State of the Church 26

Intro

Thank you for being here this morning for worship as we gather to lift high Jesus. After all, that is why we are here today. That is what we gather for the Lord’s day to remind ourselves of. We take one day each week going back to creation and stop work and all the striving and building and making and struggle to reset and recalibrate from what we do to who we are made for.

God wired the rhythm into creation for our good. Work 6 days then rest on the 7th. He didn’t do this because he was tired but because he wanted us to take head of this for our own good.

I think for a couple reasons.

1. if all you do is work, you can become defined by work. God didn’t want that for us. To be sure their are seasons and sprints in life where the wheat needs to come in, patients need cared for, and emergencies come up. It was never meant to be legalism, even though the Jews ended up turning it into that. It was meant for our good. To reinforce within us that we are more than the work we produce.

2. It is a reminder of God’s glory for people who have short memories. It seems like no time at all until I forget everything I promised God I would do and be about. My heart is fickle and shallow enough to bring me shame often. I need to constantly come back to my first love in order to keep my priorities set. As the old song goes,

O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.

I had to look it up because I had never heard the word “fetter” before in my life. It’s a chain or a manacle. Handcuffs meant to shackle you to something. The song was penned by Robert Robinson in 1758 and another verse added 2 years later by Martin Madan. It tells the story of joy for all those who know the grace of Christ, even as we wander away after our own sin, his grace is great still. Verse 3, which we just sang speaks of this struggle we all feel where we know that God is above all and Lord and King, and glorious and worthy and honorable above all things, but even given that how still I find myself pulled toward and wanting lesser things, lesser kings, and lesser everything.

Yet Martin Madan gave us a 4th verse to call out to glory’s yet untasted.

O that day when freed from sinning, I shall see Thy Lovely Face;

Robed then in blood wash-ed linen How I'll sing Thy sovereign grace;

Come, my Lord, no longer tarry, Take my ransomed soul away;

Gather with Your arms and carry Me to joys of endless day.

3. Reason number 3 why we gather is to prepare ourselves for glory ahead.

This week I heard “I can only Imagine” at Mike’s funeral, a song I heard literally 500x on repeat at a play a previous church did every year. But I heard it and listened and reminded myself of something I often forget. I don’t full have the eyes to fathom the glory that I will feel wash over my heart and my soul when I meet Jesus face to face finally.

Surrounded by Your glory What will my heart feel? Will I dance for You Jesus Or in awe of You be still? Will I stand in Your presence Or to my knees, will I fall? Will I sing hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine

All i can fully comprehend is that God’s glory will be on full display forever, and I will be freed from all the trappings of my sin, and for the first time in my creation, I’ll be able to take in His beauty. I imagine it will be equal parts beautiful and overwhelming sense of unworthiness. But this I know. I want as many of you to join me as possible. I want as many people as I can lead to the good news and salvation Christ purchased for them as possible to hear and believe on the name and power of Jesus. I want heaven filled and then I want to experience the new heaven and new earth as God makes it all without sin, free of blight and pure in glory.

I want that. I pray, that you do to.

Which brings us today and this year before us.

Stephen Covey coined the phrase which at first I’ll admit sounds so “duh” to me that I thought it stupid. Yet, as I’ve grown up and found folly so much easier a goal.

“Keep the main thing, the main thing.”

Church. Our main thing is to live in a relationship with Jesus and worship Him accordingly. Strip all else away from us; the programs, the ministries, the facilities, the finances, and even the history, and we would still be a church if we gathered together as a body to worship the king.

Not that alone but I want the gathering just to be the build up of what has been going on for each member personally throughout the week. That we gather around the word privately each day expectantly to hear from the Lord with a heart that is ready to step into obedient action to that word. I want a church that is fired up in prayer for not just needs and the needy but for the Lost. I want a church family that takes evangelism upon themselves because they have a genuine burden for the lost to find and know Christ.

To use myself as an example, I am shamed by the reality that at times in my walk with Christ I have more passionately pleaded with friends and family to go to a certain restaurant and order something fantastic off there menu than I was about the gospel with literally has the power to change their eternal destiny.

Some of us in this very room could tell you exactly what is happening on our 3d sonar or our game camera or the exact stats of each player on our favorite football team but don’t take 1/20th of that same passion with us about Jesus anywhere we go.

Would that we would be a people who want those around us to experience for themselves the compassion, kindness, love, grace, and mercy that we have tasted and seen was good in the Person of Jesus. Would that we would be a people so marked by grace that we could not but share of the greatest love we’ve ever known.

I struggle with a wager that I feel in my bones is nothing but a sure thing.

That if I was pursing Christ with the same joy that I do other pursuits that sharing with others would feel more of a joy than a chore. If I want friends to experience the taste of glorious Cajun food at my favorite place because I know its delicious, how much more would I desire them to experience my Christ?

Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, here’s my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

I need God to daily remind me of what the main thing is, and church so do you.

Tension

My goal today is to paint a vision of this year, drenched in a singular purpose to place before you for prayer and consideration. That we would fix our eyes and our hearts on glorifying Christ in our lives, our church, and in our community. This is it friends. I know I’m speaking profound words never spoken by any author or pastor before.

“Juston, how long have you been sitting on this hidden knowledge before, more a prophet than a man!”

Of course I am joking because this has been the marching song of our mission from the beginning. This just in, your pastor is not profound or some innovative thinking on the cutting edge of scholarship or growth strategy. I don’t have the aptitude for those things. But I will tell you this.

I pray for you all.

I’m often wakened up in the middle of the night over this church and who is hurting in it.

I care deeply for you all in ways that I probably have an unhealthy relationship with empathizing with your family struggles.

I hope for you all things that I want so bad that I can almost taste and grow secretly disappointed when I feel like you don’t want them too.

There are days, weeks, and seasons when I think if I was just a better pastor, preacher, teacher, example, then the church would turn a corner and God would blow the hinges off this place.

There are people in the church that I know I’ve disappointed and wasn’t there for in a way that I regret. I would say that doubly over my family, who I feel like I’ve neglected for seasons so I could be there for the church.

I tell you all this not because I want an award or so that you see just how crazy I am, but just to say that I take this position and this calling very seriously. Frankly, I eat my feelings and since taking this job I’ve gained roughly 40 lbs of feelings because I love you people and this place and I want to see our church change the map because God has moved so mightily over our lives that we couldn’t help but be on fire for Christ. I want to see our greatest days ahead of us and I want our people to feel that deep into their marrow.

Truth Today’s passage is short, it’s powerful, it’s game changing, and its not impossible.

I talk today about Matthew 6, a chapter found within Jesus’ famous sermon on the mount. In this part of the discourse Jesus challenges his beleivers to give to the needy but in a way that God gets the glory and not themselves. He challenges them to pray as if they are talking honestly with God rather than with puffed up language for the applause of men. He emplores them to fast so they can hear from God not so that other will look at them piously. He warns them to all the while put their focus on the eternal and not temporary worldly goods. Then he finishes by telling them to run from anxiety and all the things they are worrying about regarding their tomorrows.

Today’s passage is Matthew 6:33

Matthew 6:33 ESV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

I sincerely hope that you can feel the theme emerging here form Christ’s words to the listeners that day. So many were consumed with all the things and all the ways and all the questions they had about future events. Due to this, many had given up any hope of knowing the mind or will of God and started settling for lesser goals and weak goods. They lived for pious fame. They worshiped for applause and adulation rather than for an audience of one. they were so preocupied with religious tasks being checked off and in the best possible way that they lost the reason why they did any of them in the first place.

They were all over the place and had lost the love they first had for God and missed the great love that he had for them.

In short they were seeking last the kingdom of God and his righteousness. They had built up kingdoms with godly wallpaper tacked up on the walls but those walls were hollow and had no real strength when the storms would come.

The promise given here to the church by Christ seems so simple because it is. It boils down, distilling our purposes into such a doable thing. Just make sure that you are seeking God’s kingdom being built and that you are doing so by perusing righteousness that comes from Him, and the rest will fall in line. Focus on this one thing. Give it your all and you’ll win.

I sat before you last year and gave you a list of goals for 25 that are summed up pretty quickly.

Initiatives for 25

LRPT- I’ll let you know that our team gathered monthly last year and spent time in prayer, bible study, team building, and focused hard on passages like this one here this morning in hopes of asking and answering questions about our church’s timeless mission and vision. We are in the final stretches of bringing those discussions before you all as we present to you where we feel God is leading and calling us as a church to gather. Not to cheat too much but it looks alot like seeking first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. Again, nothing new under the sun, especially for a church that seeks to honor and live by God’s word.

Handicap Bus- Last year a team of great guys found, bought, fixed up, and have been utilizing our bus to pick up some members who otherwise would not be able to attend. We are so thankful for the men who serve in that ministry and take time each week to pick up others but I will let you know that their team needs more people who can help and you need to pray about joining them. But we thank God that he was able to make that happen to give us this tool to love and serve our community of faith but also reach out to those who need help getting to worship.

3 Big goals. I state each time we have a new members class that if I were to distill down my goals for you as a member of our church, it would look something like 3 things.

That you would find a ministry that pours into you

That you would find a mission or ministry that helps you pour into others

and that you would participate in worship corporately and privately

We have had new people come into our fellowship as members and get involved and that has been a blessing, we are grateful to have you join our family and get in the game with us. We have also lost a lot of faithful saints this past year. Many who have faithfully served for years and we are grateful for their legacy and their great homecoming. We miss them dearly but celebrate with them that their earthly lives gave way to victory in Jesus. Still we have many in our fellowship who have yet to pull the trigger and get involved. this is your year. Perhaps you need to make your attendance more regular and consistent. Perhaps you’ve not invested in your own discipleship for years and for many reasons but this is the year you need to quit playing games and find a Bible study to join. Maybe you’ve always been coming to studies and events but never got into the game and did ministry. Its time to get off the bench. We would love for this to be the year that you took steps to make your faith walk itself out in obedience. Come and talk with me and we can figure out what God has given you passion for and we can walk that road together. There are many in this church who would love nothing more than to invest in you and help you grow in your walk with God.

Find where God is moving and meet him there

Awana and Bright- We baptized over 10 kiddos this past year due in part to the amazing dedication and love of our Children’s workers who show up in the lives of these kids each week. And guess what, we don’t pay them anything! They don’t get awards. They don’t get fame only because most of them would tar and feather me if I made any kind of fuss about them but they deserve it. And because of their faithfulness children in our church and in our community are hearing the gospel and giving their heart to Christ! And there is room for you

VBS- Jessica and her crew have us all geared up for another year of VBS. Dates are July 12-16 and you can put them your calendar now to help us decorate, lead kids, share stories, dance with Anita.

Greif share- this year Candace and Jeremy Meyer led our first group with this ministry and I will tell you as a pastor that I have seen the difference that it has made in the lives of our people greatly. Greif is not something you get through or over but that you can learn to navigate and walk through with hope and confidence if you have the right tools. But there is room for this ministry to grow and Jeremy could use some help facilitating groups. Maybe that is you. And if it is come and find us.

Senior Adult Ministry- We didn’t tackle this last year and I am looking for a champion who feels called to lead and gather our senior adults together for fellowship, ministry to one another, and friendship. If you feel called we can do the rest. I’ve always said that senior adult ministry is the same as youth ministry just they have money to do anything they want and all the time to do it! I went on one trip with our church’s keen-agers to a theatre play, they bought me lunch at a buffet, and we stopped at a grocery store where Jerry showed me everything I never knew about beef jerky.

Equipping Ministry- this also didn’t get across the finished line but you will hear more about it in 2026 because this piece has the ability to change how we plug people in and help them find their calling. Getting this right is as rewarding as it is addictive and I am excited about the possibilities it opens for our church.

So what about this year? What Initiatives do we have for 26?

Matthew 6:33 ESV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

I will be transparent and honest with you all. It is my goal that we start taking this so seriously that we keep the main thing the main thing and allow the other things that often can feel so important to just be added in the details. I find it so ironic that passages like this seem to dump water on my heartburn that seeks to worry and fret over all the things that need to happen, or could happen, or might happen, or I’d like to happen but where do we get the money, the land, the people, the training, the passion.

If i read this right, if we just focus on Jesus and building up His kingdom, for and in his righteousness, He will make the details fall into place. My worry doesn’t tip the scales any which way all it does it make me focus more on myself than it does on Jesus and his kingdom. I want this passage to permeate all we do this year.

With that said, some simple goals i have this year.

LRPT. LRPT will bring recommendations to the church this year that we gather around a central mission and vision statement for our church going forward. We will bring those items to the church for discussion, preaching, teaching, and adoption. We would ask that you prayerfully join us, that we as a church would go where God leads us to build his kingdom and his church in His image.

After this the LRPT will work to bring recommendations on Updating our constitution, bylaws, policies and procedures to help us better accomplish our vision and mission. We want to work smarter not harder and make sure how we do things helps us accomplish our goals and doesn’t act to unintendedly hinder us.

Summer Bible Study. The past two years we’ve done summer practicums to allow our Wednesday night crews a break but also to allow our people who serve through the year to get to be apart of group of adults fellowship and grow. We’ve done apologetics, last year was spiritual gifts, and this year we will be doing good old fashioned hermeneutical bible study through the Gospel of Mark. I am looking forward to studying with you all.

This year, as we look into our documents one of my goals is to Look at church membership and develop a covenant of membership to bring before you all. More to come about this later in the year.

This year Danielle Ulmer, Jeremy Meyer, and Elaine have been working together to help us put our tools together for a better online presence and I for one am thankful because I’m like a sledgehammer in a China shop when it comes to these things. We are excited to bring you updates this year.

Active needs

Handicap Bus Drivers and Attendants

Sunday School Teachers for Children and a New Adult Class

Greif Share facilitators

Properties Projects: Painting, organizing, cleaning

Men’s Discipleship Class on Weds while keeping our youth and children’s programs tight

Landing

The needs are there, the harvest is ready, we need men and women to prayerfully surrender to the plow and get into the field. Will you pray with me, that this year, we will see God’s kingdom as first. that we will persue his righteousness and not our own.

Pray with me to this end church.