WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:04.000 We pray this in Jesus' mighty name. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:04.719 Amen. 00:00:04.959 --> 00:00:05.360 Amen. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:06.240 Thank you, Grace. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:07.599 And you can be seated. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:09.519 Welcome to Revive Church. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:15.119 My name is Kyle Morris, and I'm lead pastor here and excited that you're joining us today. 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:19.440 We as a church, we are walking through the book of Luke right now. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:33.039 But uh what we're gonna do today in the next three weeks is we're pausing that book study on Luke in order to take a little bit of time as a church to talk about vision and where God is leading us. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:48.640 And we do this from time to time, at least once a year we talk about vision, but there are moments where maybe every three to five years we kind of stop what we're doing and we consider where God is leading us corporately as a body. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:52.159 On one hand, we already have a grand vision from God. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:01:03.520 Uh Jesus, before he left this earth, he told his disciples, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:17.519 And then in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus actually told his disciples, Hey, I'm sending you my spirit, and when you receive my spirit, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:23.120 So on one level, we already have our marching orders from Jesus Himself. 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:36.079 We are to build his church, we are to baptize, we are to align our lives to him, and we, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we are to be his witnesses right where we are and anywhere where God takes us. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:40.640 That is what the church is to be doing until Jesus returns. 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:48.480 Now, with that said, the church is made up of different people with different gifts and passions who are meeting all throughout the world. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:02:08.560 And so how we accomplish this grander vision of being a witness to Jesus Christ and making disciples who make disciples actually depends on the spirit of Jesus Christ that inhabits his people within a local church to express that in the way that the Holy Spirit is leading us to follow. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:10.159 And so I want to be very clear. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:19.759 When I say this is a vision series, this is what we believe God is doing among us and where his spirit is leading us. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:26.560 Proverbs 29, 18 says this where there is no vision, the people perish. 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.680 God has wired us to have vision for our lives. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:44.639 Not only in the sense of the church and the gathered group of people who are followers of Jesus, but also he actually has given us a vision for how we are to lead others and how we are to lead ourselves and how we're to lead our families. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:50.800 We are to lead in order to steward anything that God has entrusted to us. 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:58.080 And so, as believers in Christ, first and foremost, we all have been entrusted with the greatest news on earth. 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:12.240 And so the question that we should always ask, whether it's for our own selves or for our families or for our neighborhoods, is how is the greatest news ever shaping the vision for my life? 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:13.919 That's not a secondary question. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:20.879 That is a primary question that helps us as followers of Jesus Christ to keep first things first. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:30.240 The gospel is ultimate, and because the gospel is ultimate, every decision and every aspect of our life should flow out of that place. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:32.080 How do I use my life? 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:33.680 How do I use my family? 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:38.800 How do I use my job in order to glorify Jesus Christ? 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:48.159 And so when we think about vision as a church, the most important question to ask is what is God doing right now and how is God inviting us to join Him? 00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:52.560 God does not need us, He does not need me to accomplish His vision. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:04:00.159 God instead He chooses to use us and He allows us to be a part of what He is already doing. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:11.759 And so when we think about our vision as a church, it should be the prayerful pursuit and the intentional following of Jesus' Spirit as He leads us. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:17.680 Doesn't mean that we don't make plans, doesn't mean that we just live with a spirit of spontaneity about everything we do. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:19.279 That's irresponsible. 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:23.680 It means that we keep our plans with an open hand. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:36.160 And even in the places where we believe that the Spirit is leading, we want to have open hands and open hearts to God, nimble enough to switch directions or shift things if the Spirit is leading. 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:42.639 One of my favorite verses over the years in vision leadership is Proverbs 16, 9. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:44.240 Many of you know this verse. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:49.920 The heart of a man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:56.079 The heart of a man plans his ways, but the Lord establishes his steps. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.040 I've been here at Revived Church for about 18 years. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:05.519 Recently celebrated my 10-year mark as the lead pastor of this church, and one of the things, thanks. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:09.680 I didn't do it for applause, but I'll take it. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:26.319 One of the things that I've been ruminating on a lot over the last few months is how God's vision and what he's allowing us to be a part of here, what he's allowing to unfold before our very eyes in this last decade is way bigger and way better than any of us planned. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:27.519 It really is. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:34.800 Only God can get the credit and the glory for the way that he is using this church to accomplish his purposes. 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:39.199 And it's not because we're smarter or more creative than we used to be. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:46.079 The reason why God has used us is because we have committed on waiting on him before we make plans. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:52.240 We've committed to allowing him to lead us and to join him in where he's already working. 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:57.680 In John chapter 5, which if you haven't read John chapter 5 in a while, what a beautiful chapter. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:05:58.879 Jesus said this. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:05.680 He said, My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:13.920 In the rest of John 5, Jesus goes to great lengths to express that he only does what the Father does. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:15.279 So think about this. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:24.639 When Jesus was on earth and we're watching him do these incredible things, did you know that he was taking his steps and his leadership path from God the Father? 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:38.000 He wasn't functioning on his own, but instead he subjected himself under the Father with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to do the very things that God was leading him to do. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:46.399 And so when we think about church vision in light of this, the question is, where is God working and how do we join him in the work? 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:47.920 Where is he at work? 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:50.319 Where do we see him working and blessing? 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:53.839 And how do we join him in the work that he's doing? 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:57.759 Now, in order to answer that question, we actually have to go, we gotta go back. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:06.720 We gotta look at the past before we look at the present where our feet are right now, or even the future of where we believe that God is leading. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:13.920 Because it's not like God just started working through our generation to see his kingdom come in Arvada. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:17.279 This church is coming up on its 40th birthday. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:18.240 Did you know that? 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:20.800 40 years old. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:27.839 God has been working through this church, preparing people's hearts to receive him and to walk with him. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:34.160 And if you look at the vision of our church over the last almost 40 years, here's what is crystal clear. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:39.279 This church, revived church, has always been an others-centered church. 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:54.160 It has always been a church with an external focus of loving and serving our community, not just sitting back and waiting for people to walk in our doors, but saying, no, we believe the gospel is expressed when we go out. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:08:00.240 And God, in that, has led us to have a particularly soft heart for single moms. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:02.480 And how do we come alongside a single mom? 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:08.160 And how do we help her life in partnership with God go from just surviving to thriving? 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:10.800 This has always been the case of this church. 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:18.639 In fact, in the church's early days, the statement that defined this church was this is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:23.839 This is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:29.199 And this kind of vision, it's taken shape many different ways over the years, but one thing has remained. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:37.200 We are committed to this community, and we are committed to living out the gospel in such a way that we bring light into darkness. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:42.879 Now, before we look deeply at the past, I think it's important for us to consider that turning points matter. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:55.919 There are seminal moments in the life of any church that describe decisions that were made that didn't just impact that generation, but actually impacted generations for decades to come. 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:18.480 When you look at the Old Testament, you can't help but see, if you're willing to look, that God actually commanded the people of Israel to memorialize these kinds of decisions, to actually build altars and Ebenezer's as a way of physically reminding his people of where they had been, not just for them to look at, but also for the generations to come. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:20.399 Why would God do that? 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:23.759 Well, first and foremost, he wants us to remember his faithfulness. 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:28.240 God also knows that human beings, without intentional ways to remember, guess what? 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:29.840 We naturally forget. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:35.039 And so we don't have to remember to forget, but we do have to remember to remember. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:38.799 In doing so, we're reminded of two very important things. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:43.519 Number one, God is faithful. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:46.559 God is faithful. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:49.679 When we consider the testimonies of the past, guess what? 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:54.720 When we consider the testimonies of the past, we are filled with faith for the future. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:10:01.919 I don't know if you know this, but the Hebrew word for testimony means to repeat or do it again. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:03.919 Repeat or do it again. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:17.679 So when we look back at these pivotal moments in our past, we are not only reminded of God's faithfulness back then to that group of people, but we are actually celebrating the fact that we serve a God who will do it again. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:23.519 It may look different for our generation, but God's faithfulness is unchanging. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:30.080 That's why when we gather together on Baptism Sundays, how many of your eyes fill with tears? 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:35.679 Like you're you're watching people on this stage whose lives, some of them have been radically transformed. 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:42.480 You're watching children come to the microphone at eight years old and ten years old and profess their faith in Jesus Christ. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:51.600 And the reason why our eyes fill with tears is because we are reminded that God is doing it again, that he's repeating his faithfulness. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:56.879 You see, it's so important when we think about vision to consider the past. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:04.960 When I think about vision, I think about a path, and in many ways, every church has a path that they're walking. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:20.720 And in the middle of the last probably 10 years, there were moments where we as a leadership team sensed what God was calling us to, and we also sensed that what he was calling us to was greater than our collective potential. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:22.240 That's actually a good place to be. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:30.879 If God has you in a place right now, in a job or in your home where you feel like what is needed and what's required of you is greater than what you have, you're in a good spot. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:35.759 The moment you think that you have what it takes is the moment that you stop needing God. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:44.879 And I remember in this vision season, I was in my office, and when we were located next to our offices, there was this space in the back of my office that had a shower and a bathroom. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:47.440 I have no idea why it used to be a doctor's office. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:50.000 Never showered there, but I did go in there and pray. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:54.320 And I felt like in this moment, that was too much information, by the way. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:57.120 Wasn't Ed's like, that wasn't in the notes. 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:03.120 Um I felt like when I was praying one day, the Lord gave me a picture of paver stones. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:09.519 And he basically said in that moment, he goes, Hey, look, listen, you're wanting me to show you the path that's ahead. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:12.240 You're wanting me to show you every single stone. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:14.080 I'm not gonna do that. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:17.919 That wouldn't serve you well, that wouldn't serve the church well, but here's what I'm gonna show you. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:23.679 I'm gonna invite you to turn around and I'm gonna invite you to look at the past and to see my faithfulness. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:31.200 And then, and only then would it make sense, I'm actually gonna invite you to put this paver stone down and step at the same time. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:35.519 And that is a picture of what it means to follow God. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:39.120 That's what it means, not just as a church, but in our lives. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.000 Following God, did I, oh man. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:47.919 Following God means that we are faithful with what he puts in our hand. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:53.759 Not faithful with ten steps forward, just the very thing that he's given us, be faithful with that. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:59.440 And so when we when we look to the past and we think about vision, we celebrate that God is faithful. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:00.000 But guess what? 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:03.360 We also celebrate the faithfulness of those who have come before us. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:16.320 We have almost four decades of people who have come before us at Revive, thousands who have prayed, thousands who have served, thousands who have sacrificially given, thousands who have vulnerably testified to the goodness of God. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.679 If you've been here longer than 10 years, I just want you to raise your hand for a moment. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:21.039 Thank you. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:22.879 Thank you for your faithfulness. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:28.799 Thank you for the ways that you have served, you have prayed, you have loved, you have given. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:41.840 You see, thousands of people in little ways and big ways before us have prepared a place for us to be here today to experience the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. 00:13:42.799 --> 00:14:03.679 And even in this room, 38 years from now, many of us we will not be here, but we have this opportunity right now to be a part of the story that God is writing, to be a part of what it means to prepare a place so that 30 years from now, hopefully, the next generation will point back to the faithfulness of God, but also the faithfulness of those who have come before them. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:09.360 I've spent the last couple months in nostalgia, remembering to remember all that God has done. 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:16.000 And so this morning I've tried to kind of bottle that up in a way of giving God glory and hopefully bringing encouragement to you. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.159 And so I think about uh vision and pictures and objects. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:23.039 So there's three objects that I'm gonna use this morning. 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:30.080 One is a rock, one is a canoe, and one is a garden. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:32.159 And so we're gonna pray and then dive in. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:34.480 Father, this morning, would you get the glory? 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:37.519 God, there's just nothing as I've thought about the last 10 years. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:48.000 There's just so many things we didn't plan, so many things we didn't expect, so many things we didn't anticipate, but you are the God who expects, plans, and anticipates everything. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:50.399 And so, Lord, would you be glorified in our hearts? 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:55.200 Would we not walk out this door thinking, wow, Kyle did a really great job of encapsulating 40 years? 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:57.759 Would we walk out this door going, God is so good? 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:00.559 And to him be the glory forever and ever. 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:01.679 Amen. 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:04.000 Alright, so rocks. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:10.720 I want to invite you to travel back with me in a time machine to the late 1900s. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:17.440 At a time, at a time when this church, revived church, was known as Foothills Community Church. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:18.799 I appreciate that, Jen. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:25.279 Our church at that time, our church at that time was meeting in Moore Middle School. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:26.480 Anybody remember that? 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:29.120 The setup and tear down days, they're like, yep. 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:37.120 Before we leased this space, the church met in several locations from Moore Middle School to Pomona to Arvada Center. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:46.080 In fact, there was a summer that Brenda Caker was telling me about where there was uh a reason they had to move out of their space, and so they didn't even know where they would be from week to week. 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:50.399 And so the saying went, if you can find us, you can worship with us. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:16:02.399 Now, eventually, this space that we're sitting in today was leased out, and this worship center was formed out of what many of you remember as a United Artist Theater. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:08.639 So this space we're sitting in was three theaters, and the name of the theater was the Cooper Six Theaters. 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:13.679 Some of you, you remember this theater because you had your very first date in this room. 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:16.000 Maybe even went for the handhold. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:20.240 Some of you, you, and we appreciate it, stuck your gum under the seats. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:34.960 Now, before the church moved into this space and while at Moore Middle School, they were made aware of an investment opportunity out west, about eight miles from here in the area that we know today as Whisper Creek. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:42.159 And at that time, in 1997 to 1998, the only thing that was plentiful out there were prairie dogs. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:49.679 There's no Whisper Creek, there's no candelas, there's no booming west of the city that is happening right now. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:59.440 And so a couple hundred people called Foothills Community Church found out about this investment opportunity, and they had the opportunity to buy 90 acres for a million dollars. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:07.599 And although there was nothing out there, the people believed that God was inviting them to this investment opportunity. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:15.920 Sometime around the purchase of that land, there was a gathering, almost a ceremony that took place on that land on these newly acquired acres. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:19.839 And on that property, there was a cross that was constructed and put on that property. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.440 And the church gathered around in a circle, and each person that night was asked to bring a rock. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:30.960 And thanks to Michael Sergeff, our facilities director, in 2020, I went out there when we sold the last piece of land. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:35.440 Michael went out there and actually found some of those original rocks and brought them back. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:41.359 And on these rocks, each family was invited to write their name. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:46.480 And there was a moment, as I've talked to those who were there, where people came and they laid their rocks down. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:56.400 And while no one had a crystal ball and nobody knew what was going to happen on that property, there was a sense that day that they were consecrating that land for something. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:00.480 That they were dedicating that land and giving it back to God. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:08.960 And although there were no concrete plans on what would happen, this was a moment of surrender and sacrifice for this generation. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:15.519 Now, over the next 10 years, that land became increasingly valuable and actually became a windfall. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:26.319 It became an asset to the church for us to survive the years like 2008 and other economic downturns where we were able to sell this land and we were able to stay afloat. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:29.039 All right, fast forward with me to 2016. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:37.920 My predecessor Steve Harling had moved on from his lead pastor role to run a missions organization, and I was given the opportunity to lead in his place. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:46.559 And sometime about a few months before I took over as the lead pastor, the largest hospital organization in America knocked on our door. 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:49.839 They made an offer to buy this entire shopping center. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:56.720 And at that time, we owned about 70% of the center, and then a businessman in New York owned about 30%. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:59.680 On paper, absolute no-brainer. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:07.440 The shopping center was old, it was dilapidated, it actually had become a place where businesses went to die. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:18.400 The parking lot actually was so empty and so underutilized that the Arvada Police Department made their daily parking lot time to meet and to do their paperwork on our campus in their cars. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:19.599 Let me show you a picture. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:27.359 This is a picture of 2017 on an average day here at what we know today as the bridge in 2017. 00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:31.519 Let me show you a picture of what this looked like about a year ago. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:36.000 I was expecting a better response. 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:42.160 If I do, if I do that again, if I do that again, the proper response is, ooh. 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:43.759 Ah. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:50.400 No, the shopping, if you were here, you know the shopping center was dead, but we serve the God of resurrection. 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:56.559 After praying and fasting and processing the hospital's offer as a church, God led us to do the unthinkable. 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:13.359 We turned down this lucrative offer of money, and even though we had valuable land out in Whisper Creek that we could have built a church on, as we prayed, it was very clear that God had called us to this geographic area to love the people in this proximity. 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:18.720 God was leading us to stay, but we didn't really have a vision. 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:25.039 Now, I want to pause that moment and I want to transition from the rocks to the canoes. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:35.039 Because there have been some moments in our church where we might think of them in the time as insignificant, but they actually were God's leading and our following. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:38.240 Our church is centrally located. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:42.319 We were already at this time having a significant impact in this community. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:53.359 But in 2017 and 2018, after we decided not to sell the pro or not to uh sell this property, we actually had some big questions we were asking. 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:57.920 How do we engage a culture that seems to be retreating from the church? 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:02.799 What does it mean to not just sit back and wait for people to walk into a church service? 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:08.319 If God did bless us with this entire shopping center, how would we use it? 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:13.920 In 2017, our entire staff, we read a book called Canoeing the Mountains. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:19.920 And we actually did a series called The New Terrain, where for four weeks we had a giant canoe on this stage. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:22.160 Anyone remember that series? 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:24.640 We read a book called Canoeing the Mountains. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:28.240 It's written by Todd Bolsinger, who's a seminary professor at Fuller. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:33.440 And in that book, he presented a metaphor to us that actually shaped the road ahead. 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:37.759 And it's still something that we talk about here at Revive on our team today. 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:45.839 And the metaphor is looking back to the expedition of Lewis and Clark in the early 18th century. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:53.759 If you know that story, Thomas Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to find the Northwest Passage by waterway, by canoe. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:59.759 And so Lewis and Clark they trained a corps of discovery and they set out by waterway just. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:06.319 Assuming that they would just canoe their way along until they hit the Pacific Ocean. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:10.160 And everything was going great until it wasn't. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:15.599 The plan was great until they realized that you can't actually canoe the Rocky Mountains. 00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:23.440 The journey ahead of Lewis and Clark required a new terrain with a new way of navigating. 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:29.839 There was no Northwest Passage, no navigable river, no rav river, no water route. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.359 They weren't prepared for the mountains. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:32.960 They weren't prepared for hiking. 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:36.799 They weren't prepared for mountain range after mountain range. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.680 And so they had to make a decision in that moment. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:45.920 Either engage the mountains or retreat back to where they had come from. 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:50.640 They would have to drop the canoes in order to climb the mountains. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:55.839 Lewis and Clark, they had to quickly transition from being river rats to mountaineers. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:59.759 They had to drop the canoes in order to carry the climbing ropes. 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:06.160 The metaphor for our church became the lens by which we thought about vision and what God was doing at our church. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:17.519 We knew that God was calling us to engage a culture, but the things that we did back then in order to reach the culture, they weren't going to get us to where we were reaching the culture moving forward. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:22.880 And so we started and continued to ask questions of how do we engage a culture that is retreating? 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:29.200 How do we win back the attention of a world that seems disinterested or even mistrusting of God? 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:31.279 And there's a lot of ways you can do that. 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:32.640 You can study all the trends. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:35.920 You can draw people to church, look at churches that are growing. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:42.559 Is it, you know, is it better product on Sunday mornings, more lights, more music, more hipster coffee, maybe some smoke? 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:44.319 Maybe that's what we should do. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:54.480 But through this metaphor, God, it felt like he was inviting us to do something different, to do something unexpected, to think about ministry in a new way. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:59.440 Not something that we could think of, but something that he was dreaming for our church. 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:17.200 So we had these decision points where we decided to stay put here, and we're also trying to listen to God, and we believe God's telling us, hey, not only are you going to stay put here, but you're actually going to find a way to engage the community not just with Sunday morning, but every day of the week. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:20.720 That brings us to the gardens. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:25.599 Kind of a pitiful garden, but not bad for how small it is. 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:31.119 Soon after this time, God directed us to a passage that shaped this vision. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:33.119 It's found in Jeremiah 29. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:41.359 And this passage actually led us to answering these big questions of how do we engage a culture that is retreating from the church? 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:44.960 What would we do if we own this entire shopping center? 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:56.000 And in this passage, if you're familiar with it, Jeremiah, who was an Old Testament prophet, he's writing to the people of Israel, and the people of Israel, they're in exile in Babylon. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:59.680 And God had warned the people of Israel over and over again. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:06.400 He had sent prophets like Jeremiah and prophets like Ezekiel, he had sent them over and over to say, hey, turn from your evil ways. 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:08.720 Stop worshipping the gods around you. 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:12.079 Keep your eyes and your focus on me. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:18.559 And it was through prophets like Jeremiah where God announced his warning of judgments. 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:28.079 And these warnings unfortunately fell on mostly deaf ears, and eventually the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and carried the Israelites into exile. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:31.839 He sent them to live in Babylon. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:36.319 Now I get it, we're not Israel and we're not living in Babylon, but here is what we have in common. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:39.279 Israel at this time was the church. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:41.119 They were the people of God. 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:43.759 And they were not living in their ultimate home. 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:47.519 They were living in a place where they felt out of sorts and out of place. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:49.759 They were exiles. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:51.519 We are exiles too. 00:25:52.160 --> 00:26:00.880 Not in the same sense as the people of Israel, but in the sense that, hey, this place is not our final home. 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:02.960 And in so many ways we should feel that. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:06.240 We should long for something more than what we're experiencing right now. 00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:13.200 Even if your life right now is A plus, 100% there should be a yearning and a longing for something more. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:17.119 Because we were made for more than this world and this life. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:19.759 This is not our final home. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:27.759 I bumped into this passage from the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians today in my, or this week in my one-year reading. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:38.960 Paul writes these words, For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:45.039 Meanwhile, we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:48.480 Because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 00:26:48.799 --> 00:27:02.000 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:10.319 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose, God, who has given us the Spirit as his deposit, guaranteeing us what is to come. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:15.599 So this body, this place we live, this is not finality. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:16.880 And so we feel that. 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:18.880 We yearn for something more. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:23.920 Peter in his letter said, we are exiles, we are foreigners in this land. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:25.200 Now here's what's cool. 00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:26.799 We're gonna talk about this later in the series. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:27.440 Guess what? 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:31.119 Right now, Jesus Christ said, Hey, I'm preparing a place for you. 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:35.119 I'm preparing a final place right now for you. 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:38.400 Until then, we're exiles. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:46.880 So here you have the nation of Israel, they're living like exiles in this foreign land, and the question that the Israelites have is, how long are we gonna be here? 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:52.480 And until God returns us back to our land, what in the world are we supposed to be doing? 00:27:52.799 --> 00:28:00.319 Now, from Babylon, their captive, their captors, there was a vision that they had in place, a vision of assimilation. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:05.519 You see, the Babylonians had a strategy for how they wanted the people of God to live in their land. 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:08.240 And it's not unlike our world today. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:10.240 It was called assimilation. 00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:16.319 The Babylonians did not treat the Israelites as slaves like the Egyptians did for hundreds of years. 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:22.880 In fact, the Babylonians invited the Israelites to eat at their tables and to hold their best jobs. 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:30.480 The Israelites, they were allowed to act, they were allowed to live like Babylonians as long as they became like them. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:33.440 We see this strategy unfold in the book of Daniel. 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:34.559 You know the story of Daniel? 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:46.079 Daniel and his three friends are taken out of Israel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego ringing any bells, and they're invited into Nebuchadnezzar's palace, the king's palace, and they're invited in there to sit at his table. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:48.319 They don't have to eat vegetables like everyone else. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:51.200 Nebuchadnezzar says, Hey, here, eat my steak. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:53.200 But I want to change your name. 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.799 Daniel, I want to change your name to Belteshazzar. 00:28:57.039 --> 00:28:59.759 I want you to become like us. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:08.400 If you just assimilate to who we are, just lose your identity, your distinctive, just give up yourself and you can have everything that we have. 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:11.839 Listen, we're seeing this in our culture today, even in the church. 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:21.920 Theology and orthodox beliefs that have literally held weight for thousands of years are being abandoned by the church in order to assimilate to the culture. 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:28.000 A culture that more and more is rejecting God and absolute truth and morality. 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:34.559 So that was one of the things that the Israelites could have chosen as exiles. 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:37.279 The next one was a vision of isolation. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:40.000 The Israelites actually had their own strategy. 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:43.359 It wasn't to assimilate, it was to isolate themselves. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:45.039 Stay away from the city. 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:46.880 Stay away from the Babylonians. 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:50.160 Don't put yourself in a position to be tainted by the evils of Babylon. 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:55.680 In fact, in Jeremiah chapter 28, the chapter before this, there was a false Israelite prophet. 00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:57.119 His name was Hananiah. 00:29:57.200 --> 00:29:58.480 You can go and read about him. 00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:05.599 He came to the people of Israel and basically said this, hey, listen, God's not going to have you here very long, maybe just a couple years. 00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:08.079 Just go live in a tent outside of the city. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:10.160 Just isolate yourselves. 00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:12.880 God will get you out of here soon. 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:21.359 Turns out that God actually sounded the alarm on Hananiah being a false prophet, and he was removed from the face of the earth for it. 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:27.920 Isolation for a Christian is not an option. 00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:33.359 I mean, I just want to connect this to some of the things that I hear people saying today. 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:46.160 Like people are just wanting to just bail on our state because politically things are not lining up how we think they should line up. 00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:49.920 Show me in the gospel, show me in the Bible where it says to do that. 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:56.240 Like just bail, just bail on the place that God has placed us where we are to be the aroma of Christ. 00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:00.000 How in the world can you be the aroma of Christ if you isolate yourself? 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:04.559 And so, isolation, that's not the option. 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:13.039 I mean, there's nothing about what Jesus taught or the way that he lived that communicated anything other than he was highly invested in the cities and the communities where he was. 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:17.519 So to follow Jesus and to live in love like Jesus right where we are is not to bail. 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:21.039 It's not to just move down to Florida. 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:28.960 And you may move to Florida for other reasons, but we are called to be in the places where God has called us to be the aroma of Christ. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:42.319 There's an alternative to the vision of assimilation that the Babylonians were trying to put on the people of Israel and isolation which this Hananiah the prophet tried to put on Israel, and it's a vision of transformation. 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:45.359 Jeremiah 29, 4 through 7. 00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:49.039 This is the vision to listen to because this is God's voice. 00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:54.400 This is what he said to the people of Israel, living as exiles in Babylon. 00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:57.759 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says. 00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:01.839 To all those carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:08.640 So to everyone, the entire nation in this foreign land, build houses and settle down. 00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:11.920 Plant gardens and eat what they produce. 00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:13.680 Marry and have sons and daughters. 00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:18.880 Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. 00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:21.839 Increase in number there, do not decrease. 00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:29.039 Also, seek the peace and the prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:35.039 Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:37.440 God says, no, no, no. 00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:40.079 Seek the peace and the prosperity of the city. 00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:41.359 Plant gardens. 00:32:42.319 --> 00:32:49.119 Like use your influence that I've given you in that place to be my representatives. 00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:53.200 So what does that mean for us today? 00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:58.799 It means that we are to actually look at the places where God has put us. 00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:02.799 Not just from a church perspective, looking into Arvada and Northwest Denver. 00:33:02.960 --> 00:33:05.519 I would say, within your home, what is broken? 00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:07.759 Within your community, what is broken? 00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:08.400 Where you live? 00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:10.559 In your workplace, what is broken? 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:18.880 We are actually called to look into those places and to see the brokenness and then answer the question now that I know about that brokenness, what will I do? 00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:21.200 What will I do? 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:27.759 What are the areas where we can use our influence and God's anointing to help others? 00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:35.759 The word for peace here in the Greek means to bring about whole or complete healing. 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:36.720 It's a rich word. 00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:47.359 It communicates this idea of caring for the whole of a person or the whole of a place to invest deeply in order to bring about wholeness wherever we are. 00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:54.160 The way we like to think about this is to revive people in places where the in the city where God has placed us. 00:33:54.400 --> 00:33:59.599 Now you can imagine the shock of the people of Israel as they heard this instruction from God. 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:00.079 Hold on. 00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:02.079 God, you want us to know these people? 00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:06.400 You want us to help fix the dark and broken places here? 00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:09.039 You want us to plant gardens here, to make friends here. 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:11.280 You want us to pray for these people. 00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:23.599 This passage was an invitation for us as a church to begin thinking about what God might want to do on this patch of dirt here at 80th and Car. 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:27.840 Because here's the reality: God works in cities. 00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:28.800 He does. 00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:31.519 We're reading the book of Acts right now, we're studying it. 00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:43.039 And what we're seeing in the book of Acts is God is working in Antioch, and God is working in Philippi, and God is working in Lystra, and God is working in Derby, and God's going to work in Athens and Thessalonica. 00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:50.480 You see, this gave us more clarity to follow God's leading, to take the next step to join him in where he's wanting us to work. 00:34:50.639 --> 00:35:05.280 And so we began to put these things together of, hey, God's inviting us to drop the canoes, so to speak, to do ministry different, and now he's inviting us to be a kind of stalwart in this community of God's love and his grace. 00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:07.519 How do we express that to this community? 00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:11.119 How do we, in a sense, live out this vision of transformation? 00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:15.679 How do we become the shalom of God in this city? 00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:19.679 Now we have that context. 00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:22.079 We've got a heart for a community. 00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:28.320 We've got the willingness to do ministry in a different way, but we didn't have a clear vision from God on how to do it or what to do it. 00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:30.480 And at that time we had no money. 00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:33.039 We had valuable land, but we couldn't sell it. 00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:44.719 Each time we tried to sell the land out there, we would get to the point of purchase, and the buyer or something within the deal would absolutely fall apart until we got to 2019 and 2020. 00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:58.960 It's crazy, to be honest, to look back at 2019 and 2020 and to think about all of the craziness of COVID and to sit there and go, oh my goodness, God did more in the life of our church in those two years than I can even remember. 00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:13.039 First, at the beginning of 2020, the other owner of this shopping center who wasn't real happy with us that we had kind of stopped the deal with the hospital because that was going to be a lucrative way from him to get out from underneath what he owned here. 00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:16.239 He invited us to a steak dinner, which you just never turned down. 00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:23.360 And so a few of our leadership, we went downtown and we met him for a steak, and the steak tasted wonderful. 00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:27.440 And at the end of the meal, we're kind of like, okay, you invited us to be here. 00:36:27.599 --> 00:36:28.800 What do you want to talk about? 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:32.960 And the owner said to us, hey, I really want to be out of that property at 80th and Carr. 00:36:33.039 --> 00:36:34.239 I've been there for a long time. 00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:38.079 The church came in and really just killed the shopping center. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.559 And so he said, I'm gonna do a deal with you, and this deal is only good for this year. 00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:55.679 If the church can pay me$1.5 million for my portion of the shopping center, which is a huge, huge value for us, then I'll sell it to you this year. 00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:57.679 Now the problem was we didn't have any money. 00:36:57.920 --> 00:37:15.360 And so we shook hands at the end of that dinner, and I walked out to Stephen's car and we just sat outside in his car for about five minutes, overwhelmed with the reality that this guy had just offered the church a shopping center at an incredibly reduced price, but also a bit grieving because we didn't have any money. 00:37:17.039 --> 00:37:25.920 Just a short while later, listen, two weeks before COVID shut down the entire city of Arvada, God sold the property in West Arvada. 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:32.320