MK040 Sermons
Who are We? (Audio)
to join us to give everyone an update on the facility process. A lot of you have been saying, you know, can we have an update, can we have an update? So it's finally time for an update. So I got them both up here to give us an update. So Randy's going to get us started, Randy, why don't you fill us in and tell us what is the current work being done on each area there in the facility? Well, thank you. I'm in rough shape this morning. Sorry about that. There we go. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered there so far. We've had a great turnout of volunteers, and kind of what we're doing is backing our way out of the building, you might say. The K-4 room up in the upstairs is painted, the drywall is done, it's painted, some very vivid colors, it's very exciting to see. So that has made the most radical change so far. And the youth room is not too far behind, we're working at insulating that, getting that all finished off as well. And looking forward to Wednesday of this week, stocking the drywall and starting to hang drywall in the nursery and preschool areas downstairs there, so we're kind of feverishly working to get that ready, get it insulated all the final electrical network plumbing all taken care of. And then kind of the last part of the project will be the bathrooms and lobby area that we're working on the electric, getting the plumbing is pretty much roughed in. So really just sort of showing some real progress in certain areas and kind of getting them off the list and then moving backward working our way out of the building so that when we do have the lobby completed, we're not dragging a bunch of materials and guys in and out the door through the finished area. Well, that's great Randy, thanks for the update and we'll try to have some pictures over the next few weeks to give you a sense of how the progress has been coming. So we've got this target on the wall of June 7th, our first service in the new facility, so give us a gauge are we like, you're absolutely confident we're going to get there, you're kind of eh, or there's no chance we're going to get there. So where are we out on that sliding scale there? I am absolutely confident that we will make June 7th. Now we are on track, there's a lot to be done and I think it boils down to really the continued support from everybody here, volunteers coming out, we've kind of ratcheted up a little bit, now have opportunities to help on Tuesday evening and Thursday evening as well as Saturdays. Just trying to help with that a little bit and have some contractors waiting in the wings a little bit for if we really start getting pressured that we can bump it, but so far we've been on pace to keep that to a minimum and with your help I think we can continue to do that. So what time on Tuesday and Thursday evenings? Tuesday evenings generally, I'm there by about five o'clock. So do provide dinner, it varies from pizza to pepperoni pizza. That's what I've seen in the boxes there when I wander by, so. So you got cheese pizza, you got pepperoni pizza, there's a lot of options out there for you for that, but now we remark is wagging open so that's been a blessing, that's another option we can add to the list. So about five o'clock, eight thirty on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, if you can let me know if you can be there, those nights, that's a little more, those evenings are a little more detailed, detailed oriented to certain parts of the project, but then Saturdays will continue, we have Muddy Creek that's, that's in the mix there and a few other things. Major landscape project planned at the facility sometime in May, not exactly sure which day that will be, but that will be a hopefully an all hands on deck day as well. Yeah, because I think that day we need about forty volunteers to get the work done for that day, so that'll be a big push for that. That's just forty outside, I need another. Oh, okay, and more inside, I need some inside. Well, thanks Randy for that update and really I hope you're getting a sense. I mean we've been, we've been able to do just an amazing amount of work. I think my head is the only casually for the work project so far that I know of, but we've been able to reduce the amount of contractors that we needed in there and bring our costs down and Jeremy's going to talk about that in a minute. So if you will look at your calendar, we'll encourage you to look at your calendar over the next six or seven weeks. If you've got a Saturday block, you can be there. We'd love to have you, don't have a Saturday, if you've got a Tuesday or Thursday and it doesn't matter, you don't have to have any skills, Randy will find a job for you and guarantee it. He's very good at that. So thanks Randy, Jeremy. How about a financial update? We talked back in the winter about we needed forty five thousand to hit that target for our pre move funding. You want to give us a funding update on that piece? Yeah, we spoke with you both at Thanksgiving and then also late in January I think and had indicated that we needed about forty five thousand dollars by the first of April in order to get the pre move budget of around three hundred fifty thousand dollars of funded and I'm happy to report that we threw four or five which was last week. We have received sixty six thousand three hundred dollars towards that goal. So because of that and because of God moving in your lives to lead you to continue to support the project financially, we have fully funded the entire three hundred fifty thousand dollar pre move in budget. So all of that money is here, it is in hand, we have it so we don't have to worry about whether or not there's any shortfalls or whether there's any conversation about you know additional funding sources or things like that God has provided that through you so moving in that direction so we're grateful for that and of that three hundred and fifty thousand dollars that has been raised we still currently have about two hundred and seventy thousand dollars that we still currently have and just there's a lag between when work gets done as well as when we get billed for that work so but we've also received significant blessings in relation to mechanical contractors that have continued to reduce their price. I think the price we got last November what we ended up paying was about forty percent or sixty percent or fifty percent we got a forty or forty five percent reduction even off what we thought we were going to have to do last year so God just continues to work especially even through you and all of your volunteer days so most of those funds are committed but because of some of the savings we are going to be able to do Randy mentioned this in the first service but John will ask him to be concise to service so but I'll add in that we have added to do a couple of extras I think not significant extras but some things that we were sort of wanting to do but we weren't sure we were going to be able to fund it based upon timing and what happened but we are working looking at what those are you know sort of if you have a checklist so we're going to use those funds we're going to continue to pray about God to God about how to use those funds most steward be a best sort of those funds but that's what we have right now most of those funds are still committed toward that three fifty budget and if we can get some additional savings then that will just push into phase two okay obviously we're going to put offices there in the chapel or there are in ryan holds as well that's the house that sits in the front kind of tell us what's the status on that part of the project from the funding sampling right so right now currently nothing is really happening at the house but the plan for the house in front of the church building itself is that as many of you know the chapel we have on dry tavern road is up for sale we did have a 30 or 45 day period by which we tried to get word of mouth out and not really put it on the market but now the property is officially on the market it's on the market for 140 174 999 or 175 thousand dollars is what it currently is on the market for and whatever we could possibly sell it for would then go to renovating the offices there in the house at the facility so we're not going to be asking for initial capital campaign we're not going to be looking for those funds we're hoping that God will provide those funds to that asset of the sale of our current offices at the chapel on dry tavern to then fund the renovations for that and obviously for the staff of ccc the closure that that can happen to when we actually move into the facilities from a worship perspective and that their offices then can be there is obviously the most preferred so we're just praying that God will move someone to provide a buyer so we can work on that transaction and then begin that process by what that actually looks like to know the funds to know the budget so that that can then move forward okay last part is we talked about pre move talked about the office process last one is the sanctuary renovations can you give us an update on the finances regarding that part of the process right so as we've communicated a little bit over time is that right now the plan when we move in on June 7th is that we will the bulk of the square footage of the facility will be renovated but as far as us meeting there on a Sunday morning we'll be meeting in a gym similar to this but it'll be a gym that that our facility and so we will be continuing to be in there so the second phase then is to be to do the sanctuary and right now the second phase budget or the post move budget is a hundred and seventy five thousand dollars that budget is still in flux a little bit and hasn't been fully detailed out because there's audio visual equipment and there's potentially sound equipment those kind of things so that budget is a little bit in flux but we feel pretty confident 175 is a really great ballpark number where we're going to be and right now toward that we do have twenty one thousand three hundred dollars that have already been received and been set aside toward that phase two so phase one pre move is already funded and we are currently at about twenty one thousand three hundred toward that second phase budget of then you know what that next phase is because I'm sure everybody wants to meet in that sanctuary so we're continuing to work in that direction. Along with that I think beginning last August and September we had people pledge money to give towards this project can you give us an update just where we're tracking on that Jeremy? Yeah so last when we bought the facility in August of last year we sort of adjusted the capital campaign that was already there and we started to run a campaign from September one of last year through the end of this year and the total of funds pledged for that were just over two hundred and twelve thousand dollars so that was the total campaign pledge two twelve five hundred basically and of that to date or through last week there's been about a hundred and fifteen thousand dollars of that pledged money has been received which is about fifty four fifty five percent of the total and if you think about a timeline from last September through twelve thirty one two thousand and fifteen we are approximately fifty five maybe sixty percent of the way through that timeline so pledges are tracking with as far as timeline goes with that campaign pledge total so and if you look at the differential there it's about ninety to ninety five thousand dollars as those funds continue to come in that are pledged they will be added to the phase two funds and will continue to close that gap you know between the one seventy five there that you see and the twenty one thousand that we currently have on hand the great thing though that has been just been a blessing to us as we've been talking about many blessings this morning about progress and and funding though is that on top of the money that was pledged over the course of the last say eight months since September of last year God has continued to provide for CCC in a way that there have been almost sixty one thousand dollars of non pledged contributions that have been given to the building fund itself so we thank God for that we thank you for because part of the reason of that sixty or while we have the surplus or if you will the progress that we've made is because of those who didn't pledge but are continuing to support that and being led in that direction to support the project as they're led by God to do so well thank you Jeremy thank you Randy appreciate let's thank these guys for all their work in this process as well as the update this morning. So if you're interested in serving you can get in touch with Randy if you're interested in giving and participating you can check in with Jeremy there's a couple different ways that you can be involved in doing that and hopefully you're encouraged if you haven't had a chance to stop by the building feel free to stop by sometime I was talking with someone this week they said every week it looks different so it's really cool to see not only your part in this but the way that God is using our leadership here to lead us in this process. Well for those of you that might be new to CCC I don't know if you picked up there but we're anticipating that June 7th is when we're going to be moving into the new building and so that move is going to result in change for us as a church how many of you like change let me see your hands how many of you like change wow like nobody you know I mean so so we're preparing for the biggest change in the life of our church and the majority of you are hating it you know that's kind of what I'm sensing from this this morning but we realize that change is about to happen and we're trying to prepare ourselves for that and so as we began to talk about that and think through what do we want to talk what should we talk about moving towards this period of time we thought let's talk about what CCC is all about because as we're preparing to move there's a lot of different perspectives as it relates to that and so we want to spend some time this morning doing that before we do that um guys it's a little stuff in here could one of you ushers kick on the AC back there just for about five minutes that would help to I think make it a little more comfortable in here so um only five minutes or then the ladies will be freezing so um but as I thought about CCC for some of you that know our history um some of you know this part of the story but I just want to tell you a little bit about that story Christine and I began the church over 23 years ago and um I was working over in Morgantown and to church and I was finishing up the last year of my internship program and as I was finishing up that program um and there was a couple months between when I finished and then when we moved into this area and began the first small group in our home and I had a couple of months to just spend time praying um interviewing individuals talking to people just saying god what do I want this church to be about I had this amazing privilege to start something brand new what do I want this church to be about what do I want it to be known for and there were two very significant things that stood out in my mind the first is I desperately wanted CCC to be a place where individuals were introduced to the saving message of the gospel that they realized that there was a hope not only in this life to have a relationship with the god of the heavens their creator not just to be aware of him but to have a relationship with him and not only that but then for them to have their eternity guaranteed and we don't always think about our eternity guaranteed but the last two Saturdays I've stood at graves of individuals who've slides come to an end and as I've been there and been in those settings you're just confronted directly with the reality that life on this earth will not go on forever and then what and so I wanted individuals to be introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ that could transform their lives not only now but forever but the second thing is I wanted to be a place whereas individuals lives were changed and lives were transformed that there was an ongoing growth process in their lives not that they would not just accept Jesus and then kind of have their fire insurance and be good for the rest of their lives and kind of live like they want but that there would be something radically different about them not weird and not bizarre but that they would be individuals who would be consistently pursuing following Jesus and living like him in such a radical way that others in their world around them would want to know would be curious would be drawn to this person that is living in a way that they don't experience in the other relationships in their life and I said god I don't know if I would have an opportunity but I would certainly love to see a church that would be about those two things well we got started in our home we had our first small group in our home we met there for a few months and then began having services what is now the comfort and used to be the holiday and a lot of things took place we began with small groups I didn't know anything about small groups I thought that might be a good way to help people connect relationally and learn to love one another and we also began a lot of events to introduce people to Jesus and we did this for a long time for 15 years lots of groups lots of events but that seemed like something was missing and the odd thing is from the outside everything was moving an upward to the right trajectory our church was growing and we were adding adding staff and our income was growing everything looked really really good but as an elder team we would sit around the table and we would just say you know it just seems like something at the core is missing we kept asking these questions without any clear answers and I said well maybe gonna let us do this and maybe gonna let us do this and maybe gonna let us put some big targets on the wall and some of you might remember those and but in the midst of that God really disrupted my soul it was gracious to expose it to me first I was really confronted with having to ask the question why do I serve people why do I pastor a church why do I lead was it because of my love for God and my love for other people or was it simply out of a need for affirmation a desire to be liked accepted value seen as important and significant and although there's not a lot that those things are not all wrong if that's the reason I'm pastoring a church I need to look at my motivation and over the next several years as I faced this truth and this reality I began to see the ugliness of my sin in a way that I'd never seen it before and as I faced my sinfulness every single time I faced it I had to bring it to the foot of the cross and Jesus met me there and I experienced his grace and his mercy and his forgiveness and his compassion and as this journey's happened with me personally as an elder team and as a staff we continue to look at the core of who are we as a church what are we all about what are we made up of what's our purpose we gave lots of church answers like make disciples and fully devoted followers of Jesus but began to wrestle with the reality of what is a disciple of Jesus really like what is that person really like what's the most important reality the most important truth for someone who's a follower of Jesus well we realize is there's someone who loves God and there's someone who loves God with everything that they have and there's someone who loves other people and they love other people in the same way that God loves them and as we thought about that we thought that's kind of what Jesus said isn't it Matthew chapter 22 verse 37 he says this he says love the Lord your God with all your heart your soul and with all your mind oh God with everything you have then he says that's the first commandment but the second commandment is not that far from a verse 38 and 39 he says I want you to love your neighbor just like you love yourself and as we wrestled with this we thought is that what's at the core is that what's at the foundation of who God has made us to be and what God wants us as a church to be all about and as we sat with that and thought about that we realize that there's some characteristics of these individuals and over the next four or five weeks we're going to talk about those things they graciously accept others they have healthy relationships they're purposeful on how they serve they're intentional about the rhythms of their lives and they're always moving in this journey to become more like Jesus and so over these next six weeks we're going to we're going to spend time looking at each of these areas because there's a big change coming here at CCC and as we prepare for this change there's a lot of questions those of you that are new to our church you can't wait for the move you're like can't wait excited gonna be in our own building it's an amazing experience and there's another group of you who you've been around a little while and so CCC's not completely new to you but you're kind of wondering what's going to change when we move up there it's going to be different you heard Randy talk a little bit about the colors are going to be different you know there's going to be some rooms for kids that are going to be bright and inviting and not someone else's classrooms that's going to be different there's going to be very big bathrooms that's going to be different there's going to be handicap accessible bathrooms that's going to be different there's going to be a lobby not a hallway that you spend time connecting with each other that's going to be different we're going to meet in a gym for a while so that'll be the same we won't be doing setup every week that's okay we got a few chairs there so you know that's going to be different so there's going to be things that are going to be different and some of you are wondering okay I know these things are going to be different I don't like change but I know these things are going to be different how's that going to change us you know it's a lot like when a family moves into a new home and they they first of all purge all the stuff they collected that they realize they don't use and they need to get rid of and then they kind of move and they get to put stuff in new spaces oh we could do this here and this could happen here and this one could be here and you kind of get the spread out in this new space and you're still the same family you just function differently in that location and so as we prepare for this change we want to walk with you not only in the things that I talk about but just in the sense of all that's happening how many of you checked your kids in in a new way this morning how many of you checked your kids in a new way a few hands there some of the kids there's a new check-in system there for our kids how many of you realize this chairs are set up differently this morning some of you're like what are you talking about John I have no idea what you're talking about yes Vicki right here in the front I took away her seat in the back so nice to have you up front Vic nice to have you here how many of you realize the coffee was in a different location this morning okay now everybody knows the coffee is in a different spot you know this is what the room is going to look like when we move up there and the coffee is going to be in a different location we move up there and so we're going to make some of these changes over the next few weeks just as part of preparing us for that change that's going to take place there's a third group who are here this morning who are not new to CCC who have been here around here long enough to say we know at the core who we are is going to change but there's a it's not going to change but there's a third group of you that are feeling a little bit nostalgic and bittersweet about a change because this is the place you've been coming to worship for the last how many years it's a place where you've met God on a weekly basis it's a place where you've watched your kids grow up it's a place where you've served and loved our kids over the years it's a place where when things are painful and difficult you've sat in worship and you've shed tears and your heart is ached it's a place you've been comforted and encouraged by brothers and sisters around you it's a place you've served your community it's a place where you celebrate the next steps in your faith journey as people have been baptized right here in front of us and so for some it's going to be a little bittersweet and I hope you mark on your calendars the last Sunday we're going to be here May 31st because we're going to do a lot of special things that week to remember this experience and what it's been like as well as our first Sunday in June June 7th in the new facility and as we prepare for this transition I just wanted to spend this time with us as a church and talk about who we are because as we move and there's some different rooms that kids go to and there's a different space in the lobby and there's some things that are going to be different at the core I want to talk to you this morning about who we are because God will be bringing new people through those doors some of you are here because you've seen the sign and have wondered about this church before it moves in the neighborhood other people have called and said I'm not driving the game and I'll come when you're up there you know so like okay come when we're up there you know so we're anticipating the community is going to come and see who this church really is and we believe it's vitally important for you to have a reminder and a focus sense of who at the core we are you know as I thought about this whole idea of loving God with everything that we have I thought how do we love how do we learn to love God how do we learn to love God and as I thought about that it thought crossed my mind that I've been sitting with for a while it's going to come up on the screen and it's this I cannot offer what I have not received I cannot offer what I have not received I want you to sit with that for a minute think about it is it possible for me to show unconditional for me to show sacrificial selfless love if I've not received that is it possible for me to show grace being given something I know I don't deserve if I've never received that is it possible for me to extend kindness to someone for someone who's to extend kindness who's never known kindness in their life John said this in first John for he said we love him why because he first loved us John talks a lot about that John talks about the fact that we know what true love is because of what we have experienced with God the father and his love for us you say John can someone who doesn't know God can they know love and express love they certainly can and I think that's just an act of God's grace in their lives but John says for people who are followers of Jesus the way that they know how to love is because God loved them first how did God love them second Corinthians 5 21 says this it says God made him who had no sin to be sin for us see the Bible is pretty clear that we're all sinners and most of us don't need a lot of convincing to realize that but what God did is God took Jesus who is perfect who is sinless who is without fault and he took all of my sin and all of your sin and all the sins of the entire world and placed them on Jesus he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us you see I have to see my sin my selfishness my self protective ways my wanting to be someone why wanting to be recognized by others my pride my arrogance my harshness and the list goes on and on and on I have to see my sin that sent Jesus to the cross and when he was on the cross it says in 1 Peter 2 24 it says he took my sins in his own body on that cross so that I would be dead to sins I would die to my sins and be alive to righteousness why would he do this why would anyone do this Paul says in Romans that for a good man some might consider dying but Jesus died for us when we were enemies of God we were enemies of God see the only reason why Jesus came to this earth the only reason why he was hung on a cross the only reason he died a cruel torture death was because of my sin and was because of your sin and was because of God's love for you and God's love for me see love is an action and God put this love into action when he sent his one and only son to this earth to eventually die on a cross for my sins and that's why we're going to come to this communion table in just a few minutes but we're going to do it in a very different way I want to ask everybody to reach underneath your chairs and there's two sticky notes underneath your chairs everybody reach underneath your chairs you might have to reach a little farther underneath there you might have to stand up and close your chair and then you can find your sticky note there should be a sticky note under everybody's chair everybody find their sticky notes check my chair Vicki I think I took yours everybody find your sticky notes okay I want you to put the red one down I want you to pick up the yellow one there should be to a red and a yellow okay I want you to take out a pen I sure have some pens if you don't have one and I want you to write on this yellow sticky note a sin that you struggle with a sin that you struggle with and in just a moment I'm going to give you an opportunity to take that sin and put it on this picture of a cross on either side of this room as this morning I want us to be reminded that it's my sin and that's your sin that sent Jesus to this cross and the reason he did that is because he loves you that's why he did it now do you put it on the cross walk by the table there's a piece of bread there to remind us of Jesus body it was beaten it was tortured on the cross for us I want you to take that back to your seat just sit for a moment and remember that and then go ahead and eat it so let's do this together to remember how much Jesus loves each of us I was lost, I was in chains, the world had hoped to me, my heart was stoned, I was covered in shame. When he came for me, I couldn't run, couldn't run from his presence, I couldn't run, couldn't run from his arms. Jesus, He loves me, He loves me, He is for me, Jesus, how can it be? He loves me, He is for me, Jesus was a fire, keeping my soul, I'll never be safe. I stood out of the dark and into the light, when he called my name. I couldn't run, couldn't run from his presence, I couldn't run, couldn't run from his arms. Jesus, He loves me, He loves me, He is for me, Jesus, how can it be? He loves me, He is for me, Jesus, how can it be? When he says that there are scars, there will be scars where he died for me, my heart will be hoped, my heart will be hoped, my heart will be hoped. Jesus, He loves me, He loves me, Jesus, how can it be? He loves me, He is for me, Jesus, how can it be? Jesus, He loves me, Jesus, how can it be? I can't see what this looks like up there. You died for your worry, for your jealousy, for your anger, your pride, your lying, your selfishness, for your bitterness. You died for it all. Somehow, I don't know what it takes. I have to fix this picture in our minds. Maybe that's why I want you to do this often. I want you to forget. I want you to forget. This cost me my life. I don't want you to forget that that's how much God loves you. That's how much He loves me. But that's not how God sees me and He sees you. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are one of His own. He doesn't see that when He looks at you. He sees something very, very different. I want you to take this orange, reddish colored post. I want to give you a couple of phrases. You can pick one, you can write them all. He sees you as forgiven. He sees you as your debt has been paid in full. He sees you as free. He says there is no judgment. You will ever face because of my son's death on the cross for you. There is no condemnation, no judgment. So pick one of those words, write one of your own that summarizes that for you. I'm going to invite you to do the same thing to come up and put this on that cross. As a powerful picture for us that the God of Jesus Christ cleanses and covers all of our sin. Take a cup of juice and back to your seat to sit with a grateful heart before God of the heavens who loves you enough to give up His one and only son for your sins. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] What of Jesus Christ? Washes away my sins. I don't know that kind of love anywhere else. How about you? I love my kids and I love my wife and I love my friends and love the people that I get to serve and lead here and I think I'd give my life for my kids and my wife if I needed to. Beyond that, I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure. Paul said, "For a good man, a few might dare to die, but we weren't good. We weren't good. We were enemies of God when He chose to love us." I don't know what it takes for you to have that picture locked in your minds, to have that picture locked in your framework, but I don't think there's any possible way for me and I don't think there's any possible way for you to love God unless we continually come to a place of remind ourselves of how much God loves us. Because if I ask myself, "How do I love God? How do I show God my love for Him?" Does that mean I'm supposed to spend more time reading my Bible, sitting quiet in my room, being church more? How do I show my love for God? I think what John says, he says, "The way we show our love for God is by doing exactly what God did. We're willing to sacrifice the thing that we love the most." And when we're willing to make that kind of a sacrifice, then God is delighted with us. I talked to someone in the first service who was telling me about something that just had happened last week. My husband did something for his father-in-law. It was a sacrifice. And I said to her, "I bet your dad felt incredibly loved when he experienced that. I know that I feel deeply loved when someone sacrifices greatly for me." Like, "Wow, I didn't know I was loved that much. I had no idea." And so what God calls us to do and our love for Him is not to try to do more religious and spiritual things, but He says, "Are you willing to sacrifice the good things in this life, the meaningful things in this life, for the thing that really matters and that's God Himself?" What does love for God look like? If I try to love God and I try to love others, and I've not been overwhelmed by my sin, humbled by my sin, broken by my sin, blown away by God's love for me, then it is just a religious activity and a ritual and an exercise that I don't think matters at all to God. But when I sit with the reality that the God of the universe has given up what He loves the most for me to pay a debt that I could never repay, I then have to say, "God, how do you want me to love you today and in this moment and right now?" You see, the question for us to ask, and I want to be asking you this over and over and over again, I hope God burns it into our hearts and soul, is loving God the most important thing in my life. The only way I can love God is to be reminded of His love for me, is loving God the most important thing in my life. The first thing, the most important thing, do I want a great marriage and hope that it happens? Yes, but there's loving God more important than that. Do I want to have a job that's going to help me pay my bills and take care of my family, yes, but is loving God more important than that? Do I want my kids to grow up and follow Christ with their lives and to be productive members of society, yes, but is loving God more important than that? Do I want to get over this struggle in my life that just is there and I can't seem to battle it, yes, but is loving God more important than that? And I hope the question we do not stop asking ourselves is, is loving God the most important thing in my life? Because Jesus said, of all the commandments, of all the teachings, of all the things that you can think about, the one thing that matters most is, will you love God fully with everything that you have? And the only way to possibly do that is to know and experience and remember and live in this love that He has offered to each one of us. When I think about our church and I say, what do I want CCC to be known for? What do I want people who spend a little bit of time around us discover? I hope they discover that we love God more than anything in this world. And there's a lot of good things in this world we can care about that are meaningful. But it's loving God, the thing that matters the most. Because you know what I believe and you know what I've experienced in my life and we're going to keep talking about this over the next few weeks is that if I experience God's love, and if I regularly come back to a place of receiving that love, and I have a heart that is broken by my sin and humbled by my sin that says, God, how can I love you? There's something God does deep inside of us in this love that He's planted in our soul that comes alive when we know and experience His love that gets poured out to every person we cross paths with. Not just your family members that see you every day, not just your co-workers, not just your friends here at CCC, but the hosts that's at the restaurant, the waiter that serves you. The cashier at Turkey Hill, the male lady, the vendor, the boss, the stranger. There's something that comes out of us that says, God, how do I love this person? Religious people don't do that. They didn't do it to the good Samaritan, remember? When Jesus said, how do you love your neighbor? When he was asked that, he told them that story. There's a total stranger. They said, how can I sacrifice to care for this person? And so as we think about a move, as we think about a change, as we think about a transition here at CCC, bigger than we've ever known, at the core of who we are, my longing and my prayers that we are a people that love God fully with everything that we have and we love others deeply the way that Jesus loved us and that that is what we're known for. That is what we're marked by. That's what people discover when they spend time together with us, whether it's collectively in worship or whether it's personally one-on-one having a conversation as we cross paths that week. Imagine a church that's humbled by the death of Christ on the cross for them, broken over their sinfulness, devoted to showing their love for God by getting to know Him each day as the Father and Creator, living like Jesus and loving every person they encountered every day. I don't know about you, but I think God just might have something in store for a church that did that. Would you join me in pray that he does that in us? Let's pray. God, as we come to you in prayer this morning, we do so with just incredibly grateful hearts for so many things, God. I just feel blessed beyond belief this morning. As we've come into your presence, God, and we've worshiped and celebrated you as we've stood at the foot of the cross and just humbly remembered our sin that sent your Son there. And it was your love that made you do that, God. Your love for us and your longing for a relationship with the people that you created in your image, but ran from you and wanted nothing to do with you, God. In spite of that, you gave up what you love the most, your Son. God, as we walk out of this room, I just pray that somehow you might imprint in our minds these pictures of the cross that we've seen today. God, it's not about what we do as a church. It's all about who we love. God, my prayer is that our love for you would be the most important thing in our lives in your name. Amen.