40 Years: Standing On The Shoulders Of Our Fathers

40 Years of Faith: Building a Legacy Through Holy Spirit Power, Radical Generosity, and Kingdom Impact. Discover the five core spiritual foundations that have shaped four decades of transformative ministry and community impact. Learn how prophetic gifts, sacrificial giving, intimate worship, compassionate outreach, and creative vision have combined to create lasting change. This powerful message explores biblical examples of 40-year periods, including Noah's flood, the Israelites' wilderness journey, and Jesus' fast, showing how this number represents transformation and new beginnings in faith. Perfect for church leaders, ministry teams, and anyone interested in building lasting spiritual legacy. Topics include: spiritual growth, church history, Holy Spirit, generosity, worship, missions, community outreach, creative ministry, kingdom impact, transformation, legacy building, faith journey, spiritual foundations, prophetic ministry, church growth, leadership development, ministry innovation.

This sermon was recorded at a Sunday morning gathering at Church of the Lookout in Longmont, Colorado.

Visit our website
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Let's start here this morning, Psalm 145. Says this one generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works. I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall single out of your righteousness. Come on, this is the word of the Lord. Say it again. So we're going to say, This is the word of the Lord. You say, Thanks be to God. This is the word of the Lord.

unknown 1:03

Thanks to the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Come on. So as a community, we are we're celebrating 40 years. So as a community of faith, uh, we have one story with a lot of chapters, a lot of twists and turns along the way, a lot of unique expressions, but there is no denying that we that we have staying power. And so over the years, you probably have known us uh if you were here close to 40 years ago, uh, you would have known this church as Boulder Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Come on. Later on, we switched kind of an adjacent lane to Vine Life Community Church. Okay? A few Vine Lifers in the room. We switched from Vine Life Community Church to simply Vine Life Church. Then even later, we switched to Vine Life. And then just down to VM. Until 2023, the epic change to Church of the Lookout. Come on. So you may not know all of those things, but I tell you it all matters. Twenty years ago, if you showed up to this building, you would note it even visually. Everything was purple and green, all right? Because the early church fathers thought if we're gonna be called vineyard, you may as well paint all of the walls purple and green. And we still have remnants across this place of purple and green. It looks like it looks like the olive gardens dropped a bomb on this property. But a lot changes over the years, right? And so 40 years in, guys, we are legit grown-ups. 40 is serious, all right? So 40 is past the rebellious teenage years, okay? We've grown up a little bit, past the idealism of your 20s, past the utter exhaustion of your 30s, 40s, we're in our 40s, which doesn't necessarily mean we're problem-free, right? But 40, as you know, is a number that comes with promises and possibilities, right? Biblically, if you if you if you pay attention to this number all throughout the scriptures, it's a number that signals transition when something is being refined, something is being birthed, and something is about to change. And we read this all over the scriptures. Noah and his family were were carried in a boat through a global flood for 40 days and 40 nights, only to be delivered through the promise of God. The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness before entering the promised land. Jesus, even, as a fulfillment of Israel, he spent 40 days in the desert before emerging in the power of the Spirit. The 40s, I believe, is a tremendous opportunity. It's a time of new confidence, knowing who you are, knowing who you're not, and walking in the strength and the power of God. But more importantly, we're here not just to talk about the number. We're here to celebrate, not us, but we're here to celebrate the faithfulness of God over the years. This is about the glory and the fame of Jesus Christ and his commitment to this community for over 40 years. Amen? See, God has never left us. God has never left us. And uh, and quite honestly, the prairie dogs have never left us either. All right. And that's why, as our give, our birthday gift to you, you get to take home your very own prairie dog after the service. I will I will I'll I'll give you a hundred bucks if you can catch a prairie dog. You guys take it home with us. Your parents will love it. So, as we're kind of sharing the space today, some of you are just visiting, you're like, okay, I showed up on kind of this is an interesting Sunday to show up on. But the good news is this even if you get nothing out of this, we have cake after the service, all right? So if you show up, we have cake, all right? Which doesn't happen all the time at church, all right? Some of you guys have been a part of this community for even just a couple months or a couple years, and you're still kind of getting a lay of the land, learning how things work and all that kind of stuff. So hopefully, as you hear some of these stories I'm gonna share, you'll have a deeper understanding and appreciation for all that has come before us and all God has done and all He is doing to this church. Some of you here have been here since the beginning. And I gotta do a few shout-outs in the room here today. So we got Mike and Nancy Jeanette over in the corner. Come on. We got we got Linda and Larry Hockman over here. Not here today is John Pikennett. John and Jennifer Pekennet, they're not here, but he shared with me this week. He remembers when this building, uh, when this room was just being built, he was operating the uh uh the tractor that was removing snow so we could keep the ground dry in this very room. We have Walt Robertson over here. And and there's probably several others in the room. A few honorable mentions. We have uh Pastor Bob Baker over here as well that is sitting in the fence. Bob Baker. Bob Baker, um, he officiated my wife and I's uh wedding that we celebrated 19 years this last week. So we're we're deeply grateful for Bob and Carol. And um and some other honorable mentions. We have Bum Up and Betty Yumung, another Bum, Bum up and Betty Yum, right here. Um we got a deity pink over here. And I'm sure there's another is if I missed um um I'm gonna apologize. Oh, burning and jump jumping. What about we can burning and jump jumping? Burning and jump. Burning and gym again. We cannot for the get them. Marie Castrum, okay. Hang on. If I forget, if you've been around for a long time, just stand up. All right, all right, there we go. Okay, all right, we're good. Kim Nye in the back. All right. This is good. This is good. So there's a lot of honor in this place, and we are standing on the prayers and the shoulders of those who've gone before. And this is why this is what's important for us, if you hear nothing else. It's important that as a church, we never forget the act of remembrance. Remembering, and as the psalm says, commending the works of God from one generation to the next, lest we forget the faithfulness of God. Remembering the stories, even the stories of the people you don't know and will never meet. In honoring them, we get to stand upon their shoulders, redig old wells, and receive a spiritual inheritance that we can in turn pass off to our children and the generations we will never meet. So let me show you a captivating photo. So when I showed up in August of 2022, I didn't have much to my name except a guitar, a Beatles flag, and a Fonzi poster on the wall behind me. I was invited to come and move into a trailer park in North Boulder, which to many doesn't on the surface present itself as an irresistible offer. But to this Indiana kid who is ready to go big or go home, it became the perfect setting to move from the Midwest to the Rocky Mountains and join a discipleship ministry training school. And for two years, to be shaped deeply in my discipleship to Jesus practice of leadership and character. So together we studied the Bible together, we focused on character development and the hidden work of God inside of us. We went on missions trips, we went to Africa together, and then we did other kinds of trips, like standing on logs together. It's part of our training. You know, there's a lot of trust falls uh involved in this discipleship program. Um, but like most of us here, like most of us, and probably you sitting in the room, when I showed up in August of 2022, I was showing up to a story that I did not start. I came in because a space was prepared for me to which I was invited. I didn't know, this is the thing is I didn't know that while I was invited to live in the trailer park, was that I was actually standing in the midst of a miracle. When I came in, I was standing in the midst of a miracle, and today I want you to know that you as well are sitting in the midst of a miracle. And it's the faithfulness of God over the seasons. So let me just rewind the story a little bit. And for some of you that know the details better than I, forgive me for where I mess up the timeline here, but let me just take you back in the story. So in the late 1970s, a group of Southern Baptists in Boulder started getting filled with the Holy Spirit. Hello! Because that'll happen from time to time. And so they felt got called by God to plant a church that at that time they called Bethel Fellowship, and they ended up meeting at the current-day Seventh-day Adventist building in Boulder. Among this group were a few ruffians, Walt and Joyce Robertson, later James and Belinda Ryle. James and Walt would both go on to serve as senior pastors of this community in different seasons. And it was their the relationship that was very important. And what was going on among this ragtag bunch of people very early on was has everything to do with us sitting in the room today. See, this group had just one thing in mind to follow the Spirit of God. Their appetite was actually ruined for anything else. And so, it's in fact the reason we've actually never been able to celebrate a birthday of this church is because the church has always been a story of people following Jesus from one season to another without a clear starting point or a clear ending. They were just doing whatever God had in mind and not concerned with tracking dates and times. So we've never quite been able to land, like, when did this church start? Nobody knows. It was just people that were deciding to say yes, and and then and then that was the primary concern. And so in the early 80s, founding pastor James Ryle learned about this patch of land up on 7845 Lookout Road, which at the point in time was just what we called the theater, which is the room on the back side of the building. And there was a small church building already here, but it had a reputation. There had been five failed church plants within seven years in the building. So when James announces to the church, hey, I think God's leading us to go up to that that wheat field, that grass field on the hill outside a gun barrel, of course, everybody in the church said, I don't know if that's a great idea. From what we know, that's where churches go to die. It'll never work. And yet there was a sense that no, no, no, that's not God's inheritance for us, that's not God's promise to us. That's not what's gonna happen because he's the one that's leading us. And if his word is in this, then he's gonna care for us. And so they moved up here and they did it anyways, because God was with them. And after being here for a few years and through some dreams and some prophetic words, God spoke to James and Belinda and through a lot of the early leaders through key scriptures and gave them a scripture, Isaiah 5, 1, which says, I will sing, I will sing, sorry, we'll go back to that slide. I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard. My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. On Isaiah 27, too, in that day sing about a fruitful vineyard. And so on April 7th, which is actually tomorrow, April 7th, 1985, which was Easter Sunday of that year, that was the first Sunday, the church named itself the Boulder Valley Vineyard. And they believed in the word of the word of the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord, that that his promise to this community from the beginnings was that this would be a place of fruitfulness. That where when the enemy says nothing good can grow there, they said, No, we are born of the Spirit, and He will bear fruit in our lives and in this region. And so they were going, they had bold enough, they were bold enough to try things that hadn't worked and follow Jesus wherever he was leading because because of that the church prospered. Now, recounting the full story, as you guys know, any family tree has a lot of twists and turns, right? And so we can go and we can talk about the bright spots, we can talk about the low spots, just as we could in your family tree, probably. We could go through every one of our stories. Every one of our stories is a mixed bag of things that we got right and things that we got wrong. And we could go through all those things. But what we're doing today is we're celebrating that his faithfulness through the seasons is what carries us through, and even through the times where there are gaps, even through our sin and through our distance and the places where we miss it, he is faithful to redeem even the worst parts of our life and turn it into a message for his glory. That's what's happened with this community, and that is his promise to you too. He will take the worst, most disappointing parts of your life and he will transform it into a story worth sharing where he gets the glory. So the opportunity today is to celebrate the work of God, who is always faithful. And that comes in all kinds of seasons. This church has seen the variety of seasons where some there's been seasons where this room has been jam-packed front to back, full of worshippers, the whole thing. And then there are times like COVID, about five years ago, where we had 30 of us meeting out in the field with no building, wondering, will we ever get back in? And is this it? Is this what we've come to? And it was a time even five years ago when we were standing out in a field with a makeshift platform trying to sing songs despite the wind and despite the prairie dogs all around us. For those of you who are part, I know many of you weren't at that point in time, but there's a part of God that we have to believe that this church is more than a building, that this church is more than trophies and accolades over the year, but this church is a vineyard that you have planted, and you have promised to water this vineyard. And you have promised that we would be fruitful. So we're holding on to your promises. How many of you guys know the church is not a building, the church is a people? The church is not a brand or a logo, the church is sons and daughters of God being adopted into his family, those who put their trust in him. He says, You're part of what I'm doing. God is the church. So there's ebbs and flows, and above the surface, there's been seasons of fruit bearing and seasons of pruning, and just like we're turning seasons into spring, there's times where you actually have to prune back what's on the surface, but that doesn't change what's below the surface. And underneath the surface is a root system with a true genetic and a DNA, and it's not about our own gifting and our own what we've done right. It's about God's commitment to the flourishing of his people. The root system, friends, under our feet is massive indeed and stronger than we could ever know because it's founded in him. And the truth is there are several roots of God's promises that are in the ground, and I want to name a few of them even today, okay? So one, I want to just name about five, five of them today, and there's more than this, but here's five threads that have been apart since the beginning and are a part of us now, and they're part of if if you choose to do so, we choose to do so together, can continue to build on these things, okay? One is the power of the Holy Spirit. So this community, the launch of this community, this church was miraculous, is marked by a people who believed that God actually spoke and wanted to be heard. Imagine that. They're committed to the word and the spirit, not only holding in deep love for the scriptures and committing themselves to the scriptures, but walking in the gifts of prophecy and receiving dreams in the night and visions by day, and which they believe was the normal Christian life. When you read the Bible and you read through the book of Acts and nobody told you otherwise, you would think this is actually how it's supposed to operate. This is the operating system of the church. Is that God speaks through his word and through the spirit. And that became kind of the thread that that was from the very beginning what just shaped belief and faith in this community. In fact, in 1990, James Ryle prophesied that the buffs would win the national championship, and uh and they did. And with Coach Mack by his side, they uh they got to celebrate that together as he was um as he was the chaplain for the CU Buffs. Um James was he was known uh to bring uh national and even worldwide prophetic words. And some of you have heard about the over time, where he would have dreams, a series of dreams in the night, and write them, and they just swept around the country and swept really around the world. One in particular called Sons of Thunder, that really was a call to worship and evangelism and just this new revival that God wanted to bring to the earth, marked by a new sound. And through this thread of the power of the Spirit, as it would go out, it would take a lot of different shapes and sizes. Um, over the years, we would send out teams to the Boulder Creek Festival to interpret dreams and even offer people on the streets hey, do you want to maybe hear what God wants to say to you to get and offer to hear with people to open up pathways for them to hear God for themselves through encouraging words and through scriptures? And and it's one of those things that's kind of set us apart that when we read in in the scriptures that that God actually speaks in dreams, we try to take that seriously, and we want to be the kind of community. I know not every community takes that seriously, but we want to be ones that do. And um and and the other churches, I believe, in Boulder know that about us as well. In fact, a couple years ago, I was on a retreat, our team, our leadership team, was on a retreat with five other churches in Boulder. We were in Essus Park for three days, and at the end of the time, they prayed for us and they gathered us in the circle. And you know what one of the guys prayed for us? He surrounded us and he says, God, I just bless these, these guys. I thank you that they're the wild ones. And we just bless them to continue being the wild ones who believe that God can do anything. And it was kind of affirmed, it was it was an amazing thing to be a part of a group within Boulder County, to be affirmed, like, okay, here's a group, they're willing to do things that other churches aren't willing to do. They're willing to give room for prophecy, for the gifts, for people to try to interpret dreams, for even to pray for healing and see the sick healed. And it was an amazing opportunity to say, this is part of our inheritance. Now, when I say the wild ones, I don't mean that we do things to be weird just to be weird, all right? That's that's maybe what some people think. That's not what we're after. What we're after is the uncontainable presence of the Holy Spirit that you can't control and you can't manipulate and you can't manage. It's about staying in the flow of what God's doing, and sometimes that goes beyond like my comfort zone or what I would normally want, but I'm telling you, there is life when we recognize that we're filled with the Holy Spirit, and He has given us gifts, and we'll just ask for them. And so the key idea here is this the Father wants to speak to you. And there is more that he wants to say about his dreams, his will, and his heart. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, they want to speak to you. You. I'm talking about you right now. I'm talking about us as well, but just for a moment, just receive that. The Holy Spirit wants to speak to you if you'll let him, if you'll receive it.

unknown 21:46

A.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Okay, I'll say it again. A.W. Tober Tozer said, God is looking through those who He can do the impossible. What a pity that we settle for only the things we can do ourselves. So founded in the power of the Holy Spirit, but also founded in a culture of radical generosity. And from the very beginning, there was a commitment that we're not going to be a people who give into a poverty mindset, but we're going to break the spirit of poverty and scarcity because we have a God and a Father who cares for all of our needs. And He's called us to be a blessing in this world. And so that expressed itself very early on in the month of March. Very early on, James Ryle led the church through a teaching series on breaking this poverty mindset. And part of their act on top of that was they decided to take up a giant offering for Second Baptist Church in Boulder, which is the only black church in Boulder. And at that time, God was really doing a lot with racial reconciliation. And they learned that Second Baptists they needed $20,000 in order to keep their property in order to stay in. They would be kicked out otherwise. And so on a Sunday morning, right here in this room, or maybe it wasn't in this room, it was in the other room at this point in time. In 1989, they took up a big offering and then they wrote a check. And then as a church, everybody got in their cars and drove down to Second Baptist and Boulder. They busted in the doors, it's right in the middle of the worship service. They walk up and put a check in his pocket, the pastor's pocket at the time. And they said, You probably want to look at this. And so he takes the check out and reads it. It's the exact amount that they needed to stay in their property. And so they and so from that moment on, the rest of the service turned into this eruption of praise and celebration. Two communities coming together to celebrate that God provides. God sees us and God provides. And I'm telling you, that Sunday is known as Miracle Sunday. And it's known in Boulder. If you go to the Boulder Museum of History, I think there's a there's a large um uh exhibit right now that honors black history in America, and there's a room dedicated to Second Baptist, and there's a placard right there that says on 1989, that all the saints from Boulder Valley Vineyard, in a moment of radical generosity, left their place, came down and created a miracle moment in the heart of Boulder that will ever be a milestone in the history of Boulder. And it continued later on in 1995. They the church became aware of some residents in North Boulder at a trailer park. A trailer park. The residents at a trailer park that would would be forced to move as well because the property was going to be sold. And so they needed to raise a certain amount of money in order for these uh men and women, um, a couple dozen families to not be displaced. And so the church, once again, within two weeks, took up an offering of about $76,000 and uh and was able to go deliver it uh down into Boulder, North Boulder Trailer Park. This James, this is Greg Fitch over here, who, if you know John Fitch, that's his father. 77,000, and we just celebrated a 30-year anniversary of this last week. And it was another moment in the month of March where we're going to put a stake in the ground, we're not going to give into this poverty mindset, but we're gonna do something above and beyond ourselves to sow into what God is doing. And then moments like that just kept coming. I remember in 2006 where Pastor Walt Robertson did the same thing. He took a whole offering and a service, and uh and he said, We're gonna give this to a church in Israel. And uh, we took up a big offering, and then the next day he got on a plane and hand-delivered a $30,000 check to a church in Israel. In 2016, we had another kind of fun moment where uh our friends down at First Presbyterian and Boulder, who is now called Grace Commons, they were in the middle of a big transition and they needed to buy their building. And um, and they were they were trying to follow God in the next season of their life. And so a bunch of pastors came together and um and we said, let's do something big. And so, even as a church, we took an offering in 2016 of about $27,000, and I was a part of a whole group of other pastors in the region who were able to go and hand deliver it and just say, we believe in what God is doing here, and we want to invest in this here. It's not just about our church, it's about the kingdom of God being established in Boulder. It was so fun. And then, even just this last year, even just a few months ago, you remember um some of you guys know we have a missions partner in Rwanda, Pastor Willie Ruminaire and his family. They were in need of a new car, and so we were able in a single Sunday or single week, we're able to uh take up an offering for Pastor Willie and just in just a moment like that raise $20,000 so that they could actually have a car for their family that they could travel all across the land and do ministry wherever God was leading them. And so we have these moments about every few years, or every, you know, whenever God speaks, we He gives us a moment where a generosity can be tested on a significant level. And there will be more as we journey together. Mark my words, there will be more. And the key idea here is this extravagant generosity is what breaks the spirit of poverty and unleashes blessing into the world. It does something to us when we follow God and says, Man, we believe that God will provide for our needs as we're faithful to give. Amen? All right, we're gonna keep moving. Radical generosity, but then so power of the spirit, radical generosity, but kind of this third thread over the years that you guys know, just kind of summed this up as intimacy with Jesus. This is a house of worship and prayer. It's why we love singing so much. I know that bothers people like, man, you guys sing so much. We love singing because we love being with Jesus, we love honoring his presence. And at our core, we're not playing church, we're seeking the face of God. And this has taken so many expressions over the years that this being a house of worship. For years, on Friday nights, uh, a group of men and women held a space called the river where uh where Walt Robertson and Dee Dee Pack and even my parents, Mark and Nancy Humbreck, were able to, and many others were able to every Friday night just have this wild, this open-ended God, we're gonna invite your presence and do whatever you want to do in this space. And they would sing and they would minister to each other and they would prophesy to each other, and it just really set the tone as a church behind the scenes that we're a church that honors the presence of God. And that has taken a lot of different shapes and sizes where we've we've leaned into a house of prayer. Even upstairs on the third floor, we have a prayer room that has more contemplative spaces, a place where you can go and just simply be with Jesus without all the music and bands and lighting and speakers and all the things. It's a it's a place of simplicity and solitude, and that's really what it comes down to. Intimacy with Jesus is not a one-note thing, it can look a lot of different ways. Sometimes it's loud and boisterous and wild, and we're singing at the top of our lungs and shouting and dancing. Other times it's rhythms of embracing rhythms of silence and solitude and just the joy of being with them in the quiet. And all of it counts, all of it matters. And as a church, that's something we never want to lose, that everything we do is about staying close to the heart of Jesus. When we miss the heart of Jesus, we miss his nearness, and we we start playing church, that doesn't we know we've missed it. But when we abide in Jesus, as John 15 says, that um abide in me, because apart from me you can do nothing. We have to remind ourselves that fruitfulness, and this is key for us in this next season, fruitfulness comes from abiding in Jesus. And that's the only place it comes from. It's saying close to the heart of God, which means a prayerful life before God and a worshipful life before God. Offering our lives as sacrifices to Him. Are you guys with me? Alright, fourth thread. I have two more, okay? Sacrificial compassion. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. And over the years, I think it's become very clear. Some people come to this place because they just need a place to heal up after a season of intense wounding. Maybe that's your story too. You just come and just need to sit for a while. I'm not, you're not gonna volunteer for anything. I just need to sit and be for a while because you either came from a bad church experience or a bad home experience, or something in your life came unraveled. And listen, this is okay. This is a good place for you to be and to receive the healing of the comfort of the Holy Spirit. But then also just the expression of this house to go minister outside. It was Pastor Brenda Rogers who founded the ninth hour discipleship program I came to. But then also an expression called Lamb's Lunch, which ministered to the homeless on Pearl Street and First Presbyterian, or I should say Grace Commons, is still moving, still ministering to the homeless and still doing a lamb's lunch, serving and feeding homeless people down on the street because of what Brenda started over 20 or 30 years ago. There's the work in our Wellspring Food Bank, and even right now, uh about 1,800 people are served every every every month through delivering food all across the region, through the Wellspring Food Bank. But then even globally, our work globally, and and we've had um years where the missions expressions were really popping, and I think that's coming again as well. But we can celebrate our work in Africa and Walt's relationship with Willie Rumanera and what happened in Rwanda and all across Africa to minister to leaders and pastors, and they could go and minister to the churches to take care of widows and orphans and provide for their basic needs. It's the can the streak and the thread of compassion is so deeply rooted in us, and I believe that God wants to continue to give us eyes to see the ones that He wants to love. That we would be bold in our sacrifice and bold in our compassion. Amen. May we not lose that. And then lastly, I'll talk about just kind of the last thread, and I'll just sum this up as expansive, expansive and creative thinking. Expansive and creative thinking. There's a slide for that somewhere. Expansive and creative thinking. Now, years ago, some of you guys may know this, but in this, this is the community where there was a global movement called Promise Keepers that started. It started in this very room. And it was a movement of men who decided that we're going to make Christ the center of our homes again, and we're gonna take up our response, we're gonna take our responsibility, we're gonna pull up, put on our big boy pants, we're gonna lead our homes, we're gonna lead our kids, we're gonna lead our marriages, and we're gonna invite Christ back to the center of this place. And it was through James and uh James Rile and Coach Bill McCartney that that an expression happened where they went down to Folsom Field down in Boulder, and uh and they they held one of the biggest events ever to happen in Boulder, as far as a Christian event, and it's still to this day is I think one of the largest spiritual events that have happened in Boulder, um, where they gathered men from all across the region and all across the United States, and they said, We're gonna put a stake in the ground that we're not gonna be uh we're not gonna be men who are trampled over or belittled, but we're gonna rise up to the calling that God's given to us and we're gonna lead well in our homes and in our communities and our workplaces, and we're gonna put God first, right? And some of you guys know that that grew into a larger thing where uh soon after, in the in the early 90s, the mid-90s, it it grew into an expression in Washington, D.C., where a million men gathered in Washington, D.C. for a promise keepers movement, one of the biggest gatherings ever in Washington, D.C. Um, to again, to worship together, to pray, and to say, enough is enough. We're not going to settle and shirk our responsibility, but we're gonna follow Jesus in our homes and in our lives. That started, that had its root system right here in this room. And men, that should be a that that is an invitation for us. And I'm not saying we have to recreate anything, I'm not saying we have to go and kind of stir up some hype up some old thing. I'm just saying that we are on, we're standing on the birthplace of a miracle. We're standing on the birthplace of something unbelievable. And it's something that we should celebrate. Again, uh, Walt, with his work in Africa, he he saw all kinds of things, an expansive movement that we are still contributing to this day. Um, the Resound Worship and Arts Conference for years since 2008, with this room has been filled with hungry young people who just want to see the creative life of God grow again and worship and creativity and the arts and for that to grow. And this room has just over the years had moments where it's just packed out with hunger for God. We want to see something beautiful erupt from this place. And the key idea, listen, around this of expansive and creative thinking is just to remember that what God does here is not just for us, it's meant to go beyond us. What God births in us is not just for us, it's meant to go beyond us, and we can't decide when and how that happens, and I'm not saying that there's a formula to any of that, but what I'm saying is God wants to give us big ideas and not to be limited to small thinking. Amen? Okay, so let me let me tie some of these threads together. This is me back in the trailer park in 2002. So the trailer park that this church invested in in a moment of radical generosity and sacrificial compassion became the grounds for a ministry training school later on that was marked by this the power of the Spirit and intimacy with Jesus that has continued to lead to the expansion and creative thinking in this church even to this day. And I'm just scratching the surface when I'm sharing these stories. I'm scratching the surface. And I gotta remind you that today, none of this that we're celebrating is because of man's gifting, it's because of God's promises, okay? And over time, listen to me, over time we have seen glimpses of God's glory, and we ask the question when will we see more? It takes a people willing to stand in faith, willing to believe, willing to do the work in prayer in order to see the world encounter the love of God. Paul says it like this in Philippians, he says, and I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. So the things that God started are the things that he has planned and he has purposed to bring to completion. Our question today is, are we willing to go? Are we willing to build onto the shoulders of those who have gone before us? I want to read, just kind of ending this time, and we're gonna sing here in just a bit, and then we'll have some fun stuff we're gonna do. But I want to read an excerpt from a letter written by Pastor James Ryle. This is about a year before he passed away in 2016. He wrote this letter in 2015 to this church at that time. This is just a portion of that letter. But I just want you to receive this. And again, some of this, as I'm sharing, you're like, you're just trying to connect the dots, and you're like, what does this have to do with me? I think there's an invitation here for all of us, okay? And so here's what he says to you. He finishes in this letter going through story after story, just like I did with you. And here's what he says: just close your eyes and receive these words. He said, It is without hesitation that I say to you this morning, you are sitting in the midst of a miracle. You are standing on holy ground. There were many great people who sacrificed much to provide for you what you now possess. History weighs in upon you to prove yourselves worthy of their sacrifice by cherishing what they have done and stepping up to now do your part to carry it forward. We believed and championed tirelessly a singular vision that was this. God designed the church to function as a unified community of spiritually gifted, ethnically diverse men and women, loving and serving one another in humility, availability, and submission, thereby presenting to the world a compelling case for trusting in Christ alone for salvation. This vision carried us through many storms and trials, many distractions and disappointments. It confirmed our faith when it was flagging, it lifted our spirits when they were drooping, and it confronted the enemy when he was attacking like a mighty fortress. It has withstood many assaults and will serve you well in the midst of your own challenges as you move forward. This is what God has wanted all along, and he has called you to do it. He who calls you is faithful and he will do it. The question now remains: do you see it? Will you declare it? Will you now do your part so as so many others have done theirs? My dear friends, see what God sees and say what God says. Trust him and yield your lives to his spirit, and he will do it. It's your turn to make your mark, to carry the sacred legacy onward. Let's all stand together. And listen, if you're like me and you're showing up halfway through a story and trying to catch up, we're all in the same boat. But we have an opportunity even right now. And if in your heart, as I'm sharing, you're like, you know what? For as long as God has me here, I want to be this kind of person and I want to live in this kind of community, one that's marked by the power of the Spirit and intimacy with Jesus and radical generosity and uh um and sacrificial compassion and expansive and creative thinking. And these threads, if you want to see more of that, if you are in a in a place right now, you're like, I want to dream dreams, I want to hear the voice of God, I want to be a part of a generation that goes from here. I just want you to put your hand right on your chest right here, okay? We're gonna pray over us, and I want to pray over you. And listen, as I pray, I'm not praying a weak prayer. I'm praying in faith that God is going to speak to you, He's gonna give you dreams, He's gonna activate what maybe has lined dormant for some time. And I believe that God wants to grow up new things from his root system that apply to you today. Are you guys with me? Are we in this together? Okay, I'm gonna pray. So, Jesus, this morning we say yes to you. We say thank you for your faithfulness and for your promises, God. I pray, for every man and woman, and child and even our youth over here, God. I just pray that even now you would plant seeds in the hearts of our youth to carry the torch forward, not to the name and the glory of this church, but to the name and the glory of Jesus Christ. I thank you, Lord God, that as we celebrate the 40 years, we don't stay stuck in our past. We look forward to the future, and I thank you that the next 40 years are full of promise, they're full of fruitfulness, they're full of vibrancy, full of life, where the lost will come to know you, the sick will be healed, the blind will receive vision, Lord God, that the depressed will receive life and encouragement and joy, and that we are a church that says, yes, we will be the ones, we will be the catalysts, we will be the conduits. Wherever you send us, we will go because that's what you've called us to do up on this hill. And I thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have been faithful and you have been good. And today we turn our attention to you. We say, How great is our God, it is good to serve your name, and it's in Jesus' name we pray together. Amen.