SPEAKER_00: Father, you know that we are in a unique moment in the history of our church.
SPEAKER_00: We're a year into this transition from Pastor Chad and his over decade-long leadership and the shift to the opportunity that I have to lead our church and to cast vision into the future.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, Lord, that I and the elders and our staff and our congregation have been prayerful because we want to do what you want us to do.
SPEAKER_00: We want to be leveraged.
SPEAKER_00: We want our church to be leveraged for your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just want to be in cruise control.
SPEAKER_00: We want to matter for your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, as we go to this text in Titus today, I think it gives us a roadmap for how we can matter, for how we can ensure that we don't lose our effectiveness in sharing your love and message with the world.
SPEAKER_00: So, Holy Spirit, we know that you are here, but we want you to be invited, welcome, to come and to search our hearts, to transform our minds, and to challenge us to be more and more the people that you have called us to be.
SPEAKER_00: So give us ears to hear what you would say.
SPEAKER_00: Guard me from error.
SPEAKER_00: We ask in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Titus chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be in the final four verses today.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have a Bible, you can turn there.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible, we'd love to give you one.
SPEAKER_00: You can ask any of our staff in the foyer on the way out.
SPEAKER_00: We'd be glad to give you a Bible.
SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons that we preach through entire books of the Bible, is so that we can't skip over verses like this.
SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons is we don't want to skip over hard stuff.
SPEAKER_00: The other reason is we don't want to skip off, skip over stuff that we might otherwise ignore.
SPEAKER_00: You'll maybe understand when I read these verses.
SPEAKER_00: Titus 3, beginning in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: This is the end of his letter, Paul's letter to Titus.
SPEAKER_00: When I send Artemis Ortichus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
SPEAKER_00: Do your best to speed Zenos the lawyer and Apollos on their way, see that they lack nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful.
SPEAKER_00: All who are with me send greetings to you.
SPEAKER_00: Greet those who love us in the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Grace be with you all.
SPEAKER_00: Pretty straightforward details.
SPEAKER_00: Seems like just some final instructions and salutations.
SPEAKER_00: But I actually think that this, these few verses, hold some very important truths and challenge for us.
SPEAKER_00: Over the last couple months, we've walked through the book of Titus and we've seen some core things.
SPEAKER_00: We have learned that our salvation or being saved or being brought into God's family happens by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is not our own doing.
SPEAKER_00: It is not that we earn it or deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: But, or and Titus also reminds us that Christians are to be people who are dedicated, who are eager to do good works.
SPEAKER_00: But we need to make sure not to get those things out of order.
SPEAKER_00: The aim of good works in the Christian life are not to earn God's love, but are a response to God's love.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to talk a lot today about action, about doing something with your faith.
SPEAKER_00: And we have to be clear, not only in Titus, but in the whole frame of the Bible, that the doing of things in service of God are not because we need to earn our salvation or God's love, but they are the response to it.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Rick in the past has said that works are not the root of salvation, they are the fruit.
SPEAKER_00: And we see that all of these good works, all of this kingdom development is occurring within the local church.
SPEAKER_00: See, the way that God established his kingdom to move is not with just a bunch of individual Christians out there doing their thing.
SPEAKER_00: But he has established churches, gatherings of people committed together, both to his word and to the mission.
SPEAKER_00: And there are, in general, two kinds of churches as I see it.
SPEAKER_00: There are churches that exist to hold on to what they've built, and there are churches that exist to give away what they've been given.
SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of churches that are just aimed at holding on to what they've built.
SPEAKER_00: They want to just be comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: They've lost interest and passion to pursue inviting more people to new life in Christ, to pursuing the Great Commission, to inviting more people to experience the love and message of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And what happens is they drift into obscurity.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus uses an example of these kinds of churches.
SPEAKER_00: He says that they're like a dead twig that you break off and you throw into the fire.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about your usefulness or effectiveness in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We have a history of being a different kind of church, of being a church that gives away what we've been given.
SPEAKER_00: And my hope and my challenge for you is that we would continue to be that kind of church.
SPEAKER_00: But we will only be that kind of church if you and I are committed to being the type of individuals that God calls us to be.
SPEAKER_00: There are two types of churches, ones that are effective for the kingdom and ones that are not.
SPEAKER_00: And therefore, there are two types of people within those churches: people who are effective for the kingdom and those who are not.
SPEAKER_00: The first type of person, I would say, is called a kingdom consumer.
SPEAKER_00: Someone whose aim in God's kingdom is to be served.
SPEAKER_00: You treat the church and the kingdom of God like it's a restaurant.
SPEAKER_00: You go there, hopefully the environment suits you, the worship suits you, you can order what you want off the menu, and if you don't like it, leave a bad review on Google.
SPEAKER_00: The other type of person is what I'm calling a kingdom catalyst.
SPEAKER_00: A catalyst is a person who assists, speeds along, meaningful kingdom movement.
SPEAKER_00: A person whose aim is to be spent, to be used for God's purposes.
SPEAKER_00: See, this person treats the church and the kingdom of God as if they're an owner of the family business.
SPEAKER_00: You do show up and enjoy some of the things that the business produces, but you're there helping produce it.
SPEAKER_00: Whether or not you feel like it on any given day.
SPEAKER_00: So the question that each of us have to answer as we consider what kind of church we're going to be is what kind of person are you going to be?
SPEAKER_00: A kingdom consumer or a kingdom catalyst?
SPEAKER_00: Because who you are will determine who we are.
SPEAKER_00: I think these verses in Titus show us the kind of church that is filled with kingdom catalysts.
SPEAKER_00: So let's look.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in verse 12, a church filled with kingdom catalysts is a first sending church.
SPEAKER_00: Ascending church.
SPEAKER_00: When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
SPEAKER_00: Essentially, what's happening is Titus at the end of this letter is learning, if he didn't know already, that he's being replaced as the leader in Crete.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this isn't in the text, but I've just been imagining what Titus might have felt like.
SPEAKER_00: Titus has been left on the island of Crete by Paul.
SPEAKER_00: They've planted this small church.
SPEAKER_00: It's probably a series of house churches.
SPEAKER_00: And Titus was left there to establish the church, to train them, to raise them up, to teach them church, church polity and church leadership and doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: And he's surely fallen in love with these people to some degree.
SPEAKER_00: And so maybe you can imagine with me what it might have felt like to hear, hey, I'm sending someone else, Artemis or Tychicus, to replace you.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to come to me in Nicopolis, we're gonna winter there.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't even tell him what the plans are.
SPEAKER_00: We're just not gonna travel this winter.
SPEAKER_00: And I also was thinking about how the church in Crete might have felt.
SPEAKER_00: So I've been thinking about that about myself.
SPEAKER_00: I'm about just over a year in to this role as lead pastor.
SPEAKER_00: And what if, through prayer and seeking the Lord and fasting, God said to Joe Valeny, I have something else for you?
SPEAKER_00: What would I say?
SPEAKER_00: Would I respond to God and go, uh, I just got this job?
SPEAKER_00: No thanks.
SPEAKER_00: How would you respond?
SPEAKER_00: There's no announcement, calm down.
SPEAKER_00: But how would you respond?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I stood up here this week and I said, hey, it's been a good year.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going elsewhere to lead another church.
SPEAKER_00: These are the questions we have to ask ourselves that help us determine are we kingdom consumers or kingdom catalysts?
SPEAKER_00: Are we the kind of church that holds on to what we have because we like it and it's comfortable?
SPEAKER_00: Or are we the kind of church that has the mission of God and the kingdom of God first in our minds, and so we go, Lord, whatever it is that you want to do, we're in.
SPEAKER_00: Even if it means a leader leaving or me leaving to go be a part of something new.
SPEAKER_00: See, the perfect example of this is found in Acts 13 with Paul's church.
SPEAKER_00: Paul and a man named Barnabas were the church planting duo of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul and Barnabas attended the church in Antioch.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if I've got, as a church leader, if I have Paul the Apostle at my church, I'm sucking him into leadership responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try to get him on staff.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try to get him a really good health care package so he stays.
SPEAKER_00: But the church in Antioch gives us a better example.
SPEAKER_00: The church in Antioch goes to God and they say, You've given us these two extraordinary men.
SPEAKER_00: What do you want us to do with them, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And they pray and they fast, and God's answer is send Paul and Barnabas out.
SPEAKER_00: That's really bad church growth strategy.
SPEAKER_00: Send your best away from your church.
SPEAKER_00: But that's the example not only of the church in Antioch, but that Paul perpetuates throughout the development of the New Testament church.
SPEAKER_00: He does things like this Hey Titus, I needed you there for a time.
SPEAKER_00: Now I need you here, I'm sending Artemis there.
SPEAKER_00: If Artemis can't make it, Tiki kiss is coming.
SPEAKER_00: And in much the same way, God may call me or you to play a different part in his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And the question is, are you ready and willing?
SPEAKER_00: I asked Pastor Rick recently, if you're new and you don't know that name, Pastor Rick is our founding pastor.
SPEAKER_00: He and his wife Marianne moved here about 40 years ago to start Cuyahoga Valley Church in a house.
SPEAKER_00: And it's grown into by God's grace what we have today.
SPEAKER_00: And I asked him, what was the aim?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he said.
SPEAKER_00: We wanted to plant an evangelistic disciple-making church to go to heaven and take as many people with us as we could.
SPEAKER_00: How?
SPEAKER_00: By starting a church in a major metropolitan area that would have the resources to start other church-starting churches in our region, nation, and world.
SPEAKER_00: Now, at the center of that vision is a church that has the resources to start more churches.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of so I swim every day, me and our staff, we swim in church world.
SPEAKER_00: Learning about like how the church has grown, what the church is doing, what other churches are doing, how the gospel advances, all of these things.
SPEAKER_00: Then you don't swim in that world.
SPEAKER_00: And that's fine.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the one of the things I think that gets lost in translation sometimes is how important church planting is.
SPEAKER_00: Most everyday, like, love you guys, but like they just come into church people go, don't we already have enough churches?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I seems everywhere I go there's a church.
SPEAKER_00: And just to be totally honest with you and straightforward, the answer to that question is no.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have nearly enough gospel proclaiming Bible-based churches.
SPEAKER_00: Not even close.
SPEAKER_00: So there are about 1,500 adults that call CVC home.
SPEAKER_00: I did some research within about an 11-minute drive of this place, 120,000 people live.
SPEAKER_00: So we own a hundred one one hundred and twentieth of the lostness in our community.
SPEAKER_00: We have a little bit of room at the 8 o'clock service, a little bit of room at this service.
SPEAKER_00: But if but if God has a thousand more people, 2,000 more people, 50,000 more people to reach in just an 11-minute drive, what are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: Have church every day of the week?
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: We need to plant more gospel proclaiming churches.
SPEAKER_00: When you look at the statistics, I want you to hear me.
SPEAKER_00: When you look at the statistics, there is nothing that even comes close by a country mile to as being effective to reach new people for Jesus than planting new churches.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Outreach, personal evangelism, growing mega churches, nothing comes close to reaching new people than planting new churches.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know this because I'm gonna start ringing the bell for church planting like the crazy mom with the cowbell at the football game.
SPEAKER_00: As we look to the future, this is just a taste.
SPEAKER_00: What we're gonna do is we're gonna train up leaders and start more churches in Northeast Ohio and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the seed.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask some of you to go and be a part of those new works.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask a lot of you to leave Cuyahoga Valley Church, Broadview Heights.
SPEAKER_00: So just start praying about it now.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's coming.
SPEAKER_00: If you live in Sagamore and we start a church in Sagamore, I'm gonna ask you to leave and go there.
SPEAKER_00: If you live in Parma and we start a church in Parma, I'm gonna ask you to leave here and go there.
SPEAKER_00: If you live in in Independence or in Garfield or in some somewhere else, I may ask you, I may ask you to sell your house and move.
SPEAKER_00: I'm dumb, it's not I'm not joking.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Ceto, I'm not joking.
SPEAKER_00: Tim Keller, the late Tim Keller, says this: the vigorous continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for numerical growth in the body of Christ in a city and the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city.
SPEAKER_00: Why would that be the case?
SPEAKER_00: Why would planting new churches not only reach more people for Christ, but revive the church that exists?
SPEAKER_00: Because the church finally gets on mission, doing what Jesus told us to do.
SPEAKER_00: He says, nothing else, not crusades, outreach programs, parachurch ministries, growing megachurches, congregational consulting, or church renewal processes will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting.
SPEAKER_00: This raises the eyebrows, but to those who have done any study at all, it is not even controversial.
SPEAKER_00: And so I dream of a day that we will be like the church in Antioch, and we will not be trying to hold on to our best leaders and our best people and our best musicians, but we will be eager to send them out to reach new people in new places.
SPEAKER_00: What if, like Titus, we understood that our assignment individually with our family was always flexible?
SPEAKER_00: Are you a consumer or a catalyst?
SPEAKER_00: Because who you are will determine who we are.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, a church filled with kingdom catalysts is a supplying church.
SPEAKER_00: A church that is filled with kingdom catalysts will be a sending church.
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna hold on to what we have, we're gonna send them out.
SPEAKER_00: Because the most effective way to reach new people is to start new works, and we're gonna be a supplying church.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to pay for it.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: Do your best to speed Zenus the lawyer and Apollos on their way.
SPEAKER_00: See that they lack nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Zenos, we don't know anything about him.
SPEAKER_00: Apollos was a preacher and teacher in the early church, and they probably brought this letter to Titus as a part of a missionary journey.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul says to them, Hey, part of your work is to speed them along their way.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word is propempo, and it means to outfit someone with everything they need for the duty that they have before them.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul doesn't give them an option.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't try and do some vision casting and try to about how they need to be generous.
SPEAKER_00: He just says, do it.
SPEAKER_00: Speed Zenus the lawyer and Apollos on their way.
SPEAKER_00: See that they lack nothing.
SPEAKER_00: See, some people are gonna be sent out, but some people have to stay at the sending church and fund the work of kingdom movement.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are gonna stay here and you're gonna pray, and you're gonna be okay that your favorite leader's gone.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be excited about the kingdom movement, and we're gonna fund it.
SPEAKER_00: Ministry takes money.
SPEAKER_00: Pastors don't want to talk about this because everybody gets bent out of shape.
SPEAKER_00: It's just reality.
SPEAKER_00: Ministry takes money, whether you're here, 21st century, first century, Broadview Heights, Indonesia, Africa, ministry takes money.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell you what the American church is flush with cash.
SPEAKER_00: I did some.
SPEAKER_00: Research.
SPEAKER_00: The wealth, so our national debt is about forty million, or sorry, forty trillion dollars.
SPEAKER_00: The wealth in the American population is one, this is from the Fed, Q1, 2026,$174 trillion.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Pew Research would say that about 60% of people in America identify as Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just take them at their word, do some round math.
SPEAKER_00: Christians, net worth in America,$100 trillion.
SPEAKER_00: The most expensive companies in the world, NVIDIA right now, is worth about$5 trillion.
SPEAKER_00: American Christians.
SPEAKER_00: So I had a little fun this week, and I thought, let me see how much of this money I can spend on kingdom purposes.
SPEAKER_00: So I started doing research, trying to find out what it costs to train a missionary, what does it cost to send a missionary?
SPEAKER_00: What does it cost to plant churches in the United States and around the world?
SPEAKER_00: And I started spending some money.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I spent money on.
SPEAKER_00: There are about three billion people in the world who do not yet have access to the gospel because there's not a missionary to go there and there's not funding to get them there.
SPEAKER_00: Three billion.
SPEAKER_00: Three billion people in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Three billion who do not know who Jesus is, who have never heard his name.
SPEAKER_00: There's not a church, there's not a Christian next door, there's not a book.
SPEAKER_00: No access to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Three billion.
SPEAKER_00: So with my money that I'm using from the American Church, we're going to fund every additional missionary that is needed to take the gospel to every corner of the earth, to people who do not yet have access to it, and we're going to pay their salary for the next 20 years.
SPEAKER_00: Add to that, we're going to pay for the Bible translation to be finished in every language that does not yet have the Bible translated into their language.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to plant one million new churches around the world, and we're going to pay for the pastors' education of those one million churches and for their salary for the next 20 years.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to train another 100,000 pastors and ministry leaders in the United States, and we're going to launch 100,000 churches for them to lead.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to start an endowment to fund the financial needs of the operating budgets of the American church forever.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I spent the money on.
SPEAKER_00: All of that.
SPEAKER_00: How is this possible?
SPEAKER_00: How is it possible that there are young, eager church planters that can't get off the ground because there's not money to fund it?
SPEAKER_00: When the American church is sitting on a hundred trillion.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the problem.
SPEAKER_00: See, God owns everything.
SPEAKER_00: He owns everything.
SPEAKER_00: Everything belongs to him.
SPEAKER_00: Anything that I or you, anything we think we own, we're deceiving ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: God has given and he will take away in a flash.
SPEAKER_00: To use all of his things for his purposes.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he is so kind and so generous, he says, you can use 90% of it for your own stuff.
SPEAKER_00: Just give me 10%.
SPEAKER_00: I can take that and do what everything.
SPEAKER_00: Just give me 10% dedicated to my stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And the American church, the disconnect is right here.
SPEAKER_00: We have self-promoted ourselves from stewards to owners.
SPEAKER_00: And we functionally say, this is my stuff.
SPEAKER_00: My money and my retirement and my house and my car.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll do what I want with it, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This is the single reason that we have not completed the work of the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_00: Is because the American church is greedy and fearful.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the two things.
SPEAKER_00: We have God's stuff in our hands, and fear says, I don't think he's going to provide for me, so I'll hold on to it.
SPEAKER_00: And greed says, I think the stuff that you've given me is the whole point of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'll keep it.
SPEAKER_00: CVC has had a long history of being generous.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so grateful for that.
SPEAKER_00: I've been the beneficiary.
SPEAKER_00: As a young man, I still remember a moment.
SPEAKER_00: I was so broke coming out of college.
SPEAKER_00: I was supposed to play the guitar in the worship band, and I didn't have enough money to buy gas to put in my car to get from Baldwin Wallace to CVC.
SPEAKER_00: And somebody from CBC handed me a$100 bill.
SPEAKER_00: I still remember being in a staff meeting, and somebody walked into our staff meeting and handed out$50 bills and said, I want you to go on a date with your spouse this evening.
SPEAKER_00: I have watched over and over and over again as God has provided lavishly, not only for our church, but to fund the missions and missionaries and church plants all over the city and the world.
SPEAKER_00: And my all I'm asking is that we would not let the foot off the gas pedal.
SPEAKER_00: That when we have a church plant that's ready to go, that we would be a supplying church and eager to fund it.
SPEAKER_00: Are you a consumer or a catalyst?
SPEAKER_00: Because who you are will determine who we are.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, a church filled with kingdom catalysts is a serving church.
SPEAKER_00: Sending church, supplying church, serving church.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is kind in his word choice there.
SPEAKER_00: Not be unfruitful.
SPEAKER_00: What he means is waste your life.
SPEAKER_00: Let our people learn, which indicates we have more learning to do.
SPEAKER_00: To do what?
SPEAKER_00: Devote.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek there is there's emphasis to fiercely devote themselves to good works, very broad, so as to help urgent cases of need and not waste your life.
SPEAKER_00: The solution, the defense to your life not being a waste, and my life not being a waste, is to dedicate ourselves fiercely to learn more and more to dedicate ourselves to good works.
SPEAKER_00: See, we not only send out and supply, but we actually want to maintain the health of our church as well.
SPEAKER_00: And let me, I'll just be honest.
SPEAKER_00: If we're gonna send out more and more people, then people are gonna have to backfill those leadership responsibilities and those volunteer opportunities.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have to create a culture where everybody is pulling on the rope, where nobody gets to just come in and be a consumer and go home.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's pulling on the rope for the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about, there's so many people in our church that are just, some of you are just extraordinary servants.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so grateful to pastor of a church where people are so generous, not only with their money, but with their time.
SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking about just, I wanted to come up with one example.
SPEAKER_00: And the people who came to mind are Tim and Melissa Hendricks.
SPEAKER_00: I think we have a picture of their family.
SPEAKER_00: That's Melissa right there in the center.
SPEAKER_00: You probably recognize her because she leads worship pretty regularly.
SPEAKER_00: It's her husband Tim on the right.
SPEAKER_00: Tim spends a lot of time teaching our children, and those are their five kids.
SPEAKER_00: Tim's mom is in memory care.
SPEAKER_00: Melissa's dad suddenly passed away recently.
SPEAKER_00: And five children.
SPEAKER_00: They have every reason to kind of hunker in and take care of home base, and yet they're here every week serving their kingdom catalysts.
SPEAKER_00: And so I just asked, I said, hey, I want to know what's going on in your guys' hearts?
SPEAKER_00: What are the conversations like in your home?
SPEAKER_00: Can you encourage CVC a little bit?
SPEAKER_00: And I had to edit their letter.
SPEAKER_00: The whole thing is on our blog.
SPEAKER_00: I want to encourage you to go read it this week.
SPEAKER_00: CVConline.org slash blog.
SPEAKER_00: But here are just a few words from Melissa and Tim.
SPEAKER_00: They said when Pastor Joe first asked us to offer up a statement of encouragement for CVC, our first instinct was to marvel at the timing.
SPEAKER_00: Had we been given this statement a year ago, we might have been able to offer better encouragement from a stronger place both in joy and in faith.
SPEAKER_00: Not that our lives have been exceptionally difficult, certainly not compared to some of the hardships that others in this room have experienced, but just that the sting of loss, the horror of sickness, and the pressures of raising a family have brought us low, with the inevitable fear that God might bring us lower still.
SPEAKER_00: Yet thanks to God's goodness, grace, and mercy, this has not kept us from being able to serve, both here at CVC and in our neighborhood and community.
SPEAKER_00: It is our human nature to want to hunker down when times get tough, to withdraw into ourselves and seek solace and protection in whatever ways we can.
SPEAKER_00: But God's ways are not our ways, and in Christ, the key to finding the good life is not in seeking after the things of this world, but to die to ourselves and in so doing find riches and joy beyond measure.
SPEAKER_00: When we step forward to offer our service to God in his kingdom, no matter how busy we are or how small of a portion we can offer, we are putting our faith into action.
SPEAKER_00: The strangest thing about serving God, especially when it is neither convenient nor easy, is that it brings more joy, more encouragement, and greater reward even in the here and now than anything else that we could do.
SPEAKER_00: God in his loving kindness and mercy takes our weakness and undeserving talents and uses them to bring about goodness beyond comprehension.
SPEAKER_00: When life is at its hardest, we get the privilege of seeing firsthand the amazing works that God is doing in this church, this community, in this world.
SPEAKER_00: When we feel like drowning in pity and worry, it is our chance to serve that brings about joy in the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: When we step forward to live out our faith, our faith becomes alive, breathing, and active in a real way that we desperately need.
SPEAKER_00: When God's people are devoted to good works, intent on bringing about faithfulness and fruitfulness for his kingdom, it is truly incredible what he can bring about, and there is no greater privilege than being a part of it.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: But if you call CVC home and you're not involved in a regular rhythm of serving, and I don't mean one or two big events a year, like that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: It's good.
SPEAKER_00: Come to sports camp or you know, another event that we might do.
SPEAKER_00: I actually mean a regular rhythm of being a part of our community by serving in some way.
SPEAKER_00: If CVC is your home and you're not a part of doing that, high school students included, middle school students included, your children included.
SPEAKER_00: Stevens crew, I've been so encouraged by you guys, even when the boys were little.
SPEAKER_00: I remember they'd march in here and you guys would have them greet with you on Sunday nights.
SPEAKER_00: This needs to be the air we breathe, the culture of who we are, that everybody does their part.
SPEAKER_00: This is what a church filled with kingdom catalysts looks like.
SPEAKER_00: A church that sends and a church that supplies and a church that serves.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're here and you go, I'm well, I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you two action steps, two easy pathways to serve.
SPEAKER_00: The first is cvconline.org slash volunteer.
SPEAKER_00: All of the volunteer opportunities are organized by ministry, by type.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to play an instrument or be like a super smiley person in the foyer.
SPEAKER_00: If you're really good at data entry, or if you'd like to come and help Pete with the grounds, sweeping floors, cutting grass.
SPEAKER_00: If you're good with social media or graphics, we desperately need help in that area.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a web developer, and there are a billion other things.
SPEAKER_00: And the answer can't be that we hire more staff people.
SPEAKER_00: We need you.
SPEAKER_00: And we all need one another.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're not involved, prayerfully consider going to cvconline.org slash volunteer.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the second opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: We're redeploying CVC Go.
SPEAKER_00: We started CVC Go during COVID, and it was a way to reach out into our community, and we were filling a lot of needs.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'll just be honest with you, I think the vision of that got a little bit scattered, and we lost focus.
SPEAKER_00: So we're so we're refocusing CVC GO under this mission statement.
SPEAKER_00: CVC GO exists to provide practical help to people in our church who, because of their circumstances, are unable to meet a need on their own.
SPEAKER_00: We particularly have in mind widows, widowers, the elderly, single parents, shut-ins, those living with disabilities.
SPEAKER_00: And it's really simple.
SPEAKER_00: You sign up and you're added to a communications list.
SPEAKER_00: And you're not obligated to jump into any one of these opportunities.
SPEAKER_00: But what happens is, let's say one of one of our widowed ladies needs her driveway plowed in the winter.
SPEAKER_00: We'll send out a message to everybody who's on that list and we'll say, hey, so-and-so at this address needs their driveway plowed so that they can get out of out of out of the driveway.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're on the way to work and you can't do it, no problem.
SPEAKER_00: But maybe you're home and you have a snowblower and you go, I can do that.
SPEAKER_00: You just say, I can do it.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be there.
SPEAKER_00: And we go, great, do that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, ought the church not to care for these needs?
SPEAKER_00: We ought to.
SPEAKER_00: And this is just a simple way for us to do it.
SPEAKER_00: Quite honestly, I think everybody in our church should be on that list.
SPEAKER_00: That's my opinion.
SPEAKER_00: You're not obligated to do it at any given point, but if you can, you can fill that need.
SPEAKER_00: You can't know about it unless you're on the list.
SPEAKER_00: These flyers are in the foyer.
SPEAKER_00: I keep they're not a flyer, Gina said.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a flyer, it's a postcard.
SPEAKER_00: It's a postcard.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Is this I don't know what the difference is, but she told me.
SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of ways on here that you can get involved.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have a need, we want to know.
SPEAKER_00: We've got a couple guys that are gonna lead this up.
SPEAKER_00: They're ready to go.
SPEAKER_00: We've got communication tools in the background.
SPEAKER_00: My hope is that everybody will jump in.
SPEAKER_00: Look, I know I've hit you with a lot today.
SPEAKER_00: I can tell by the silence in the room that I've hit you with a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's like, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want to do as we close.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the band's not gonna come back.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Rick and I developed, well, I asked some questions and he took it and he developed it into a series of 10 questions for self-assessment that will help each of us determine if we are a kingdom consumer or a kingdom catalyst.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to ask you actually to consider, to prayerfully consider this over the next two weeks, between now and state of the heart.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna show you those self-examining questions this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But they're also available at the blog, cvconline.org slash blog.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to invite you to go there this week and print out those questions or use them on your device and continue to pray for them, asking the question, God, truly, am I a kingdom consumer or am I a catalyst?
SPEAKER_00: Rate yourself in there on one to ten on each of these questions.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna start right now.
SPEAKER_00: Give me five more minutes and I'll get you out to this beautiful sunny afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: Five more minutes.
SPEAKER_00: The team upstairs is just gonna put on some background music.
SPEAKER_00: Those questions are gonna run through.
SPEAKER_00: And if there's one self assessment question this morning where you go, man, the Lord's just pressing on your heart that something needs to change.
SPEAKER_00: I want to encourage you to make a change.
SPEAKER_00: So let's take five minutes, prayerfully consider these self assessment questions, and I'll come back up and we'll close our time in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, you know that all morning I have felt like this is so much content.
SPEAKER_00: I'm worried that people will be paralyzed by all that I've said.
SPEAKER_00: But I believe that these are your words for our church for such a time as this.
SPEAKER_00: And so would you take what has been said today and by the power of your spirit apply it to each of our lives in the way that we need to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Show us, Lord, shine light on the areas of our hearts and our lives where we remain committed to being kingdom consumers instead of catalysts.
SPEAKER_00: Father, my heart has been drawn, especially this morning, to the next generation.
SPEAKER_00: I think of the high school students who stood up in the balconies, the middle school students who are over in room 104, 106, our college students who have just headed back to school, and our little ones that fill every single room in the rest of this building.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder what they're seeing in us.
SPEAKER_00: Or do they see in us a picture of the comfortable American church?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that we would leave a legacy of being attending and supplying and serving church.
SPEAKER_00: God, would you raise up the next church leaders from among them?
SPEAKER_00: Would they be more courageous than we are for the cause of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Would they be more generous than we are for the purpose of your kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: Would we see the gospel advance on their watch a hundred times more than what has happened in our generation?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you started CVC 40 years ago with a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so grateful for our leadership and for our people, for the ways that we've been able to invite more people to new life in Christ and our city, for the churches we've planted, for the missionaries that we've sent out.
SPEAKER_00: But I humbly just ask you for more.
SPEAKER_00: Would these next 40 years blow the first 40 out of the water?
SPEAKER_00: That we would see the gospel advance in ways that we never thought possible.
SPEAKER_00: Because we determine in our hearts to be kingdom catalysts.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let us off the hook, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: If we drift into the kind of church that aims to protect what we have, would you correct us?
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, if we continue to grow into a church that is filled with kingdom catalysts, who are aimed at your glory and your purposes in the world, would you multiply the little bit that we bring you?
SPEAKER_00: Thirty or sixty or even a hundredfold.
SPEAKER_00: Would you make it so?
SPEAKER_00: And every individual in this room, because who we are as individuals will determine who we are as a church.
SPEAKER_00: May CVC, all of our days, be focused on the advance of your kingdom until you return where they put us in the ground.
SPEAKER_00: Like it says on the stone above those doors as you walk in.
SPEAKER_00: To God alone be the glory.
SPEAKER_00: Make it so.
SPEAKER_00: We ask in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.