Speaker 1: 0:13

This week's a big deal for a bunch of people because they're going back to school. So, yeah, it's good. Some of you are pumped about this. Some people are not pumped about this. You guys get to go in front. I'm actually going to sneak into that here. You guys can stand wherever we're all going to stare at you.

Speaker 1: 0:32

So some of you are educators or you're a part of education, and I'm still thinking that you guys can go all the way up there. You guys can go right up the edge, live on the edge a little bit, and I'm so thankful for you teachers that are getting ready to go back, or those of you who are in support in education. You guys can scoot up. Come on, don't be afraid, scoot up a little bit. Yeah, keep going towards the light. See that little light up there. Everybody can see you. Then Some of you are in college. You are going back into grad school or undergrad school or some sort of bit of thing, and this is a next season for you. Some of you are parents and then right here, we've just got a ton of students and the crazy part, I'll tell you this, this isn't even like half of them that come our midweek, but they're the ones who are here this weekend and so we just want to give them some extra love as they're walking into this week and going back and being in community with others, and tell you guys, how much we love you and that we want to continue to invest in you. So in a moment I'm going to ask all of you guys to lean in and pray for this group of students. But I want to give you students. You don't have to look back at me, you can just look out there to stare at the people. This is like the awkward part where you get to look at them.

Speaker 1: 1:41

From Hebrews it's in the New Testament, chapter 10, verse 23. I'm going to paraphrase this a little bit, but this is my hope for you and something to hang on to. We actually have some key chains for you to put on your backpacks or something out the information desk at the end of today. But it says this let us hold unswervingly to hope and let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching. My prayer for you is that you would unswervingly hold on to hope and that together, in community and unity, you would consider how you would spur one another on towards love and good deeds. May this next year be full of love and good deeds, encouraging one another. So may you care for one another. We want to care for you and support you as you walk through this next phase and season of life.

Speaker 1: 2:42

I'm going to actually ask everyone other if you just stand with me and join them and you can maybe reach out a hand, congregation, yeah, a few friends with you. Just stand If you want to feel comfortable that you can reach out a hand. We're going to pray for you. Father. God, may we hold on to your hope. May this be a year of hope as we are in community and care for one another, and may we spur one another on towards love and good deeds and encourage one another all the more day as we see the day coming. Father, would you just bless this next generation as they influence this community, as they influence their school community, their classroom and the values and the morals and just the light that they get to bring into that space. Would you give them faith, courage, love, hope, peace, joy, kindness, happiness. God, you are good, thank you for these people, your name you pray, amen, all right, friends. Yeah, thank you guys. You guys can go back down and now you guys get to go sit down and stare at me. It's going to be great. Yeah, we'll make faces at each other, all right.

Speaker 1: 3:52

So I don't know how many of you guys are familiar with corn flakes, but in 1988, corn flakes was losing market share Kellogg's corn flakes to more healthier in novel brands. Because what was happening was other serials were starting to put like fruits and nuts and other things in their cereal and as they were coming this out, they had to figure out what kind of media campaign can we do to compete with these other serials? Even Captain Crunch, if you remember, came out with like this novel idea of putting berries in a cereal and they call it crunch berries. And everyone was like, yeah, look, mom does, it's healthy, it's crunch berries, like it's a healthy cereal. I don't know if you remember this. So the marketing campaign and the commercial that they did in 1988 was really simple, but it was really brilliant. It was a simple bowl of Kellogg's corn flakes with a skeptic who believed that corn flakes was cereal for uninformed people with no lives and nothing better to eat. You can check out the commercial from 1988 right here.

Speaker 2: 4:56

Oh, this is great. No fruits, no nuts, no marshmallows. You call this a cereal. Looks like a best seller to me. I mean there's nothing here but flakes. It's so simple I like it. Maybe that's the point. I mean they'd mess it up if they added other stuff to it. Nice cereal, Kellogg's corn flakes, Corn flakes Taste them again for the first time.

Speaker 1: 5:26

It's brilliant. Corn flakes. Taste them again for the first time. I actually think it's a brilliant commercial. It invites a whole new group of people to taste this cereal, and some of you have never tasted corn flakes, and some of you maybe you should. They're pretty tasty and delicious. Some of you should taste them again for the first time. But the reality is is some of you have never tasted Jesus, not in a personal way. You've heard about him and you've, like, done the church thing, but you've never really crossed the line and tasted him in a personal way. And some of you need to taste Jesus again for the very first time.

Speaker 1: 6:04

The passage that we're going to be looking at today is called the Transfiguration. This is one of those stories and scriptures that is shrouded in a tremendous amount of mystery. It's really more than anything to bring us to a place of worship, and we have been on a journey walking through the gospel according to Matthew, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and today we find ourselves beginning our journey in chapter 17 of the gospel, according to Matthew, starting in verse one. So I'm going to read it to you and then we're going to kind of chop some of this up. I've also included parenthetically, some stuff from other books. So Luke and Mark actually give us a peek into the story. It talks about the story as well, so it gives a little more breath to what's taking place. You'll see that here. It starts out in verse one. It says and after six days, jesus took with him Peter, james and John. After six days, what is that? Well, if you go back about seven weeks ago and you look at the end of chapter 16, jeff and I were talking about the stories about the cost of being a disciple, and actually Jesus had just rebuked Peter and called him Satan, that he was a hindrance, and then talked about the cost of being a disciple. And so that's now. That's what had taken place. Now, after six days, gets us to hear Jesus took with him Peter, james and John and his brother and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. That's where Matthew ends.

Speaker 1: 7:28

Luke now tells us to pray. This is what they were doing, and he this is Jesus was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared them Moses and Elijah these are two major characters from the Old Testament talking with him. What were they talking about? Luke tells us that they spoke of his departure, which was about to be accomplished at Jerusalem. And then Peter said to Jesus Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here One for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.

Speaker 1: 8:13

Mark tells us because he didn't know what else to say in this moment. Luke said, because he didn't even know what he was saying right now, verse five he was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. Or, as Luke says it, this is my son, my chosen one, listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and they were terrified. But Jesus came and he touched them, saying rise and have no fear. And then, when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus, only Some of you. That's all you came here to hear today. Jesus only no marshmallows or fruit. Jesus only See.

Speaker 1: 9:13

Matthew 17 is this amazing text of this incredible depth and deep spiritual symbolism and imagery and meanings of all kinds. And when I was reading this last couple of weeks, trying to prepare like oh my gosh, what are we gonna talk about? What does this look like? How do we unpack this? My question I couldn't get over. My question was this why did Jesus take Peter, james and John? Why did he choose these fishermen, these like societal bottom feeders up the hill, to meet these incredibly important people?

Speaker 1: 9:44

Even the last story that we came from, in chapter 16, jesus had to call Peter out in front of everyone. He called him Satan. Like I mean, it's crazy. He said get behind me, you're hindrance to me. Because we've been unpacking and understanding that Peter, he was a grandstander. He was the kind of guy that like told Jesus, hey, hey, jesus, I want you to know, even if all these other moronic disciples, at the end of the day they betray you, I will never betray you, I will go with you, even to death. And then what do we see at the end? He betrayed him three times, but he was a maverick. How many of you guys seen that movie? It's a great movie this last year.

Speaker 1: 10:15

Maverick, right, that's like a Peter right there. He was a maverick. He was like a take the hill kind of guy. But his maverick, it was laced with pride, with presumption. It was laced with ambition, it was laced with impatience. James and John, these other brothers they were no better either. Jesus may have only wanted to take one of them up the hill, but they always came as a pair. Jesus even nicknamed an earlier story the sons of thunder. They were like dangerous. They fed off of each other's passion and zeal to build the kingdom that they left their lifestyle to go and to build their careers to establish this One day.

Speaker 1: 10:55

We even see this story about how Jesus sent them ahead to prepare for him coming into a community that was full of skeptics to hear from Jesus himself. And the skeptics weren't ready to hear from Jesus. And so James and John went back to Jesus and said we need to call down fire and hell and brimstone and take these people out. And Jesus was like what did you eat this morning? Like this is what is wrong with you. Like this is not what we came to do. He reprimanded him and said you've got this all wrong. These are the people that I came to save. You want to take them out. These are the people that have come for.

Speaker 1: 11:29

So why did he take these three? Why did he pick them? Why didn't he pick Nathaniel the thinker? At least he would have like appreciated all of the Old Testament symbolism, with Moses and Elijah, like these big three celebrities. Or take Thomas the doubter, that he could get rid of all of the doubts once and for all, because Thomas, like some of you, won't believe anything unless you experience it right. You know the real reason. I wonder why. Why Jesus took these three guys up the hill is because I wonder what do you have picked me? What do you have picked you? I hope so.

Speaker 1: 12:09

The reason, I think, that Jesus picked Peter, james and John is because they had this character trait, this quality that God finds irresistible. It's that same character quality that burns within the hearts of some of you, teens, 20 and 30 somethings, and some of you, those of you who were 20 and 30 somethings. The character quality is zeal. See, zeal is this insatiable discontent with the status quo, mixed with this youthful energy and devotion to an ideal. These men wanted to make a difference. They wanted their lives to count and some of you want to make a difference in this life and you do not want to settle and Jesus was incredibly attracted to that. He wanted to take their zeal and he wants to take your zeal and he wants to refocus it into something, a mission worth dying for, a mission worth living for that's gonna actually assault the course of hell and establish God kingdom here on earth. That's how Jesus wants to deal with some of your zeal. See, I still believe wholeheartedly that the local church is the hope of the world.

Speaker 1: 13:23

My wife and I we've been coming to Northgate for almost 14 years and you want to know why we're at Northgate. It's not because I needed a job, it's not because of the free coffee, it's not because of, when I came here, pastor Ken, the founding pastor, and his amazing sermons or the worship that we got to experience every week. That was all bonus. It was because of the mission. It was because of the mission and, as best as I can understand it, god has uniquely called, appointed and anointed Northgate to reach the skeptical and those who were raised and grew up in the lifeless North American Christianity, to lay down their lives, to reorganize priorities, to invite the Lordship, the leadership of Jesus Christ into every areas of our lives, our values, our priorities, our money, our sexuality, our vacations, our vocations and our celebrations, into every area of our life. That's what God is called Northgate to do, and I'm like I get to be a part of that. Are you kidding me? Listen, I want you to hear me very carefully.

Speaker 1: 14:29

We are looking for Peters and James and Johns. We're looking for Patricia's and Julius and Jasmine's. We're looking for those of you who want to make a difference, to be in assessors, to be boots on the ground, looking for people who want to lay down their life. We're looking for meta-givers, and so we're like what's a meta-giver? It's actually the biblical definition of people who have the spiritual gift of giving not just giving we're all supposed to be giving but have this spiritual gift, that are actually looking for a generation to call a generation up, call some of you to actually reorg your life and your things and your circumstances.

Speaker 1: 15:03

If God has called you to make money Now, real quick. This isn't a whole talk about money. This is just something I've been thinking a lot about for a while. If God has given you the gift to make big chunks of change, then why not give 50, 60% of that chunk of change to the kingdom to establish and live out our mission and to support ministries? Honestly, I was thinking about this too, because I have some friends that are in their 50s and they're already looking at retirement and I was like thinking that some of the qualities in these people and if they would work another four years and would donate their entire salary to the kingdom, why not?

Speaker 1: 15:39

But what about some of you young people? Would you ask God to put you uniquely in legal positions, in teaching positions, in medical positions, where you can influence the kingdom not just financially but in values and morals and pray authoritatively? I have a friend who's a medical doctor and I asked him. I said how many people do you like pray for healing? He says, well, not that many. And so you. Well, why not treat them as best as you know how medically, you know how to do that. But what would it look like then if you went back to your room or your office and you asked God to supernaturally come down and to heal? Can you imagine the impact that that would have? And that's just a few examples.

Speaker 1: 16:22

But we're here to call you out, not in a bad way, to call you out to say I know that some of you have the same vision that burns in your hearts. We're here to call you out and then to walk with you to do this, but we're also here to help develop the character you need to carry the mantle of spiritual authority, because a lot of times what happens is God gives us passion, he gives us these spiritual gifts, but our character can't carry them. For those of you who are my age or a little bit older, we get to play a part in mentoring a generation who are gonna make a huge impact in this nation and in this region. If you're young, which is anyone 40 and under, listen very carefully. The biggest lesson that I have learned, when it comes not just to what I do in pasturing I've found lots of mentors for this but the biggest lesson that I've learned in life is my ability, my inability or my unwillingness to seek out godly mentors who would love me enough to affirm me, but also love me enough and care about me enough to speak into my life and show me my flaws, show me my character defects. Men and women who have gone ahead of me and before me that have some of these scars in their marriage, in their parenting, in their financing and in their character. And if you're the kind of person that's like shooting for the stars, you wanna aim for the fences and that believes that if better is possible than good and good is not good enough. We want you to know that we are looking for people like you. We are calling you out here in this place. We wanna work with you, but we're asking you to honestly be humble and teachable and ask some of us to speak into your lives, speak into your marriages, speak into your debts, because Satan wants to take you and your character out and he will use those things. We've gotta develop our character and that's what God needs.

Speaker 1: 18:31

For a lot of us we think that spiritual maturity is just information or spiritual gifts. Like I'm spiritual mature because I've been around for a while, I gather a lot of information, I see and experience things. But spiritual maturity has to do with our character and right now there are people in this faith community that in five years your marriage is gonna be over because you've taken things for granted or you've poured into your work or your hobbies or even your ministry and not nourished and haven't developed the skills to work through any conflicts that you've got. There are families that are gonna be torn apart because of financial debt. There are families that are gonna be torn apart because of pornography. Addiction gets exposed and you think you're getting away with it, but you're not. Satan is just patient and in my experience Satan waits until he can do the ultimate damage and that's when he exposes you.

Speaker 1: 19:32

And God is giving some of you time to come forward and deal with these things and we wanna walk with you. We wanna walk with you through that. That's why we've got a financial mentoring course, that's why we have recovery, that's why we have community groups, that's why we've got these divorce care groups or before you divorce groups or reconciling relationships God's way. That's why we have a resource center out there in the lobby that has information, so you can sign up for these, so you can have people that'll come alongside you and mentor you in these godly affirming ways. We wanna walk with you you really want to so that your character can handle the calling and the purpose that God has for your life and like actually putting yourself to be able to leverage your positions, your relationships, your house, your boats, your cabin, your wisdom, whatever it may be. Actually positioning yourself in relationships with people and walking with them so they might actually ask you for your wisdom. That's what I believe God is calling us to do.

Speaker 1: 20:38

We need some people who are in business, some business men and some business women to mentor, some of our other young business men and business women coming up and teaching them how to balance their day off and how to balance ethics and how to keep their family intact. Teach them what you've learned and where you've done it right and where you haven't done it right. Teach them how to work out things and healthy conflict in their marriages so they can stay strong and to get. Whatever you do whether it's carpentry or brick, laying, roofing, electricity, education, nursing it doesn't matter. We want you to teach these people how and walk with them. We're actually working on a men's event that's gonna be coming up where we've got the Pat Gilseger, the CEO of Intel, and then a fire chief and the police chief of California that are gonna come together and talk about. This is how, as a man like I, live out in my workplace my relationship with Jesus.

Speaker 1: 21:32

The other thing is that, if I'm honest, I think some of us think that we are spiritually mature and I really just think that we're spiritually old or fat. You wanna know how I can tell someone is spiritually old or fat? Because they ask the pastor, they come up and they ask the pastor and they come up and they ask someone who's teaching or leading in an area and they're like you know, I just need you to give us some more meat. I need you to feed us more. You don't feed us enough. Now I have kids. I have four kids from eight to 16 and if they were to come to me and said, dad, give me meat, feed me more I'd say get your own meat. You know where the refrigerator's at. I have provided you know where it is. Now, feed yourself.

Speaker 1: 22:27

Some of us are getting a little fat there. We need to get some exercise. You don't need more meat, you need to get in the game and exercise some of that meat off. So again, we're calling out young people, but we're also calling out some of the rest of us who've been watching the game like a fan and we love it and we're cheering for it. We're like this is great. Yeah, I love it. I love the goose bumps every once in a while.

Speaker 1: 22:54

And then you also need to get to a place where you're like man, I don't feel close to God I'm not experiencing this as much anymore and you feel distant. When you feel the closest to God, into others in a holistic way, it's because you're in the game. Some of you can relate to this. Even those of you who experience short term eating, healthy and exercising in your regular life. You feel better, like you feel closer. Suddenly you're interested in nutrition and suddenly you're like, wow, my body wants to go for a walk and do things Like I have energy right. That's like natural when you're a part of those things. That's what I'm talking about. Some of you need to taste Jesus again for the first time and it's exciting and that's what we're actually calling you to do right now. We need to return to the mountain.

Speaker 1: 23:43

So Peter, James, john and Jesus this next scene is actually a bit humorous to me. This is one of the funnier things I think I've read or see Peter say in this moment, because I can just kind of imagine it We'll try to get you there. So, as a behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him, and Peter said to Jesus Lord, it's good that we're here, I love that. It's like this crazy, amazing thing happened. He's like well, you're lucky, we're here, it's really good that we're here, I'm glad. And then he switches it to like, if you want, we can make you guys some tents, make you comfortable, like this is kind of a big deal. They can make one for Moses and one for Elijah. And while he was still speaking and the midst of him still talking because he didn't know what to say in this moment behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and the voice from the cloud said this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. Or this is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. You know it's funny because Peter's sitting there going this is good, this is good, this is real good. I'm glad we're all here together.

Speaker 1: 24:57

You picked a good core group James and John, moses and Elijah. This is a good deal. I think there's potential. There's potential that we have up here. You know, this is exactly what I was talking about, jesus, back down the valley, when you called me Satan. I know you had a bad day. We all make mistakes. It's okay, we all do. But like, this is the moment that I was talking about. See, we can just like bring people up here, like let's start a church. We can like call it Mount View Tabernacle, or like church on the rock, like let's make something awesome up here. We can just bring people up here. Now, fortunately for Peter and fortunately for us.

Speaker 1: 25:30

God interrupts and he comes in a cloud with a message of the cloud and says Peter, shut up, this is my beloved son. Some of you guys just got uncomfortable because I said shut up, listen to him. This is my son, who I am well pleased. That's some of your message this morning. You ready for this? Listen to Jesus. That was what God said In the midst of all of his ideas and like oh hey, oh, we're good here. This is what I'm talking about. Listen to him.

Speaker 1: 26:09

See, there are people in this room that are skeptics and you've been hanging out with us for a while and you've had these arguments of why you shouldn't surrender your life to him. And God is saying stop, stop listening to those arguments when in the reality is you're just afraid to bow your knee to my son. Listen to him, listen to Jesus. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one will come to the Father but through me. Your greatest need is to be reconciled to your Creator, and you know that. You know something inside of you just doesn't feel good enough, and you haven't found it in men or women, or drugs, or pornography, or food or work. You know that there's something missing in your life. Listen to him. He is the only way to be reconciled to your father, because we've got a sin problem and someone's got to take care of it and that's why he could say exclusively I am the way.

Speaker 1: 27:14

Stop listening to the screaming voices of culture that tell you that your life is about what you can put into it here on earth. Stop listening to the failures you've had. Stop listening to the arguments and lies and listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus. Behold I stand at the door and knock. Open your heart, open your life and let me change it.

Speaker 1: 27:42

Maybe you think you've done something unforgivable. Listen to Jesus. I have come to pay the price for the sick, not the healthy. I willingly laid open my body and my life. We don't have a sin problem. You don't have a sin problem. We've got an acknowledgement of a sin problem because Jesus Christ, he already came and he already paid the price for every sin that you've done. You don't have a sin problem. And every sin you're gonna commit and the ones you're gonna do today at four o'clock I hope you make it to four or two, it'd be great. Maybe you think you've done something and damaged and you can't come to Jesus. Listen to Jesus. The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me because he has anointed me, jesus, to bring good news to the poor and bind up the brokenhearted.

Speaker 1: 28:36

I don't understand what it felt like when you were raped, but he came to mend you. He understands what it's like to grow up without a father. Joseph died young too. He knows what it feels like to be rejected. Let him in. You need to taste Jesus for the first time. You know.

Speaker 1: 29:03

Maybe you're sitting here and saying, well, you know what? I don't know everything about him, so there's not much to listen to. I don't know enough. I didn't know everything about my wife when I got married to her. Can you believe that? But I remember driving up to sea here in Southern California up the 57 Freeway in my blue 1953 pickup that had a max speed of 55 miles an hour and I couldn't make the trip. I had to call her and I had to turn around, and it was in that moment that I actually decided I want her, that I know enough. I wanna put a ring on her finger and I wanna spend the rest of my life with her. And I didn't know what all of that would be and what it would look like, and maybe that's you today.

Speaker 1: 29:50

Then maybe there's another group the double lifers, those of you who have invited Jesus to be your savior in a one time Lord of your life. But you lead a double life. You've got a public life and you've got a private life. You've got secrets going on in your life. You've got dual secret sins, unforgiveness, bitterness. You do a lot of image management. You're in infidelity or you're in fantasy. You've got hidden bank accounts. I don't know what it is. You know who you are and you think you can get away with it. You're like the person in the circus that's spinning all of these plates and you think that you can pull it off.

Speaker 1: 30:27

I remember a famous preacher once fell, or he sinned his way out of ministry and he was interviewed and they asked him when did you stop loving Jesus? And he said I never stopped loving Jesus. I said I don't know. I never stopped loving Jesus. I stopped fearing Jesus. You know what Peter's problem is in this moment that he began to take Jesus for granted, that he forgot who Jesus was, that Jesus was God. Jesus had become so familiar with him, he had him all the time, like he was around him. He got to spend time with him. He was close to him, he wore him on his wrist. What would Jesus do? He talked about Jesus. He was saying about Jesus, like Jesus, he's my buddy. I've got a friend in Jesus. He's lamby Jesus, he's comfortable. He was just around him all the time and he forgot that he was actually God. In fact, peter was more enamored with Moses and Elijah showing up the super natural.

Speaker 1: 31:21

How many of us find ourselves, even on Sundays, we're just sitting here and we're just like feeling like blah, right. We're just like in worship and we got our coffee and we're like, oh, jesus. And then we sing like Yahweh and we're like those are weird words, I've never said that before. And we're just like, wow, we're taking everything for granted and we're like this is fine. I think there's a lot more interesting things right now than Jesus. Like they're all wearing yellow. That's weird, right, all that stuff, right.

Speaker 1: 31:49

And then some of us are sitting here waiting on like this super natural thing to happen. We're like if I'm here in the space, you know like this thing will happen Without realizing we've actually accepted Jesus Like the God of the universe into our lives, like God lives inside of me now, like God watches what I watch Whoa, whoa, whoa there, that's the line. Like he listens to what I listen to, he touches what I touch. That God Almighty is like here and like we're like blah, blah. I need like super natural thing to happen and we like we get into space too then where we think we can like get away with these things.

Speaker 1: 32:27

And I ask these questions to people who are like living these lies. I'm like what lie are you telling yourself to make your behavior feel okay? And a lot of times they just end up coming with the lies Like I don't think anyone's really gonna know, or this lie like no one has to know, or this lie like I don't think anyone will get hurt. And I'm like really, jesus is God, listen to him. He said there is nothing disclosed that will not be made known, nothing that's done in secret that will not be one day blown out and portrayed in the heavens. And it is his mercy right now, giving you an opportunity to deal with that. Maybe you've given up. Maybe you think your problems are too far big in your life, your marriage is too far gone, your family is too far broken, that mistakes have been made friends.

Speaker 1: 33:21

In another 10 chapters. Jesus is going to go to the cross and three days later he's going to rise again. Sometimes we just like miss that part, like it doesn't really knock us back to be like what in the world? The Bible tells us the same power, power that raised Christ from the dead is living in you. That if you were a follower of Christ, that same power is in you.

Speaker 1: 33:44

So stop listening to the voices of failure, stop listening to the voices of condemnation, stop listening to the voices of hopelessness and listen to Jesus. I mean God, the creator of the universe, showed up and said hey, listen to him. You are my workmanship. I have come that you may have life and have it to the full. Friends, you are his workmanship, you are the one that the father and God planned before the foundation of the world. Good works that you should walk in them. He's saying I have called you all. He has called all of us to make a difference. He's given all of us these spiritual gifts. He's given us, all of us, these passions. And you are listening to these voices of failure. Yes, you need to listen to part of it, and because these failures and mistakes they make you humble, they make you teachable so you're not so easily taken out the next time.

Speaker 1: 34:42

But get back into the game. And that, friends, is where you taste Jesus again for the first time. And some of you need to taste Jesus for the very first time. And I'm gonna pray with you and, at the end of the service today, just gonna give you exactly what that looks like and where to go and exactly what it looks like to give yourself to taste Jesus for the first time. But many of us need to taste Jesus again for the very first time. Would you pray with me, father, this scripture and the mystery and the worship God, I'm just asking that your Holy Spirit would be in this place over the next 10 minutes. As you convict, as you comfort, as you care for, as you stir in us. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear that we can taste and see that you are good, that you are for us, that you love us. We ask all these things in your name. We pray Amen. Well, like I said, in a few moments, jeff's gonna come out in just a little bit, after we do some worship and stuff, and he's gonna come out and say if you're ready to taste Jesus for the first time, what your next step is For the rest of us.

Speaker 1: 36:11

I believe that we are uniquely called like I talked about in Northgate specifically to help others taste Jesus for the first time, and we are getting ready to do something that and since I've been here, we've never done. We are using all of our focus to focus on one specific thing together, collectively, in all areas of influence, and that is what we're doing. We're gonna do this season the seven week period where we're gonna participate with hundreds of other churches around the barrier, in something called Explore God, where we're exploring seven deep questions of life's questions that we get to have these in community, and we're gonna invite all of us into this for these seven weeks, and I really think that the synergy that we have going towards this is gonna be one of the biggest things and the biggest opportunities we have. To give you a little bit more about Explore God, check out our website. And if you want to learn a little bit more about Explore God I mean, I've got a quick video. Why were we put here?

Speaker 2: 37:24

I think everyone wants to know. Why were we put here? Why are we on earth?

Speaker 1: 37:28

I think we're this way. I'd like to think that God is real. I spent so long under a storm cloud.

Speaker 4: 37:45

In a word what are you looking for?

Speaker 2: 37:50

What is my life supposed to look like? What am I supposed to do with my talents and my gifts? How am I supposed to be a part of this big, huge world with 7 billion people? Do I have any role to play in that? That's the question people are asking.

Speaker 3: 38:03

When I come into your eyes is all that I need to climb to my feet.

Speaker 5: 38:14

People have a desire for a sense of wonder. People have a desire for a sense of love. People want to figure out if something's true or not, and who can they trust.

Speaker 4: 38:25

I'm using all of you and you see how to tell me. I would say that God put this curiosity in all of our hearts. I don't think it's a bad thing that we look at other options and look down other roads to try to figure out exactly why we're here or what our purpose is in life.

Speaker 6: 39:04

People here don't want to go to Bible study. It's not that, it's just a good conversation about life.

Speaker 5: 39:16

We can have superficial conversations all day long, but when you're asking about something transcendent and something mysterious, you kind of hear people's longings as well and their dreams and their desires, and you hear their troubles and their fears, and I think we're more authentically human when we start asking spiritual things.

Speaker 1: 39:37

I think I know what I believe, but I still wonder about a lot.

Speaker 1: 39:42

So this is for me as much as it is for you. So in seven weeks we're going to take a seven-week pause and we're going to walk through seven huge major questions where we get to explore God together. But more than that, we are called to be people of zeal, which is the sensational discontent with the status quo mixed with this youthful energy and devotion to an ideal. I don't know if you know this, but in a radius about 10 miles from Northgate, around us, we see a population of about 350,000 people that are out there that are asking these and wondering about these big questions in life, wondering about spirituality, wondering like why is self-help stuff not working anymore? Looking for hope, and I believe that we have been invited in to being a vessel for just that, for hope, and to help people experience these questions. I was watching a movie. How many of you guys seen the movie Dunkirk? Okay, a few of us watched this. You guys are going to watch a clip in just a moment. It's from wartime. What had happened was the Nazis had kind of come down and swept through Belgium and northern France and the British forces got trapped at the coastline In. Winston Churchill then ordered these troops to be evacuated ASAP, because there was about 380 or so thousand troops that were stuck in a port called Dunkirk and it was an inevitable that they were in peril. There was a day of prayer, like we're going to lose all these people. They were trying to figure out how to get all these men back in a way, essentially to save their lives, and what happened was is they had spent two days in this operation called Operation Dynamo trying to evacuate troops and in just two days they got about 25,000 out of these 380 or so thousand troops out and they realized this is not going to work. We're not going to get them all out. So Winston Churchill did an all call and said anyone, anyone that's out there that has a private vessel yachts, motorboats, dinghies, paddle steamers, whatever it is, dinghies would you go across and would you pick up soldiers and bring them back? And did this all call. And on May 31st 1940, over 900 selling vessels went across and started gathering these men and over a period of seven days seven days they rescued 338,226 soldiers and brought them home to safety.

Speaker 1: 42:45

I believe that that's exactly what this Explore God season is all about. What we're going to do is I'm asking you, we're asking you, we're calling you out to be a vessel, to be a dinghy and to go out and invite people and to be a vessel of hope in a safe place where people can have conversations and meet in groups over these seven weeks, that you would pause in your existing community groups and go out, by Tuesdays maybe, and go out and be truly the light of the world and the hope of the world, not just you adults in your homes, but in your workplaces, students in your schools, at your lunch periods. We have videos, we have curriculum, we have training, because some of you are like what do we even say? How do we even deal with this? I watched this movie, dunkirk, and there's this scene and it got me fired up because I was like this is exactly what this looks like. This is what it looks like to be a part of this faith community and where we're headed. So check out this really quick video. It hopefully inspires you as well.

Speaker 1: 44:24

Music.

Speaker 5: 44:26

What do you? Say Music, home Music. Music Music, music, music, music, music, music, music Music.

Speaker 1: 46:23

Music. I know about you, but when I see that something stirs in me that's just like yes, that's who we are. Music, Music, music. We all get to be a dinghy. You were all called to be life boats and bring them back and let God do the big work, and so our goal is to have a hundred people sign up. This is I'm gonna try to do this. I'm gonna be a place where I'm gonna invite other people to gather for these seven weeks to have these conversations, for them to explore God and who he is is.

Speaker 1: 46:55

Can you imagine the impact on your life If you found a safe place to learn and to grow with people who care about you, that you discovered people from different backgrounds who all have these questions, the same questions about life and God in the Bible? Can you imagine the impact on your family, the stronger relationships that are developed around meaningful conversations about important questions in life? Meaning and purpose was defined in there to help you filter your decision making. And can you imagine a community where friends and co-workers and family members came together to explore the big questions and build relationships through discussion groups and churches were actually seen as safe places to bring your spiritual questions. That's what we get to do. That's what Zeal looks like. We're calling you out the seven big questions. For those of you who are wondering what this looks like, each week we're gonna tackle a new subject and some of you are like whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't even know if I know the answer to those. You don't have to know the answer. You are just a safe place to have a conversation and start discussing these things. We have materials and we have small group videos, videos to show you. They can show you know a Panera bread or your work or your school, your lunch area, and start having these big conversations about. What's the purpose of life? Why do these bad things happen Like? Why does it seem like this is really narrow? What's the reliability of the Bible? These are all questions that I know your friends out there want to have discussions, and so we're creating space for you to be a vessel, and so our goal is a hundred. We'll see what happens with that.

Speaker 1: 48:36

There's a dingy out there. Your action step for some of you is to taste Jesus for the first time. Today You're gonna go to this changes everything area. Jeff's gonna explain that, and for the rest of us, your action step is to go sign up to be a lifeboat. We got a lifeboat out there. We got a dingy out there this is yes in this season and then we got weeks. We got seven weeks, and then we get to spend then seven weeks, which took eight or seven days for almost the same amount of people to be rescued from the shore as live in the community and the surrounding communities around us. Erin Erin's a part of the team that's gonna be helping you out and connecting with you this week Once you sign up. So what happens once you sign up? Once you sign up, yeah, so once you signed up.

Speaker 6: 49:23

There's a barcode for you to scan. We are going to send you some information and the dates on what we're gonna have training. So, as Pastor Larry said, you don't have to know everything. We don't expect you to know that by all back and forth, but you were just gonna be a safe space and a facilitator of these open discussions and conversations will provide all the resources and trainings that you feel equipped and comfortable. All right, yeah, that's good.

Speaker 1: 49:44

So that's your next step. You can go ahead and do that. We're gonna be talking about this every week. Next week we'll celebrate together how many of us were out with our goal. We actually have some other steps to this as we kind of ramp up and head this direction, but it's all synergy towards this one thing, which is our mission, which God has uniquely appointed and anointed us, I think, to do and to reach. So in that breath, would you please stand as we respond and worship and allow the Spirit to do what he's ready and willing to do in your life, even in this moment.