Farewell Tour (North)

Intro

Good morning!

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads in the room!

To all the soon to be dads in the room

To all the grand dads in the room!

I’m Jamie and I used to be one of the pastors here at REVO

I’m so thankful you decided to come and worship with us on Fathers Day

Something that is clearly God ordained is that for the last 3 Father’s Days I have preached

What’s cool about that is it lines up with my Fatherhood journey

2 years ago I found that Kase was 4 weeks pregnant with Gideon, then I preached my first Father’s Day

Last year Gideon was 4 months old and I am preaching again

Then this year Gideon is 16 months old

One thing I have learned is that as Fathers we get the opportunity to shape the lives of our kids

We shape their lives both consciously and unconsciously

We do this consciously by teaching them things

We also do this unconsciously by them imitating the things we do

I saw this first hand while we were at the beach this week

My favorite thing to do at the beach, besides eat because calories don’t count when your at the beach, is skim board

I could literally skim board for hours — throw the board down, glide across the water, occasionally wreck — I LOVE IT

Well this year Gideon is walking and talking and has a mind of his own

He sees dad skim board and guess what: now Gideon wants to skim board

It started out as him just watching

He then starts yelling and celebrating every time I jump on the board

Then without me realizing it he starts running behind me

I throw down the board, and guess what! Gideon jumps on it

Before I could do anything he immediately falls face first in the water

At this point Kase is mad, I just let our 16 month old go face first into the water

I’m panicking because again he’s face first in the water

I pick up Gideon so fast the flash would be jealous

And when we get him out of the water what is he doing? He’s laughing and celebrating because he just did what dad did

This made me thing about a statistic I read on how Father’s shape their kids spiritual lives

Barna Research revealed that a dad’s church attendance is the single greatest predictor of whether his children will practice faith as adults.

If a father attends regularly up to 75% of their children will continue attending church as adults

Whereas if he doesn't, over 60% of kids will likely leave the church

So dad’s its so good to see you join us today because you are shaping your kids spiritual lives right now!

They way you interact with the sermon, the music, the next steps time, the call to action, all of it is shaping your kids spiritual lives!

But as Matthew mentioned I am going to plant a church, God called me and man I am super excited about it

And thinking about my calling into ministry actually makes me think about something that Ty Lue said during the NBA championship back in 2016

I am a big sports fan, and when it comes to basketball I am a Cavs fan

Yes they had a terrible performance against the Knicks in the playoffs but that’s okay, so did every other team!

But what I assume every Cavs fan just like me does after a devastating lose is go to YouTube and look up the 2016 finals mini documentary

It’s like a 45 minute long YouTube video — the only video I have downloaded on my phone by the way — and it goes through that entire series

This is the year the Cavs come back after being down 3 games to 1 — and was maybe one of the greatest sports moments, definitely one of the greatest American sports moments

Even LeBron haters can’t deny that he played AMAZING that series and led them to a championship

Anyways, when they are down 3-1 Ty Lue the coach at the time gives a speech to the team where he is actually quoting Mark Twain

The quote goes “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

Which already sounds great! Then he follows that up by saying “and I know that we were born to be champions.”

Then in the video the music starts to rise and the Cavs dominate the Warriors and it all crescendos into the iconic “BLOCKED BY JAMES” and then LeBron yelling “CLEVELAND THIS IS FOR YOU”

It’s beautiful! It gives me chills

And every time the Cavs get knocked out / are looking bad I go back and remember that in 2016 we were champions

But that quote is something that has stuck with me

The day you were born and the day you find out why

See for me I discovered the reason why I was born in 2014

I was sitting at a chapel in Bible college when a pastor by the name of Nathan Cline — haha — came and challenged a room full of Bible College students to become missionaries to their own people by church planting

Immediately I knew this is what God was calling me too — to be a missionary to my people

I then spent the next 10 years of my life preparing

I finished my undergrad degree, finished a masters, I’m almost finished with a Doctorate, started working at REVO with Nathan

All because I knew that God called me to plant a church

Now fast forward to 2025 and we officially start the church planting process

After much prayer and counsel we settled on Davie County — our home, so that we can become missionaries to our people

I tell you all of this for two reasons:

I am excited to see what God is going to do in Davie County!

But I also tell you this because the same thing is true for you!

Ty Lue’s quote is true of your life as well — you were born, and there is a reason why you are born

The Bible puts it like this:

Psalm 139:16 ESV

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

The Psalmist is writing with the idea that you were created by God and you were created with a purpose that God has laid out for you

The question for us is to figure out is what that purpose is

For me that purpose is going home to Davie to reach them with the Gospel of Jesus

Today I want to look at a passage that I think gives us the perfect example of what our purpose is in life

Why God created us

This applies to every single person in the room today, but if you’re a dad this directly applies to you

Dads we are the head of our household, dads you are the ones that are meant to guide the ship of your families lives

This means that as a dad you MUST discover and live out your purpose in life

Think about how your families lives will change for the better when you start to live out the purpose God created you for

So if you are ready to discover the reason why you were born, open your Bibles to Luke 15

And while you are turning there let me pray for us:

Prayer

Lord be with us today

Bless this time and this moment

Give us eyes to see, ears to listen, and a heart that is open to what you are going to reveal to us

Bless us in this moment Father as we seek you

Be with Pastor Nathan and Pastor Matthew as they share your truth

Be with pastors all over NC as they share the Gospel message

Amen

Our purpose

Let me give you the answer to the question why were we born right away

This is not crazy, nothing super spiritual, just straight from Scripture:

We were born to join the mission of Jesus

The reason we were born is to join the mission of Jesus!

Dads your purpose is to join in the mission of Jesus

Matthew 28:19 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Jesus tells the disciples, and us, that they are to go and make disciples

The Great Commission shows us that believers primary goal and purpose in life is to make disciples

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The last thing that Jesus said as he’s ascending up into heaven: you are meant to be my witnesses

“Go everywhere and tell everyone about me”

1 John 2:6 ESV

6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

If we claim to know Christ we should be walking like Christ!

We should be doing what Jesus is doing!

And what does Jesus do?

Luke 19:10 ESV

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus came into the world to seek and save the Lost

In John 3:16 Jesus said:

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

He came to save the World!

And we were born to join the mission of Jesus

What Jesus is doing

So how do we do join in the mission of Jesus?

As a dad what does it look like to join in the mission of God?

Well in Luke 15 Jesus gives a parable that explains exactly that:

Luke 15:1–7 ESV

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

In this section of Luke we see Jesus speaking to a crowd full of tax collectors and other sinners as well as Pharisees and Scribes

A mixed bag of people that either follow Jesus, are curious about what it means to follow Jesus, or are against Jesus

And notice what Jesus does here: he hears the critique of the Pharisees and tells a parable

Parables are meant to be stories that teach us a lesson and here is no difference

He them how a shepherd has 100 sheep, one goes missing, and he leaves the 99 in a field in order to find the one that is missing

If you’ve been in church for even a little bit you’ve probably heard this parable before

But here’s the thing about this parable, Jesus is explaining what He is doing

Jesus in this parable is the Shepherd

We are the sheep

If you know and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior He is the Good shepherd that came after you

If you don’t know Jesus and you’re in the room, let me tell you, the Good Shepherd is in hot pursuit chasing after you because He loves you!

But dads, as leaders, we are called to be under-shepherds. If we are going to join the Good Shepherd King Jesus on His mission, this parable gives us three distinct leadership charges for our lives and our families.

How do we join the Shepherd on mission?

All it takes to understand how to join the mission is to look at Luke 15

So lets dig in and look at Luke 15 closer

We must see what the Shepherd sees

Luke 15:4 ESV

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

In verse 4 Jesus gives us the first way to be like the Shepherd

He says that a man has 100 sheep but then notices when one is lost

Let that sink in — he has 100 sheep

And he noticed that one was missing

If that was me I’ll be honest I probably wouldn’t even notice that the one was missing

I would see 99 sheep and be like “yeah thats a big number, got them all” But Jesus as the good shepherd sees everyone and knows everyone intimately

Man this is so telling!

If we are going to join the Shepherd on His mission this is the first thing:

We must see what the Shepherd sees

We must learn to see and identify the Lost!

While in the process of church planting I have started digging deep into numbers and stats

Let me give you a few:

According to the North American Mission Board:

Approximately 3 in 10 Americans attend any religious service.

That means that approximately 240 Million people in America do not attend any religious service

Approximately 1 in 2 people in North Carolina are classified as lost — meaning if they die right now they will be in hell

With a total population of 11,046,000 people that means there are roughly 5,800,000 people in NC that are lost and far from God

Here’s another sobering fact:

In the south part of Davie County, where we are planting, there is approximately 23,795 people

Roughly 61% of them or 14,277 people, are classified as lost

What does this mean?

Everywhere you go, almost every single person you interact with is lost

They are like the sheep that the shepherd goes after

So the question is — do you see the lost?

Do you see those in your life that are lost and far from God?

Can you think of someone you know that is far from God?

Dads, look around your neighborhood.

Look at the guys you sit next to at work, or the other parents at the ball field.

Do you see them the way Jesus does? Or have they just become background noise?

To lead our families on mission, we have to teach our kids how to actually see people who are hurting and far from God just like the Good Shepherd King Jesus saw us.

We must care about what the Shepherd cares about

But seeing the Lost isn’t the only thing that we see Jesus doing here in this passage

Lets look again:

Luke 15:4 ESV

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

Notice what Jesus said? Not only did he see the sheep that was lost, but here’s the second thing for us to notice if we are going to join in the mission of the shepherd:

We must care about what the Shepherd cares about

We must have a deep care for those that are Lost!

It’s pretty easy to look and see the lost and hurting and broken

But like do you care about the lost and broken and hurting?

Jesus tells us in Luke 15:4 that the shepherd “leave(s) the ninety-nine in the open country, and go(es) after the one that is lost, until he finds it?”

He cared so much for the one that was lost he left the safety and comfort of what he knows to go to the Lost

He left the 99 which lets be honest, is still a lot of sheep, to go after the one

So like do we care about the lost?

Back in August of 2015 there was a global phenomenon that happened

You might have heard of it

It was the “save the turtles” movement

Man I loved this campaign because I love turtles!

Like I had a pet turtle, I worked at camp and made it my mission to see at least 1 turtle every day

I had books that helped me identify different turtles

There was a turtle trap at the camp to catch the snapping turtles and I would regularly empty it before Stan could get to them (sorry Stan, saving the turtles)

Like I saw the Turtles as needing to be saved

But what was the solution this movement suggested?

In 2015 they said “stop using plastic straws”

Like excuse me?

I tried the paper straws and let me tell you, I hated them!

I tried the “buy grocery bags and bring them to the store with you” and I never remembered them

I saw the need

But I didn’t care enough to do anything

I saw the turtles, but I didn't care enough to change my lifestyle.

Church, Jesus didn’t just look at our lostness and tweet a hashtag.

He didn't just 'see' us.

He left comfort, came to earth, and died on a cross because He cared.

The sad reality is, for many of us we treat the Lost just like I treated “saving the turtles” we see them, but we aren’t willing to inconvenience ourselves in order to reach them

If we are going to care about that lost that means we need to be willing to:

Talk about what we learned at church on Monday when we are at work

Invite our neighbors over to our house for dinner and share with them Jesus

Read our Bible and pray so that we can know what it means to share the Gospel

When the church does a serve day on Saturdays actually get up and serve and not make excuses about how its early and its your Saturday, but instead realize that we are meant to do what the Shepherd does and Jesus said “he came not to be served but to serve” so we should serve

Dad’s as the leaders of the home we must be the one that is driving the care for those that are lost and hurting and broken

If we are going to fulfill the purpose for why we were born, we must care about what the Shepherd cares about and that means we both see the lost, and then need to care about them

We must reach who the Shepherd seeks

But there is one more aspect of this that Jesus tells us

Luke 15:4–7 ESV

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Reading the section one more time it should become apparent to you that if you are going to join the mission of the Shepherd you can’t just see the lost and care about them

There is one more thing we need to do:

We must reach who the Shepherd seeks

We must actually reach the lost!

Our sight and our care must most us to action

There must be a moment when we actually go and seek out those that are lost and share the Gospel with them

One of the biggest lies that Christian culture is that if we live a good life people will come to know Jesus

That if we live a Christian life, don’t make waves that people will give their lives to Jesus

Man that sounds so good doesn’t it?

I don’t have to do anything but live a good life, I don’t have to go and speak to my neighbor because he’ll see me pray for my food for 20 seconds before dinner and he’ll give his life to Jesus

I don’t have to speak to my coworker because they’ll see me complain about a customer without cussing them out and give their life to Jesus

Let me tell you church, that is a lie that Satan is peddling!

You cannot reach the lost by seeing them and caring about them!

You can’t care someone to Jesus!

You can’t live a good life and expect someone to come to Jesus

Listen to what Paul says in direct contradiction to this:

Romans 10:14 ESV

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Paul in direct opposition says “you can’t follow Jesus if you don’t know who Jesus is”

Man this Shepherd sees his lost sheep

He cares about him or else he would just let him be gone

Then Jesus tells us that the Shepherd goes and reaches the lost sheep!

It says “he goes after the one that is lost UNTIL HE FINDS IT”

Do you notice that?

Not that it is going to be easy — but that he goes until he finds it!

Reaching someone with the Gospel is rarely an easy task

It rarely happens overnight

It hardly ever happens on our timelines

How do I know this?

I know it first hand!

Connection story and ending transition

I’m standing here today because someone saw me as Lost and cared about me

I grew up in church for most of my childhood — I got all the awards for Awanas (if you know you know)

Man I could answer every question, but by the time I hit middle school my family moved away from the church and we stopped going to church all together

Not just that but I went from being homeschooled to public schooled — this meant that my world opened up and I started to desire people to like me

I wanted to be cool and fit in

This meant that everything I did was to make others like me

From my language, to my mannerisms, to the music I listened to, the parties I went to

From 6th grade to 11th grade my life was dedicated to making the most people like me

This got to the point where I was the bad kid, the Lost kid, the one that you would be warned about by your parents

And no one seemed to care

I do bad and my friends celebrated me — my parents didn’t seem to mind if I was lost and I had “free reign” to do whatever I wanted

I was the lost sheep!

Until my brother-in-law — shoutout Brad if you see this! — saw me in my lost and brokenness and started to care for me

He started inviting me back to church

I had just tore my ACL wrestling and my junior year wrestling season was over, college scholarship ripped away from me and I began to ask the questions “why did this happen”

Brad started to come and invite me to church

He challenged me to read the Bible

He prayed for me

And I remember one Saturday night standing in my driveway Brad saw that I had gotten home and he came out and invited me to church

And I looked at him and said “if you’ll leave me alone, I’ll go to church one time” — I might have added in some colorful language in there as well

But that moment changed my life forever

I went to church and heard about Jesus and immediately felt convicted

I went to summer camp that summer and the Gospel message finally clicked

Jesus loved me, he died for me, he is offering to save me as I am

Man it was beautiful!

I am standing here today because Brad didn’t just look at me and see a bad kid.

He looked at me and saw a sheep that Jesus was looking for.

Brad didn’t play the Savior; he just pointed me to the Savior.

On that Saturday night in my driveway, through a wall of colorful language, the Good Shepherd used Brad to track me down.

Brad saw what the Good Shepherd King Jesus saw, a sheep that was lost

Brad cared about what the Good Shepherd King Jesus cares about, it was late at night and Brad has a wife and kids and he goes to the driveway to get cussed out by his nephew for the 700th time because he invited me to church, but he goes again because he cares

And he sought to reach me for the Good Shepherd King Jesus

And when I went to camp, the Gospel clicked: I was lost, and Jesus came running after me.

He put me on His shoulders.

He paid for my sins on the cross.

He brought me home.

Church, this is why we are planting Eremos Church in Davie County. Because there are 14,277 people just like I was—lost, broken, and running.

And the Shepherd is still looking for them.

He wants to use us to find them.

And I realize maybe your not meant to come with us to Davie, thats okay!

That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook!

What are you meant to do? Join in the mission of the Good Shepherd King Jesus

You are meant to see what the Shepherd sees in your sphere of influence

1 in 2 people in NC are lost

You are still meant to care about what the Shepherd cares about

God desires that every person comes to a saving faith in Jesus, we should care too

And you are still meant to reach those who the Shepherd is seeking!

“The two most important times in a man’s life is the day he was born, and the day he discovers why he is born”

For us church we were born to follow the Shepherd and reach sheep that are Lost.

Let’s Pray!