Coming to church on time matters

Intro

My name is Travis Aicklen, and we're concluding our "Summer of Wisdom" series on Proverbs next week. Today, I'm delivering our annual "State of the Union" address. This is not a typical sermon, but an important one as we set the course for the new year. I want to talk about three things: the realities of being a sending church, our Sunday rhythms, and our readiness and responsiveness as a community.

Scripture References

John 2:1-11, John 20:21, Acts 1:8

Key Points

• Realities of a Sending Church:
  • We were planted in 2005 with a vision to be a constellation of churches. We know church planting is a highly effective way to reach the unchurched; research shows 40% of church plant attendees were unchurched.
  • This vision is a mix of gratitude for what God has done and a desire to heal from past pain.
  • Planting churches is difficult. It means sending our best people and resources, but it's a huge win for the kingdom. We celebrate the 53 people and $100,000/year that have moved to Radiant Exeter. This requires new pillars to emerge, as the burden shifts.
  • God is a sending God. He sent the Son, who sent the Spirit, who now sends us (John 20:21). The church's nature is to be generous and to give, just as our God is generous and gave dearly.
• Rhythms of Our Year:
  • Bible Teaching: This fall, we'll begin a study of the book of Exodus. It’s foundational to understanding the rest of the Bible, including Jesus's ministry and our own story of redemption.
  • Worship: Kids (K-6th grade) will continue to join us for worship for the first few songs. This models worship and gives them a sense of belonging.
  • Service Length: Our service will be 90 minutes. We're shortening announcements to allow for more time to respond in worship and at the communion table.
• Readiness and Responsiveness:
  • The church is not an audience, but an orchestra. Your presence and participation are essential.
  • We're asking for consistency. The average churchgoer misses 75% of what happens. Make attending the rule, not the exception.
  • We're asking for punctuality. Being on time communicates that what we do here matters. It honors the people who serve and the Lord we've come to worship.
  • The servants who helped Jesus turn water into wine were the only ones who saw the miracle; the guests only got the wine. Those who serve get a special glimpse into what Jesus is doing.
  • God wants us to overcome our fear and risk of commitment and participate in His work.

Conclusion

When we wonder why we do this—sending our friends and money, taking on new burdens—we must remember our God is a sending God. He sends us, as He was sent by the Father. He gives generously, and so do we.

Calls to Action

• Serve: Consider joining a ministry team and becoming part of the "orchestra."
• Commit: If you're connected, commit to consistent attendance and punctuality.
• Communion: The table is open for all who believe Jesus died for their sins. Come and remember what He has done, and how He is raising up an army from dry bones in our valley.

Transcript

My name's Travis Aicklen, I'm one of the pastors here. And we've been going through a summer series on the book of Proverbs. So we've been calling it a summer of wisdom. So we've been wanting not just to get more knowledge, but to get more wisdom. And so we've been teaching through the Proverbs. And I'm interrupting kind of your regularly scheduled programming to bring to you some important announcements and information concerning the next year. So next week will be our last week actually in the book of Proverbs. On Labor Day, we're gonna get to talk about work, what the Proverbs have to say about work. And actually we're recording a podcast this week to actually talk about AI. So Eric Riley, who is leading us in worship, will be leading us in a conversation about what we're supposed to do as Christians when our technology outpaces our wisdom.(...) What should our response be when we're getting more and more knowledge, but not necessarily wiser? And so we'll make that available to you guys. I'm sure you're interested in that. All of us are kind of wondering what to do with what's coming our way. So we're gonna try to help lead a conversation about how we relate to technology as Christians. 

 (...) 

 So this week is sort of an annual State of the Union address. 

 (...) 

 So our year as a church pretty closely follows the school year. And so this is the start of our year way more than January 1st is, because of the way we follow the school year. And so every August in our church, we come out of a lazy, scattered summer. 

 (...) 

 And there's kind of this, hey guys, this is where we're headed. 

 (...) 

 We put the boat in the water and we kind of say, this is the direction. Would you join us this next year? And so this sermon is that sermon, just to warn you guys. If you're new here, I just wanna say this is not necessarily normal, but I do think it's actually gonna be helpful. 

 (...) 

 So it'd be good or I would wanna know if I was new somewhere, what are these people doing?(...) If I'm gonna join in here, what's gonna happen here? And so that's what this sermon is this morning. Is that all right? 

 (...) 

 All right, I think sometimes we can relate to this like this is like glorified announcements. What happened to church? They made announcements for like 40 minutes. 

 (...) 

 So I'm hoping it doesn't feel like that. But firstly, I wanna talk this morning about the realities of being ascending church. We are a church that desires to plant churches ascending center in the center of our city. And there's some realities to that that I want to address. The second thing is I wanna talk about our rhythm for our Sundays together. 

 (...) 

 Rhythm is one of those words that no matter how many times I say it or spell it, I don't know if I'm spelling it correctly. And as I looked at it on the screen, I thought, I hope I spelled that correctly. And then thirdly, I wanna talk about readiness and responsiveness 

 (...) 

 in our gatherings as we go forward. So I think in setting a course and saying this is the plan, what I'm calling for in our body is a sort of readiness and a responsiveness, like this is where we're going. Before we do this, I wanna pray, is that all right? 

 (...) 

 Jesus, would you help this be more than glorified announcements? 

 (...) 

 Would you come with your spirit and breathe on what we're doing? 

 (...) 

 We don't just want a plan, we want your presence. 

 (...) 

 We wanna walk with you, we wanna go with you. So every person individually and our body corporately, we wanna be responding to your voice in our lives. So would you speak as I share?(...) Amen. 

 (...) 

 So firstly, the realities of being a sending church. So we have lived with a desire to be a constellation of churches since we planted a church in 2005. So this church was planted in 2005 and from day one, we were like, let's exist as a constellation of churches in the Central Valley. And by God's grace, that's been happening. We've seen God do some really cool stuff. This desire to be a constellation of churches, some of it came from what we had experienced. We thought, this is cool, like God did something good. We want this for the communities that surround Visalia. Some of our vision came from our pain. 

 (...) 

 This was bad and should have been avoided. It would be really cool if we could help people avoid this. How many of you have vision for your life? You have vision to be a father because you had a good father. 

 (...) 

 You experienced something good and you're like, man, I wanna make sure other people get this.(...) How many of you have vision to be a father because you did not have a father? 

 (...) 

 And you experienced tremendous pain and it motivated you to say, I'd like to see something different happen for my kids. 

 (...) 

 So it's a bit of both for us. We have this vision because we experienced something really cool and we were also experienced tremendous pain that we felt like could have been avoided by some mentors in some direction. 

 (...) 

 So we know church planting to be a super effective way to reach people.(...) In fact, God's plan A for reaching people is to plant local churches.(...) So we know that you're four times more likely to come to Christ in a church that's under ten years old, four times more likely. 

 (...) 

 A private foundation called the Pine Top commissioned an independent report. And if you like this kind of stuff, man, this one's really cool. They called it the great opportunity and they commissioned a project to really try to determine or project the state of the church in 2050. 

 (...) 

 And so based on their findings, they're saying that the next 30 years will represent the largest missions opportunity in the history of America. 

 (...) 

 And after looking at current retention and evangelism rates, 42 million young people could leave the church by 2050. 

 (...) 

 They also state in the report that we could be looking at the greatest revival in American history, and that's the one we're gonna go with. But they're calling the church to do five things.(...) And it's funny, this is an independent report. And they actually said and state that they were pretty surprised by their findings. They're calling the church to do five things based on their research. The first is start more churches. 

 (...) 

 Triple the rate of church planting in America. The second, mission for youth. We must innovate and transform the way we disciple the next generation.(...) Three is reaching new audience, leverage new media and AI.(...) No, to engage online with the gospel. 

 (...) 

 Number four, they're calling to care for the poor. And in doing so, point to Jesus's radical love. And number five, building long term witness. So we must persist over time and engage the pertinent conversations of our day. So bottom line, the next 30 years represent the largest opportunity in the history of America for missions.(...) This is what they say in the report. Churches are the primary way that the unaffiliated are introduced to Christ. 

 (...) 

 Church planting today is arguably the single most effective evangelistic approach possible. For example, among church plants in America, recent research estimates that over 40% of each congregation on average is comprised of the unchurched or recently unchurched. Close to half of the congregation made up by people who were one to Christ through a church plant.(...) Here's the good news. 4,000 Protestant churches are being planted in America each year.(...) It's really exciting. Across denominations, across backgrounds, 4,000 being planted. You ready for the bad news?(...) 3,700 churches are closing each year. So 300 churches are being planted for the positive. But that's not nearly enough to keep up just with population growth, let alone to reach the unchurched like in our cities. 

 (...) 

 In an interview published by the Unstuck Group, this guy Dave Ferguson, who leads a ministry called Exponential, he explains what's going on in the church by talking about five different levels of church. So level one is churches in decline. Level two is plateaued churches.(...) Combined level one and two account for 80% of churches.(...) 80% of churches are in decline or plateaued. Level three, which is 16% of the churches, are growing. Level four is a church that's reproducing. There's 4%(...) of churches are planting other churches. And level five is a movement multiplying church. And there's very few in the US. Fewer than 1% of churches are actually multiplying. What multiplying means is that your kids had kids. 

 (...) 

 So level five is not just that we have planted a church, but that we have planted a church, that planted a church, that planted a church. This is what we're going for. 

 (...) 

 This is what we're after. And I think we're really close. We planted Tulare. They've come into a place of strength. And now the elders in Tulare are praying in Porterville and praying in Hanford, because they have people there and they want to reach those communities.(...) And so by God's grace, with this group of people, I want to become a level five. Let's leave the levels out of it. Sounds kind of arrogant, right? I'm hoping to get level five. What that means is you buy this much Tupperware. (Laughter) 

 (...) 

 It feels like a scheme, huh? 

 (...) 

 (Laughter) 

 (...) 

 I used to think that pastors didn't plant churches because they were insecure, just wanted to build their little kingdom, just wanted to grow their big sanctuary. 

 (...) 

 I'm impersonating 20-year-old Trav right now. You just want to build your little kingdom, the man.(...) I want to plant a church and stick it to the man. And then you become the man, and you're like, dang it. This is much harder than I thought. 

 (...) 

 (Laughter) So we've actually found out the hard way that planting churches and being ascending church is really difficult.(...) It's really tough. It's not just that pastors don't want to do it. It's not just that they're interested in building their own little thing. It's much harder than that. It's really hard to send your best over and over and over again.(...) Have you experienced that in your business? Right about the time you get someone raised up, you know, they're like, I'm going to start my own electrical business. And you're like, sweet. I'm happy for you. 

 (...) 

 (Laughter) 

 (...) 

 Have you ever experienced that on your school? Someone who's standing out as an administrator is going to become a principal in the next place? And you're like, I'm so happy for you. And for that school. 

 (...) 

 I know that every one of us is facing this. And it's just kind of difficult. The way I've described it to people, and I think some of us have felt this here, is that these pillars, these load-bearing walls get established in our church. And then that load-bearing wall moves. 

 (...) 

 And the weight of this roof comes down on the few people that are left holding it up. And by God's grace, new pillars emerge. New load-bearing walls are erected. But I know that you know what this feels like when someone leaves your business or leaves your school. And the weight of what they were carrying and shouldering lands on you. This is the reality of being a sending church. 

 (...) 

 Now, many of you know, because we've been announcing it all summer, that Noel and Megan Peepgrass who planted Exeter Valley are actually(...) not going to lead that church anymore and are actually going to be right here sitting in church with us. Ralph and Lucy Garcia, who are deacons in our church, went to Exeter to serve that church. And that church is becoming radiant Exeter.(...) And so we asked those who were in our church but lived in Exeter and carry our DNA to consider worshiping where they lived. And by God's grace, like super pumped, like we win,(...) 53 people decided they were going to leave here and worship in the city where they live, which is a huge win, like a really huge win. 

 (...) 

 Exeter is celebrating, Exeter Valley is celebrating its fourth birthday next Sunday.(...) And they're going to be rebranding, renaming the church to radiant Exeter. It's going to be a beautiful event.(...) And really it's not necessarily about how many people went to Exeter, it's really about who. 

 (...) 

 It's about who win. 

 (...) 

 From our kids team, about six people who serve couple times a month went to Exeter. From our packs, we had about six people who lead packs go to Exeter. One of the couples, as I said, served as deacons. One of the couples were on track to become an elder here. They'd gone through our elder training.(...) Financially, about $8,000 a month moved to Exeter. 

 (...) 

 So about $100,000 a year is now in Exeter, which again, we should be applauding.(...) Like people who are worshiping or living in Exeter are now worshiping and witnessing in Exeter and investing in what God's doing in Exeter. This is a huge win. I was so pumped until I started to do the math on this. 

 (...) 

 (Audience Laughing) Because we, I mean we have like a one point, again, this is like announcement Sunday. I hope that you're not, you're like here for the, has anyone ever been at a friend's house? And like the friend and the parent got in an argument and you were like, I shouldn't be here. (Audience Laughing) 

 (...) 

 And the friend's like persisting, no stay, you know? And you're like, I think I'm gonna go. Like, you guys need to work this out, you know? And it's the worst thing in the world where the parents like, I'll take Johnny home, you know? So hopefully you're not here for the first time going, I don't feel like I should be here. So I should probably just go. But we have a one point four million dollar budget.(...) So when I found out that $100,000 was going to Exeter, I was like, oh, it's fine. We'll just trim in many of the areas and it'll be fine. There's gonna be plenty of ways to make this up. 

 (...) 

 And here's what I discovered as I talked to our financial team and talked to JR. 

 (...) 

 Our church budget is a lot like your budget. 

 (...) 

 Spoken for. 

 (...) 

 (Audience Laughing) Do you know what I mean? 

 (...) 

 Like we have fixed expenses and those fixed expenses don't move. We have fixed costs and they don't move. Many of them don't move depending on who's here. And then we have a few things just like you do. We've got some variable costs where we can make some changes. But in many of our largest categories, we can't necessarily make changes. So here's what I found out when talking to Gunner and JR. This is our full budget, $1.4 million. 

 (...) 

 And then about half of it goes to personnel, which is pretty common amongst churches. 

 (...) 

 Then we've got $223,000 around going to mortgage payments. I think that makes up, wait, slow down. This is hard for me and you're making it harder. 

 (...) 

 (Audience Laughing) 

 (...) 

 Let's pray again. (Audience Laughing) Okay, so our mortgage payments, those don't go anywhere. Doesn't matter who's here or who's not here. That's $223,000 over the course of the year. And then we've got our administration costs, which are $152,000. And we can cut and we have cut in this area. We've found some excess. We've reduced the cost of our administration by close to $100,000 in this last year, which is exciting. Then we give.(...) So as a church, we tithe and we sow into ministries that are going on beyond us because we wanna do what we're asking you to do.(...) Then we are hoping to save and have a contingency plan, which is about $42,000 we're hoping to save. The remaining budget is $133,000. So when someone says, well, $100,000 is leaving, 

 (...) 

 I'm like, well, I guess personnel can change and it has. We used to give 68% of our budget to personnel and now we're down below 50%.(...) Obviously we can trim some more in administration.(...) We can choose not to save. We can reduce our giving beyond our four walls or we can ask you guys to make up the difference.(...) And I was like, yeah, I just wanna ask. I just wanted to show you guys, not have just a few people bear the burden of this, but to share it. I learned a really valuable lesson this year at Celebration California.(...) We were up at Celebration, which takes place at Hume Lake. It's a camp where all our churches come together. And I had communicated to the whole group that we were gonna do it every other year. Once we got to camp, all I heard was protest. Why have you done this to us? Why is this going every other year? And I was trying subtly, as like parents do, to kind of communicate that there's a cost to this. There's a cost to this for our staff and there's a cost to this financially.(...) So over the course of the weekend, I started sensing like this is not right to take this event and make it every other year. I woke up on Sunday morning and I felt like the Lord told me, "If you will share that the cost of this event is $30,000, "some one, one person will write the check this morning." 

 (...) 

 And I wrestled with that deeply because I don't wanna share financial stuff in a manipulative way. 

 (...) 

 I don't wanna stand up here and do my best televangelist impersonation. You know, in strong arm you, strong arm you into doing or giving something you don't wanna do or give, right? 

 (...) 

 So I get up there and I'm just honest with people and I decide not to just bear it, but to share it. And I'm like, "Hey, this event costs $30,000 to pull off." We're actually pretty excited about that because the first year was $80,000 to pull off. So it's $30,000 to pull this off. And this is what the Lord told me, that if I were to share this need with the body, someone would write that check this morning. I'm not pushing you, I'm not manipulating you, I'm not doing any of that stuff. I'm just choosing to share this with you. And sure enough, someone wrote a $30,000 check and celebration lives. 

 (...) 

 (Audience Applauding) 

 (...) 

 And this is the beauty of what we're getting to see. This is how this is working and this is how the gospel goes forward.(...) Like for instance, the packs that I mentioned. I know Matt Flummer who leads a pack is now leading an Exeter. And Kevin Thompson who leads a pack is now leading an Exeter. And Ralph Garcia who led a pack is now leading an Exeter. But now what we're seeing is Scott Starbuck and Ishmael, and Mike Salazar step up and lead those packs. 

 (...) 

 Do they feel equipped or like ready? Probably not.(...) Do they miss their friends who are worshiping an Exeter? Yeah, probably. 

 (...) 

 But this is how the kingdom continues to go forward. Sean Baldwin shares with me, I feel like I'm supposed to go to Exeter. He's a worship leader here, really skilled guy. 

 (...) 

 He says, I feel like I'm supposed to go to Exeter and lay a foundation for worship. And I'm like, yeah, that sounds awesome.(...) (Audience Laughing) I'm so pumped for you.(...) And then I walk away from the conversation like, what am I gonna do?(...) The way to the roof is landing on us. 

 (...) 

 And then I end up in a conversation, I don't even know Rhys Sapien. And I end up in a conversation with him and he's leading us. And then I end up in another conversation with this kid named Tommy who's coming to our gap year and a worship leader. And it's like, yeah, is Rhys Sean Baldwin? No, but yes. Because Sean Baldwin was 22 at one point in his life. And this is the beauty of what we get to do as a church. 

 (...) 

 And so there are times where I'm like, why do we do this again? 

 (...) 

 Every time I go to the gym, I put weight on my own chest. And I think, why did I do this to myself? Like, you're the idiot. Like, you put this on you. 

 (...) 

 Why do we do this again? Why are we sending our friends away?(...) Why are we sending our money away? Why are we making this harder for us? Why are we doing this again? 

 (...) 

 And then I begin to think.(...) And beyond thinking about myself and my own needs, I start to think about Exeter. And I start to get stirred.(...) And I start to think about the baptisms that are gonna take place. 

 (...) 

 And that those that are far from God are gonna find him. And I start thinking about the nature of our God and this makes perfect sense. The nature of our God. Our God is ascending God. 

 (...) 

 He didn't pack with the, the father, son and spirit broke up their pack. 

 (...) 

 The father sent the son. And then the son sent the spirit. And then the spirit reveals the son. And the son came so that we get our father facts straight. He reveals the father. And on it goes.(...) This is who we are and this is what we get to do. Our God is generous for God so loved our world that he gave. 

 (...) 

 He gave and it cost him dearly. It didn't cost him nothing. 

 (...) 

 And now the nature of our God is the nature of his church. It's the nature of his people. At the end of the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "As I now you." 

 (...) 

 As the father sent me, I'm sending you. 

 (...) 

 And I'm asking you to go. 

 (...) 

 And then what did this mean for these dudes 

 (...) 

 who had Jesus's physical presence? 

 (...) 

 I mean, that's rough, right? 

 (...) 

 It's one thing to lose your pack leader to exit her.(...) It's another thing to be like nightly, I sit with Jesus around a fire.(...) And now Jesus is like, I'm going and you can't go with me.(...) And I'm leaving Peter in charge. Peter, are you kidding me? What a downgrade. 

 (...) 

 Jesus at pack is like, I'm working on Matthew seven right now. I just wanna, I just wanna bring some things before you guys see what you think, you know? 

 (...) 

 And like you're hearing scripture come from his mouth and now you've got Peter.(...) And I'm sure that's what the church felt when they lost Peter. 

 (...) 

 Peter was leading their church and he's like, "Hey guys, sorry, I gotta get martyred right now.(...) I'm leaving Stan in charge." Stan, we had Peter. We had the guy who sat around the fire with Jesus and heard the word firsthand. 

 (...) 

 That's what we had. Now we've got Stan. 

 (...) 

 Look at this, I thought this was so cool. This is where the disciples started. Look at this pack. 

 (...) 

 This is where they died. 

 (...) 

 Can we do it again?(...) That's so good.(...) Here's their pack. 

 (...) 

 Here's where they died. 

 (...) 

 "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 

 (...) 

 When I wonder why we're doing what we're doing, I just remember this is what we've been doing(...) since the church's inception. 

 (...) 

 This is the play and we have one decision whether to run it or not. 

 (...) 

 Well,(...) here's the other thing I wanted to say. This plant and Exeter came on pretty quick. We set up our budget in May, having no idea how many people would go and what that would represent for us as a church.(...) But we'd love for you to jump in. 

 (...) 

 Here's the other part, and I hate to share this with you, but I think we're gonna do this over and over again. 

 (...) 

 So don't get close to anybody from Dinuba, because I intend,(...) I'm gonna send them as soon as I can. 

 (...) 

 The meet and greet, be like, "What city are you from?" 

 (...) 

 And if they say Hanford, be like, "You're not in my pack." 

 (...) 

 Travis has got a plan to destroy us. (Audience Laughing) 

 (...) 

 We're praying in Porterville, we pray in Hanford, we're praying in Dinuba, we think about Kingsburg, Reedley, we wanna see our valley saturated.(...) During a time in South Africa, I felt like God spoke to me about our valley. 

 (...) 

 Obviously, when you leave home, you get a little bit of perspective on home. I found myself in Africa praying for the valley, and I felt like the Lord said, "I wanna show you how the valley works."(...) And I was like, "All right, Lord." And he said, "It's simple, what falls from heaven 

 (...) 

 "floods the valley floor and it feeds the nations." 

 (...) 

 And that's how I want your church to work. I want what falls from heaven to flood the valley floor and feed the nations. 

 (...) 

 And I said, "That sounds pretty simple." And then I tried to do it, and it's more complex than that. But I wanna saturate our valley.(...) Do you know the difference that one Bible-believing, Spirit-filled, elder-led 

 (...) 

 church on mission could make in Tipton? 

 (...) 

 Do you know what difference?(...) Look at the difference that this church has made in our community.(...) Look at the difference to the church. One Bible-believing, Spirit-filled, elder-led, church on mission, do you know what kind of difference they can make in Porterville? Yeah, me neither, let's go find out. 

 (...) 

 Like, let's do it. 

 (...) 

 One of the things I've been noticing is that, you know, the church,(...) the group that we're connected to is always gonna be bigger than the committed core.(...) Does that make sense? And this is true in any business, any school, anything that's being led. The committed core is always smaller than the group that you're connected to. But in order to connect, that committed core needs to be pretty big. And there have been times and seasons in the life of this church where it feels like the committed core is much smaller than the group of people that we're connecting to. 

 (...) 

 And so what we're asking you to do, is if you're here and you're like, yeah, I'm totally connected to this church, we're asking you to commit. 

 (...) 

 And I get it, there's a ton of risk in this.(...) I totally get it. 

 (...) 

 I know that for you, for many of us, we grew up and the generation before us was very committed but not necessarily connected.(...) Does that make sense? Like they were super committed to marriage. They wouldn't get a divorce, but they slept in separate rooms. 

 (...) 

 So you're kind of like, oh, that ain't right. I think you should probably be more connected than that. How many of you had a dad who hated his job, but he worked that job till the day he died? He was committed. 

 (...) 

 But he wasn't necessarily connected to the work he was doing. Well, I feel like we jumped out and we responded. 

 (...) 

 And now we're like, hey, if I'm not connected to my spouse, I'm not gonna be committed. 

 (...) 

 And if I'm not connected from my heart with the work that I'm doing, 

 (...) 

 I'm not gonna commit to it. And we've got a whole separate set of issues as a result. So I understand I'm asking you to risk 

 (...) 

 in committing,(...) but there's also tremendous reward in commitment. 

 (...) 

 There's actually a blessing that comes. 

 (...) 

 John two is a famous story of Jesus. You ever heard about him turning water into wine? 

 (...) 

 Here's the story. It says on the third day, a wedding took place at Canine Galilee. Jesus' mother was there. 

 (...) 

 And Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, they've got no more wine. 

 (...) 

 "Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My hour has not yet come." And then his mother says to the servants, hey, shh, do whatever he tells you.(...) Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons of wine. And Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim. And then he told them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. And they did so. And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, everyone brings out choice wine first. And then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best until now. 

 (...) 

 What I love about this very familiar story is that the reason we have this story is not because any of the guests knew what was going on. 

 (...) 

 They got good wine. 

 (...) 

 The servants got to see the first miracle of Jesus.(...) Only the servants knew what happened. Everybody else in attendance is going like, wow, this wine's amazing. 

 (...) 

 This is awesome.(...) And the servants are taken with something way beyond wine. 

 (...) 

 We just watched a man turn water into wine. We saw Jesus getting an argument with his mom.(...) We saw it. And now we have this story in our scriptures, not because anybody in attendance was like, hey, you should have seen what happened. No, those who serve get to see what happens. Those who serve get a special glimpse into what Jesus is doing. Those who make sacrifices and serve tables(...) get a special look at how Jesus rolls and capture and catch his heart. 

 (...) 

 So these are the realities of ascending church. Number two,(...) rhythm for the year. 

 (...) 

 So as Danny mentioned, we're gonna teach through the book of Exodus. We're gonna teach through the book of Exodus(...) because we don't think you can understand your Bible without understanding this book of the Bible. Because the Exodus story is everywhere in your Bible and is potentially the arch of your entire Bible, the story arch of your entire Bible. You cannot understand Jesus' ministry without understanding the backdrop of Exodus.(...) Why was Jesus born during the reign of a tyrannical king and a genocide against Jewish boys? 

 (...) 

 Exodus. 

 (...) 

 Here, I'm gonna let you do this with me. You turn to the person and whisper in the creepiest way, Exodus, in their ear. 

 (...) 

 Why does it matter that Jesus fled to Egypt for the first year of his life? Go ahead, Exodus. 

 (...) 

 Why was Jesus baptized in the Jordan River? Why was he baptized there? Go ahead, Exodus. 

 (...) 

 Why did his ministry start with 40 days of testing and temptation in the wilderness? He didn't start with preaching, he started with testing. Go ahead, Exodus. 

 (...) 

 When Jesus started teaching, why did he go up on a mountain to teach? 

 (...) 

 Exodus. 

 (...) 

 Why did Jesus' face shine in the presence of God as he climbed the Mount of Transfiguration? Go ahead,(...) Exodus. 

 (...) 

 Why did Jesus insist on dying the week of the Passover feast in Jerusalem? 

 (...) 

 Exodus. 

 (...) 

 You cannot understand Jesus without understanding Exodus. 

 (...) 

 And there's been a huge attempt to unhitch the Old Testament from the new, and we want to rehitch the Old Testament to the new, because the New Testament is in technicolor when you connect it to the Old Testament. 

 (...) 

 The Exodus story is not just a story in the Bible, it's the story, and it's our story. We're those who've been redeemed and rescued. We're the ones being led through the wilderness of this life, and we're the ones with a common hope for a promised land together. This is not a story, this is the story. So we're really excited to teach it together. We'll go through the fall, we'll take a break in December to do what we do in December. We'll take a break in January to talk about our new year and the promise of transformation in the Gospel. We'll take it back up in February, March, April, 

 (...) 

 and it'll take us till summer, the book of Exodus. 

 (...) 

 Number two, with the rhythms of our worship,(...) K through six is gonna continue to be in with us for worship.(...) All right. 

 (...) 

 If you're a parent who wants to boo, you can't do that right now. 

 (...) 

 (Audience Laughing) 

 (...) 

 That would be awful.(...) You're like, what? No,(...) no! 

 (...) 

 So for this summer,(...) 456 always joins us. We had the K through third graders join us for worship for the first three songs for the summer.(...) And most people were very, very excited about that. And we feel like it's right for a number of reasons. The first being modeling. 

 (...) 

 The problem is like kids don't do what you say. 

 (...) 

 They do what you do. 

 (...) 

 And so we want to model for them. The other is a sense of belonging, that they would know those are our pastors, 

 (...) 

 that they would have a sense that they're a part of this community.(...) So K through third grade is gonna join us in here for worship and be excused, just like they've been all summer long. And there's some practical pieces to that, but I just want you to be mindful of that. I also want you to be mindful of others, meaning could your kids sit with you and not like a pack of wild dogs somewhere(...) in the congregation?(...) Is that all right? 

 (...) 

 Not your kid, I get it, but. 

 (...) 

 And then the other thing is like, you're really good at tuning out your kid. Like you're really good at just going beyond the noise. Your neighbor might not. 

 (...) 

 And so if your kid is sinking someone else's ship, I get it, you can just worship, you're used to the noise. Not everyone is. And so if your kid is sinking someone else's ship, can you just be mindful of that? There's like a mother baby room, there's a couple different places you can go, but just be mindful of that, okay? That's a part of worshiping together. 

 (...) 

 The third thing is there's no family Sundays. We had a Sunday set aside to be a family together because we're doing this week in and week out, we won't have one Sunday set aside for this any longer.(...) The fourth thing is that the length of the service is gonna be 90 minutes. There was a time coming right out of COVID where we attempted a service that was an hour and 15 minutes. We did this not because we thought that is what would be best for our services, but because we were trying to rebuild our serve culture and we were trying to get people to serve one and attend the other, so we shrunk the service. But we feel like an hour and 30 minutes, 90 minutes, is the place to be for us. We listened to a lot of the feedback from the survey, thank you for taking the survey. We actually compiled that feedback and one of the interesting things that people were longing for was more time to respond at the end. 

 (...) 

 So people wanted the announcements to go away, that's why I'm doing them all up front. One Sunday, you get everything. Can the announcements shrink(...) and can we respond to God with more time? Can we take communion with more time? Obviously you know this, that preaching is not the ultimate. 

 (...) 

 Good preaching just brings you to a place of worship. 

 (...) 

 Worship and response is what's ultimate. As we teach the word, there should be a yielding and a surrendering to what God wants to do. This table is the point of what we do. In church history, a lot of things have changed. We haven't always had screens, we haven't always had acoustic guitars. We haven't always had a sermon that looks like this, but we've always had that table. And we take it until the Lord himself appears again. We remember him and we remember what he did at the table, so we'll be doing that together. 

 (...) 

 We're gonna extend our response time at the end of our service together with the minutes that we glean. 

 (...) 

 Okay, here's where,(...) this is the worst part. We're gonna do it fast. 

 (...) 

 Worship team, would you guys come? 

 (...) 

 (Congregation Laughing) We're gonna do this fast. 

 (...) 

 I'm gonna ask a few other things. One,(...) could you come consistently? 

 (...) 

 The average church attender in the US comes once a month. 

 (...) 

 That means they miss 75% of what happens in the church. That means our all-stars miss half of what happens. They come to church half of the year. And I'm asking for something more. Would you come consistently? 

 (...) 

 Of course you're gonna miss. Of course you're gonna miss. I hope that you wake up one Sunday and go, I'm just gonna have breakfast and hang. I hope that happens. I hope you go out of town. I hope that you leave. I hope that you've got good stuff going on. But can we make missing an exception and not the rule? 

 (...) 

 Like we plan on attending church 

 (...) 

 and the exception is missing on a Sunday. And here's the worst part, ready for this? Could you come on time? (Audience Laughing) 

 (...) 

 It really matters. 

 (...) 

 The worship team works really hard to plate a meal. 

 (...) 

 And we're not here at the table to enjoy it. 

 (...) 

 And I understand again that we're gonna be late, but 75% of us? 

 (...) 

 Like teachers, what do you expect?(...) How many kids do you expect to be late to class? 

 (...) 

 Yeah, I don't know. Bosses, what do you expect? 

 (...) 

 Look, I know some of you are gonna face crazy circumstances. Again, I'm not asking that you be on time every week,(...) but I'm asking that it be the exception and not the rule. Not because I'm scared you're gonna miss out, but I'm actually scared that your tardiness communicates something about what you think we're doing here. 

 (...) 

 That you see yourself as an audience and not the orchestra. 

 (...) 

 Does that make sense? 

 (...) 

 That you see worship, the bigger problem is that you see worship as the optional previews.(...) The movie starts at this time, but we always know there's 30 minutes of previews. 

 (...) 

 And so there's time to show up late. I'm asking that you consider yourself an orchestra, that you be in your chair, and you be tuned up when we start.(...) This guy is not here to perform. He's here to tap the podium, 

 (...) 

 and everybody begins to worship, and it makes the biggest difference. 

 (...) 

 Goodbye yesterday 

 (...) 

 17 of us are living in a new day 

 (...) 

 25 of us won't waste another minute on my old ways 

 (...) 

 Praise the Lord with 25% of our church 

 (...) 

 Do you know who is here on time? 

 (...) 

 The people who don't go here. 

 (...) 

 The people who don't go here are here on time going like, well, I guess I'll just read the bulletin again. 

 (...) 

 You know who is here? The person who doesn't yet know or worship Jesus. 

 (...) 

 And then the person who claims that he's Lord of all prances in like 20 minutes late. 

 (...) 

 It just doesn't testify to who we are or what we're doing together. You have like a really essential piece to play in this. I know you don't think it, but think about this team up here. Like, let's pretend this is orchestrated, which it did feel like it was this morning. I appreciate that.(...) But this is like Elijah, and he's bringing what he knows, and he's bringing what he does, and he's playing bass this morning. But it's not just that he's bringing his bass playing, which has grown so much over the years. He's also a son, and he's a friend. 

 (...) 

 And he's got a girlfriend named Ashlee who he's really serious about. 

 (...) 

 And he's got a truck,(...) and he inherited it from his grandpa, and his grandpa passed away this year, and that truck's got like serious problems right now, right? Yeah. And the truck's in a bad way, right? 

 (...) 

 And so he's bringing all of that.(...) This is what he's bringing before God. And he has a unique place on this team, and it wouldn't be the same without him. There'd be something missing. And this is Addie Riley,(...) and she's a cheerleader. And she was cheering for a team that lost 48 to nothing on Friday night. 

 (...) 

 (Audience Laughing) And that's freaking hard to get the crowd pumped up, to just get smashed by a Clovis team. And so she comes here this morning, and she brings all of that, not just like a song, right? And this is Eric Riley, who's trying to father Addie Riley, you know, and he's got a mustache that he's working on. 

 (...) 

 (Audience Laughing) And he leads a company, and this is Kurt Martin on electric guitar, and he plays really well, but he's getting ready to harvest walnuts, and we won't see him for a long time. And he's wondering like the price of walnuts is like really bad right now. And his whole head is gonna fill with dirt, and his pockets aren't gonna fill with money, and he's wondering about that. But you know what, year after year, whether the price of, this is serious, whether the price of walnuts is good or bad, he's just bringing his song to the Lord, just wailing, you know? And you're like, yeah, and he's like, I don't care what the price of walnuts is. And I don't care if I'm busy. I'm gonna set a priority to be with the people of God and praise my God despite the price of walnuts. And that's where he's at. And we have a standing appointment, not just with one another, but with our God.(...) And what does it say when we show up 15 minutes late, not once, but over and over again?(...) We honor people with our time, and we honor our God with our time. Elise Hyde, I had a great meeting with her this week. She told me about these missionary things she's going on, and she texted me and she's like, hey, I'm gonna be late. I'm gonna be late because traffic is like bonkers back to school traffic. So I'm late. And I'm like, no problem. I'm always late. Now, if I had a standing appointment with Elise at eight o'clock every week, and every week, it was like, I'm gonna be 15 minutes late. It's just like, no, that's not us. That's not what we're up to. 

 (...) 

 That's not what we're doing. 

 (...) 

 Would you stand with me?(...) Is everybody okay? 

 (...) 

 (Audience Laughing) 

 (...) 

 Elijah, could you start to play bass? 

 (...) 

 Play the four chords that we play in this song. 

 (...) 

 (Audience Laughing) (Drum Beat) 

 (...) 

 So this could be our morning. Up from the ashes 

 (...) 

 Your love has brought us Out of the darkness(...) And into Jenny, could you play? 

 (...) 

 (Gentle Piano Music) Bearing our burdens 

 (...) 

 Healing our hearts(...) Kurt, what do you got for us? (Gentle Piano Music) 

 (...) 

 (Gentle Piano Music) 

 (...) 

 Eric, could you strum? 

 (...) 

 (Gentle Piano Music) 

 (...) 

 Matt, could you jump in? 

 (...) 

 (Gentle Guitar Music) 

 (...) 

 (Gentle Guitar Music) 

 (...) 

 Eric, could you sing? 

 (...) 

 (Gentle Guitar Music) Up from the ashes 

 (...) 

 Your love has brought us Out of the darkness 

 (...) 

 And into the light 

 (...) 

 Lifting our sorrows 

 (...) 

 Bearing our burdens 

 (...) 

 Healing our hearts Let's sing that again. You bring your own story to this. 

 (...) 

 Up from the ashes 

 (...) 

 Your love has brought us Out of the darkness(...) And into the light 

 (...) 

 Lifting our sorrows(...) Bearing our burdens 

 (...) 

 Healing our hearts Let's sing to our God. 

 (...) 

 To our God we lift up one voice To our God we lift up one song To our God we lift up one voice Singing hallelujah To our God we lift up one voice To our God we lift up one song To our God we lift up one voice Singing hallelujah 

 (...) 

 Our chains have been broken 

 (...) 

 And eyes have been open And ourao drive almost is starting to rise 

 (...) 

 Death is defeated and we are victorious 

 (...) 

 You are alive Let's sing that again, chains have been broken. 

 (...) 

 Our chains have been broken 

 (...) 

 Eyes have been opened And an army of dry bones Is starting to rise 

 (...) 

 Death is defeated 

 (...) 

 We are victorious 

 (...) 

 When you are alive 

 (...) 

 To our God we lift up one voice To our God we lift up one song To our God we lift up one voice 

 (...) 

 Singing hallelujah To our God we lift up one voice To our God we lift up one song To our God we lift up one voice(...) Singing hallelujah 

 (...) 

 Hallelujah 

 (...) 

 Hallelujah 

 (...) 

 Hallelujah. Singing hallelujah.(...) Hallelujah. 

 (...) 

 Hallelujah. 

 (...) 

 Hallelujah. 

 (...) 

 Make His face glorious. 

 (...) 

 Glorious. 

 (...) 

 Glorious. 

 (...) 

 Glorious. For His name is glorious. 

 (...) 

 Glorious. 

 (...) 

 Glorious. Make His face glorious. 

 (...) 

 Glorious. 

 (...) 

 Glorious. Glorious. For His name is glorious. 

 (...) 

 For His name is glorious. Glorious. 

 (...) 

 Glorious. Glorious. Sing to our God. 

 (...) 

 To our God we lift up one song. To our God we lift up one song. To our God we lift up one voice. Singing hallelujah. To our God we lift up one voice. To our God we lift up one song. To our God we lift up one voice. Singing hallelujah. 

 (...) 

 Jesus. 

 (...) 

 Thank you for blessing unity and commanding a blessing where there's unity. We just say together we want to be in one heart and one mind. 

 (...) 

 We're not the audience, we're here to honor you with our lives. We're not here to spectate, Lord, we want to participate. And I just want to ask for those that need to overcome fear of the risk involved with engaging with you and others and participating.(...) I just want to ask that you'd be with them, like, "Hey, I'll go with you.(...) I'll make this jump with you." That they would have a sense of your nearness that would dispel or quiet any fears of participating. 

 (...) 

 I'm going to open the table for those of you who believe that Jesus died and bled for your sins. The table's open for you. 

 (...) 

 You can come and take and eat. And as you do, just, would you just remember what He's done? I know I gave you a bunch of things that we need to do, but would you just reflect again on what He's done and how He's brought us together and how He's raising up an army out of dry bones in the valley. 

 (...) 

 The worship team's going to continue to play. As you've taken the cup, you're free to go, and you're free to go outside and hang with one another. 

 (...) 

 We'll see you guys next week.