The Harvest is Ripe - Saddleback Weekend Service

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Hey Church, you can't stand with us once and worship the Lord today. There's joy in the house of the Lord Amen. Come on, let's go ahead together, let's sing. [MUSIC] We worship you Lord. [MUSIC] Let's worship today. [MUSIC] Who makes the power of sin and darkness? Whose love is mighty and so much stronger. The King of glory, the King of all kings. Come on. [MUSIC] Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder and leaves a spread face. In all and wonder, the King of glory, the King of all kings. Come on, let's sing that. This is amazing grace. This is amazing love. That you would take my place, that you would bear my crown. You lay down your light, that I would be set free. Oh, Jesus I sing for all that you've done for me. Oh, we sing of the perfect, listen. Who brings our chaos back into water?

Who makes the orphan a son and daughter? The King of all kings, the King of all kings. We lose the nations with truth and justice, shines like the sun. All of its brilliance, the King of all kings. We sing. This is amazing grace. This is amazing love. That you would take my place, that you would bear my cross, that you would bear my crown. You lay down your light, that I would be set free. Oh, Jesus I sing for all that you've done for me. Word is on. Word is the Lamb who will stay. You see, Word, Word is the King who conquered the grave. Word is the Lamb who will stay. Word is the King who conquered the grave. Come see that. Word is the Lamb who will stay. Oh worthy is the lamp of the trade Worthy, worthy Worthy, worthy Oh this is amazing rain This is a failing mind That you would take my place That you would take my cross You made down your mind Thank you all That I will be set free Oh, Jesus I sing for How that you don't call me Oh, Jesus I sing for you Oh, Jesus I sing for you Oh, Jesus I sing for you Oh, Jesus I sing for you So much to praise the Lord for There's so much to celebrate Today we get the privilege to baptize some people today So come on, come and give it up to the Lord Or that, join that freedom that we have And let's turn our attention and our springs to pastor Jeff

Alright, well hey Saddleback, we are live here in the baptismal And we're going to be celebrating three baptisms tonight Yes Now all of these folks, they've already accepted Jesus And today's the day they're going public with their faith And starting off, we've got my friend Grayson here And he's been following Jesus since 2011 But over this last year, he's undergone some really hard circumstances And he realized that he needed to follow Jesus just a little bit more And over this last year, he's been going very deep with Jesus And his faith has been growing This last weekend, he came to activate And he realized that his next step was to mark his faith through baptism So he's so excited to get baptized today Now this water that we're in, there's nothing special about the water However, the moment that's going to happen in this pool Is a huge, significant moment in his life Because Grayson, he's going to stand in this water He's going to let you know, not only that he loves Jesus But that he is committed to following Jesus for the rest of his life And now I believe that is something worth celebrating So Church, can you make sure when he comes out of that water We want to be cheering, hooting in the hall, or let's hear it right now Alright, Grayson, I think they're ready You're ready, let's go ahead and get Grayson baptized And let's continue to worship Come on! Oh, it's Grayson for freedom and not... Come on, help me, sir I'm shaking on to be kidding me

I'm dancing out of my rigor I'm throwing caution to the wind No, I can not ashamed you to praise like this So we say it's foolish, nip But I say it's worth the risk I can't forget what Jesus did No, I can not ashamed you to... Come on, can we say it? Well, I don't want to say it's that one sound I'm three, I'm three, I'm three, I'm three I'm saying it's worth the risk Come on, I'm three, I'm three Come on, say it's worth the risk Look at what the Lord has I'm never going back to the way I am I'm saying that there's no time to be I'm three, I'm three, I'm three, I'm three I'm three, I'm three, I'm three I'm three, I'm three, I'm three I'm never going back to the wind No, I can't forget what the Lord has I'm never going back to the wind No, I can't forget what the risk I'm never going back to the wind No, I can't forget what the risk I'm never going back to the wind No, I can't forget what the risk I'm never going back to the wind No, I can't forget what the risk ♪ I'll sing the dance inside me ♪

♪ I'll sing the dance ♪ ♪ I'll sing the dance ♪ ♪ Come on, sing it together ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your mind ♪ ♪ Come on, sing it out ♪ ♪ Said you'd learn how the sin again ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record has good news ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your mind ♪ ♪ Come on, you said you'd learn how the sin again ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record has good news ♪ ♪ Come on, can we sing it out one time ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your mind ♪ ♪ You said you'd learn how the sin again ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record has good news ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your mind ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪

♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪

♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪

♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪

♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪

♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it so you took the girl ♪ We'll pour it out. We'll pour it out. Come on, does anybody got a reason to celebrate? What the Lord has done. [MUSIC] Come on, let's respond, let's respond, sing this out. [MUSIC] Even though we believe it, we will show you open, our hearts will. [MUSIC] You see, great. [MUSIC] Come on, there's so many reasons to tell him he's great. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Come on, sing it, sing it. [MUSIC] Come on, sing it, sing it. [MUSIC]

Come on, sing it, sing it. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Welcome to Saddleback Church. Hey, I'm so glad that you're joining us for church today. Whether you're watching online or if you're with us at one of our extensions, you are such an important part of our church family, and we are so, so grateful that you're with us today. Now, if you're watching with us for the very first time, welcome. We are one church in many locations. We have campuses all across Southern California and internationally around the world, and we would love to help you get connected, whether it's in person at one of these locations or through our online community. So you can go ahead, hit the link in the description down below, or download our Saddleback app, hit the new here button, and select online community as your campus, so that one of us on our team can personally reach out and welcome you to our church. The Saddleback app is also going to be a great tool for you to stay connected and engaged with our service today, so if you don't have that downloaded yet, take a moment right now and download the Saddleback app. Well, a moment ago, we got to witness something truly special as we saw people declare their faith through baptism together as a church thing. Now, this is a step that you can take as well. If you're interested in declaring your faith through baptism, we would love to help you to do that. We can help you get connected to one of our in-person campuses, or there's also ways that you can get baptized through our online community. Just let us know by filling out the digital program in the Saddleback app or in the link down below, and we can help you take that step of baptism.

Well, this weekend, we are launching our fall small group semester, and we have a lot of small groups in the online community that meet virtually every single week that you can be a part of no matter where you're located. To hear a little bit more about our small group semester, let's hear from Pastor Doug Jones. Hey, Saddleback. This week, of you kids students and adults are going to be getting together weekly to build friendships explore God's Word and pray for each other a small group is just a handful of people who come alongside one another to help each other grow and put their faith into practice if you want to take a next step to grow your faith and get more connected a small group is where that happens we have thousands of groups available across different interests and schedules seasons of life head to the group finder today to explore all the groups and sign up or swing by the hub after service and will personally help you find a small group and there's so much to celebrate here in our church many of you received Pastor Andy's summer impact email sharing what God has done through the end of August and I hope you were as encouraged as I was so far this year 2,415 people made decisions to follow Jesus and 976 went public with their faith through baptism Saddleback thank you for serving for praying and for giving because of your generosity people feel welcome and wanted here and they're not only hearing about Jesus they're experiencing his life-changing hope if you'd like to worship God through your giving today you can give your tie they're offering to the Saddleback app or one of the giving envelopes near you thank you for being a church that cares for people so well and one more thing our new series stronger launches next weekend with Pastor Andy make plans to come with your small group and grab a few of these invites to share with a friend a family member or a neighbor it's gonna be a great series to invite someone to that is so good to see what God is doing across all of our campuses I think that we one more time should celebrate the fact that 2,415 people have made first-time decisions to follow Jesus you know that's happening because you're praying because you're serving because you're giving and really what we've been focused on these last few weeks we've been focusing in on Jesus Commission to

send us into the world with his good news and last week as we were kind of wrapping up my messages we're gonna talk more about that today but as we were wrapping up the messages I preached one thing that I challenged the whole church with we said what if we could all sign together a commitment saying God we want to be used by you to be sent by you into the world there were 3,631 of you that said yes to that call to live sent by Jesus now some of you maybe you walked out of church last week and you're like I didn't make that commitment it's not too late you can do that today in fact at all of our campuses that card you'll notice it it's right around you somewhere you'll find it if it's not somebody will tell you where it is during the service but if you can at some point grab this if you haven't made that commitment and join with the rest of us I know at the end of today's message you're gonna want to make that commitment with your church family and I believe God's gonna use these decisions to say yes to him to love to serve to invest in people who are far from him to reach people in our life that don't know him now today as we're wrapping up this whole live sent series in just a moment I'm gonna introduce Andy Bird who's here today to preach but also next weekend you should know we start the stronger series I'm very excited about that we're gonna focus in on God's desire for us to live with strength not the kind of strength that culture tells us but a strength that comes from knowing him and you know so much is happening in our world that is weakening society but what God wants to do is strengthen us through his word through his design it's gonna be a great series it's a great message series to bring somebody to church with you now you may have heard of Andy Bird before Stacy and I have been tracking what God has been doing through his ministry a ministry called send send is a gathering of young adults but it's more than that they're in 14 nations now started back in 2019 in Florida right before COVID they gathered together in a stadium of young adults worshiping Jesus it's become a movement of literally millions of young adults who love Jesus the vision is to mobilize a generation to go to the nations and to neighborhoods with the good news of Jesus and his heart has

passion so aligns with what God is doing in our church Stacy first heard him preach a few months ago and said man you need to hear this guy you need to get around him our hearts are so so aligned he's got six kids which is awesome Stacy and I have three I said last service he's twice the man that I am and really just a heart for God a heart for the world I want to encourage you will you please help me welcome Andy Bird as he comes to this stage all right Saddleback church it is such an honor to be with you and not only here in California but also to have the privilege to show you and Argentina and the Philippines and Germany and Hong Kong, such an honor. And I just wanna say Saddleback Church have an unbelievable reputation around the world. I was marked by the messages of Saddleback years and years ago and God has used this church, used this community as a catalytic spark in many places around the world. And so it is just an immense honor to be here. I think the world of Pastor Andy and Stacey and their leadership, just in the little time that we've had to connect, such a kindred heart. So I have a goal and I have a prayer for our time together. And it's that you wouldn't leave this time together with a little bit more courage than you came in with. That you wouldn't leave with a little bit more faith than you came in with. That you wouldn't leave with a hope-filled perspective for what God is doing around the world, what he's doing in America, and that you wouldn't leave with a perspective that you have a more important part to play in that

than you can possibly imagine. And so that's where we're going tonight or time together. That's my hope for every one of us in the different campuses, wherever you may be, is that everyone would be filled with fresh hope, fresh faith, fresh courage. And my belief is, and I've seen this time and time again around the world in many places that we get to work, is that when we gain faith and when we gain courage, our activation follows. When we feel God is moving, when we see a right-harvest field, when we have faith that God can break into our families or our neighborhoods or our cities, then our action follows. And so I'm praying that in our time together, we would have a perspective shift and walk out a little bit different than we came in. I'd like to start with some good news. How many of you guys love good news? I turn to the person next to you and say, "Good news." So I wanna show you a few slides here to kind of speak into some data that has just come out over the last several years that I think gives us an incredible sense of hope of the hour that we live in. And I will say this is that I believe, and I don't think it's hype to say this, I have personal conviction that we are heading into the first global spiritual awakening in human history. We've had regional awakenings. There have been nations that have been touched by God,

Argentina had a remarkable move of God. In America, we have seen our waves of moves of God. Europe has had its moves of God. Many places around the world. But never have we seen a true global spiritual awakening where every single nation on earth would be touched by something that God is doing. Now, I think for the first time in history, that's truly possible, the level of communication, the connectedness that we live in. And I truly believe personally that we are on the doorstep of something remarkable. But I want to not just say that from my heart or with some passion and excitement. I want to show you some data that would actually point to something like that being a reality. So this first slide that we're going to look at actually speaks to what God is doing in America. And really in America, the last time that we experienced church growth as a nation was in the late 80s. And pretty much from the late 80s to today, the church has been in decline in America. My entire adult life, I have been incredibly used to bad news in America when it comes to church attendance, church growth. Now, you might have individual churches that are growing. You might have a particular region that is experiencing growth. But as a whole, the church of America has been in continuous decline since the late 80s.

How do you know that is a lot of years of bad news? I would be working in different places in America and globally and be like, man, the young people seem like they're really on fire. And then the data would come out and it's like more bad news, more bad news. Until this data began to shift. And in 2021, for the first time since the late 80s, America stopped declining in terms of the population of those that are following Jesus or would confess that they're following Jesus. Now, this is how I great news, but it's really good news when it's been decades of decline. And finally, it seems like it stopped. In 2022, it was plateauing. But then something began in 2023 that we are still living in today that is more remarkable than you're probably seeing on headlines, but this is real data. 2023, something began to surge in America. 2024, the growth continued. And in 2025, we had gone from 54% of American adults saying that they had had a personal commitment to follow Jesus to 66% in just a few years. Now, when we read the percentages, we might be like, okay, what does that really mean? Well, this percentage difference from 54 to 66% represents 30 million Americans that are following Jesus more than in number of years ago, just in 2022.

where 30 million people are confessing faith more than they were four or five years ago?" None of you would have guessed America. But that is the reality that we're in right now. God is moving in our nation. He is not done with our nation. And there's a generation, as you'll see in some of this data, of this data that is so hungry for God. Let's go to the next slide here. This is also in America. Sales of Bibles are booming fueled by first-time buyers and new versions. This is the key I want to focus on. Publishers attribute a 22% jump in Bible sales this year in a one-year period of time. When so many are saying people aren't interested in the Bible anymore, it's an old book, it's archaic. That is not the case. Gen Z is hungry for truth. Those in their 20s teens, there is a longing for something sacred, something historic, something real, something raw, something that is truly true. And that is booming the sales of Bibles in America. Let's go to the next slide and look a little bit at what God's doing in Europe. This is in the nation of Sweden. This article came out last year. And in the nation of Sweden, which is considered one of the most secular nations in the world, one of the most humanistic nations in the world with kind of the least imprint of God on society where they've tried to remove God from every element of society. In 2025, a survey was done by one of their main media outlets asking the question, who will be the greatest influencer in the nation in 2025? Would it be a musician or a social media influencer, an actor? Who would it be? And the survey came back that Jesus Christ would be the greatest influencer in the nation in 2025. Because so many young people are turning back to God. The article goes on to talk about a resurgence of young people back into the church after decades and decades of decline across the nation. Turn to the person next to you and say, "That's good news." Let's go to the next slide here. This is in the nation of Norway. We've had the privilege of working in Norway for a number of years. In 2022, we did a significant send gathering there. On the way to that gathering, we faced massive resistance. The resistance came down to a primary thing that they began to focus on in the media. And almost every day the send was in the media leading up to this first gathering. And the focus of the media was that we were promoting a dangerous gospel. And then they would quote all these things that we had said in our previous gatherings. And I would read these articles and be like, "I agree with everything they're saying." So I guess just keep printing it because this is not a dangerous gospel. It's not a biblical gospel. And this attempt to try and get all the denominations of the nation to disassociate from this gathering, to not work together,

had an opposite impact. And when it came to the send in 2022, it was the largest Christian gathering in 40 years in the nation since Billy Graham had been there. Now, Norway is also a largely secular nation. Many would say, as well, one of the most humanist nations in Europe. For those that are in the church, there would be a huge struggle with nominalism or lukewarmness. Believers who aren't truly sold out to Jesus. When 2022, something began far bigger than an organization or a gathering, but God began to move in the nation in remarkable ways. They'd done a survey in 2019. They found that 91% of Christian youth were hiding their faith out of shame and fear. 91%, meaning only 9% of young believers in Norway were at all vocal or even open about following Jesus. Now in 2022, something began to shift. Every single denomination in the nation gathered around that call to awaken young people, to believe for another mission's movement out of Norway, and it began to go out like ripples across the nation. They did the same exact survey six years later, last year in 2025, and they found that 31% of Norwegian youth are regularly sharing their faith with their friends in their own initiative. From 91% out of fear, you know, in fear and shame, to 31% regularly sharing their faith with their friends in the nation. Not only that, but almost every faith metric in the country had been in decline for many would say 30 to 40 years. Today, in Norway, every Bible school in the nation is growing. Today in Norway, the church is growing, youth groups are growing, and today they have more volunteers for global missions than their organizations can send. After 40 years of decline, God is moving in a remarkable way. Now this slide that was up is a headline in the Norwegian news and its translated atheism They're declaring atheism dead because so many young people are turning back to Jesus. You can turn to someone next to you and say, "That's really good news." Looking a little bit at the United Kingdom, we'll go to the next slide here just to read you some headlines that were came out in their media outlets. Good news, spiritual Gen Z drives holy Bible revival in the UK. You know it's the UK when it's a holy Bible revival.

We would call it a Bible revival, but in the UK, it's a holy Bible revival. Holy Bible sales are soaring. The article goes on to say that they have grown 87% in the last number of years in the UK. Young people are hungry for the scriptures. This next slide, again, in the UK and Wales. The headline was this, Gen Z leads rise in church attendance. The article had gone to say that church decline in England and Wales has not only stopped, but the church is growing as Gen Z leads an exciting turnaround in church attendance. Guys, there is so much good news out there. The harvest is truly ripe. God is moving in nations and regions that have been calling themselves post-Christian, but in reality, they're just pre-revival. And now God is beginning to move in these nations in a fresh way. It's happening across the earth. I was just in the Philippines for the sin gathering there with thousands of young people willing to go anywhere in the world for the sake of the gospel. And it's happening in many places. Today, many in the missions world would say that Iran has the fastest growing church in the world. It is truly a remarkable time to be alive. And for the campuses here in America and in California,

I want to say something very clear, and I know you know it's true, but we've got to say it out loud. God is not done with America. He is not done with California. And in the midst of hearing great things out there, he is doing great things right in front of us in our own city, in our own nation. Of course, there are many challenges as well. And I want to give you two data points on this to kind of then segue into the scriptures. This next slide speaks about something that's quite discouraging. It says here in the text that the percentage of pastors who say that their church is very effective at outreach has essentially disappeared, dropping from 13% to 1% between 2015 and 2023. This is so discouraging. This isn't some analyst saying this about the church. These are pastors self-evaluating their own churches and only 1% of pastors in America would say that they have an effective outreach from their church. How do you know we have to change this? How do you know we can change this? This last slide speaks broadly again of the American church, but is another data point to kind of talk about not only the opportunity that's in front of us, but the need. This slide talks about those that are familiar

with the Great Commission. Now, the Great Commission, if you're hearing that phrase for the first time, you're new to following the Lord or you're new to church is not a biblical term. It's a term that was coined by Hudson Taylor that essentially encapsulates Matthew of chapter 28, Mark chapter 16, Acts chapter one, which says that the mandate of a believer and the mandate of the church is to make disciples of all nations, to preach the gospel to all creation and to do it from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth. This is called the Great Commission. Now, statistically, a massive survey was done in America and the only ones that could take part in the survey were those who were church attendees. So they're serious enough in following Jesus that they actually go to church. And the data showed that only 51% of those that go to church on a Sunday morning in America have never heard of the Great Commission. 17% know the meaning. 25% have heard, but they don't know the meaning. 6% aren't sure they were confused by the whole thing. So they definitely belong to the 51%. The data point that's important on this is that only 17% of those who go to church on a Sunday morning are familiar with what the mission of the church actually is, which then you have to ask yourself the question.

If 83% of believers don't know what the Great Commission is, what are we talking about on Sunday mornings if the Great Commission is not somehow mentioned and taught in a 52 Sunday year? Out of 52 Sundays, that there's not some mention of the mission of the church, then you gotta ask yourself the question, what do 83% of Christians in America think that the mission of the church is? What do they feel that their own mission is? And we realize through some of these things that we have somewhat of a missionless church. Now, that is not true of Saddleback Church. That is absolutely not true of this church. And you can clap for yourselves on that. the world is we have lost our edge of effective evangelism and we have lost our edge of passion for the Great Commission. Now the silver lining in this is this. If all these great things are happening, the UK and Wales and Sweden and Norway and America and Iran and the Philippines and all these great statistics and all these great testimonies and stories of God moving and all of that is happening with 1% of pastors saying they have effective outreach in their churches and all of that is happening with only 17% of believers knowing what the Great Commission is. What will begin to happen when 10% of the church has effective outreach? What will begin to happen when 50% of the believers in the church know the mission of God and the mission of the church. So if all of these great things are happening and yet we recognize that we need to grow in our evangelistic edge, living sense, the series that you've been in or we need to grow in our passion for global mission and local mission then what are we on the verge of if God is awakening His church to the message of the Great Commission, to the reality of evangelism

and at the same time one of the hungriest generations of our lifetime is emerging across the earth right now. Friends, we have an unbelievable opportunity. We might not be ready for it but I think God is getting us ready. I want to go to the scriptures now and what I'd like to do is to propose to you some of what I feel that God is doing in the church across the world and in America to prepare us for this great hour of spiritual awakening. We're going to be looking at Matthew chapter 9 verses 35 through 38. Now this passage is kind of a picture of a day in the life of Jesus. There's also some very specific sentences he says. This is both a moment, a real moment but you get the idea by reading this that this was a lot of what Jesus did as he walked the earth for his three and a half years of ministry. So it starts off and I'd love for you just to picture what Jesus is experiencing in these few verses. Jesus went through all the towns and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field. The very next verse Jesus called the 12 disciples to him. He gave them authority to drive out in pure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness and he sends them out. Now what I'd love for us to think through in this passage is what Jesus saw and what Jesus felt as he walked the streets of the Israel of his day and then to think about in light of that how profound what he says is at the end of this passage. It says he's walking around the towns and the villages. What we don't think about when we read that is that over 50% of the Israel of Jesus' day was living in abject poverty. So he is not walking through Southern California.

He is not walking through an affluent community. He's not walking through towns and villages where everybody's pretty self-sufficient, has everything they need. Over 50% of the homes he's walking by, they lack the sufficient resources to thrive in life. They lack enough food, they lack enough shelter, they lack enough work, they're living in poverty. Over 50%. So I want you to imagine for a moment how overwhelming the sight of that level of poverty is, some of you have put in places all over the world with that level of poverty. And many times it's overwhelming. The emotion we feel in those moments is like how can this be changed? What is the hope for a place like this to come out of poverty? Of course the gospel is hope for a person's life and soul, but what about coming out of poverty? So Jesus sees this, it's got to be overwhelming, teaching in their synagogues. That sounds great until you realize and look at the rest of the New Testament scripture that the synagogue is not a place of spiritual life and vitality. That the synagogues are places of dead religion. The synagogues are leaders that with made up laws that they're putting on the people's backs like a weight, like a heavy blanket. Most of those followers of Judaism are somewhat oppressed by these laws. These religious leaders are phariseical, they're hypocritical, and this is the synagogue of Jesus' day. So he's not walking in the back of the synagogue and like, man, these guys are on fire. He's not walking back at synagogue going, "This is so glad the synagogue has an on fire youth group on Wednesday nights." He's walking the back of the synagogue going, "My gosh, this is meant to be the hope for the nation and it's full of dead religion." Goes on from there, says, "He's healing disease and sickness. He's proclaiming the good news of the kingdom." We don't often think about how overwhelming it would have been for Jesus to walk the streets lined with those with incurable illnesses where there are no hospitals. There is no medical system and he is seeing the sights, the smells, and the feel of a people that are oppressed by illness and sickness with no solution. Then he looks at the crowds and it says he had compassion on them, "Why? They're harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

They're leaderless. You know from the rest of the New Testament context that racism is off the charts in Jesus' time. The Samaritans hate the Jews and vice versa. The Jews hate the Romans and vice versa. There's oppression at almost every level. Rome is oppressing all of those that they lead. Jewish leaders are oppressing the followers of Judaism. Men are oppressing women. There's oppression at every level. So imagine, I just want you just for a moment to try and take this in. Jesus, walking the streets of Israel, poverty, brokenness, anxiety, leaderlessness, racism, oppression, and sickness. And he looks it in the face and his declaration is the harvest is ripe. It's astounding. The harvest is ripe. Because we're prone to look at that situation and use sentences like "too hard, too dark." To use phrases like "the soil is too hard here" or "that person, unreachable." That city, I wouldn't even go there. That neighborhood don't even know what to do with it. And often we're overwhelmed by the headlines we read. How crazy are the headlines right now? It doesn't take much to see some bad news. And all those headlines, if we're not careful, will become our report card on what we think God is doing. Instead of tapping into his heart in the secret place in prayer, in worship, in the word, in community, to actually have his perspective on what he's doing. Because he could look at the Israel of his day, which was literally about to crucify him. And declare over that Israel with that brokenness the harvest is ripe. If he's saying that over Israel, what do you think he's saying over America today? Come on, guys. What's he saying over California today? He's not moving to Franklin, Tennessee. He's looking at California declaring the harvest is ripe in California. He's in Argentina, walking in the streets, declaring the harvest is ripe. He's in the streets of Hong Kong declaring the harvest is ripe. He's walking the streets of Manila declaring the harvest is ripe. He looks at North Korea and declares the harvest is ripe. And you realize from this, it has never been a ripeness issue. It has always been a labor issue. The harvest is ripe. The question is, are there believers who believe the harvest is ripe? We will live like we believe. And if we look at our state, our city, our nation and declare too hard, we will live like it's too hard. But as soon as we start declaring the harvest is ripe, then we will begin to live like there is a ripe harvest field all around us. I want to encourage you. I want to challenge you. The next time you drive up to work, declare over your office building, the harvest is ripe.

The next time you pull up to your university, not too hard, not too dark, not just steeped in secular humanism, the harvest is ripe. The next time you show up at your high school and walk that hallway, and you see people from all different walks of life and brokenness and addiction, not too hard, not too dark. The harvest is ripe in the high schools of America. The harvest is ripe in our universities. And the next time you think about the nations of the earth, the 3.4 billion that are still waiting for the gospel, our declaration is not too hard, too dark, too distant, unreachable, impossible. Our declaration is there is no place on the earth too hard for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we need a church globally that would wake up in the morning, read hard headlines, and recognize that behind every difficult headline is a cry for a Messiah. Between every cry of brokenness, every oppression, everything that you read and go, "My goodness, what are we going to do next? What's going to happen next?" Is that in immediately in our minds would enter in the heart of Jesus, the harvest is ripe. And we're challenging the circumstance often. not be those that are thinking it is too difficult the grounds hard if we do we will live like the ground is hard but to wake up in the morning with the eyes of Jesus with the heart of Jesus knowing he wants to move in my neighborhood today he wants to move in my workplace today he wants to move in my school today it's a perspective shift second thing that we see in this passage is that if the challenge of what Jesus saw in front of him wasn't overwhelming which we have talked about it was is that the solution to that challenge was possibly even more overwhelming he looks at broken Israel leaderlessness poverty brokenness and then he realizes and he already knew this he appointed them that the solution are these 12 dysfunctional immature egotistical disciples and this is remarkable because if this isn't impossible

this is impossible and Jesus does something in this moment it changed all of human history this is really important for us to understand even with your live sent series you've been in it for thousands of years when Jesus looked at a need or father looked at a need on the earth he primarily moved through one of three types of people and you see this all throughout the Old Testament Israel's in need he raises up a prophet he raises up a priest or he raises up a leader like a king or a judge for thousands of years and we see this again and again throughout the scriptures but in Matthew chapter nine he changes the playbook forever he looks at a broken nation he looks at tremendous need and he goes you know what I'm not looking for it with some I'm not looking for someone with a position I'm not looking for someone with a title I'm not looking for someone that has the right education goes I'm not just trying to find a priest who's been has the title of priest I'm not looking for an anointed and appointed king I'm not just trying to find someone that everyone recognizes as a prophet he goes I'm changing all of human history in Matthew chapter nine the world in front of me is broken it's a right harvest field and the solution is the everyday believer fishermen tax collectors 16 year olds 20 year olds 80 year olds moms dads carpenters teachers bankers he forever changes the story and in this moment goes from appointing a few to affect the masses to appointing believers to affect the masses and in this moment you recognize that you and I are the solution to the great harvest that's in front of us we often live like there's someone else better we often disqualify ourselves I don't speak publicly I don't lead worship I don't have an office I'm not that great at discipleship I feel like I don't know how to share publicly there's so much I don't know and we're constantly disqualifying ourselves but in this passage God is longing to awaken the heart of his church that every one of us is qualified by the power of the spirit of God living in us today one of my great heroes in my life is my dad he's 80 years old he lives in the Himalayas because he recognizes for the last number of years of his life he wants to give to those that have never heard the gospel before he says I got at least seven or eight more years he thinks until he's 87 or 88 that he'll be mobile there is no age too old there is no age too young there is no disqualification based on personality God wants us to realize that as much as we're looking for someone else to be the solution you are someone else you are the someone else we often think like man if I could just get pastor Rick Warren to move into my neighborhood of course everyone to get saved you are pastor Rick Warren in your neighborhood if we could just get someone to

show my workplace that was super bold and could really articulate the gospel you are the bold one you are the gospel in your workplace if there was just some really great charismatic personality in my school I bet a whole bunch of people would turn to the Lord he doesn't need a charismatic personality he needs a human with a spirit of God living inside of them and that person is the solution to your school your university your workplace your neighborhood and the nations of the earth you are someone else the last part of this and I'll end here is that Jesus not only gives us a perspective shift about the ripeness of the harvest field but second he then commissions normal every day believers to be the solution to that right harvest field, but there's people who are rast and helpless that He moved with compassion, He was moved with compassion. Love is the engine that will lead the church in being a solution to the brokenness around us. This great awakening that I think we're all believing for, and feeling that something is truly happening in our nations, our cities, it's not enough to have good programs, it's not enough to have a good strategy, it's not even enough to just have a perspective shift if we haven't truly had something awakened in our hearts, that compassion like Jesus had, that deep, deep love for those who are broken and in need of a Messiah. Now this is not a normal love. I would call this love that Jesus had adoptive love. I have the privilege of having six kids, as Pastor Andy said, it's a lot of kids, if you didn't know. And it means my wife is amazing. We had four children and I thought we were done. She said we were done. I'd already died the minivan death, so it didn't really matter. No ego left. And my wife had in her heart that we were meant to be a solution to some of the brokenness of the foster care system and world around us. And long story short, a little two year old landed in our home that was meant to be short term. And I already had a two year old and my wife's a twin, she always wanted twins, but all my

friends that had twins, they were broken. They were never the same again. It was like dark night of the soul. And so she's like, Lord, I would love twins. I'm like, Lord, please don't give me twins. I'm not mature enough. I'm not Christ like enough. Like I won't make it. So we finished having kids and she's done with four and I'm like, the Lord loves me. We didn't have twins. Tell this little girl ends up in our home and I'm like, oh my gosh, the Lord definitely loves my wife four. I always knew that, but this proved it. And it was meant to be a couple weeks long story short because I don't have time to go into all of it. After some weeks past, we recognize this was not going to be short term and I'll never forget the moment with this beautiful little two year old, but we're a family of four. Now we're going to be a family of five, two, two year olds. It's just like mayhem and remember thinking to myself, like, Lord, I am not the reason that this little girl doesn't have a dad and I'm not the reason that this little girl ended up in this situation where she needed to be in our home. I'm not the reason that her first two years of life were all over the place, but I felt in that moment the Lord say to me, but you can become the reason that she has a dad the rest of her life and you can become the reason that she has a home the rest of her life. And though you didn't cause this brokenness, you can take responsibility for it. And this is the love that Jesus showed and this is so important to understand that when he looked down at a broken world and he didn't cause an ounce of it, the sin, the sickness, the oppression, the brokenness, the bondage, he didn't cause an ounce of it, but he took responsibility for every bit of it. We've often defined maturity as being willing to take responsibility for our own actions.

If you're a parent and many of you are, you just feel like you're the greatest parent in the world, if you can just get your kid to take responsibility for their own actions. I mean, just like you, you know, you ate dinner on that plate and you put it in the dishwasher, you're ready for college. Like I'm done. I have finished my duties as a parent, but I want to propose you today that taking responsibility for our own actions, though very important, is entry-level maturity. That the maturity that God is asking from his church is a maturity that is willing to take responsibility for someone else's actions, for someone else's brokenness. And this was the love that Jesus moved in in Matthew 9, where he looks at a broken world. He looks at harassed and helpless. He looks at leaderlessness. He looks at anxiety. He looks at all of this and he owns it and he takes responsibility for it, though he had not caused it. Because when the church begins to take responsibility for the brokenness, we haven't caused spiritual awakening is at the doorstep tonight, our time together today, wherever you might be watching this, my prayer is this, that our perspective would shift, that when you walk out of the building that you're in, that you would see your city differently. When you drive up to your home, you would see your neighborhood differently. When you walk into your workplace, you would see your workplace differently. When you drive the streets of your city, that you would see it all differently and you would begin to declare the harvest is ripe in my city. The harvest is ripe in my neighborhood. The harvest is ripe in my high school, my university. From that, you would move into a recognition that you are the solution. You are the answer. There isn't someone else. Everybody's waiting for someone else.

You are someone else. Turn to the person next to you and say, you are someone else. But friends, all of it, all of it comes down to this. It's the power of adoptive love. It's easy to get frustrated with sinners for sinning. But how can they act like a man they've never met? It's easy to get frustrated with the brokenness of a generation, but who will become fathers and mothers to a fatherless and motherless generation? It's easy to get frustrated with the headlines, but instead, can you see them as a cry for freedom? It's easy to get frustrated with the spread of secularism or humanism or whatever ideology might be prevalent where you are, but instead of being frustrated, can we move in a spirit of compassion? And I'm asking us, wherever you are watching this right now, can we begin to ask God, fill me with adoptive love? To adopt my city, to adopt my neighborhood, to adopt my high school, to adopt my university, to adopt my co-worker that nobody wants to be around, that the hardest and the darkest would become the ripe harvest field for the church. I wanna ask if you stand with me tonight and I wanna pray, you've been in a series called Live Sent, what a great series. This is a great commission church. You have a long history of being catalytic across the earth, carrying messages

that the whole body of Christ has been affected by. I'm wondering, believing, praying that out of Saddleback would come an activation movement that would inspire the church of California, church of America, church of Hong Kong, the church of Argentina, of Germany, the Philippines, that out of Saddleback and the obedience that comes out of this church, but I wanna say it this way, the love that comes out of this church, that something catalytic would take place in the body of Christ. And my question for us as we end this time together is what is God asking you to adopt? Who is God asking you to adopt? What place is God asking you to adopt? And I wanna pray right now that God would begin to move in our hearts with profound love. So Holy Spirit, I ask right now, all across these different rooms in these different places. I'm asking right now, grip our hearts with adoptive love, God. So many waiting for a Messiah. So many waiting for hope. So many waiting for a Savior. God, we ask that you would fill our hearts, Lord, not with frustration, not with an arms reach away from the brokenness, Lord, not with resistance. Father, I pray you would fill us with radical,

audacious, extravagant love. And we begin to move in that adoptive passion to see people around us in brokenness begin to experience the love of the Messiah. Father, I pray you'd show people right now, give them names, show them faces, Lord, help them to see the people and the places you're calling them to. God, come and move in our hearts. Come and awaken our hearts, God. Or do it in this church, but do it in churches all across our nations, God. Prepare your beautiful bride, prepare your church for this hour of great spiritual awakening. In Jesus' name, amen. - Man, what an incredible message from Andy Bird. If you'd like to respond to that message in any way, I wanna invite you to fill out the next steps card on the Saddleback app so that our team can walk with you, support you and pray for you in whatever next step that you'd like to take. So as you're filling that out, let's go ahead and continue to worship through singing together. (upbeat music) ♪ Who send me our code ♪ ♪ Send me our code ♪ ♪ Send me our code ♪ ♪ Send me our code ♪ ♪ And if you want my yes, you've got it, you've got it ♪

♪ And if you want my yes, you've got it, you've got it ♪ ♪ And if you want my yes, you've got it ♪ ♪ You've got it, you've got it, you've got it, you've got it ♪ ♪ You've got it, you've got it, you've got it, you've got it ♪ ♪ And I will build my life ♪ And I will put my trust in you alone And I will not be, come on, can we sing that out? And I will build my life up upon your love it is a firm foundation And I will put my trust in you alone And I will not be, come on, see no more time And I will build my life up upon your love it is a firm foundation And I will put my trust in you alone And I will put my trust in you alone And I will, can we sing that out? And I will, can we sing that out? And I will, can we sing that out? And I will not be, come on, see no more time And I will not be, come on, see no more time And I will not be, come on, see no more time And I will not be, come on, see no more time And I will not be, come on, see no more time And I will not be, come on, see no more time Can you love me? Thank you so much again for joining us for Church Today I'm so grateful that you got to be with us As a reminder, you can go to the Saddleback app and fill out the next steps card So that someone from our team can pray for you, for a prayer request that you have Or if there's a next step that you want to take, we can help you to take that step Church family, we love you so, so much I hope you have the best week ever

And I hope to see you back here again as we kick off our stronger series We'll see you then [Music]