SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello, my name is Annalise. The Old Testament reading is found in Isaiah 40 27 through 31. Why do you say Jacob and declare Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord? My God ignores my predicament. Don't you know? Haven't you heard that the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth? He doesn't grow tired or weary. His understanding is beyond our human reach. Giving power to the tired and reviving the exhausted. Youth will become tired and weary. Young men will stumble. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will fly up on wings like eagles. They will run and not be tired. They will walk and not be weary by the word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Hello, my name is Lou. The New Testament reading is found in Acts chapter 18, verses 9 through 11. Today we celebrate the global communion of saints across borders, people groups, and languages by reading the scripture in another language. I will be reading in Spanish, and you can follow along on the screen in English. Una noche, El Señor dijo a Pablo, in una vision No tengas miedo. Sigue hablando y no te calles. Pues estoy contigo. Aunque te ataquen, no voy a dejar que nadie te haga daño. Enseñando entre el pueblo la palabra de Dios, the word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Hello, my name is Laura. If you're able, please stand for the gospel reading. Found in Luke 5, verses 1 through 5. One day Jesus was standing beside Lake Gennesaret when the crowd pressed in on him to hear God's word. Jesus saw two boats sitting by the lake. The fishermen had gone ashore and were washing their nets. Jesus boarded one of the boats, the one that belonged to Simon, then asked him to row out a little distance from the shore. Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking to the crowds, he said to Simon, Row out farther into the deep water and drop your nets for a catch. Simon replied, Master, we've worked hard all night and caught nothing. But because you say so, I'll drop the nets. The gospel of the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Let's remain standing as we pray. Jesus, we thank you for your words to us. We thank you for your spirit among us. Father, as we prepare ourselves to hear what you're saying, would you give us ears to hear? Would you give us eyes to see? Would you give us hearts to believe, minds to understand, the spirit to receive all that you want to impart to us today? We thank you for this amazing body of believers. We honor you in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. You guys. Communion of saints. How about that? Listen, some of you have been part of this journey for a long enough time to know that this was always that vision on the far horizon, and we're like, could it be? Maybe one day. And so here you are. And I'm so grateful. I'm overcome with gratitude being here this morning. So many emotions, so many people, so many lives. And Holly and our kids are just sad that they couldn't join me in being here this weekend. But when I think about this place, and I think about all of you, I think about how your fingerprints are all over our lives. When we started that Sunday night service, I was 31 years old. What did I know about anything? You know, and some of you were dumb enough to follow me, you know, but there you are. We started new life downtown. I was 34, still no clue, you know. And so here I am today, and I want you to know that for the 10 years that I got to serve uh as a pastor among you, you shaped me. You marked me. You, you, you taught me what it looks like uh to be a faithful follower of Jesus. And I want you to know that the seeds of those things that you put in my life, that you put in our lives, are bearing good fruit in another region of the country to this day. There are so many things that we do that we think about that we go, and people go, how where'd you learn this? Like, oh well, let me tell you. There are just be thankful. I tell the people at Rock Harbor all the time, just be thankful you didn't have to suffer through the ups and downs of my learning those things. So I'm grateful to you. I'm grateful for all that the Lord is doing in your midst. And I want to say, uh I I love Jason and Sarah so much. And Jason and Sarah, I honor you today. You are exactly who God had in mind to lead this congregation in this new season. Love. Love. Your love for the people, your love for the word of God, your passion to hold all the different streams together for the sake of a deep life with God and a deep unity with each other is truly remarkable. And all for the good of the city. There are a lot of churches that they're very happy to take the first two pieces, God and one another, but they're they fail to take that third piece for the good of the world. And that's what you guys take so seriously. And the best is yet to come. Uh, to communion of saints, you know, like listen, guys, is there a heartier, grittier, more resilient congregation on the planets? I mean, I don't know, man. I mean, you're like, we go outside, sure, we'll do church outside, you know. Can we go in a different high school? You bet. Can we move? Absolutely. And I, you, you know, sometimes when you're living in the midst of it, you don't know how special it is. But this is pretty countercultural to the American way. Increasingly, we're living in a country that is has been lulled to sleep by comfort and the pursuits of pleasure and leisure. Take it from me, I live in Orange County, the epicenter of comfort and leisure. The economist and best-selling author Tyler Cohen called a new breed of Americans the complacent class. A few years ago, he wrote that Americans today are unwilling to take risks, unwilling to start companies, unwilling to move houses, to take new jobs or make new relationships. He says we're working harder than ever to avoid change. We're marrying people more like ourselves, if we are, choosing our music and our mates based on algorithms that wall us off from anything that might be too new or too different. And Tyler Cohen warns that even from an economic perspective, from a societal perspective, this could result in the great stagnation crisis. And he contrasts it with the great American spirit of pioneering, of taking risks, of breaking new ground, of taking a swing. After all, our great American sport, Jason's favorite one in baseball, teaches us that there's two ways to strike out. One to swing and miss, but the other to watch a perfectly good pitch go over the plates. And Tyler Cohen says we're increasingly lulling ourselves into complacency. Orange County, California, is a place where if you if I were to name the idols, I could start with comfort. I could start with, as the British might say, leisure and pleasure. It's funny because a week from tomorrow, uh, we're going camping. Now, if you know me, you're like, Glenn, camping. I here's what I discovered. I've been camping with the wrong people my whole life. Right? When we lived here, these Colorado people wanted to take us not to a national park, but into the national park, and then an hour on a dirt road away from all the other campgrounds and ranger stations by some obscure stream. I think this is the perfect campsite. Right? That's you guys. And so we were left with this conclusion that maybe we're not camping people. Then we moved to California, and I discovered that there's this place in Yosemite Valley where you can get a yurt and a bed and a bathroom with running water. Next door is Curry Village, where you can buy pizza, you can get a latte in the morning. I go, that's my kind of camping. See? If I'm gonna leave my house, I want some comfort. This is how we are in America, and I want to talk to us today about Jesus as the great disruptor. Jesus is the great disruptor. Now, oftentimes there's a need in church to hear Jesus as the great comforter. Come to me, all you who are weary. That's absolutely part of the good news. But I have a feeling that today, in this cultural moment that we're living in, we actually need to remember that Jesus is a great disruptor. Jesus is not a little uh bobblehead that we can attach to the dashboard of our dreams as we drive along to the destiny of our own making and say, God bless my plans. Jesus is the Lord who takes over the vehicle and reroutes all of our plans. Jesus is a great disruptor. And so this morning the banner phrase that I want you to hold on to is when Jesus gets in the boat, when Jesus gets in the boat, and we're gonna fill out three things that happen when Jesus gets in the boat. If you've got a Bible term with me, Luke 5, you heard the reading this morning, but Luke 5, verse 1 opens like this. One day Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesareth, where the crowd pressed in around him to hear God's word. And Jesus saw two boats sitting by the lake. The fishermen had gone ashore and were washing their nets, and Jesus boarded one of the boats, the one that belonged to Simon, and then I love how Jesus just gets in the boat first. Doesn't ask, gets in first, and then he asked him to row out a little distance from the shore. And Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. Now think about this. These disciples, they're already cleaning their nets. They're done for the day. Parents of elementary kids, this is like you've gotten home from carpool and sports and activities, and then your fourth grader says, Mom, can we go to Target? Because I have a school project tomorrow I forgot to tell you about. And you go, What? I'm done for the day. This is like owning a pickup truck, and your friend who's moving says, Hey, what are your plans this weekend? And you're like, not to help you move. Jesus gets in the boat and he goes, Hey, why don't you row out just a little distance? Jesus disrupts them. And when Jesus gets in the boat, the first thing that happens is, number one, we move from weariness to willingness. We move from weariness to willingness. They were cleaning their nets because they're done for the day. The boats were pulled up to shore because their work was over. They were ready for a quiet evening. And Jesus goes, Would you just row out a little way? Five years ago, God disrupted our life and our comfortable plans. We thought we had a script, and God goes, Yeah, I don't think so. And not every derail, rerouting, unexpected disappointment, not everything is God, but sometimes if you're experiencing a disruption in your life, an unexpected change in your job status, an unexpected turn in the economy, if you're experiencing disruption, it's always a good idea to say, Jesus, are you in my boat right now? Are you in my boat right now? Are you trying to get me to be willing again? Five years ago, that was the dangerous prayer we prayed. God, are you in this? Are you in this boat with us? Are you trying to say something to us? And we tried to find every way to get around this. We knew, uh we began to realize that our season here leading this was ending, but it was time for Jason to take the lead. And so as we were discerning that, we're like, maybe there's other things we can do. And I went out the first time I visited Rock Harbor in November of 2021 and had breakfast the next day with Todd Proctor, a guy who uh had led Rock Harbor for 15 years or so, now leads Alpha USA or works with Alpha USA. And we sat down over breakfast and he's like, Man, how did it feel preaching? I was like, No, it's great. And he goes, Listen, if you didn't say yes to this or some other thing that God is calling you to, what would you do? And I began to describe, like, oh, maybe I'll do this, I'll kind of maybe do some coaching deals and you know, like try to help other pastors. And he looked at me across this little diner in Costa Mesa and he goes, dude, that sounds like a job for a retired person. And that's a dignity to a retired person, but an insult to a mid-40s guy. And he's like, You have lots left in the tank. Listen, Jesus gets in the boat because he's saying, You're you're not even close to being done. This mission is not even close to being over. But I love the kindness of God because he meets them in their weariness and he asks them just to row out a little bit. The Greek for put out a little way is a little way. I mean, it's like it's it's just it's exactly that. Just go a short distance, like just a couple feet, just do a little something. Weariness is real. When we arrived there in 2022, the church had been through quite a bit of turmoil. Leadership transitions, instability, interim. And I had the gift of having time before uh I was, you know, began preaching weekly. And so I had about a month of being in the role, but not in the public part of the role. And so I sat down with each team member and sat down for about 90 minutes and said, Tell me what's happening here. Tell me your story, tell me your passion, tell me what you envision your future. And in in every one of those meetings, every individual began to cry. And they're like, I don't, I don't even know why I'm crying. So weariness is real. Weariness when you go through disruptions is real. But what I one of the signs of weariness is this tendency to say, we're fine. We're fine, we're okay, this is fine. And do you know there is a way to spiritualize we're fine? We use the language of contentment. I mean, God just teach me to be content. Is he? Is he? Or are we selling things short? The British preacher and pastor John Stott said we should never be content for God to only get a little glory from our lives. He said he called it godly ambition, and he said, We should always desire that God get the maximum glory from our lives. And when you find yourself in a moment of weariness, just know that Jesus is just asking you to do one small thing. What are you willing to do? Will you row out just a little way? Just a little way. Listen, Communion of Saints downtown, this is a big, big thing you've come through. Being able to launch and begin this life as a as a church, as your own church in the city, it's a big move, but it is not your finish line. This is not the finish line. This is not the like, I've run through the tape, we're done. This is your starting block. This is your starting block. It's not, you're not, we're not done. And it's not the moment to go, well, there is a certain weariness that goes, yes, but it is, we have finished some. That's true. And maybe you don't go bolting out of the starting block, but maybe your willingness is just to put out a little bit further. Just to get out a little bit farther. We keep going to verse four. When he had finished speaking to the crowds, he said to Simon, Row out farther into the deep waters, drop your nets for a catch. And Simon replied, Master, we've worked hard all night and caught nothing, but because you say so, I'll drop the nets. Now, contrast, row out a little further to go out into the deep. That word there for deep is the same word in Matthew's gospel in the parable of the sower. Jesus says the seed needs to go deep into the soil. Jesus is saying, Look, I started by saying, Will you just go out a little bit? But that's not the last thing I'm gonna ask of you. Jesus, as C.S. Lewis once remarked, God is easy to please but hard to satisfy. Every parent is thrilled when their baby first makes sounds, but you're not satisfied with sounds. You want words, then you want polite words, then you want cogent arguments, then you want articulation. You you want you're not satisfied. God is that way. And Jesus starts by saying, go out a little bit, and then he goes, No, now go out further. And so the second thing that happens when Jesus gets in the boat is we move from resignation to risk. From resignation to risk. Deep waters are risky. Deep waters are risky. Jesus calls them back out into deep waters. Up the road from where we are is the birthplace of the vineyard movement. And some of you will be familiar with that, but John Wimber used to say, and many people repeat it to this day, that faith is spelt R-I-S-K. There is no way to trust in God unless you're taking a risk. There's no way to do it. You can say you're trusting in God, but if there isn't an element of putting out into the deep waters, we're not yet testing our trust in God. When I got there, Rock Harbor had more or less experienced nine, maybe ten years of steady decline. Resignation was a feeling in a lot of people. And if if weariness says we're fine, resignation says this is as good as it's going to get. And there needed to be a way to activate people again. Before I got there, Todd had stepped in as interim again, and he activated the church in this campaign called A Thousand Tables. And it was a fascinating campaign because this is 2022. I know in Colorado for us, COVID lasted like two months, but in California, COVID was like two years, you know. And so there's people who forgot the basics of how to eat with another human being, like not like this, you know. And he they they launched this campaign to go, could everybody just go to a meal with somebody? Have them in your home, go to a park. And every time you did it, you'd take a picture and send it in, they'd print it out, and there were Polaroids that filled the wall. And it was this idea of could we get a thousand tables? But it was a way of activating muscles that atrophied. When we embrace a mindset of resignation, the the risk-taking muscles do begin to atrophy. And I think Jesus sometimes will go, How about we row it a little bit deeper, just so I know you're still alive. Just so I know you're still awake. The truth is, if we will do what we can, God will do what we can't. If we will do what we can, God will do what we can't. But oftentimes, all the reason we we get stuck in resignation is we go, well, I can't. Well, I can't do that. Well, I can't change that. I can't change that. Cognitive psychologists tell us that the more people focus on the things they can't control, the more into a spiral of despair they get. And part of the key, even from a secular perspective, is activating your agency. What can you do about this? What can you do about the situation? What can we do about our neighborhoods? What can we do about the schools? What can we do about our church? If you will do what you can, God will do what you can't. This is what God does. That out of that Thousand Tables campaign began a reawakening. Rock Harbor has been a longtime alpha church, communion of saints downtown. You're an alpha hub church. Alpha, if you don't know, is a way to explore the faith over a meal. It's to watch a video or listen to a talk, but in the end, to fall in love with Jesus and find your place of belonging in the church. That's the end goal. To begin to belong and then believe and then enter into the life of the people of God. And so we began to activate the Alpha muscle, and it was slow in waking up. But then things began to happen three years in, four years in. I just heard this story from earlier this year. There was a young man named Daniel who came to Alpha last fall, and he was extremely anxious. Just coming into a church made him start shaking. He's like, I don't know if I can do this. I just and he sat through the entire course and was like, These people are a lot nicer than I thought, which is a common theme, isn't it, Jay? I mean, they're like, they're like, man, these people, they're not as weird as I thought. And he liked it, but he's like, I'm not a Christian, I'm not saying I believe in God. He's like, but can I help at the next round? And you know that the number one rule in Alpha is the answer to that is yes. So he signs up for the next course, but he's like, I'm gonna be a helper this time. So he's got a table leader, he's a helper. Halfway through the second course, he's still not a believer, but he's like, you know, we're kind of going along, just helping with the logistics. And this table leader is a guy who's like sort of intrepid, like hasn't really ever stepped out in faith, a guy named Parker. And Parker's the talk that night is probably week seven or whatever in the in the run of eight weeks, and it was about healing. And Parker's thinking, he's like, I've never seen healing, I've never prayed for healing, but here he is, the table host, talking about healing, you know. And so Daniel goes, Well, actually, I need healing. And Parker's like, dude, you're supposed to be my helper. Just shh. He's like, I got these terrible shin splints. And he's like, I'm trying to train for the police academy. And if I can't run, I can't pass the test. And so Parker's like, does anybody, I mean, I suppose it's me. So we got a Christian who's never prayed for healing, and a dude who doesn't believe in God. And so Parker prays for him. He goes, Lord, heal him. You know, I don't know what he said. The next day, Daniel calls him, he goes, You'll never believe it. I went out for a run. The pain is completely gone. It's completely gone. And he goes, Yes, you can thank God for that. And he goes, This was the last thing I was waiting for. I just wanted to know if God would do something for me. He goes, I'm ready to become a Christian now. He's part of the church. He's it belongs to the church. If you do what you can, God will do what you can't. Can I tell you one more story? A couple years ago, this couple messaged me on Instagram. Um, that's just a California thing, right? Instagram is everything. Uh there's so everybody's an influencer, it's amazing. Um this couple, this cut this couple DM'd me and they're like, hey, we just started coming to church. Can we meet with you? I was like, sure, let's meet. So we sit down in my office and uh they go, the guy's like, I didn't grow up around Christianity at all. Like, I don't, I don't, I didn't I don't believe this, still don't believe this. And she's like, I did, but I had a terrible experience with the church when I was a little girl. And her name is Stevie, and this is a bizarre story, but the church she went to as a kid, they like pulled her in a classroom and scolded her for having a boy's name. It was like horrible experience. And so she's like, These are terrible people, I don't want to have anything to do with it. And uh, and and they're like, we just started coming. I was like, Oh, what was your first Sunday? This is the Sunday that you were preaching about uh the Bible's view of human sexuality. I go, wow, real seeker-friendly message, you know. And uh, they're like, Oh, we loved it. It was amazing, it was interesting. So we're talking, uh, we're we're following up on some stuff, and then she says, I think I'm a Christian, I'd like to get baptized. So we got her in touch with our team, and she's you know, getting ready for baptism and all this stuff. And I said, Can you back up? Can you tell me, like, how did this journey begin? So let's rewind. Both of these guys are personal trainers, they they run a gym and and fitness influencers, you know, all that stuff. And and and she's like, they have a kid who's going to this Lutheran preschool. And in the preschool, he's learning all these stories of Jesus, and they go on a vacation to Europe somewhere, and they're staying at an Airbnb that's an old church converted into an Airbnb. But the stained glass windows are there. So their little preschool son is looking at the windows, he's going, oh, Mom, that's the feeding of the 5,000, and that's the this. And they're like, How does he do all this, you know? And then one night they're putting him to bed, he goes, Mom, who is Jesus? And she's like, This one felt like an important question. Like, maybe I shouldn't wing it on this one, you know. So she decides, listen to this, she decides to listen to the entire audio Bible on a series of long runs. Now, these are two things most Americans hate reading and running, you know, and she just combines them. She gets through the whole Bible and she's like, I think this is real. And then one day she's in her kitchen and she looks up and she sees there's like sunlight breaking through the trees, and she has this vision, she hears this voice say, It's Jesus, come toward the light. You guys, this is not like Iran or the Middle East, like this is Southern California. I'm telling you that the Holy Spirit is trying to do things that we cannot do. And so she's like, Okay, okay, and she's in her kitchen, I surrender Jesus, I follow you. And she goes, now the next thing I need is I need to figure out what church to go to. She goes to her gym later that week, and a woman that she's training has been training for months, finally works up the courage to invite her to church. And she goes, I don't have this weird, like, do you think you'd ever want to come with me to church? She goes, just today, I asked God to show me which church to go to. Can I say to you, if you take the risk of asking someone, you just never know what God is going to do. I don't ever want us to become people that are so comfortable that would keep the nets clean. The nets are not supposed to be clean. We're supposed to drop them again and again and again. Because if we do what we can, he'll do what we can't. And we move from resignation to risk. One of the reasons we don't risk is we're in a culture that is obsessed with self-optimization. Or as the kids call it, maxing. Looks maxing, health maxing, protein maxing, fiber maxing. If you don't know, count yourself grateful. One academic journal article says that self-optimization has arguably become the central social and cultural trend in Western societies. I worry about the spiritual formation movement giving us language to justify our non-risk-taking life. That we can curate our Sabbaths and our intentional rhythms, which you know I love, to the point that we go, Jesus is saying, row out into the deep and drop your nets. You're like, well, but Lord, that's not in my intentional rhythm, you know? Like that's not in my rule of life today, you know. And I wonder if the words of the disciples to Jesus, but because you said so. I've done this before, Lord, but because you said so, I'll do it again. So much of the Christian life is like, I guess I'll do it again. I guess I'll show up again, I guess I'll serve again, I guess I'll lead again, I guess I'll ask again, I guess I'll pray again, I guess I'll show up again, because you never know what Jesus will do if we're willing to take the risk. Verse 6. So they dropped their nets, and the catch was so huge that their nets were splitting, and they signaled for their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they filled both boats so full that they were about to sink. This is my favorite little detail because now they needed other people. Now they're gonna inconvenience others. Okay, um, you guys with your boats up on the shore. Come back out. When Jesus gets in the boat, we move from weary, weariness to willingness, from resignation to risk, but also, thirdly, from scarcity to abundance. Scarcity to abundance. There's a tremendous amount of research that shows what happens when human beings start to develop a scarcity mindset. Behavioral economics shows us that when human beings experience scarcity, your cognitive bandwidth actually shrinks. You you make worse decisions when you think there's not enough. You don't make sound decisions. It's true about money, and people who are economically disadvantaged actually make riskier financial decisions, not because they lack intelligence, but because the urgency of a need to make ends meet consumes your cognitive capacity. But it's also true about time. Scarcity of time. Busy people who are overwhelmed with deadlines struggle to strategize for their future because you're stuck in firefighting mode. As long as you can convince yourself that there's not enough, I don't have enough time, I don't have enough money, I don't have enough energy, I just can't, I just can't, I just can't. In a scarcity mindset, your brain will begin to shrink. When Jesus gets in the boat, he's like, fellas, with me there is no shortage. With me, there is no lack. With me, the story is never over. In a scarcity mindset, there's always competition. In an abundance mindset, there's always collaboration. In a scarcity mindset, if somebody else is doing it, they don't need you. In an abundance mindset, there's plenty of work to go around. In a scarcity mindset, you may not have much of a purpose, but in an abundance mindset, everybody has a purpose. A lot of people are writing about a loneliness epidemic that we are experiencing in our country. In 2024, a Harvard study found that 75% of adults who are lonely report having little to no meaning or purpose in their life. And they're like, I'm not sure about the cause which way the causation flows, but there's this correlation between loneliness and purposelessness. And I wonder if the unlocking of the purpose of these disciples led to the unlocking of partnerships for these disciples. If you're living in a moment, you go, I got, I don't know, I'm just not connected, I'm not, you know. Look, there's a lot of reasons for that. I'm not trying to shame you with this, but I wonder if God awakening you to a sense of purpose will actually open your life up to new relationships, new partnerships. Because the truth is, it is going to take all boats. It's going to take all churches, we could say it that way, but it's also gonna take all Christians. One final story. A couple years ago, a business guy in our church, he's a in the tech space, print, digital print, tech company. And he knew I was doing some work with Varna to help pastors develop resilience, and he has a personal experience of mental health struggles, depression, suicide in his family. And he said, he said, Do you do you think any of your resilience work with pastors could translate into the business community? And I said, Well, I don't know, let's try. And so I did a webinar. He's got this network of other companies in the same space as him, and three others were passionate about the mental health angle of it as well. And they go, hey, how about we collaborate for this mental health initiative? And so I did this webinar. And there were a couple of moments on the webinar where some of the people were like, that's exactly what I've been looking for. And it's interesting seeing the wisdom of God work out in the wild. One of the things we have to recognize is that when Jesus gives us this mission and gets in our boat, it's not so we can have better church services, it's so the world can find the truth and the good news. And so my friend Dave, my friend Dave goes, hey, goes, hey, this is really working. I'd like to try this again. So earlier this year there was a convention actually in Denver at the Gaylord of the Rockies, and people were coming in for all around the country, and he's like, We got three breakouts in a row. Three breakouts in a row. And he's like, I don't know who's gonna come. It's a business convention, people that are network and swap business cards, but maybe they'll come for this mental health breakout, three breakouts in a row. We go, okay, great. And he goes, but but remember, Glenn, this is not pastors, not church. You cannot talk about Jesus. I go, lips are seated. So first session, I'm talking about resilience and all this stuff and agency, blah, blah, blah. You know, it's good, it's it's land. Second session, uh, they're doing some work, it was more like workstation. We gave them stuff to talk about at their tables. Third session, it's a panel. And on this panel, there's me, there's like a legend in their industry who's kind of on the retirement side. There's a Gen Z employee who's just beginning, and then there's one of his uh kind of team members. And Dave is moderating, and I go, Dave, what's your plan for the panel? And he looks at me and he goes, I'm just gonna let the spirit lead. I was like, bro, this is not a church service. Like, like, I don't know if the Holy Spirit works in a business convention. I go, okay, well, here we go. First part of the QA, you know, people are asking questions and all this stuff. All of a sudden, I could see something switch in Dave's mind. He goes, I'm gonna flip this and I'm gonna go off script, not that there was a script. And he goes, and he goes, I'm gonna ask the room a question. How many of you have felt alone in your life and in your work? One by one, people start sharing. And this would be no surprise to you, but particularly men in their 50s started weeping. So one dude, I mean, it's almost comical. This one dude, he's like, he's like, Man, why don't guys share their feelings with each other? And he goes, he goes, the other day, my friend told me, he goes, Bob, I love you, man. And he's crying, he goes, No man has ever told me I love you, you know? And then the room is like, we love you, bro. I'm like, what is going on, you know? People start opening up, and then they start asking me questions. They're like, What do I do with my child who's an adult but struggling with anxiety? What do I do with my step, you know, daughter who doesn't want to talk to me? And I'm like, I don't have the answers to this, you know, but we're trying to respond to it. And finally, toward the end of the hour, this woman raises her hand and she goes, I don't know how I'm doing on time, Jason. I'm probably not doing great, but that's okay. Um this woman raises her hand, she goes, Look, I'm close to retirement. She's like, I know all the grit stuff, and all I've been through this, I've been through lots of changes. And she's like, but what happens when you've done all of that and you just feel like you cannot pick yourself up? Like you're just spiraling with despair. Is there help when you can't help yourself? I'm sitting on the panel thinking, I have been a really well-behaved pastor up until this point. So I said, ma'am, thank you for the question. So I I don't know how to answer this without referring to my faith. And I said, for billions of Christians around the world, this is why we believe in the God who raises the dead. We believe that when we come to the end of ourselves, there is a God who knows your name, who can call resurrection out of dead things, a God who can bring new beginnings and new life. There is a God whose strength and power never fails. There is a God who doesn't grow grow weary. And I left it there. When it was over, they began, people began coming up to Dave and to me. There was a cocktail thing later that day. I had to leave. And Dave's texting me, he's like, Do people are going nuts asking me, is this what church is like? Should I start going to church? I tell you this story because so often we talk about faith and we talk about following Jesus, all in the context of like, join a small group. And that's great. But when I imagine a harvest so plentiful that it requires all boats, it means it's not the church in its gathered state, it's the church also in its scattered state. It's the church out in the world, it's you and you and you and you, everywhere you are, in your boardrooms and in your classrooms, in your homes and in your neighborhoods, wherever you are on your commute and on your travels, in the airplanes and in traffic. Saying, Here I am, Lord, can I put my net down now? Can I let it down again? Are you willing to move from weariness to willingness, from resignation to risk, and from scarcity to abundance? Last scripture as the team comes. Verse 9, it says, When Simon Peter saw the catch, he fell at Jesus' knees. And he said, Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinner. Verse 8, Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinner. And Peter and those who were with him were overcome with amazement because of the number of fish they caught. James and John, Zebedee's sons, were Simon's partners, and they were amazed too. And Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid. From now on, you'll be fishing for people. And as soon as they brought the boats to shore, they left everything and followed Jesus. You see what happened? Peter starts by saying, Lord, leave me. But he ends, the story ends with Peter leaving his old life. Jesus is a disruptor because he forces a decision point. Are you going to ask him to get out of the boat, leave me, or are you going to follow him and leave an old way behind? There is with Jesus no middle ground. Either he's departing from us because we don't want it, or we're departing from an old way because Jesus is bad. If you're able to stand this morning, would you stand with me? If you would just open up your hands like this, just say, come, Holy Spirit. Listen, it could be that some of you are here this morning or you'll watch this later. And you've been on the edges of Christianity, of religion, of church, but you haven't actually begun to follow Jesus. This morning the invitation is clear. Follow him. Leave behind a life of self-oriented comfort. Follow him. But I think for the majority of us here, the spirit is asking, are you willing?

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Are you willing?

SPEAKER_01 40:29

Maybe you start by rowing out a little further to take one step. Some of you, it's beyond willingness, it's a risk. Take a risk. Take a swing. I just sense also the Holy Spirit is calling some of you off the shore. Some of you are like, you're watching, you're like, oh, I'm so glad they're doing that and they're doing that. They don't need me. Listen, guys, this is not the moment for self-pity. This is the moment to get your boat off the shore and get in there. Get in the water. So if you've parked yourself for a little bit, it's time. It's time. Come on, get back out there. The Holy Spirit is nudging in your heart to go, yeah. That's me. I know what that means. And it might mean different things differently. Some of you you're even wrestling with doubt and deconstruction. There's a moment right here where Jesus is standing before you. He's like, come on. Come on back. Come on, follow me. You don't have to pick up your old way of being a Christian. You don't have to pick up that old thing that created hurt and harm. But you can follow me. Come on. I wonder if any of those things resonated with you. Would you just kind of put your arms again? I wanna get my vote off the floor.