Speaker 1: 0:14

All right, it's good to be with you. We're going to be in Luke, chapter 5, today, if you want to get there ahead of time. Just a couple quick announcements this coming up Saturday we're going to have a bunch of guys up here on the campus praying. It's also during the youth fundraiser car wash, so you can be praying for them to clean your car really good while you're praying for everything else. But then Sunday is serve day, so we're not going to be here. So I want you not to get mad at me. I've told you a couple weeks ago. Now it's next week. So next week we're going to be serving the community. If you signed up already, you can get your free t-shirt. You're already on mission by just wearing that thing. It's got a beautiful story behind it. If you haven't signed up yet, sign up today so you can participate next week. You can go out there and get your shirt as well.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Then the following week, june 22nd, we're going to come back together here. We're going to do a food drive. So summer's kicked in and that means school doesn't meet and a lot of families and a lot of kids depend on, like the school lunches as like nutrition and food for the summer, so we want to be able to provide through our food pantry. It just gets busier in that time of year and so we could fill the shelves there, so we'll do a food drive, so that way we just don't have people dealing with the food insecurity issues. But then, june 22nd through August 3rd, we're going to have a series and a conversation about the Holy Spirit, something we've never given All right Well, it's going to be excellent. Ever given All right? Well, it's going to be excellent. We have never spent this much time exploring this, so I'm really excited about what we're going to experience together and how you get to participate that as well. So remember, though, next week we're not here. You got that. We're somewhere else, but we're not in here.

Speaker 1: 1:53

But if you're in the building with us today or you're with us online, you're surrounded by people who actually have a story to tell, and their lives have a story to tell about how their lives and when their lives began to actually intersect with Jesus in a really practical way. Not just that they learned something on a Sunday or growing up, or beliefs, or a bunch of that stuff that they learned something on a Sunday or growing up, or beliefs, or a bunch of that stuff. But when they began the people sitting right next to you when they began to literally follow Jesus and that it impacted their life in such a way that they actually have a story to tell that Jesus, in some really good ways, upended and changed their life, and it certainly that's the case for me personally. So this initiative that we're wrapping up today has been about multiplying their stories, multiplying your stories, multiplying other people's, my story's all over this city and all over this county. It's not a fundraiser, it's not a capital campaign. It's about being a generous church, a generosity initiative. Because here's the thing We've talked about this a bunch when you follow Jesus with your money, it's absolutely amazing the impact and what happens in a person in the city, in the nation and even all over the world. In fact, if you're not even a religious person at all and you're here just checking this whole thing out and you have ever intersected with Christianity, it's actually because someone was generous in a generation that was before you. Someone was generous in a generation before you got to sit here where you're sitting here, because they came along before you. They created maybe a church or this church. They created a school, or that Bible study that you love, or that curriculum or that book that has been so profoundly impactful in your life. So what we're doing is we're just trying to be more and more and more a part of what God is actually doing all over the world. What actually began 2,000 years ago when Jesus entered into the world, became one of us, died for our sins, rose again and then that literally his resurrection. After that happened, it ignited a spark that has burned and continues to burn all around the world. And again, we're just trying to be as much of a part of that as we can possibly be, and we're going to give you an opportunity, actually at the end of this service, and a moment to turn on a commitment card a little bit later today. But before we do that, I actually want to tell you just a couple of stories. So first is Peter's story.

Speaker 1: 4:18

This is from Luke, chapter 5 in the New Testament. This isn't a once upon a time story. It's actually a narrative of something that actually took place, that actually happened, that ultimately, ultimately, it influenced all of us, and here's how the writer Luke records it. He says one day Jesus was standing by the Sea of Galilee and the people were crowding around him and listening to the Word of God. So everywhere Jesus went, there was a crowd where there was just people crowding around him and listening I love this to the Word of God. This is so interesting how Luke writes this and I don't have a whole lot of time to unpack this right here. But when Luke wrote this, this is a few years after the resurrection and long before anyone actually puts the Bible together.

Speaker 1: 5:06

The first century church considered everything that came out of Jesus' mouth as the word of God, and we think of the word of God as a scripture, as the Bibles, and they're like. No, we were there, we participated, we heard words coming out of his mouth and we equated them to the word of God. So, jesus, he's teaching and he's teaching and this crowd is drawn. He goes and he keeps having to step back because the crowd is just getting bigger and bigger. And then he's right there in the sea of Galilee, and then the text tells us this that then he saw at the water's edge two boats left there by fishermen who were washing their nets. Now, this is how this worked Fishermen fished at night. Why? Because the air was cool, the water was cooler, the fish came closer to the surface and they fished with nets, even in deep water. But after fishing all night, what they'd do is they'd pull their boats up on shore, they'd take their heavy saturated nets and they would take them and they'd stretch them out over these big wooden stands that they had built to keep them up off of the ground so they could clean them and then they could let them dry during the day and then they would go home and then they would go to bed because they had been working all night. And so, luke, he tells us because this crowd that came to hear Jesus that he ends up getting in one of the boats. He says he got in one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon.

Speaker 1: 6:26

Now pause, real quick. This is actually Peter. For those of you who aren't familiar with this, his name originally is Simon. Jesus changes it later when he becomes a disciple. So this is Simon Peter, and he asked them to put out a little bit from shore and then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. So what this kind of does is it creates this natural amphitheater kind of thing with the water between the crowd and him, and this was like a little bit disruptive, you would think, for Peter, because, like anyone who's been working all night I see some of you here right now, actually anyone who's been working all night, you understand this Like you have your day planned out right. His plan was to dry the nets, to clean the nets, stretch the nets out and then go home, get something to eat and then go to sleep. But this wasn't, you know, it wasn't the most disruptive thing. Like just to sit in the boat. Like I can come sit in the boat a little bit longer. Let Jesus finish his message. Like some of you are here right now, you're like I'm gonna go to church, I'm gonna listen to this message and then I'll go home and do my thing. Besides, I think he actually owed Jesus a favor, because if you look before in Luke, just before this, you discover that when Jesus came to town, he found out that Peter's mother-in-law was sick and he went to Peter's home and he healed Peter's mother-in-law.

Speaker 1: 7:35

But here's the thing Even if you know how this story works out, because we all know how this story works out, if you've been able to read about this, I just want to pause for a moment. I just want us to go, like, find a rock to sit on and try to like, sit in this space and think about what's happening in this moment. Even in the life of Peter, this is just a normal. Another day, peter had no idea Like in this moment. He had no idea the story. We know the story. There was no story at this time. Peter had no idea what even the day had in store for him. So I just want to sit in that If we could just sit in this like there's, we don't know what's getting ready to happen.

Speaker 1: 8:12

See, peter, he was born in this small town next to the Sea of Galilee and he lived in that small town. He even had family members that had lived in this small town next to the Sea of Galilee and he lived in that small town. He had family members that had lived in that small town. He probably knew that he'd die in that small town and this was a small community. But what he didn't know was that he was going to be very wrong about that, because this is actually where they buried Peter, not in some small town on the north end of the Sea of Galilee. He was buried in Rome. This is the Basilica of St Peter.

Speaker 1: 8:38

It took 120 years to build this and some of you have been there, michelle. My wife and I were taking a group of like 25 people this New Year's to go see it and, like you're just going to want to lay down on the floor and just like, look at it, how majestic it is, this amazing building. I don't even know in that time how they built it when they built it, but it took 120 years and this is where the remains of Peter is. And that day, as he's sitting in this boat listening to Jesus teach, he had no idea what his future holds. I mean, he just assumes he's going to live and die in a small fishing town and he's sitting there and he's listening and wondering how long is this guy going to go on? Like many of you do when I talk right, because I'm tired and I just want to go home and I want to get some sleep Peter had no idea what hung in the balance that day.

Speaker 1: 9:29

I'll pause on Peter's story. I just want to fast forward a couple thousand years to a day that I had no idea what hung in the balance. This is a screenshot of my calendar from February 5th 2010. At 8 am in the morning I had an appointment. I was in Gilbert Arizona, walking in a garden space at a place called the Coffee Shop I know really original name when I had my interview with Pastor Ken Jensen it's right there, 8 am I had no idea what hung in the balance in this conversation. And as we began to have this conversation about church and what it would look like potentially of my small family coming out to this area and walking alongside and doing ministry together, it was so fun. It was like we finished each other's sentences, but there was so much of this that actually didn't make any sense at all to us. Like I had no idea what hung in the balance.

Speaker 1: 10:19

It was kind of nuts to even think about this idea, because I lived in Gilbert Arizona. We had only had now for a month and a half, our newest young one. This is Malachi. We had just adopted him from Ethiopia. He was only eight months old and he was really sick at the time. He was going through a lot of attachment issues. We had a two-year-old Maddie. My wife worked in the school district, so she was going to be teaching the rest of the year and then we were flying out here and we were going to be going and checking this place out at the end of February and to come out here and to see, like what it would look like, or if we should even do this.

Speaker 1: 10:54

Now I'm going to tell you this seemed extremely irresponsible. Why? Because coming out here and then taking a job here meant that I was actually going to be commuting between Gilbert, california and Gilbert Arizona in Northern California, leaving my family behind and going back and forth. So now my wife this isn't a good way to stay married is going to stay home with two kids, one new one that's dealing with all of these issues. Not only that, but thanks 2010, we were renting a home that they just decided to stop making their payments and we got a big sign or a thing that says we're getting kicked out because it's being foreclosed on. So now we're homeless and we're like God, what are we doing? Right? Like why we shouldn't even do this.

Speaker 1: 11:34

This seemed this idea of coming out here and doing this like what hangs in the balance, seemed extremely irresponsible. But let me tell you this If I had known about all of you, if I knew about what was going to take place and I knew about all of this and the things that God has done since those days. It would have been a really easy decision, right? It would have been really easy to make that decision that was so extreme and everything that hung in the balance. But you don't know, right, you've experienced this. You don't know.

Speaker 1: 12:06

There is no guarantee in the future of what hangs in the balance of things and times in your life of the day. There's not necessarily going to be a bow at the end of this or a happy ending. Here's the deal. You don't know what's on the other side of saying yes to your Savior and for some of us, this scares the snot out of us, like it's one of the scariest things. You don't know what's on the other side of saying yes to that nudge that God wants you to do something that's unusual, or something that seems so painful or something that feels so sacrificial, something that you're not gonna be able to explain very well to your friends and your family. But there's just something in your heart, like you just know that he wants you to go. Or you just never know what's on the other side of that push. You never know what's on the other side of that saying yes to Jesus. I can tell you personally, I've just experienced this so many times. I literally could spend days telling you stories, days of I had no idea what hung in the balance of that and that nudge and that push and saying yes to my Savior. It happened with our kids and the expansion of our family. We never anticipated, never were interested in this internationally and locally, how it's actually expanded our family and it's changed everything. And that's just one tiny little piece.

Speaker 1: 13:23

And so, peter, you know, back to Peter. So, peter, in this moment he's saying, oh, this is kind of an inconvenience, like, but come on, we'll sit in my boat. And I mean, just think about it, this scene, Like he has to push off, he has to push his boat on the shore. About it, this scene like he has to push off, he has to push his boat on the shore. He jumps in, he sits there, listens to Jesus, and then Luke says that then he taught him from the boat. And then, when he finished speaking to this crowd, he made his second request to Simon, and Simon's, you know, getting ready to pull back. He's like, finally, amen, let's go, I'm hungry, let's go to lunch, like we're gonna go home and this is great.

Speaker 1: 14:00

And then Jesus turns to Simon and he said hey, simon, let's put out into deep water and let the nets down for a catch. Now this is very disruptive what's taking place? Because now the nets are already clean, they were drying and Peter's tired. And so Simon Peter politely says like hey, master, we've worked hard all night and we haven't caught anything. Now, this summarizes a lot of your fishing experiences. I get this. It's tough on the ego. We haven't caught anything. In other words, jesus, we didn't catch anything in ideal conditions. We were fishing when you're actually supposed to fish and we caught nothing. The odds of us catching anything in non-ideal conditions I mean, the sun is up, the water is warmer, the air is warmer, and then I can only.

Speaker 1: 14:51

It's like, as he looks around at this crowd and he has to think, if we push off and start fishing now, like there's so many people in the, you have drawn quite a crowd they're going to think we're crazy. Like this isn't the time to be doing this. And maybe there's just something about the rabbi from Nazareth, like maybe it was something that he heard him say, maybe it was the fact that he miraculously healed his mother-in-law, and so it's like Peter takes a deep breath. Maybe he glances over at his brother, andrew, at the shore, kind of shrugs his shoulders, then he says, even though this doesn't make any sense, even though people are going to think I have lost my mind, but because you say so, because you say so and I'm going to tell you, friends, this is the best and the scariest way to live. It's the best Because you don't know what's on the other side and you'll never regret saying yes to the Savior who actually loves you. You'll never regret moving forward when you know that God has actually asked you to do something, to engage with something, and it's the best way to live your life.

Speaker 1: 16:03

Now here's the thing, and my hunch is this that most of us, that many of us and my hand's up on this one many of you have had a moment or two in your life that you've been following Jesus long enough, and every once in a while, there's actually this sense in you that's like I think I need to do this. I think it's not going to make a whole lot of sense to a whole lot of people. It doesn't even make a whole lot of sense to me right now, but for now, for me, it's kind of becoming this moral imperative that I feel like this is what God wants me to do and you've made that really difficult decision and on the other side, whatever that decision is, you came away from that decision. Like I have saying, I'm so glad. I'm so glad that I said yes to my heavenly Father.

Speaker 1: 16:53

But here's the thing, here's the dynamic, what maybe you have never experienced in your life, or maybe actually you're on the verge of experiencing for the very first time, believing a whole lot of stuff about God and a whole lot of stuff about Jesus. That's like interesting and fascinating, just to believe. But here's the deal when your act of obedience, obeying, when your faith actually moves you to action, your faith then begins to intersect with God's faithfulness and something happens in us that can't happen in any other way and suddenly there just aren't words that can describe it. They become narratives that literally now begin to leap off the pages as we read this flat text and we're like that's me, that's what I'm experiencing right now Suddenly happens in you and whatever that thing is, that you did becomes less important than the fact that you experienced the faithfulness of God. And that's actually what grows our faith, that's what grows your faith and that's why Jesus' invitation in the first century and in the 21st century is not believe in me. His invitation is actually to follow me, to obey me and to actually experience my faithfulness, and then something's going to happen inside of you that you could never go back. Back to Peter, he says because you say so, I will let the nets down. Now, luke, as he's writing this, unfortunately he doesn't give us much detail after that, like he moves really fast through the narratives. Like many of the narratives in the New Testament, they're just compressed.

Speaker 1: 18:38

Jesus did ministry for three and a half years. There is so much that we don't know. In fact, at the end of the gospel of John, the last line from John is literally he says look at, jesus did a whole bunch of other stuff and if we wrote it all down we couldn't. It would fill all the books of the world, like it's just too much to talk about, to write about. But here, if we can just slow this scene down again, remember you're taking a seat on a rock and you're trying to put your self in this space, slowing it down, because here's what they had to do, like for this to happen, for them to go. That's because you say so, I'm going to let the nets down. They had to like go, pull back over to the shore. They had to gather a couple guys or his crew. They had to go to the stands where the nets were out and then begin to roll the nets back up, then lug them over to the boat and then push off and row their boat out. But Jesus also said let's go out into deep water. So maybe they even had to put up a sail.

Speaker 1: 19:35

I mean, this was going to take a minute and Peter's this whole time is probably thinking this is a complete waste of time, Like what are we doing? I'm not going to get any sleep now. He didn't catch anything last night. Now I'm not even going to get anything. Get to go out tonight because I'm going to spend the whole day out here fishing with the rabbi who clearly doesn't know anything about fishing. How many times have we told God what he does not know or understand in our lives? God what he does not know or understand in our lives?

Speaker 1: 20:08

So they get to their spot, they have to untie the nets. They have to unfurl the nets over the side, fasten them and then wait. And we don't know how long they waited. I mean, maybe they didn't wait long. We don't know what they talked about. We don't get anything about that. Maybe they talked about something that Jesus had said. Maybe they just stared at each other in silence Looking around. Maybe Peter was just looking at him, being like I really wish the crowd would disperse a little quicker, because this might be the most embarrassing moment of my life.

Speaker 1: 20:36

And then suddenly the boat began to rock and Luke says I mean, he just rushes right to the end. Like we just don't get all the context here, it just gets right there. He says that when they had finally gotten out there into the deep water and dropped the nets at the wrong time of the day, they caught such a large number of fish that the nets began to break. And suddenly Peter's concern changes from his reputation to the fact that he's about to lose his nets. And we read this and we're like no way, this is a miracle. It's like winning the lottery. It's the best thing in the world. Whoa, look at what God does.

Speaker 1: 21:12

And Peter's like no, no, no, this is not cool. Like this is not good. My nets are. If we lose our nets, I'm going to lose my livelihood. Like if we take the boats back without the nets. We have to create the nets ourselves. We can't just order them, we have to make them. We can't just purchase them, we have to create them, and maybe these nets have been in our family for a generation or two. This is going to be a major economic setback.

Speaker 1: 21:37

So then the text says so. He signaled for the partners and says get this other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. This went from bad to worse. It's like now we're gonna lose everything, like we're sinking now, like Peter suddenly realizes. Now the problem is the rabbi. This has never happened before. Something unusual is taking place.

Speaker 1: 22:03

So he takes his hands off the net and the text says when Simon Peter saw this, when he experiences, he's not grateful, he's terrified, he's terrified. He falls at the knees of Jesus and in essence he says would you please get off my boat, go away, lord. I don't know exactly who you are, but I am a sinful man. I know who I am and if I'm being punished for something, I promise you that if we get back, especially with the nets in the boat, that would be really great. If we can get back. My net stop will be Jerusalem. It'll take me a couple days to get there. I will go to the temple. I will sacrifice whatever I need to sacrifice to make things right with God, because clearly I have done something to make God angry with me.

Speaker 1: 22:50

For he and his companions were astonished or other languages used there. They were shocked, even dismayed, like what is happening at this catch of fish that they had taken. And so were James and John's sons of Zebedee, which were his partners, and I think this isn't in the text. I think Jesus is just kind of laughing because he's the only one who knows what's coming. They're afraid, they're shocked, they're dismayed. They can't put two and two together.

Speaker 1: 23:18

But he knows that on the other side of Peter's willingness to say because you say so, I'm gonna do something and Jesus said this to Simon Peter, it's so powerful it's like he smiles and says don't be afraid, from now on you will fish for people. You know it's interesting he actually says don't be afraid to them. Later on in the Sea of Galilee in another interesting moment. But right here he even says, or actually says don't be afraid to them. Later on in the Sea of Galilee, in another interesting moment, but right here he even says or fear not, don't be afraid. From now on you will fish for people To which we go. What Like? What does that even mean? It makes no sense to them. There wasn't a metaphor for anything like that in this culture. But at this time, this moment, this scene, it's certainly not a time to ask questions oh, what does that mean, lord, as they're trying to deal with all of their stuff? So then it says that they rowed their boats back to shore. And then the text says, when they got there, they left everything and followed him, and the rest is literally history. The rest is why we're here. The rest is why so many of us have said yes to him, and with our lives as well. And here's the thing. Here's kind of the parallel.

Speaker 1: 24:39

Peter's day began with a financial decision. I didn't catch anything last night. I'm not going to catch anything in the daytime. I probably won't be able to go out tonight. It began with this financial decision. I didn't catch anything last night. I'm not going to catch anything in the daytime. I probably won't be able to go out tonight. It began with this financial decision. You know what it ended with? Well, it ended with nothing to do with fish or fishing.

Speaker 1: 24:55

This was the last thing at this time that was on his mind, because his yes, because his because you say so decision actually intersected with the faith and the reality and the activity of the Savior, and everything changed and together, this small group of people who had this experience on this day, on the other side of this because you say so moment, would launch a movement that changed literally and continues to change the world, changed my world and has changed many of your worlds as well, because you say so. Because you say so, now many of you, you've been tracking along with this all-in initiative, and we started this at the end of going through this long stint of the gospel according to Matthew, and that's why you've made a because you say so decision. That's why so many of you are committing money that you don't even have yet, committing money you haven't even made yet, simply because you feel like our heavenly father said this is what I want you to do. I have another story about a because you say so and the Heavenly Father saying this is what you want to do, where it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Back in January, it was actually January 11th 2021. We're trying to come out of the COVID situation. We have barely met for the last year as a faith community, both here here and for those of you who don't know.

Speaker 1: 26:26

At that time we had a campus in San Francisco and on January 11th, in my quiet time with the Lord, he asked this really interesting question. He says hey, lawrence, are you a kingdom person? I'm like, yeah, yeah, I am. And he was kind of like, really, how much Are you just interested in building your kingdom or my kingdom? And I went what does that mean? Like no, of course, like yours. So we kind of posed this question as we're looking at this new campus that we have in San Francisco, that's lost all momentum and San Francisco, as you guys know, is just even more tough in that season and we had a staff over there we're trying to support. And he kind of just whispered is there someone else in the kingdom that doesn't have a place and a space and resource to gather? Is there someone else that has more momentum than you do? Is there somebody else who has better relationships in more momentum than you do? Is there somebody else who has better relationships in the city than you do? And I said, wow, I mean, I'm sure they do, but we're awesome, like we already decided, like we're the ones that are supposed to do this.

Speaker 1: 27:36

And it became this conversation where it was like, oh, really, like I don't think that's what it's going to be, and so I kind of responded back this is the argument. This feels like Bruce Almighty to you, doesn't it? Like I'm having this weird conversation with God. And I said you know, lord, I don't feel like you called me to be a transitional pastor of this place to do all of this work, to see what was taking place and to come alongside of these people just to then hand it over to another faith community to do something. And he said, I know. And I said but I wouldn't have done it if this is what you wanted to do. And he said, I know, that's why I didn't tell you. So I was like, oh, this was like it won't work. It's the middle of the day, like we haven't caught anything, we're not going to catch anything. We do it your way. He said, I know. And so a day later it took me a day, which actually isn't that long I was like you know, it's like that whole. Have you ever done that where you really want to say no to somebody, but you're like I'll pray about it. You already know your answer. It's just like your weird spiritual excuse. So the next day I was like I'll call somebody.

Speaker 1: 28:49

So I made a phone call to some representatives at Reality San Francisco who, by the way, at this time is founding themselves homeless. They weren't going to be able to meet in the place. They had no place to meet. Oddly enough, they had great momentum in the midst of COVID. They had beautiful relationships for the last 11 years and just asked them like hey, and they were like yes, we need something. And they had everything for kingdom, and that began a conversation for the next six months that ultimately transpired to doing a huge kingdom discount to give them that space and to sell that property to them, which now is overflowing, being completely filled and used, and ultimately gave us two healthy churches. Because what many people didn't know is, at the time we were carrying almost $11 million of debt and we were able to take what they gave us and just use it completely to pay off of all of our debt. And so it was because, yeah, it is worth a clap Like God should be celebrating this. And it was the outcome of a.

Speaker 1: 29:48

Because you say so. It does not make sense. I do not want to do it. It feels like it's a bad idea. I'm embarrassed. We're what's happening? Are we failing? All of the things that you would think, all of the things that Peter was experiencing, many of you experienced, I experienced, and yet, like we had no idea, I had no idea what hung in the balance in that day and how it would change everything moving forward.

Speaker 1: 30:16

Anyway, here's why I'm telling you that this whole thing we're doing right now, it's our turn. It's our turn to go all in this whole thing. This is. It's so big in some ways and it's so personal for us, especially my wife and I In some ways. It's so amazing for us. And I just want you to know I would never ask you to do something that I have not done yet first and already participating in that I didn't already go for. And nobody is more amazed at what's happening than us. And here's what I want you to know, because of our history together. And here's what you do know, and some of you guys know Because some of you this is actually your story personally that somewhere today in this community, or somewhere today in your community.

Speaker 1: 31:03

Wherever your community is Today, in Solano County or around the Bay, or those of you who are joining us online around the world today, close or far away, there's a college student, there's a high school student, a newly married couple, a recently divorced dad, a middle-aged widow who's just trying to figure out what does the future look like. There's a struggling married couple. There's a frightened teenage girl who just took a pregnancy test. And they don't know you and they don't know me and they've never heard of us. But because of what you're about to do, us are about to intersect with their story, simply because he said so and you said yes.

Speaker 1: 31:53

Now here's the thing In a life of an organization like ours, 34 years, in the season of the life of somebody you kind of get to, in the season of the life of a senior pastor like myself. This is like usually, when people start to like step back and like, ah, we're going to quit taking chances and we're going to quit taking risks, you start circling the wagons and protect the assets. This is kind of likened to that example I've given to you many times in the last couple of weeks. This is when it's just more comfortable being keepers of the aquarium. Like I don't feel like fishing today. I need to rest. I'm kind of tired of mending nets and casting nets. Like that's a lot of work, that's pretty risky, all those things and we've all seen that.

Speaker 1: 32:30

And I'm just going to tell you I don't want to be a part of an organization like that I hope you don't want to be a part of. I definitely don't want to be a part of a church like that. I don't want to lead or pastor, both personally and I'll just tell you financially. This, frankly, is the most money we have ever given away in our lives. Right now, making a commitment to go all in and to be clear. We understand and to be clear to you there's no guarantee, like you never know what's on the other side of saying yes to Jesus. In fact, there's actually only one way to know what's on the other side of saying yes to Jesus. In fact, there's actually only one way to know what's on the other side of saying yes to Jesus, and I learned this a long time ago it's better to find out than to miss out. You get to find out rather than miss out, and I don't want you to miss out. I don't want us to miss out. So we're going forward and since I don't want you to miss out, I actually want you to get out your card, your commitment card. Let me explain what we're about to do For those of you who have been praying about this decision, like us, or who came prepared today to turn your card in today.

Speaker 1: 33:37

Every once in a while, I really believe this that every once in a while in life there's kind of like a holy moment because of what's on the other side of what you're about to do, because what's on the other side of this. It's kind of a I mean, I really believe it's kind of a holy moment because, collectively, we you and me, all of us are going to try to do something that's so big that only God can make happen, the way that we only hope and dream that it could happen. So right now, I'm going to give you like two or three minutes to just sit and to think and to pray and, honestly, I just want you to thank God for the opportunity that you're even here, the opportunity that we've been given to partner with our Savior, where our action and faith get to intersect, to do this work here and now, and then we're going to worship Asher's, going to lead us in a song of gratitude, and if you're watching with us online right now, if you'll just follow the instructions on the screen, we're going to direct you to where you can fill out a card or you can directly give to this all-in initiative and those of you in the room. If you don't have one, you want to check it out? You can take out your phone and just even the next two or three minutes you can set this stuff up right now. You know, one of the things that we talk about here when it comes to giving is like if you're not giving anything, just start with something. We're not connected to any other association. Nothing else supports us except you. Nothing else supports moving and putting gas in the car to get towards our mission, vision and values than us, and so it just starts with that.

Speaker 1: 35:13

Maybe today is time for some of you just to give something, say you know what? I'm going to go all in with something and start there. I know 30 of you just last month decided to do that for the first time. Amazing and thank you. And then after that it's like well, I'm going to start doing this consistently. And so maybe part of this is just going to be setting up. You know I'm going to consistently partner with this. Because you say so. I'm going to let the nets down and see where this goes and then, abundantly, just a growing in your giving and what that looks like so that we could go all in.

Speaker 1: 35:45

Let me pray for us and then we're going to have a moment with music, reflection, and then Asher will come out. She'll invite you to be able to come forward and put your cards in the baskets and just kind of your own little holy moment as you process how you're partnering with this Father in heaven. Thank you, thank you for just already what I have personally got to witness. Thank you for the testimonies in this room, thank you for just a front row seat to see you at work, even when we think it's not going to work. It doesn't work that you continue to do a work in through us and to us, just this broken mess of people. God, I just ask that we would all just be surprised and in awe of this moment and what you're going to do in the future, that we would reflect and look back to June 8th, 1158 in the afternoon, because you said so and we said yes, thank you for the life change that we've already seen this year.

Speaker 1: 36:49

The over 100 people that have already made a first-time decision just this year for your name. The 89 people who were baptized and we got to watch their testimony already this year. The hundreds of students that have already come through the student ministries this year and are yet to come. The families that have impacted the grief share programs that we have. Those are grieving the bondage of addiction that's being broken through Celebrate Recovery, the men's ministry and women's ministry, and just the teaching, the support groups.

Speaker 1: 37:18

God you know, thank you for it and just that you have given this opportunity to cast the nets wider. We do all this to bring you glory and honor. Because you say so In your name. We pray amen. So take your holy moment with the Lord right now. Then Audrey's gonna lead us in some worship and then she'll give you an invitation to go put your card in the basket. Thank you, I'm going to make a hole in the bottom of the box. I'm going to make a hole in the bottom of the box. I'm going to make a hole in the bottom of the box. I'm going to make a hole in the bottom of the box. I'm going to make a hole in the bottom of the box. Thank you, thank you.