A Church You Can't Ignore | Adam Weber

Some people will start to smile when talking about their church and they'll share about how they came to Christ in their church. But then on the flip side, other people will mention their church growing up and you can just see it on their face. And they'll tell me that it felt like it was spiritually dead. And everybody just kind of went through the motions because that's what their family did. Every church produces a force that either attracts or repels the world around it. One of the questions though, that I often get asked about embrace when talking about the start of our church is, so Adam, did you always want to start a church? Like, was that the plan for you from the get go? The answer is no, heck no. Okay, like not even a part of me. Back in seminary, one of my professors once said in a classroom, two of the hardest things you can do ministry wise is be a missionary in a third world country or start a church. I heard that and it's like, well, I think I'll hard pass on both of those things, okay? I'm not gonna do that. So I didn't want to start a church. And again, not a joke at all, that's just true. But the pastor who led me to Christ and had a major influence on my life

kept encouraging me to do so. And I honestly just didn't have the courage to tell him no. I kept thinking it was gonna fall apart and wouldn't happen and so I just never told him no. But I'll never forget during this time when the church was just kind of in the beginning, one day in chapel, I was still living in Kentucky when we started Embrace. One day in chapel, there was an old pastor who spoke on the story of the prodigal son from Luke 15. And as he was sharing, he had a large painting beside him and it was Rembrandt's painting of the prodigal son. And so that day, everyone left chapel. It's called Estes Chapel. It's one of my favorite places on earth. Everyone left Estes. Well, I ended up walking up to the front of the room and looked at this painting. And from the deepest part in me, I just said, God, I don't wanna start a church. But if there was a church that looked like this, I'd wanna be a part of it. It's like, I don't wanna start a church, zero desire. There's nothing in me that wants to start a church but I'd wanna be a part of a church like that, a church that meets with and encounters the living God. They don't just gather. They're not another club in town. No, they gather to meet with God himself, a church that on your worst day,

when everyone's exiting your life, you ever seen that happen? Someone will screw up. They'll make a blunder. Their business will fail. And when everyone's leaving them on your worst day, a place that you can meet with and be embraced by God, a church that would run to the world around us, that it wouldn't just be okay, just kind of gathering and doing like a nice Christian thing. Instead, we'd run to the world, welcoming people, showing people the unending love of the Father. I'm just saying a church like that, it'd be magnetic. And I would wanna be a part of a church like that. Over the last couple of weeks, we've been in a series called Magnetic. And so far in this series, we've talked about having a magnetic life, living a life that attracts other people to Christ. Last week, we talked about having a magnetic faith, a walk with Jesus that not only attracts people to us, but to the Jesus that we follow. Today though, I wanna look at this question here. What does it look like to be a magnetic church? What does it look like to be a magnetic church? Now, just to highlight this once again, a magnet is an object that produces the force that either attracts or repels certain materials. And so we know what a magnet is,

but the truth is just like a magnet, a church is the exact same way. Just like a magnet, a church produces a force that either attracts or repels the world around it. Let me repeat that. Every church produces a force that either attracts or repels the world around it. Now, one of the strangest things about my job as a pastor is people will regularly tell me about their church growing up. And some people will start to smile when talking about their church and they'll share about how they came to Christ in their church. or they'll share about how their family went through something horrible and the church wrapped their arms around their family. Or they'll mention amazing, like foundational men and women of God who deeply impacted their lives. Or they'll tell me how growing up, they always felt so loved and supported and inspired and convicted by their church. And basically they'll tell me that their church growing up, it was magnetic. Their church not only attracted them to the people inside their church, but it attracted them to the Jesus that they follow. But then on the flip side, other people will mention their church growing up and you can just see it on their face.

And they'll tell me that it felt like it was spiritually dead. And everybody just kind of went through the motions because that's what their family did. Or they'll share growing up their church, it felt so fake. It was like one big social gathering where you and your family and your marriage had to act like it was perfect. Or they'll share about how they were shunned by the church after they screwed up. Or they were shunned by the church when dad had his affair. My mom got her DUI, the whole church just vanished. Worst stories though are about a church leader that people will share with me. And this happens more times than I, I hate it. They tell me about a pastor or priest who did something terrible, even abusive to them. And this church, it was so repelling that it not only repelled them from the church, but even years later, it's repelled them from God himself. So this is important, right? Going back to today's question again, what does it look like to be a magnetic church? What does it look like to be a magnetic church? Well, to answer this, I wanna look at some words found in the book of Acts chapter two. So if you have your Bible with you, I wanna encourage you to open up to Acts chapter two. If you don't have a physical Bible,

use the Bible on your phone, download the Bible app. If you don't have the Bible on your phone, again, open it up to Acts chapter two. And leading up to this, Jesus was just with them. He's died on a cross and he rose from the dead and he's ascended into heaven, which is crazy. And now the Holy Spirit has come and the disciples and all the followers of Jesus have started gathering. And at this time, there's like 120 of them, Jesus followers that have started gathering and they've started this church. Well, one of the disciples, a friend of Jesus, a guy named Peter, just preached a message, this powerful message. And just look at the response from this message in verse 41, we're told those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. Friends, I just wanna highlight this, 3,000 more people join this church in a day. Like it went from being 120 people, maybe the size of your church growing up to over 3,000 people in just one day. As anybody who's got leadership, this is mass chaos to even think about. Like, can you imagine how bad the parking lot would have been at the early church, people on their camels, giving each other the middle finger. It would have been a terrible situation.

Mothers, you know, just picture them. That's my impersonation of riding a camel. I don't know, it's like the mechanical bull. But anyways, it would have been a scary situation out there with the camels. I just wanna mention this though. A lot of times you'll hear Christians idolize this early church. Christians today will idolize this church and they think that this actually is exactly how the church should be. Friends, just to tell you, this church in Acts 2, far from perfect, far from perfect. How can you say that, Adam? Were you there? Because it was filled with humans. And not just humans, like we think about 3,000 churchy people, not just like humans, 3,000 brand new people who just started following Jesus. Think about it, in those 3,000 people, all the drunks who just started following Jesus. All the shady business people who are deceptive and their egos are the size of Jupiter in this new church. And 3,000 prostitutes who just started following Jesus. 3,000 broken, messy people. And so hear this, it wasn't a perfect church, far from it. And yet it was magnetic. It was magnetic. Starting in verse 42, they devoted themselves

to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. The believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had a need. Every day they continue to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all people. Again, this isn't a perfect church. And yet it is magnetic. And I love this first line. We're told that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. The apostles, what does that mean? The apostles were Jesus's disciples. It was his close friends. Translation, in the early church, Jesus's closest friends are the ones teaching and preaching. That's the one thing about the early church that I'm like, I only wish I could have been there. Like, can you imagine the stories as they were sharing about Jesus? Yeah, one day, J-Dog and I, you call him Jesus, but I call him J-Dog. He was just hanging out. Next thing I know, he's out walking on water.

It was the craziest, craziest thing. But seriously, though, the apostles' teachings, what are they teaching about? They're teaching about Jesus. Specifically, they were teaching about the fact that Jesus died, and on the third day, he rose from the dead. And it wasn't like a story they heard from their grandfather. It was a story that they saw with their own eyes. It's not like, you know, in Sunday school, flannel board Jesus. No, it was like, I saw it, I was there. Friends, this early church, it's centered, and it was 100% focused around Jesus. Today, for all of us, if we want to be a magnetic church, if we want to attract other people, not just to us, but to the Jesus that we follow, be all about Jesus. If we want to attract other people to Christ, be all about Jesus. Now, this seems so obvious, right? It's like, of course the church should be all about Jesus, and yet I only wish this was the case, that it was so obvious. I mean, just like any other group of humans, we get so easily distracted, right? And so instead of Jesus, it's so easy to be fully consumed with politics and all kinds of social issues. And instead of Jesus being the center

and it being all about Jesus, it's so easy for the church to center on this topic and on that doctrine. Like, are you Calvinist or are you Arminiast? And what do you really think about tattoos, you know? Maybe a question to think about. And instead of Jesus being the center, it's so easy to get consumed, like, who's on that committee and who's not on that committee? And what pew does your family sit in? And yeah, who is the largest giver in the church? I'm just saying, it's so easy to get focused on the stupidest things, and we start arguing over something as basic as the color of the carpet. And speaking of a magnet, repel, repel, repel, repel, repel, repel. No one wants anything to do with it. And so once again, do you wanna be a magnetic church? Do you wanna become a magnetic church? Be all about Jesus. Be a church that loves Jesus. Be a church that talks with Jesus. Be a church that worships Jesus. Be a church that talks about what it looks like to love like Jesus, to serve like Jesus, to forgive like Jesus. Be a church that reaches the next person for Jesus. Be all about Jesus. A few Saturdays back, we went to my niece's wedding outside of Fargo, North Dakota.

And as we were driving there, I love seeing the sunflower fields up north. It was gorgeous. So I see the sunflower fields and I start telling one of my kids that the coolest part about a sunflower is that the head of a sunflower, it's always pointed towards and it's focused on the sun. And I told them, it's just so beautiful to look at in the fields. So I got done sharing and their response to me, Dad, you're so smart. Dad, thanks so much for telling us about sunflower fields. Dad, this is so cool. Actually, I don't think they heard a single word that I said. I'm like, I'm dropping science gold here and you guys are missing it. But seriously though, what a great picture of being a magnetic church. Like, can you imagine if all of our faces and all of our attention and all of our lives were only and all about Jesus? The moment that anyone came. On this sunflower field, it was just so clear. Man, wherever Jesus is at, that's where they are. Be all about Jesus. Going back to Acts chapter two, again, listen to what we're told. They devoted themselves to fellowship,

to the breaking of bread in a prayer. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. So this word fellowship here, it means participating and sharing with one another. And we're told that they were together and had everything in common. Friends, they literally sold everything that they had. They shared their property and possessions. They shared their time, their talents, their meals, their burdens, their prayers. I always kind of laugh any time a Christian comes up, man, this is exactly how the church should be. Like, we should be exactly like Acts two. I'm like, that's awesome. You sell your house first though, okay? Can you do that? But really at the heart of this is that as a church, they would care for one another so much so that they literally called each other brothers and sisters. Today for us, if we wanna be and become a magnetic church, look out for each other. If we wanna be and become a magnetic church, care for one another, look out for each other. About a month or so ago, I was at our Westside campus. If you haven't been to Westside by the way yet, you need to go to Westside.

I have an office there, I love it there. I was over at Westside and I had a lady named Brooke come up to me, someone that I had never met before. She was a mom and she said, Adam, I just wanted to tell you that Embrace has cared for my family so well. Like we've just been blown away. And I just want you to know that I'm so thankful for this church. And Brooke, she shared that her family's actually from out of town, but her son has been battling cancer for some time now. And he's been at the children's hospital, like the castle here in town for months. She shared a while back, I reached out to someone in the church about a mission trip because their daughter was interested in going. And well, when Brooke reached out to the church, she ended up sharing about her family and what her family was going through. And she shared that almost immediately, a person from the church came to the hospital and they prayed with me and they prayed with my son and they've continued to stay connected with us. And they've gotten our family surrounded by other families in the church as well. And they even ended up covering the cost. Like this group of people ended up covering the cost so my daughter could go on this missions trip.

As she shared all this, I was so thankful. You see, Brooke reached out and someone in the church stepped up and cared for them. And this right here is a church being magnetic. And friends, if you would, please be praying for Brooke and her son and her family. But I just gotta say though, what's so cool about this story is that it wasn't me. It wasn't even one of our pastors. Again, I didn't even know her. It was the church that did. It was the church that looked out for her. It was the church that cared for her. And this is true of the early church as well. The apostles weren't trying to be all things to all people. You'll find that out in Acts chapter six. If you wanna read a little further, it was the entire church looking out for each other. And so how does this look? And so how does this look? Like tangibly speaking, how do we look out for each other? Well, since the very start of Embrace, I've always said that the moment Embrace becomes our home is the same moment that the church is no longer about us. And that's a good thing for us. And so instead of the church, instead of Sunday mornings and throughout the week being about you, how do we look out for each other? Well, it's asking basic questions. Like at church, who do I need to say hello to today?

Because maybe the church service isn't for me that specific day. Like before services, who do I need to welcome today? Before services, who do I need to pray for today? After service, who is hurting that I can show kindness to today? This week, who can I bring a meal to? This week, who can I pray for? This week, who can I go out of my way for? It's asking basic questions. What service can I start serving at and back in the e-kids area? And can I serve in first impressions? Can I serve in the parking lot? Is there a group of students on a Wednesday night that I could pour into? Or is there a small group of people that I could gather, couples together? There are singles together, fellows together, ladies together that I can begin to pour into and pastor. Friends, can I just say it? When Sunday mornings and throughout the week isn't about you, that's when it gets good. That's when it gets fun. That's when you begin to see God move in awesome, awesome ways. Seriously, anytime that anything is about you or me, we're miserable. Just think about it. Anytime anything is about you, it's like, whoa.

And just to acknowledge it as a church, as we're continuing to grow and grow, and new faiths are coming and people are coming to Christ, just like the early church struggled with it, caring for people well, and that's a huge growth area for us. Looking out for one another, and I won't lie, it's a growth area. You've maybe even reached out and you didn't hear anything back. Man. So friends, if embrace is your home, we need you. We need everyone to look out for each other. The Campus Pastors mentioned it earlier in the service. Fill out one of those cards when it comes to serving. If embrace is your home, find one area and go for it. If you're standing on the sidelines of your faith, if you're standing on the sidelines of this church, get into the game. Step up and serve so that when your neighbor and your friend and your coworker, or even more personally, your own family member who doesn't know Jesus, shows up that they would experience a magnetic church. Look out for each other. Going back to the words found in Acts chapter two, one more time, we're told they sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had a need, and they were serving God and enjoying the favor of all people.

You see, in this early church, they not only looked out for and cared for each other inside the church, but they were also radically generous and serving and loving and pointing people outside the church to Jesus as well. And so today, for all of us, if we wanna be and become a magnetic church, love those yet to come. What other people did Jesus love those yet to come? I've shared this before, but the question that always challenges me, more honestly, the question that always haunts me as a pastor, if embrace disappeared tomorrow, would anyone outside the church notice or care? Would they notice or care? Like, really, would they? Would our city be at a loss without us? Not just other church people from other churches, but from the atheists in our community. Would it be a loss? Would it be a hit? Would they be bummed if we didn't exist? Today, at the beginning, I mentioned the story of the prodigal son with this painting. One of the most powerful parts about this story in Luke 15 is the father running to his son. One of my favorite authors about this story says, the goal isn't just returning home to the father.

No, the goal is not just to return home. Instead, the goal is to become like the father to the world around us. That just like him, we'd go, that we'd run. Friends, since the very beginning, I've prayed that we'd never just be a group of people that gathers in our holy huddles and just stays there. I pray that we'd never be a church that just kind of sits around, nitpicks theology, complains about the world, and does nothing. No, each week, every Sunday, my hope is that we would be filled up, that we would be fired up, and then we'd get out of here. We'd be filled up, overflowing with God's love, with the Holy Spirit inside of us, and then we'd go. And we'd run. Be in the love and the grace and the truth and the kindness and the self-control and the gentleness of Jesus to everyone we cross paths with. Loving those yet to come. So today, I just wanna share some of the things that we're doing right now, and none of this is to brag. I promise, we have nothing to brag about. But honestly, I just wanna share how we're trying to love the people yet to come. And maybe there's one thing that I mentioned that's just like, man, that's it. I need to find out more about that, and help with that. So first off, because we're all about Jesus,

we're constantly encouraging all of us, myself included, to invite. Genuinely, one of the best ways to love another person is to tell them about Jesus. Jesus and invite them to church. Speaking of that, two Sundays from today, fall kickoff Sunday, we're starting up a brand new series called Wrestling with God, and I can't wait. We're going to be giving out 2000 copies of the book of Genesis, chapters 25 through 35, looking at the messy story of Jacob. Genuinely get your friends here. This would be the perfect Sunday for them to join us. Other things on any given week. We're loving people outside the church. Like last weekend, we collected school supplies for hundreds of kids stories. I've been insane from that this past Wednesday. We did it the last two Wednesdays, but I was with them this last Wednesday. A group of us from the church went and served breakfast to the staff, all the guards at Jameson Maximum Security Prison here in town. Speaking of prisons every single week, we have a team, a volunteer team that goes to Jameson on Sunday afternoons. And then there's another group of volunteers that every single Monday night drives over an hour and a half one way to Mike Durfee State Prison. Once a month, we send a group of volunteers to Macross and Boys Ranch.

I could mention our three schools in Haiti where hundreds of kids are getting fed each day. They have access to health care each and every every day, like an education. I could mention the thousands of dollars that all of you have given to Convoy of Hope this year alone to help people experiencing a natural disaster. I could mention the reverse offerings that we do every single December. I could mention the run project where you can apply for $2,000 to go do Jesus stuff. I could mention the mission strips. I could go on and on and on and on and on today, though. One specific area that I just want to highlight is around kids. Years back, we started an adoption fund to help families cover the cost of adoption. And I just want to say, if you're a Jesus follower with a stable home, I want to encourage you to consider adoption to find out more about the grant. You can simply go to I'm Embrace dot com slash adoption. Again, I would challenge you to do that. And so there's the adoption fund. But honestly, over the last couple of years, I've wanted to do more for kids and not just me, but others as well. You know, as Christians, we're quick to shout life, life, life, life. But we might want to make sure that our lives actually match our words. Otherwise, again, like a magnet, they don't hear life, life,

life. They feel repel, repel, repel. Yeah, Christians, they talk and they talk and they talk and they vote, too, but they don't actually care. I'll be honest for me, a huge knock against the church. And I'm talking about the church that I'm a part of the church is that we still have foster kids on a waiting list waiting for a home. What? But church, you're OK with that? I don't know about you. Makes me sad. It makes me angry. And I'm not pointing fingers. This is at me, too. And so we want to do more. What amazing ministry that as of today, we're going to start partnering with is called Harbor Families. You see, there's a bunch of kids and parents in our state and in our city that are in hard situations, and the situations are bad, but they're not bad enough for foster care. And so there's this gap of kids and parents who are needing help and support. And so this is where Harbor Family steps in. And sometimes it's for a few days. Other times it's for a few months. They place kids with a safe Harbor Family to help bridge this gap. And so again, we're starting this partnership. And today, I just want to lay out this challenge to any of

you, specifically if you're a Jesus follower with a stable home, just to find out more about becoming a Harbor Family. Friends, if this is something that you're interested in whatsoever, simply go to imembrace.com slash harbor. And in two weeks or so, we have an information meeting coming up. And so that's the challenge. Sign up. imembrace.com slash harbor. We have a point person from our church. She's a volunteer. Her name is Jill. And our hope is that whenever there's a kid that has a need, a parent that has a need, our church will step up and love and care for these kids so, so well. Once again, love those yet to come. That question we asked, if embrace disappeared tomorrow, would anyone outside the church notice or care? Friends, I hope the answer for embrace, someone outside of our walls, it's a resounding yes. But as a church, we'd be so magnetic, known for loving those, not just inside our walls, but known for loving those yet to come. Okay, so just to sum up all that we've learned from this church and Acts, this imperfect church that's magnetic, if we wanna be and become a magnetic church, be all about Jesus. If we truly wanna attract other people, not just to us, but to the Jesus that we follow,

look out for each other. Even one step further, we wanna be magnetic to the world around us. We wanna become like the Father who runs, love, bows, yet to common friends. When this happens, just listen to what we're told in Acts two, right after it says all these things that they did in verse 47, and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. How rad is that? This church, it's so imperfect and it's messy and it's growing like crazy and 3000 messy broken people showed up. It's imperfect yet it's magnetic. It's magnetic and as a result, the Lord added to their number daily. It's magnetic and the Lord reached people and changed the person after person after person. Embrace church, I don't know about you, but even still today, I wanna be a part of a church like that, like that. Let's pray. Gracious Father, heavenly King, we come before you thankful for who you are, thankful for this imperfect church and Acts that was magnetic. Lord, the revolution that they started,

these 120 Jesus followers that exploded to 3000 in one day, we give you thanks and we join in with the work that they started. Lord, we're a part of that same church worldwide and globally. I pray for this specific church called Embrace. Lord, will we be magnetic? Lord, will we only and all be about Jesus? And when we confess the moments we get off track, Lord, we repent honestly from it. Anytime we elevate anything or anyone above your name, only you and you alone are worthy of our worship. Lord, would you challenge us to look out for each other, that it wouldn't be about us, that we wouldn't come on the doors looking at me, me, me. Instead, we'd look for others, looking for opportunities to serve. And even more than that, Lord, would you send us out? Would you send us out? We'd be like sunflower fields, Lord, to everyone we come in contact with. Lord, we love you, we thank you, we worship you. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus, amen.