Do What Jesus Did.

And with that, to celebrate today, we have a very special video to take us down memory lane.

The story of New Culture Church

So for those of you that have been here, you're going to see some familiar faces through the years of New Culture. And if you're new, welcome to the story of New Culture Church, and we're excited to celebrate what God is doing. Our story began in 2018 when a group of friends gathered in a living room, and we started to ask this question. If Jesus was here in Madison, in this city, where would he be? We want to be there. And so we held a few preview services at Gates of Heaven Synagogue in James Madison Park.

We started opening the doors and just kind of said, let's see if anybody comes. And people came and they kept coming. So in October of 2018, after I had seen a friend's band play in Liquid on University, yes, like one of the biggest nightclubs in Madison, we had been praying and through prayer, God gave someone a picture of a red door. And we had looked and knocked on every red door in Madison and could not find a place to meet. And finally, it was at this nightclub that in the alley, we saw a red door. And we knew that this was going to be our first home.

I remember that time we had made the decision. We were meeting in Liquid, the nightclub on University, and Red Havana. Then we knew we couldn't afford it. We felt like the Lord was inviting us into something else. And so I got up one Sunday and I said, we are moving the end of the month. But we had no idea where we were moving to.

I'm standing right here outside the Wilmar Neighborhood Center, a place that we call home, where we were able to gather together for only two Sundays before the COVID-19 cases started to rise in Dane County. You see, we believe that the church is not a place, but a people. And although right now our methods of being the church has changed, our mission has not. Our mission has been and always will be to create the culture of Christ right here in Madison, Wisconsin. And we are still doing that. And then we finally landed here in Bedford.

And it was a late Saturday night, scrolling on Craigslist around 11 p.m. when I saw this place pop up. And I remember the first time we came here, I had felt the Lord give me that confidence and assurance to say, Abbie, I'm going to take you home. Like, there is a home for this church. And I walked up to this store and the number on the door is 219, which is my home area code. And I stepped into this space and I just knew this is our home.

Hey church, we are so excited that we have the keys, that we signed a lease and Bedford is now it. This used to be used for produce distribution, that those train tracks that ran would come here and would bring fruit and produce. They would sort it and they would send it out all over the place. And when he said that, he had no idea. [inaudible] three years.

And so we have made it a mission to say, while people are here, how do we raise up disciples that can go out and create the culture everywhere that they go after that? Harvest is not to be hoarded. It is to be something that flows through our hands so that we can be people that bless nations. And she looked at me having no idea any of this. And she's like, you guys, New Culture, you're the light. You're the light that this city needs.

When it comes to the practical vision that the planner in me wishes I had, I wish that I could sit here and say, guys, here's our new location. Here's where we're going to be in five years. Here's this detailed plan. Like, I don't have that for you today. But I do have this God-given dream and vision to say, what does it look like for us to create the culture of Christ one person, one place at a time? And I also know that it's not about me and it's not about you, but it's about us coming together.

It is going to take a community of believers. And we have felt very strongly as a church, this vision to create the culture of Christ, believing that it's going to start here. But our hope is that wherever you move from this place, that you would continue to know how to be with Jesus, become like Him and do what He did to the point that you then can create the culture everywhere you go from there. So happy birthday, New Culture. Happy birthday. Anyone else thankful that we have better audio now?

As we have grown through the years, and shout out to Josh for going through all the old sermons that we have and finding those clips. That was so beautiful. But we are excited to continue to celebrate today. And one of the things that we have done from year to year is to tell our story, which this year we have a nice video, so you didn't just have to hear me say it again and again and again. But we do that. A part of it is it takes me back to my childhood of every single birthday morning.

My mother would retell the birth story over and over again. I remember the snow falling on a January cold day. And that's what I grew up with. And there's something so special about traditions, something special about going back and remembering. And one of our traditions here at a church has been every year on our birthday that we share about the ways that we've been able to give. And we share about our end of year offering coming up where we are going to pray and we are going to give together to see his kingdom advance right here in Madison and around the world.

Eight partners for the Big Give

And so before I dive into the message today, I wanted to share just some updates from last year's Big Give that we had. And so as of today, we now as a church over the past eight years have collectively given $111,000 to missions right here in the city and around the world. This is no small number, and it's so beautiful to thank all of the people that have been a part of this, and that's to our church planter friends that are in Ireland and in Thailand, that's to the Enso community meals that we do, to Neighborhood House, Good Neighbor Gathering, all of these ways that we have been able to come together and create the culture of Christ and to see his kingdom come. And so we are excited about that, and we wanted to share that for year eight, our eight partners that we are going to partner with for the Big Give. So once again, we are going to be giving to Community of Hope Ministries with John and Suzanne. They are here. Can you guys raise your hands?

Thank you. And so we are blessed that every Sunday you can ask them about the schools and the programs that they have in Africa and their ministry. And we're so excited to partner with them again and give towards that. We're going to be giving again towards our church plant friends in Ireland. And this year we are super excited. In the next few weeks, we'll have an interest form coming out that we are going to be taking a trip in the spring to go visit them.

So if you want to go on a missions trip, we're headed to Ireland in the spring for that. We're going to continue to give to our friends in Thailand. Many of us were in Thailand with me. Raise your hand if you went to Thailand this year. Yes, there's a few of them, you can ask them about Thailand. And next week Nathan is going to be sharing about his time in Thailand at Sunday at the Table, so we're going to give to our friends there.

Our Feed Our Neighbors initiative, this is a big category. I don't know if you know how many people we feed as a church, but we feed a lot of people. So we have Tellurian mental health, behavioral health. So Elena, if you want to raise your hand over there. Elena leads two different teams of case managers that are literally in the city every single day, being the hands and feet of Jesus as they care for people. And so we get to come alongside them and we get to help specifically Monday nights where we can provide meals for people in the community. And we also have things that Kala and Cole have been working so hard on with the meals as well as the pantry. So downstairs, we have a community pantry that on Sundays, if you ever need food or if you know someone that needs food, you can grab it, or you can donate food there.

But that's something that we've partnered with our friends here in the building at Creative Forces Therapy. They work with families in the city that are coming in and it's hard sometimes to get rides to therapy and then to get rides to a pantry. And so they had kind of been talking with us and we decided last year to open up this collaborative pantry right here in the building so that when families come here for their services, they can also get food. But that takes money and that takes time, that takes people. And so we're grateful for Kala and Cole and so many that help out with those food initiatives.

And then we also have all of our Neighborhood House Community Center partnerships, which is end of year stocking stuffer, back to school drives, Good Neighbor Gathering, all of those things. We have Care Portal, which Kala can raise her hand there. It's always looking to grow that team. This is our team that when families in our community need specific items, we have people that are trained to go to the door and to provide for those needs. And so this is a huge portion of our Big Give goes towards that. Project Rescue, which is an anti-trafficking organization.

This year's project that we're going to be partnering with is in Indonesia. And so we'll have more information on that in a couple of weeks. And then we also have a portion going to our Church Vision and Benevolence Fund. So when things above and beyond come up and there's a need that we're able to go and respond. And so we have been so thankful that one of the things that has marked this church through the years is the generosity to say that we are not going to hoard like that one little clip said, but we are going to let things flow freely through our hands. And so I would just invite you now as we celebrate our birthday to be praying about what God might have you give towards this end of year initiative to continue to create the culture of Christ all around the world.

So with that, I'm going to invite you to open up your Bibles and we're going to get in the word today. We're finishing up our series on creating the culture of Christ and we're going to be in Luke 19 today. We did skip quite a bit, so I hope you were reading along in the reading plan. If not, you can still do it or listen to any sermons that you missed on our podcast. But we're going to be reading today in Luke chapter 19, starting in verse 1. It says,

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Luke 19:1-10 (NIV)

And then we're going to read into the next parable that comes right after verse 11. It says,

While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’ “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’ “ ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’ “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’ “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’ “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’ “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ “ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’ “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”

Luke 19:11-27 (NIV)

Just a little light reading today.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word that is alive and active. God, we thank you for this day that we get to come together from different places. God, you know what we came into this space carrying. You know what's on our mind. You know what's on our hearts.

And you see us in that and you desire to speak to us and to transform us through your word. And so God, we just open up our hearts and we say, we want to hear from you, Lord. And so I just want to invite you now, even in your own way, would you just take a moment to pause and just say, Jesus, I just welcome your Spirit to speak. I want to hear from you, God. Because He is speaking through His Word today, and His Word transforms us. It changes us.

It leads us closer to His presence, which is what we long for, even when we don't have words to describe it. And so, Holy Spirit, would you speak through your text today? It's in your name we pray. Amen. Okay.

Eight years old

So today we're eight years old. And if you've been here for other birthdays, you know that I'm always very intentional about the numbers where I'm like, we are eight. What does that mean to be eight years old? Does anyone have vivid memories of being eight years old? I have two memories of being eight years old, not many, but I can get a general sense of what it was like. But typically I get to work with some eight-year-olds, some kids that are around that age and developmentally, when you're eight years old, you're really starting to become your own.

You're starting to have more responsibility. You're starting to play a little bit more with your identity of who am I? And I can't help but get that sense for us as a church that we are developmentally in this space where it's like, okay, we're starting to know this is who we are. This is what we're doing. And getting this sense that it's a season where God is saying, I'm entrusting you now with a little more responsibility. Are you ready for that?

The other thing that I know about eight is what the Bible tells us about the number eight. Oftentimes the number eight is signified for this idea of new life and resurrection because it was on the seventh day that Jesus died and he, or not that he died, but that he was raised back to life. Then they consider that next day, that eighth day to be like, here's this new life. Here's this resurrection. The other significant thing in the Bible that happened on the eighth day was circumcision. This was the other thing that happened on the eighth day.

I won't make you repeat that to your neighbor or anything like that on a Sunday morning. But this was one of the birth rituals that happened on the eighth day. And I think that this is something that is symbolic in this sense of circumcision being this sign of consecration, at the same time that it's this age where it's like, okay, we're coming in, there's more responsibility entrusted. A word that I sense the Lord speaking over us as a church this year is that it's time to go back to these seasons of consecration and preparation, where we continue to lean into living set apart and fully devoted to him. And when we read this scripture today, there's moments of consecration that I want us to point out. As we are ending our series and we're talking about what does it look like to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, so that we can do what he did.

We just read an encounter of something that Jesus did very often, where he met people in the middle of their story, in the middle of their brokenness, and with encounters with him, he completely transforms their lives. And he's bringing his disciples along with him for this journey. So they're witnesses to that. They're seeing him encounter people. They're seeing people being transformed when they're in his presence and their lives change as a result of that. And we see that with Zacchaeus.

It says that Jesus, he entered Jericho. And as he's passing through the city, he sees Zacchaeus. Now there's a bit of the descriptions that are important for us to remind ourselves culturally as we read this. So it says he was a chief tax collector. So it's not just any tax collector, but he's up there in rank.

So people would have known who he was and would have known what he did. Now, being a tax collector at the time, it was more than just a job. Within the Roman system that they were operating, collecting taxes from their own people under the authority of an occupying empire is what they were doing at the time. So they were often seen as these collaborators with the empire, with power, this was a very oppressive type of job. So this was not something that people are like, oh, he's a math guy. How nice.

It's a little bit more than that. He wasn't someone that was seen as just making a few mistakes, but he was seen as a man whose entire profession and all of his wealth and all of his treasures were at odds with his community. And people were not pleased with this. The other thing that I relate to with Zacchaeus is it says he was a short little man. And I've already confessed my sin of manipulation of how I always wear heels to appear at least two inches taller than I really am. But there's some practical things where you're like, why did they have to put that in there in the text?

Like, why are they just calling out that short little man over there? But it's in there. Okay. But I want you to think, because this is easy for me to relate to as someone that now I only like to go to concerts if I can buy a seat and guarantee that we're going to just sit and enjoy. Because if we're standing, I can only pretend to enjoy myself while staring at the back of someone's head for so long. And if I'm lucky, it's their head.

Most of the time it's their lower back and you're just sitting there like, okay, yes, this is only fun for so long. Can I fake it? But it says he's short. He can't see. He's pressed up against people. And so what I see first here is that we're going to read and we're going to celebrate, wow, Jesus saw him, but there was also some intentionality on his place where he was positioning himself again to see.

There was some sort of murmur going around about who Jesus was and Zacchaeus had to make an intentional decision to say, I'm not just going to sit back and be like, oh, well, I can't see him. That's it. I'm just going to leave. But he found a way. He didn't let the things that he could have let stop him, stop him from seeing Jesus. Instead, he found creative ways to get close himself.

This is something for us to notice here because I think we probably all have our stories of, well, I walked into a church once and it wasn't for me, and I tried Jesus, I'm done. Right, we have those stories where maybe it's, I opened up my Bible a few days and it just wasn't really speaking to me. I tried Jesus, I'm done. Can I encourage you today to get creative in the position that you are in, the places that you are, to get creative in the ways that you keep trying to put yourself in a spot to see Jesus, because Jesus was in Zacchaeus' midst. Jesus was there. Jesus was among him and he kept pursuing so that he could see him.

And that's when we see Jesus look up at him and he calls him by name. He says, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house. Jesus knew his name in the same way that he knows our name. Even if you're coming in and you're like, I might feel a little distance, he knows you. He also knows your story.

He likely knew Zacchaeus because he knew the reputation that he had and it was not good. Yet even in that, he called him and he said, I see you and I want to come to your house. Another scandalous moment for Jesus of something where you're like, you probably shouldn't have done that. Other people are going to talk bad about you. And they did talk bad about him for doing this. Jesus knows your name and he sees you as someone that is willing to move towards.

Are we willing to let him in

So much so that when we sing about the songs that we sing and the cross, he left heaven to come down to earth. He took on humanity and defeated death to come close to you. That's how much he longs for that relationship with you. But again, there's an invitation to Zacchaeus when he's saying, hey, I want to come to your house today. And Zacchaeus had to decide, is he willing to let Jesus in? You see, Jesus wants to come close to us, but we have to choose not only to position ourselves to see him from a distance, because the tree, I'm assuming, was high enough for him to see.

But then we have to say, are we willing when Jesus sees us and he calls us by name and he says, I want to come into your home today, are we willing to let him in? If we are going to live set apart and fully devoted consecrated lives, we have to be willing to let Jesus come close. Consecration requires us to come close to Jesus. And I want you to think about this in the way of, right now, I would love to say that my house is always company ready. I'm a solid, give me five minutes type of person and I'm company ready. But you think about the intimacy of this.

It's when he's saying, I'm coming to your house. If someone's like, oh my gosh, it's so good to see you. I'm coming to your house right now. How would you respond in that moment? You have five minutes, you have 50 minutes, you have five days. We've got to do some deep cleaning here in this moment.

There's a level of intimacy that is required if we really want to let Jesus in. Because if we're honest with ourselves, a lot of times the reasons we don't is because of the shame that we have from our stories and our brokenness and the decisions that we've made. And it's almost as if we forget that Jesus already knows. He's not making the decision to come into a clean home. He's making the decision to come close and to come into the home that you have right now. That's who he is.

Because he knows that once you let me in and you really let me see it all, I'm the one that's coming to clean it up anyways. You don't have to do the heavy lifting, but you do have to respond and say, are you willing to be humble enough to let him in? As we think about our relationship with the Lord today, are we willing to let Jesus see us? Are we willing to let him look at us the way he looked at Zacchaeus, because when he looked at him, he knew exactly who he was. He knew his reputation. He knew his history.

And he still called him by name. And the same is said about us today. He knows you and he sees you and he knows what he's coming close to when he says, are you willing to let me in? We have an invitation to be with Jesus and to receive his invitation to let him come close and to receive that grace. And then it's looking to say to become like him, to continue to be consecrated. It requires us learning to release and to let go.

I have in all caps, don't be so dramatic, but let your life die. That's what I have in my notes right here. But I'm going to tone it down a bit. Okay, we'll see. But Zacchaeus, he has this moment where he sees Jesus. And then what he does immediately is he stands up.

It says in verse 8 right here,

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Luke 19:8 (NIV)

It's like this encounter with Jesus, something snaps in him where he's like, that's it. I'm all in. Here you go. He releases. He lets go. So he receives the gifts of Jesus coming close. And he's like, now I'm going to be set apart. I'm going to be fully devoted. And here it is. I'm giving it to you.

And Jesus says,

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Luke 19:9-10 (NIV)

Jesus is repeating something that he repeated over and over again, because he wants us to remember why he came. What did he do? He came to seek and to save the lost. And so then our invitation is to follow him and to seek, to seek and to help people find the one that saved them. Zacchaeus, his entire life was built around wealth and possessions and his position within this system that he held.

So him giving up this wealth, it was more than just, I'm going to give some money. It was him giving up all of his identity, dying to himself in this moment. This money that once represented his security now becomes something that he's like, I'm going to give it freely away to care for other people. The wealth that he's accumulated all of a sudden, he's like, now it's for generosity and restitution. And he doesn't just say, Jesus, I believe that you exist. And that's really cool.

Thank you. Nice to meet you and move on with this life. No, he looks at him and he declares, my life is yours. My possessions are yours. And if there's anything else I need to do, say it. I'm doing it.

I'm in. The son of man came to seek and save the lost. This is what he came to do. And when we say yes to following Jesus, we are saying yes to committing to that mission of saying we're going to find people and we're going to give our lives to those things. The old and the new life. The old life, when we look at it, it says, I'm my own, I'm in control, I'm focused on my safety, my security, what I can acquire, what I can accomplish.

But when we say yes to Jesus, we're saying yes to belonging to a family where now we're saying that my past doesn't get to have the final word over me anymore, that our sin doesn't have the final word over us anymore, but that we're saying yes to surrendering everything that we have to Jesus and letting his grace cover us over and over again. Consecration, it's something that we receive by Jesus coming close. It's something that then should lead us to releasing everything that we have, because when we meet Jesus, we realize that this is what we were actually longing for and nothing else matters. And then it requires us and invites us into fully committing and recommitting over and over again to the commission that he has given us. And we read the parable of the minas. And these parables, these were stories that people would have been familiar with.

So when we talk about parables, they weren't these original, like Jesus is coming up with this thought in the moment, but he was using something that they would have known, that they would have been familiar with, and he's tying it into. And I think it's really special because a lot of times, even when I've preached on this, you kind of stop at Zacchaeus. But then it goes on to Jesus, the same people that saw all that happen, the same people that were there and they're talking, they're like, did he really just eat with that sinner? What is happening to Jesus? He goes, hey, let's explain this in a way that maybe you're going to understand. So Jesus tells them about this man who travels to a distant country to receive a kingdom and then he returns.

But before leaving, he calls his servants and he entrusts all of them with money, instructing them to put it to work until he returns. Do we see the connections already? When Jesus calls his disciples, he sends them out. When he says, I'm going to go ahead of you in Luke chapter 10. Don't worry, I got it. I'm going to return.

And he says, go make disciples, continue the work until I return. So when we think of why this parable, why now, why right after Zacchaeus, we have to remember the context here. Jesus is speaking about the kingdom and the responsibility of his servants while they await the king's return. We have a responsibility as followers of Jesus as we await his return. As we live in this moment of this now and not yet where we're seeing the kingdom of heaven break through and when we talk about creating the culture of Christ, that's what we're talking about is we want to see his kingdom come right here in Madison as it is in heaven. And we know that when he comes again, we're going to see that and feel that and live into that to completion.

But until then, we have work to do as followers of Jesus to continue to proclaim the good news, to set people free, to feed them, to clothe them, to give them the hope of Jesus. What has been entrusted to us, like the same people in the parable, it's not just meant for us, but it is something that we are to go and to put to work, to invest. Because when Jesus comes, he calls his disciples to be with him and then he sends them out, which is a piece of our vision when we have this map on the wall over here of all the places that we have sent people, to say we want to be a sending church. To know some of you, this is going to be home, and I pray all the time, especially some of you college students, that you're going to be called to stay here and to be in this city and to be the light of Jesus for years and years, and some of you are going to go all over the world. So what does it look like that anywhere that we go we know how to make disciples of Jesus and be people that create his culture every single day? Jesus invites us to come close and then Jesus, he commissions us to go and to be his hands and feet and to join us in his mission. In Matthew 28:19, we have the most famous version in the Gospels of the Great Commission where it says,

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)

Luke has his own version of this in his retelling of the gospel. In Luke chapter 24, verse 37, it says the disciples, they saw Jesus after the resurrection, startled and frightened. They thought they saw a ghost. And

He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

Luke 24:38-39 (NIV)

And I want to include this because again, we see even after the resurrection, there's the humanity of the disciples that have questions and doubts, which shows me that, hey, we should not be ashamed of our humanity if we still are following Jesus and have questions and doubts. The disciples who saw him physically before the resurrection, after his death, after his resurrection, they still had questions and needed to keep coming closer. There is no shame in us continuing to need to come closer, even if we've been following Jesus for a long time.

But it says in verse 40,

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.

Luke 24:40-43 (NIV)

Once again, Jesus eating with his people. We love food. In verse 44,

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Luke 24:44-49 (NIV)

referring to the Holy Spirit that's coming.

I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Luke 24:49 (NIV)

He's telling them, I'm going to send you in the same way that my Father has sent me and you're going to be empowered in the same way that my Father empowered me. Together these passages we think of the Great Commission, both in Matthew and Luke, they show us that the church was never simply meant to be a place on Sundays where we gather and we sit and we have some really good pastries and coffee and Swiss Miss hot chocolate, but it's a place that we come together and are empowered to be sent. Because the light that Jesus brought is alive in us. And every time that we interact with people, we get to be the gift of that presence. We get to be that encouraging voice. We get to be the one that says, hey, I see you.

I also see your story, but I know you're not defined by that. And I want to see you. We get to be the ones that say, I'm going to come close. Even if your house is a little messy and there's dishes left in your sink from last night. We get to be the people. Amen.

I'm not the only one. Thank you. We get to be those people. He trusted us. He is entrusting us to be his church, to be his body, to come close, to live these consecrated lives and continue to see his kingdom come. We've been given responsibility.

And so today, as we're celebrating our eighth birthday, whether it's your first Sunday or your 100th Sunday. Welcome to this story of Jesus continuing to surprise us and to show up and to come closer and call us closer and to give us crazy visions to do more. As today, I was thanking Kala and I was like, Kala, I'm going to get emotional because when Kala walked into the church, she was like, we need to do more in the community. And at the time I was like, Kala, we're doing so much. Like, I don't have time, capacity, you know, whatever. She's like, we've got to do more.

And we started doing more and we're doing so much now that I was like, now there's so many things. I'm like, we have this meal and we have Laundry Love and we have Care Portal and it goes on in the pantry. The other day I was in it and I was like, we need more food and all of this. And today she's like, we still have so much more to do. I was like, yes, it's true. There's always more to do.

God continues to bring us together as a community and call us closer to his kingdom and seeing more lives transformed by the good news of the gospel. And when we talk about that good news, we recognize that Jesus, again, he was literally a show-and-tell type of king, where he didn't just shout from heaven, I love you, or send us the Bible on some written stone tablets. He came to be present with us, to take on humanity, to conquer death. He's with us in this. And we get to be with people and help them find that closeness and intimacy with Jesus. So to celebrate our birthday this year, we want everyone in this room today to leave and to pray, Jesus, what does it look like for me to come close to people this week and to do what you did?

What does that look like for us to create his culture? What did Jesus do? He spent a lot of time eating with people, feeding people. He clothed the poor, he healed the sick, he prayed relentlessly for people, he set captives free. He would encounter people, and even whether it's Zacchaeus, the woman at the well, the list can go on and on and on, when he was with people it's like he completely shifted how they saw themselves, how other people saw them, because he was willing to come close. He showed compassion, he made space. He let people into his home and he went to their homes and he brought that new life. Jesus defeated death and he rose again. He already did the hard part.

We just get to tell people about the good news. And we don't just want people to experience our kindness, but we want them to have the opportunity that as we show kindness and love, to encounter the living presence of Jesus. Us. And so I'm going to invite the worship team to come up as we get ready to close. But what we have for us today is on your way out the door. Ashleigh has a basket.

What can I do with just $8

I was praying this week of, Lord, what do you want us to do to mark this year? And I really felt that word of saying, it's time to consecrate again because I'm entrusting you. One of the most famous times that we read about consecration is in Joshua when he's leading the Israelites to the promised land. And there's two separate times. It's in chapter 3 and chapter 5, where he says, consecrate yourself today for tomorrow. I have this mighty move for you.

And then it's like, they keep going, they keep going. And it retells the thing again. It says in chapter 5, consecrate yourself today for tomorrow, I'm going to do an amazing thing among you. We have an invitation to be consecrated, to live set apart and fully devoted, not just to flee from the world and never go near people, but to be set apart and live differently. So people are like, there's something different about those people.

They're holy, they're set apart, they're pure, they're living in repentance. And then to be fully devoted to his work, to his mission, to be people that are saying, yeah, we're going to pray and we're going to give $100,000 as a church. That's nothing. We want to give more to seeing his kingdom come. We want to lean into that. But to say, what does it look like for us to live this way?

And so one of the things that we are going to do is that everybody here today, we have envelopes that have $8 in them. And here's the invitation, is I want you to take an envelope, and I want you to say, what can I do with just $8? Yes, we really have. We sorted out $8. The banker loved us when we came and asked for that.

We have $8. And you might be like, that's so weird. We're supposed to give money, not get money at church. You came on the right Sunday today, okay? Happy birthday.

A couple of years ago, we did caramel apples and we realized only half the people like them or like, that's lame. So $8, every single person, I want you to take $8 today. And I want you to say, how can I do what Jesus did with this? And then my next invitation is this, is to also pray, how can I multiply this? Should you double it in your generosity? 80 cents, $2.

What does that look like? We're not tracking this. You're not going to report what I did with this. Maybe it's praying and maybe there's someone in this room that God's going to say, go give this $8 to. But what would it look like if all of us this week just went out with these small acts, these small things that in the moment, it feels like nothing. But how many of you have been there where someone just buys your coffee and it feels like such a simple thing, but it makes your day.

And it usually hits in that moment you need it most. Now I know $8 is probably only one coffee. That's not even a meal nowadays. So the next thing is I want you to engage in community with this $8. If you're in a form group, ask your form partner, hey, what can we do with $16?

If you're in a community group, show up on Tuesdays and pray. And is there something you want to do together? Those of you that have kids, you don't have to fully give the $8 to your kids, but take the $8 and as a family say, Lord, what do you want us to do with this? Because we want to mark this as saying God is trusting us to see his kingdom come. But we don't want to be like in the parable, the one that said we just took it and we hid it and we didn't invest it and we didn't steward it and we didn't put that money to work. But we want to be people that we don't just maintain, but we multiply.

Just like Jesus, when he came and he gathered those disciples and then he sent them off two by two, little by little. And he said, go now, do what I did. He is entrusting us to see his kingdom come. He's giving us the responsibility. So take that envelope today, pray. Maybe it's giving it to one person, buying them coffee, buying them lunch and paying the difference, whatever that looks like.

But we're just believing that God has all these little divine appointments this week for people that aren't in this room that we're going to be praying for and saying, hey, we want you to know God sees you. He sees you. We might not know your story. Maybe you're not worthy of this coffee today based on your attitude. We don't know, but we see you and we want to bless you and we want to see God's kingdom come. So as we head into this year, what consecration is our response to Jesus?

When Zacchaeus encountered him, he's like, that's it, I'm all in, tell me what to do. He was set apart and fully devoted. So what do we do? We receive Jesus, we receive his grace, his invitation to be with him. We lean into just being released and saying everything we have is yours. Thank you, Jesus, for trusting us with everything that comes in.

And then we recommit over and over and over again. We continue to ask, Lord, what have you placed in my hands? And how do you want me to use it to see your kingdom come? So this $8, it might feel like nothing. It might still feel a little funny, but I want you to pray and just see what God can do with little as we all go out to share his light. So I'm going to invite you to stand today.

He sees you

And we're just going to end in a time of worship. And for some of you today, maybe it is just receiving that grace again. Maybe you're in a place like Zacchaeus where it's like, if I'm honest, there's some shame and some walls built up around the idea of letting Jesus come really close. And I just want you to know today that he sees you. He sees you and he's not coming close based on what you've done or you haven't done, but he's coming close because you are his child made in his image to bear his image. And you are his beloved and he loves you.

And you don't have to worry then about, but once he comes in, there's so much work to do. Yes, we release and we surrender, but he cleans us and he purifies us and he heals us and he restores us and he draws us closer. But we have to respond and let him in. And so as we worship today, if that's you, I just want to invite you again in your own ways, just declare Jesus as Lord and say, I'm receiving your grace. I want to be with you. And then for some of us today, maybe it's that release again.

And just releasing back to the Lord what's his and saying, okay, here it is. I surrender. If there's things that I've been holding onto that are in turn holding me farther from you, God, I just release it and I surrender again. And in that, we're going to become more like him. The more that we just let him in. And then finally, to just recommit to being consecrated people, set apart and fully devoted, trusting him and trusting that he trusts us.

What a gift that he trusts us. When he gives that great commission, it's because he trusts us to be the ones that carry on the good news. And so let's pray today as we just welcome the Spirit to speak to us and transform us through this word. So God, we thank you for your presence. We thank you for your son, Jesus. We thank you for the work that he did on the cross.

We thank you that he conquered death, that it is finished. We thank you that he came back to life and the power of the resurrection makes way for us to spend eternity with you. And so God, I just pray that even as we just worship today, that all shame in this room would be gone. But that we would just receive your grace and your mercy knowing that there's nothing that we could do to earn it. So God, would we just receive that freely? And God, would we just release anything that we are holding onto that's holding us back from you?

Would we trust you again in this place as you trust us to be your hands and feet, to make disciples, to see your kingdom come? And God, would you help us in this place to just recommit to living consecrated for you, to do what you did, to seek people, to see them where they're at, to be aware of your presence and to continue to let you transform us as we continue to create your culture, Jesus. So Holy Spirit, as we sing, would your name just be lifted high and would your Spirit continue to speak to us and show us what it looks like to live more like you every single day. We welcome you, Holy Spirit. So God, we thank you today that we can trust you. And we thank you for the ways that you trust us, the ways that you desire to keep coming close to us, the ways that you have commissioned us to continue to be people that speak life and draw people closer to you.

And so God, I just pray for every single person here today. Would you help us to continue to receive your grace every single day over and over? God, would you continue to help us to become more like you and the way that we just release and we surrender the things that maybe bring us stability or comfort, the things that we've been trying to control most that have become idols in our life, we just release it to you, Jesus. And we just recommit in this moment to say we want to be people that are set apart and fully devoted. And so God, I pray that even now, would you help us when we leave this place holding these envelopes of these $8, God, would you show us people that feel overlooked this week, people that are in need of your love, God, people that maybe are hungry, that we don't even know, both physically and spiritually. God, would you begin to put people on our hearts that we can go and we can bring life to as we not only tell them about the good news of Jesus, but we show them in the ways that we are letting your kingdom flow through us.

And so, Jesus, we just say thank you. You are so good. You are so faithful. So in your own ways right now, would you just say thank you, Jesus, for the ways that you have set me free, for the ways that you have healed me, for the ways that you continue to come close to me in the middle of my messiness, my brokenness. And so God, we just say thank you. And in your precious name we pray.

Amen.