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Good morning, church family. It’s good to see you as we gather to honor the Lord together. And especially on a day like today. Today is a just a beautiful day for us for a couple of reasons. Two, two different things we’re focusing on today. One, we we have some dedication of children that we’re going to have at the end of our service. We have several families that signed up for our children dedication that’s going to take place today. And so through each of our services, we we get the privilege of doing that. And so I look forward to that. And in addition to that, while we focus on the generation of kids that we have and the responsibility we carry there before the Lord, we also get to think about future generations as we consider what those next steps are that the Lord has for Alpine Bible Church. And so both of those things very impactful, where we understand as a church, our lives are about seeing lives transformed in Christ as as God’s community. We want to continue to see that take place. And so we we get to to see that happen in a tangible way through, through both of those avenues today, as we we see parents come before us with their children and they dedicate themselves before the Lord. That’s really what a child dedication is. It’s to recognize the sacred stewardship of life and the responsibility we have as as parents, to honor the Lord, the way we nurture our children before him and and not only as parents, but also as a church to encourage our parents.
And the journey is to honor God in their homes and and the accountability we have to them as a church to encourage their own walk in Jesus. And so beautiful when you think about that, that that life transforming power of God made known only in, in our, our, our families, but as they pass it on to the next generation. But then we also have the opportunity to think about, you know, as, as we’re gathered together here to worship the Lord, that this this doesn’t pop out of nowhere. Your relationship with Jesus, that that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, who have walked faithfully with the Lord That opened up the opportunity for us to come to know the gospel and to walk with the Lord. And so now we are in a place where now we get to consider what would that look like to just be able to create more space for others to have that same privilege. And one of the one of the painful things I have seen over the last say, year especially, is that we get to a place in our services like today where we’re a little bit squishy, right? Not not you personally. I’m not trying to make anything, but we’re we’re just kind of we’re near each other, right? And so we like our space and we don’t have a whole lot left of it.
And in this room is a little full, and our kids rooms are worse, right? I shouldn’t say worse, but we just got a lot of love in those rooms. And so and so we just recognized that we’re in a season and where we need to be seeking that, that next step for us. And when we follow after the Lord, we have different seasons of life and what it looks like to be faithful, you know, as parents with children in that season of life you’re considering, what does it look like for me to be faithful? And as a congregation, we get to a place where we don’t have any room. We understand that God has created his church for a purpose. To live on mission. And a part of living on mission is to create that space for other people. You know, the point of the church isn’t about the building, right? The point of the church is to see lives transformed in Jesus. While we clearly say the mission of the church, we don’t create it. God created it. He says the mission of the church is to make disciples to that love God and love others, right? It’s the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. That’s what we’re about as a congregation.
However, buildings become a beautiful tool in order to do that. I mean, one of the things that I think about here today is that this building that we’re in is the first mainstream biblical Christian church in our community, and we get to gather and worship. And and this stands as really as a testimony of how we’ve seen we’ve seen the faithfulness of God throughout the years. And as God has led us, like one of the things I love about a morning like today is that I find sharing a message like this is incredibly easy because I’m really, really just talking about the heart of ABC, and I love to get the opportunity to do that. What motivates us to do what we’re doing? And at the same time, I find a morning like today incredibly hard. And it’s not because the message itself is hard, but it’s because what the message represents is years of work and just serving the Lord and faithfulness. This is really just exposing the core of who you are. And I just when the service started this morning, I’m doing a little bit better today. But knowing what today was about, watching the band as they’re they got a killer song here to end. But watching the band, I just like I’m weeping like a baby. In the beginning, I’m like, I’m not going to hold my stuff together. Like, I don’t even know.
I don’t even know what’s happened. My kids, I’m not. I wasn’t sure what was happening with me. My kids were sick earlier in the week. And you know how that is with parents. You’re like, up all night. You’re just deprived. You don’t even know what’s going on. So when I get tired, I get a little bit weepy sometimes. My. My eyes leak. I shouldn’t say I cry. I’m a dude, right? I’m just kidding. I’m kidding. My eyes leak a little bit, right? And I’m like, is is that am I am I just worn out from the week or is it because of this? I think it’s probably all of those things. I mean, it’s just a beauty to to look back and see what God has done in our church. And by the way, I need to tell you this real quick. I forgot to say this. You know, we’re going to end our service with an ask, and we’re not driving this with guilt. I have no interest in that. We’re just going to give an opportunity for you to respond. We’ll do that at the end. If you’re new here, I don’t want you to feel any pressure with any of this. Like, we’re just thankful that you’re here today and and would love to have an opportunity to connect with you. And I don’t know, Chris, if you can even go back to that at this point.
But the way to give us the opportunity to do that is we’re going to throw up a number here on the screen real quick. You can text new there, right? And we’d love to have the privilege of just welcoming you. Thank you for being here. Let you know how much we appreciate that you took time out of your weekend to worship with us. By the way, if you want to know what’s happening here at ABC, I don’t have time to go through the bulletin. They’ve got too much happening. So just download our our bulletin or grab a bulletin sheet on your way out. Used to see some different things taking place, but but really I want to focus on where we’re at as as God’s people and the beauty of which God is doing. And now the opportunity we have before us when we think about the generations that are here, as we steward that in the Lord and encourage our families as well as that, that next step for us as God’s people. And one of the reasons we’re talking about this today is because, to be honest, when we think about the history of our church, we have just seen God grow us faithfully over the years. And we started in 2008 with just a small Bible study with just a few families meeting in where my wife and I lived at the time, which was just a mile up the road from here on the east side of of State Street on the other side of the interstate.
And, and I just gathered with a couple of families and really, it was birthed out of a the Thomas family that lived just just past or near the Lehigh Cemetery, just past Lowe’s. If you ever go up the road past Lowe’s towards Lehigh Cemetery. And in 2003, when I was in my early 20s, I came out here to visit with a willingness to go anywhere. The Lord led me and I can’t remember how young I was. I was I was stupid young. That’s where I was in life, like early 20s and, and and I met this couple that Pat and Larry Thomas and Larry had come to know the Lord recently. He was in his 60s and just came to know the Lord. And and they were just burdened with the conviction of seeing churches, healthy biblical churches planted in Utah. And they longed to see one established here in Lehi. And so they told me in my early 20s, if I ever moved back here, that they would join us in seeing a church planted. They were just willing vessels, whatever the Lord wanted to do. They just wanted to be a part of that. And I moved back a few years later, and then a couple years after that, we started a Bible study here for the purpose of seeing if God would just see a church birthed out of that.
And God was faithful to that. And and this is the sixth location that we’ve met as a congregation over the years, but we’ve just seen the Lord provide every step of the way, and it has been a beautiful journey for us. And we’ve also grown. And you see those numbers just over the last five years of a picture of our growth. And we I’m honestly surprised that with this past year, this past year is not complete. So, you know, our calendar year runs from September to August 31st, right? So this this past year our average so far is around 434. We’re really in the 450 or so about right now. And honestly last year I thought to myself, okay, we’re done growing because like, we don’t have anywhere to fit anybody else. And now I’m telling you, there’s more growth. And I don’t know how we did that, but it happened, right? So and I’m so thankful to see the way that God is continuing to, to do that within our church. And and so we’ve been praying for years for an opportunity because we know within our city there is land is going quickly. And we thought, man, if we don’t hurry up and just find something, we were praying, searching, searching. Like knocking on doors, doing all kinds of things.
And finally we had four acres of land come available to us that was very favorable. And we completed step one to get this land, which was just secure the down payment so we we could secure our future. And we did that. And so we purchased this land, which is going to be able to give us an opportunity to build a future home, to expand our facility. I mean, we need a larger worship place. We need more classroom space. Not only is it going to help us on Sundays, but we we use our church every day of the week. I think we maximize our facility more than any church I know. Like we are constantly in this building doing things for the glory of the Lord to the benefit of our community. And not only is this land going to give us an opportunity to build a larger space of worship, but to also expand for our future of of the possibilities of what God can do through our community? Because one of the things we’ve recognized here at ABC is that our dream isn’t about our kingdom, but rather his and our vision for our future is bigger than ourselves, because we recognize that there are still cities and towns in Utah that have never had a biblical based Christian church. And so our heart is to see healthy church not only here, but healthy churches throughout the state. And in fact, we we lead a church plant organization here in, in Utah that’s a part of a, a global network.
But they’re actively church plants happening throughout our state, of which we are a part of supporting and encouraging and even even a few families from our church just last year moved went down to Spanish Fork. They actually lived in that area, but they went down to Spanish Fork to help with one of the newest church plants that we have called Aspen Grove, that’s meeting this morning. They’ve been there for a little over a year now. And so our heart is to see healthy church throughout this state. Right. When I die, I would love to see to to know that there is now a healthy church in every town. And ABC was a part of that. But, you know, when I think about living that out as, as God’s people. There are certain things that we just want to keep at the forefront of our mind when we when we consider what it what it means to be a healthy church, to live on mission for the Lord, for his glory to the benefit of others. And some of the things that we we often say about ourselves is we. We exist to give ourselves away for the glory of God to the benefit of others. Right? That it’s not about us, but rather about what he wants to do through us.
Because this is God’s church. And so God has a plan for our lives. And as we live that out, we want to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone. Meaning you can’t make an impact everywhere, but you can make a difference somewhere. And so we certainly want to have that target out for us. And what how God can use us to, to make a difference in this world. In fact, sometimes we we say it like this, that we want to make it hard for people to hate us. Meaning we we know that the truth can be offensive, but if people are going to stumble over us, we want the gospel to be the only thing that are stumbling over. We want to make it hard for people to hate us. And I say it like this sometimes we literally want to love the hell out of people. My wife doesn’t like it when I say that and this is being recorded, so she’s probably going to watch that later and let me know. But but that’s that’s what we want to be about as God’s community, that we want to speak the truth in love. And both of those are important truth and love. To to say to us, God cares about what you believe. The truth matters. But God also cares about the way you behave, because to be right but in the wrong way is to still be wrong.
And so there’s there’s also there’s what we hold to in our tradition and belief in our creeds as followers of Jesus, what that means, but also in the way that we live. And we think about the idea of truth and love. It works for us like this, that that truth without love is harsh. And love without truth is hollow. But truth and love is healing to the soul. And this is what God calls us to, to to lead in this world. And this is, this is what we we want to be about as we we live for the Lord. And one thing that is always true is God’s people. No matter, no matter what tomorrow holds, is that our best days are always in front of us in Jesus. That is never not true. Your best days are always before you. And so because of that, we we, we get to step into this with incredible trust in what the the Lord has for us. I mean, even as as parents, we think about dedication today, I can I can think about the first kid I had, like walking out of the hospital thinking to myself, like, I can’t believe they’re going to hand this over to me right when I mean it. I’m talking about a kid I had to do. Do they know who they’re giving a child to? Right. Like, I just it’s just.
Just thinking about what in the world are you. What are you going to do? You know, now that you’re responsible, right? And and this takes it to a whole new level. I think when I got married, there was a little bit of change in my life. You know, just thinking what it means to surrender your life for the benefit of someone else. But I like to say, when I got married, about 25% of me died. Not not that I laid. I laid all of myself down for my wife. I don’t want to make it sound like. Like I love her. Right? But it felt like as far as change goes, you know, just a little bit of me. But when I had kids that last 75%. Right, that that’s what what did that look like? And it was it was very much a learning of my own relationship with Jesus. And, and and here we are as a church now thinking about the future. And guys, when I, when I say things like we’re going to take step two, which is pay off a building, it’s $1 million. I’m a pastor pastor’s salary. Right. Like I didn’t get into this gig for for money or fame or anything like that, right? Like this is not the line to get into for that. Like, I look at like $100, I’m like, how are you going to do that? God, like $100, I don’t know, I’m out.
Right? Like when I talk $1 million, it just feels like monopoly to me. Like, I don’t even I don’t like, but but here’s what I know. When God’s people are moved in the right way and we see an opportunity and we know how the gospel changes lives, There’s a willingness there to want to participate. And one thing I do know, if we don’t put a target out, we’ll never hit it. But when we consider this, this moment is the biggest, the biggest step of faith. I think we’ve taken in the history of ABC. And in order to do it, it’s going to take all of us together, considering God, what can you do? But when we’re willing to do that, it is powerful the way God can move. And so, Lord, how can you use me? And by the way, again, if you’re new, I hope you just enjoy today. But for us to consider, we’re sitting on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, walking faithfully. And now, God, this is my season. This is my time. What do you want us to do? And when I think about the idea of living on mission, one passage that stands head and shoulders above all others to me is that famous quote from Isaiah and Isaiah, chapter six, verse eight. By the way, if you want to turn to the book of Isaiah, chapter six, this is where we’re going to be today.
But Isaiah chapter six, verse eight, this is where Isaiah is. He. He comes to this place when he heard God’s call, he says, and I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And then said, I said, here I am, send me. Here I am, send me. I think what an incredible statement from Isaiah that whatever God wanted, he was just in a place where he just said, yes, God, however you wanted to direct whatever you wanted to do. God. Yes. Just lead me in that I want to trust you in that. And I when I look at this passage, I just think, man, whatever led Isaiah to that moment, that’s what I want my life to forever be. That willingness to just be surrendered to God and His leading in my life. Lord, help me follow that. Like, how do I sustain? And in that place in my life? And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Three ingredients for a healthy missional life. So that really, no matter what season you find yourself, you’re going to you’re going to see your life walking faithfully with the Lord. Three ingredients for a healthy missional Life. Let me. Let me pray for us real quick. And I’m going to go through this pretty quickly because I have limited time today.
But I want you to discover what led Isaiah to give this kind of statement. When we look at these previous verses, let me let me pray, God, in this hour, we’re just resting in you, God, knowing that you do the transforming work and there is nothing we want to do as as your people apart from your direction in our life, Lord. And so God, we just pray that you continue to guide and direct us. Lord, as we look at this passage in Isaiah six, may your spirit lead us as your people to be faithful to honor you in all things God. We ask it all in Jesus name, Amen. We look at Isaiah chapter six, verse one. Let me read it together here. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings, with two he covered his face. With two. He covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. Verse five and I said, woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips.
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. The one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, here I am, send me. How do we have a healthy missional heart? And one of the things that I want you to see is the story begins, is, is Isaiah finds his his life really coming to this precipice of uncertainty and the way that he discovers it, he acknowledged or he declares it to us. He he acknowledges it here in the very beginning. He says a lot without saying very much. And he just says that this is a time when King Uzziah died, and for for Isaiah personally and for Israel as a, as a people. This was certainly a time of uncertainty, because they didn’t know what the future hold was going to hold for them, because their hope was wrapped up really in the identity of who this king was. If you ever read about the life of Uzziah, he was a king that reigned in Israel for over 50 years and he was a godly king.
And with that came a certain amount of trust and comfort, and seeing how he faithfully led his people. But now that King Uzziah was gone, the people were wondering what’s next. And in this moment of uncertainty, what it brought Isaiah to was this greater place of hope. Because while the earthly king was dead. What you discover in this chapter is the Heavenly King still rules and reigns. And if we’re honest with our lives as we see the life of Isaiah, this is generally what leads most of us to begin to, to search for, for something meaningful in life. Hopefully, ultimately, finding the Lord is to realize what I’ve been living for. While it may have been fun for a moment, it’s only ever going to last for a moment, and I need something deeper from my life to be about something that endures the temporal things of this world. And this is exactly what Isaiah begins to discover, that while the earthly king is dead, the heavenly king wasn’t, you know, and and we think about our lives as people. We’re doing children dedications today and as as parents and children dedications. You come to the season of life and you’re like I don’t know that I know how to necessarily do this, but I could just let me just tell you, you don’t. But you know, the one who does, right? As your life is surrendered to him.
The Lord guides you in that. And we see in this story why? Why? That’s the why. It’s a possibility. Well, look at this together. The same thing for us, like $1 million. Thinking about a future and the ideas of all of this can can get overwhelming when I look about the possibilities of of just my earthly abilities. But but then when I consider the one in which we follow, you realize there’s a cattle of a thousand hills he owns, right? This is a God who was faithful to his people, and he’s been faithful to us from the beginning. And there’s no reason to think that he’s not going to be faithful to us as we just continue on in following after him. I may not know the details of my future, but I know who holds my future. And so I get the opportunity to to take a step in faith, to see the greatness of God work among the people of God as we surrender ourselves to him. So. So when we think about this, the idea of these, these missional, healthy ingredients can can I just give you number one? Number one thing I’ve learned is compassion. He learned compassion. You’re never going to do what Jesus calls you to do in this world without caring the heart of Jesus as you go into this world.
And can I just tell you what the heart of Jesus is about people? You can’t tell me you love God without seeing a life reflected in loving people, because what Jesus loves is people. He gave his life for you and for me. And this is what Isaiah learns in a very humbling way, right? Because, because as he’s seeing the greatness of God. And we’ll talk about this in just a second. And I got to move through this quickly. But is he seeing the greatness of God? One of the things he begins to also see is who he is in light of who this God is, and one of the one of the things he begins to recognize is he is nothing. He’s just a blip on the radar in comparison to the greatness of God. And the way he describes it as this woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips. And I know right now that doesn’t sound great, so just hang with me, okay? But but I want you to know, in in our lives, we’re not here to prove that we’re great. The discovery of your great greatness is not found in you. And that’s not. That’s not what life is about. To demonstrate our worth by the things that we do that makes us more worthy. By doing them greater. Because eventually the things that you do will fade as your life fades and the abilities that you have now, you may not have tomorrow.
So to find, to find your worth on the circumstances of life, you’ll you’ll never. You’ll never truly find the beauty of who you are that way. And Isaiah discovers this in a very humbling way. He says, woe is me. And it literally means I am a dead man. And he says, I’m a man of unclean lips. And the image here is one of one of a person in a temple doing a work of service. And you think as a priest in a temple, if you don’t have your lips to serve God in the way you’re caring for people, then you’re really worthless in that sense, because there’s not a whole lot you can do as a defiled person in the temple. And so he’s saying, in my position, I have no ability before this God, because our comparison is not to each other but to holy God. And as he begins to look at himself, he then looks at other people and realizes, I’m not greater than anyone else. In fact, we’re in this together. And because of that, it gives him incredible compassion for others because he’s just as lost as the people around him. All of us need to discover this. And so what this gives Isaiah is incredible compassion as he sees the holiness of God, and then he sees himself in reflection of that.
But but related to this holiness, let me give you point number two. This is also critical to understand is, is that we need courage. So to have healthy the three healthy ingredients in in missional living we need we need to have compassion And we need to have courage. And Isaiah gets this courage in a rather interesting way. Right. Because because the way the story starts is Isaiah seems like a very tiny man before the greatness of God. But can I tell you this is exactly what all of us need? We need to understand the greatness of who God is. And this is the way it’s described. He’s thinking, oh man, woe is us! Uzziah is gone. How are we going to do this? And then God saying, But I’m still on the throne. And if you want to know what that means, consider this. The whole earth is full of his glory. Like this king just ruled in a little place on earth for a temple period of time. But I am the king of everything all the time. So much so that. Consider this. That even the seraphim, which is an angel of fire before the presence of God, carries this reverential awe in how it worships this king. And they cry out, Holy, holy, holy, which three times in Hebrew really means above and beyond anything else. Nothing can compare to it.
When anything is mentioned three times in Hebrews, that’s what it’s reflecting, that nothing relates to this, and the foundations are shaking at the glory of this God. So, so you need to consider the greatness of the God, the power of who he is. But not only that, you’ve got to couple it with the grace of God. And this is also what Isaiah discovers, that he’s confessing his brokenness before this king, that rather than find his life obliterated before God, he discovers himself found and forgiven. Notice it’s not Isaiah who’s running after this God. It’s Isaiah who’s cowering, but it’s this God who pursues him. And it describes it in this interesting way that God comes down with his angel, who takes from the altar of sacrifice of his tongs. And he grabs a coal, and he touches the place that Isaiah confesses is unclean, and he forgives Isaiah, and Isaiah is cleansed. Guys, can I tell you the grace of God and the glory of God, or the greatness of God. Both of those things are what work together to give God’s people incredible courage and the way that we live in this world. Not to steamroll over people, but to serve them with compassion because we have found our identity in something greater in this world. And this is where Isaiah has found himself, to realize that he had trusted in something that was fallen and broken. But now his identity has been made new, and the glory of who God is, so that when we serve, not only are we offering the grace of God to others, but we get to serve God with with power, because we understand the authority of the one who walks with us in life.
It’s not based on who I am, but it’s based on who he is. So I said, I’m not here to impress you with myself. I mean, in and of myself, I should never be able to stand up and speak God’s Word, because before a holy God, I know who I am. But because of what Jesus has done for me. It gives me the privilege and the gift to have that opportunity to share Jesus with others. And you too. I find freedom and new identity in my place in Christ because of what God has done, and therefore get to honor him with my life. You know, I don’t have time to share all these stories, but let me give you just one particular verse in Scripture, and I’m in the book of Ephesians, chapter six, verse ten. It says, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. You know, in our culture, we have this tendency to talk a lot about self stuff self esteem, self confidence, self, I don’t know whatever, but but can I tell you there’s, there’s, there’s a, there’s a type of confidence that’s far better than self-confidence.
And it’s God confidence. Now it may lead to some more confidence in who you are, but it’s only because of who he is and the idea of God. Confidence is realized when I do anything in this world for the Lord. It’s not the power of me impressing God with me, but it’s in the power of my life being impressed with the greatness of who he is and the grace of who he is coming to my life. That I could live for his glory in this world that gives me the opportunity to walk with compassion and courage. One one good example, and I think this is listener notes is in Mark chapter five, verse 25. There’s two there, but I can only mention one. But this is the story of the woman who was hemorrhaging for 12 years, and she takes this risk to go touch Jesus. And in her day, an unclean woman, which a woman has been hemorrhaging. That’s what it’s saying. For 12 years, she would have had to walk around saying unclean, unclean, and to touch something that was clean would have been considered a decision of disrespect, and it would have defiled whatever unclean or clean thing she touched as unclean woman. And in her day, this could have even led to stoning. But the woman took a risk. And here’s what she discovers is that rather than make the clean Rabbi Jesus unclean, is that by touching Jesus, her life has been cleansed.
And Jesus, if you know that story, stops the crowd and says, who touched me? And the woman, scared out of her mind, finally confesses it was her. And he said, woman, your faith has made you well. And guys, can I just tell you, it’s the same thing for us when you understand the greatness of God and at the same time, the grace of God, it becomes this invitational place for you to reach out and grab Ahold of that Jesus that changes your life. And this is what the woman does, and this is what happens to Isaiah. The altar comes to him and he finds his life forgiven and made new in him. So that then because of that number three in your notes, he could sacrifice. He could sacrifice. Now he gets the opportunity to respond to the Lord. These are the three missional ingredients, right? Compassion, courage, and then sacrifice. Now a part of me feels this a little bit. It’s a little bit of a misleading to refer to what we do for the Lord as sacrifice, because here’s what we really know when we follow Jesus. It’s really what? Jim Elliott said he is no fool to give up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. How can we really call what we do for Jesus a sacrifice when Jesus owns everything already? Anyway, he just lets me steward a few things in my life.
It’s all his, and anything I give up in this world for him is going to be greater gain on the back end. So how can I ever call it a sacrifice, especially in comparison to what I understand Jesus has done for me? It’s not really a sacrifice as much as it is a privilege to honor our Lord. But Isaiah, he gives that beautiful call. Hear, my Lord, send me. And can I just tell you, if you read the rest of the chapter, what you discover is God tells Isaiah, look, Isaiah, it’s not always going to be easy. Just because you follow me doesn’t mean it’s always going to be easy. I mean, that’s that’s kind of like my my summary of the rest of the chapter. But but for Isaiah, it wasn’t about making things easy, for Isaiah was about being faithful and obeying the Lord. It was about walking with him. And in that season of life, that’s what God called him to. And as we go through different seasons, it can look different for for each of us. You know, as I think about this together, there’s one one lady in particular, Amy Carmichael, who she went as a missionary to India in the late 1800s, and she served there for 55 years, never took a furlough, never left all 55 years of her life.
She just lived in India until she died. And one of the ministries that she led was rescuing young girls who were trafficked in the temples as prostitutes. I mean, she spent her whole life serving in that way, caring especially for for children. And she said it like this. She said, we will have all eternity to celebrate the victories, but only a few hours before sunset to win them. Now, I want you to know I only have two minutes to close this out, and we’re going to do a final song together and we’re going to have some dedications. But but here’s what I want you to think about as a church. This is not me guilting you. This is. This is not me trying to be heavy handed and saying, you know what’s wrong with you. This. This is me saying to you, church, it has been a joy these last, what, 15 plus years to serve the Lord with you. And it’s been beautiful to watch your faithfulness to Jesus and the way you’ve given your life for the benefit of others, and the way you’ve taken the resources God has given you, whatever it’s been to want to honor him. And now we have an opportunity to continue to think about how we can expand this place for other people to know him, too. And we need to be serious about that because life matters. It matters to the Lord.
And so over these next three Sundays, this Sunday and the next two, we’re going to ask you to take this card. And you can do this digitally if you want. There’s a QR code, or you could do this. Just fill it out old fashioned way. But to consider God, what would you have our family give in order to be a blessing to our community? God, how can we do this? We want you to pray about that. We want to. Even you could share what we’re doing. This matters to me as our website. You can share it with others, but to also pray about giving, giving to the Lord. In fact, we have these magnets outside you can pick up. This is not like anything fancy, but these are. These are just used as a reminder. Slap it on your fridge at home to be praying for our church because this is a big ask. This is a big step of faith. But at the same time, when we do things like this, you take these big steps. I think it also becomes the spiritual target for Satan to work. And we just want to be prayerful, like don’t let the enemy divide us, Lord, during this crucial time. Brother, let’s walk in unity and celebrate this beautiful journey together and what God has done. So over these next few weeks, you get the opportunity. If you know today what the Lord might lead you to do, you can fill this out, turn it in in an offering box.
Do this online. Or or you can just be praying about it over the next couple weeks. And on on the 18th. That’s our last day to turn these in. We’ll collect them all. And then on the following week on the 24th, we will share with you what everyone has pledged, not the details of what everybody has pledged, but the overall total of what everyone has pledged. Just to see how the Lord is leading us as God’s people. So when you think about our future together, and if you have any questions, by the way. Oh, I should tell you this. We have a $1 million goal. We already $100,000 into this. All right. So so we we ended our last campaign and people didn’t stop giving. People just kept giving. So without even really trying, we already got 100. So we’re. But we’re going to keep moving into this. If you have any questions about this, you can ask on the table on the way out. But here’s what I want to do. I want us to pray before the Lord. Now, I want to turn this over to the band to come up. And I want you to be mindful before God right now, just asking him, Lord, what do you have for me to give?