From Uprooted to Established: Part 1

♪ Put the table up ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ The love's returning ♪ ♪ Oh, revival's in the air ♪

♪ So catch it if you can ♪ ♪ He's moving on the wind ♪ ♪ The dawn is breaking ♪ ♪ Oh, lift your eyes to see ♪ ♪ He's better than your dreams ♪ ♪ And everything you lost, love's returning ♪ ♪ Revival's in the air ♪ ♪ So catch it if you can ♪ ♪ He's moving on the wind ♪ ♪ The dawn is breaking ♪ ♪ Oh, lift your eyes to see ♪ ♪ That he's better than your dreams ♪ ♪ And everything you lost, love's returning ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Revival's in the air ♪ ♪ So catch it if you can ♪ ♪ He's moving on the wind ♪ ♪ The dawn is breaking ♪ ♪ Oh, lift your eyes to see ♪ ♪ He's better than your dreams ♪ ♪ And everything you lost, love's returning ♪ ♪ Love's returning, love's returning, love's returning ♪ ♪ Let the wind blow ♪ ♪ Let the time roll ♪ ♪ Till the earth knows you're a God of love ♪ ♪ Let my dry bones sing a new song of the glory ♪ ♪ To the God of love ♪ ♪ Let my dry bones sing a new song of the glory ♪

♪ To the God of love ♪ ♪ Oh, let my dry bones sing a new song of the glory to the God of love ♪ ♪ Oh, let my dry bones sing a new song of the glory to the God of love ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ You set rocks with a whisper ♪ ♪ You hang the stars with Your hand ♪ ♪ Your Word is infinite wisdom ♪ ♪ Your ways are higher than man's ♪ ♪ Seasons obey Your commandments ♪ ♪ Your thunder puts armies to flight ♪ ♪ No one can fathom Your power ♪ ♪ Your voice is the wellspring of life ♪ ♪ There is none like You ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy of all ♪ ♪ Endless is no other name ♪ ♪♪ ♪ You ruled the nations with justice ♪ ♪ With mercy You pulled back the night ♪ ♪ With blameless You bore our transgressions ♪ ♪ It came sin that we could not die ♪ ♪ Darkness can endure Your progress ♪ ♪ But You triumphed over the grave ♪ ♪ Your song is established forever ♪ ♪ To die on the Lord God will reign ♪

♪ There is none like You ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy of all honor and praise ♪ ♪ There's no other name ♪ ♪♪ ♪ There is none like You ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy of all honor and praise ♪ ♪ There's no other name ♪ ♪♪ ♪ There's no other name ♪ ♪♪ Yeah. ♪♪ Sing the name of Jesus. ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ The name above all other names ♪ ♪♪ ♪ No other name can save me ♪ ♪ No other name can restore me ♪ ♪ No other name can heal my heart ♪ ♪ No other name but yours ♪ ♪ No other name can save me ♪ ♪ No other name can restore ♪

♪ No other name can heal my heart ♪ ♪ No other name but yours ♪ ♪ No other name can save me ♪ ♪ No other name can restore ♪ ♪ No other name can heal my heart ♪ ♪ No other name but yours ♪ ♪ No other name can save me ♪ ♪ No other name can restore ♪ ♪ No other name can heal my heart ♪ ♪ No other name but yours ♪ ♪ No other name can save me ♪ ♪ No other name can restore ♪ ♪ No other name can heal my heart ♪ ♪ No other name but yours ♪ Just sing the name of Jesus. ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Lord ♪ ♪ Name above all other names ♪ ♪ Other names ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Lord ♪ ♪ Name above all other names ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh-oh-oh oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohh ♪ ♪ There is none like you You alone are worthy of all honor and praise There's no other name ♪ There is none like you You alone are worthy of all honor and praise There's no other name ♪ There's no other name for you ♪ There's no other name for you ♪ There is none like you You alone are worthy of all honor and praise There's no other name for you

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Lord, I confess that I've been a criminal I've stolen your breath to sing my own song Lord, I confess that I'm far from innocent These shackles I wear I bought on my own ♪ Home ♪ ♪ Starless and at a crimson cost ♪ ♪ You nailed my debt to that old rugged cross ♪ ♪ That empty slate, that empty grave ♪ ♪ Thank God that stone was rolled away ♪ ♪ Away ♪ ♪ Lord, I confess ♪ ♪ That I've been a prodigal ♪ ♪ Paid for your house ♪ ♪ Walked my own roads ♪ ♪ When Jesus came ♪ ♪ And torn down my prison walls ♪ ♪ Death came to life ♪ ♪ When he called me by name ♪ ♪ Starless and at a crimson cost ♪ ♪ You nailed my debt to that old rugged cross ♪ ♪ An empty slate and the empty grave ♪ ♪ Thank God that stone was rolled ♪ ♪ Starless and at a crimson cost ♪ ♪ You nailed my debt to that old rugged cross ♪ ♪ An empty slate and the empty grave ♪ ♪ Thank God that stone was rolled ♪ ♪ Away ♪ ♪ I see bright crimson roads draped over the ashes ♪ ♪ A wide open tomb where there should be a casket ♪ ♪ The children are singing and dancing and laughing ♪ ♪ The Father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪

♪ Roses in bloom push up from the embers ♪ ♪ Rivers of tears flow from good times remembered ♪ ♪ Families are singing and dancing and laughing ♪ ♪ The Father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Heaven joins in with a glorious sound ♪ ♪ And a great cloud of witnesses all gather round ♪ ♪ Cause the ones that were lost are finally found ♪ ♪ The Father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Scarlet sins and a crimson cross ♪ ♪ You nailed my debt to that old rugged cross ♪ ♪ An empty slate at the empty grave ♪ ♪ Thank God that stone was rolled ♪ ♪ Oh, scarlet sins and a crimson cross ♪ ♪ You nailed my debt to that old rugged cross ♪ ♪ An empty slate at the empty grave ♪ ♪ Thank God that stone was rolled ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ The father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ The father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Homecoming, homecoming, homecoming, homecoming ♪ ♪ Yeah, He loves us oh how He loves us ♪ ♪ He loves us oh how He loves us ♪ ♪ He loves us, oh how He loves ♪ ♪ Yeah, He loves us, oh how He loves us ♪ ♪ Oh how He loves us, oh how He loves ♪

♪ Oh I know, I know how much He loves us ♪ ♪ That He'd make such a beautiful homecoming ♪ ♪ A beautiful family, and He'd spend it with us, mm ♪ Every time I hear the bridge of this song, I feel like it's so visual, and I just see like a family, you know, 10, 20, 30 size the times of the people in this room, and there's no sorrow, we're just like rejoicing over all the things that He's done, and I know that like my earthly father can throw me a great celebration if he wants to feel family, and if my earthly dad can do that, like how many eons more can my heavenly father do it? He is so crazy in love with you, and with me, and with all of us, that it is His desire that we get to live in this age of peace, and this age of joy, and like the ashes of what's been burned down are covered by His crimson robe. Oh man, I just, let's, I gotta sing it again, we gotta do it again, and just, oh, I'm so in love with the way He loves us. ♪ I see bright crimson rose ♪ ♪ I see bright crimson rose draped over the ashes ♪ ♪ A wide open tomb where there should be a casket ♪ ♪ The children are singing and dancing and laughing ♪ ♪ The Father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Roses in bloom pushed up from the embers ♪ ♪ Rivers of tears flow from good times remembered ♪ ♪ Families are singing and dancing and laughing ♪

♪ The Father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Heaven joins in with a glorious sound ♪ ♪ And a great cloud of witnesses all gather round ♪ ♪ Cause the ones that were lost are finally found ♪ ♪ The Father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ The Father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ The Father is welcoming, this is our homecoming ♪ ♪ Oh how He loves us, oh how He loves us, oh how He loves us, oh how He loves us, oh how He loves us, oh how He loves us, oh how He loves us, oh how He loves us ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh .♪ . Oh, how he loves us Oh, how he loves us Oh, how he loves we Oh, how he loves you and me Oh, how he loves you and me He gave his life, what more could he give Oh, how he loves you and me ♪ He loves you, oh how He loves me ♪ ♪ Oh how He loves you and me ♪ ♪ Oh how He loves you, oh how He loves me ♪ ♪ Oh how, oh how He loves me ♪ ♪ Oh how He loves you, oh how He loves me ♪ ♪ Oh how He loves me, Oh how He loves me ♪ ♪ Oh how He loves me, oh how He loves me. ♪ changes his language. In the Greek language it's about choosing your path to a life deep in God's love.

There is a terrifying word when we use it that means There is a terrifying word when we use it that means ♪ Oh how He loves me, oh how He loves me ♪ As we were sitting there, I just couldn't shake this overwhelming feeling, just like weight in my heart. As we're beginning this new year, I know for some people in here, last year was terrible. I feel this weight of it didn't go like you expected. Maybe investments didn't turn out. Maybe relationships burned out. Maybe your body broke down in some different way. Maybe family started to fall apart. Maybe something didn't go right. But I was listening to that lyric where it said, roses pushed up from the embers. And I'm reminded as children of God in the kingdom, we're supposed to go from glory to glory, all right? Every mountain high made low, every valley low made high. It's a level playing field. But when you look at Jesus's life, we see death in one moment, right? And we think, oh man, that was death, that was down low, that wasn't right. But we all know the end of the story. We know that glory came afterwards, that came in such a weight that it changed all of our lives that are here today. And I'm here to speak to you that that same resurrection power is in your life for this year, for the next year,

so that those things that have waited on you, that life that has hit you and tried to crush you, resurrection is here for you today in this new year. Turn your eyes away from the death and look at the roses pushing up from the embers. Turn your eyes away from all that is yuck and look at the good that's coming. We used to say all the time here at church, if it's not good yet, it's about to be. Lift your eyes, lift your eyes up to the King because he's coming. He's coming in your life, in your finances, in your marriage, in your children, in your family. That's what he's about. Yeah, God bless you guys. Amen. Amen. Thank you for the cross, Lord. Thank you for the price you paid. Bearing all my sin and shame, in love you came and gave amazing grace. Thank you for this love, Lord. Thank you for the nail-pierced hands. Washed me in your cleansing flow. Now all I know, your forgiveness and embrace. Worthy is the Lamb, seated on the throne. We crown You now with many crowns, You reign victorious. High and lifted up, Jesus, Son of God. The darling of heaven crucified. Worthy is the Lamb.

Worthy is the Lamb. Thank You for the cross, Lord. Thank You for the price You pay. Burying all my sin and shame. In love You came and gave amazing grace. Thank You for this love, Lord. Thank You for the nail-pierced hands. Wash me in Your cleansing flow. Now all I know, Your forgiveness and embrace. Worthy is the Lamb, seated on the throne. We crown You now with many crowns, You reign victorious. High and lifted up, Jesus, Son of God. The darling of heaven crucified. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy. Worthy is the Lamb, seated on the throne. We crown You now with many crowns, You reign victorious. High and lifted up, Jesus, Son of God. The darling of heaven crucified. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. ♪♪♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb seated on the throne. ♪♪ ♪ We crown you now with many crowns. You reign victorious. ♪♪

♪ High and lifted up, Jesus, Son of God. ♪♪ ♪ Adorning of heaven, crucified. ♪♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb. ♪♪ Yeah, come on. Just tell Him this morning, Jesus, you're worthy. ♪ Worthy is the Lamb. ♪♪ Thank you, Lord. There's no one like you, Lord. We enthrone you. We lift you higher. We enthrone you. You know, right as we started singing that song, I look outside and it started snowing. You know, we were singing a few minutes ago about our scarlet sins had a crimson cost, and Dylan brought that word of the restoration of last year, and then we start exalting the name of Jesus, and what happens outside? The beauty and glory of the snow starts falling upon us. I was thinking about this verse in Isaiah 1, 18. It says, Even though our sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. They are red as crimson. They shall be white as wool. Jesus, we just thank you for the washing of your blood. We thank you that as we pour out worship, you give us a drink, and that drink covers us. Just like the snow falls and covers outside, Lord, we are covered in your love this morning. Thank you for this year.

We thank you that this year you're restoring what was stolen. You're cleansing us once again. Come on, all across this place, let's just lift our hands. Jesus, we just say, won't you come and wash us again in the power and the beauty of your presence? Make us white as snow this morning. The old is gone. There's a new day upon us. Thank you, Lord, for your presence. Thank you, Jesus. You make all things new. Come on, just take 30 more seconds. Just lift up a song of adoration to him. We bless your name. You're worthy, Lord. Come and wash us once again in the power and the beauty of your love. You make us white as snow. We bless your name. You're worthy, Lord. We lift you up. We lift you up. We lift you up. We lift you up. Worthy is the Lamb Seated on the throne We crown you now with many crowns You reign victorious High in lift ♪ Jesus, Son of God, the darling of heaven crucified ♪

♪ Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb of God ♪ What more do you need? You know, I think sometimes we can be so, eager to do something new that we forget about the beauty of something old. You know, I looked it up. I remember singing this song in youth group when I was little, I looked it up. It came out in 2001. And you know, now it's 20, 25 years later and there's something beautiful about truth and that's it, it doesn't change. You know, that I was 16 years old, you know, going to school and dealing with all the temptations and pressures that, you know, being a 16 year old in high school affords you. And then it was songs like this that were seeds of truth being sown into my heart and I'm so grateful. And I, you know, I think this may be the first time my kids have ever heard this song. And man, what a tragedy, you know, it's beautiful. Thank you guys for singing this today. I just, I don't want us to ever graduate from the gospel. This is the truth that the blood of Jesus bears witness to that your sin, which was red as scarlet

has been made white as snow. That your sin, as the scriptures say, has been removed from you as far as the East is from the West. Bible tells us that the mercies of God, they are new every morning. And so this morning, when you woke up, the sins and shortcomings of last night found themselves face to face with new mercy that is available to you today. And so I want to dare you this morning to believe, maybe to ask yourself, maybe before you get to the point of believing, I want you to ask yourself if you think the mercy of God is big enough to deal with your shortcomings. You got to wrestle with that. Can God actually forgive what I've done? Can God actually forgive who I've been? Can God, I know God has forgiven others. I know that other people have freedom. I know that other people have received mercy, but is there freedom for me? Is there mercy for me or for someone like me? I want you to know that the blood of Jesus cries out even to this day. Yes, absolutely. There is mercy for you. There is mercy for you. Not because you're a good person, but because he is a great savior.

Because his blood is enough to wash away every sin and every stain and to bring you in mercy and grace, innocent before God, the just. That's good news, isn't it? And I don't ever want us to graduate from that message. Come on. So if you can, if you're able to find your way to your seat, this would be a great time to do that. Would you guys just join me in thanking our musicians? Thank you guys so much. What an awesome morning. Thank you. I thought to myself, well, this is a pretty... Hey, honey. Oh, good morning. Your dress looks so pretty. It's good to see you. You're matching with your sister. Oh, I love it. Hey, hey, good. Oh, you need. Okay. Come on. Hey, hey, good morning. We got a little time for that. Um, yeah, it's, uh, I forgot what I was going to say. We're going to take the offering. You should give in it. It's, it's a good thing to do. It's right. Um, man, God is good. And, uh, what a privilege it is to, uh, to, to be invited, to, to join with what he's doing in the earth. You ever think about how inefficient it was for Jesus to call disciples? You know what I mean? Listen, I can speak from experience when I think, you know, I've sort of jokingly said, like, if I could ever figure out a way to build a church with no people in it, everything would run perfectly all the time, you know? And, uh, and I think Jesus can, can relate to that. I think he understands very well that, you know, he's, he's building this ministry, this movement and, and then he's like, all right, I'm going to call Peter and Judas, you know, and, uh, and all, you know, they bring all their issues and James and John and they, you know, they bring all their issues and their dirt and their humanity and

their limitations to the, into the mix. And, and so it gets confusing sometimes. And I, I think like, man, Jesus ministry, you know, probably would have been a lot easier for people to follow if it weren't for those guys that were rolling with him. If it weren't for those guys that were, you know, causing trouble, fighting with each other, bickering, I think, you know, a lot of people might've been able to, uh, uh, to, to, to see what Jesus was trying to do a lot more clearly if it wasn't for the fact that he'd surrounded himself with all these people and their issues. And yet, you know, who I'm sure is so grateful that Jesus did call disciples, the disciples. And, and I, I always feel like, man, what an amazing thing. There's this historic move of God happening in our world right now. I mean, a historic move of God is happening in our world right now. And he doesn't need our help at all. And yet he invites us day after day, week after week, month after month. He says, I want to include you in what I'm building. I want you to be a part of this with me. What a privilege it is. I hope that it's not a privilege we take for granted. And I hope it's not a privilege that we look at with resentment or frustration because it really is a great privilege that he has no need to extend to us. It really is just a demonstration of his mercy and his grace to us that he says, Hey, you know, I could just make it rain. Go, you know, I could let there be some computer glitch in the altar fellowships, you know, a bank account. It's just like, we've got $10 trillion in the account tomorrow, which Lord, I'm happy to receive that. That'd be fine with me, you know, put the entire like GDP of North America into our account. We'll take it. But, uh, I think, uh, I think the reality is like that God says, no, no, I want to invite people to partner with me and to walk with me and to work with me as I build what I'm building. And so this is yet another invitation for you to be a part of what God is doing as we give in the offering today. So who's excited for this? Come on. It's, it really is. It really is a privilege. I want to thank you all for your giving and for your commitment to this house and to what God is doing here. Would you stand with me? You know, there's a few ways you can give, I'll let you read it. Um, say anything. We're just going to pray. We're going to pray over it. Father, we thank you. Thank you Lord that, that because you love us, that you give so freely to us. So God, now we turn back to you and we say, Lord, because we love you, that it's our privilege and it's our honor to give freely to you or we thank you

for the many ways that you heal us, the many ways that you love us, the many ways that you care for us day in and day out. God, we, we cast our cares upon you knowing that they're in good hands when we do so. Father, we ask that this offering would be pleasing to you that, that this would not just be an act of sort of mindless, you know, obedience or this wouldn't just be a, a, a, a demonstration of, of religious routine. But God, we ask that this would be a glorifying and prophetic act that as we give today, that we would do so as a declaration that our faith and our hope is in you, God, and in you alone. So we, we put our offering in your hands today, just as we put our heart in your hands and we say, Lord, be glorified in all of it in Jesus name. amen amen all right whenever you're ready we'll be receiving it here up at the front thanks so much all right sit down it's uh oh it's good to see you guys today it's a beautiful if it's gonna be cold it needs to be snowing so I'm thankful that's what I'm saying that's like it's been cold and not snowing which is a problem for me but uh but now that it's snowing I'm happy so if we get snowed in we'll just hang out you know we got we got some snacks or something well like we'll be fine yeah we'll be fine it's there's nobody I'd rather be snowed in with than all of you I love you guys it's good to see you I want to I want to just double down pastor David shared about the upcoming class on financial stewardship we throw that graphic up again I want to double down on this and tell you you should be here for this if you and your spouse are not both able to get here send one of you as a delegate you know bring a notebook take extensive notes and then go home and unpack it with your your partner at the house like here's Candace leaned over to me and she said if somebody asks the church to help with their bills six months from now I'm gonna look to see if they came to this class and and I think that's valid like really you can't you can't fix you can't fix stupid like you know and so if we're gonna try to teach you how to manage your finances so that you can be as the scriptures say according to the grace of God the lender and not the borrower so you can be the one through whom God gives to others instead of the one that God gives to using others constantly right and now I understand we have had

to borrow money from members of our church in the past like I understand there are things that are out of your control at times there are things that you know happen that you couldn't predict but I will say a part of the reason we had to do that is because we weren't very good at managing our money at the time and we had a father in the faith who loved us very much and sat us down and said let's look at everything and let's get you right and make sure that you guys are better at this so that we don't end up here every couple months for the next ten years and I'm grateful we had that that process and this is a gift that we want to give to you as a member of this community and so please make this a priority oh if your schedule is not open open it up find a way to get here for this this could be life-changing for you okay it's very important all right okay so we've waited all week I've waited I should tell you so I've mentioned to you that that I prepare messages you know I have an idea for a message and then spend sometimes weeks or months you know planning it and studying in preparation for it I made a little note when I first wrote down this idea for a message and the day that I wrote it down was March 12th of 2025 so it has been 10 months that I've been waiting and praying and studying and preparing to bring this message to you you have likely heard me talk about the role of an Apostle my spiritual father I would call him my Apostle he describes the the role of an Apostle or or apostolic ministry he would say that an Apostle is one who is sent the word Apostle means sent one and he would say to you that an Apostle is a sent one to send that they're sent with the authority to send others forward and I wouldn't say that I disagree with that but I would say that maybe the way that I see it or the way that I would express it is not that an Apostle is a sent one to send but rather they are a sent one to establish and and I should say that when an Apostle is working to establish a person or a people that part of that will include sending part of that will mean you know for me you know my I have a brother in the Lord many of you know Pastor Parker Thomaston who you know we we grew up together it felt like down in Mobile and Apostle Aaron sent me up here that so that I could be established here

in Johnson City and Parker is still planted right there in the same house he's always been in and and so for him he wasn't sent but he was established right and so not everyone not everyone needs to be sent to be established but everyone needs to be established. And so today I'm gonna preach a message very simply that I'm just calling what it means to be established. I'll give you some context here. First, in Genesis chapter four, starting in verse 10, this is at the end of the story of Cain and Abel. If you're familiar with the story, Cain had just murdered his brother Abel. God confronts him, and this is what the Lord says to him. The Lord says to Cain, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. In verse 11, God begins to explain the consequences. He said, so now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. And verse 12 says, when you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive, another translation uses the word wanderer, and a vagabond you shall be on the earth. And so there's this curse is that Cain, you'll never really be settled. Now, this is interesting for me because in my generation, we make being a perpetual wanderer and vagabond, a badge of honor. People build entire brands for themselves on like,

you know, they start an Instagram like the wandering witch or whatever, and they like jump in their RV and just like travel around. Like that's their whole life, you know? That was my life for years with the band. Like I loved traveling. And I, you know, I would always sort of skip over this part of the Bible that says this is a curse that God pronounces upon Cain is that you'll never really be settled. There'll never, no place is ever really gonna feel like home. And so I want you to understand that if it's a curse, that nowhere we ever go will really feel like home, will never really be settled, will never really be established. Then we have to understand that it is a blessing to be established. For many years, we have lived in what I might call the age of instability. My generation has moved from house to house, from career to career, from church to church, and even from marriage to marriage faster than any other generation in human history. Many of us are just, we're chronically unsatisfied. And that's not because the things in our life are bad or somehow inadequate. In fact, I think it's quite the contrary. In fact, I think it's because good things have been so abundantly available to us

that we have begun to take them for granted. And in doing so, we have failed to establish ourselves into the places, relationships, and roles God has so graciously given us because we convince ourself that there's green grass elsewhere too. But that changes today. Amen? Today we learn what it means to be established. 1 Peter 5, I wanna go to 1 Peter 5, verses eight through 10. This is Peter exhorting the early church. He says to them, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He says, in verse nine, he says, resist him. That is resist the adversary. Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. And this is probably a comforting thought for us to know that the suffering you're going through, whatever suffering it is, you're not alone. It's not something that only you have felt. It may feel like that. I know well how it feels to be in a room full of people and feel like I'm the only one that knows what I'm going through. But I want you to know that there are others in the world. There are other people that have walked through

what we're walking through and they have come out on the other side, full of hope and joy by the grace of God. And so he says, resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, everybody say establish, strengthen and settle you. That's his prayer. May the God of grace perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you. And this drew my attention back to a verse in Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah 54 verses 13 and 14, they say this, it says, God is pronouncing a promise, a future blessing to his covenant people and he says, all your children shall be taught by the Lord. That's a great promise, isn't it? Come on, all your children shall be taught by the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children. Listen, I receive this on behalf of everyone in this house. Your children will be taught by the Lord and great will their peace be. In righteousness, verse 14 says, you shall be established. Everyone say established. Established. You shall be established.

What does it mean that in righteousness you shall be established? It means you shall be far from oppression for you shall not fear and from terror for it shall not come near you. On this is good news. Proverbs 24 three says this, though through wisdom, a house is built and by understanding it is. Established. Yeah, yeah. Through wisdom, a house is built but through understanding it is established. Understand there's a difference between something being built and something being established. There's a difference between something being built and something being established. We'll talk a little bit more about this later but I think it's important for us to understand that just being, I just yesterday got to see Brock and Rachel, now Brock and Rachel Winstead got married yesterday and I got to go to their wedding and celebrate with them and it was an awesome day. And here's the thing, their marriage is built, right? Their family, it's built, it's there but they're going to be established and they're going to continue to be established as the years go on. And so many people get married, they build a marriage but they've never established one, it's not settled, right?

They're not at rest or at peace in this covenant relationship to which God has called them, they're just under contract. And I think this is the distinction that we need to understand is that there's a difference between something being built and something being established and often we see people sort of build a thing, we see people come into a contract, they come into a contract with their employer, they come into a contract with their church, maybe it's a social contract, they like the music or they like the preacher and they say, well, as long as the preacher says things I agree with, then this is where I'm at. Or they get married and they say, well, as long as my wife stays as pretty as she is on our wedding day, we're good, I'll stay in this contract but they're never really established and it's because there's no real settling, they're not rooted into this place, they're just in a contractual agreement. So we know that it is Yahweh's intention for us to be established in His will for our lives but we must now ask ourselves, what exactly does it mean to be established? And over the last 10 months, I've been praying and thinking and dreaming and talking with some people, studying the scriptures and I feel like I can see what it means to be established in at least four different ways.

So I wanna give you today like four attributes of an established heart, someone whose heart, whose life is truly established. The first one, the first of those four is this, what it means to have an established heart is to be secure in what is your responsibility and in what is not. To be secure in what is your responsibility and what is not. Now, I'll give you an example. You know, I, in 2007, got started in public traveling, I attended ministry, had the great privilege of seeing a lot of success, seeing a lot of people make decisions for Christ and having the opportunity to preach the gospel to many, many people that needed to hear it in many different places around the world. And I, it wasn't until, that was in 2007, but it wasn't until 2012 that God joined me with a church family, a church home down in Mobile, Alabama. And when we got there, it was a small church, much smaller than this one, a church of maybe 150 or 200 people, but my father in the faith was the pastor of this church. And so I couldn't help but think, well, God brought me with all of my skills in reaching people and gathering crowds to like, really help bless him by building his ministry. And so, so I. I said, hey, you know, I've got this idea.

I could bring in some of my connections and people in my network, you know, with big names and we'll do an event in Mobile that will, you know, pack out the church. And we're just, we're gonna reach so many people for Christ and let's bring revival. We're gonna bring revival to America. And he laughed at me. And he just said, thank you. You know, I love your heart, but that's not who I am. And I said, what are you talking about? You don't want revival? And he's like, oh, I want revival. I'm just not gonna get it by chasing crowds. And, you know, and I rolled my eyes and said, well, what do you, someday you'll learn. And here's the reality. I can tell you that maybe that was my first six months with him and I learned to yield to the word no. And I'll be honest, it was a sacrifice. It felt like dying when he said no to all of my fantastic ideas that I brought to him. And by the time he sent us up here to establish this church, I could genuinely say in my heart of hearts, I loved not being in charge there. I loved that it wasn't my responsibility to worry about how much money came in the offering this week. I love that I didn't have to think about

what message the church needed to hear next Sunday. I loved that the staff dynamics were not my responsibility. I loved that the church, you know, growth or lack of growth was not something that I had to think about or ever consider. I genuinely was so grateful that I could come to church and open the word and dive in and receive it and apply it to my life and that I never had to worry about the direction the church was going. I got to a place where I found joy in the things that were my calling and that I was genuinely content with the things that were not. I understood that pastoring that church is not something I was called to. That's something he was called to. And I would say, hey, I love you. If there's ever a way that I can serve or support your calling, you say the word, it'll be done. But it's not my calling to pastor this church. So if you're taking this church in a direction, I wouldn't take it. God would have made me the pastor if he wanted me to take it in my direction, but he didn't make me the pastor. And so I love you. I support you wherever you want this church to go. I'm behind you all the way. And it just brought such liberation and such rest to me to be able to let go of my grip on someone else's calling. Yes, come on.

This is good preaching. This is good preaching. Now, listen, I understand this may seem like an elementary principle, but the inability to rest in our God-given responsibilities has produced in countless people with devastating consequences, things like gossip and envy and strife. This, I understand. I wanna show you the connection here a little bit, but our inability to say, hey, that's not my job, but this is my job. And I'm gonna give all of my energy and all of my attention and all of my focus and all of my care to that which is my job. And I'm not gonna worry about how that person does what is their job. Like the inability to do that is the thing that produces in us gossip and envy and strife things that are cancerous to the body of Christ. I'll show you this. So gossip, the reason that this produces gossip is because it's a lot easier to critique how someone walks out their calling than it is to walk out your own. It is, it really is. I'm telling you, it is, it's very easy to point out how bad a job other people are doing raising their kids. It's a lot harder to raise your own kids.

It's, we all have lots of ideas about how we were gonna raise kids before we started raising kids. You know what I mean? It's, you're that parent that's like, I'm never gonna give my kids a screen, you know? If they ever have a question, I'm gonna sit down and take the time to explain the answer to them thoughtfully. If I give them a rule or have to correct them, I'm gonna explain to them why I had to do that, and then they will understand and they'll stop doing the thing that I asked them to stop. That's really sweet, yeah. Bless your heart, you know? And so what we do is we look at other people's, you know, misbehaving kids. and we roll our eyes and that would never happen if, yeah, all right, that's great, good luck. How about you focus on your kids? How about you build your house and if there's ever a time that you can be a blessing to them as they're working to build theirs, you take that opportunity. But instead of gossiping about or criticizing or complaining about the way that someone else is responding to the call of God on their life, why don't you determine in your heart that you will respond only to the call of God on yours.

So gossip is something this produces. Another is envy. You know, I remember A.W. Tozer, he has a book, there's a book that really is a collection of essays by A.W. Tozer, I recommend it to all of you called The Radical Cross. And I would make this point under envy that because this issue can produce envy because often someone else's calling may look like a lot more fun than yours. And A.W. Tozer says in his book, The Radical Cross, something like this, I'm gonna have to paraphrase. He explains that there are, he says that the cross that saves us is the cross that slays us. And he explains that some crosses, you know, they're made of wood and iron and stone and they're brutal and harsh, but some crosses they're made of gold and they're inlaid with jewels and people look at them and admire them and marvel at how beautiful they are, but those crosses kill and maim and destroy no differently than any other cross. And I remember the first time that I read that, it was in 2016, at the end of 2016, when I was on the last tour that I did with the band that I played in. And I circled that passage and I wrote in the margin next to it for today.

That was the name of our band. Because the reality is, you know, people would say, dude, you're an actual rock star. I mean, you're like filming music videos and flying around the world on a world tour with your band. You're signing autographs for fans. This is so cool, man, I would love to live your life. But the truth is that was a cross God had nailed me to for 10 years to kill some parts of me that needed to die. You know, there's people in the room who've been begging God to let them get married because it looks so fun to be married, you know? And I'm so glad that we can all make it look fun for you, but I think all the married couples in the room would tell you as glorious as it is, it is a cross that God nails you to to kill some parts of you that need to die. What happens is we envy the calling on someone else's life because it looks from a distance, it looks from the outside like that one is a lot more fun. But you need to know that's a cross God has given them to hang on, just like the one that he's called you to carry as well. And so this produces this inability to be secure in the things that are our responsibility and the things that are not can produce in us gossip and envy, but it also can produce strife. Or you might, to say that another way,

you might call that selfish ambition, like self-promotion. And why it may produce that? Because you can convince yourself that your God-given calling is just one rung on the ladder. It's something like a test that you need to pass to get to the place you really wanna be. So often we are right in the middle of God's glorious will for our life, but we're just looking over the horizon saying, how long till I get to the good stuff? And I think there are older, more experienced parents in the room that would tell you they may have spent years of their lives living in the best years of their children growing up and saying, when do we get to the good stuff? Drowning themselves in TV or movies or scrolling on their phone and missing the good stuff, waiting for the good stuff to finally arrive only to someday watch their kids drive away from the house and realize that the good stuff happened year after year and they missed it every step of the way. Often God has planted you where he's planted you. And so facing that position with anxious discomfort instead of loving gratitude is a great way to make sure you fail to honor him in the responsibilities he's given you right now. There is a verse in James 3, 16 in the NIV translation. I feel like it's a little bit more on the nose of what we wanna say.

The NIV says, for where there is envy and selfish ambition, there you have disorder and every evil thing. That's what the way that the NIV translates. Translates James 3, 16. Like where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you have disorder and every, oh, every evil practice. There you find disorder and every evil practice. Not where you have like. witchcraft and Satanism, that's where you'll find disorder in every evil practice, where you have envy and selfish ambition. These aren't things that are relegated to the darkest, most nefarious corners of our society. These are things that are right in the middle of every church I've ever been in. And these don't come because they're evil people trying to implement their evil agenda. This comes because we have found ourselves unable to be secure in what is your responsibility and what is not your responsibility. Can I tell you something? I have lots of opinions about how the pastors down the road ought to pastor their churches. But guess what? I'm not the pastor of those churches. I have lots of strong feelings about how pastors ought to lead, but I only get to lead one church. And so I don't get to call up my friend Jeff

over at Redeemer and say, hey man, I think you guys need to change the way you do communion, because this is the conviction we have. I don't get to call them and say, hey man, y'all need more conga lines. You guys should make sure the kids are in the room when you're worshiping. Like the things that we do, the convictions that we have, or the way that we express ourselves, this is something that I'm only able to do in what is my calling, and my calling has boundaries, just like yours does. And so number one, point number one is that an established heart is secure in what is your responsibility and what is not. Number two, if we're gonna have an established heart, we must be impervious to criticism or flattery. We must be impervious to criticism or flattery. Here's an issue that I have seen countless times. People will say things like, I don't care what anybody says about me. And listen, I get it, you're very brave and strong, but here's the thing. If I were to tell you, hey, that shirt looks great on you, suddenly you care a lot what I have to say. See, this is the thing, man. It's that we don't care about people's criticisms, but we want their compliments. It doesn't work like that.

It doesn't work like that. We don't get the ability to pick and choose what kind of input we receive from the world. Cornelius Lindsay once said, if you live for man's praise, you'll die from his criticisms. If you live for man's praise, you'll die from his criticisms. And I think this is the thing we have to understand, that a man who's died to himself, a man who truly has laid down his life is going to be a man who can't take from the world criticism or compliment. That is to say that the approval of the world, or the applause of the world, or the admiration of the world holds no sway with us. I want to look at Jeremiah chapter 17, verses five through eight, Jeremiah 17, five through eight. Jeremiah writes, thus says Yahweh, cursed is the man who trusts in man. Listen, you may not be able to memorize all of these verses, but you can remember that declaration. Thus says Yahweh, cursed is the man who trusts in man. Cursed is the man who lives to see how many likes he can get on his newest post. Cursed is the one who, when we were in the music scene, it always felt so dirty that we would get together on a tour, for another tour, and we'd sit in the van and everybody would go, oh, did you hear about

how many records this band sold in their first week? Oh, our album only did this many. They sold 20,000 in the first week. Ours only sold seven. Oh, this band, they sold out this venue, this huge venue, 3,000 people, they sold it out. Man, in pre-sale, oh, that's crazy. They're so huge. There was always this twin thing going on. There was always this twinge of envy and comparison, you know, this thing in us that lived for acceptance. But cursed is the man, the Scriptures tell us, who trusts in man, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when good comes. I want you to pay attention to that phrase. That's so interesting. He shall be like a shrub in the desert and he shall not see when good comes. Do you want to know what happens to you if you are not rightly established? You become blind to the arrival of good. You lose your sensitivity to the good things that come. God does in your life, he shall be like a shrub in the desert and he shall not see when good comes, but he shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in a salt land which is not inhabited. That's a poetic way for Jeremiah to say

he'll never be established. The man who trusts in man, he'll be cursed and the curse for him will be like the curse for Cain, he'll never be established. In verse seven, contrastingly, he writes, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord. Why? Verse eight tells us, for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters which spreads out its roots by the river. Are y'all hearing the establishment language here? This is the image of what establishment looks like. It looks like to be planted with roots that spread out by the river and he will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green and he will not be anxious in the year of drought nor will he cease from yielding fruit. What does it mean to put your trust in the Lord? It means to be established and a man who's put his trust in the Lord, he's a man that gets his affirmation, he gets his value, he gets his purpose, he gets his identity and his direction from God himself and not from the acceptance or the approval or the criticisms or the complaints of man. Amen. And so what does it mean to have an established heart? It means to be secure in what is your responsibility

and what is not and it means to be impervious to both criticism and flattery. Now, number three, point number three, what it means to have an established heart is to stay. Everybody say stay. Stay. To stay when the honeymoon ends. To stay when the honeymoon ends. You know, I pointed out earlier that not everything that is built is established. Not all who are built are established. And so one of the tragedies that I've seen occur most often when God brings a person into a relationship, into a church, into a career, is that people step into that divine gift with such energy and enthusiasm. But then when the initial excitement fades, so too does their motivation and their commitment. I wanna give you some vitally important marriage advice that I've given to many couples about their marriage, but I want to broaden it and help you understand this is actually crucial for your success or your establishment anywhere God puts you. And that is this. If you are only motivated when you feel like being motivated, you will never see success. If I only loved my wife when I felt like loving my wife, it would be an insult to her, it'd be an insult to the God who brought her into my life.

It would be an insult even to myself. It would be shame that I brought upon myself. The truth is our feelings can be a barrier to the things that God has given us. And so, you know, as we come into a marriage, of course, I watched a young couple get married yesterday and she was like radiant. I mean, the most beautiful bride, they looked amazing. They danced together. It was like this amazing, beautiful moment. And today I'm sure they're gonna wake up with little butterflies in their chest and oh, you're so beautiful and I love you. I can't believe you're here. I'm gonna be so proud of you. I'm gonna be so proud of you. I'm gonna be so proud of you. You're beautiful and I love you. I can't believe you're my husband. I can't believe you're my wife. You know, he's gonna call her Mrs. Winstead today and she's gonna giggle and they're gonna like, you know, she's gonna bat her eyelashes and they're gonna smooch and it's gonna be so cute, right? But, but, you know, 10 years from now, there's gonna be some kid that does something crazy and you know, some bill that they're like not sure where the money's gonna come. Like life happens and like it may not always feel

like it does the first day of your honeymoon. That's okay because the word of God doesn't change depending on our mood. The word of God doesn't change depending on our mood. The thing you're called to when you're in a good mood is the thing you're called to when you're in a bad mood. You know, I've recognized and this is an illustration. Some of you may have heard, I have shared it with a lot of couples who've been struggling. And so you may have heard the difference between caring about something and caring for something. You know, imagine if my wife gave me a flower, you know, and I just thought this is the most beautiful flower I've ever seen. It smells incredible. It's, you know, such an immaculate work of art. It's the perfect color. I love this thing. You know, and I go around town and I tell everybody, my wife, look at this. This flower my wife gave me, I got a picture of it, saved as a lock screen on my phone. It's like the best, you know, I just, this flower is just the coolest thing anyone's ever given me. I love this so much. You know, I talk about it, I post about it on social media. Hey, everybody, look at this flower my wife gave me. And I, you know, I smell it all the time

and I think about it all the time. And it's like, I care about this thing so much. And yet I never water it or bother to set it in the sun. Is it gonna survive based on how much I care about it? Of course not. Things don't thrive because you care about them. Things thrive because you care for them. And this is an issue I've seen people fail on countless times. They care deeply about their marriage. They care deeply about their friendship. They care deeply about the church that they're a part of. And they care about that thing a lot. They talk about it a lot. They have this deep sense of affection for that thing, but they don't let that affection produce in them the necessary nurturing action to make sure that that thing thrives. Here's like an easy example for members of our church. I've seen people come into this church and go, man, this church is healing me. It's changing my life. It's bringing me into a relationship with God that I didn't even know was possible. You know, our marriage is better than it's ever been. You know, I'm finding myself, you know, singing worship songs as I'm walking around the house. God is doing an amazing, miraculous thing in my life because we planted ourself at the altar fellowship. And then, you know, Pastor David stands up and says,

hey guys, it's time for small groups. Here comes the next small group semester. And then you look at your calendar and you go, eh, I don't know, our schedule's pretty busy. I don't know if we can be a part of it. And then, you know, one week I go, hey, you know that giving to the church is actually a really important thing for you to do. And you go, yeah, you know, maybe if I get that raise, you know, I'm hoping to get a promotion in the next six months or so, maybe then we'll budget to give. Or maybe then, you know, we'll start to tithe, but we just don't have the bandwidth right now. We just don't have the extra. And so what happens is, well, your treasure is not there, so your heart's not there either. And then, you know, you leave a year later and somebody shoots you a text like, hey, Paul Collins, he's probably gonna be the one, you know, Paul Collins will text you like, hey, I haven't seen you in several weeks. You know, where you been? Love you. And then you're gonna text back something like, well, we just weren't connecting. And so we're gonna go find another church. And it's astonishing to me how many times this happens because people thought that because they showed up, that they would be established,

that all it took to be established was to show up. The scriptures tell us over and over again, and I should say, I think wisdom tells us clearly that to be established is not just to be present, but to be settled and to stay when the honeymoon is over. So there's a, yeah, all right, we'll skip that part. I have a lot more to say about this. Honestly, the hard thing about working on a sermon for 10 months is that you have to then whittle it down to like an hour, an hour's time. I could write a book on this, but I feel like all of this, in honesty, all of this really leads me to my final point. You know, we talked about how an established heart is one that is secure in what is and is not your responsibility. An established heart is one that is impervious to criticism and to flattery. And an established heart is one that stays when the honeymoon is over, that remains when feelings fluctuate. And then lastly, my fourth point is this, an established heart, what it means to have an established heart is to become a feature of the place God has planted you. It's to become a feature of the place God has planted you. You know, one of the things that we saw, those of you that were here, that have been here for several years,

you remember Ian and Christine Miller. You know, one of the things you could always count on is Pastor Ian singing at the top of his lungs, totally out of tune, while holding somebody else's baby, you know, and jumping around the room. He was a feature of this place. And it felt like we were like a different place when they were no longer here, when they had to move back to Australia. You know, my favorite verse on this, and I think this is actually so profound is Revelation 3, verse 12. And it says this, "'He who overcomes,' Jesus makes this promise, "'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar "'in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more.'" Listen, that doesn't sound exciting at all. He doesn't say, he who overcomes, I'll make him a celebrity. I'm gonna make him a YouTube influencer, right? He doesn't say, he who overcomes, I'm gonna make him, you know, an amazing and, you know, world renowned man of God. Understand God is not looking for preachers or prophets or priests to adorn the halls of his eternal kingdom. He's looking for pillars. That's good. He's looking for pillars.

God is looking for people that will set their feet and refuse to move. That's what it means to be established. You know, what is needed in this hour desperately is for people who will lay down their millennial ambition on the altar of surrender, and who will say to our great Father in heaven, I want you to set the weight of your dream on my shoulders because I'm not going anywhere. It's not enough for us to be present. We've got to be established. It's not enough for us just to be present. We've got to be established. We have people who are features of this house, people who are established. You know, like I know that no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the weather's like outside, I know that no matter what is going on in my life, that, you know, when I walk in here, that Alan Bailey's going to be wearing a Carhartt shirt sitting behind the keys, pouring his gift out. It's really funny. I wrote this last night, and then he walked down the aisle wearing a Carhartt shirt, and I thought, he's a feature. He's a pillar, right? Like, you know, I know he's out of town right now, but I know that come hell or high water, I'm going to walk in here and James Vega is going to be singing twice as loud

as everybody else in the room put together in the quietest part of the song, stomping his feet so hard, everybody in the room can hear it. And Briony's going to be juggling children, some of whom are hers. Like, this is the beauty of the body of Christ. I know I'm going to hear Ashley Garola's laugh, bringing like joy and light and laughter to the room. Like, this is the beauty of establishment, right? I know that I'm going to see like Caleb Ledford and Jed Nava and my boy Carver wrestling somewhere. They're going to be, you know, dropping the elbows on each other and doing back flips off of pews or something. Like everybody's in danger when those boys are around. I know that I'm going to see Michael Turley, you know, running around blessing somebody's life. I know that Josiah Hale's going to be standing right here. Come on, pouring his heart out to the Lord and not caring what anybody thinks about. I know that River Coyne is going to be right here in the middle, wearing the prettiest dress anybody's ever seen, delicately singing to the Lord in a way that is so precious that I have got to think he's probably listening to only her as she does it, right? This is what it means to be established. It means finally to become a feature in the place God has planted you. And I want you to know about me,

to put mine and my family's being here into context a little bit. We've been invited in the last 12 months, we've been invited to plant churches in Orange County, California. And if everybody's not nice to us here, Shane, we're going back, baby, let's go. No, we've been invited to go plant churches or pastor churches in Orange County, California and in Fresno, California. I currently work with ministries that are based in Chicago and Las Vegas, both of whom have said, if you want to come and work out of the headquarters, we would love to have you be here on site all the time. And so I say this to say, guys, I'm not here in Johnson City because I have nowhere else to go. I'm here because I am determined to be established. I'm determined to be established. And what does it look like for me to be established? Understand, like established is not admired. Established is not famous or influential. To be established for me is not to be widely known or admired. In fact, I've largely laid that down since coming to Johnson City. I was talking to a friend of mine recently. He's a guy that I used to see a lot when I would travel and preach at conferences and crusades. And he said, you know, have you talked to this person lately?

No. What about this guy? No, no, no. And he said, I said, dude, I'm just not, I'm not in the circuit anymore. You guys are all doing these awesome events, the kind of things I used to always get invited to. And I'm not invited anymore, because I buried myself in Johnson City, and yet there's nowhere I'd rather be than right in the middle of God's will. To be established is not to be widely known or admired. It's not to be well-paid or influential. You want to know what being established looks like for me? It looks like Eliana Klausnitzer running into my arms every time she sees me. That's what it looks like for me. It looks like Chloe Griffin, you know, laying over here and drawing another unflattering picture of me, she's going to give me after service. She's going to be like, that's what she's doing right now. I told you, like, this is what it means. Like, it's, yeah, it's, I'm telling you, we've got features. It looks like, it looks like Mr. Leonard Gallo coming in week after week after week after week with a new message from God that he's taken the time to sit down and write out and say, pastor, this is for you. This is a letter for you. This is a word for you. This is a word of encouragement, inspiration for your heart. And then it looks like being able to sit

with Mr. Leonard just a couple of months ago, as he said, hey, you know, one day, hopefully not too soon, I'd like you to do my funeral. He said, there's, no matter where I go in life, I would love for you to preach the gospel when people get together to remember my life. And I said, buddy, it would be my privilege to do so. That's what it looks like to be established. To be established for me looks like I've sat with many of you in hospital rooms. Some of you, as you've said goodbye to loved ones, some of you, as you've said hello, as babies have come into your life. I've walked with you through some of the hardest moments of your life, and I've celebrated and shouted and danced with you through some of the greatest moments of your life. I don't know if Dan and Lori Roberts are here at this service, but, you know, they came a couple of weeks ago and told me about a really terrifying prognosis the doctor had given Lori. And we prayed over her and a week later, they came and said they did another test and couldn't find any of it. I'm entirely fine. And I just, I think this is what it looks like to be established, that they get a miraculous, they get miraculous news from their doctor and they think we need to tell Pastor Matty.

Like that's what it means to be established. To be established, simply put, means to be planted. It means to be known and it means to be relied on right where God has put me. To be established, simply put, means to be planted, to be known, and to be relied upon right where God has put me. So my prayer for you today is that you would make up your mind to be established where God has planted you. And that by your establishment, you might finally become a pillar that can help hold up the beautiful thing the Lord is building around you. Amen. Amen. Father, we repent of our constant need to look for greener grass. Father, teach us to rejoice in the provision you've given us. Teach us to rejoice, God, in the marriage that you've called us into. Teach us to rejoice in the church that you've planted us in. Teach us to rejoice in the home you've miraculously given us. And not to see the burden or the difficulty of these things, but to rejoice in the fact that you've trusted us with the privilege of carrying those burdens and facing those difficulties. God, we thank you that you've not just called us to be present, you've called us to be established.

And we ask God that you would establish our hearts, settle our hearts. God, let us be a people who are like the, who are made like you promise in Revelation 3, pillars in your temple, and never go out, who remain steady and steadfast, reliable and strong, year after year after year after year. Let us, God, to be known and to be relied upon by those you love. Establish us, God, in your word and in your will for your glory and for our good, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Y'all, I bless you. I love you. We are all of us coming out of restlessness and finding home in God's Word. I love you guys. Thank you so much for being here. Wednesday night, right here, we will be starting the class on financial management and stewardship. We will see all of you there. Thank you. God bless you. baby named. I love you baby. I love you baby. Sometimes your time is not my life. I love you buddy.

I love you man. I love you Wendy. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I bless you brother. Best of happiness. I love you buddy. I love you buddy. I love you Wendy. I love you buddy. I love you brother. I love you.