All right. Well, good morning, everyone. Let's get started to the most bizarre church service that we have all year, right? I've never seen so much flannel pajamas in this gym in my life, so yeah. So if you are new this morning, welcome. This is not our standard format, but we're glad that you're here worshiping with us. We are going to be worshiping Jesus this morning, but rather than have a typical service with a sermon and a set number of songs and things, this is our annual testimony service. And so what we are trying to do this morning is we started this probably five or six years ago, but this period between Christmas and New Year's is always this bizarre season where like no one does life, right? Like no one goes into work, no one does chores, no one takes showers, all those kinds of weird things. Maybe that's too much information, maybe that's just me. I don't know. But in that, this is a perfect time of year to reflect on all that God has done in our lives this past year, to celebrate what he has done, to thank him for what he has done, but also to refocus and to direct our attention towards next year and what God is going to do in our midst. And so like I said, this is a unique service for us. We're going to have four different people share their testimonies of what God showed them this last year. We're going to sing three or four songs, and we're going to have plenty of time at our discussion tables. And so the reason we sit around tables as a church is so that we can process what God is showing us in our lives as we study his word. And this morning, it's rather than a specific passage we are studying, it's going to be these reflective questions on what God is showing you in your heart. So maintain a posture of introspection, ask the spirit to show you what it is that he wants you to do this upcoming year, ask the spirit to show you what it is that he has done this last year that we can be grateful for. And as we do all of these things, we want to give God glory for that. So yeah, I'm going to read a beginning of a Psalm, Psalm 145. And if you want to stand out of respect for God's word, if you are able, before we sing a song to get started. So this is from Psalm 145. And notice how the Psalmist describes the things that God has done in his past. So Psalm 145, I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all and his mercy is over all that he has made. Let's pray. Lord, we're so grateful for this morning and the chance that we get together as your people to sit under your word to hear how you've worked in the lives of our neighbors and to sing your praises. You are a great God. You are worthy to be praised. And this last year you have done so many mighty works in us and through us and among us. So I ask that you'd be glorified in our midst and that we would be humbled before you as we follow the leading of your spirits. It's the name of your son. We pray. Amen. Let's worship. So like I said, we're going to do some reflection this morning on what God has done in our midst this last year. One of the things that any time you move on from a season, one of the things that we need to do is grieve the losses that we have had from this past season. And so one of our elders' wives, Sandy Conard, is going to share. Her mom passed away a few months ago, and so she's going to share some of the process of what that grief is like. And as we listen, we're not only going to hear her story, but also be reminded of the things in our life that we lost this last year that we are going to lament and grieve over. So Sandy, if you want to come on up? I can't believe how good God is. That song is exactly my story right now. Good morning. My mother passed away two months shy of her 90th birthday on November 12th. And when Colbert sent me the test gas, he gave me my testimony over this. He talked about grieving. And the first thing I thought of is I'm not grieving. I'm celebrating the fact that my mother has left this broken body, this old body, and she's home with the Lord. And how did I get on this journey? Where did I see Jesus in the midst of the past six months as her body started breaking down, and she knew she was dying, and she was so ready. And we had so many wonderful conversations that the Lord provided. But the most exciting thing of it is, is every night, starting around at the six-month point, she would come out to me in the morning and say, "Sandy, I have had this reoccurring dream." And she goes, "I don't know what it means, but I had this dream that I go into a house and it's my house, and I'm preparing it." And over the course of six months, she'd come out and say, "When my living room is done, and my bedroom is done, and my kitchen is done." And she wouldn't have them every night, but she would come through and she'd say, "That room's finished, and that room's finished." And what's exciting is the last month, or the last week of her life, she could no longer really come out anymore. I had to go back in the room. My mother lived with me, and I was her caregiver, and I went in one morning and she said, "Sandy, my house is finished. My room is finished." And she said, "You know what was more exciting than that is that." Over the course of the months, she was having visions of my father. My dad died 26 years ago. It was the love of her life. They were married for 42 years. She would have visions that she'd wake up in the morning and she'd go, "I don't know if it's real. I don't know if it's a dream, but your father was laying next to me in bed last night. I see your father." And she would have this, and I'd say, "Well, what did he say?" She goes, "He doesn't talk. He just lays next to me." And I thought, "Okay, that's awesome, mom." And so God, I saw the mercy of God and the Holy Spirit allowing me to encourage my mother as she embarked on this journey to take away the fear of leaving this world and going to be with Jesus. And I'll tell you, the last week when she came in and she said, "Sandy, my house is finished." She said, "But you know what? When I opened the door, I could hear your father in the shower and he was singing." And I thought, "Oh, how's great God is?" And she said, "That's not the best part." I went out and I opened the front door and I saw Jesus walking by and I went, "No way you did." And I said, "What did he look like?" She goes, "I don't know. I didn't see him. It was his back as he was going by." And I just went, "Mom, how do you know it was Jesus?" And she goes, "He was wearing a robe." And I went, "Okay, that's good. Got it." But I looked, she looked at me and she said, "No, really?" She said, "He was wearing a robe." But she said, "I just knew it was him." And so as she went into the time when she went into sort of like the death coma that people burned, she was no longer responding. The Lord allowed me to be there with her, to hold her hand, to talk her through this and to just, every time she was struggling, just to sit there and say, "Mom, Jesus is with you and if you see him, don't stay here. Run into the arms of Jesus." And so that is my testimony. I don't mourn my mother. I miss her. But for me, when my father died 26 years ago and it was tragic, he died at 67 of a glioma brain tumor. The Lord so clearly spoke in my brain and in my mind saying, "Sandy, you can miss your father and you will miss your father. But don't mourn him. How do you mourn someone who is feasting at the table with Jesus?" And so for me, when my mother took that last breath, I knew she was where she was going. And being a labor and delivery nurse for many years, I had the privilege of watching life come into this world. And Jesus in his mercy allowed me to watch my parents each go and be in his arms. So my message today is as a Christian, and not if, but when the time arise for either yourself or your loved one, it's just a beautiful thing. It's a miracle to know that this is not the end and the sweetness of God will prepare you. He prepared my mother. He prepared me that it was not a sorrowful thing for us. It was a celebration. And so that's how I'm starting the year off. I don't grieve her, but when I hear songs like that, I think she sing Jesus face to face. She's not fighting a battle any longer. And I can't wait. I told her I'm going to knock on the door one day and I'm going to be there saying I'm back. And so I'll see her soon. Oh, can I just read this one verse real quick? When it was going, all this was starting in the room came up immediately. I thought how good God is. And my mother was a woman of God. And it came to John 14. I can't read my glasses are crazy. Let me see. Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many dwelling places. If not, I would have told you I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to myself so that where I am, you may also be. You know the way where I am going. And that's my mother's testimony. Amen. Thanks for sharing that, Sandy. Jeanette Cheney, one of our other elders' wives, was supposed to share as well her story because she lost her mother about the same time. But she was sick this morning so be praying for her health and her recovery. But one of the reasons we want to have multiple people share is just the journey of grief is different for everybody. Everyone's story is very different. We actually have two different people in our church who lost a parent on Christmas day a few days ago and so be praying for those in our midst who are actively grieving still. And also just I love the point of Sandy's testimony. For those who are in Christ, we do not mourn as those without hope or we don't grieve as those without hope. And so this idea of missing a loved one but knowing that they're with Jesus and also that works for all the things in life that we need to grieve. It's not just death. It's the loss of different things, loss of jobs, loss of dreams, loss of relationships, those kinds of things. There's lots that we can look back on and grieve and lament well knowing that God meets those who are broken hearted. He's near the broken hearted and is close to those who are suffering. So we have a discussion question that we're going to put on the screen behind me. What difficulty or loss are you grieving from this last year and how can you see Jesus working in the midst of that? Sometimes it's harder to answer the second part of that question while you're in the midst of it. So if you're still trying to discern how God is working, that's totally fine. And also grief is such a personal thing. If you're not comfortable sharing what it is that you feel the loss of this morning, just know that you're loved at your table and the people will be praying for you as you do that. So we're only going to do this for three or four minutes and then we'll go to our next testimony. So thanks. And thanks for being willing to process and share what you have at your tables there. Just so you kind of know where we're going with the morning, we're going to have three more of these little discussion times. So if this topic kind of spills into the next one, that's fine. Like take your time to linger over whatever question it is that speaks most to those people at your table. Also, we're going to wrap up around 11, 15 or so, but we'll have the gym until 12, 30. So if you need to remain and linger and spend some time praying for someone or being prayed over, like this is definitely a slower paced morning that we can do all of that. In addition to grief, one of the things as you reflect on what happened the previous year that we want to be mindful of is where repentance is needed, where there is a need to turn from things in our lives. Also, where God's work has had more of a pruning effect, where he has removed things from our lives because he wants us to grow and he loves us. And so along the similar theme to that, Emily is going to come share with us a picture of what it is she felt like God showed her from this last year for us. So thanks, Emily. Good morning. Oh, that's sweet. Good morning. I'm Emily Horner. My husband Tyler and I have been attending here for about almost eight years and our little kids have grown up coming to missio kids with all of you guys. Many of you here teaching them, which is just a beautiful picture of what the church is. And so this morning I was asked to share a little bit about just my heart for this church. And this feels really vulnerable for me. So just bear with me if I'm a little bit weepy or anything. So a couple months ago, I was feeling super heavy for our church. And so I was spending time alone with the Lord. And I asked him to give me encouragement because it just felt hard. It felt really, really hard. I was like, I love this church and I love these people, but I don't know what to do. And so as I'm praying, he gave me this vision of a wildfire that was just burning. And I was like, not exactly the encouragement I was looking for God. I was like, where's the sunrise or the mountaintop or like some beautiful flower? Like, why are you showing me a fire? And I just saw these tired laborers that were fighting the fire and looking around and seeing the devastation afterwards. And it just felt hard. And I was like, just seeing that it touched so many places that we didn't expect it to touch. This fire was hard for so many people. And I think that we just stood there. And so I opened my eyes and I was like, okay. And I looked up and there was this, there's a verse in my living room. If you've been to my house, you've seen it. And I have had it up for about eight years. Because eight years ago, I went through one of the darkest personal seasons of my life when we moved here. And my mentor at the time gave me this verse. I ended up writing it on a chalkboard. And it's been in my living room ever since. And it said, it's 1 Samuel 1216. And it said, now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes. And I don't think it was a mistake that he had me see that verse at that moment. Because I didn't see that fire as a great thing. I was like, I feel really devastated, God. And why would you give me such a devastating picture? But he said, stand still and see the great thing that I am about to do before your eyes. And that's what I felt in that moment. And so from that time, I decided to look up, I mean, we live in Colorado, we see wildfires, we have an actual season, we call wildfire season. So we're very familiar. But I looked up like, what are the benefits of a wildfire? And it reduces dead vegetation, it stimulates new growth, it improves habitats, and it helps plants reproduce. And I was like, that's what a fire does. If that's what's happening at our church and it feels so hard, that is hope for me. And so, I finally saw the fire as something that felt hopeful instead of just devastating like, okay, you're not doing this without a purpose. Like, God has something really big. He's doing here. And I feel it and I see it. And I hope you guys do too. Because since that time, I've found a few really tangible moments where I've seen the growth coming from the ashes. And one of those moments was at the women's event. I know a lot of you were there. And it just felt like a flower had like popped up in a really like dry place. And it was so beautiful. I was like, this is right. This is good. Christmas Eve service felt like that too. Seeing the staff changes and the new excitement from leadership, I just feel you guys that something is happening here. And the soil is ready. And it might have been a hard season that we went through as a church, but there's new growth coming. And it's so exciting. And so, I just want to leave you with one little verse here. This is what I'm praying over our church. And I would love if you guys join me in praying Isaiah 43 19. "Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do not perceive it. I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Amen. Thanks, Emily. Yeah. So this last year has been the hardest year collectively for us. As a church, we've been through a lot of different things. We've had to process and grieve over. And we even spent this summer, we broke from our study through the book of Luke, or before we started Luke, and just did kind of a topical series of how does God work through hard things and grief. And that image of the fire that has done the burning through and new life is able to spring up. I do think that's a word that God has for our church. When I heard Emily share that picture that God gave her, it felt like that is something that's not just a nice metaphor. But I think it's what the Holy Spirit is doing in our church right now. And so we want to partner with that and just be grateful for the new life that He brings through hard things. I heard someone say one time, the worst thing imaginable is to go through a hard season and come out on the other side unchanged. And we pray that God does continue to mature our church to grow us, to change us by His grace, even through the hard things in life. So we have a question on the screen for the next few minutes. That is, "What from this last year do you need to leave behind? What needs to die in your life for God to do something new and better?" And the reason I like that question is it's a personal thing for each of us. A church is a corporate collection of the work that God is doing in each of us. So we are the body of Christ. We are individually members of it. And God works through each of us to grow us collectively as a body. So just spend some time reflecting on that question. Inhumility, ask God to reveal what it is that you need to leave behind. And know that at your table, it's a safe place to share what God is showing you. Thanks. All right, sorry to cut your discussion short. But per my previous comments, we're going to do this a few more times and just keep that posture going. What we want to do now for a little bit is kind of just take a breath, pause from the reflection we've been doing, and turn back to God and worship and in prayer. So we're going to sing a song called "Abide." And it's this idea that he's the branches and we're the vine. Like anything good in life comes because he loves us and that he has given us his son. And so because of that, we want to again have this. These aren't just discussion times of sharing what you think. We want this to be a time of meditating on what God is showing you and leaning into where the Spirit leads you. So maintain that posture of just reflective meditation. If you want to remain seated as we sing or if you want to stand, whatever it is that that gets you to focus on Jesus and how good he is during this next song. We're just going to sing one song and then we'll go to our next testimony time. Yes Lord, we ask that we would continue to remain in you, to abide in you, to stay in you so that as you abide in us that we can bear much fruit. That's the name of your son, we pray. Amen. Amen, you can be seated. That idea of bearing fruit of seeing God work in you should also result in evidence of God working through you as well. One of the things about our church was that 12 years ago now when we picked the name Missio Day. Missio Day is Latin. It's not Spanish despite what every one of our neighbors in Falcon thinks. We're not the Spanish church, but it means the mission of God. And the idea is that God has a mission. God is in the process of drawing people to himself and he and his sovereignty is the only one that can do that. He's the only one that can change a dead heart and give it new life and so we're completely dependent on him to be the one to draw people to himself. At the same time God, because he's a good father, he invites us into that work that he is doing. And so the mission of God is something that we join with what God is doing in his mission. And the reason we picked the name Missio Day is we wanted that idea of God's mission to be the first and foremost thing in our hearts. And we also had this realization that evangelism or sharing our faith with people who don't yet know Jesus is one of the things that Christians seem to struggle with the most. And so we said in the early days that if we ever became a non-missional church or a non-evangelistic church, we wanted our name itself to hold us accountable to that. And I think as we reflect on these last few years, we have lost some of our missional edge, if I'm honest. I think we have not been as intentional with evangelism corporately as maybe we should have been. And so we're praying and asking God to stir our hearts, to give us a fire and a passion and a desire to share the love of Jesus with those who don't yet know him. And so I was talking with my friend Kevin the other day and he's got a great story of how God used him to share his faith. So if you don't know Kevin, he wears flannel better than anyone else in our church. Whether it is August or December, you will see him wearing flannel. I'm really grateful for not only your flannel wearing abilities, but also the way you model the love of Jesus. All right. Thanks. So my wife turned to me like two minutes ago and she was like, "So what's the mean point of your story?" I was like, "What are you talking about? What do you mean we're supposed to have a mean point?" Colbert just told me to go tell us stories. So now she's gotten me all nervous. So I'm just going to tell you the story that I told Colbert. So I've been traveling more for work lately. And a couple of weeks ago, I had a Southwest flight and I do not like Southwest because I never know if I'm going to have somebody next to me or not. And so I'm like sitting there stressing about how do I make sure that I get an empty seat next to me. While I'm sitting in the little line, I got a pretty good number. So I know I'm going to get on the plane pretty early. So I'm like, "Okay, I'll get to the back of the plane." And then I need to find someone unappealing in a window seat. And then I'll sit in that aisle seat. So no one's going to want to sit between us. And so I find the perfect guy. He is just awful looking. I don't want to sit next to him. And I'm like, "Yes, success." And he's like three quarters of the way back of the plane. And so I sit down and I'm like trying to look all big and just like really make this spot unappealing. I got my grumpy face on. And this guy comes walking down the aisle. He's skipping past open window seats, open aisle seats. And he just comes and he looks at me and I'm like, "Just don't do it, man." He looks over at that seat and he's like, "Okay, is that seat open?" "Yes, it's open." So he sits down and I'm frustrated that now I have two and a half hours sitting next to somebody when there's clearly open seats all over this plane. And so I got my headphones in and I'm trying to read this book that I've been trying to read for like three years. And he turns and he like mumbles something to me. I'm trying to ignore him. Hey, it kind of taps me. So I take one of my headphones out and I'm like, "Yeah, what's up?" It's like, "What are you reading?" I'm like, "All right, this guy just wants to talk." I give up. So I started talking to him about this book that I'm reading and there's a quote in the book that it's a great quote. It says that truth is a stronger notion than proof no matter the system involved. And the book was talking about math and so I'm thinking we're talking about math and he was like, "Oh man, that kind of sounds like God, right?" It's like, "Yeah, it does." He's like, "Are you religious?" I was like, "Yeah man, I'm super Christian." Hit me all of a sudden that I am not acting like it, trying to keep this guy from talking to me. So he's like, "Oh, well that's really cool man. I've been trying to read the Bible for like three weeks now and I have a lot of questions." So I'm like, "Okay, well shoot man, let's get at it." So he starts asking me all these questions. Now I am a pretty thoughtful fella. I like to ponder stuff and that gets me in trouble with Bible stuff because I get obsessed with weird little super specific things and I cannot let go until I've like solved it. And this guy spent two and a half hours asking me every question that I have spent like decades trying to get the answers to and I've got these perfect super concise, really clear answers for all of his questions. And then he was like, "Hey man, so I got a Christian friend who tried to get me to pray this prayer but I thought it sounded stupid. It sounded like Harry Potter like, "Oh, I just got to see the spell and now I'm in." Well, yeah, I get how I can feel like that. He's like, "I think I want to say that prayer man, do you know it?" It's like, "Well, I do know it. Yeah man, let's do it." So we prayed together and he was crying and he was just so thankful that he happened to sit next to me on this plane. And I don't know what the main point of that story is, but I do think that I've struggled in my life thinking that I'm not doing what God wants me to do because I'm not like preaching somewhere or moving to a different country to go like spread the word. I think that in my life, God has brought a lot of these situations to me and just said, "Hey, I don't care where you are. I care who you are. Be the right person and I'll get you into the situations." So just think just being the right kind of person, not being all grumpy, trying to keep that seat open. Oh, and then the next week, the sermon was about keeping an open seat. You got to be kidding me. That's awesome. Now you see why I wanted you to tell that story. That was perfect. Yeah, when he told me that, it was right as I was feeling this thing of like, "Why are we not seeing people far from Jesus come to know how great he is?" And just Kevin's openness, his honesty, about his own struggles with that. I didn't know he was going to talk about the gross guy in the airplane. That feels offensive. We don't endorse that kind of verbiage. But just that God's going to use you. Just put yourself in a posture where he said, "Whatever God wants me to do, I'm going to be obedient." And that kind of obedience honors God. And sometimes you get awesome stories like that. Other times, you don't know how God ends up using you. There's a verse in 1 Corinthians where Paul says, "I planted Apollo's water, but God gave the growth." So then neither he knew plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. And so we have no idea what growth God is going to bring to our church and give us the chance to see. But we want to be faithful stewards to do whatever it is to share the love of Jesus. Because evangelism is not that Harry Potter prayer. You're not trying to trick people into joining your multilevel marketing scheme or anything like that. It's one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. If you have experienced the love of Jesus, you cannot help but share that love of Jesus with those around us. So the question we have for this little discussion time is, "Who is God putting on your heart that needs to know the love of Jesus? And how will you be intentional to share good news this upcoming year?" So let's spend a few minutes talking about that. All right, let's wrap up this one. Go to our final testimony from this morning. And the next section of discussion is going to kind of pair well with this idea of what we just talked about. So if you should have had a bulletin on the center of your table, on the backside of the bulletins are the four discussion questions. So I'd encourage you to either like take a picture of that or take it home with you just as a way of continuing to meditate and pray through all of those things as God puts things on your heart and maybe take someone out to lunch and process these questions together with them. So for our final testimony, Chris and Caitlin are going to come up and share a little bit about how God has been working in them and through them and led them to this place where they get to be a part of our church family here for a little while. So we're grateful for both of you guys. I'm going to start off sitting even though it may not last. I may get up and move. So I wasn't nervous about this until Kevin was like my wife asked if I had a main point and I don't have a main point. And so I blame you for everything that's about to happen. Also I did not know that my wife was going to talk when we were initially asked if we would talk. My wife said you can talk and I'll sit there and rub your back showing that I support you. And she told me about two seconds ago. She's like I've got stuff to say too. And I'm like oh okay cool. So we're going to see how this goes. But hey if we haven't had a chance to meet you my name's Chris. This is my wife Katelyn. We've been married for 15 years. Our two kids are around here somewhere. And we have lived in Colorado for a grand total of two months at this point. We've been in vocational ministry for almost 14 years now. And the Lord has this habit of just moving us around to different places. We get to a place. We do what we're supposed to do there and about the time somebody's trained up and ready to take over then the Lord moves us on to another place. And that's kind of what brings us here. But the process to get here was maybe a little bit different. My wife and I tend to look for unity in a call. We want to be on the same page with each other. I don't want to drag my wife kicking and screaming somewhere. That's never a good idea. And I also like sleeping in my own bed. So when we were sure that the Lord was calling us out of where we are and on to something new, the first thing my wife said to me was we can go anywhere but Colorado. Spoiler alert. Here we are. And I said anywhere but Colorado. And a little back story there in August of 23, the church that I was staffed at brought us up here for a sabbatical week. And this is when the Lord started putting this area on our hearts. This is when the Lord started putting church planning on our hearts. And so my heart was already here and my wife was fighting against it tooth and nail. And so we decided to sit down and pray together a simple prayer. And the prayer was Lord, if it's not Colorado, then change my heart. If it is Colorado, then change her heart. So that became our prayer. And I even tried to call her bluff a little bit. She's like anywhere but Colorado. I'm like, hey, there's a pastor in Switzerland. We should go there. And she's like, cool, let's go. And I'm like, well, that backfired, didn't it? So we began to pray this prayer together and individually. And about three days into this prayer, Kate comes out of her quiet time and she goes, so how was your time? And I'm like, this is loaded. I'm about to be told how my time was. She said, how was your time? I was like, it was good. How was yours? And Kate says, hey, if something looks good or feels right in Colorado, maybe we should look at it. And I'm like, yeah, about like three days ago, you were like absolutely not anywhere else in the world, right? And she's like, well, just go with it. I'm like, okay. So like three days later, literally over the course of nine days, like three days later, she comes out and she goes, Chris, it has to be Colorado. And I'm like, a week ago, you were like puking over this. Like, what is going on? And then three days after that, she comes to me and she goes, Chris, it has to be Colorado Springs. That's the only place it can be. It's like the only place that exists in the planet right now. And so we sat down at a table together over some tears. And our kitchen table seems to be like the place where the presence of the Lord is in our house. That's where he dwells. And so we sat down at the kitchen table and we started asking questions once we had landed on Colorado and we were leaning towards church planning and we were like, okay, Lord, we're in unity. Is this what you want? And my wife told me at that point, she she said it felt like we were sitting across the table from Jesus and slid this piece of paper across to him with like five or six questions on it. And he slid it back with all the questions answered. Yes, it is Colorado. Yes, it is church planning. Yes, this is what I'm calling you to. And all of this comes back to Joshua 1 9 for a little context. Joshua is called to lead the people of Israel. And we're not saying that we're called to lead the people of Israel. That's not, I'm not saying that. But I think one of the points behind that scripture is Joshua is called to do something that is impossible without the Lord. And so the Lord commands Joshua, do not be afraid, be bold, be courageous. Have I not commanded you this wherever you go, I will be with you. And I think at that point amidst many tears, we said, okay, if this is what the Lord's calling us to, how many more yeses do we need? And so, well, here we are in Colorado. Mine won't be as long because Colbert stole my thunder, but so it's really funny that Emily, you weren't supposed to speak, right? It was kind of a thrown in last minute. And then what you said on Thursday, the day after Christmas, right? I don't even know what today is, whatever, it's Sunday. So I've been kind of, you know, just this question, what does radical obedience that Jesus look like this upcoming year? And we know, we believe what he's called us into this specific ministry. But for me, it's like, I just don't, I just didn't really, I don't know, I've just, I just don't know what it looks like. I may, I want to know all the answers, I want to have it laid out in front of me. And I was given that verse. And so it, when she said what she said about the wildfire and the plants, I was like, well, that's weird. I immediately was, was like, taken back to that, to the scripture that God gave me. And then he came up here and had to ruin it. Thanks, Colbert. No, this obviously was meant to be. So like he said, neither he who plants, well, he did the first one. So I'm going to do the next one. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. And for me, I tend to pray for a specific word for the coming year. And I've been, I feel like the Lord's really just been speaking to me on just do what I'm asking you to do, just obey, trust and obey. There is no other way. That was one of my mom's favorite songs. And it just speaks to this church and the people in this church and the people that the Lord's laying on our hearts and bringing to our, to our life. And I don't know, it's just really cool that all these things are kind of, because I didn't really understand that verse coming into today. And I talked to Chris about it after and I was like, I feel like maybe this was meant for me, but I don't know why. So now I feel like I have some clarity. So yeah, just trusting the Lord and being obedient no matter what it looks like or how hard it is. Amen. Thanks guys. Yeah, that's a great way to transition to the discussion. The idea of obedience is possible because Jesus is trustworthy. Like those have to go together. If you don't trust God, you cannot do what he tells you to do. But if he is trustworthy, if he is all the things that the Scripture say he is, then obedience to him is the greatest thing that we can ever imagine. So ruling has been about two minutes on this next question, so we can transition to communion here in a second. But the question is, what does radical obedience to Jesus look like this upcoming year? And where is he calling you to step into more intentional ministry? What is it that he is calling you to step into to be obeying him to see his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven? So we'll do this for a few minutes and then transition to communion. Thanks. All right, let's bring it back together. Again, I feel horrible cutting all these discussions short. So like I said, we'll have the we'll be in the gym here until 1230 if you want to stay in linger over some of these questions as well. So what we're going to do now is end our morning like we do every week with a time of communion. So communion is this weekly reminder that Jesus body was broken for you and that his blood was shed for you. And so if we're talking about obeying Jesus, there's no better example to look to than the fact that he obeyed the father in going to the cross. It was for the joy set before him that he endured the cross as the verse that we read about in Hebrews. And so with that idea of saying, radical obedience to Jesus can some Kellie mentions that are table sometimes that looks like moving across the country to a new state or to a new part of the world. Other times it looks like having that conversation with the person in the airplane that you don't want to talk to kinds of things. But whatever those examples are, being obedient to Jesus is a way of showing the world how good he is. And every week when we gather, we can tend to forget how good God is. And so God in his mercy and his kindness has given us this weekly reminder of communion, this weekly sacrament or means of grace where we say, oh yes, Jesus loved me enough that his body was broken for me. He died in my place, his blood was shed for me. And because of that, all the things that I have done and failed to do this last week, his blood has covered and I am forgiven because of the mercy and the grace found in the cross. So we serve open communion here as a church, which means if you follow Jesus, if you love Jesus, then you're welcome to come to the table. We have two tables in the back and then one up front. All the communion is gluten free, I believe. And with that, for the children here, we'll leave it up to you parents to either lead your kids through the communion process or to have them abstain. If you're not yet a follower of Christ, we would ask that you abstain from the elements of the table, not because we're trying to be elitists or exclusive, but because Paul tells us that when we take communion, we're proclaiming the gospel and you can't proclaim a gospel that you haven't yet experienced yourself. At the same time, if you would like to put your trust in Jesus, we would love to pray with you that there is no Harry Potter prayer, but we would love to just kind of make that more real in your life. So I'll be in the back corner of my wife, Kelly, and I, and we would love to pray with you if you want prayer for anything. We're gonna have two songs, during those two songs, come to the table at any point, take the elements back at your table, and then we will end this morning with the time of prayer and benediction after those two songs. So if you're able, would you join me in standing as I pray? Well, we're grateful for this morning and the many reminders of how good you are that has been shown to us. We're grateful that one of the best reminders that is out there, we get to celebrate now by partaking in these elements. We are grateful for the model that you have given us and the cross of how much you loved us. We thank you for these words from Paul in 1 Corinthians where he says that he received from the Lord, but he also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you, do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also, he took the cup after supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." So Lord, we are grateful that we get to make that proclamation. We get to stand in the light of your truth and declare to the world how good you are. And we know that you are good because your body was broken for us and your blood was shed for us. And so now in light of your grace and your mercy, we declare your goodness through this sacrament. It's your name you pray. Amen. Yes Lord, we do ask that you would be glorified in our lives this upcoming year. As we step into whatever the future holds, we know that you are sovereign over it all and that you are good, that in your reign and righteous rule we can trust you. As we are obedience to you, as we share your love with those around us, as we turn from our sin, and as we step into whatever it is you have for us, may we trust you more and more with each passing day. Lord, we are grateful that you are worthy of glory. And we ask that you would use us to bring glory to you this upcoming year. Amen. Amen. Now I'm going to pray the benediction over you. If you're not familiar with it, benediction is the word of a good word from God or a blessing from God. We're going to cite the place from number six where Aaron is supposed to bless the people of Israel. And that blessing is as if God himself is blessing you with this. So if you are comfortable, extend your hands as if you're receiving a gift of God's blessing for you. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace. Go in peace. Love you guys. (music)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:What difficulty or loss are you grieving from this last year? How can you see Jesus working in the midst of that?What from this last year do you need to leave behind? What needs to die in your life for God to do something new and better?Who is God putting on your heart that needs to know the love of Jesus? How will you be intentional to share Good News this upcoming year?What does radical obedience to Jesus look like this upcoming year? Where is He calling you to step int...
