Foundation & Future | Josh Leake

And let me welcome a couple different groups of people. So APC family in the room, good to have you guys with us. God Behind Bars over in Somerset. We love you guys, welcome. And if you are newer to Allison Park, maybe you're not really part of the family, you've just started attending or you're visiting, my name is Josh, I'm one of the pastors here. And as we prepare for the meeting and the vote tonight, I just wanted to share some of what God's been doing in my life, in my heart. And so some of what I'm gonna talk about today is if I'm elected, my heart for things. But some of this message is just what I think God is speaking for the future of APC in general. This is also a special year for us this whole year because we are celebrating 60 years as a church this year, which is crazy. And so we have a long history of awesome things that we've been able to be a part of throughout the past 60 years that APC's been able to do. There's also some things though that we can look back on that we had plans for that maybe didn't pan out the way that we thought they would. So if you were here back in the early 2000s, you remember when we were getting ready to build this new section of the building as an addition to the old one. If you were here at that time, just raise your hand so I can see how many of you would have been around.

Okay, quite a few of you then. So then you remember, probably many of you, some of the plans that we had to build some different things and some of them didn't come to pass. So when I was probably about seven years old is when we were starting to get ready to build some of this new addition. And my dad was the lead pastor and he was showing me some of the different plans that they had. One of them was to build in the concourse, right where Kids' Zone Junior is, there was gonna be like a massive tree that was gonna be like a themed entrance, like multi-floor and then you would enter through the trunk, like Disneyland type thing, right? So they showed me that and then they showed me that part of the building out there too, there was gonna be a place where they would have slides and tubes right near that. So as a kid, I saw this and that was the only thing I cared about, was the slides and tubes and this big tree. And I was talking to Pastor Joe Schaefer, who's our interim lead pastor, and he was saying, there's a bunch of people right around my age, 32 years old is how old I am, and maybe a little younger for some other people that remember this, that have all asked the same question, which is, why didn't we ever do the slide? What happened to the slides?

And so when I was younger, I thought, if I ever take over as lead pastor at Allison Park, first order of business, we're gonna put some slides in, a slide at every campus. I pictured myself running down the aisles, high-fiving people, slides everywhere, I'm just kidding. So that was one place that we had plans that didn't pan out, right? We thought we knew what would happen and it didn't end up happening. Part of the season we're in now is not the way that we thought things would go. We thought my dad, Pastor Jeff, after being here 35 years, that he would close out his time and be able to pass off the baton to the next person, but we're not there. So plans don't always go how you think they're going to. For me, this has really been a huge part of my journey. So my dad started meeting with me and my brother Dave, who is getting ready to plant a church in Jacksonville, Florida, called Salt Church, in September. He started meeting with me and my brother Dave every week on Tuesdays to pass on what he had learned in ministry and to kind of train us for what was next. So I remember in these meetings, by the way, he sent me and Dave a calendar invite when he first set up these meetings and he called it the young studs meeting. And he loved referring to himself as a young stud, every chance that he got, just ultimate dad humor. But when we were meeting together,

he, one of the meetings told me, Josh, I think that maybe you are supposed to consider being a lead pastor somewhere someday. I see that in you. And my response was, I really don't think so, but I'm open to that fact, if that's what God wants to do, and if that's what you see, I can start taking steps in that direction. And so if you heard me share my story last summer, I preached here probably around last July about how my original life plan was to be a traveling rock star. So God had been repeatedly changing my plans over and over again, calling me into ministry, and then now through my dad was saying, I think maybe you're supposed to lead somewhere someday. So God started to slowly change my desire to where I felt like starting in 2019 and over the next couple of years, Okay, you know, maybe this is what God has for me. I think maybe this, he does want me to lead somewhere someday. But my one thought was, I don't know if I want it to be at Atlas Park, because my dad was a superstar. You know, I grew up here my whole life. He built this massive church, planted all these churches. People all over the country knew him as the godfather of church planting.

He had been leading at this church for 30 years, 30 plus years. So I was thinking, whoever takes over after him, somebody who's been leading as long as he has, who as loved as he was, that's a hard job. But then God started working on this part of my heart too. And he was reminding me, you know, this was probably a little bit post-COVID in those couple years there. I felt like God was reminding me to say, being in ministry was never about going and doing what you wanted. It's about going where I assigned you. Maybe some of you just need that reminder. Sometimes we get really fixated on even things that can seem like godly things. They seem like good things. But life as a disciple of Jesus, as a follower of Jesus, is not about doing what we think makes sense. It's about going where he's assigned us. So this is another place that God was just bringing me back to surrender, bringing back Proverbs 3.5 all the time of trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding on what you think makes sense, but acknowledge him in all your ways and he'll make your path straight. So again, another point of surrender to say, God, I'm okay with wherever you want me. If that's here, if that's somewhere else,

I just wanna be where you want me. And then as soon as my dad passed, February 7th of this year, we were standing around our family, my mom, siblings, and one of the hardest moments of my life. But also I felt a shift in that moment in the hospital that has continued of the Holy Spirit giving me a new sense of boldness and hunger as I feel like he's been asking me to approach leading here. So my goal with all of this has just been to step forward in obedience of what I feel like God is asking me to do. But again, when we're talking about plans, personal plans, plans for our family, plans for our church, in general, sometimes they don't pan out and sometimes God leads us in a different direction. So when we have a massive change like the one we're going through right now, where we lose our longtime lead pastor, it brings up big questions as we're looking at electing a new one. And maybe they're questions that you have found yourself asking in the past couple of months here, which is after losing Pastor Jeff, who is APC now? And what is next for the future? And what's gonna change? And what's gonna stay the same? Is this gonna still feel like APC? So I just want to address some of these feelings and questions by looking together at what is the church? What is APC?

What's the lead pastor's role and relationship? And how does Jesus fit into the whole mix here? And I know this can seem like kind of an obvious or straightforward thought, but I think it's a critical one that we can easily confuse, especially in a season like this. So Colossians chapter one is where we'll turn to, if you want to turn there in your Bibles or on your phone, we'll start in verse 15 in just a second. And this is a long chunk of verses here. So if you're like me, it's a little easy to get distracted and kind of tune out. But this passage, a couple of verses are really important to frame the rest of it. So it starts by talking about who Jesus is in his fullness, and then what the church is and how he relates to it. So Colossians chapter one, verse 15 says, the son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him, all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything, he might have the supremacy. So recap, Jesus created all things. All things were created for him.

He's the center of the universe, he's the main character. And then we get a metaphor for Jesus's relationship and leadership of the church, which is that the church is like a body and Jesus is the head. So the goal of the church is to be unified and fully submitted to Jesus's headship and leadership. And sometimes we need, reminded of this very simple. truth, especially on a weekend like this one, which is this, Jesus has always been the head of this church and he is still leading us forward. He's all-powerful, he's all-knowing, and he cares about this church and every person in it and its future way more than any of us ever could. So he's been the primary one actively leading and building and strengthening this church over the past 60 years. And sometimes what happens is when you have an incredible leader in a church for a long time, sometimes we start to confuse great leaders and their abilities as the thing that is sustaining the church on its own. But we can't get that confused that Jesus uses people and he uses leaders, but he has always been and still is the ultimate leader of the church and of this church. What I admired about my dad is that he was always crystal clear about his role as lead pastor for the church. So my dad stepped into this position at 27 years old and when he stepped in one of his first Sundays that he got up, and I know some of you may have even been here for this Sunday, he got up and he said to the church, I'm resigning as the head of the church. I'm not gonna be the leader, I'm just gonna be Jesus's assistant. And so from day one for him, this was the model that he set of saying Jesus is the head, he is the leader, and my goal is to support what he's doing. And I especially have come to appreciate this at this point in my life because it is incredibly easy for superstar leaders to drift towards thinking that the church needs them. But he modeled that so well of saying Jesus has always been the ultimate leader. And I just want to say

he's still leading and he's not done here. So the past little bit has obviously been really tough losing our pastor and for me even harder losing my dad, but something that has been very encouraging and comforting is knowing and remembering Jesus has always been in charge and he's still in charge now. He doesn't change, he's eternal, he's unchanging, and he's a deep love for his people and for this church. So we are not electing a new head of the church, we're electing an assistant. Jesus is still the head, he's still the leader, we're just electing an assistant. And pastors are important, they're part of Jesus's toolbox to strengthen the church. So Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11, again this is another longer chunk, so tune in with me because again this is really important, talks about how pastors and some of the other positions work. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 is where we'll start. It says, so Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body, there it is again, of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. And then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is Christ. From him the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. So Jesus appoints leaders, pastors, evangelists, teachers to strengthen the body, but it's under his leadership. So as we are in, again, in this process and a big weekend where we're looking at electing a new lead pastor, we can't get this confused that Jesus built this church. He did it through Pastor Jeff, my dad. He did it through other staff. He did it through members and leaders, people who've been a part of this church. But if I'm elected, this is how I see myself inside of this role, which is as a servant to Jesus's leadership to strengthen and equip the body so that we are unified

under his headship and we are growing in maturity to be the church that he wants us to be. So right now, as we are preparing to look forward towards the end of the year, we're going to look forward to the beginning of the new year. the future, we can also look to our history. I wanna do both of those things in the rest of this message. So let's just start by looking at the past as we're remembering that Jesus is the ultimate leader and head of this church. Let's talk about our foundation. Our foundation is so strong. We have 60 years of God being faithful to this church and to use us in so many different ways. But what's been really cool is some of the different people who've come in, overseers, speakers, in the past couple of months have all talked about how healthy this church is. And you really see how healthy a church is in moments of crisis. So we have a lot to be thankful for and look back on in our history as a church. And we also have a lot of things that are unique about how God has created us as a church. So one of those things is just the unity among generations. Multi-generational unity in a church is not a given. In fact, it's a rarity. It's not something you see in most churches because it requires generations as they age to sacrifice their own preferences to prioritize what God is doing in the next generations. That is not a sacrifice that many generations

or churches are willing to make. But I think that's beautiful about APC is we have decades of generations who have continued to pave the way for and prioritize raising up and making way for the next generation. And let me just say, if I am elected, I will be proud to have kids at this church, nine, seven, and about to be five are my kids' ages. I'll be proud to have them at a church where adults so badly want youth and kids and young adults to fall in love with Jesus more than they want to have things their way. I think that's a beautiful thing. And there's a bunch of names that I could give shout-outs to for this. Names that I have seen be part of this church for a long time, names that have invested in me personally from a young age. But one that I just wanna shout out is Pastor Debbie Lynch. She's been on staff for 35 years. This year is 35. And if you haven't met Debbie and you haven't been hugged by Debbie, you're probably really good at hiding because she knows how to find you. She's like a heat-seeking missile for the love of God. She will find you and she will pour out God's love on you. And there are so many stories of people that I have heard where they were like,

I almost didn't stick around, but then Debbie found me and gave me a hug and encouraged me. There are so many people that she has showed the love of God to in that way. But not only that, so much of our young staff, and over the years, I'll include myself in that as well, we have been mentored by watching how Debbie has pastored people and how she has modeled for that and taught us how to pastor. So I am so grateful for people like Pastor Debbie Lynch, who's been a part of this church for longer than 35 years, but been on staff for 35 years, investing into creating multigenerational unity here. I think that's beautiful. So we're a multigenerational church. We're also a sending church. One of our greatest joys and assignments is to send out church planners, missionaries, people, resources, outside of APC to build the kingdom of God. And every time that, in the past 20 years, this church started to grow, we would plant a new church. We would send out people from the church. And where some people would feel like that's losing something, that has always been a joy of this church, to send out to build the kingdom.

So that sort of open-handed releasing of people and resources, I think, is a rare and unique thing about what Jesus has been doing in this church, the DNA of who we are and part of our foundation. And then the last thing is that I think we're very clearly marked by a faith for the supernatural. At APC, we believe that God is a miracle-working God. We believe that God can accomplish in a breath what would take us a lifetime, or that we would never be able to accomplish. And that he uses ordinary people to accomplish his will through supernatural means to transform families and communities. And the Bible is packed with examples of this, of how God uses ordinary people in supernatural ways. And so I really believe in this. that God is gonna stir some of you to begin to hunger for this in faith. Maybe some of you have not grown up in this background, and the idea of a supernatural God who wants to work beyond your understanding, or in you in some ways that maybe are not necessarily what you would normally think, that makes you uncomfortable because it doesn't fit into a neat religious box. I don't mean that, by the way, in an insulting way. What I mean to say is, I am praying that God is gonna stir us

to hunger to be used by him beyond our own human capacity. Lord, mark us by a hunger to be used in power in the way that the disciples were used, the apostles were used, the early church was used. Lord, use us to transform our communities because I know what we're hungry for is not to just be a part of a church family that we come together and we worship, we celebrate an idea, it's to be disciples of Jesus that are transforming our families and communities. So that's our prayer, is Lord, use us that way. Use us as you lead us, because you're the head, you're the leader. Use us to transform the world around us. So Jesus has always been the leader. He's built a strong foundation. He's given us, the next one here, a clear direction. Our direction is clear. So he gave a command to the church before he ascended, which was, go and make disciples of every nation. And he baptized them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And so I am praying and believing we are gonna see a massive wave of new disciples of every age who are passionate about Jesus in this church. One of the most exciting parts of being a disciple of Jesus is when your relationship with God moves beyond God doing things for you to God doing things through you.

Because we all start with God doing things for me. God has forgiven me, he loves me, he wants to strengthen me, he gives me power to navigate the difficulties of life. But eventually, it has to move towards there are hurting and broken and suffering, miserable people who desperately need a touch from the living God. And God wants to work not just for us, but through us to the place around us. And so we wanna say, we have a clear direction as just the church, capital C Church, as part of the bigger movement all over the world to make disciples in our area that are passionate about following Jesus. But on top of that, we also have some clear next steps that we got a year ago when my dad, Pastor Jeff, shared four years of faith. So this was where he talked about initiatives. We wanna send out new church plants, and we wanna believe for missionaries to go all over the world, and $2 million in kingdom builders and giving in a single year, and new buildings for campuses and things like that. Before my dad passed, a lot of these things about church plants and missionaries made a lot more sense on paper. Because it was easier to see, okay, four years of faith, we're gonna plant churches, we're gonna send missionaries.

We've got Pastor Jeff at the helm, and he has a history of doing this. This is great. And now without that, it really brings us back to four years of faith. It brings us back to a position of saying, what I know my dad would say if he was standing here, which is, if God spoke it, he's gonna bring it to pass. It was never about a person. Pastor Jeff would say that. We all know he would. You can hear him saying it if you've been attending and you know him. He would say, it was never about me. I was just passing on what I felt like God had given to us. But now you're ready. Come on, Allison Park. Let's step with faith into the future that trust if God spoke this, he's the Lord of the harvest that's gonna bring it to pass. And our job is not to strive or to worry. It is to walk and step with the spirit and obedience to be ready to walk forward when he asks us to. So four years of faith is about dependence on God over dependence on a capability of man. That's faith. And as we talk about moving forward, whether it's four years of faith or it's about God moving through you

rather than just for you, I believe that some of you are going to begin to take steps in new ways that you never have before. You're not gonna be tempted with just being a quiet attender or a spectator. Some of you have never led a life group and you've attended life groups, but you've sort of downplayed. Like, I don't think I could ever do that. And God's gonna begin to stir this in you. Or some of you, God's going to lead you to do the Allison Park Leadership Academy, our ministry school here. As somebody that graduated from the school and so deeply believes in what it does, I know, if you're a graduate of the school, just wave at me, or you're in the school now, okay, there's a bunch of you in the room. There's something, yeah, give a round of applause for those that are in the school that are graduated. There are some of you that are gonna feel that burning to say, I'm not content in operating in the same way. I wanna be trained in the Bible, and I wanna be trained to God use me in the world around me. Maybe the logistics are a question mark, but you're gonna start to feel that. Maybe even up at night, like, I think I need to do this. Let me just encourage you, listen to the Holy Spirit's voice as he starts to nudge you forward in obedience.

God's gonna work through us to build this kingdom, because he's always been the one in charge. So our foundation is strong, our direction is clear, and then last one, our best days are still ahead of us. I fully believe that this is what Jesus wants us to trust him for. And again, this is another thing I know my dad would say, is there is greater things ahead. There is greater things ahead. Lord, give us more disciples who are absolutely on fire for you. God, give us spiritual mothers and fathers in this house who are gonna raise up sons and daughters into passionate, sold-out followers of Jesus. Lord, give us more church plants, give us more missionaries, give us more pastors, more influential disciples in the business world. And we have multiple things that have been spoken over this house in the past couple decades. There's a word that said this house is gonna be known for its youth, that youth are gonna be genuinely full of the Holy Spirit and terror to evildoers. So as somebody with kids here, that would be something that I would be so passionate about. Lord, do this through the next generation. Lord, do it through the youth of this house. And we wanna make way. Lord, whatever we have to sacrifice to see the next generation moving forward.

Or another one is that Pastor Brad Leach, a few years ago, one of our overseers, said there's an adoption anointing over this house so that we were gonna start to see things that were not our fault, but they become our responsibility to help people and churches heal and send them out. So there's a lot of things that God has been speaking about this church that I believe what Jesus is saying about the future is, there's greater things ahead. There's greater things ahead. And we wanna believe, God, you are in charge. Jesus, you are the head of your church. And if you spoke it, you'll bring it to pass. We wanna believe that for the future. And so my job, if I was elected into this role as lead pastor, is to say, there is already somebody else in charge of this church. Jesus Christ is in charge and he's been in charge. And I wanna help us hear his voice and respond to him and trust his leadership. Back to Proverbs 3.5. Lord, for this church, we wanna trust in you with all our heart and not lean on what we think makes sense, not lean on man's wisdom or strategies, but learn to hear your voice, to acknowledge you in everything and trust that you're gonna make our path straight.

So as we get ready to wrap up, what do we do to position ourselves for this? I think first thing we all have to do is just freshly surrender to his leadership. As a church, yes, but also individually or our families. Because what starts to happen over time, even if you're following Jesus, even if you're a disciple and you've been following him for a while, is we can start to drift towards focusing on our thoughts, plans, ideas, agendas, for our family, for our nation, for our community, for our church. And we start to speak in ways that are led more by fear or anxiety about the future of whatever we are. Whatever it is. But what we have to come back to for our church, for our family, for our lives, is saying, Jesus, you are in charge. So help me to speak in a way that reflects the fruit of the spirit. That when I speak about anything, it's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. I'm putting you in charge. You're already in charge, but Lord, I submit to your leadership. So first is freshly surrendering, submitting to his leadership. Second thing is learning to listen for his voice. So Pastor Aaron Holt preached a message about learning to lean in in prayer. I think that's so pivotal for us in this next season,

especially some of you. have never really developed this sort of relationship with God. It's maybe been limited to attending church and knowing that God exists, believing in Him, but your own prayer life has not developed yet. And part of what submitting to His leadership and stepping out will mean is prioritizing hearing His voice yourself. Prioritize developing that relationship or learning to dig into His word. If you want to learn to walk and step with what God has for you, for your family, for this church, you have to learn to dig into His word. No one can do that for you. Let me just say that lovingly, a loving push here. Nobody else can learn to dig into the word of God for you. So if you have had trouble approaching that, if you've never really dug into that, we want to help. We have Bible plans we can recommend that are easy chunks that make it digestible, that'll help you understand what you're reading. You can stop by the Welcome Center. We have a Salvation Center outside these doors. We want to help with this, but you have to be the one to take initiative to say, okay, God, I feel you leading me to step out, not to coast, not to be a quiet spectator, but to develop a relationship with you as part of this church. Stepping out in obedience. I believe that's for a lot of you in there, and that'll be your next thing, is stepping out in obedience in some way. Some of you, your next step is getting baptized. You've been putting that off or avoiding it altogether. Maybe you just recently gave your life to Jesus and you haven't taken that step yet. This is a pivotal and transformational step. Getting baptized is, if we avoid it after we give our lives to Jesus, it's sort of like if we get married, but we never want to put on the wedding ring. Like if we went out in public and we're just like, I just don't want to wear it. Like it's a really important part of getting married. Getting baptized, we see, is always the pattern. So if you've never been baptized as an adult and made the decision for yourself, again, let me lovingly say this. This is not an optional thing with following Jesus. It's part of what it means to surrender to him, is saying, I'm making this decision to publicly identify with Jesus. And there is a spiritual component. So as you make this decision, some of you are going to do this. You're going to get baptized. We're going to surround you as a church family out there, and we are going to be going nuts.

And there is a spiritual transformation that happens when you go under that water to say, I'm dying to my old life. I'm dying to my way of doing things. And Jesus, you're in charge. Some of you need to do that. Or some of you need to start to serve somewhere in this church. Maybe it's the next generation. Maybe it's getting involved in the welcome team. But you step off the sidelines. You start to say, God, how do you want to work through me? How do you want to work through me? So as we close this message, we're going to take communion. But before we do that, I know there are some of you in the room who you have not ever given your lives to Jesus. Or maybe you have not been walking with him, and you've been doing your own thing. Would you close your eyes with me? Bow your heads as we prepare for this moment. Again, some of you just have never asked Jesus for forgiveness or to lead you. Maybe some of you feel worthless, like he doesn't want you, or he wants to keep you at a distance. Maybe you just haven't wanted to surrender control. Maybe you've just been putting it off. But none of us know how long we have left on this earth. None of us know when it's going to be our last breath. If it's going to be in five minutes, five years, 50 years, none of us know. But every one of us will breathe our last breath. That is a guarantee for every person. And someday we're going to stand before God. And the only thing that's going to matter is, did you ask Jesus to be your savior and your king? Everybody needs a savior. Because when we've rejected God, every single one of us has done this. We've rejected God's leadership, and we've chosen our own way. And God is everything good. Every single good thing that we can think of is a gift from God. But when we rejected God's leadership, sin entered the world. It brought pain, destruction, death, disease. And each one of us has that corruption, that sin that we can't free ourselves from. And the only way to be free from it is to live a perfect life, which we're not capable of. So God himself saw us and had a heart for us and loved us. And Jesus came to the earth, lived a perfect life, and took the punishment we deserved on that cross. He absorbed the curse of our sin. And now you can be free from your sin. You can have eternal life with God. You have to ask him for forgiveness, and you have to put your faith in him. It's a free gift, but he's a savior and he's a king. So you have to ask for forgiveness. Lord, I need you to save me from my sin. And Lord, I want you to be my King. It's a package deal. Savior and a King. And so this is the most important decision you could ever make. At the end of the day, everything's gonna burn up.

Everything else is temporary. The only thing that you can leave with is, did you make Jesus your Savior and your King? And there are many of you in this room who have been feeling that kind of stir from the Holy Spirit to say, I know I need to give my life to Jesus. Let me just say this for you. Nobody can make this decision for you. And so if you want to make that decision to give your life to Jesus, to ask forgiveness, to make Him your King, I'm gonna count to three. And if that's you, I want you to raise your hand to say, yeah, I'm making that decision. Why do I ask you to raise your hand? Because when you're making an eternal decision like this one, it's important for it not to just be a quiet, hidden, slow, in-your-mind thing. But you're boldly saying, Jesus, thank you that you died on the cross to save me. Now I respond to that and I choose you. So if that's you, let me just say, don't worry about anybody else. At the end of the day, this is the most important decision you could make. So get your hand ready. One, two, three. Just slip it up and say, yeah, that's me. That's beautiful. Awesome. Hands all over the room just saying, yes. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for offering forgiveness. Now I choose you. You can put your hands down. And here's what I want to do. We're all gonna pray a prayer of dedication together along with those who raised their hands. Let's just freshly surrender ourselves to Jesus. So repeat after me. Say, dear Jesus, thank you for dying on that cross. Thank you for loving me, even though I don't deserve it. Lord, I need forgiveness. I need you to cleanse me. So I ask, Lord, forgive me. Make me new. I surrender to you. Be my savior. Be my king. I love you, Lord. In Jesus' name. Everybody said amen. Give it up for those that made that decision this morning. So what we'll do to close now is we're gonna take communion. It's a way to remember, commemorate Jesus' death and resurrection. But we're also remembering Jesus' covenant with his people. So if you are not a member of this church, that's okay. You don't have to be a member to take part in this, or part of the service. The only thing that we ask is that you have given your life to Jesus, that you've asked for forgiveness, that you've repented in that way, and that you've said, Jesus, I want you to be my leader. If you haven't, you can just let the

trays pass you by. And so the team's gonna lead us. At some point, they'll ask you to stand, and then I'll come out and lead us and in communion in just one second here. Oh, Jesus, at the center of it all. Jesus, at the center of it all. From the beginning to the end. It will always be, it's always been you, Jesus. Jesus. Oh, Jesus, at the center of it all. Jesus, at the center of it all. From the beginning to the end. It will always be, it's always been you, Jesus. Jesus. Nothing else matters. Nothing in this world will do. Jesus, you're the center. Everything revolves around you. Jesus, you're the center. Stand with me now. Oh, Jesus, be the center of my life. Jesus, be the center of my life. From the beginning to the end. It will always be, it's always been you, Jesus. Jesus. Nothing else matters. Nothing in this world will do. Okay, so as we prepare to take communion, again, we're remembering, we're tied back to that moment that Jesus set up this practice with his disciples at the Last Supper, where he made a covenant commitment to his people, to his church, to forgive us, to love us, and to see us forward into the future.

So as we hold the bread in our hands, would you just hold it up now, and let's pray before we take it. Lord, we remember when we hold this bread, it's a representation of your body that was put on that cross. It's a representation of the pain that you endured, the nails being driven through your hands and feet, the agony that you went through for your people, because you loved us, because you wanted to offer us hope and healing and redemption and life. Lord, we thank you that your suffering and your death is what brought us life and healing. We remember that in Jesus' name, amen. Let's take the bread together. Now, before we take the cup, let's just sing this part of the song that says, Jesus, be the center of your church. Let's sing now. Lord, Jesus, be the center of your church. Jesus, be the center of your church. And every knee will bow, but every tongue shall confess, through Jesus. Sing it again now. Jesus, be the center. Let's pray it together. Lord, Jesus, be the center of your church. Jesus, be the center of your church. And every knee will bow, but every tongue shall confess, through Jesus. Come on, would you lift your hands now and sing, nothing else? Nothing else matters. Nothing in this world will do. Jesus, you're the center. And every knee will bow, but every tongue shall confess, through Jesus. So let's hold up the cup together like this as we pray. And before we even pray, what's important to do is when we're remembering what the blood of Jesus did for us, we need to remember its forgiveness.

So as we pray for that, we need to let the Holy Spirit speak to us for where we have been acting in a way that's not pleasing to him, for where we've spoken in a way that's not pleasing to him. When we're remembering the forgiveness that he offers through this, we take a moment to pause and say, Lord, if there's anything in me that has not been pleasing, show me, Lord. Lord, if we need to reconcile with somebody else, show us that. Thank you, Jesus. So Lord, we hold up the cup now to remember that your blood means hope for us. It was the final sacrifice that covered over our sin, over our impurity, over the death and destruction that we brought, which means that by your blood, we know, we know that you will lead us into the future. We have hope that you are fully committed to your people, not based on how we feel, not based on our performance, but because you chose us. So we say thank you, Lord, for your blood and for the hope that it offers in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's take the cup together. And so before we leave, let me just say part of communion is remembering our covenant with God, but it's also being unified together. We remembering we're all. at the same table with Jesus. So what we like to do after communion is we have food out in the concourse. We got pizza today. And my encouragement is, as you leave, a good step to take is to recognize you're a part of something. Don't just rush out. Talk to some people. Right, I know it's easy just when it's over,

you leave, get out of here, gotta go. But a really important part of a message like this is recognizing you're a part of something. If you're an introvert, I may not seem like it because I'm up on stage, but I'm an introvert. I know it's not necessarily the most fun thing for every person in this room to go and talk to people. It's a good step to take. Be a part of what God is doing here. So five minutes, take five minutes, talk to some people. And let me just pray a prayer of blessing over you before you go, just stretch forth your hand. I pray that this week, as you trust the Holy Spirit, as you submit to his leadership, that his grace would permeate you, your family, every part of your life, that you would sense him leading you forward. You would step out in obedience and you would sense his presence. In Jesus' name, everybody said, amen, amen. Awesome. Guys, thanks for being here. Have a great weekend.