:38,720
We always have needs in the church.

1035
00:57:38,720 --> 00:57:41,900
And it's not meant to be for just one or two people to fulfill all those needs, but us

1036
00:57:41,900 --> 00:57:46,940
collectively together, serving together to accomplish what God wants to do here in our

1037
00:57:46,940 --> 00:57:47,940
church.

1038
00:57:47,940 --> 00:57:51,700
And so I'm excited for what God's going to do through Hosanna as we together make every

1039
00:57:51,700 --> 00:57:57,180
effort to take hold of what God has for us because I've seen him do amazing things and

1040
00:57:57,180 --> 00:57:59,220
it's miraculous.

1041
00:57:59,220 --> 00:58:00,260
It's a huge blessing.

1042
00:58:00,260 --> 00:58:05,460
And so for each one of us individually and together as a church, move forward in 2024.

1043
00:58:05,460 --> 00:58:10,180
Don't settle for what has been, but thank God for what he's done.

1044
00:58:10,180 --> 00:58:12,820
But no, he isn't done yet.

1045
00:58:12,820 --> 00:58:14,740
Don't try and do everything.

1046
00:58:14,740 --> 00:58:19,620
Pray and seek the Lord on what he would have you do individually as a part of this church

1047
00:58:19,620 --> 00:58:25,520
collectively that we would then go forth doing exactly what God is calling us to do.

1048
00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:26,520
Don't look backwards.

1049
00:58:26,520 --> 00:58:28,440
Don't dwell on the past, but move forward.

1050
00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:31,100
Reach forward, press forward, right?

1051
00:58:31,100 --> 00:58:36,300
Strain forward to the goal ahead of you and don't do it alone.

1052
00:58:36,300 --> 00:58:38,640
Do it with other Christians.

1053
00:58:38,640 --> 00:58:39,640
Live life together.

1054
00:58:39,640 --> 00:58:43,460
Live, grow, mature, progress together.

1055
00:58:43,460 --> 00:58:47,800
You know the Bible says, as iron sharpens iron?

1056
00:58:47,800 --> 00:58:50,860
As iron sharpens iron.

1057
00:58:50,860 --> 00:58:52,660
That's how we get better.

1058
00:58:52,660 --> 00:58:56,940
Sometimes we have to grate against each other, but we commit to one another.

1059
00:58:56,940 --> 00:58:58,140
We pour into one another.

1060
00:58:58,140 --> 00:59:01,860
We build real relationships that go beyond surface level niceties.

1061
00:59:01,860 --> 00:59:05,420
And that's my challenge for you and this church this year.

1062
00:59:05,420 --> 00:59:06,420
Let's grow.

1063
00:59:06,420 --> 00:59:08,840
Let's grow as a family.

1064
00:59:08,840 --> 00:59:12,260
Let's grow together and see what God will accomplish in our lives individually and through

1065
00:59:12,260 --> 00:59:13,260
our church together.

1066
00:59:13,260 --> 00:59:18,020
And so this morning we're going to start the new year gathered as God's family together

1067
00:59:18,020 --> 00:59:21,360
by partaking of communion together.

1068
00:59:21,360 --> 00:59:27,540
We want to start this year focusing on him because it's about Jesus.

1069
00:59:27,540 --> 00:59:29,180
We want to focus on who he is.

1070
00:59:29,180 --> 00:59:31,780
We want to focus on what he did.

1071
00:59:31,780 --> 00:59:37,380
You know communion is this time where we gather together to remember the freedom that was

1072
00:59:37,380 --> 00:59:40,380
granted to us in salvation.

1073
00:59:40,380 --> 00:59:44,940
Where we gather to remember what he did for us that we would then move forward from the

1074
00:59:44,940 --> 00:59:46,700
ruin of sin.

1075
00:59:46,700 --> 00:59:50,820
That we would move forward from the shackles of sin and death in pursuit of all that he

1076
00:59:50,820 --> 00:59:56,560
is and all that he wants to do because we've been unshackled from the chains of sin.

1077
00:59:56,560 --> 00:59:59,460
That's what salvation is.

1078
00:59:59,460 --> 01:00:01,540
Sin and death no longer have a hold on our lives.

1079
01:00:01,540 --> 01:00:02,540
We are free.

1080
01:00:02,540 --> 01:00:04,640
We sang that in worship this morning.

1081
01:00:04,640 --> 01:00:07,660
We are free.

1082
01:00:07,660 --> 01:00:10,180
And some of you it's free to run.

1083
01:00:10,180 --> 01:00:13,340
Some of you it's free to dance.

1084
01:00:13,340 --> 01:00:15,340
Dancing's not for me.

1085
01:00:15,340 --> 01:00:20,700
It would just trust me.

1086
01:00:20,700 --> 01:00:26,080
We are all free to do what God's called us to do.

1087
01:00:26,080 --> 01:00:30,820
And so all that Jesus has done is that we may know him.

1088
01:00:30,820 --> 01:00:33,900
Jesus Christ who is the truth.

1089
01:00:33,900 --> 01:00:35,460
That we may live for him.

1090
01:00:35,460 --> 01:00:37,840
Jesus Christ who is the way.

1091
01:00:37,840 --> 01:00:38,980
And that we may share him.

1092
01:00:38,980 --> 01:00:42,780
Jesus Christ who is the life for everyone on this planet.

1093
01:00:42,780 --> 01:00:43,980
Amen.

1094
01:00:43,980 --> 01:00:47,160
You should all have a communion cup in your hands here.

1095
01:00:47,160 --> 01:00:49,120
If you're new the quick instructions here.

1096
01:00:49,120 --> 01:00:52,060
This cup has two plastic tabs on the front.

1097
01:00:52,060 --> 01:00:54,480
There's a very thin one and a thick one.

1098
01:00:54,480 --> 01:00:58,660
If you very carefully pull back the thin tab what it's going to reveal is the cracker on

1099
01:00:58,660 --> 01:01:00,340
the top of this cup.

1100
01:01:00,340 --> 01:01:04,500
If you're watching from home I hope you have your communion ebbs and bids ready.

1101
01:01:04,500 --> 01:01:07,340
If you haven't got them yet go ahead and get them right now as we're going to share in

1102
01:01:07,340 --> 01:01:08,940
communion together.

1103
01:01:08,940 --> 01:01:13,680
But you know when Jesus was gathered with his people.

1104
01:01:13,680 --> 01:01:16,380
He was gathered with his disciples.

1105
01:01:16,380 --> 01:01:18,940
There on that night where he instituted the Lord's Supper.

1106
01:01:18,940 --> 01:01:23,240
It tells us that he took the bread and then he gave thanks.

1107
01:01:23,240 --> 01:01:30,020
And then he broke the bread and he said this is my body which is for you.

1108
01:01:30,020 --> 01:01:32,940
This bread represents the body of Jesus Christ.

1109
01:01:32,940 --> 01:01:35,260
It isn't the body of Jesus Christ.

1110
01:01:35,260 --> 01:01:40,620
It represents the body of Jesus Christ.

1111
01:01:40,620 --> 01:01:44,420
Now this bread has no leaven in it because the body of Christ was without sin.

1112
01:01:44,420 --> 01:01:46,940
He was not puffed up in any way shape or form.

1113
01:01:46,940 --> 01:01:51,220
And so when he said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance for me he

1114
01:01:51,220 --> 01:01:56,980
wanted us to never forget throughout the ages of the church as we gather together periodically

1115
01:01:56,980 --> 01:02:03,480
to celebrate communion together to never forget that because of what he did we are able then

1116
01:02:03,480 --> 01:02:06,820
to move forward living in freedom from sin.

1117
01:02:06,820 --> 01:02:10,260
We are able to move forward from past mistakes.

1118
01:02:10,260 --> 01:02:13,820
We are able to move forward in forgiveness.

1119
01:02:13,820 --> 01:02:17,940
To not dwell on God I messed up I did this but to say God please forgive me.

1120
01:02:17,940 --> 01:02:21,860
You died for me you paid the price for me and God helped me move forward and he says

1121
01:02:21,860 --> 01:02:25,140
I forgive you let's move forward.

1122
01:02:25,140 --> 01:02:26,140
That's what we remember in this.

1123
01:02:26,140 --> 01:02:30,260
We remember that he was the only one that could possibly die for our sin because he

1124
01:02:30,260 --> 01:02:33,880
was the only one that was sinless.

1125
01:02:33,880 --> 01:02:38,660
And so in our remembering as we move forward in our life as Christians and say God what's

1126
01:02:38,660 --> 01:02:41,620
next take me past the ruins of my mistakes.

1127
01:02:41,620 --> 01:02:42,900
I want to live for you.

1128
01:02:42,900 --> 01:02:43,900
I want to live in obedience.

1129
01:02:43,900 --> 01:02:49,940
When we think of all that we understand that we could do nothing good without him because

1130
01:02:49,940 --> 01:02:53,940
without him we're lost in our nature as sinners.

1131
01:02:53,940 --> 01:02:58,140
But we remember that he went to the cross for us.

1132
01:02:58,140 --> 01:03:00,140
We remember that he died for us.

1133
01:03:00,140 --> 01:03:05,780
We remember that the wages of our sin fell on him that we would be free.

1134
01:03:05,780 --> 01:03:13,780
We remember that he loved you and me so much that he freely took that judgment on himself

1135
01:03:13,780 --> 01:03:21,940
and because of what he did we were able to know him to know the truth to know Jesus Christ

1136
01:03:21,940 --> 01:03:26,900
as our own personal savior and because of what he did we are then able to live the truth

1137
01:03:26,900 --> 01:03:32,260
to live Jesus because through him we are changed through him we are saved through him we are

1138
01:03:32,260 --> 01:03:38,420
set free and in doing so we are then people who could share the truth the good news of

1139
01:03:38,420 --> 01:03:42,100
a changed life a saved life.

1140
01:03:42,100 --> 01:03:44,540
That's what we remember in this moment of communion.

1141
01:03:44,540 --> 01:03:45,540
Let's pray together.

1142
01:03:45,540 --> 01:03:52,460
Father we thank you God that you paid this great price for us that we would be free and

1143
01:03:52,460 --> 01:03:54,620
able to move forward.

1144
01:03:54,620 --> 01:04:01,820
We thank you God that you went to the cross willingly.

1145
01:04:01,820 --> 01:04:09,300
God that you gave yourself as the atoning sacrifice that we would be free that Lord

1146
01:04:09,300 --> 01:04:13,300
from the moment of our salvation forward that every mistake we will ever make in the future

1147
01:04:13,300 --> 01:04:17,140
we could come to you and say God I know you knew about that and I know you died to pay

1148
01:04:17,140 --> 01:04:22,380
the price for that sin so God please forgive me please just wash me clean of that and help

1149
01:04:22,380 --> 01:04:29,500
me to move forward in the victory that you have for me.

1150
01:04:29,500 --> 01:04:35,500
Because God we know that you have purposes and plans for our life and we want to walk

1151
01:04:35,500 --> 01:04:43,940
in that but we can't do that when we shackle ourselves back to the chains of our sin.

1152
01:04:43,940 --> 01:04:50,340
So God as we remember your body given for us that body that was scourged that was nailed

1153
01:04:50,340 --> 01:05:05,140
to the cross that was literally freely gifted laying on the altar that we would remember

1154
01:05:05,140 --> 01:05:12,580
that it fully satisfied the wrath of God it fully paid the price that we can move forward.

1155
01:05:12,580 --> 01:05:16,540
We thank you God for that great great great work.

1156
01:05:16,540 --> 01:05:21,980
Let's partake together.

1157
01:05:21,980 --> 01:05:35,500
There's you in the room if you very carefully pull back the thicker plastic tab it will

1158
01:05:35,500 --> 01:05:36,980
review the juice here in the cup.

1159
01:05:36,980 --> 01:05:41,660
So at that same last supper when Jesus took the cup it tells us he said this is the new

1160
01:05:41,660 --> 01:05:47,500
covenant in my blood do this in remembrance for me and many of us have heard studies about

1161
01:05:47,500 --> 01:05:51,180
the old covenant and the regular sacrifice that people had to make they had to keep coming

1162
01:05:51,180 --> 01:05:56,140
back over and over and over to shed the blood of an animal because death was the price of

1163
01:05:56,140 --> 01:06:03,340
sin and yet an animal's blood wasn't enough to fully wash away the stain of sin so they

1164
01:06:03,340 --> 01:06:08,940
had to keep coming back over and over and over to make sacrifice.

1165
01:06:08,940 --> 01:06:16,060
And the problem is because it was animal blood it would just cover the sin symbolically they

1166
01:06:16,060 --> 01:06:19,460
were just covered the sin was still there they still had a wicked heart it was still

1167
01:06:19,460 --> 01:06:22,460
there but it was just covered.

1168
01:06:22,460 --> 01:06:29,660
But when Jesus came and he said this is the new covenant he's wanting us to remember that

1169
01:06:29,660 --> 01:06:36,860
he's washed us clean of sin like the stain is gone that because of his shed blood we

1170
01:06:36,860 --> 01:06:42,600
could press on and move forward from the ruins of sin not living a life looking backward

1171
01:06:42,600 --> 01:06:47,980
but forgetting what is behind as Paul said forgetting what is behind not trying to always

1172
01:06:47,980 --> 01:06:51,800
atone for what we've done and make up for it but understanding the price has been paid

1173
01:06:51,800 --> 01:06:59,220
we are free we are free to go forward in newness not harboring unforgiveness for others that

1174
01:06:59,220 --> 01:07:06,100
have sinned against us but forgiving them because we know God has forgiven us.

1175
01:07:06,100 --> 01:07:15,460
We run towards we pursue we make every effort to take hold of the goal which is Jesus and

1176
01:07:15,460 --> 01:07:20,220
that relationship of perfect blameless salvation and perfect fellowship with him we remember

1177
01:07:20,220 --> 01:07:24,060
this was the price that was paid for it.

1178
01:07:24,060 --> 01:07:31,740
The forgiveness the reconciliation the restoration for us for others forgetting what is behind

1179
01:07:31,740 --> 01:07:35,980
forgetting the old covenant in that sense knowing we've been washed clean that's what

1180
01:07:35,980 --> 01:07:42,660
we remember as we partake of this juice that it represents the blood of Jesus Christ shed

1181
01:07:42,660 --> 01:07:46,460
for us once and for all forever.

1182
01:07:46,460 --> 01:07:54,220
I don't know what your 2023 was like it may have been great it may have been full of trauma

1183
01:07:54,220 --> 01:07:58,120
but it's in the past.

1184
01:07:58,120 --> 01:08:06,260
What has been is gone you learn from it you grow from it absolutely but ultimately you

1185
01:08:06,260 --> 01:08:13,060
don't dwell you press ahead the goal of salvation the goal of freedom the goal everything that

1186
01:08:13,060 --> 01:08:19,980
that means Jesus has for you forward move forward trust in what he's done because he

1187
01:08:19,980 --> 01:08:25,580
did it and if you've put your faith in it you've received it.

1188
01:08:25,580 --> 01:08:36,460
Let's pray Father we remember God and we look forward to your work in our lives.

1189
01:08:36,460 --> 01:08:40,900
God we take hold of what is still to come Lord because we know that your blood was shed

1190
01:08:40,900 --> 01:08:45,820
that you cleansed us from all sin and all unrighteousness.

1191
01:08:45,820 --> 01:08:49,340
God we're grateful Lord that you've bound us together as a church here at Hosanna and

1192
01:08:49,340 --> 01:08:53,540
we're grateful Lord that you've bound us together in the relationships we have with other believers

1193
01:08:53,540 --> 01:08:59,540
Lord but God we know that if you're not the center of all of that Lord it all falls apart

1194
01:08:59,540 --> 01:09:07,660
and so God we're so grateful that you came to be the center the center of our lives the

1195
01:09:07,660 --> 01:09:14,340
center of our church the center of our relationships Lord that that when you made this new covenant

1196
01:09:14,340 --> 01:09:18,340
God it's not a process of us constantly trying to make up for what we've done and constantly

1197
01:09:18,340 --> 01:09:24,580
dwelling on the past and constantly trying to fix all the mistakes Lord but God we learn

1198
01:09:24,580 --> 01:09:31,580
from those things and we move forward in the steps needed to to fix relationships Lord

1199
01:09:31,580 --> 01:09:38,140
we move forward in the steps of trusting you we move forward God in the freedom and the

1200
01:09:38,140 --> 01:09:41,780
forgiveness you've given to us.

1201
01:09:41,780 --> 01:09:51,500
Lord bless our 2024 individually as a church we love you we look forward to your work in

1202
01:09:51,500 --> 01:10:04,380
Jesus name we pray let's partake together.

1203
01:10:04,380 --> 01:10:11,760
I pray God will bless your lives greatly this year and whatever that means I pray God would

1204
01:10:11,760 --> 01:10:19,940
draw you closer to him this year and whatever that means I pray that Jesus would rise higher

1205
01:10:19,940 --> 01:10:25,540
in your life that he would rise higher in your sights your horizons that Jesus would

1206
01:10:25,540 --> 01:10:30,900
be the focus of everything because as the years of ministry are teaching me over and

1207
01:10:30,900 --> 01:10:39,580
over and over again that the answer to everything is Jesus more Jesus so get more Jesus know

1208
01:10:39,580 --> 01:10:46,540
Jesus more live Jesus more share Jesus more and I bet you'll be blessed because of it

1209
01:10:46,540 --> 01:11:13,540
God bless you guys.