This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Avalon Park, Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar driving directions and more audio recordings. Good morning. Apologize, it's a little bit warm in here, but we've talked to the folks at the school here and they're working on the AC there. Of course, if you're a regular here, you know that's often something we're working on here as well. So hopefully that's going to get corrected for that. But I've got to ask, since we're all here, we're all here, post-fay. How many of you, just by show of hands, have water inside your house, whatever varying degree? I'm just kind of curious. Okay, so maybe a third of us here. I know there's some of us that actually have their house torn apart as far as my mom's house has all the hardwood floors taken up on one side of the din and stuff. Where are the sea legs? Where's Melissa? How are you guys holding up? Okay. Chimney was leaking and other things. Anyway, I think our area have fared a lot better than other areas, as we all know. But let me just pause as we start the service here. Let me just pray for those here that are specifically struggling with that. But let's also pray for those on the coast, especially Northeast of us that really received a lot of damage. And just ask for God to really work in their midst here because they're probably struggling even in deeper ways than we are this morning. So let's pray. God, we thank you that you protected so many of us in the loss of life. Well, one loss of life is too many, but it was still seem to be very minimal compared to what it could have been. We thank you for your graciousness there for those that are dealing with that. God, would you pour out your mercy and grace on those families and give strength and comfort and hope and peace? And for those that are dealing with much more common problem, water damage. Some where houses are maybe destroyed or at least severely damaged. And even those here in the room here that have varying levels, God of damage like whether it's a patpuck in a sea legs or there are bannocks and Susan others. I know in the room here that are struggling with that. God, would you just buy your mercy and grace? God, give strength to get through that. Provide there. We know you're the God of all protection, the God of all provision, and demonstrate that God to your children during this time. And finally, may we be an encouragement to those around us that might be going through that as well. May we be the source of your hands and your love reaching out to our neighbors and to our community and those in need. So God, give us your heart for that here and help us to respond as your church, as your as your bride, as your people. God, caring for those around us. And I pray you be with our time and the rest of our service now this morning. And Jesus, name or pray. Amen. Thanks. Well, this morning, if you're here, and you are, you're here in a very strategic morning. We do this once a year. It's called visionizing. And visionizing is really simply made upward, which some of you know I like to do that kind of thing. Vision plus exercising equals nice, nice, nice, almost like a good Baptist church. You guys are doing good. I had to say that for some for John back there. Anyway, we have got to be part of putting our vision into exercise, putting it into practice. We've just seen the Olympics come to an end or it's ending today or whatever with that. We have seen the epitome of people who have taken goals, visions, and put exercising to it. We've seen it come to the extreme, the very best people, the very most focused people, the most disciplined people, men and women around the world. The very best that this world has to offer as far as athletics and competition. We've seen the results that they can have with the world record set. And guys like Phelps who are doing amazing things like that. We've seen how it can be effective with that. So here we are this morning as a church with even a higher call, much higher call than that of an athlete. The highest call of being able to put into action what God has called His people to do. That's what we're going to talk about here this morning, the vision. The unique vision here that God has given us here at Christ's Kingdom Church and putting that into exercise here this morning. And let me tell you this, you're going to be in two different camps this morning and we don't normally have this kind of situation. I want to tell you right up front. Some of you are players in the locker room and some of you are the more spectators watching it on TV. I don't know, you can think of the sports, whatever it is, whether it's football or basketball or even the Olympics kind of thing. You get the behind-the-scenes footage. You can be a participant in the locker room or you can be the one watching on TV and hearing. Everything the coach is saying, watching how the players respond. And if you're here this morning and if Christ's Kingdom Church is your church home, if you're a member here or if you're in that process of membership, and there's about 38 family units in our church right now that they're either members and a process of membership, you know who you are, then you're in the locker room. And I'm talking to you directly this morning and you're sitting what looks like a seat right now but it's really a bench in the locker room. And we're talking, coach, the player, and we're interacting on that level. And if you're here this morning and you're a guest or if you're still kind of determining, is Christ's Kingdom Church going to be your church home? Well, you are right in there with us. But you're kind of watching via TV screen. You're hearing everything I'm going to say, you're hearing what I'm talking to the team and it's extremely important. And you know what, you're an invited guest, you are a welcome guest. But I'm going to say some challenging things to the team that I hope will encourage you to consider being a part of the team. But who could, you know, it could be taken, there's things I want to talk to you directly, just like a coach. And the coach is being interviewed after the game on camera talking to the audience. He's saying things a little bit different in a little different way than he is when the camera's just watching him talking to the team at halftime or before the game or after the game. So I want you to understand that I'm going to be talking in ways, very direct ways towards the end of the service that's pointed to the team, the current team. But I hope in my prayer is that many of you who are watching observing, this will be just the thing that will confirm for you that God's calling you to be a part of this particular team. And I want to tell you right up front as well too, that there are tremendous other great churches in the area. And if our particular strategy that you're going to hear talked about this morning, the vision of this unique church, you'll see a lot that's in common with any church that is following Jesus Christ. But you'll see some unique things that are true of this church. That will help be a guide for you to figure out, all right, is this work? It's got to call me to be a part of this team. And if it's not this team, we want to help you find another team. There are a lot of great churches in the area. I'd love to talk to you about that. But I want you to know right now at front what's most important is that you find the team that God's calling you to serve on, the team that's won a part of his church body. So I hope it will be us this morning. I want to tell you that right up front as you're doing that here. So any questions on that? All right, we're in the locker room. We're talking. You're all invited guests and I'm glad you're here and be a part of that. Right now, turn to Acts 1 versus 1 through 8. It's also, I believe, printed on the back of your insert. This one inside. You can leave that other insert alone for a while. We will get to that shortly. But this is God's holy and inspired word and hear his word now as I read that for us. In my former book, theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven. After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen, after his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command. Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father has promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So when they met together they asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or dates the father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in in all Judea, in Samaria, into the ends of the earth. This is God's holy and inspired word. As we look at that here this morning, if you follow that outline, if you'd like to, on that, two things I want to hammer here this morning. One is this, the certainty of the kingdom's restoration, the certainty of the kingdom's restoration. Notice here, as Jesus is talking, think about what the context is here. And for those that aren't familiar with that, let me catch up to speed real quick. Jesus has died on the cross. That's already happened historically at this point. Jesus has already risen from the dead. That's happened. We're in this period of time after Jesus has resurrected before he ascends back to heaven where he sits. Now, right hand of God, the Father Almighty, awaiting his second return, according to the scriptures. So here we're in this little gap of time, a matter of a few weeks that Jesus is appearing. Here are over 40 days that says here, and we're told other places to at least 500 people. People are seeing the resurrected Christ. So Jesus has got this 40 day window or so here that he is talking and he's hanging out. He has done the majority of his earthly ministry already. And of course with the crucifixion and with the resurrection, it's the climax of that has happened of his earthly ministry. But he is spending his time doing some very important things. Now, according to this text, what's he doing? What is Jesus doing? The 40 days before he's going to go back to heaven, audience participation time, eating and hanging out, what else? Is he talking about anything with them in particular? The vision whose kingdom? The kingdom. Thank you. Let me look at that there at the universe three. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days. And what's he speaking about? And he spoke about the kingdom of God. Now a very logical question comes up next. Because it says on one occasion he was eating with them and he gave them this command. Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift, the father promise which you've heard me speak about. For John that passed the order and a few days I'm going to pass you the Holy Spirit. So when they met together they asked the Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Is this the time? Is this what's going to happen? It's the classic wind question. All right this is sounding good, this kingdom stuff. Well is it now? The question is answered by Jesus kind of indirectly. He doesn't say yes, it's right now. He doesn't say no, it's coming a little bit later. He comes back and he simply says in verse seven, it is not for you to know the times or the dates and my father is set by his own authority. He kind of doesn't answer the wind question. He does certainly imply, hey, yeah you better believe the kingdom is being restored. But there's a certain level of your understanding of its fulfillment that it's not for you to know right now. Notice he avoids the wind question which by the way living in our day and age isn't that the most the biggest question for those who are Christians here today and books have been written about it. When is Jesus going to come back? And by the way historically every generation since Jesus resurrection has thought Jesus very well could come back in their day and age. People are wondering when, when, when, when, when? The question that Jesus is going to answer does not win but how? He says hey leave when up to God. When and this kingdom is being restored and exactly. When is Jesus going to come back for the second time and consummate this kingdom? I mean you are bringing it to its full conclusion. But let me tell you what I really want to answer. The question I want to really answer Jesus said was how? How? How is this kingdom coming? So certainly it was very certain that the kingdom was being restored. But Jesus focused on the question of how and he goes on and he tells them exactly how which takes us to point number two this morning. There was no question about the certainty of the kingdom's restoration but what Jesus wanted to focus on was number two the method of the kingdom's restoration, the method. And according to Jesus here, what is the how question? How is the kingdom going to come? There you go. Through the Holy Spirit. Through the work of the Holy Spirit. Through the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ's kingdom church name has not been picked accidentally. In fact years before we even started the church. I felt like that kind of placed that name on my heart and we even talked about it. Mark Bates and I about should we change the name of the University of Preseturing in church to Christ's kingdom church. I was like, well, you know, you kind of got a name already going. Might do a lot. But I thought my back my head, wow, that would be a really cool name at one point. God ever called me to plan a church. So there was no question when God led Laura and I to launch out with 30 or so of you from UPC. This was going to be the name of the church because we knew it was going to be about the kingdom. We wanted that focus to be upfront because it was on Jesus' heart and mind. The establishment of his kingdom. And it's not by accident when Jesus says, hey, you want to know how to pray? Pray this way. Our Father, who art in heaven, how would be thy name? Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it isn't heaven. And he goes on. In order so you can do that, then pray. God give us as they are daily bread. God forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and so on. The heartbeat of what God in what Jesus said was supposed to be your prayers is this idea of the kingdom coming here on earth as it isn't heaven. This is what is at the heartbeat and why I picked this text here, this boy for us to look at, is that we understand or are trying to understand better what that means and what that looks and how we play that out. It's a local community church here this morning. And the method is very clearly the Holy Spirit. Well, what did the Holy Spirit represent? Because it's easy to say, oh, the Holy Spirit. Okay, good. We got the Holy Spirit on our team. We're done. We're good to go. But what is the Holy Spirit's role involvement? Think about it. The Holy Spirit represents God's presence with His people. When Jesus, by the way, has very last words before He goes up in heaven and says, and I'll, I'll be with you always, even to the end of the age. I mean, it doesn't seem a little bit ironic. I'll be with you always. It's kind of like, hello. Mufasa, you said you never leave me. Is it going to be this distant thing, this distant idea of your Father in heaven or Jesus, the Son of God in heaven? He's going to be with you in thoughts and memory. Now, Jesus said, look, it's better for me to get to the Father because why? Because then my Father will send my Holy Spirit to you. And you think it's good seeing me with flesh and blood, being able to touch and talk to me and interact with me, and that was good. That is good. But Jesus said, look, it's going to get better. I can't tell you how many times it's a kid and even now it's a adult. I think, man, I want to be so cool to walk her and live around the days of Jesus, being able to hang out with them, being able to talk to them, being able to play fantasy football with them. Man, that would be awesome. You know, whatever you want to do, just being able to just be around them. And Jesus said, look, there's something better happening, ultimately, for the kingdom. And that's my departure now so the Spirit will come and my Spirit will fulfill and empower my church, all those who are truly my followers. He makes that promise to never leave you. It's not the Mufasa thing. And some recollection in your heart hits his real presence by the power of his Holy Spirit that he promises. So when he says, wait until you receive power because the Holy Spirit is going to come, he's saying, look, there's going to be a manifestation of my presence that you're going to know something's different. You're going to know that the second part is true. Not only is God's presence with them, but his Holy Spirit represents God's empowerment to us, the church. It represents his empowerment. Now you got to think about this in the first place. Jesus has already been kind of setting up his whole ministry. He's been training his disciples. He's been talking probably to these 500 or so people over the days about the need of the Spirit about the need that they have to go out and make disciples to go out and to spread the good news. And then Jesus says something that in his locker room at that day, you would say would be really, really ineffective. I mean when the team comes out of a locker room, you want them to understand and realize and to feel that they've got the power to do what it takes. Whether you're the coach before the game's thing, all right. Let's get in here. Let's do it because we can. One, two, three, go. Or at half time, hey, we're down. But we can come back because we can do it. We play like a team. We follow our game plan. You know, over our head, we've got to hang on because we can do it. Those are the kind of things that Coach says. Jesus is really a bad coach when he says, hey, don't do anything. Wait till you receive power from my Spirit. He basically says, look, you're not up for it. You can't do it. Instead of making trouble or making things bad or worse, just don't do anything and wait. I'll tell you what, you did that before a game. Or especially at half time if you're down. It's not a good strategy, unless. Unless God knows something that we don't or understands something that we don't quite grasp and understand.
And he says that, you know, you're not ready until you receive power from where it has to happen. And the assumption is a humbling thing for us of Ron is especially as 21st century Americans to say, you know, you're not powerful enough to do this. You don't have the ability to follow this call. And that's what Jesus is saying. When he says, you will receive power, wait for it. Written into that is, right now you don't have the power. Right now you don't have the ability in and of your flesh. And that's a strong statement. That's a humbling statement. Because we live in the country where it's like, pick yourself up by your bootstraps and make it happen. Jesus is saying, that's not how it works in this kingdom. And if you're trying that, you're probably either one have given up or you're probably really, really tired this morning. And I'm not saying it doesn't mean that you're not a follower of Jesus Christ this morning. But I bet some of you have just about given up. I bet some of you feel like, man, I'm not sure I see this power thing that God's talking about. The question is, are we bringing the kingdom in the power of the Holy Spirit as God has called us to and challenged us to? Because their power was insufficient. But God knew he was going to send everything they needed by his Holy Spirit. And what was the evidence when the Holy Spirit came? The first thing, yeah, well, gosh, there was a manifestation, right? And Acts 2, right? And people speaking in tongues, there was incredible miraculous signs that came with them. That was not to be, not to downscale that at all. But I want to tell you, Acts 2, what? Acts as 28 chapters. It didn't stop after Acts 2. Don't be so amazed with Acts 2 and forget the other 26 chapters. The people of God moved out in faith and obedience. Yes, when the Holy Spirit was first poured out, there was a miraculous manifestation of that, and that's important. But let me tell you, the other 26 chapters are a demonstration of God's people moving out in faith and obedience. And the disciples who once coward, like Peter, who said, hey, Jesus, I'll go with you even unto death. And Jesus said, hey, Peter, you're really only going to me into the place you're going to deny me three times tonight, the very same day he said it. And Peter and the disciples scared off like roaches when the lights turned on. We're very different men after the Holy Spirit's power was poured out. And they began to walk in that power. And they began to boldly believe God and trust God. You saw obedience in their lives. You saw confidence in their lives. Light circumstances, by the way, really only got worse for every single disciple. It was pretty smooth sailing for the most part. Well, up into the last week in Jerusalem when Jesus got arrested and killed. But before that, it was pretty smooth sailing. It got bumper, it got rougher, they got thrown in prison, they got beaten. Almost all of the disciples would end up being martyred for their faith. Things only got worse, but they lived more powerfully, more boldly. They were persecuted, and they left their persecution. If you read an ax and said, God, give us more boldness to go out and to proclaim your truth. The Holy Spirit changed everything in this power coming in our lives. The Holy Spirit comes and is the power and is the method that we're totally dependent on as God to bring His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And what I want to point out here right now is we get a little bit more practical for our church is that we have three pillars that are hinged strongly as a church on the role and the work of the Holy Spirit. And I want you to look at these. I think we have a slide here. Three pillars. First one is living worship. First one is living worship. And we talked about a few weeks ago when Jesus said, you know the greatest commandment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, mind and strength. We talked about what that was. It was saying, God said, he had to be the heart and the sinner of your entire life and existence. He had to be the thing that gave you the greatest joy. He had to be the thing that he was taken away from your life. You would no longer want to live. He had to be the thing that you woke up to, that you claimed to. The one that you dreamed about and fantasized at night. The one that there was no more beautiful and glorious in your mind than Him. He was saying that. And if you do that, we talked about whatever you put at the center of the heart in your life. Whatever it is, it's what you worship. So when we talk about our first pillar being living worship, we're talking about that our lives, not Sunday morning from 10 to 1130, but our lives are to be spent living worshiping God, because God is at the center of all that we do. And as we talk about our vision, that is our first pillar that we put to depend on, is that we want that to be true of this church. And that is made power, made true through the work of the Holy Spirit, because the spirit alone is one that empowers that. Only the Holy Spirit can make that shift in your heart. That says, you know what, control is really. Because you know, our idols look a whole lot different than they did some centuries ago. Let me tell you what the most dangerous forms of false religion are. It's not Hindu, it's not Muslim. It's not Buddhism. It's this kind of false religion, control. It's the thing I value most in my life. It's the thing I really worship. It's the thing that makes me feel alive. It's the thing that makes me happy. It's the thing that makes it taken away from me, I want to die. Control is just one example. Let me tell you one of my biggest struggles. Approval. Approval is what I worship. Approval is what I need. Approval is what makes me happiest. Approval is that if you take that away from me, I would want to die. Or feel like it. You see the false idols, the false gods of our age are much more complicated or complex than simply a false religion. And don't hear me wrong. Those religions are false. But right here in the Christian so much to a large degree in the United States, we claim that we have as many or more false idols as some of these other places or countries, because our idols just look different. We're bounding down to gods in our heart that are not the God of the Universe, the Creator, the one that's revealed by the Sun, Jesus Christ. So living worship means that Jesus is what we choose over control. Jesus and acceptance by Him and love for Him and serving Him is what we choose over approval. I'm just picking control and approval because those are two of the biggest ones that we can often struggle with. You can name it. Second pillar for us is a church that we think is so important. Number two. Number two. There we go. Experiencing community. You see, when you have people that are lives, like Romans 121 says, your lives are living offerings of worship. When you have a group of people living that way, it creates community. When those people are together, there's a level of community that God wants in this church that you can't find anywhere else. So there's a reason why Jesus said, you know, the greatest commandment is the level of Lord's God, about your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Number one. Make your life worship of Him. And there's reason why he said the second one was, let your neighbors yourself, because the second one spills out of the first one. When you have a love for God like that, it puts things in perspective. And you realize your value, you realize the value of others, you realize how they are not just supplemental to your life, but God is intertwined as a community to live and care for one another. And by the way, do not be just satisfied with just having a few people. If you have the heart and the mind of Christ through His Holy Spirit in a church community, you're not going to be satisfied saying, well, this is good enough. You're not going to be satisfied though, because your desire in the part of the very DNA of a Holy Spirit-led community is that you want to grow. You want others to experience what you're experiencing. It spills out of who you are, because if Christ is at the center, if living worship is at the center of your life, your life is spent focused on Jesus Christ, and you're then empowered by living in a community of people doing the same thing. It's going to lead to the third pillar we have, kingdom expansion, a heart for seeing God's work happen. Now, very often, in many places, we think about kingdom expansion in one sense. We think of world missions. We think about taking the gospel to places where it's never been before, and that's extremely important. We think of building up the church in places where the church is weak, or there's not many Christians there. So the message can be proclaimed, and that's important. But let me tell you something. This is a mission. Christ's kingdom church in East Orlando is a mission. And let me tell you something. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, and definitely if you're a member of this church, let me say powerfully and with authority to use your pastor, you are our missionaries. And yes, we support the famines in Thailand. And yes, we support Nathaniel Aduandu in West Africa. And yes, those two are very valid missionaries, but no more valid missionaries than every single one of you. Mike and Allison Lee, Jeff Maria Beechler, Eric Kimberley Harder, Donnie Catherine Zurbian, today in some of you, you are all missionaries. You all are a part of bringing the kingdom. I love the way Chuck Berry, when he came to spoke last spring, talked about you know where the edge of the kingdom of God is? Look down your two toes. Wherever you are is an ambassador of Jesus Christ, and where you work, and where you live, and where you play, and where you hang out. The edge of your toes is the edge of the kingdom of God going out there. Kids in school that are here and around. You guys are walking, bringing the kingdom of God, and whatever you do, wherever you act, wherever you live, those seven or eight hours, whatever you're in school, or the extra curricular hours and time that you have, you're walking, you're doing it. You are where the kingdom of God is coming. And it's not just important to be able to tell people who Jesus is, but you know what, you ought to be a living testimony of who Jesus is. And you bigger kids, your two toes are the edge of the kingdom too, wherever you're walking, wherever you're living, in your community. It's your place of employment and your civic social gatherings. We are called to do that. We are called to expand that kingdom. We'll move on from that. There's the certainty of the kingdom of restoration. Jesus is restoring his kingdom, and I don't think he's waiting to begin. I think he already started. And the method is the power of the Holy Spirit working in the community people. Complete reliance upon him. It's Jesus saying, alright, now, when my spirit is filling and empowering you, now you're ready to go into the game, trusting me, depending on me. You know the good news about that by the way, do you come out of that locker room? Do you come out of that locker room? And you're saying, and it's say, hey, allow the power of God to work in your life. And quit trying to do it on your own. You could say, guys, that's really depleting. Or you could say, that's really freeing. I mean, I don't have to work this up on my own. I mean, I can simply believe God's promises and trust in Him. I mean, I can believe He's going to go with me wherever I am. That's freeing. That's what He's telling us to do. Well, here's my challenge for Christ's kingdom church. Again, if you're a church member, if you're on that process of membership, like several of you are here, several families are here, if you're even contemplating it, let me challenge you with this. Take out this little insert here. Be impacted on one side, make an impact on the other. I want to challenge you at the start of a new year, to consider taking to light here at the importance of God, of bringing His kingdom here on earth, and doing it in the power of the Holy Spirit, reliance dependence upon Him. And what I want to challenge you to do, I want you to look, just look at the side that says, be impacted. That's embold as a place where your name and address below. I want to challenge you here this morning to make a commitment for this new year that you will put yourself in position yourself to be impacted by the work of God here this morning. Yeah, Andy's going to go ahead. If anybody is missing one of these, please hold up your hands. We have some extra copies. It was in every bulletin. Raise your hand if you don't have a copy of this. Just a few over here. Be impacted. One way you can do that, a 10 worship regularly. And over here, two Indian outside. You say, wait, you mean just showing up? Yeah, just showing up. Because you know what, God works in the midst of the ministry of His Word. He works in the midst of the ministry of His people. Talking to one another, sharing with one another. We've got refreshments after the service year, so you'll talk and interact and engage with each other's lives. It's important. Faithful and giving. And let me explain this, by the way. The tide for those that don't know is 10% of your income and offering is what the Bible tells us is our minimal responsibility to do. And by the way, the tide is a reminder that it's all gods. And 10% off the top for the very beginning, your first fruits was just simply to say, look, just so you don't forget that. At 100% of its gods, always your challenge to get the tide. And your offerings on top of that. But I just want to give you a glimpse here. This is weekly for us as a church. 3,200 is the average offering, or it was from January to June, 2008. Our average expenses was $5,800. I did the math for you. 2,600 weekly deficit. Now the good news is that guys provided in the first few years of our church outside supporters who have invested in us, outside this church community to say, we believe God wants a church in East Orlando, in the Avalon Park, waterfront area. So the good news is that we're not in the red in the bank account. But you can see if we want to mature, we want to be the church of gods called us to be, we want to be able to feed ourselves, to speak, live on our own offering. It would require additional offering. And there, that 5,600 amount, this is simply by the, and this is just statistics. From the 3,200 to 8 zip code, what the average income is. If you just took 10% off that, and you divided it by 52 weeks a year, $5,600 is what our offering would be. By the exact number of families, by the way, 38 family units, that we have there either members or in the membership process here at this church. If we had 100% faithfulness, that just gives you a picture of what it could look like, we don't want to be $200 short from being totally self-sufficient as a church. And I say that not to make you feel bad for those that are part of this church. I'm saying that to challenge you, that God is providing the resources here. And now some of you are below the average in your income. And some of you are above the average of the income. By challenges as a church, this is a way you can choose to be impacted. Because when we are faithful to give, you think, oh, how come that ain't on the other side? It's on this side because this is, God says where your money is, that your heart will be also, where your treasure is. God knows this. This is a way that our lives are impacted. So I wanted to make sure you understood that. There's starting point. That's just something we do once a month. That's a place for you to get connected, a place to begin. Previews class is something we offer every two or three times a year. There's the dates for our next one coming up in October. A place where you can join the church, the thing that's required to go through to become a member. That would be one thing. And here are very important to our community groups. And I want you to see a chance. Here's where you can get impacted. Here's where you can go and connect with other people's lives, build lasting friendships and relationships, encourage one another to grow together. And there's some very specific ones that are beginning starting in September of 2008. You can look there and see what each title was. It tells you if it says anyone, it means male, female, single couple. If it says just women, that's obvious, or just men, that's obvious. But you can get a chance to scan through there and see the opportunities that are there. One clarification. The one that says reason for God by 10 colors is men with a friend. I'm going to be leading that one. And men, you can come as long as you bring a friend that either is, doesn't have a church home, doesn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ or is, you know, a brand new believer. Sony, that's new on that process. So just to clarify that one. But look here. And check any of those boxes of ones that you might be that might seem something that you're interested in. They won't have smile call and follow up. But right now, I've asked for their abandons to come forward. I think they're still around here somewhere. They're there. To come forward and share a little bit, where do our microphones go? Jason. Just to share a little bit about being impacted. In the ministry of the church. Thanks, guys. And this is a little Colby for those that haven't met her. Good morning. Okay. My name is Brad. This is my wife, Jenna. And our baby girl. She's five and a half weeks old. Colby. And hoping I can make through this. You know, we've given our own testimonies in the past. But this is more, you know, just through our marriage and just life together. God has just taken care of us. But we've just never seen the power of God work like this before. Prior to our pregnancy with Colby, we've not faced trials that have challenged us and knocked us off our feet quite like this one. We've been able to handle most things on our own and have that often gone beyond the friendship level with the people in our church. However, going through something like that, we absolutely couldn't handle on our own, gave us a new experience of what a church family is all about. Starting at 20 weeks into our pregnancy, Jenna was labeled high-risk. We were pushed by many doctors to perform test after test, and it felt as if every day came with a new set of challenges and choices to make. As the pregnancy progressed, the challenges became greater and the choices harder and more numerous. During our greatest moments of despair, we met God through the support of our friends. Those we consider our family in Christ. There are many of you sitting in the congregation today who we didn't even know very well. But you wrote us a short email or stopped us at church to share some encouraging words. In the middle of a day at work, all we could do was think about our fears, a phone call or an email would come at just the right time. We found later that our church family had shared our struggles with their own families and friends around the country and the world. We were soon feeling supported not only by Christ Kingdom, but by the church universal. Through prayers and emails and cards, there are also those of you in the congregation that we've known for years, especially those in our small group. You've walked through life with us, rejoiced with us, and cried with us. You've sat on the phone with us as we've agonized through all of our possible choices and the consequences. You stopped us so many times just to ask if you could pray with us and for us. We've often looked at each other in amazement and just acknowledged that we never even realized what we had in our church family until we needed it so desperately. At the end of our pregnancy, Colby was a breach, which means she's head up, and also was labeled with yet another possible medical problem. The Sunday before we delivered, we were at our lowest point. Scott came up to us after church and asked if he could pray for us. He then asked if anyone would like to join him. We were quickly surrounded by no less than 20 people who had laid hands on us and prayed. Not necessarily that she would turn head down, but that she would be healthy, and that God's will would be done. You reminded us again and again that God had not forgotten us, and that his plan was perfect. After Colby's breach presentation, a sonogram was done to determine her position and other potential complications were detected. For this reason, we were not allowed to stay at our birthing center, and we were sent to a doctor who could handle our high risk baby at a hospital with a good neonatal intensive care unit, and this is in case it was needed when she arrived. Five days after the group prayer church, Colby was delivered by emergency CC section in 60 seconds.
After her heart rate dropped to almost zero beats per minute. It was later determined by the doctors, present that if Colby had turned out of her breach position as we had hoped, it's possible she would have gone into distress and not survived natural labor. In the end, it appears that the breach presentation and the potential complications may have saved her life. We fought kicking and screaming to stay at our birthing center, but God knew we needed the hospital, and we needed our high risk doctor. He worked in spite of us, and as it turned out, Colby was born with none of the complications that were suspected. Looking back on this experience, it's clear how things were so perfectly orchestrated by a powerful and all-knowing God, and the midst of our trial, our Heavenly Father, uses children, our church family to carry us through day by day. We want this to be a testimony of God's goodness, and also thank you to our church family for your advice, tears, prayers, hugs, meals, help with medical bills and love. We never once felt alone. Thank you. Brand Jennifer for sharing with that. Just an example of what church body life is supposed to be. They're part of a community group. They're connected here in attending worship regularly, and being a part of a community. I want to challenge you. Be impacted likewise. Let's continue to pray for, by the way, for their bannocks to experience it, and they're one of the ones that have water in their house with that as well. But don't miss out on being impacted. Make a choice. Look through here and see where the Lord is leading you. Use our communion time if you'd like to select some of those things. Pray about that. But also one of the highlights as well to the other side. Make an impact. Here's opportunities that you have to yourself, throw up your sleeves, and be part of the hands of Christ and working and moving in some very specific ways. You can kind of scan through there on your own. You can see opportunities where you can make an impact in this community of Jesus Christ. I want to encourage you to do that as well. And I want to give you a chance to look as well too here at highlights from our youth trip, Mission Trip in New York City, just a few weeks ago, as they went out with the power of the Holy Spirit and trusting Him to have an impact, to go out and make an impact. So we're going to run a video of that here right now. Well, just a couple of examples there of the importance of being impacted. And by the way, it sounds like that sounds passive, being impacted, like just kind of wait for it to happen. There's a reason why there are things to check here. It's a step of faith to be impacted, to step out, but also importantly to make an impact. So let me just encourage you to use both sides of this sheet. I mean, if you are a church member here, I need one of these back from every single one of you, as individuals. And if you are on that process, you know who you are, I need one back as well too. And as you just drop in the offering basket, please make sure your name, phone number, and email is on the bottom because we won't know who you are if you don't put that information on there. If you're a guest and you're in that process and you're thinking, hey, I'm moving in that direction. You're going to welcome to fill in out, but feel no pressure to do that. But hopefully you've got a glimpse about our passion and who we are and what God's calling us to this morning. And one thing that I think is beautiful about this too, is that this is reciprocal. You get impacted by making an impact, and you make an impact by being impacted. This is a reciprocal relationship of how God designed His body, and it's a beautiful picture of that as well. One big thing that you all know that we have evidence of each year is the rose base. And some of you who are new maybe are aware of this. We put a flower in here for every time that there's a profession of faith through the course of our ministry year in a life of our church. And it's just a visible reminder. If you see a white rose in here, it means that's a brand new one. That way you can tell for that week. And it turns red the next week and we have a picture. But there's a picture here of 20 people this past year that threw the direct ministry of Christ in church, came to a place of faith in their trusting in Jesus Christ for the first time. So we want to give thanks to that. And as I take these out at the start of new ministry year, I'm going to pray for a second to give thanks for what God did. But I want you to get a picture of this new year in an empty vase right now and the potential of what could happen as God works in our midst as we step out in faith in the power of the Holy Spirit to make an impact in our community and be impacted as the church. So as we close in prayer here now and I give thanks for that and I pray for these lives that are represented. I pray for an empty vase. And hopefully in the next few weeks that won't be empty any longer with that. But take a time here to work through that during our communion time here. And if you have questions afterwards we can talk as well too. But pray your hearts now also to come to the Lord's table. Let's pray. God, I thank you for the many lives that are represented in that rose vase there. At least 20 that we know of here specifically this past year. And God, I pray that your seed that was sown there in those hearts would find good soil that they would grow. They would produce fruit. Father, just have your hand on those men and women, boys and girls that are represented there and continue to do your work. God, in the midst of your Father, I pray next year this time that we'd have to have a second vase because one wasn't big enough because we'd be seeing your power, your work, moving with a gospel transforming us and therefore those around us as we simply share the message, the good news in our lives to those around us. Father, as we are contemplating here this morning and thinking about what it means to be impacted and to make an impact, God, for those that this is their church home, I pray your spirit would make it very clear what you're leading and calling them to do. And they would be in faith during these next minutes here to be able to fill that out to mark that down and to be able to submit that here in faith here this week. Father, I pray that you would be guiding those that are still contemplating whether or not this is a church home for them. And maybe some of the things here today would help confirm that or help confirm that there's a better fit somewhere else but God would you lead them exactly where you're calling them to be as your people. So God worked here in our midst here and our prayer of hearts now has become to your table here as well. And I pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.