The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 3: One More

Episode Date: October 28, 2018

Because of God’s relentless generosity toward us, may we leverage all that He has given us to reach ONE more for the glory of God.

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Everybody good? I am having a great weekend. I don't know about you, but I'm having a great weekend. Hey, if you've got your Bibles, I hope you do, Luke chapter 15 is where we're going to be. Or if you've got your journal here, which I hope you do. Oh, if you didn't have one before, I hope you got one on the way in.

I think page 27 is where we are. As it's been mentioned a couple times already, we started this brand new series that leads us down this two-and-a-half-year discipleship journey. called this we're calling it the one initiative it's rooted in what's called the shemma which is juderonomy chapter six versus four and five that says hero israel the lord our god the lord is here's where we got the name one that doesn't mean that god is like first on your list it's more like god is the paper on which you would write a list that's what that means and when we see god for who he really is when we see the glory of god through the person and work of jesus christ then it changes everything about everything about everything and then we respond with the rest of the

Shima and we should love the Lord our God with all of our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our might. And so on week one, we talked about this whole thing that's about the one name under heaven whereby we must be saved. That name is Jesus. And so what it looks like for us as a church over the next two and a half years is we have these three gospel initiatives. One is that we're called to be one church, this thing that we are part of, this movement

for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. and we as a church are called to reach one more and especially one more generation. So last week I talked about what we were called to as a church and my wife posted something on Facebook and I want to believe that it was inspired by the anointed sermon that she heard. I don't know, but here's what she said. She said, I'm not sure what I'd do without my church family. We are commanded to be in community with other Christ followers and I'm not sure what I'd do without. them. Those simple texts from friends when my day has been so crappy. I apologize for the potty

mouth of my wife. I will try to correct that. I would never use language like that. Ha ha. She goes on to say, that ride home or to lunch, you give my kiddo so they don't have to be at church for eight hours on a Sunday. Those rides to the away games when Joby and I have to be at church on Thursdays, those nights out on the back porch where real life happens. Thank you, Framily. That is not a print that is not a misspelling. We don't have any like blood relatives here. We have you. Thank you Framly. If you need a church family, find one. It doesn't have to be 1122. It's not about 1122. It's about your soul. Just find one. It is life changing in so many ways. Little heart, whatever those things are called. And then she quotes Ephesians 425. Therefore each of you

must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. I think she covered in a Facebook post what took me an hour to cover last week. Amen? So that's what we're talking about in church. You should be a part of that, which leads us, the reason that God has called us together for his glory is to reach one more. Because if we are going to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and a big part of loving God with all is loving what God loves. And what God loves is people. And how do we know this? Because he demonstrated his love for us and this,

that why we were still sinners, that Christ died for us. And the language that we use around here at 1122 is this. One more. It comes from this tattoo, which is Acts 1124, and he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. And that verse was preached on at the funeral of the guy that led me to Christ. My football coach, Coach Lee, if you've been around here, you've heard about him in a lot.

I was one of his one more's. And my hope and my goal in life is that when I'm dead and done, when y'all dig a hole and put me in it and come to my funeral, and you better be there, okay? You better show up. You better bring a friend. We're going to preach the gospel, and you better cry your face off, all right? But I ain't crying. I'm going to be in glory.

And so I hope and pray that it can be said about me that I was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, and that a great number of people will be brought to the Lord. And that great number, it's not 10,000 that will be here this weekend. It is just one more. And we get this from Luke 15. We didn't make this up. I believe that the heart of Jesus is for that one more. And a big part of what it means for us as a church.

to love God with all is that we would do whatever it takes to do what Jesus did, which was to reach that one more. So Luke chapter 15, what Jesus does in Luke 15 is he's going to share three parables back to back to back. No transitions. It's like a Quentin Tarantino movie. It just kind of shifts from one scene to the other without any explanation. But these three stories are really just one story with one point from three different angles.

Now, to understand these three stories, and one of them is going to be really, really familiar to you, if you're brand new to Bible study. To understand them, you've got to understand the context in which Jesus shares these stories or parables. Chapter 15, verses 1 and 2 on page 27 in your notebook thing, or you can just go to your Bible. This is where he gives us the context. He says this, now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him. If you were a first century Jewish person, you'd be like, tax collectors and sinners. You see, we don't have a good context for what a tax collector and a sinner is. Like, we're all sinners and we need. know that, so we just think sinners are everybody. But in the first century, what he's talking about

here, what Dr. Luke is talking about is like the lowest of the low sinners, people of ill repute. There were certain categories of sinners that most people thought they are just beyond the reach of God. And they were showing up to listen to Jesus and tax collectors. Now, the tax collectors in the first century, it doesn't mean that they just, you know, you owed 20 bucks, but they collected 30 because they were a little bit greedy. But tax collectors in the first century pay the Roman government to extract maybe up to 90% of household incomes from their Jewish brothers and sisters to take to the Roman government and then the Roman government used that to bring terror on the Jewish people in Israel.

Actually, throughout their entire empire, which stretched from India to England, which takes a massive army to run that kind of empire, which had to be fueled and funded by a massive tax structure. and the big problem is this. If you were just a regular old Joe Blow in Jerusalem, you probably knew someone firsthand who had at least been jailed or beaten or potentially even crucified by the Roman government.

And now one of your kinsmen to make money has purchased the right to extract taxes from you to pay for your people to be terrorized. That's what a tax collector is. And those people were showing up. Now there's another group of people in verse 2 that we see that show up, and the Pharisees and the scribes. They're showing up.

These are the religious people. These are people that grew up in Sunday school. These are people that, you know, when I say Luke 15, you're like, prodigal son. Like, you know, all right? And so these people also show up, which means this, Jesus, in and of himself, was a movement for all people. The religious and the rebellious all show up to hear Jesus preach. And the crazy thing is that the crowds are getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger,

but if you go back to Luke chapter 14, the message that Jesus gives is not a happy, feel-good message. He's not just doing miracles for people and telling them how their life can be better. In Luke chapter 14, he says audacious things like, unless you deny your mother and father, unless you take up your cross and die to yourself, then you can have no part with me. And people would be like, I can't believe he would say that.

Then they would go get six more people and say, y'all should come follow Jesus and listen to this crazy man talk. Because even though he said things, they did not want to hear somehow they knew at the soul level that he loved them. So the crowds are getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And the sinners, tax collectors are there, and the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious people are there. Listen, I think this is very, very important to understand what Jesus is going to do in these three very famous stories or parables is he is going to deconstruct their worldview and reconstruct a biblical worldview.

To the sinners and tax collectors, what he wants them to know is you are valuable. to God. And to the Pharisees and to the scribes, he wants them to know it is not your religion that saves you and you need salvation every bit as much as the tax collector does too. The reason it's important to us, things like the One Initiative are super important to us because every single one of us, listen, if you're a church person, if you're a Christian and you've been a Christian a minute, you have a tendency to do what my truck has a tendency to do. I go hunting a lot. I go off-road a lot. And when I go off road and ride through the mud puddles and all that stuff and I get back on the road, my truck does not naturally stay in alignment. It gets knocked out of alignment.

You and I, as Jesus followers, do not naturally stay in alignment. This world knocks us out of alignment. And we can have a tendency if you let go of the will of your life to either swerve to the left or swerve to the right. And some of us have a tendency to swerve towards really like self-centeredness. I do what I want with who I want, when I want. You ain't the boss of me. And then some of us have a tendency to swerve towards self-sufficiency, which is religion. God, I don't need you.

I got this. These are the people that are listening to these stories. And so Jesus, talking to the tax collectors, the sinners, and also speaking directly to the Pharisees and scribes, who grumbled saying this man receives sinners and eats with them. verse three so he told them this parable now again three stories three different three different contexts but really one idea from three different angles he says this what man of you having a hundred sheep if he has lost one of them does not leave the 99 in the open country and what does that next word say yeah that's what I

wanted to do whisper it real quiet so I couldn't hear you let's try that again And what's that word? Go. Go after. You might want to underline that in your Bible. He says, who wouldn't leave and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? Now here's the thing. Each one of these parables, not only is Jesus showing us the character and nature of God, but in turn, he's showing us the attitude that God's people should have.

So first and foremost, here's what he is telling us. Jesus leaves the 99 to come after the one. First of all, cosmically speaking, Jesus leaves what is comfortable, his throne in glory where the angels bow down and sing to him forever and ever and ever. He leaves that, is dressed as a human being, and he's going after that one wretched, blackhearted, sinful sheep

that by his own rebellion has run away from the flock. Jesus is saying, this is the character and nature of God. Therefore, if we are like Jesus people, we should be about what he is about, which means that we go. Let me make this real clear. You should go on a mission trip. You should go on a mission trip. You should go after people that are outside of your context for the sake of the gospel. And the moment you're like, isn't there enough to do here?

Yeah, do stuff here. The people that I know that complain about there's too much to do here, don't do anything here except complain about nobody doing it, okay? The people that most often go are the people that most often live on mission wherever they are. That's just true. And so we are to be the kind of people that go. Now here's the thing. Remember who's listening? The religious leaders are like, hold on, Jesus.

Why would you leave the 99 and go after the one? Here's the saddest thing. They don't realize they're the one. They don't realize that they're lost. In their own ego, they think they're all set. In fact, they kind of think, hey, that one cheap is dumb. So let their dumb one go and eat. or be eaten because you wouldn't want to put at risk the 99.

Here's the thing, man. If you're a shepherd, this is where all of your security is. This is where all of your comfort is. The shepherd likes the 99 that stick around and the 99 like the shepherd. And they will be highly offended if he puts them at risk for just one dumb sheep. Who would do that, Jesus? And Jesus goes, you're the dummy. because that is what I have done for you,

that I would leave the 99 for the one. So with that in mind, as a part of the one initiative, we as the Church of 1122 will launch our next campus in prisons, starting with Baker County Correctional Institution. Amen? Because we're going to leave to 99 and go after the 1. We have hired Jeff Kopp, a dear friend of mine. Here's a picture of Jeff and his family, Alicia,

And there are two kids, by the one, the one all the way to the left. She is a track athlete at the University of Georgia, so you know the hand of blessing of God is on their lives. And nobody here is asked. Every time I've mentioned it here, everybody cheers. Praise God. But let me tell you, there would be some people that would be like, why would we do that? What's in that for us? If you asked that kind of question, you were so divorced from the gospel, I don't even know where to start with you.

Every single one of these men that are in Baker County right now, I promise you there's somebody's one more. And there's some of these men that woke up this morning and they think I'm too far gone. And what's going to happen in the next couple of months are the doors are going to come open and the gospel is going to walk in as a bunch of 1122ers walk in. And we're going to put on full on 1122 services, live music, sermon piped in the whole thing. And our next campus is going to be in a prison. Why? Because all means all and we are a movement for all people to discover a deep in a relationship with Jesus.

That's what that's about. You see, the reality is that everyone has something or someone that they'd abandon everything for until they found it. And what Jesus is saying is some of you jack wagons treat cheap like they're more important than people. And then, and then here's what happens. You're going to see a theme begin to happen here. And when he, that's the shepherd, has found it, he lays it on his shoulder rejoicing. That's a happy word. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his next.

and he says to him, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. He celebrates. He throws a party. And listen, church, you celebrate what you value. You celebrate what you value. And Jesus values people coming to him. Verse 7, he says this, just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over. What's that next word?

One. there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Now listen to me, the Pharisees were highly offended right here. Here's what this means. In God's economy, in God's economy, those of you that are here right now, regardless of what location you're at, and you're like, I don't know if I'm into this Jesus thing or not. I'm just kind of kicking the tires, maybe, maybe not, I'm not sure. Did you know that in God's economy, you are a priority over me? I'm in, man.

I'm going to heaven when I die. And Jesus was willing to turn heaven upside down to step out of his glory on a mission for you. And if you surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, then not only does heaven party, but the church ought to do what's going on in heaven. Amen? This is why we celebrate. man church should be like this big old party i got saved at this camp and it was like a party it was awesome and then i was a teenager i meet jesus at the camp it was a baptist camp so why i went

home i found first baptist church and i went and it was not a party it in fact you got in trouble for the party it was like a funeral every week and i was like uh i know he died but you should keep reading it gets better he came back oh my gosh i mean seriously i remember looking at the these people, I was like, we're supposed to be full of joy. And you look like you were weaned on a pickle. Are you happy? Tell your face, I'm telling you. Like, literally in our church, we were not allowed to clap.

People would get baptized and be like, no applause. I was like, what in the, it was crazy. That ain't this church. We're going to throw a party. We're going to fund a party. We're going to invite people into the party. It's what we're going to do. Next story.

Just doesn't even, oh, well, by the way. By the way, the longer you're in church, the more you're just going to want to kind of sit here in the 99. I'm telling you. And the reason the churches get focused on the 99 is because guess who has the loudest voice in the shepherd's life? The sheep right around him. Just man, man, man. He's like, okay, okay, okay. Sometimes, though, you've got to kind of dig through all that and kind of get out there to the prison or get out there to wherever it is to get to the people that Jesus died on the cross for.

And if you want to be near the shepherd, like Jesus the shepherd, guess what? He ain't stuck in the middle of the 99. Where is he? He's out there looking for the one. And Jesus said this, Matthew 28, the Great Commission, he says, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And lo, low, means, listen, and lo, I am with you.

With you where? Not if you're staying. if you stand he ain't with you he is with you as you are on the go you want to deepen your relationship with jesus help somebody else discover theirs that's where he is this is what he's saying and then they throw a party next story called the parable the lost coin or what woman having ten silver coins each of these silver coins represent about a day's wage in the first century people lived day to day so the fact that she's got like 10 days stacked up means she's got some bank Also, a lot of commentators think that this could be her dowry, so it kind of represents her future family, her hopes, those kind of things.

Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she finds it. Now, this little phrase here, seek diligently, literally in Greek means like she tears up the entire house. It does not mean she like turns on the light, she sweeps a little bit, and then she goes, I'm hoping this will turn up soon. No, no, no. She takes the couch, she puts it outside. She takes the mattress, she flips it over. She rummages through her entire house.

Why? Because it's worth it in her estimation to find this one more coin. She doesn't care what it costs because it's worth her discomfort. This is not a parable about coins. This is a parable about people. This is Jesus saying, I am willing to disrupt heaven. That the king of glory steps off the throne and comes to this earth and turns the world upside down just to find you. Now let me ask you, are you willing to turn your house upside down?

Are you willing to be uncomfortable to be omission to do the things that Christ did? because most of us are like, not really. I mean, I'm cool with it as long as it doesn't cost me anything. In the back of your journal, pull out this commitment card. This is what this represents. It just is. It is what this represents. That this woman was willing to disrupt her whole life to find that one more.

What are you willing to disrupt so that Jesus saves one more person? Most Christians, I mean, just can be honest. I know this church is really no place for this. but here's what most Christians do when it comes to giving. We look at something like this and we go, okay, hmm, well, we should do something, but let's do something that does not affect anything else in our lives that we'll give God the leftovers. We never think about giving in the way that Jesus is talking about it here with this woman.

If you've ever bought a house, never bought a house, especially like maybe when you bought your first house, do you remember what the realtor did? you told to the realtor, all right, here's my price range. And they said, I've got the perfect house for you. And then they take you to a home that is 20% above the price range that you told them that that was the top you could do, right? Why did they do that?

Because they know that we'll buy it. Because when they show us that one, and then we see what we can afford, you're like, I can't live. That is terrible. And then you see the thing they show you. And the wife goes home. And the guy is like, oh, okay. All right, you like it?

I love it. All right, well, I love you. You like it. All right. We've got to figure this out. And then what happens. You know this, man. If you've ever been there, you're like, you know what? We can't. We can make this happen. We can make this happen. But in order to make that happen, we're going to have to change some of what we do. We're going to eat out less. We'll go on, we're going to skip some vacations. We're going to keep driving the car. Whatever it is. I'm going to make some changes here so we can make that happen. Have you ever thought about investing in the kingdom of God that way? Ever. This is what you. Jesus is talking about. What Jesus is saying here is, are you willing to turn your world upside down for the sake of one more? Are you willing to go without over the next two years so that somebody could meet Jesus? Are you willing to maybe not experience a few of those trips or vacations that you plan so that somebody could experience the love of God? Are you willing to drive that car? I know you're due for a new one, but you're like, well, we're going to keep driving this one for two or three more years so that somebody could walk on the streets of gold forever and ever and ever. That's the kind of thing that Jesus has

talking about here? Are you willing to turn your world upside down? Have you ever even thought about it that way? You see, she refuses to leave things, the status quo, and the religious leaders are like, come on, you already got nine? Why are you going to jack up your whole world for just one more? Again, he's not talking about coins. He's talking about people. Look, it's true for us as a church, too. 2015 bro we are rocking and rolling rocking and rolling we're all at one campus right here at Walmart it's going good we got people packed and especially our Sunday morning services so we're adding more services

and then we just get to the place where there just aren't enough seats and so what we could have done is we could have just cashed it in man like how sweet is this we're already one of the fastest growing churches there's four or five thousand people here why don't we just stop here aren't you guys just look around heaven and he'd be like, yeah, there's plenty of angels. Why don't we just stop here? And so we decided to go multi-site.

It's not new. We're not early adopters. People have been doing this all over the place. But we believe, and let me just tell you, from my perspective, it's exponentially more complicated to go multi-site. I mean, I got staff all over town now. Got it? There's places we're all spread out.

It's expensive and technology. Right, Mandarin, and Arlington and Bay Meadows. I mean, the thing goes down. It's just, oh, it's such a lot. a pain in the butt. And yet, did you know that since the day we opened Bay Meadows and since we went multi-site, 833 people have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior at the campuses that aren't here at Walmart?

So here's what I would say. What's it worth to you? What is it worth to you to be on mission for God that one more? Because here's the thing, man, most of the people that are far from God are really close to us. I'm talking about my daddy. I'm talking about our brothers and sisters. We're talking about our co-workers, some of our very best friends.

What would it be worth to you? Because all of us have something that we would risk everything for. All of us have something that we would risk it all for. I have a little tradition at our house. Every Labor Day weekend, me and two of my best buddies in the whole world, we go to the Georgia game and we take our sons with us. And it's great. And I like going.

It's Labor Day. It just makes sense. Kids have Monday off. That makes sense. Georgia usually plays some terrible team, which is my favorite game to go to. I don't need a close game. I don't need stress. I have you. Okay? I want to go and just win by 100. That's fine with me. And so this year, we decided to do it a little bit differently. We'd never been to a Braves game at the new SunTrust Park. And so I grew up a Braves fan because all we had was TBS and they were on all the time. And so that's what I grew up on, like, Claudel Washington and, you know, Dale Murphy. And so we were like, cool, we're going to go to the Braves game, too. And then the mama's heard, and they were like, oh, family trip, so all the families came. Now we got kids, the mamas, we were all there together.

It was great. We fly into Atlanta. We, Saturday, we go over and watch Georgia beat Austin Pee by, what was it, like, 600 to nothing or something like that. It was great. I'm telling you, I love it. And then we drive back to Atlanta. We were staying right by the Braves Stadium because the next day we were going to go to a Braves game. So there we are in this hotel, and it's kind of a fancy hotel.

And the hotel, when you walk into it, they don't put rooms like in the middle, like in the atrium or whatever you call that room. If you look up, you can see all the way to the ceiling. You know, it's one of those kind of places with these big glass elevators, yada yada. So we get home from the Georgia game, and we're sitting in this little restaurant kind of down in the bottom of the place. And my daughter, Reagan, is with my friend's daughters up on the 10th floor in their room just doing girl stuff, watching, I don't know what they're doing. Okay? And we're in this little restaurant, and I ordered some wings and refreshments, okay? And so we're waiting for the refreshments to get there.

and the alarm goes off in the hotel. Meant. Please evacuate the building. Now, like any good dad, I just ignored it. I was like, that's never a thing. And I got wings coming. It's been a long day. So I don't even get up.

I'm just sitting there. So one of the dads is like, let me just go check on it. And he walks out into the atrium or whatever. And then he comes back quickly and he's got like a panic. face and he's not a panicky guy and he comes back and he goes hey bro come on come on come on the elevators aren't working and I see smoke and so I hop up and right as I'm about to get up the wings are delivered now what father among you would say I know it's my daughter but wings no you get I get up and I go with him and dude he's like look we look up and it's not like

I think that may, could that be smoke? Smoke is billowing out of the top. I think it's like 12 floors in this hotel and my daughter's on 10. And I mean, it's not a little bit of smoke. Like we can't, after just a couple of seconds, you can't see the inside of the ceiling. My mind immediately goes to the worst places it can go. My mind immediately goes to my daughter is trapped and there are flames. And all I thought is, I'm down here, I got to get there.

And so there's a little bit of panic like down at the bottom. It's kind of, you know, people scurrying around and stuff. And so I come out at somebody, I go, hey, where are the stairs? And because I looked in the corner of the building, you would think that's where they are. I open a door. It's a banquet hall. I open a door. It's a closet.

Whatever I open, ain't on stairs. So I come back, go, hey, excuse me, ma'am, where are the stairs? She goes, oh, they're right through there. So I run over there and I open that door, no stairs. So I run back, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, sir, where are the stairs? Oh, right over here. And so I look again, no stairs. And then I come back, and at this point, I'm agitated.

There's a lot more smoke. the other dad he's trying to look for him on the other side and I grabbed this guy by the shoulders and my voice was elevated and there's lots of there's this many people standing right there and I said where are the and I use an adjective stairs and he said they're not like no you're not pointing and I got him on the neck and he's escorting me to the stairs take me to the stairs and about this time this little boy he'd been trying to help me find him and he comes he comes He's like, Mr. I found him. And so I go start running after this little boy.

I'm running. At this point, Gretchen is running with me. And I said, you have to stay here. Literally in my mind, that's where my mind went. We both can't run into the fire. You have to stay here. And I'm running, and I have on flip-flops. Now, my daddy used to say, the only thing you can do in flip-flops is get your butt kicked.

That's what he said. Maybe in the proverbs, I don't know, but that's what he said. And at this point, I'm literally just thinking. thinking, do I kick him off so I can run faster or do I keep them on? Because I might have to walk over stuff when I get up there. That is, that's where we are in this thing. So I open up the staircase and there's people filing out and I've got to go 10 floors. And so I take off up the thing as hard as I can.

Run and run and run. There's a sea of people making their way down. They kind of see me coming and they sort of move over. About every other floor I would hit a hotel employee that would be like, I'm sir, you can't. I'm like, ha-ha. And I just put them in the crowd. I mean, I'm about to have a heart attack.

Like, I have not trained well for this. I think you've heard me say, if you see me running, something's going horribly wrong. Something was horribly wrong. And I am trucking up these steps. I make it to about the fifth floor. And there's a hotel worker. They did a great job.

They went and knocked on the door of our girls and got them. And there's my daughter and my friend's daughters. And then you just are like, my worst nightmare is not coming true. And I just grabbed them all. The ones that I weren't even mine, but I've been around them enough that they'll take it. And I just got them all in there and just squeeze them for a second.

And look, man, they're little girls. There's enough emotion on good days in there. And this has got them all stirred up, okay? And so we get all down and get everybody reconnected to the, to mom and daddy down there and trying to figure out what to do. And Reagan is just, she just can't, you know, there's a lot going on. And I was like, baby, listen, listen, there is nothing that I wouldn't do to get to you. You don't have to worry about a thing.

I would walk through fire to get to you. And so we get everybody together. and we couldn't go back in to get my wings, so we went to a wing place to get some wings. And then we came back to the hotel later on after they got everything together. And we're laying in bed that night. And Reagan says, Daddy, go what, baby?

She goes, you would walk through fire for me? I would walk through fire for you. Now, listen, am I unique as a dad? Am I? No. Every one of you, every one of you moms and uncles, every single one of us would walk through fire to rescue our kid if we thought they were in danger. Jesus literally walked through the fires of hell to rescue me and you. And if you're a Jesus person, that is what he has called us into.

And so many church people would take a plate of wings over a dying son or daughter of God over and over and over. Not on my watch at 1122. Amen. That literally is what this thing is about. This is what this thing is about. Are you willing to disrupt everything, walk through anything, for the sake of the one more that Jesus died on the cross for? Amen. Same thing happens again.

And when she found it, she called together her friends and her neighbors, and she says, Rejoiced with me for I have found the coin that I had lost, just so I tell you there is joy before the angels of God over one. sinner who repents. You believe me, you start investing in the kingdom of God and what you celebrate begins to change. I promise you, you invest significantly in what God is doing and you'll be more stoked

about a baptism than your next beach vacation. And I'm not saying you shouldn't take beach vacations. I'm just telling you, there'll be more joy in here over what heaven celebrates when you get involved with what heaven is doing. And then he goes to the most famous one. It's called the parable of the prodigal son. I think it's a bad title Prodigal means lavish

The lavish one in this story It's not the kid that squanders all his dad's money The lavish one here is the father That throws this epic party for his boy Tim Keller writes a book called Pradical God You should read it It's very familiar Verse 11

And he said there was a man who had two sons Now remember who he's talking to There are two groups of people here There are the sinners And the people that think they're saints They're the religious people and the rebellious people. This is who he's talking to. Verse 12, and the younger of them said to his father,

Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. He's talking about his inheritance. This is a total rejection of the father. He is saying, you're dead to me. By the way, that is what our sin is. It's not a mistake. It's not a little hiccup in our morality. It is a rejection of the father. And so he says, give me what's coming to me. And so here's what the dad does. He divided his property between them.

This is how you know it's a Jesus story. Because if I went to my daddy and said, Daddy, you're dead to me. Give me what's coming to me. He was like, I'm about to show you what's coming. That's not that would have gone. But this guy, the dad says, okay. Verse 13, not many days later, the younger son gathered all that he had and he took a journey. He's going to go down a path.

Every path leads somewhere into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country. And he began to be in need. So he went and he hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the fields to feed pigs. Now, if you were hearing this in the first century as a Jewish person, you would go, not pigs. Because for an Orthodox Jewish boy, this would be like the lowest of the low of the low. The only equivalent I can think of, this would be like me being the water boy yesterday handing out Gatorade to the team in white.

My friends, like if you grew up in that, it's not your fault, all right? But my friends and the people I went to the game with to be like, you did what? That would be the equivalent, okay, the lowest of the low of the love. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything. This is the pathway of rebellion. This is the pathway of rebellion.

When you rebel against the authority of the father, when you get out from under obedience to the father, rebellion always feels like a party and freedom at first. and it can only lead to death and bondage. I'm telling you, the first few days of his trip, he's partying like a rock star, man. He gets whatever he wants, go to whatever party he wants, and drink whatever he wants, sleep with whoever he wants. And then eventually, when he squanders it away, that path leads somewhere.

And then one day you wake up and you go, how did I get here? Some of you struggle with alcohol. It started fun, didn't it? I mean, first time a couple times, you drank some beers at a hot. high school party and everybody thought you were cool because you could drink so much so fast. You're like, this is awesome. It ain't awesome anymore, is it? Now it's got a grip on your life. Some of you started taking a few drugs because it felt cool, right? You're like, oh, this is good? It ain't good anymore, is it? That path leads somewhere. Somebody started looking

at a few pictures online. Like, oh, that's neat. Not any of that neat, is it. Now it's all you think about and it's killing your marriage. You're in bondage to it. It owns you, like a demon. This is the path. This is the path. We all end up something. somewhere. And the path that you're on will tell you where you're going. And this path, I'm telling you the first few days, he was a rock star, and now he's that rock bottom. The crazy thing is, it's the grace of God that leads him to rock bottom, so the only place he has is to look up. And so there he is, with the pigs. Verse 17, but he came to himself. You know what this means? He means he got to the place in his life where he says, this is not what I was created for.

He came to himself where he realized he's an image bearer of his father. This is not what he was meant for. He came to himself when he realized, uh-oh, I think myself is the problem here, and I don't think myself can get myself out of this. I need someone to do for me what I could never do for myself, so I got an idea. I think my dad can help. And so he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger. I will arise. Here's his plan.

and I will arise, I will go to my father, and I will say to him, he's going to practice his apology. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. Now listen, if you grew up in church, you can have a tendency to think this way. He is not, he's trying to earn his way back, not to sonship, but to just be a servant. This is works-based religion or righteousness. That's what he thinks.

I've messed up so I'll do better so that my dad will take me back, not as a son, but as a servant. Man, how gracious is God that God accepts us back even when we don't come back, even with the right thinking about how God saves us? And here's how I know this. Verse 20, and he arose and he came to his father, but while he was still a long way off, the implications here is that the father never stopped looking for the son. that as soon as he comes up over the horizon, the father is at the end of the driveway. He has never stopped looking for the boy. And his father saw him and felt compassion.

You see, this is what the religious leaders didn't have. They didn't have compassion for the sinners. This is what they needed, is they needed to have compassion. And then he ran and embraced him and kissed him. In the first century, this would be humiliating. This is an honor, shame, culture. If you're a wealthy landowner, Jewish man, you didn't run to people. People ran to you.

And especially this boy. In fact, this boy who turned his back on you, who shamed your name, the Levitical law says what this boy deserves is to be stoned to death. And this dad humiliates himself. Heard girds up his loins, as is the way the Bible would say it. And men didn't do that. Show too much man thought it was gross. They didn't do it then.

They shouldn't do it now, all right? and ran after the boy and he doesn't condemn him. He has compassion for him, wraps his arms around him, kisses it. You see, I think a part of the reason why, some commentators say that this story that we know as the prodigal son was already in existence in the first century, but it had a different ending. That it was a story about justice, and when the boy comes home, the dad comes out and that the servants stone the son, and then they go in and celebrate. Because how dare you tarnish the name? And so he starts off of this story, if the commentators are right, that everybody knew, but then he gets to the end and he flips the whole thing upside down.

And this dad that was going to stone his own son for the sake of justice runs to his son and embraces him so that you can't tell where the dad ends and the sun begins. So if the rocks start coming, they hit the dad and not the sun. Sound familiar? Jesus Christ steps off of the throne of glory and humiliates himself as a naked man on a tree outside of Jerusalem with a crown of thorns on his head and the stones of condemnation came

and they hit him and not us and so he embraces his boy and then he says come on bring quickly the best robe and put it on him this is imputed righteousness so you take dad's robe perfectly clean wrap it around this filthy boy so when anybody looks at the boy they don't see the pig slot they see the cleanliness of the dad this is what happens

when you put your faith in Jesus we get credit for his perfect life and when the when god almighty sees you he does not see your sin he sees his own son it's imputed righteousness he says bring the robe put it on him put a ring on his hand this was a signet ring this means he's changing his name he's legally adopting him back into his family you are not a sinner you are my son and then he says and put shoes on his feet this is because he is a co-air only sons in this kind of place would have shoes he says and bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate.

Here he goes. It's another party. For this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found, and they began to celebrate. For the third time, they throw a party. Now listen to me. The party is to celebrate the son that he was dead and now is alive. But who gets the glory in the party? Do you realize that when we gather together as a church, it ought to be a lot like this kind of party?

when people get saved, when people surrender their life to the Lordship of Christ, or when people get baptized and declare Jesus as their Lord and Savior, we should lose our mind in celebration. And we are celebrating that person, but who gets the glory? You ever been to a wedding? And the people getting married are like 22 and 21. And you roll into that wedding, and then there's that party afterwards, and it is, I mean, it's like a party, like it is.

And you look at the people getting married, and you're like, I know you and your little degree from UNF can't pull this thing off. You know what I'm talking about? And you go up to those people and you're like, congratulations. And then you go up to the parents that pay for the party and you're like, nice party. That's what church is. When you come to Christ, we go, welcome home, welcome home. Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God.

Ain't no way we could pull off a party like this, God. We know that you are the party giver and we're just happy that we get invited. That's what 1122 will be over and over. and over and over. Now, if it stopped there, it'd be awesome. We could just close. We'd be on time, too, but it keeps going, so we're going to be a little bit late.

It's not my fault, man. He kept going. Now, remember who he's talking to. Now, again, to the sinners, he's like, listen, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. You are never too far gone. God's grace is bigger. It's faster than you can run.

And now to the religious people, he's going to say this. Now, the older son was in the field. As he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dance. Here that Baptist? He heard dancing. What kind of dancing can you hear? That's some dancing. That ain't just some little wiggle, okay? That is. There's something going on here that's a level of dancing that you can hear it from the outside. And he called one of the servants and he asked what these things meant. Just to note, the religious don't want to talk to God. They just want to talk to people about God. And he said to him, here's what the service says.

Your brother has come and your father has killed the fat and calf. You hear that vegetarian? The fat and calf. My only problem, I got a lot of problems, but my problem with vegan people, you don't have an upgrade. Like, you just, I don't know what the equivalent. They got the portobello mushroom. It's still just a mushroom. You don't have like the filet, you know. Lettuce is lettuce, man, whatever.

So they got the fat and calf here. Because he has received him back, safe and sound, but he, the older brother, was angry and refused to go in. This part shakes me up. and his father came out and entreated him. The father is going to humiliate himself for the second time, just like he humiliated himself in front of everybody for the sake of his younger son. Now he's going to come and humiliate himself

for the sake of the older son. He's going to come and beg his son. Listen, he's talking to church people. He's talking to church people. Some of you've been around the estate, your whole life, and you've never come into the party. And he comes in and he begs his, older son, man, he loves his older son every bit as much as he loves his younger son.

And to see his son, his older son, miss the party for his sake of his own ego, breaks his heart. And he begs him, listen, church, I beg you, please in this one initiative, don't miss Jesus. There can be some church people going to be like, we're spending what on a prison ministry? What have they, oh, please, please, please don't miss Jesus. Yeah, we must spend millions and millions and millions of dollars on prison ministry and on more campuses, and it's all for the glory of God to reach one more person. Won't you come into the party? Please come into the party.

You see, what does it look like to love God with all? Apparently, it looks like a rescue mission for one more sheep. Apparently, it looks like turning your house upside down for that one more person. Apparently, it's like throwing a party where both the religious and the rebellious are invited to come in. but here's how he answers his father look these many years I've served you I never had disobeyed your commandment

yeah right and you never gave me a goat I think the dad is like did you say goat you want a goat it's all yours man so remember the beginning he divided it between them the older son would have gotten twice as much as the younger son

in the inheritance just the way it worked back then And he goes, it's all been yours. And you want a goat? Listen, you see that tent? On the inside of this tent is wine and fillet and dancing. And you can meet a girl. Come on in the tent.

You see, your problem is not that you want too much. Your problem is you're satisfied with so little. You're like, I just want a goat. And here's why he wants it, because he's selfish, that I might celebrate with my friends. Basically he's saying because this is about me. It says, but when this son of yours, notice, not brother of mine, when this son of yours who has devoured your property with prostitutes, when he came, you killed the fatted calf for him. Here's what's sad, is that the brother thinks he deserves something.

And he doesn't understand that it's by the same grace offered to the little brother that he gets invited to the party. And so he says to him that dad says, son, you're always with me, and all that is mine is yours. it was fitting to celebrate and be glad. For this, your brother, the father was always trying to reconcile. For this, your brother was dead, not bad. He was dead and is alive, and he was lost and is found. And then there is no happy ending. There's no happy ending.

It just ends. So here's the point. Because of God's relentless generosity towards us, may we leverage all that he has given us to reach one more for the glory. of God. That's what this one initiative is all about. Hey, when you walked in, you got this little piece of paper here.

Don't you take it, everybody. This is an all-skate, okay? On the bottom, it says one more. I want you to write down the name of your one more. Now, again, if they're sitting right next to you, just, you know, write down like Tony the Tiger or Blake Bortles or something. He needs help, so pray for him.

But this is for you to be consistently reminded of what Jesus came to this planet for, to seek and save the loss and that God uses us for this. And so I want you to pray. And I know somebody have got like six one more. Praise God, you should. Write their names on there and then tear this thing off and keep it with you over these next two years that you would say, God, would you use me to share the gospel,

to share an invitation, to share life together? Somehow would you use me so that this one would come to you and then just put it somewhere where you're going to see it. Don't pin it up in your cubicle. That's weird. Because somebody would be like, hey, take it. Why you got my name on that thing? Oh, because you're a wretched sinner. You're going to die and go to hell. So I'm trying to pray for you. Hopefully you come to Jesus before you go to the lake fire.

Don't do that, man. Just pray. And then grab this commitment card and you start praying. So what's it worth? In my life, God, where do you need to realign me to your mission? What is the one thing that drives everything? What does it look like for me to say, God, I love you with all. Here I am.

I'm willing to do without whatever so people can do with you forever. And you start praying about this. And on November 2nd or 3rd, I hope you'll join me. We're going to do a worship service here at San Pablo right on the other side of this wall and what was the old Hobby Lobby. In a place where people would go by, man, we love Hobby Lobby. Those people love Jesus. And you can buy stuff with Jesus name on it.

Cool. Over the next two years until we all die, what we want to do is not stamp the name of Jesus, like on picture frames. We want to stamp the name of Jesus on the hearts and souls of men and women that he died for. That's what this thing is about. And I hope you will join me, and you will go first.

Because Church of 1122, what is it worth to you? I mean, what kind of church are we going to be? Now, I think we're on a good path. I think God has been doing great things because we have been continuously passionate, pursuing Jesus as a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. But the longer you are a church, the more tendency you have to just kind of take care of us. That's kind of us for and no more.

That's not going to be us. So what kind of church are we going to be? Are we going to continue to be the kind of church that makes one more a priority? Or we're going to just choose our own comfort? Are we going to be the kind of church that's willing to disrupt our lives, disrupt this house, disrupt the services, disrupt a bunch of buildings, disrupt all the things that make us comfortable for the sake of one more? Or are we just going to like mail it in and think, eh, that's probably enough? Are we going to be the kind of church that like the father throws the party and funds the party

and invites in the rebellious and the religious? Or are we just going to be the kind of church that complains and we don't get what we want? I'm telling you, I refuse to be a part of a church that doesn't continuously live out the mission of God. if for some crazy reason we ever get off task, may God shut this thing down because we exist for the glory of His name and we will only be about what he is about. His glory through the redemption of people

by the gospel of Jesus Christ. So let me ask you, we don't have to wait. Maybe there's somebody here and you're like the older brother or you're like the younger brother. Maybe you're like the older brother. You've been around church for a long time and you've never surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Won't you come to the party?

Right now, won't you admit it? I don't think my good works are going to do this. You admit it, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. And maybe for the first time you would believe that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for you. That wasn't for the bad people sitting all around you. That was for you, too. And that today you would confess him as Lord for the first time.

Or maybe some of you are like the younger brother, and you think I've gone too far. You cannot outrun the grace. of Jesus Christ poured out on the cross. He's faster than you, bro. The fact that you are here right now means he has walked you down. So admit it.

Admit it. Say, I give up. I believe. Somehow I believe. When Jesus says, it is finished. That counted for me. And right now it's time for you to come to the party. To confess him as your Lord.

Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? If you're already a Christian, would you remind yourself of the gospel? And if you're here and for the very first time, you're ready to come home to the Father. You are ready to confess that you need a Savior. You're ready to confess that Jesus is your Lord.

Would you raise your hand and say, Father, here I am. I'm ready to come home. I'm ready to surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our good and gracious Heavenly, Father, God, we love you because you love us first. God, I thank you that you would call us into the mission of the church for the sake of your glory. God, I pray for every rebellious spirit and every religious spirit in this place. and God, I pray for an abiding relationship with you. God, we thank you and we praise you that you delight over your children,

that you sing over your children, that you rejoice over your children. May this church always be a delighting, joy-filled, rejoicing kind of place. And, God, I thank you that even in this service, there is salvation in this place because of the blood of Jesus. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.