Thank you, Scott. All right, you can be seated. Wow. It's so important for us to share these stories, like each week that we gather, to hear these stories of faith in action in your every day.
And I want to encourage you, don't let a story like that be a stumbling block for you of deciding, like, man, that's not for me. That must just be for certain Christians. And I just want you to know, if you are in the room, if you have given your life to Jesus, this is for you. That is not just for Scott.
That is not just for us. It is not just for other people in the room that are walking an authority like this. He has given you authority. It's about if you exercise it or not.
And so I just want to say that being in this family by proximity, we're going to sharpen each other, call each other higher. I hope you feel agitated into action. Like, that's the goal, that as we are waking ourselves up, that we would agitate or irritate each other into action. So let that stir you, let that provoke you into action in your every day.
Such a cool story. I also just really fast. I felt like the Lord is highlighting during that. If you, maybe someone in the room that has felt like they received the gift of tongues, and they had a moment where they experienced speaking in tongues.
But since then, doubt has crept in. And it's been like, I don't think that was actually tongues. It didn't feel like what I thought it was going to feel like. Or it hasn't come as easily as I thought it would come out, or whatever, that there's some type of doubt for some of us in this room where that gift is lying dormant, because you don't actually believe that it is the gift of tongues.
And I just want to speak to that right now and say that I just feel the Lord on that, that he's like, no, that is the gift of tongues. And the enemy wants you to not believe that it is. And so for you to actually just by faith start to exercise that gift again and allow Holy Spirit to just like a breathe on that. I don't know, could just be for one person, but I wanted to share that really quick.
We are closing out our series on every day, who we are as a community, that we are truly in a new season as a family. And Josh and I have just been reflecting on this over the last week or so. And we're remembering that a little over a year ago we were on a sabbatical as a family and we were just taking so much need of time to rest and reconnect. And during that time, we were asking the Lord questions about what is this next chapter for our community?
Like what are you saying over growth at the time? What are you saying for this next chapter? And two things happen, a lot of things happen on sabbatical, but two things that kind of connect here today are, he first said it's time to become everyday. If you remember, that was something we'd been holding in our heart for the last three or four years.
We knew that we were gonna be called everyday. And we felt like he gave us like that nudge, he's like it's time. And we're like out of COVID. I mean, think about the context of this moment.
We weren't gathering, we weren't able to meet in person and we're like, we're gonna come back and like change our name. Are you sure? That's a good idea. Shouldn't we probably get our bearings?
And he was like, no, you're gonna be everyday now. Like coming back to a new season. And the second thing that he said was when we're asking him, what are you saying over this next chapter for us? He said it's not a next chapter.
He said it's a new volume. And so it's this significant, we feel like we are like birthing a new volume and we are learning how to even articulate that, but I think it's important that you know that in this season, like this is a significant shift for our community. And if you've been with us since the house, I'm actually curious if there's anyone in the room even. That was with us in the house.
Raise your hand, hi, sweetheart. Yes, okay, yeah, we've got a few of you in here. Anyone that was in the house, how we started six years ago, seven, six years ago, you can attest to the fact that the narrative has not changed. What we set out to do is still what we're doing.
We're still using the same language. So it could be easy to go, well, how is it a new volume? If we're still saying the exact same thing we've always said, and we've even been asking the Lord that question. And what we see it as is it's not like a pivot or a turn or a change, but it's like a drilling deeper into our identity and our call as a community.
So as we dig deeper into this, there's going to be a deeper expression that comes out. And so when we look at this season, you've heard us say this in the last couple of weeks, but we feel like it would be valuable to just kind of recap what we're saying about this new volume for us as a community, and what we want to remind us of is that we really do believe it's a new day. And that new day, the end of spectator Christianity, the end of coming through the doors and just going through the motions, checking it off a list, it's the end of coming in to be entertained, but it's the beginning, it's the new day, it's the beginning of coming in different, to be sent out into action. And we just believe that in this new day, it's not just for us, that we are a part of a much bigger story.
Maybe you are visiting tonight and you're from a different community and maybe you're seeing the exact same thing where you are, but we just believe that we are this like sliver of what God is doing. But if you zoom out and look at the earth at what he's doing in the nations, what he's doing here locally, he is shouting, he is trumpeting this message that it is a new day. There is a remnant of believers that are coming out. I believe that the best days for the church are ahead of us and that is not a catchphrase.
That's not like a cute thing to say because we're pastors. It is significant for this season. I believe that the church will be smaller than ever, but it will be far more powerful than ever. I believe that she is going to burn brighter than ever before.
There is a remnant, there is a remnant in the church that is going to be far more effective than what we have seen in the West, in the church. And I just believe that we get this invitation as a community. And I just like hear it from the Lord just going, do you wanna be a part of the story that I'm writing? He is a master author and he is writing a beautiful story.
And this is our moment to say we want to be in that story. We wanna be a part of it. We don't wanna go through the motions. We don't want business as usual anymore.
We are so open to going off script and whatever you wanna do, Holy Spirit, we don't wanna be in the driver's seat. We truly wanna follow your lead. We know that you know what's best and we wanna follow you. If that looks like we're breaking the rules of what you are, aren't supposed to do.
When you gather, we're gonna do that. But it's this commitment in our heart to say we just wanna follow him. And we just wanna gather the hungry. And so if you were here a couple of weeks ago, you heard me say I said, I, we don't wake up in the morning and go, man, the vision of my heart is to have a bunch of butts and seats when we gather on Sundays that will maybe sing some songs and listen to me, talk at them for an hour.
We get up in the morning to gather with hungry ones. We're giving our life to the vision of hungry ones, finding hungry ones and going farther together. And so we wanna just encourage you. It's like Ben, I think Ben said this earlier, that some of you have been longing for a tribe, that some of you have been longing to find people that are like-minded, that want to run at a different pace.
Some of you have watched your friends slow down. Some of you have watched your friends grow cold. Some of you have watched, many of us have watched our friends leave the faith altogether. And you're looking to see, is there anyone left?
There's been discouragement that's hit the church of, is anyone even following him anymore? Is anyone actually doing this stuff? Is anyone actually believing him at his word and believing that power and seeing the sick healed and walking in signs and wonders that that's even real anymore? Is there anyone out there?
And I just believe that this is an answer to some of our prayers. We have been asking the Lord, since we were in college, God send us the hungry ones. And that's still the prayer of our heart. Going into this next season as a community, God send us the hungry ones.
And if I don't feel hungry, make me hungry. It's like that whole, what we just went after together. None of that is even planned. Where we just went tonight, none of that is even planned.
We have some song span, but how Holy Spirit just takes us on a journey. Where before we're even talking about this right now, he has us with our own mouths, God, I want a heart that burns for you. He's just such a good leader. He's such a good leader and it goes so much better when we're just following his lead.
And so that's what we're going after as a community. That every day is not just a church, it's not just an organization, it's not just a program, a gathering, a service, it's a people, it's a mindset, it's a way of life. And our desire is to invest into that everyday person, the everyday believer, the everyday follower of Jesus, and to see their story multiplied throughout our city, unto the nations. Like this is bigger, like we got to come up out of this, like really small perspective, he's after the nations.
But it's all part of our everyday. Yeah, when we were in worship tonight, I felt like the Holy Spirit said that Jesus is worthy of cities and love. I just felt like he was pointing at Jesus and saying he's worthy of cities and love with him. And I believe that God has spoken to us as a community and for decades, he's been saying the same thing, that he's gonna change the expression and the understanding of Christianity in one generation.
How many of you remember in Constantine's day for over 100 years in one generation, the whole expression and the understanding of Christianity completely flipped upside down. And I believe that God is actually doing a new thing today in our generation, in the 70 year olds, in the 80 year olds, in the 50 year olds, in the boomers, in the millennials, in the Gen Z, the Gen X, God is actually going in this generation. All of those generations, as we've divided ourselves out, the Lord's going, everyone that's alive, he's doing it now. He's saying, I'm gonna change it, I'm gonna flip it upside down, and it's gonna be the upside down kingdom.
And it's all gonna be about washing feet, going low, love in hearts, and love on the move. It's gonna be like a lifestyle Christianity. It's not gonna be, it's no longer Sunday Christianity. It's no longer group date once a week, God's getting us out of just group date mentality on Sundays, and he's going, no, I want intimacy face to face, I want back to back, side to side, face to face, I want everything.
My love is actually, it has this longing for more. And we feel the longing on the interior of our hearts. And we're going, I know it's in there. I know that you have longing for the everyday.
And I know that God is actually calling us into this everyday, and it's called the everyday way. It's a kingdom lifestyle that he's infusing into us. He's going, I'm raising up the Mary's on mission. He's saying, I'm actually going to have it land that it's the priesthood of not just a few believers, but it's the priesthood of all believers.
That he's actually taking callers, and he's ripping them out of just a few. And he's going, I'm putting callers on everybody's neck, because you're all everyday reverence. You're all everyday pastors, you're all everyday bishops in your neighborhood, in your workplaces. He's going, I'm actually getting the church out of the building, but before they get out of the building, before they need to actually get pushed out.
And he's going, I'm gonna push them out into the secret place where they start beholding me. Where they start beholding me, and then start becoming like me. And when they become like me, then they start thinking about the person that's in the tree, like Zacchaeus. That's longing for hope, longing to see Jesus, the Messiah.
And he's looking, and I believe there's a key, that's all over our city, in your workplace, in your neighborhood, in your hospital, in your favorite coffee shop. There's a key, that are trying to get a glance at him. And he's going, I'm giving them eyes as ambassadors, as culture carriers for the one. I'm giving them a burning passion for what burns in my heart, the so loved of our city.
For God so loved the world. I believe that there's the so loved of our city that God's gonna brand into our hearts, in the place of prayer, and he's going, I'm giving you my heart for the so loved. God's raising up sons and daughters that would be willing to notice, name, and nurture in everyday life. He's going, I'm raising up kids that would allow me to be their wonderful counselor.
To actually step into the pain. To step into the hurt, step into the traumas. He's going, I'm actually, I'm stepping in, and I want to do heart surgery, like earlier. And he's going, I'm actually raising up a people that's willing to go there with me.
That trust me as the great physician of the heart. God's raising up healthy hearts, healthy couples, healthy homes to adopt the city. He's going, the way that the kingdom is advancing is not through massive outreaches, but it's hearts that go, I'm gonna allow you to heal me. So I have a story of restoration.
So when I go out into the fields, I actually have clarity to go, I have a story, not just of giving my life to Jesus when I was three. But I have a story of restoration. I let him touch the deep parts of my soul. I let him get into the nitty gritty of the pain of my heart.
And this is what he did. And he's not, he's calling the people out of isolation. And he's calling them to step in together. He's calling them to actually get out of individualism.
And I can do it, I'm good. And I don't need somebody else with me. And he's going, no, I'm gonna build family. I'm gonna bring them around the table.
And there's gonna be bonfires of love all around the Twin Cities and beyond. He's going, I'm raising up communities of people where if you were flying in an airplane, like the prophet said 30 years ago, he saw as there was a prophet flying over the Twin Cities, he said, I saw in the spirit flames of revival in neighborhoods all over the Twin Cities. And I believe there's a day that's coming where he's gonna do it again. I believe that there's a day coming where maybe we might see at least 1% of our city get swept into the kingdom in a year.
34,000, I'm believing for 34,000 to get swept into the kingdom. We have 3.4 million in our cities. I believe that God, he can increase by 34,000 if the church would get out the building. If the people of God would actually step in to their rightful identity as sons and daughters, representing dad, getting off of the cruise ship of comfort and stepping out into the waters with him.
Stepping out onto the waters of faith, into the fields, he's the father of the fields. We're stepping in and God's doing it, it's a new day. It's a new day for American Christianity, Western Christianity, consumer Christianity is dying. It was like this and it's on the way down and there's what Katie was saying, there's actually a resurgence of kingdom.
It's the kingdom that will advance forcefully and he's gonna do it through the Gideon's. He's gonna do it through the people that feel like, I don't have what it takes. What do I have to offer? I don't feel like I'm that great or that powerful.
I didn't go to Bible school, I didn't go to seminary and God's game off of the bench, into the game. You're the first, you're on the first team. You're the starter. No, it's the last, it's the fourth quarter.
Get in the game. This is your time, this is your shot, shoot your shot. God's going, hey, this is something that we don't just do for me. Let's do it together.
The Lord's going, don't do stuff for me. Stop doing stuff for me. Do stuff with me, let's do it together, amen? Yes.
We believe that in this season, God is sifting our why. The thing that drives us, our why is being sifted. It's being purified, it's being brought to the forefront. If our why, if we're in this for some self help, help my life, maybe it will make my days go smoother, maybe I'll have some tools to weather some storms and it will be good for me to be a Christian and I'm in it for my best life now.
If this, if our why comes back to me, our why is weak and it will not hold. If we want to get to the rocking chair, we've been talking about that a lot tonight. If we want to get to the rocking chair someday with love on our hearts, not growing colder by the year, by the decade, not growing more hard in our hearts by the decade, but growing softer, warmer, more in love, our why needs to be clear. And we're putting a stake in the ground as a community in this house, our why is that Jesus is worthy.
It's simple. At the end of the day, he's just worthy. We believe that every day, even the name, the name every day is not just a cool name or maybe you don't even think it's cool, I don't even know if it is cool. I don't care if it's cool.
The name, super lame as someone just said, that's great. That's great. The super lame name of every day. We believe that it's a prophetic sign.
It's a signpost to an entire generation. It is a signpost to the body of a new day that Jesus is worthy of every day. That's the entire point, it's all for one. Jesus is worthy of our every day.
He's not just worthy, we're done. We are done with him of us saying, he's just worthy of our Sunday service attendance when we actually get there. Let's be honest, how often are you here? I'm serious.
He's not, if this is what it's coming back to, oh yeah, he's worthy of me reading my Bible app for my five minutes once a month. And I try to do that thing to check off the list and I'm coming to service when I make it and that's what he's worthy of. And throughout my days, he's not even a thought, it's like no, there is a cost to following him that we don't talk about enough in the West and there's an invitation again to come and to die, to come and to lay down your life, to pick up your cross and to follow him. What does that look like?
He's worthy of my connection with him. He's worthy of my healthy heart and of me understanding who I am as a son, as a daughter. He's worthy of me living on mission in my sphere and bringing the kingdom to every place that I go. And he's worthy of me demonstrating the love of Jesus in my community.
He's worthy of all of it. Jesus was the one for all. And we're committing to be the all for the one. That is our heart as a community that at the end of the day, our why would be strong.
That our why would be that he's worthy. He's worthy of my life poured out as an offering. When I wake up in the morning, when I eat lunch in the afternoon, when I go to bed at night on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, every day of the week, Jesus is worthy of my life as an offering before him. That's why I'm alive.
We've been talking as a leadership team about in this new season, what does it look like to invest in our mission as a community? And maybe you heard that we had a fun surprise tonight and we do. But as we've looked at that, we go, what organization, what initiative do we want to invest in financially to put our yes behind it as a community that really speaks to our mission and our vision as a house? And so we were thinking about it and we go, we don't want to just announce that to you.
We want you to be part of that process. And so we're going to, we have an envelope for each of you and you're going to help us unveil or reveal where it is that we're going to invest together as a community, does that sound fun? Okay, let's stand up. We're going, we have a couple of buckets.
I've got one up here. There's one at the back of that aisle, one at the back of that aisle and the balcony, Mel is right there for you and Nicole's out there for you. So we're just going to go grab an envelope if you want to and then, but don't open them. Don't open them yet.
We're going to do it together. Okay, ready to go. Who doesn't? Raise your hand if you still don't have one.
Raise your hand if you don't have one. Wait, you have one? It's yours. We get to go.
Did anyone not get one? Because we got a couple more. Right back here. Anyone else?
Want to make sure you've got one in your hand. Don't be shy. Okay. So what we want to do is we're going to have you open it and then just hang on to it and we're going to talk about it.
Okay. So open it. Gently open it. Don't stare down the mirror.
Don't stare at it. You're not going to want to tear that. We're going to talk about what we're going to do with this. All right.
Does everyone have them open? Okay. In, in Mark 4, Jesus shares a couple of parables and he's talking about the kingdom and how the kingdom works. And three of the parables out of the four, he talks about seeds.
And this money is what we call seed money. And we believe that as we look at Mark 4, Jesus, he's kind of unpacking how the kingdom works. If you were to, it's almost like he's taking the kingdom and he's popping the hood and he's saying, this is how the kingdom runs. This is how it works.
And he says, the kingdom is like God sowing seeds. Or they're being a sower that sow seeds. And those seeds are the word of God or the ideas of God or the thoughts of God, the desires of God. And so those seeds get deposited into soil.
And he talks about the multiple different types of soil, right? He talks about the soil that, where the enemy steals the seed. And he talks about the cares of this world. And he talks about the deceitfulness of riches and all of these different types of soils that aren't good soil.
And then he talks about good soil. And he said, good soil, it produces 30 and 60 and 100 fold. In other words, it's like a sprout grows and then there's seeds in that sprout that grew. And then that continues to multiply.
And it's like the seeds in an apple, right? The potential in one apple is actually a whole orchard, right? And he says, this is how the kingdom works. But he says, the elements about the good soils, is that good soil receives the word or receives the God idea or receives the dreams of God's heart and doesn't just receive it or hear it, but actually believes it and owns it.
That word, receive it, it's actually an ownership. So it's no longer just something that was received, it's actually part of that soil. It becomes one with the soil. And when we look out at all of you, we believe that you are good soil.
And it's our joy to take these seeds and to invest them. And so this seed money is actually a seed into everyday believers. This seed money is a stamp that we go as leadership. And as those that are going, man, we're looking for this good soil.
And as we look at that, we go, you are actually the good soil that we get to invest in as a people. We believe that this is an investment into the new day. The new day of Christianity, it's the end of Spectator Christian, we're going, where could we invest? That would actually be the best kingdom investment.
We thought where everyone is in everyday life, if we invest in individuals that go everywhere, it might be the best kingdom investment that we could make as a board, as a leadership team. And we believe that, I mean, if you look at the map of where every single person, if we said we're gonna GPS track you and we're gonna put it on a map, how much of the Twin Cities would be covered? Just in this room. We believe that God is actually saying the only strategy that reaches everything, everyone, is the kind that mobilizes every kind of person.
I wanna say that again. The only strategy that reaches everyone is the kind that mobilizes every kind of person. We're putting our yes, we're putting all of our eggs in the basket of everyday believers. And we're going, this is a new day.
This is the key. This is where God is actually going, hey, I'm putting my stamp of approval on you and saying, you don't have to go to seminary, you don't have to go to Bible school. And he's going, this is the seed money that I'm sewing into you and God's gonna do it. And I believe that there's a joy in receiving it.
There's an invitation that I feel from the Lord that we would own this as that God's actually giving us a vision for what this seed money is to be used for. And I believe it's just a conversation that we get to share together. It's a conversation that Holy Spirit and you get to have right now. And I don't know how the Lord's gonna guide you.
Maybe he's going, hey, this is actually the seed money to you starting counseling because for years you've kind of been putting it off but I wanna step into healing. And he's going, as a father, this is my seed money for you to schedule your first counseling appointment. Or maybe this is, you felt disconnected from your spouse for a little bit and this is date money to go, I'm gonna reconnect with my spouse. Maybe it's, I've felt disconnected or not connected to one of my children.
And this is actually the opportunity to go, I'm gonna think creatively with Holy Spirit about what would it look like for me to be intentional with them and to just spend some extra time or give them a gift or love them well in this moment. Maybe it's, you've been sitting on a kingdom business idea and the Lord's going, you've been sitting on this idea and it's an idea that I've sewed into you. This is actually a word that I've given to you and all you need is just a little push of a small little seed like a mustard seed to go, this is the seed money, get in the game. Maybe it's the seed money for you and I know that it's a small seed but maybe it's the seed money for you to go to school because you're supposed to be a doctor.
And the Lord's going, for the rest of your days as you're a doctor, you will know that it was always me that initiated this call. You will know that it was always your father that said, this is my idea. This is the thing that I've put in place into your heart. I don't want to miss it.
There's things that I wrote down, I don't want to miss them. Maybe it's the seed money for adoption and you're called to adopt. Maybe you have a friend that the Lord's been highlighting to you that you're to meet needs that they have. Maybe this is groceries for you this week and it's actually the down payment from the Lord that he's going to provide for you and your family.
Maybe this is to buy a Bible or a journal to spend time with the Lord. Maybe this is something that God is putting a seed money into you purchasing an instrument and it's going to result in memory after memory, after memory of you with the Lord through the years. God is calling us in a conversation to talk about the seed money. I believe that he's going to be depositing ideas, kingdom ideas, kingdom words.
He's going to be depositing his heart into us tonight. And so what I want to do is let's all stand and we're just going to spread out. We're going to go into a time of connecting with Holy Spirit. You can spread out throughout the whole room.
We just want to give you guys a few minutes of space. We want to dialogue with Holy Spirit. How am I going to steward the seed? Where is it going to go?
We want to get to that place of clarity and commitment before Him on how we are going to steward that seed before we leave. We want to create a space for us to be able to dialogue with Him around that. And so we're just going to have the band play. And you can sit, stand, do whatever is helpful for you to actually connect with Him.
If you want to pray with the person you came with, it's just a free-for-all. But we just want to invite you. Let's actually dialogue with Him around this. I just feel like this is such a significant moment for us.
And we don't want to rush through it too quick. So we're just going to take our time Holy Spirit. Thank you for divine ideas. Thank you for simple confirmation.
The desires of our heart, the things we've already been thinking about just coming to the forefront. We just see Him coming like a father, invalidating your dream, validating your desire. Some of you have never experienced the affirmation of a father before and you've longed for it. And we just see Him coming.
We see Him coming in like a father, putting his stamp of approval over you and saying you're a workman approved. You don't have to do anything to earn my approval. You're already approved. That idea came from me.
Let's do it together. I see some of us taking this seed money and taping it up on our mirror, putting it in a place that we're going to see it because it's a sign of the father's affirmation and approval over us in a specific dream or a specific desire of our heart. Holy Spirit, just speak right now. Thank you.
Thank you for trusting us with this seed. Thank you that you call me good soil to sow in. What an honor. What a privilege.
Thank you, Lord.