The Church of Eleven22 - Vision 2018

Episode Date: January 7, 2018

The Church of Eleven22 is a movement for all people to Discover and Deepen a relationship with Jesus. - Don’t miss this: Eleven22 is NOT the point, JESUS is the POINT.

Amen and amen. How we doing? Church, doing all right? Well, happy New Year. If you got your Bibles, I hope you do, go to Luke chapter four. I'll meet you there in a few minutes. I'd like to welcome all of our locations, especially for the very first time with all of our other locations,

welcome our Arlington campus. Amen. They are with us. So, well, happy new year. I hope your new year is going great. The great thing about New Year's is new beginnings, right? And I'm sure you make New Year's resolutions, and good luck with that.

And I hope the gym, You'll have many days in the gym and many healthy meals and all of that. And I don't know how 2017 was for you, probably some good things, maybe some not so good things. But I hope 2018 is a great year. I don't know about yours, but my 18 is starting out really great. Started out smelling like roses, if you know what I mean. Praise God. Amen, amen, amen.

All right. So, anyway, hey, listen, there's nothing wrong with New Year's resolutions or having goals. You should have goals in your life. And so what we're going to talk about today are kind of the goals of 1122. The Bible doesn't use goal words. It uses words like vision. And so today is Vision Sunday. And so I need everybody to get out this piece of collateral that you receive.

If you did not receive one of these coming in, please raise your hand. You need one. And let me just make a confession. I never receive any. Like if I go into a place and they try to hand me stuff, I'm always like, no, I've already got one. And then Gretchen rats me out. He just got here.

He doesn't have one. I'm like, shut up. All right. So I would not have taken one. But you got to have it. Raise your hand. Hold that hand up high. All right.

If not, we're going to sign you up for a mission trip. Okay? So hold your hand up because you need this. This explains, hey, we've got a couple down here. This explains what we're about. So if you're brand new to the church and you're like, I don't even go to this place. Well, you may end up here. And so you need to know what you're getting into.

Or if you come here all the time and help us plant this thing, then vision leaks. And sometimes it's easy to kind of lose track on what we're about. And the Bible says, without vision, people perish or people. throw off restraint. And so this is God's call for us and to focus us as a church on what we're doing. And so today we're going to do, today's going to be like an ecclesiological boot camp, all right? So typically in my sermons you can kind of laugh at the first part because it's funny and then go to sleep for 30 minutes, wake up at the end, you still make it to heaven. But today you can't, all right? You've got to stay involved because we're not just going to talk about what our church is about, but the church, the universal church,

the big C church, the billions of Christians gathering all over the world today, we're all unified under one vision and the vision is the glory of God. That God is about God. And he has called us as his bride, as his body, as his movement, as his church to make much of him. And so today is very, very important because we're going to be talking about what does it look like for us at 1122 this year to do what God has called us to do. And in order to dive into that, I want to share with you what I think are four of the most important verses about the church. Because it's real easy to misunderstand who the church is and what the church is supposed to be about. And so I listed them in your notes.

The first one's going to be Luke chapter 4. That's where we'll end up. We're going to kind of skip over and get back to it. Because in Luke chapter 4, I think it's beginning in about 16 or 18 somewhere around there, Jesus lays out his vision for his life, his vision for his life. And we'll see in just a minute why that is so important for the church. Because if you go to Matthew chapter 16, verse 18, what Jesus does here is Jesus gives the vision for the church, not just a church, but the church. You see, in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus takes the disciples to this place called Cessaria Philippi.

Now what you don't know about Cessaria Philippi is Cessori of Philippi was like the Vegas of the first century. All right, it was sin city. What happened in Cessori of Philippi stayed in Cessori of Philippa. You understand? There was temple prostitutes. There was, I mean, there's just some shady stuff. There was child sacrifice.

I mean, it was just a place where people went to do whatever they wanted with whoever they wanted whenever they wanted. And Jesus takes his disciples to Cessaria Philippi, and they're overlooking this little place called, it was literally called the Gates of Hell. There was this temple to this sex god named Pan. He was like half goat, half man.

It looked like Tom. from Narnia, all right? So get that in your mind, but not too much. And so, and literally, that little place, it was called the gates of hell. And Jesus assembles his disciples right there, and he asks him this question. He says, so who do people say that I am? And you know who's going to answer the question. It's Peter. Peter always talks first. He always talks most. He's like, oh, I should talk. There's silence here, all right? But if you say enough things, eventually you say something right, I know this to be true in my own life. And so Jesus says, so who do people say that I am and he says, well, people say, gives a very like Oprah-esque kind of answer. You're a good

man from God and you're a good moral teacher. And then Jesus says, but who do you say that I am? You see, by the way, this is the most important question you'll ever deal with in all of eternity. And every single one of us have to deal with that. But who do you say Jesus is? And Peter answers this way. Peter says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And when he says this, Jesus, like, gets all excited, all right? He's the winner, winter, chicken dinner, Peter, you nailed it. Okay? And he says, Peter, this idea to not come from you, it came from the Father.

And then he says, we'll pick it up in Matthew 16, 18, and Jesus says, and I tell you, you are Peter. By the way, he changes his name. His name was Simon, and he changed it to Peter. Peter in Greek means the rock. So in our translations, he changes his name to Rocky. All right, this is a big deal. He goes from

Simon to Rocky, and on this rock, Jesus says, I will build my church. and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This is the first time the idea of church, as we know it, has ever been expressed in human history. Now, the word he uses there is ecclesia. It's really a shame about 300 years later. Instead of the word ecclesea, which means a movement or a gathering of people on purpose,

that's what it means. Then they started using this German word called Kirche, which you can hear church in it. And it literally means the Lord's house. And it's really a linguistic nightmare because what began to happen is people began to believe that church is a place that you went

instead of a people to belong to. And so Jesus says, and I will build my ecclese of my movement. So who will build it? Jesus. That Jesus will build his church. Not the staff, not the pastors, not some great marketing campaign,

not facilities all over to the city, none of that, but that Jesus would build his church. And so that leads us to believe that the church ought to be about the things that Jesus is about. and Jesus said, and I will build my church upon the rock. And the rock isn't Peter. The rock's not the person, Peter.

And we know this, because later in that same text, Jesus looks at Peter and says, get behind me Satan. So you can't go from being the Pope to the devil in the same chapter in the Bible. You understand? And so what the rock that the church will be built on is the public declaration of what Peter said, that you were the Christ, the son of the living God. And then Jesus said, and the gates of hell. That was a literal place.

I believe the disciples could see that place and he points at it and goes, The gates of hell will not prevail against it. And honestly, the disciples, a bunch of teenagers, except probably Matthew, they were probably thinking, yeah, right. Like, I know Thomas doubted. He was like, are you trying to say this little camping trip that we're a part of? It's 13 guys, right, Jesus and us 12,

that this little camping trip that we're a part of that somehow this is going to prevail in the city that is Cessaria Philippi, this booming metropolis that people come to visit from all over this region that somehow the church is going to prevail over this? And 2,000 years later, guess what? The church is alive and well. Billions of Christians gathered today all over the world to proclaim Jesus and Cessori of Philippi.

It's a tourist stop. It's a tourist stop if you ever go visit the Middle East. You see, this is where Jesus lays out the vision of the church. He says that it's going to be built on the rock of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus will build the church and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It's a very important verse in understanding what the church is about.

It's the vision of the church. And then Matthew chapter 28. Matthew chapter 28 is when Jesus commissions the church. It's called the Great Commission. And if you're Baptist, you know this. If you're Baptist, you love this. If you're Baptist, and they would have letting you get a tattoo,

you would have gotten this tattooed on you, at Awana's back when you were a teenager, all right? And if you don't know what Awanhas is, bless your heart. Welcome to 1122. We're glad you're here. All right. And he starts out this. in Matthew chapter 28, verse 17.

This is post-resurrection. So Jesus has gone to the Christ, dead buried, he's resurrected from the grave. He's appeared over 40 days to over 500 people. He had fished for breakfast with some of the disciples on the beach one day. And then he gathers everybody together, verse 17. And when they saw him, Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, they worshipped him, but some doubted.

I love this verse. It gives me great peace as a preacher. You know why? Because there were people that saw the resurrected Jesus Christ, you know, with still the wounds in his hand and his side and his feet, and they looked at him, and he's about to, after he gives a great commission, he's going to ascend to the right hand of God the Father. This is called the ascension. He's going to go like Iron Man and he's going to go, you know what I'm saying? And people are going to look at that. And some people are going to worship him because they say,

you know, worthy to be praised, only God could come back from the dead. And other people are going to see that same evidence and they're going to go, I don't know. I think I still doubt. You know, I saw a Chris Angel special once, and he levitated like, so I think maybe. You see, because some people think, man, if I could just see a miracle, then I would believe. Man, look, seeing it and believing. Believing is believing. And so before Jesus ascends to the right hand of God the Father, he says this. Verse 18, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,

and that matters a lot when you come out of the grave. Go, therefore, and make disciples. You might want to underline those two words, and make disciples of all. nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. This is the great commissioning, the commission of the church. So what is the church to do? Jesus said, I'll build the church, and then he looks at the church and he says, now go and make disciples. Of who? Of all nations, of all people. And what do we do? We baptize

them. In other words, we help them discover a relationship with Jesus Christ. Sound familiar? and then what we do after they discover, then you teach them everything that I have taught you, teach them to obey. Oh, you mean like to help them deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ? Right. And low, I will be with you. Oh, with you like a relationship?

Yeah. This is where our vision statement comes from. That we're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And now here's the thing. In English, it looks like the imperative is go, but in Greek the way this reads is, as you are on the go, going wherever you go,

make disciples. Make disciples is the imperative. And so then you may ask, well, God, how are we to do that? How are we to lead all the different tribes, tongues, tongues, and nations around the world to you? The fourth verse that I think is really, really important in understanding what the church is about is Acts chapter 1 and 2. It's really the whole chapters. The last time I taught those two chapters, it took me about three months. I've got three minutes, okay? So here it is. In Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus is going to tell us how the church is going to make disciples of everybody. He says this, Acts 1-8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Now, as Americans, we're so egocentric that we think the ends of the earth is somewhere else and it starts here. You realize we're the ends of the earth and it started there. And so how, church, how are we going to accomplish what God has called us? to accomplish that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And so the disciples, they're waiting in this upper room because Jesus told him the wait there, and then he's already ascended to the right hand of God, the Father, and the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, every single believer in Jesus, it's fully immersed. The Greek word there is baptized, is immersed in the Holy Spirit of God.

And they start speaking. They start speaking to one another. And the crazy thing is, because it's Pentecost, all of these people are all in the Jerusalem for this big celebration from all over that part of the world and they speak all kinds of different languages and the disciples are speaking in the language that they know and yet the people are hearing it in their own language it would be like if you're from new york you would hear my southern south carolina dialect and you're kind of yankee talk okay and you'd be like where's he from is it and that's what's going on or if you're from mexico city and i'm speaking english and

you would hear the sermon in Spanish. That'd be cool. But I only know like two Spanish lines. Your studio Espanio in La Suela paroacouranos per Lenovo-Spanio. That means I studied Spanish for four years in school, but I don't speak Spanish. All right. And I know this one. Don't know it's al-Bano.

So you need that one if you ever go to Mexico City. All right. And so, a lot. And so that happens. And then Peter sees this crowd of people because they're all gathering up. This is what Pentecost is about. And in chapter 2, verse 38 and 39, it says this. And Peter said that Peter's going to preach a sermon, the most non-seekers-sensitive sermon

you've ever heard in your life. Peter doesn't look at this crowd of people and be like, oh, bless your hearts, your snowflakes and your skittles and your puppy's breath and doggone it, God likes you. He doesn't do that at all. He says, God sent us the author of life and you killed him. That's his sermon. You think I'm mean, you should read your Bible, all right? Here's what he says.

And Peter says, repent and be baptized. Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness. of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is for you and for your children and for all those who are far off. Guess who that is? The promise is for us. Jacksonville is far off from Israel and everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And so in Acts chapter 1 and 2, Jesus empowers the church. So this is why this is important. Okay. So what is the church about? the church is empowered by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The church is commissioned by Jesus to go and make disciples.

The church is given vision by Jesus that upon this rock, the public declaration of the gospel, that Jesus would build his church to do the thing that Jesus came to do. So if we go all the way back to Luke chapter 4, what we find here is Jesus gives us, and Luke 4, the vision statement for his life. So that's where we're going to pick it up. That's why it's very important on vision.

Sunday. In other words, if the church is the body of Jesus, then the church should do the things that Jesus came to do. And so Church of 1122 and all of our locations, what we're doing is not new. It's just our turn. And here's what Jesus came to do. Luke, chapter four, beginning of 14. And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit to Galilee. Now, you may ask, he returned from where? Well, if you go up in chapter four a little bit, he'd return from the desert where he spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting. And the Bible says, and he was hungry, to which I think, you think. And the enemy tempted him. Tempted him with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And Jesus responded with it is written's and he is tired and he is beaten up and he

is worn down. And God used that time in the desert to strengthen him, to prune him, to burn him, to burn away anything, there's nothing impure in Jesus, but to send him through that trial, and then how does he return? He returns in the power of the spirit. And some of you hear the words about being hungry and tired and in the desert with the devil for 40 years, and you go, huh, or 40 days, and you go, yeah, that sounds like 2017.

And maybe for some of you, that's what 17 was, that you walk in the valley of the shadow of death, but the good news is you don't have to fear that evil because he is with you. and God disciplines his children and that pain always has a purpose. And sometimes the purpose is to walk through that refiner's fire to burn away a whole bunch of stuff to prepare you for what God has in store for you. And my prayers that you would walk into 2018 in the power of the spirit.

And so Jesus returns in the power of the spirit to Galilee and a report about him went out through all the surrounding county. And he taught in their synagogues being glorified by all. And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogues on the Sabbath day. See, Jesus didn't miss church. He didn't care if his team made the playoffs. He, I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding. Go, Jackson. And he stood up to read. That's how they would do it back in the day, all right? They would stand up, they'd read the scriptures, and then the teacher, the rabbi, would sit down and people would ask questions. That's kind of how the sermon went. Verse 17, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.

And he unrolled the scroll, and he found the place. where it was written. Now, I don't know if Jesus was expecting to preach or not. Maybe he was just going to church, and they were like, hey, you're preaching today. I don't know if this has ever happened to you? Has anybody ever just sewed up to a place? And with no preparation, they just put it on you and said, okay, you're speaking. All right, if not, this is your warning.

If you go on a mission trip, you might preach, all right? I know everybody's like, well, I'm not going now. Come on, go. The first sermon I ever preached, I didn't know I was going to. I've told you this before. I'm standing in the back of the room. Coach Bull Lee, the God led me to Jesus said, boy, when the singing's over, you're preaching. I was like, what? What do I talk about? He said, boy, that's easy. Talk about Jesus. Talk about 30 minutes. Go. And I did. And here I am. All right. Now, Jesus had an unfair advantage because he kind of wrote the Bible and he's God and all that. But this is what he does. He takes the scroll handed to him and he finds the place Isaiah 61 is going to go. Now, it was a very familiar text and it was a messianic prophecy. It was a bunch of Bible verses in the Old Testament to say, this is how you know what the Messiah looks like. And the crazy thing is then Jesus is going to read this in the

the first person. He says, he opens it to the scroll, Isaiah 61, he goes, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Rolls back up the scroll. Now, at this point, nobody's freaking out because they read this Bible verse all the time. And then this is where it gets crazy.

Verse 20, he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and said, down and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him and he began to say to them today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing that is a Hebrew mic drop boom straight up that's what he's saying he reads through this the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he is anointed me this Messiah that you are looking for open your eyes here he is boom I'm out that's what happens you see here's what this text means the Spirit of the Lord is upon Jesus because he has anointed me. That word anointed in Hebrew is Messiah.

Literally, it would say that he has messiahed me. Messiah just means the anointed one. The Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah is Christos, or we would know it as Christ. That Christ is not Jesus' last name. That's a newsflash for some of you, okay? And his middle name is not holy. So it's a title, not a last name. He is Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Anointed One, the one that came to do these things,

to proclaim good news. The word good news is gospel. Jesus said, I came to proclaim that I am going to pay for your sin because you will never be able to pay the price on your own. And he says, I came to proclaim good news to preach the gospel to the poor.

It doesn't just mean the financially poor, though the financially poor and oppressed have a special place in the heart of God. We know because of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 3, that's the beatitudes, that Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit. For they will see God.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. So what he's saying here is, I came to proclaim the gospel to the poor in spirit. The people that know that at a soul level, at a spiritual level, I'm bankrupt. Something's missing. And then he said, and he sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives. And we know here that he's talking about a spiritual liberty or a spiritual freedom. Why? Because I can't find any place in the gospels where Jesus goes and like break some brothers out of jail like Bo and Luke used to do all the time.

Okay? In fact, when John the Baptist, Jesus' first cousin, was in jail and sent a disciple to Jesus to say, are you the one or should we wait on another? Jesus actually quotes these verses, Isaiah 61 and says, go tell John that all these things are happening, but he leaves this part out about liberty to the captives. But he came to set people spiritually free. In recovery of sight to the blind, Jesus healed multiple blind people. And to set at liberty those who are oppressed, all throughout the Gospels we see multiple times where Jesus cast

demons of oppression out of people and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Now, all of the Jewish people that were there that day, they would have thought of this thing in the Old Testament called Jubilee, where all the debts are forgiven and it is a year of peace. And then Jesus says, again, in all of this that you've been hoping for and praying for and studying about in Sunday school, since you were a little boy and a little girl, all of this is fulfilled in your hearing. In other words, Jesus says, I am the Christ, the son of the living God.

And so the reason I share all this with you is because everything we do as a church ought to be about the things that Jesus is about. Now, up into this point, it goes great. I'll just kind of give you the readers' digest of the rest of the chapter. Everybody loves it. They love the sermon. They were like, ooh, baby Jesus, that was so good. This is Nazareth, where he grew up. Some of the grandmas were like, I remember he was a carpenter's boy.

He couldn't build a table, boy. He could preach, all right? That's what's happening. And then Jesus shares two illustrations from the Old Testament, from First King and Second Kings. And both of the illustrations are about how a prophet neglects an Israelite to care for a Gentile. In other words, Jesus is saying, all these things that I came to do, Israel, it ain't about you. It ain't about you. That Israel, you were blessed to be a blessing.

You were chosen to be a city on a hill, a light in the world. So the reason that I would save you is you're not saved to be saved, it's you're saved to be sent. That it's not about conversion, it's about commission. That the moment you realize that God loved you so much that he sent Jesus on a rescue mission for you, the moment you get rescued, you become a part of the rescue team. So get over you. That's basically what he was saying. And then, like any good church, after hearing that part that it's not about you,

and you might not get the program you want, we're not going to do the color carpet you want. We don't have carpet here. But you know what I'm saying? You've been in those churches, right, where they vote on stuff. and the moment they get together and they have a vote and the vote is we don't like Jesus and they vote here's what they vote to kill him to kill him

and so the Bible says in his hometown they gather him together and they take him to the edge of town there's a big cliff there in Nazareth and they're going to throw him off the cliff to kill him now listen I have preached some stinkers of a sermon all right no amends please just just there are to other churches all right and so but I've never preached so bad that y'all got together

and go well to kill that guy we all just you know put one in his head No. And then the Bible says that Jesus, it's crazy. They take him to the edge of town, and then it just says, and Jesus went out from amongst them. Like, you just left. And every time I read that, my mind, because I'm simple, my mind goes to, remember when Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny were getting a tussle sometime, and there'd be that big ball to fight, and then Bugs Bunny would just leave, and Elmer would be fighting amongst themselves, all right? That's from the Bible. That's how Jesus did it. which I think also means Jesus ain't going to hang out on your church fights for too long, all right? And so there it is. So the reason we share all of this is as we walk through the vision for the Church of 1122, we're going to talk a lot about the Church of 1122 because that's where we are. That's what God's called us to.

We love it, all right? But the point is not 1122. The point is always Jesus. This is our version of what it means to be the kind of church that is accomplishing the kind of things that Jesus set out to accomplish. And because Luke 4 is the vision for the life of Jesus. And then Matthew chapter 16 is the vision for the church that Jesus would build his church upon the gospel and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And then in Matthew chapter 28, he looks at the church. He looks at the followers, the disciples, us.

And he says, now you go, you go. And you're going to make disciples. That plan A for God's glory demonstrated in this world, guess what? It's the church. It's us. Again, not a building, not a brand, but a people called by God to do God things for the glory of God. And then you think, well, we don't have the power to do that. You're absolutely right. So in Acts chapter two, he gives us the power of the Holy Spirit.

And when you receive, you will receive power when you receive the Holy Spirit. And you will, you will be my witnesses. Where? Jerusalem, like right here. Judea over there. Samaria. That's like people you don't even like. Like Gainesville. You know what I'm saying? And to if you're from Gainesville, I love you because Jesus commanded. All right. And so, and to the ends of the earth. And so if you would, grab this piece.

Grab this piece. All right. Because this is what we believe as pastors and elders and staff. This is what we believe God is calling us to as a church. And again, if you're brand new here, if this is your first time here, then this is a great time to be here because you'll get to see what we're all about and see if you want to jump in with us or not. And if you've been here for a while, man, the truth is, just vision leaks. So this will be a good reminder of what we have been called to to. On the front, you'll see this little deep in logo.

That'll make more sense in just a minute. Well, we've got a part of our vision statement here. The Church of 1122 is a movement, a movement, not a place, not a brand, not a club. It is a movement of people called by God for the glory of God. It is a movement of all people. Why? Because we're supposed to take the gospel to all nations, to all peoples. means if you're in the all people category, good news, man, good news.

Then the Church of 1122 could be for you. But we're not just a movement for all people to just gather together because a bouquet of humanity is not an awesome thing. See the nightly news, all right? But we are here on purpose, and the purpose for which we gather is to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's the most important thing is that relationship with Jesus Christ. And so before we get into where we're going in 2018,

I want you to open it up, just one section. And the first thing that you'll see is a whole bunch of numbers. And I always have to make myself stop and look back over my shoulder to just see the faithfulness in God and what he's been doing. Because I don't know about you, but God just made me a leader. I rarely lay in bed thinking about what has been. I always think about what we're going to do, all right? But one of the things that the Israelites would do in the Old Testament

is when God would do something awesome, man, they would stop, and they would build an altar just to point to the faithfulness of God. And so what this thing is about, what this page is, it's just an opportunity for us to celebrate, to celebrate, to honor God, to praise God, to say, God, thank you for doing extraordinarily more than we ever hoped or imagined. And it is not celebration to golf clap. It is not celebration to just stare aimlessly at me as I preach my face off.

You understand? So wake up a little bit. I know you're going to be screaming at 1.20, so we're going to scream a little bit. You're not to scream. But you know what I'm saying. We're going to clap. We're going to cheer. We're going to celebrate the glory of God and what he has done in us and through us and to us.

That by the end of last year, we were running about 8,500 adults in all of our campuses. Isn't that amazing? About 8,500 people attend our churches. That's crazy. Now, occasionally, people don't ask this that much anymore because I make fun of them, but occasionally somebody will come up to me and be like, why has it got to be so big? So I'm like, who do you want me to make leave? Because I'm voting you right now because you don't get it, okay?

The Bible says to store up your treasures in heaven. What can you take to heaven? People. People. We spend all of our treasure to take as many people to heaven as we absolutely can. And that 85, you're one of these numbers. You realize that? That's you.

These aren't numbers. These are names, stories that Jesus died for every single one of us. These are the neighbors that we brought. These are our children. This matter a lot. And because God has assembled so many of us, we can accomplish a lot for the glory of God. Like, we have sponsored,

we have rescued from poverty in Jesus' name, 4,292 children through Compassion International. Isn't that great? And they would clap louder than you. That's okay. We're going to get it, okay? Over the past two years through before all things, we planted 153 churches around the world.

Isn't that amazing? And here's why that's awesome. This weekend at those 153 churches, we have 5,840 people attending those churches. I am praying for the day when we have more people attending the churches we plant than we have attending 1122. Amen? I mean, it's incredible. This past year we baptized 461 people. We had 831 people surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ just in 2017.

And this might be my favorite part. if you are a person that surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ through the ministry of the Church of 1122 at all of our campuses, we just raise your hand. We just hold your hand high in the air and say, I am one of the whole. Keep them up, keep them up, keep them up, glory to God. Could you look around this place and say, and give God glory for these people with their hands in the air?

Praise God. So a big part of what we're going to do is we're just going to keep on, keeping on, doing those kinds of things. If you'll open up to this, because it's kind of an origami masterpiece here, all right. If you look at Objective 3, I'm not doing them in order because I just want to do them in this order, then today is the first day where we had our first services at our Arlington campus. And so objective 3 is to launch a healthy Arlington campus and beyond. So one more time, could you welcome our folks at Arlington? Amen and amen. Now people are like, wow, wow, does 1122 do like franchises? No, man, here's what we do.

A lawyer came to Jesus and said, what's the greatest commandment? He said, said, love the Lord of your God with all your heart, slow, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. And so we think as a church, one of the best ways to love our neighbors, it's kind of track where we have 11-20 tours and just move into the neighborhood. Because it's easier to partner with our folks in Bay Meadows and Mandarin and Arlington for the folks there to invite people to come to a location there in their neighborhood. And the and beyond matters, so be praying. We're working on numbers five, six, seven, eight. we're going to keep going and keep going as long as God fuels it.

And sometimes the and beyond means other things like new service times. So let me talk to Mandarin for a second. Mandarin, you've done such a good job at inviting your friends and family that you guys are packed out. We don't have any more seats available in our Sunday morning services. See, part of the reason there's some seats here at San Pablo right now, one could have to do with the game maybe. But also, as we said, there's about a thousand people that went to Arlington today, and most of them come from here. here. At Mandarin, you guys are sitting in each other's laps. And so, right, we make all the skinny girls sit like four to two seats. That's what we do. And so at Mandarin, starting in a couple of weeks,

we're going to add a new Sunday morning service time. I'm not going to tell you the times because it would confuse everybody at our other locations. They don't know when to show up now anyway, even though it's called 1122. But anyway, so Pastor Ben Phillips is going to share that with you. But the reason we do that, the reason we start new locations, the reason we expand locations, the reason we add service, services is to make room for one more person. Listen, Gretchen's got this really good friend. And it's a miracle that they ever got to know each other. Because the first time this lady, she goes to church here now, her marriage, this is like

four and a half years ago. She had some friends that attend 1122. And her marriage wasn't going so great. And she's super successful. And like everything on the outside looked awesome, but internally something was missing. And one day she got up. She's like, you know what, I'm going to go to that church. And she got up and she got her kids ready.

and she never been to 1122. She got them all dressed up. That's how you know that a visitor's here. If somebody comes in looking nice, they're like, oh, you don't go here, do you? That's great. Okay? And so she got the kids ready.

It took longer as she thought. She didn't realize how big it was going to be. This is before we had any other locations. This is before we built out the back here at San Pablo. She got here to park, and she was like, what? She had to park on the other side of the wind Dixie. She walks all the way down with her two kids.

She walks in the new gen doors to check her kids into new gen. And some of our volunteers looked at her and said, we were so sorry, but we're full. And she said, I've never been turned away from church. Never been turned away from church. Luckily, this lady is like really mature and was very understanding.

And the friends of her said, why don't you just come back? Get her early and come back. And so listen, sometimes we get there, right? I mean, we care about the safety of the kids and you can't put like 2003-year-olds in one room and that sort of stuff. I just don't think Jesus died on the cross for his church to look at people that are hungry for God and be like, sorry, there's no room in the end.

And so we will do whatever it takes to create as many seats as possible to reach every single person that God would draw into himself. Amen? And so we are going to launch a healthy Arlington, welcome, and beyond and beyond and beyond and beyond. Amen. Amen. And then right above that, it says Objective 2. these are some of the just the key events in the life of 1122. You see, this thing's a family, just a big dysfunctional family. And in any family, you should have kind of a rhythm, and you should have some traditions and some events that you are a part of. And so we give you these dates today so that you mark your calendar. You should be at these things.

Just like in your family, there's some things you should not miss, like your anniversary or the birth of your children, or, you know, there's some, and sorry to bring up some sore subjects, but these are some things you don't want to miss. Two of them, God made them up, and so those were easy, and two of them we kind of made up, but we think he's into them. Okay? Number one is Easter. So it's on April 1st this year, which is also Gretchen's birthday, which is great, and I think that's her picture. So, glory to God, and happy birthday, Gretchen. But on Easter, we want to let you know when Easter is. You know, it's always hard to figure out. If they ever elect me king, I'm going to make Easter the second Sunday in April, no matter what, and we're killing Daylight Savings. All right.

So, listen, man, this is the best opportunity for you to bring people to Jesus. And so we're going to make much of Jesus on Easter. And for 40 days leading into it, we're going to pray and we're going to fast and we're going to prepare for resurrection Sunday. The second thing is Beach Baptism, May 20th. If you are on vacation on May 20th, you're dumb. Don't go on vacation on May 20th. Come to Beach Baptism. It's the coolest thing you've ever been to.

If you grew up in a country church, this is like dinner on the grounds. If you're just brand new to the faith, this is tailgating Jesus. This is what it is. We put tents on the beach. Thousands of us gather from all of our locations to celebrate hundreds of people getting baptized. And there's chicken and sweet tea and cookies and people. And it is just this epic event where we celebrate God saving his people. And then the third thing is saturated.

September 12th through 16th. For 21 days leading into saturated as a church. man, we pray and we fast and we beg for a move of God. And a part of it, honestly, is a gift from me to you. I get some of my friends that are the best preachers in the country to come here. Like I think Pastor Kwan's going to come back this year. J.D. Greer will be here. Shane and Shane will probably lead worship.

And it is just a weekend for us. It's like a Wednesday through a Sunday for us to be saturated in the gospel of God, to be saturated in his presence. And so you don't want to miss that. And then the last thing is Christmas Eve. Now this year, Christmas Eve is on a Monday, so we're going to do a Christmas Eve Eve service. Pastor Stone told me that's called Christmas Adam because Adam comes for Eve, and I said now I knew he grew up Baptist. All right.

And so Christmas Eve Eve service. We're going to run all the same service times I think that we did this year. And here's why that's important. This year at our Christmas Eve services, we had over 12,000 people in attendance. We had 71 salvation at our Christmas Eve services. Amen. Amen. So, you should, like the responsible one in your family, you should be putting these in your calendar right now and scheduling your whole life around it. It means that much. And then the first thing that you'll see in this vision piece is this, is deepen. You see, this little triangle thing with the cross in the middle, we call it the discipleship journey. Jesus said, make disciples. Well, what does the disciple look like? Well, here at the church of 1122, we use our vision statement to define what it is. means to be a disciple. That we're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship

with Jesus Christ. The first and foremost that the center of our life is the cross is a relationship with Jesus Christ. We want every single person to know that Jesus is before all things and he is the center of our life. And so what does a disciple do or look like? A disciple loves all people. Well, how do you love all people? You share your faith with them and you serve them. A disciple discovers their identity in Jesus. That means that you discover that your identity is not in your bank account, it's not in your football team, it's not in your marital status, it's not in your genetic makeup, it's not in your attraction, it's not in your political party, but your identity is in Jesus.

That is through salvation when you surrender your life to Christ and through stewardship. And stewardship is not just a church money word. It means being a steward of all that God has given you, which is all of your life. And then we also exist to deepen our relationship. relationship with Jesus. And so if you look at this, this little dotted line around this deepened section, I want you to think of it like a magnifying glass, that what we're going to be doing this year, all of 2018, is focusing on what it looks like to deepen our relationship. Now, some of you Christians, you hear the words, deepen your relationship with Jesus, and it's very churchy, and you're like,

oh, I can't wait to abide in Christ. You know what that means. If you're new, here's what this means. It means that we're going to deepen with the faith family, that a part of the way you deepen your relationship is you deepen, you deepen your connection in his body and in his church. And then you also deepen in your faith. And so at the bottom of that page are a whole bunch of events or environments that we will be providing and creating. And these are not necessarily always and forever. But these will help you deepen with the faith family and deepen your faith in God.

And so some of them are things that we always do. So to deepen with the family, we are onboarding disciple groups right now. You should join a disciple group right now. That some of you, bunches of you, this should be the year that you become a covenant member. Okay? A covenant member is the person that says, I'm not just a receiver of the goods and services of 1122. I want to be an owner of the mission and vision and values. And then this year we're going to do a serve day 2.0 like we did last year.

I think we're going to join up with a bunch of churches. It's going to be awesome. And we have mission trips all over the world all the time. Those are things that we are just kind of historically always. doing. Here's some of the new things for you to deepen with the family this year. We're going to have on-campus disciple groups. And this is primarily for those of you that were scared to show up to somebody's house. All right? You're like, I'm not going to that guy's house. I don't know him. And I'm allergic to cat dander. And so what if he has a cat? All right.

So listen, you can come to any of our locations and we don't have cats because we love Jesus. So we don't do that. There's one cat we like and it's a jaguar. So. And then also, some of the groups are going to have child care because we know that. that some of you, that's just, that's the hurdle you have not been able to get over. So we're going to provide child care for you so that you can be in disciple groups. And so this is primarily for those of you that have not yet taken that step to get connected. All right. On site disciple groups.

Also, we have expanded encounter trips. Encounter trips are just, I started a few years ago taking some guys hunting and put them in a tree stand with the Bible. And so those have expanded. These are like camps for adults, all right? We have a hunting encounter trip. We have a fitness encounter trip with Pastor Stone and his wife Blair, and so nothing will get you closer to Jesus than sweating with the stones. All right, so you should probably do that.

We have a golf encounter trip, a one-day clay shooting one, a surf encounter trip. We have marriage retreat, so maybe you and your wife should sign up for that. We have spiritual disciplines encounter trips, because some of you're like, we don't need the activities. We just want to pray and fast. You're awesome. You should sign up for that. Then we have two women's retreats.

And so when I asked some of the girls on staff, I was like, what do y'all do? They said, women don't have to do. They can just be. And I thought, yeah. So mature. So they're going to be awesome. That's just because they're more mature than us. And then also, we're going to have some what we call deepening connect nights at our campuses.

Because some of you can't get out of town to do the encounter stuff. So we're going to bring encounter to our locations. And then also, there is a list of what we call Discover Sundays. And there's this rotation, the first Sunday there's one. second and third and fourth, and it's the same one that corresponds to the same Sunday each week. And there's no way you can remember all that. So if you just go to C-O-E-22.com slash deepen, you can find the information on all of this stuff, on ways that you could deepen with the faith family.

And I would highly encourage you to do that. And what we're trying to do is whatever excuse you've ever had, we just want to remove that excuse. I would say, come on, come on. Why don't you deepen your connection with your church, with your faith family, so that you can deepen your relationship with Jesus. And then there's this other program. It's brand new. It's brand new, okay?

It kind of just started, but man, it has been taking off around the world. And it's this. At the end of a service, you could look to your left or right and see a human. And you could say, hi, my name is, and you can say your name. And then they'll say their name, and y'all can get together, and you can make a friend. It is crazy. You could try that too, okay? And then you could do one of these things together.

And then also, we want to deepen your faith. we're going to take a deep dive in our faith, which means beginning next weekend, starting on Thursday night, we're going to do a 34-week study verse by verse through the book of Romans, right? And so the Christians went, yes. And if you knew, you were like, wow, listen, Romans is tough.

All right, it starts out great, and it gets really, by chapter 9, your head blows up, all right? And so I'm going to help you with this. We're going to go through every single verse in the whole book for 34 weeks. That's the majority of our year. And next week when you show up,

you're going to get this study journal, one just like this, just for you, every single person. It's free to you, very expensive. And it'll have places for notes. It's got a place for your name and email address. So if you leave it, then we're going to tell you. Because if you leave your sunglasses, you come right back. If you leave your Bible or Jesus stuff, you're like, man, whatever, I'll get another one. Okay, so next week you're going to get this, and we're going to dig in.

We're going to dig in. Okay, so if you're not ready for Big Boy Bible study, then I don't know what you're going to do in 2018. but we're going to dig in to the book of Romans. Also, we're going to offer doctrine classes, which some of you've already experienced. This is just three hours on a Friday night of, like, doctrine, 100 miles an hour, and it hits you in the face, and hopefully some of it gets in your heart.

All right, this is a big boy Bible study. And then also, I'm going to write 52 devotionals for you, to you, from me to you. Every Monday, it will hit your inbox, and it's just me, a way for me to pastor. our church to say, hey, here's how it encouraged you to deepen your relationship with Jesus. And it starts out, you know, pretty basic. And then it'll go deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper.

Now, the way to get a hold of those devotionals are a few ways. One is you can go to the website, COE22.com slash deepen. And you can get them every Monday if you want to. They'll come through your app. So if you haven't downloaded the app, please do that. The third way is we'll have a bunch of social media links. You guys are probably pretty good at that. But this is the homework.

This is what I really need you to do. is I need you to go to our website, Cote22.com, and in the top right, there's a thing that says C-CB. It stands for something. Community Church-Civilter. Thanks. I go to it all the time. All right, and so, I know what it means, though. I don't know what it means.

I go to it. All right, here's what I need. I need you to click on that and make sure we have your correct email address. Because later this week, we're going to email everybody on CCB and say, do you want to get the devotionals from me? And we're only going to send them to you if you sign up for that. Because if I just do a mass email, some people, I think you come here and put somebody else's email address that hates Jesus because we're like, hey, the church is doing this. And they're like, I mean, they say bad words to me, okay? To which I always reply. So you're not going to be a church? I always do that. And then it doesn't go good for anybody. All right. So this week you'll have the opportunity to opt into that. Why? Why are we doing all this? Man, we're doing all this because we are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now, let me give you the warning. If you're like a Bible study person and you're like a real, I love Jesus, yes I do, I love Jesus how much you person, you're going to, you're like deep and finally. All right, but be real careful, man. Because this doesn't mean that we're going to get focused on us. Because the moment we begin to turn inward towards us, you turn your back on the world. And you're not saved to be saved, man. You're saved to be sent. It's not about conversion.

It is about commission. That we are rescued to be a part of the rescue team. but here's what I think. We legitimately could be the fastest growing church in America in the first five years of this existence. In the history of the country, this is what some people have told me. I don't care.

It's not a competition. But here's what I know is that we're not taking our foot off of the pedal of reaching people for Jesus. And if you think about our church like a big oak tree or a redwood, in order for us to sustain the growth that God continues to bring us at all of our locations, the roots have to get deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. And so for us to be prepared for what God has in store for us in the future,

we have to deepen our relationship with God by deepening our faith and deepening in the faith family. That's what this thing is about. So this is not us turning our back on the mission that God has called us to. This is preparing us for the mission that God has called us to. And that I believe, 2018, I mean, that it could be the year. It could be the year that Luke, chapter 4, what Jesus says the vision for his life is, that this is the year that it's going to be a reality in some of our lives.

That this is the year that we'll say, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. And the me is not me. That the spirit of the Lord is upon Jesus, because he has anointed Jesus. And the point of 1122, and the point of our lives is to point people to Jesus. And the spirit of the Lord is upon me

because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. Every single week you show up, everything that you're part of with 1122. we will relentlessly proclaim the gospel to those who are in poor in spirit. And so listen, the gospel is not the ABCs of Christianity. It is the A to Z. The gospel is not the diving board that jumps you in to being a Christian. It is the pool in which you dive.

The gospel is like a beautiful diamond. And when the light of the love of God shines upon it and you look at it from different angles, it refracts in brand new and beautiful ways. Listen, Jesus is not just a truth to be believed in. He is a treasure to be adored in value. And we will preach to the gospel, to the Christian and to the non-Christian, that the gospel is not just for our salvation but sanctification. And guess what, folks, there are some of you, and this is the year that you will surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And especially right now, if you went, not me, I cannot wait to hold you under that water.

Your day is coming. It is coming. Praise God. Right, wash? He has sent me to proclaim. liberty to the captives. You know what we're going to do this year? This year, some of you are going to be set free. Some of you are going to be set free from desires that have ruined your life, from lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Some of you are going to be

set free from destructive habits and relationships. This is the year that some of you are going to be set free from bitterness and unforgiveness, that this is the year that you are going to be able to cancel the debt that somebody owes you because you realize that Christ canceled your debt that you owed him. For hundreds, for hundreds of people, we are believing that this is the year that you will be set free from your addiction. This thing outside of you that has control of you, that you've tried to not do and not do and not do, but somehow something overcomes you.

There's a greater power called the Spirit of God that is going to set you free from this thing that has had control of you, or maybe set your spouse free or set your kids free. That this is the here that you are going to be set free. for a bunch of you, you are going to be set free from religious exhaustion. That you're going to realize that the performing and the pretending is over. And that this is the year that there will be recovery of sight to the blind. Now, man, we are praying for physical healing, but maybe more important than that. There are some of you, and you are blind to the ways of God.

And this will be the year that you'll begin to see as God sees, and in doing so you'll do as God says. And for the very first time, you'll see finances God's way. And you won't think that more is mine, but you'll bring your first and your best to him because you know that he first of you by giving his best in Jesus. And for some of you, for the very first time, you'll see marriage God's way. And you'll quit pouting because you're not getting what you want. And you'll pick up the basin, and you'll pick up the towel, and you'll begin to wash your wife's feet.

And for some of you, you'll begin to see your body God's way. And you'll realize that you are valuable, and therefore you should be treated as valuable. And for some of you, the scales will fall off of your eyes. And for the very first time, you will see that the path that you are on leads to destruction. And you will repent and you will turn around. And you'll come to your senses and you'll come back to God. And when you do, you will come back to a loving God that runs to meet you from a long way off. And he'll put the signet ring on your finger.

He'll put shoes on your feet. He will wrap the robe of righteousness around you. And he will throw a party for you. and for some of you you will be experienced in a way that's hard to describe but it's impossible to deny that he will sit at liberty those who are oppressed

some of you have been oppressed by the things of your past you can't get past your past and every time you show up to church in fact the reason you only come every six weeks or so is every time you show up the enemy begins to whisper the things that you've done in your life and this will be the year you're set free from that oppression

you're set free from that condemnation because therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. To be condemned, that's a builder's term. It means unfit for use. And then Jesus is going to look at you and say, no, no, no, you're not condemned. You're not unfit for use. In fact, you're a temple of the Spirit of God. I'm going to move in and make my permanent address you.

And therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and you, and you are going to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. You know what that means? that not just because it's 2018, but it is the year of the Lord's favor because Jesus is a propitiation for our sins. And if propitiation means a payment that satisfies, and if Jesus fully satisfied the wrath and the law of God and you are in Christ, that means that he cannot be dissatisfied in you. That means God is not in love with some future version of you, but he favors you. He loves you. He smiles over you. If he's got a refrigerator in heaven, he's got your

picture on it. Or to quote the 20th century prophet, Tupac. Maybe you would hear these words as if from the Lord. I ain't mad at you. Got nothing but love for you. Do your thing, boy. And that could be 2018. Amen.

Amen. Why? Why? Because the finished work of Christ at the cross and the unfinished work of the church that he has set us on fire to do. So won't you join us this 2018, as we continue to be a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ,

but do not be confused. The point is not 1122. The point of 1122 is always to point people to Jesus. Amen? Won't you stand and pray with me? Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we thank you and we love you for your vision. God, a picture of what you would have for your church.

God, we thank you, first and foremost, for the gospel that makes all of these things possible. God, we thank you for the vision of your life. God, we thank you for the vision of your church that you build the church. Not me, not the elders, not some strategy team, but you build your church. God, we thank you for the prevailing church that the gates of hell will not prevail against what you have in store for your bride. God, we thank you for the commissioning of the church that it's not about us, that we are saved to be sent. And God, we thank you for the empowering Holy Spirit in your church.

And Lord, we pray that this is a year that we will look back on and think, man, this is when it all changed. This is when I was set on fire for the glory of God in your mission. And I've never experienced so much joy as to live on mission for you. And Lord, I pray, I pray that you would do a gospel work in the hearts and souls of every man, every woman, every student, every child that is a part of the Church of 1122 for your glory. we prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. So church, we respond. We respond by bringing our tithes and our offerings, our first and our best. Why?

Because he is first and best, and he first loved us by giving us his best in Christ. We respond by prayer. This would be a great opportunity for you to come to you to, for you to bend your knee to the most high king and say, God, how am I involved in this? What is my part in your vision for your glory on this planet? And then lastly, we join our voices together. We sing to God as a prayer.

It's all of us unified. At all of our locations, we sing the same song, the same words, so that all of us would be on the same page praying unto God. May what you do echo in this city and to the ends of the earth. So let us respond.