Building a Great Church · Transcript

1. 0:00 Welcome to week three of our Firm Foundation series. We've been looking at the fact that a foundation is really essential. Whether you want to build a great church or a great life, you need a firm foundation.
2. 0:16 And so at week one of our three-week series, we looked at this concept called the Great Commandment. And this is where Jesus basically summarized all of teaching saying, here's the bottom line. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
3. 0:34 And don't just stop there. Love your neighbor as yourself. So he took the great Shema, found in Deuteronomy 6, 4, that everyone would have been familiar with. And then he connected it to Leviticus 19 of saying, if you love God, you're going to love who he loves, which is people.
4. 0:50 And so he did this amazing thing of connecting our vertical love with our horizontal love. And next week, last week, we looked at the Great Commission. And there we found that this is not the great suggestion, but it is a call for God's people to not only walk with the Lord, but eventually to worship him and then become a witness for him.
5. 1:14 And so the reason that happens just naturally, and it's not programs or systems or a particular method, is that lovers tell. When you fall in love with Christ and you realize his goodness and grace in your life, you can't help but share it with others.
6. 1:32 And so we started with the Great Commandment. We looked at the Great Commission. And today, week three, we're going to look at what it means to be a great church. And so that was our text that we just looked at, was Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 47.
7. 1:52 So let me pray. Heavenly Father, the grass withers and the flowers fade, but your word has stood the test of time. It's something we can build our lives on. And we pray, God, that you'd give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to receive and respond to your word of truth.
8. 2:10 We want our lives to matter. We want a firm foundation. So would you meet us here, Lord? We want to be with you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, let me start with a story. There was a Navy ship that was sailing along.
9. 2:26 And this Navy ship was basically going through some uncharted islands. And there, they looked up, and lo and behold, they saw smoke coming up from one of these islands. And then they saw three huts. And so they went over there to find out what was going on. And sure enough, there was a man who had been there for five years, completely isolated.
10. 2:46 Ship had wrecked, ended up on the island. When they got there, they met with him. The man came running out to them saying, oh, thank you, thank you. I've been here five years. Thank you for saving me. And the captain said, it's our privilege. Is there anyone else here? We happened to notice three huts on the island. And the man said, no, it's just me.
11. 3:02 It's just me. And the captain said, well, why are there three huts then? He said, oh, well, that's easy, Cap. The first one is my home. The second one is my church. And the third one, asked the captain, well, that was the church I used to worship in, said the man.
12. 3:21 You know, it's true. We've all got that third hut story, don't we? Protestant, by its very definition, means protest. We're going to find something to be upset and rattled about. Whether it's the worship, the preacher, what they did with the money, the scandal.
13. 3:39 Or maybe they just called you out for your sin and you didn't like that. And so you moved on to another one. Some of us have church hurt. Like we've been wounded by the church. And it's legitimate. But maybe what isn't as legitimate is the fact that we have not reengaged with the church.
14. 3:55 Because we know that this is what Christ has called us to. But yet, we don't want to be a part. I meet so many young people that say, well, I'm religious. I consider myself a Christian, but I'm not a part of organized religion. And basically what I hear is, you know what, I like to do things my time, my way, that's comfortable to me.
15. 4:15 Basically, I like to worship myself. There's something about the church and all of its faults that God has called us to. And he's going to use it ultimately for our good in his glory. And for some of us, we look at the early church and we're like, man, they nailed it.
16. 4:33 They got it right. If we would just be like that early church, then we'd be the kind of church that we're supposed to be. Well, I would remind you, keep reading the New Testament. Over 150 times, the church is rebuked.
17. 4:49 Not because of their good behavior or that they were getting it right. But because they, like us, had many imperfections. But in the midst of all those faults, Jesus said these words. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
18. 5:08 This beautiful mess that we have here is God's game plan A for changing the world and changing our lives. It's where we encounter the sacraments and are reminded of God's grace. It's where we do life together and we support each other and encourage each other.
19. 5:27 And remind us that we're not alone. It's where the world gets to see God's gospel and grace lived out and played out. And it so desperately needs it. And yet one out of five churches around our nation are going to shut their door in the next few years.
20. 5:45 God's game plan A is the local church. And it's not this building. This is a facility. The local church is you and me. We are the body of Christ.
21. 6:00 And we're called to live and do life together. The term that we look at in verse 42 is they were devoted. Everybody say devoted. It doesn't mean convenience. It doesn't mean when I have time.
22. 6:16 And it's not a definite maybe. It is a complete commitment in the Greek. An intentional commitment. You know this week some of you know I had the privilege of serving with the Army National Guard as a chaplain. And they had us do a joint forces mission in remembrance of Hurricane Katrina.
23. 6:36 And so we were going down there and we were doing something really special where the Coast Guard, the Air Force, and the Army all work together. And let me tell you, when you have a joint force mission or any Army mission, you've got to be devoted. There's no, I'm kind of just checking things out.
24. 6:51 Take a look at the screen and I'll show you what I mean. Take a look at the screen and I'll show you what I mean.
25. 7:22 All right, I survived. Praise God. Thank you. I tell you, you question some of your life choices when you're standing there at the threshold of a perfectly good aircraft and jump out the back of it. How did I get here, God? What am I doing? Please let this work. But, hey, faith over fear, baby. But you see what I'm saying?
26. 7:39 When you do these kind of missions, there's no like, oh, I'm just going to test the waters here. You've got to send it. And you better hope that chute opens up. That's devotion. And that's what we're called to in the Word of God. It says, and they devoted themselves, full sin, committed to, and look at what happened after that.
27. 7:56 It changed everything for good. But before we go there, I want to show you where we're at today. We're going to look at where they were. But right now, I want to show you where we're at today as the American church. So take a look at the screen here. All right? This here is a chart of basically attendance at church.
28. 8:15 So the blue line is about once a month. So maybe 15%, a little less than 15% of people say, hey, I go to church once a month. The yellow line is people that say, I don't attend church at all, slowly climbing over the years. And then the black line is weekly attendance.
29. 8:32 It was hovering around 30-some percent, and then it's steadily decreasing. So that's interesting. Now, that's what people said about their church attendance. Let me show you what happens when we actually track cell phones and see what people are doing on Sunday. So go to the next screen. 20% maybe of self-reported weekly church attenders show up 5% of the time.
30. 8:57 So what we perceive and what we actually do is drastically different. The statistics are startling. This does not reflect commitment, devotion, engagement in a meaningful way in a person's life.
31. 9:16 And we wonder, you know, why is the church dying? And why is society ending up the way it is with some of the crazy things we're wrestling with? And why is there no difference in divorce stats between Christians and not Christians? Because of this. This is sad. This is not a good reality.
32. 9:33 And here's the thing. If you're visiting and you're an Easter and Christmas Christian and you happen to swing about on Labor Day, thank you for coming, by the way. It's Labor Day. We know you could have been a lot of places at the beach. But you chose to be here. This is not a shame on you. What are you doing sort of deal? This is a challenge to all of us of where are our values and where are our commitments.
33. 9:52 Because it's kind of like when I talk to somebody that's having a budget problem. They're in debt. They're like, I just don't know. Where all the money's going, well, let's start a budget. Let's track it. I can't do that. I don't have time, and I'm just going into further—no, I'm like, no, let's slow down and let's look at what we're investing our resources in because the only way we're going to stop the financial bleed is to figure out what we're doing with the resources we've been entrusted with.
34. 10:16 It's the same thing. What we value, we will make time for. And so if we're not making time for something God has called us to, Hebrews 10, 24 says, Do not neglect meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, regularly, but consider how you may spur one another on towards love, acts of good deeds.
35. 10:33 There is a call and certainly a precedence in the early church that they met often, at least weekly, and I would argue even here, there's times where they met daily. There is a regular rhythm in their life. Imagine eating once a week a big meal.
36. 10:49 That would be our Sunday service. Do you think you'd make it to next Sunday? Probably not. I know I wouldn't. My goodness. And yet people don't even do it once a week. They're doing it like maybe once a year if they come at all. And so there's not a surprise to me when people's life and worldviews and professions don't align with the fact that they're calling themselves a Christian because, well, here's what they're doing.
37. 11:15 Now let me show you the positive things. All truth is God's truth. So just on a pragmatic level, let me make an argument for weekly church attendance. Not just because I'm the pastor, but because it's good for you. Next slide. All right. Weekly church attendance. Number one, you're going to live longer and have less stress.
38. 11:31 Seriously. People that go to church regularly live like seven years longer and they actually have better blood pressure than their peers because, I don't know, maybe they're casting their cares on the Lord and they're living a righteous life and sinful lives bring a little bit more baggage with them. I don't know what it is, but it's good when you come to church.
39. 11:48 Secondly, stronger families. You know, marriages are 35% more likely to survive if you go weekly attendance. Here's the surprising statistic my wife shared with me. If people actually open their Bibles and read as couples together and pray together on a daily basis, there's less than a 1% chance that they're going to end up divorced.
40. 12:09 Less than 1%. This is something that Christians should be doing anyways, praying and reading the Bible, you know, so it's amazing when you bring God home, what can happen, how it can change things for good. But it starts here as we come together as the body of Christ together. Happier people, people that attend church more often just experience greater level of joy and satisfaction in life because they recognize there's a good God, their heavenly father who loves them and has a plan and a purpose for their life.
41. 12:38 And he's at work even in the midst of their challenges and trials. And it changes things for good. And then better communities. Guess who actually gives and serves in a community rather than virtue signals and tells you what you should and should do with your money and time?
42. 12:54 Christians going to church. They're the ones that are actually being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in the community. They are by far the most generous of any people in the population. And then last but not least, stronger faith. When you come to church, you hopefully are meeting with a living God and engaging with the body of Christ.
43. 13:16 And it roots us and drives us to be deeper in our own faith walk and journey. It's also true. If you have a big fire and there's a bunch of coals here and you take one of the coals out, what happens? Not only does that coal begin to burn out, but the fire doesn't burn as bright.
44. 13:36 Here's simply what I'm saying. You need the church and the church is better when you are a part of it. It will shine brighter for our Lord. Now, when they did meet weekly and regularly, here's what they devoted themselves to.
45. 13:56 Not out of convenience, but they were committed. Listen, they were busy people too. They didn't have savings back then. If they weren't working, nothing was happening. And so I know we got soccer and we got sports and we got work and we got trips. But listen, this early church understood the pressures that you're dealing with at a different level.
46. 14:13 They weren't just trying to save for their 501K and experience the greatest vacation. They were just trying to survive. And yet they made time for this because it was that important to them. They understood that life and death hung in the balance. And when they got together, here's what they did. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.
47. 14:31 So what is that? That's basically the teachings of Jesus, both during his life and post-resurrection, where they began to understand that all truth was God's truth. And what Jesus had to say was really, really important. They preserved his teaching. Because remember, 10 of the 11 faithful disciples ended up as martyrs.
48. 14:50 They died for their faith with really nothing to gain and everything to lose unless what they believed and what Jesus said is true. That this life isn't all there is, but there's actually a life to come. And so they preserved what Jesus had to say.
49. 15:07 They wrote it down with painstaking efforts at a time where Guten's printing press hadn't been invented and paper and pen were not common. And they went out of their way to record these things and to make sure that anyone that wanted them could have access to it. And so with the New Testament loan, we see greater quality of transcript.
50. 15:26 The sheer quantity is unbelievable compared to anything we have from antiquity. And the actual events that are recorded to when they took place is shorter by hundreds of years than anything we have from antiquity. So I would argue if you dismiss the reliability of the New Testament loan, the apostles' teachings that are preserved in it, then I would like to know by what standard do you accept anything we know about antiquity?
51. 15:51 My point is this, getting away from the matters of faith that the Scriptures point to, it is an incredibly reliable document and there's something special about it because of the sheer quantity, quality, and the fact that the manuscripts traveled all over. People really believed this was the Word of God and they wanted everyone to know it.
52. 16:11 And yet for many of us, that Bible at home is collecting dust and we're not spending time and we're certainly not sharing it with other people. That's got to change. This is God's Word and He wants to communicate to His people so that they know of His great love for them and that He has a better way for them to live on this side of eternity.
53. 16:31 You know, what happened next is pretty amazing. Not only did they devote themselves to the apostles' teaching, but then it says to fellowship. This is amazing because we talked about in the Scripture how it talks about in Thessalonians 2.8 that we share not only the gospel with you, but our lives as well.
54. 16:52 And so there's something beautiful in the sense that they were intentional in their fellowship. It was kononia fellowship in the Greek, meaning it wasn't just a hangout, see you on Sunday, high five, I can't remember your name, but it's good to see you again sort of fellowship.
55. 17:08 It's like life on life, let's do this together because we need each other. And I can't make it far without you. When I jumped out of that airplane, there was a team that was devoted to the mission. There was the jump master who inspected the parachutes. There was the packing team who packed the parachutes.
56. 17:24 There was the Air Force pilots who were getting the Chinook off the ground. And so you can see there is a huge team that is making the mission possible. And that's true in our Christian life. Like we're the body of Christ. Each one of us has unique gifts and abilities. And God doesn't want us to just keep those for ourselves.
57. 17:42 He wants us to use it for an eternally significant and meaningful reason. And it's going to play out in a lot of different ways individually, but corporately, it's always going to be through us coming together as his body, serving him through his church. And I tell you, people tell me all the time, they're like, well, I love Christ, but I really am not involved and don't want to be a part of a church.
58. 18:04 It's so dysfunctional. Well, let me tell you, it's hard to love someone and not love what they love. This whole church idea thing, it wasn't ours. It was God's. And Jesus said that his bride is the church. And so at some point in all of its imperfections, because it's made up of imperfect people like you and me, we are called to commit ourselves, be devoted to love it and serve it with our unique gifts and abilities that God's given us.
59. 18:29 And some of you are like, well, I don't get that much out of church because you're not giving much to church and you're barely showing up. If you engage meaningfully and come and commit and say, God, here I am. Use me. Watch what he's going to do in and through you. It'll change you from the inside out because you're no longer going to be a consumer, but you're going to be a contributor.
60. 18:48 And God's going to use you mightily, mightily. And we need you. And this is what Kononea Fellowship was all about. I remember years ago when I was going through a time of just a difficult health scare in my life with an autoimmune disease.
61. 19:07 I didn't know what the future hold. I was getting a lot of different diagnosis from different doctors and my world was coming around me and I was wondering what the future was going to hold. And there in the midst of all that uncertainty, the doorbell rang and I opened the door.
62. 19:23 And there from my church was our community group leader with an envelope. He said, James and Heidi, I want you to know that we're so sorry for what you're going through. We're praying for you as a church family and community. And I want you to know that everyone wanted to help you with your medical bills.
63. 19:40 And they gave me an envelope full of thousands of dollars. In that moment, I began to understand what Kononea Fellowship looks like. And they stepped up and made it their own. That is what Kononea Fellowship looks like.
64. 19:56 That is what we are called to be as a church. That is what we are called to be as a church. All long for it, we all need it, and we all have a part to play. But they didn't stop there. They began to break bread. And this is when, you know, the church just loves to eat.
65. 20:12 I don't know how to say it. They love to eat and they love to drink, and this is part of what they do, and that's something we're really good at here as well. So keep coming, and we will feed you well. I can't guarantee you'll lose any weight being a part of this church, but we will do life well together. As a church, I'll just say it like this.
66. 20:28 Because this is a facility, but it is a beautiful facility that God has entrusted to us, and we are going to open it so we can do life together. We're going to open it on Sunday mornings before church from 930 to 1030 when we launch our community groups at the end of September so we can do life together.
67. 20:46 And we're going to have community groups based on your stage of life or your interests or just wherever you're at so you can grow in your faith and your relationship with others. And we're going to do it around food. We're going to have a great breakfast here. And then on Wednesday nights, we're going to open it up too. Everybody's telling me, you can't do Wednesday nights. It's crazy.
68. 21:02 Everybody's so busy they don't have to. I don't care. The Scripture calls us to do life together. And we can't just do it one day a week or once a month or once every week. Like, we've got to be intentional. And so we are going to fight to open up this church on Wednesday nights so that you can come and share a meal together.
69. 21:19 You don't have to cook. Don't have to worry about the dishes. We can enjoy a time of fellowship, and we can dive in to God's Word together. We'll run our youth ministry that night. We'll run our men's and our women's studies. We're going to open up this church so that we can do life together as a church because we're committed to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, and the breaking of bread.
70. 21:41 And last but not least is prayer. Acts chapter 2 says they were devoted to prayer. It wasn't just saying a little prayer before meals. No, they were praying for God like he was the oxygen in their lungs. God, save us. Sustain us.
71. 21:57 Show us the way. Protect us. Do mighty wonders and signs through us. We need you. We can do nothing apart from you. Jesus said if we don't abide you, we can't bear fruit. We need you, God. It's kind of like Wi-Fi today maybe is a better example. Any of you ever had Wi-Fi problems?
72. 22:12 Just this week, I was trying to get some work done. Of course, I had time, but no Wi-Fi. Super frustrating. Had that moment, that precious moment to get something done and no daggum Wi-Fi. It's kind of like when you're sitting on the airplane and everybody else is on their phones too and you can't get good service. You're like, oh, this is terrible.
73. 22:28 I finally have a minute to do something and I can't get good service. Prayer is kind of that way. This is just a metaphor, so it has its limitations. But prayer is kind of that way in that when we don't have prayer, we're just disconnected and we're not going to get anything done that's worth getting done.
74. 22:45 And the early church recognized that so much. You know, as a church, we're going to be committed to prayer. You're going to see it in the weekly email, all the prayers of this congregation. We're going to have a group that prays over each and every person every week that meets together.
75. 23:00 And furthermore, the seats that you're sitting in, they were prayed for this morning by our church leadership. There's not a square inch of this church that hasn't been covered in prayer because we know that our strength to stand will come from our time on our knees.
76. 23:16 And the power comes through prayer. What happens is the result of all these things will awe and wonder struck. You know, I was traveling this week and I got to tell you, I was in awe and wonder because, you know, it's the Miami Marlins chaplain.
77. 23:33 I had a chance to go visit one of our feeder teams in Pensacola. And it was the Wahoos there. I met David and Don. David is the English chaplain. Don is the Spanish chaplain. And Don was like 80 years young, still going strong.
78. 23:50 He's already served the Lord like two, three careers over. He spent 20 years at a fine seminary teaching about church planning. Before that, he spent 20 to almost 30 years in the mission field flying all over the jungles of South America. He told me the most amazing story.
79. 24:06 He was out there flying one day and all of a sudden he had picked up some gas as he was trying to deliver Bibles and aid to these remote tribes. And his plane, the engine started shutting down, a little Cessna 185 at about 3,500 feet off the canopy of the jungle. He had gotten gas, but he knew and he was warned that sometimes in the jungle it's hard to get good gas.
80. 24:26 And he didn't check the gas he should have. And so it got bad gas in the engine. It started to shut down. He couldn't get it back on. He's starting to get low at a critically low altitude. And in that moment where he's literally looking at his life before him, he cried out to God.
81. 24:41 And he said, God, my life has always been in your hands. Take me now if that is your will. I'm yours. The man thought he was going to die. When he opened his eyes after saying amen, all of a sudden, in that moment of crisis and panic, he remembered in one of his aviation classes that while, because they did aviation mechanics all in one for these missionary pilots, he was fixing the airplane one day in the middle of just nowhere.
82. 25:08 His professor said, hey, Don, this is random, but God put something on my heart. If your engine ever fails over the jungle. Find the biggest tree you can and just land in the canopy.
83. 25:23 Okay, thanks a lot. They went back to changing the oil in the airplane. Don, after saying amen, literally just said there was a piece of God that came over him. And he looked and he saw this huge tree.
84. 25:39 He said it looked like the tree of life. And to him, it was. 125 feet off the ground. And he's got pontoons underneath him. And so he comes, puts it in basically a little stall, has the pontoons catch in the top of that tree. He closes his eyes and he's expecting to plummet down 125 feet up from the canopy.
85. 25:58 And instead, he says he just hears all this noise and banging and jumping. And then he hears a clunk. And he opens his eyes. And there, he said the tree had literally bent over with the weight of the plane and just kissed the ground. The pontoons had literally hit.
86. 26:14 They're three feet longer than the prop of the plane. So the prop of the plane was preserved. He unboggles himself, gets out of the plane, climbs down, drops. Seven hours later, he finds his way home. He knocks on the door. And his wife was like, where have you been?
87. 26:33 And where's the plane? I had to leave it in the jungle, honey. It's good to see you. What's for dinner? No, he told her what happened. The whole tribe came out. They backtracked his steps to that plane. And over the next six months, they brought it back piece by piece.
88. 26:51 They put it back together. And in six months, it was back up and flying. And Don was continuing his missions. There's something that happens when people pray. There's power in prayer. And it changes things inside of us. And it changes things around us.
89. 27:07 And that is why in verse 43, we read about awe and wonder. Shock and awe. People saw like something's happening here. This is something I want to be a part of. This is a movement of God. And listen, there were a lot of miracles happening. And to be honest, if I could have any gift, I would love the gift of healing so I could lay my hands on somebody and just heal them, whatever they were dealing with.
90. 27:27 And for the early church, they were doing some pretty amazing and wonderful things. But the end goal was not the miracles. It was the message of the gospel. Because the greatest miracle of all is for a person to be taken from death to life, to be taken and snatched out of hell, and to be set into God's eternal kingdom.
91. 27:51 Because for that miracle to take place, Christ had to go to the cross. It is the greatest miracle of them all. And so awe and wonder was happening as they were seeing these great works. But the miracles got their attention, but it was the message that changed their hearts.
92. 28:09 And what was the result? Verses 44 through 45. Generosity and gladness. Now, some people, especially you go to a university these days, they're going to quote to you this passage. They've never read the Bible in their life, but they'll find that there's two verses they like.
93. 28:26 This passage and judge not lest you be judged. That's the two and you can guarantee you're going to hear from non-believers. There's a suggestion that this passage here is the primer for communism as we know it or socialist theory.
94. 28:42 And I assure you, it is not. Why? Well, because later on in chapter five, we see Peter condemning Ananias and Sapphira saying, you didn't have to sell your land in the first place. The fact you did and then lied about it, now you're in trouble. We also see that they continue to visit in people's homes.
95. 29:00 That's private property. And then in 1 Timothy chapter six, which comes later down the line, which is a protege to Paul and a second generation church leader, he's talking about how to handle the resource and steward well the things that God has entrusted to you. So you can't look at the text to make a case for communism and socialism.
96. 29:19 I would argue just the opposite. It gives us a strong case for personal responsibility and stewardship, recognizing that we brought nothing in this world. We're not going to take anything out of this world. We're just as stewards of, catch this, what God has entrusted to us. This is not socialism or communism.
97. 29:36 This is stewardship. And these people are stewarding God's resources well because they see the needs all around them and they're meeting them generously in Jesus' name. And it is changing everything. You know, Christianity is an amazing religion. It flourished because anyone and everyone could come and place their faith in Christ no matter where they were coming from.
98. 29:57 You didn't have that with a pagan Christian. They were kind of geographically centered at the time, like you had this one pagan god that was part of this community and another pagan god that was part of this community. Even the Jewish community, you really had to become Jewish, you know, to become, you know, in heritage and not only belief.
99. 30:14 And then some of the other stuff that was, you know, surrounding the world religions at that time, they just, it really caused a lot of separation. But here's Christianity, like, bringing in the droves, the Gentiles, the Jews, the men, the women, the poor, the rich, they're all coming to Christ.
100. 30:29 And we see this happening right here in just this radical generosity and the commitments. And what's amazing is that you had these people in high echelons of society mixing with people that maybe you would think in low echelons of society. And yet they're living, doing life together because the most important thing to them they have in common, and that's Christ.
101. 30:52 That's true of us. Go ahead and look around right now. Look around. There's a lot of difference in this room, ethically, generationally. We have men and women, young and old, not as young. We got a whole variety here.
102. 31:08 But what's uniting us? It's our love for Christ and our commitments to Him. And this is what it means to be, as we call, a faith family on mission, together, for the glory of God and the good of the world. And so, verse 46, look at this.
103. 31:25 Everyday faithfulness led to glad and generous hearts. In verse 46, we see that the church was lived out day by day, not just once a week. And they met in the temple courts, that's a big church, and in people's homes, that's little church, or we call community groups.
104. 31:45 And they needed both. Those big gatherings gave them lots of energy, and the little gatherings brought the intimacy they needed. And in their own walks with the Lord, as they wrestled with the Scripture, that personal piety, that daily spiritual nourishment, sustained them and filled them, and God used them mightily.
105. 32:02 And as a result, they were just great to be around. There was no evangelism explosion or forced spiritual laws or healing services that were taking place. Like, if we do this, and this is what we can do. No. It was a work of God. And they were just fun people to be around.
106. 32:18 I've got to tell you, you are a generous church, and you're fun to be around. You've given generously. Like, we're well on our way to taking advantage of that matching fund that's been provided. Thank you. You're also a kind church.
107. 32:33 I had somebody send me a text. I have a church consultant that's coming. He's helping guide us and navigating some of our transitions as we begin our next chapter. He's worked with churches for decades, and he's spent hundreds of hours serving them. And here's a text that he sent me.
108. 32:49 Hey, I want to take a quick moment here, given all the turmoil and turnover and construction and stress that you're going through. Your church was probably the most welcoming church I've been to in months. Friendly culture takes time to build.
109. 33:05 If you had that at the start, you're ahead of schedule. Congrats. Well, guess what? Ken and I didn't do much. That's just you being you. You're a kind-hearted people. I know I've had the privilege of having lunch with most of you here.
110. 33:20 Your stories are amazing. We've had so many people come through these doors, and they're like, that was like the most welcoming church I've ever been to in Miami. Keep being you. People want to be around that sort of warmth and generosity, where it's not just a Christian club, but it's a Christian outreach.
111. 33:37 We're always going to be a faith family, but we're going to have a seat at the table so that others can join us. Because as a faith family, we want to grow in depth. As a faith family on mission, we want to grow in breadth. Because healthy things grow, not just theologically, but numerically.
112. 33:55 And so we're going to be a faith family on mission. Watch what God is going to do as people encounter your glad and your generous and joyful hearts. Well, I want to leave you with this beautiful, we'll call it poem, from Mavis Williams.
113. 34:12 If you should find the perfect church without one fault or smear, for goodness sake, don't join that church. You'd spoil the atmosphere. If you should find the perfect church where all anxiety cease, then pass it by, lest by joining it, you'd mar the masterpiece.
114. 34:33 Keep your elbows to yourself. If you should find the perfect church, then don't you ever dare to tread upon such holy ground. You'd be a misfit there. But since no perfect church exists, made of imperfect people, then let's cease looking for that church and above the church we're in.
115. 34:54 So let's keep working in our church until the resurrection. And then we each will join that church without imperfection. The only perfect church is the one that Christ will gather one day.
116. 35:14 But until then, we get to be his imperfect yet devoted church, or as we like to say, a faith family on mission. Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you that even though there is no perfect church, you have called us into your perfect plan to be your people redeemed by Christ, filled with your spirit and sit on mission.
117. 35:41 We thank you for the picture in Acts 2 of a church that was devoted, generous, joyful, and alive. Make us that kind of church here in Miami, Lord. Root us daily in your word. Knit us together in true fellowship. Feed us at your table and keep us dependent on you in prayer.
118. 36:00 Give us glad and sincere hearts, hearts that overflow with generosity and joy. And Lord, just as you added to their number in the early church, we ask that you would add to our number. Not through our cleverness, but through the power of your spirit at work in us.
119. 36:18 May Christ Church Miami be a faith family on mission. A light in this city. And a place where people can find community, experience grace, and discover their purpose in Jesus Christ. We pray this in the name of our Savior and our foundation, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
120. 36:37 Amen.

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