What happens when ordinary people go all in for God? /// 20th Anniversary

We're so glad you've chosen to listen to our online experience! Here at Plum Creek, we’re all about changed lives, changing lives; and what that simply means is that what Christ has done in us is not just for us, but it’s for us to share with others in our community and around the world.

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If you're using this teaching for a Home Groups setting, we've included discussion prompts to help guide your conversation:

1. What does it look like in your life to be an ordinary person who keeps saying yes to God?

2. Doug challenged us not only to remember and celebrate, but also to dedicate ourselves again to God. Where might God be asking you to say, “Here I am, use me”?

3. Doug said every generation inherits a story it did not start. What kind of legacy of faithfulness do you want to pass on to the next generation?

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Wondering what Plum Creek Church is all about? Watch this video.

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Links

Home: https://www.plumcreek.church/

Next Steps: https://www.plumcreek.church/next

Ministries: https://www.plumcreek.church/ministries

Give: https://www.plumcreek.church/give

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Plum Creek Church Podcast. We're so thankful that you're listening along with us in this way. Now, if you're a returning listener, welcome back. But if you're new or newish, we'd love to become part of your listening rotation. So be sure to subscribe and follow to be notified when new episodes are available. Now, before we get into the message, we want to remind you of one thing. At Plum Creek Church, we are all about change lives, changing lives. We really believe that if Jesus is right about God, about life, about the soul, then it only makes sense to rearrange our lives around what he says is true. Because when you choose to follow Jesus like that, it really does change everything, including the lives around you. Okay, let's posture our hearts for what God has in store to this message.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Oh, wow. Good morning, Plum Creek. Wow, it's so good to see you. Uh, today is one of those mornings that are very, very difficult to put into words as we celebrate together the goodness of God for the last 20 years. That doesn't even seem possible to me. Uh that uh that we've been doing this now together for that long. I can tell you, I was sharing with Beth a couple of, for that's my wife, for those of you that don't know, uh, earlier this morning as we were praying and thinking there was a day 20 years ago uh that we prayed somebody would show up. Yeah. And uh thank you. Thank you for being here today. God is so good. Some of you were here before there was ever a church called Plum Creek. Uh some of you remember worshiping with us together in the theater. We had a moment with some of OG Plum Creekers uh over there yesterday, and some of you have been part of transforming our community's old bowling alley into our place of worship where thousands of people have now encountered Jesus. And some of you are brand new. Welcome to Castle Rock. We're glad you're here. Uh somehow, in the providence of God, what we experience here together is what only He can do, and that is we are all part of the same story together. And I love that. As I've prayed about this morning, one thought has continued to come back to me over and over again. Uh, no one writes 20 years of ministry alone. Nobody. Never a pastor doesn't do that, a family doesn't do that, a church doesn't do that. It's together, and it's together with the strength of our mighty God that we sit in this place today worshiping him. And for some reason, which still blows my mind, and I hope yours too, our God has always chosen to write his story through ordinary people who keep saying yes. Can I hear an amen there? So over the last 20 years, thousands of people have prayed, thousands of people have served, and thousands of people have given. You've even seen an example of it today. Uh, welcoming guests, and some of you serve in our kids' areas, changing diapers, and some of you help lead our amazing student team. Some of you make coffee, some of you park cars. Don't you wish we had a few more spots here uh today for those of you that were stuck in traffic? And what I mean, what a great thing to get stuck in traffic to come to church, amen? That's a good thing. And stacking chairs and leading worship, and many of you have served behind the scenes where uh folks don't even know all that you have done. And there were people that believed in this church before there was any evidence that it would ever become what it is today, and I'm deeply grateful. Um, there were several families and individuals that moved with us to Castle Rock to get this church started, and besides our family, there's only one person left, one OG person from those early days, and that's Colette, who was just singing up here just a moment ago. There's another uh gentleman here today uh that has been a dear friend for a long time. Steve is was hiding behind a black umbrella. Uh there he is, right there. He just stand up real quick, Steve. I need you guys to know Steve has forgotten more about church planting than I have ever known, that is for sure. And I need you to know this. There was a day when he was the one that God used to give the challenge to me and to Beth to come to Castle Rock and start a church. And I can remember asking Steve, what do you think about Castle Rock? And he said this, we've identified it as a place that could use a church. How about that? I think Steve was right. Steve was right. Uh Pastor Jim and Sue Ladd can't be here today, uh, but they are the pastors of uh what has been our mother church for years, um, and they believed in Beth and I, uh championing the vision of a church in Castle Rock from the very beginning and invested us in real ways. I also think of every single one of our board members that has ever served in helping us to lead uh Plum Creek and to help shepherd this church. And I think of our staff. Don't we have an incredible staff, friends? An incredible staff. Uh staff past and present, whose hearts and fingerprints are on the very DNA of our church, uh in particular. I think about the OG squad that helped in the very beginning. That was Emily and Stephen and Gary and Heather, who for years helped me lead our great church. And today I think of every contributor who's ever invested their time, their gifts, their prayers, their resources into what God is doing and continues to do through our church. And I I think of my own family. Baby. Where are you? I don't see you there. There you are. Beth, no one has sacrificed more than you on this journey. And I'm so thankful. I love you deeply. Thank you for walking every step of this journey with me for these 20 years and the years before. I think about our kids who are all here today, thank God. You know, uh When we came to Castleroc, I told our kids that mom and dad don't get called to Castleroc if they don't also call you if he doesn't also call you to Castlerock. And uh, I just want to say this to you. Thank you. Thank you for living this journey with us what we see and experience today, I want you to never forget. Because it's simple. This is what our God can do. When extremely ordinary people say yes to following Jesus' way. And that's important for all of us to remember. So please remember, God did this through you too. And uh, your mom and I love you more than words can say. And my siblings are all here today. What a joy. Uh Matt and Emily and Andy. And uh I love you all. Thank you for praying for us, and thank you for doing what God has called you to do to serve him too. Um I prayed this morning before we left to come to the park today that somehow, if it was possible that the Lord would open a heavenly portal for mom and dad to see today what uh what God is doing at Plum Creek. And uh best parents, unfortunately, were unable to make it because of health reasons. I wish they could be here today, too. I'm almost done with the thank yous, but um I'm thankful for friends that are family, Keith and Lucille. You guys know Pastor Keith is here. Uh one of my best friends in the world. I love you both. Thank you for being here today. Um and Rick and Teresa, who many of you know have been Beth and I's mentor since uh college. I love you both. Thank you. Thank you for loving us for believing in us, encouraging us, supporting us, praying for us through every season. And thank you for buying a condo in Castle Rock so you can be here one week a month. Praise God. And a huge thank to my uh thanks to my team, Bliss in Plum Creek. Uh, our staff are the ones that have made a day like this happen. Um and uh would you do something with me for just a moment? If you've ever served at Plum Creek Cleek Plum Plum Creek in any way over these last 20 years, if you volunteered, led a small group, greeted guests, served in kids or students, if you've played on the worship team, been part of our ERT team, helped with facilities, if you've made coffee, parked cars, served as a board member, served on staff, prayed faithfully, given generously, or simply said yes to whenever God asked, would you just please stand for a minute and let's give God the glory for what he can do when his people say yes to his plan. And so, Father, today we give you the praise. Because you are a good God. We honor you today, Lord. You may be seated, but I want us to remember something before we go any further. We are not gathered today because of what we have built together. That is not why we're here. Church, listen, we are gathered today because of what God built through ordinary people who keep saying yes, and that's you and me. And milestones in a moment like today, 20 years, are a gift. But I also want you to hear me today. Milestones are also very, very dangerous. And I want to explain that. Not because celebrating is wrong, but because somewhere along the way, if we're not careful, we can become more consumed with admiring what has been built than the one who built it. Amen. And that's exactly the tension that we find. For those of you that know, over the last several weeks we've been walking through the story of Nehemiah, and this is the tension that Nehemiah 12 puts in front of us this morning. If you haven't been with us, let me do my best to try and catch you up. God's people have been conquered, Jerusalem was devastated, the temple was destroyed, the walls of the city have been torn down, and God's people have been carried away into exile. And eventually some of the people began returning back. The temple was rebuilt, and decades later, Jerusalem's walls were still broken. They were torn down. And that's when God put something in the heart of an ordinary man. And we've been talking about that ordinary man. His name is Nehemiah. He wasn't a priest, he wasn't a prophet, he was a cupbearer to the king. But when he heard about the condition of Jerusalem, his heart broke for what broke the heart of our God. So he prayed, he risked, he went, and he gathered the people. In the face of incredible opposition, if you read the story, it's an amazing one. They started rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, and in 52 days, because they worked together to accomplish the mission of God, they were able to rebuild the walls of that city. Which brings us to this morning. So here's the question I want to ask of you, and hopefully provide a couple of answers for. These monumental moments that are milestones in our life. Moments when we stop, we look around, and we realize that God has done something remarkable. So, what do God's people do in moments like that? Um, before we answer that, there's something about Nehemiah that I noticed while prepping for our time together today. And it starts back in Nehemiah chapter 6 and verse 15. So on October 2nd, don't you love the details of the scriptures? On October 2nd, the wall was finished, just 52 days after we had begun. Look at verse 16. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. This is the sentence I love. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God. Wow. The enemies of God's people realized that God was on the move. And I love that. The wall is finished, the mission has been accomplished, and honestly, friends, if I'm writing the story, that's where it ends. Feels like we did what we were supposed to do. We built the wall. Mission accomplished, roll the credits, but Nehemiah doesn't end there. Not one more chapter, not two more chapters, but six more chapters. Why? And this is what we must hear together as a church today. The completion of the wall was never the destination. That wasn't what it was about. The wall was never simple, it was very simply just the setting for something more important that God had in plan. So and before we ever get to the celebration in chapter 12, something happens in Nehemiah chapter 9 that I think we're doing in this moment together. God's people stop and they rehearse the story. That's something that we've been doing over the last several weeks. They remember God's faithfulness. They remember his provision, his protection, his mercy, and they even remember some of their own failures along the way of building the wall. And then they remember how God was faithful in spite of it all. And this is the first thing as faithful people that we do when we reach a milestone like today, because we live too fast, we run too hard, and we forget to stop, to pause, and remember. Because remembering is what protects our hearts. When we intentionally remember what God has done, we're far less likely to believe that we did it ourselves. Church, that's why we're here today. And we're celebrating 20 years, but more importantly, we're remembering 20 years of God's faithfulness. There's not a person here in this room that could convince me that God is not able to do anything. His provision, his grace, his patience, his presence, his power, because we must remember this together as a church before we celebrate what God has done through us. We need to remember what God has done for us. Amen. So as we remember, this should then move our hearts to something else that needs to take place in a milestone moment like today, and that is we celebrate. And we're going to do that. And we have done that. And when God's people remember his faithfulness, listen, it's just a natural response, right? When you know that God is the one that did this, he's the one that gets the credit. He's the one that we celebrate, he's the one that we point to, thanking him for all that he's done. And what I love about the story of Nehemiah is when you get to chapter 12, friends, listen, it gets loud. The people are excited about their celebration. They bring in the Levites and the singers and the cymbals and the harps and the lyres, and they form two huge choirs. And do you know what they do with their choir that morning at church? They climb the walls together, they stand up on top of the wall, and they say, Look, half of y'all go that way, and half of y'all go this way, and we're gonna celebrate what God has done together, walking on the top of the wall, looking down on what God has done. That's amazing. They sing and they give thanks and they offer sacrifices and they rejoice. And in Nehemiah chapter 12, verse 43, it says this many sacrifices were offered on that joyous day, for God had given the people cause for great joy. The women and the children also participated in the celebration. Now listen to this. And the joy of the people of Jerusalem could be heard from far away. How about it, church? Let's do it right now. Let's do it right now. That sounds so much like our whole mission gathering together today. Thousands of us in one place worshiping and remembering and celebrating, not because of how great we are. Don't get it wrong. But because of how faithful our God has been every single step of the way. And church, we have so much to celebrate. As we were worshiping, I was looking out over the crowd of folks here today, and I was thinking about every baptism that we've seen over these last 20 years. I'm thinking about marriages that have been restored and children that have given their hearts to Jesus. I'm thinking about students who have found community, true, authentic community. I'm thinking about every person who's found freedom from addiction and every family who's found a church home and every life that's been changed and made a decision to live the Jesus way. So many stories, so many stories that we don't even fully know yet. And we celebrate because God has been faithful. And here's what I love about Nehemiah: the celebration doesn't end with look what God did. That's a big part of it. But that's not where it stops. It leads them to ask this question how then should we respond? Church, how should we respond in this moment where we celebrate together 20 years of God's faithfulness? Because there's this other element of what God's people did in this moment. When God brought them to a milestone of the completion of the wall, they remembered, they celebrated, and then please hear me, they dedicated. And what does that mean for you and I today? Because the story was so much more than just dedicating a wall. You see, it was about people that made a decision to be people who belonged to God. That's what they decided to do. Not dedicate a wall that had been built, rather dedicate their lives to the God who was on move. In Nehemiah chapter 10, verse 28, then the rest of the people, together with their wives, their sons, their daughters, and all who were old enough to understand, they joined their leaders and bound themselves with an oath. They swore a curse on themselves if they failed to obey the law of God as issued by his servant Moses. They solemnly promised to carefully follow all the commands, regulations, and decrees of the Lord their God. Can you imagine? A group of people so deeply moved by what God had done and experienced through him at work decided that their response personally in the celebration of what God had done was to draw another line in the sand and say, I choose to be a Jesus person. And friends, that's what we need to do. That's what you need to do. As we celebrate, we still are people that are joining together and committing ourselves to follow God, to do what he tells us to do. And by chapter 12, you see this commitment being lived out where worship becomes commitment, gratitude becomes generosity, and celebration becomes obedience. In other words, they don't just say, God, thank you for what you've done. They say, God, here we are. Here we are, God. Plum Creek Church, all of us together. Here we are. What's next? We're all in. We said yes before, and we will say yes again. And church, that's one of the most important things that we can do today as we stand here in this moment on our 20th anniversary. Yes, we look back and we thank God for 20 years. But friends, what happens inside of me is what I hope happens inside of you. We start getting excited about the next 20 years. What is it that God will now choose to do with all of us that make that decision to say, yes, I'm in, and I choose to be a Jesus person too? Because a milestone isn't just an opportunity to celebrate where we've been. Most importantly, it's an opportunity to rededicate and to recalibrate ourselves to where God is leading us next as a church. And that leads me to one last thing that God's people do when they reach this milestone. How could we not? If you sit here today and you don't have bubbling up inside of you an anticipation of what the next run is gonna look like, I need to check your heart. Because only God can do this, friends. But now here's the deal: there's a bunch more of us that get to be part of what God's plan is next for Plum Creek. We look back with gratitude, but we look forward with faith. Because these past 20 years have taught me something. God is always at work preparing for what's next. There's a truth that I've been thinking about a lot as we approach today. Please hear this, because this is our moment together as a church. Every generation inherits a story it didn't start and is entrusted with a story that we will not finish. Because God will still be at work. And this was true for Nehemiah. He inherited a story that began generations before him. Even after the wall was finished, listen, God's story wasn't finished. He was still on the move. And Plum Creek, neither is our story finished. And that's why I think it's so significant in the grand scheme of the way that God works, that we stand in this moment together as a church while celebrating 20 years of God's faithfulness, yet together looking forward, knowing that next is now. And hear me, as we've been saying, next is now, it's not about a building. It's never been about a building. Of course, we're going to add some space and some seats, but the building isn't the destination, it never has been. Nehemiah taught us this. The building is simply the container for what God wants to do next. And that's what we're doing together. We're not expanding because we want a monument. We're expanding because we believe, and clearly, Steve was right. God wanted a church in Castle Rock. And there will our lives moving to Castle Rock, and there will be more people to find Jesus, more kids discovering who they are in Christ at a young age that won't make the mistakes that you and I have made because they're connected to him. There are more students that will take that community that they find and become a movement of God to change the world. More marriages restored, more people finding freedom and being set free, more people becoming followers of Jesus who then help others follow Jesus because changed lives. So, church, we're not making room so that someday we can say, look at what we've built. We're making room because we believe God has not finished writing our story yet. And if he's not finished, I'm not finished, and that means we're not finished. So here we are. Twenty years of God's faithfulness, and today we do what God's people have always done. We find ourselves in this moment, a milestone moment where we remember, and the stories are incredible. We look back and remember how faithful God has been. And we celebrate, not because of how great we are, but because of how great our God is. And I'm begging you today to move to that place where you will also dedicate. Where together we will say, God, we're yours. Whatever you want, I'm all in. You speak to me, and I will follow your lead and do what you're calling me to do. And then together, with great sense of expectation, we will anticipate because we believe with everything in us, God is not finished. So 20 years ago, 20 years ago, I promise you, it was a group of extraordinarily ordinary people. We inherited a story that they didn't start. They could never see today, they couldn't see thousands of people gathered in this moment. They couldn't see all the changed lives. They couldn't see what was going to be built. They just said yes. They just kept showing up. They were just faithful. And because they did, here we are today. Wow. Church, aren't you glad they did? But the same is true for us today, like it was for that amazing crew. Because now in this season, we gotta remember every generation is inheriting a story that you didn't start. And now we're entrusted with a story that we will be faithful in our leg of the run, but we won't finish it. And there will be people that come behind us. So God has entrusted this chapter to us, Plum Creek. And it's our moment. It's your turn, it's my turn, it's our opportunity to continue to say yes to what God is doing. And the fuel for us to head into the future is God's faithfulness that we've seen in the past. We celebrate his goodness, but as we celebrate his goodness, we dedicate ourselves to what he wants to do next. And how could we not anticipate what this next run will look like? With big faith, we look forward to what God wants to do next in and through us. And someday, long after our chapter is written and Dougie and Beth are long gone. And with full hearts of knowing this story, they will say, Man, that group of people were faithful. But friends, even way more than that. May they look at everything that God wants to do in and through us and say this, because we've showed them. Oh, what a faithful God we serve. And that next generation will continue to run their leg of a race, inheriting a story that they didn't start, and doing the very best that they can in their season and in their leg of the run, and hand that to the next. Together, as is God's plan, we will keep doing this until he calls us home. Amen. Father, I'm so thankful today. It's a deep honor. And I thank you for the friends and the family, plum creakers here today that understand that we serve a God that just calls ordinary people to keep saying yes to what he wants to do. And so today we celebrate, Father. We thank you for who you are and what you've done, but Lord, we keep our eyes fixed on you because we know you're not finished yet. Will you stand to your feet with me now? And so, Father, we give you praise because praise is due. It's never been about what we do, it's been always about what you do. And to you, Lord, to you be the glory. And so today in this place, your church will focus our eyes on you and say thank you for 20 years of life change. But Lord, let it stir deep in our souls that 20 years is not enough. That we stand today with great confidence in your faithfulness, that you will continue to do your work through your people. So, Father, I pray a blessing over Plum Creek, and I pray you will help us to run with tenacity into the future that you've called us to, and that every single one of us will rededicate our hearts, our souls, and our lives to you once again and just say, Father, here I am, use me. That together, Lord, we will change this valley that's been our prayer from day one. And you will use us together to change this world. We are so thankful for who you are and all you do and all God's people said.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

Thanks again for listening. Our prayer is that this message encouraged and challenged you in your journey to follow Jesus. If you'd like to learn more about our church, please check us out online at plumcreek.church or if you find yourself within driving distance of Castle Rock, Colorado, we would be honored to see you in person on a weekend. So until next time, grace and peace in the name of Jesus.