Believe It Or Not

I hope you had a great summer. Praying for you as you transition out of that rhythm and into fall. And great job making church a part of that rhythm—especially for those of you who…

Are incoming freshman at UNI, or Hawkeye, or Wartburg here in the Cedar Valley…

At Grinnell College down in Grinnell…

At Iowa Central over in Fort Dodge…

At Luther up in Decorah… or

At NIACC up near Osage:

This church rhythm is a great one—and an important one—for you to establish and keep as you take some of your first steps onto a college campus.

And I know it can be really intimidating—but we’re so glad that you’re here.

And you’ve heard us say it already, but: we’re a “No Matter Church.” We still preach from the Bible, and Jesus is our Savior and King. But no matter where you’re coming from, you’re welcome here. Ok?

Dominican Mission Trip

Alright. Hey—

Last time I was up here I shared some pics from our family vacation. And I just want you to know:

On a video call with a bunch of our staff just a few days after, they teased me mercilessly for sharing those. They didn’t hold back. Just piled on, making me feel so insecure—to the point where I don’t even know if I want to share anything personal ever again.

Starting next weekend.

Because this weekend, what I’d like to share with you are some pictures from a mission trip to the Dominican Republic I took with my son and some other PLCers from Fort Dodge and Osage back in July.

For almost two decades now, we’ve been partnering with an organization called the 410 Bridge. In fact, earlier this year, we had the founder of the 410 Bridge, Kurt Kandler, up here to talk to us about their mission—which is to redefine the war on poverty.

That’s the mission: to redefine the war on poverty.

Now: they do that in Jesus’ name by holistic community development—building a bridge between local churches in the U.S. like ours and communities stuck in poverty across the globe.

So in the Dominican, they build relationships with local churches, with farmers, with public sugar cane plantations, and with government agencies to try and raise people out of poverty.

So, I’d like to show you some pics of how our team interacted with that mission down there - because most of what we got to do was partner with a church and serve about 300 or so kids through a VBS program.

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SHOW DOMINICAN PICS 1-14; JESSE TO CUE NEXT PICS

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Alright. Thanks for hanging with me there. And let your campus staff know that they should be nicer to me about all of my picture sharing.

Believe It Or Not

Alright. Thanks for hanging with me there. And let your campus staff know that they should be nicer to me about all of my picture sharing. I’m sensitive.

Hey: as we make our way through this transition from summer to fall, we’ve got a couple of “one-offs” that we’re gonna do on the weekends here at Prairie Lakes.

Most of the time, we’re doing series—anywhere from 3 to about 6 weekends long, all on the same topic or book of the Bible. But this weekend (and next weekend) are one-offs—standalone weekends where we’ve just got 1 thing we’re gonna focus on.

So, this weekend, we’re calling it “Believe It or Not.”

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SHOW BELIEVE IT OR NOT SERIES GRAPHIC

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And here’s the idea behind it:

Because we’re a No Matter Church, we attract all kinds of people. All kinds.

Some of us grew up in church—but even if we did, we grew up in several different kinds of churches.

Some of us kinda grew up in church.

Some of us didn’t grow up in church at all. We’re new to all of this.

And we love that. We love that.

But one of the challenges that level of diversity creates for us is this:

If we’re made up from people who are all over the map, then…

Who are we?

It’s kinda like when we describe our country as a “melting pot:”

You hear that and go, “Yeah, I love that, but… what does that mean for our identity? What unifies us? What makes us… “us?”

If you were to go to our website, under the “About Us” tab…

Or if you were to go through our membership classes…

Or if you were to get hired as a staff person or if you were to become an elder—

There are (9) “Core Beliefs” that really matter to us. Nine beliefs that make us… “us.”

And I’m just gonna summarize them here on one screen for you. Here’s what we believe and stand for:

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The Bible is the inspired Word of God. (2 Tim. 3:16)

God is triune: Father, Son, and Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)

God the Father is a perfect person. (Romans 11:32-36)

God the Son died in our place for our sins. (Romans 3:24-26)

God’s Holy Spirit dwells in every believer. (John 16:7-15)

The Holy Spirit regenerates every believer. (Titus 3:3-8)

Jesus is coming back. (Matthew 25:31-46)

We celebrate two ordinances: baptism and communion. (Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29)

We should live with Jesus, like Jesus. (John 15)

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So, we’re gonna dive a little more deeply into a few of those. But right up top, here’s what I want you to see:

There’s nine.

Not 900.

Not 90.

Not even 19:

Nine.

What’s notable about that list is not only what’s on it—but what’s not.

Here’s why that’s important:

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Every day of our lives we feel the strong pull of division.

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Every day, someone tries to put something at the top of our list or at the top of our mind,

Pulling us away from our common identity and towards a particular tribe, or

Pulling us away from what we all share and instead down the rabbit hole of whatever the algorithm determines for us, or

Pulling us away from nuanced and diverse perspectives by locking us into watching hours of the same news source or channel.

And that’s because division sells.

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Every day of our lives we feel the strong pull of division.

Division sells:

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If someone can keep our attention, then they can feed us an ad and maybe dip into our pocketbook or get some more of our personal information so that they can keep our attention a little longer and dip into our pockets a little deeper.

And if that sounds cynical to you, well… guilty as charged, I guess. Not the first time I’ve been called that.

Nevertheless:

We are continuing to live in a cultural moment right now where there’s money to be made, attention to be grabbed, and influence to be built through division.

If you are really good at being divisive,

You can build a nice little kingdom for yourself.

Nobody’s asking “what do we believe?”

Everybody’s asking, “what do you believe?”

Or:

Can you believe what they believe?

And there are those in the church who sometimes fall prey to this as well.

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Every day of our lives we feel the strong pull of division.

Division sells:

Even (especially?) in the church.

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My algorithm took all of 30 seconds to figure out that I go to church—and then in an instant started feeding me a dose of John MacArthur, or dose of Andy Stanley, or Philip Anthony Mitchell, or Craig Groeschel (those are all famous pastors kinda within Evangelical churches).

But the algorithm would also feed me like a podcaster who would tell me how demonic and dangerous each of those pastors were.

And then it would start feeding me something Mark Driscoll said about all of those pastors.

And then pretty soon the comments section would get all fired up and people would be defending their person or shouting at each other or judging each other as heretics or talking about “this is why I don’t go to church but just am trying to be the church” or whatever AND THEN:

NFL Sunday Ticket ad.

Draft Kings ad. We’ll give you your first $100 bet free.

DoorDash ad.

Hungry? Dominoes has a $7 deal for any medium 2-topping pizza.

You don’t wanna be divisive on an empty stomach, do you?

Divided From The Very Beginning

Now: I’ve described to you what this problem looks like in 2025. But division has been a problem for us in the church from the earliest days of the early church.

Most of the New Testament is a collection of letters to churches written by the guy who planted them. And he has to address division in almost every single one of them.

Let’s take a 35,000 foot view at this together, and then we’ll land on one of them.

Let’s start our flyover of Corinth. You’ve got a window seat; look down and see what was happening there:

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1 Corinthians 1:10–13 “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”

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So in Corinth, it was a cult of personality that was divisive.

Let’s flyover the church in Rome:

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Romans 14:1 “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.”

Romans 14:10 “You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.”

Romans 14:13 “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.”

Romans 15:7 “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

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In Rome, it was a spirit of judgmentalism that was divisive.

Continuing our flight over the church in Ephesus:

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Ephesians 4:1–3 “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

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Paul gives this coaching to the church in Ephesus because there was division on racial lines: Jewish Christians vs. Gentile Christians.

Three more cities. Keep looking down—now on church in Philippi:

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Philippians 2:1–4 “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

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Ah. The old selfish ambition division. People wanting to build a platform for themselves. People willing to sacrifice relationships and soil reputations so that they can get ahead.

Let’s begin our descent. Tray tables up. Seatbacks forward. Please remain seated. On your left, the church in Colossae:

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Colossians 3:12–14 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

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People just get mad at each other sometimes. Grievances. But are you gonna let that grievance lead to permanent division?

Finally, to the church in Galatia—which is where we’re gonna land the plane and stay for awhile:

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Galatians 5:19–26 “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

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So we get this long “sin list” to the church in Galatians. And that’s important to note—

Because in all of these calls against division and for unity, Paul’s not implying that sin doesn’t matter. It does.

One thing we know about sin of all kinds—it divides. In fact, later on in Galatians, Paul is going to give some instructions about the importance of confronting one another gently when we see that a brother or a sister is stuck in sin.

Unity doesn’t come because we ignore sin or move the boundary lines on it. Paul is not saying that we should overlook sin for the sake of unity. Quite the opposite: we need to gently confront sin so that it doesn’t divide.

But take a look at the first slide there in Galatians once again:

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Some of us want the church to put a megaphone in front of what we believe about sexuality. We want our church to talk more and more loudly about it.

Some of us want the church to put a megaphone in front of what we believe about idolatry. We want our church to talk more and more loudly about it.

Some of us want the church to get louder about witchcraft or demons or the spiritual realm. We want our church to talk more and more loudly about it.

We’ve all got our preferred | prophetic | platforms—our personal soap boxes we are convinced that the church should talk more or more loudly about.

And you might be right. You might be.

But even if you are, here’s what I hope you see in this list:

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Within that list of sins that we love to divide over is division itself.

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Paul puts discord in the same list as sexual immorality.

Dissensions in the same list as impurity.

Factions is the same list as witchcraft.

Fits of rage in the same list as drunkenness.

And then just a few verses later, maybe we can now see why he cautions us from getting conceited—which is feeling self-righteous or self-important.

Why? Because:

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Within that list of sins that we love to divide over is division itself.

Division can’t get a foothold when we all know that we all need Jesus.

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The Only Belief That Matters

I began by summarizing our (9) core beliefs. But I want to put #9 of 9 on the screen here for you in its entirety. Here it is:

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We believe that every human being has direct relations with God, and is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith. We believe that Christians should live for the Glory of God and the well-being of others. Believers should seek to realize for themselves and others full maturity in Christ, who lived a perfect life. Believers should be active and regular members of a church community, whose primary task is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with a lost world. (Matthew 28:18- 20; John 15:1-13; Romans 3:19-26, 6; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3; Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 10:24-25)

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It’s not one of the references listed there, but I want to end with what I think is maybe the clearest verse behind this core belief of ours.

And I’ll put it on the screen here in a moment.

But when I’m in a conversation with someone who has never gone to our church and they’re asking about “What kind of church is Prairie Lakes?”—

And I’ve got like one chance, just a few seconds to answer that question in a way that is clear and compelling—

One chance to set us apart from any church baggage they might have,

Or church wounds they might be carrying,

Or pre-understandings, or skepticisms, or maybe just plain ignorance—

I’ll do my best to answer them with the truth of this one verse, which, when we’re at our best, sets us apart from so many other voices and pastors and churches out there who are peddling in and pandering to the divisiveness of our current age.

Here’s the verse, from Galatians 5:

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Galatians 5:6b “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

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When Jesus asked which commandment is the most important, it was:

Love the Lord and love your neighbor.

When Paul has a chance to boil it all down for the Galatians to the only thing that counts, he says faith in Jesus expressed in loving each other.

Listen to me now:

Being a “No Matter” church doesn’t mean that sin doesn’t matter. Or that theology doesn’t matter. Or that sexuality or spirituality doesn’t matter.

Being “No Matter” doesn’t mean we push things under the rug or sweep in them into a corner for the sake of unity.

But when it comes to who we are and what we believe…

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At Prairie Lakes, nothing matters as much as what Jesus did for us on the cross—

And what he tells us to do with one another:

Love.

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And it’s because nothing else matters as much that we can say:

No matter who you are, where you’ve been, what you’ve done, or what’s been done to you,

You can look for God here.

You can belong here.

You can figure it out here.

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God loves you too much to leave you where you are,

But he loves you enough to meet you where you are.

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Believe it or not, that’s what we believe.

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