Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Good morning everybody. I'm so glad that you chose to worship with us today. It's such a joy to gather together in the house of the Lord. Would you join us as we begin our song with our Begin our service with some worship?
[00:00:29] Speaker B: We worship the God who was.
We worship the God who is. We worship the God who evermore will be.
He opened the prison doors he parted the ragincy My God he holds the victory.
There's joy in the house of the Lord there's joy in the house of the Lord today and we won't be quiet.
We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place and we won't be quiet.
We shout out your praise.
We shout out your praise.
We sing to the God who heals.
[00:01:27] Speaker A: We sing to the God who saves.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: We sing to the God who always makes the way.
Cause he hung up on that cross and he rose up from that grave My God still rolling stones away there's joy in the house of the Lord there's joy in the house of the Lord today and we won't be quiet.
We shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place and we won't be quiet.
We shout out your praise.
We were the beggars and now we're royalty.
We were the prisoners and now we're running free.
We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by his grace.
Let the house of the Lord sing praise.
We were the beg now we're royalty.
We were the prisoners and now we're running free.
We are forgiven, accepted, redeemed by his grace.
Let the house of the Lord sing praise.
There's joy in the house of the Lord there's joy in the house of the Lord today and we won't be quiet.
We're gonna shout out your prai praise there's joy.
Our God is in this place and we won't be quiet.
We're going to shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord there's joy in the house of the Lord today We're going to shout out your praise. There's joy in the house of the Lord Our God is surely in this place and we won't be quiet.
We're going to shout out your praise.
You shout out your praise.
There is joy in this house today.
We shout out your praise.
Hey.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: Good morning church family. How are today?
Good. You may grab a seat. It is wonderful to be here with you on this blustery. Cold morning and just excited to have the opportunity to worship together if we haven't had the opportunity to meet. My name is Rob Zimmerman. I'm the lead pastor here at Westgate and I am thankful that you've chosen to worship with us today, especially if you are new here to Westgate. Thank you so much for joining us.
I just want to encourage you that if you are new as you are thinking about getting connected here at Westgate, whether you're new today, over the last few weeks or months, when you decide to take that step, we would love for you to fill out the connection card that you'll see in the pew in front of you. That connection card is a great first step to getting connected here at the church. And so as you fill it out, what you can do is actually take it out into our lobby out back. And at our guest center that is there, we have some hosts that would love to answer questions that you have about the church, but also have a small gift they'd love to give to you as you turn in that connection card. And so please be sure to stop by as we close our service today.
Today is a little bit different of a Sunday. It is our annual meeting Sunday and we are gonna be taking time in our service today celebrating things that we've seen God do over this past year and then looking ahead to the vision that he has given us. And so we're excited to share that with you. But with that also comes at the close of our second service today. We're gonna be having a luncheon together as a church family over in our gymnasium. And so we would love for you to come and join us. That luncheon is gonna take place immediately following the second service. I have come, promised, promised our deacons that I will pray for the food before we let it go. So don't let me forget. But then you can head on over, start enjoying a meal and then we're gonna have a short business meeting together as we wrap up our annual meeting.
Again, I've got a couple things. There's a lot, a lot of things that are going on here around the church, but I want to make sure you're aware of two things. As always, the best place to find this information is on the Westgate Chapel app. If you haven't downloaded that, please be sure to do so. But the first thing I want to highlight for you is this, is that we do have amend breakfast that is gonna be coming up on Saturday, February 21st here at the church from 7:30 to 9:30 in the morning. We are excited to have with us David Kayser of Mosaic Ministries who's gonna be sharing. And so I just wanna encourage you men if you are able to come and join us, it is gonna be a great time of fellowship, but also learning about what God is doing in our community. And so please come and join us again. That is Saturday, February 21st.
Then I also wanted on Sunday the 22nd, we have our next new people party. And if you are new to Westgate, whether it's this morning, in the last few weeks, months, or five, ten years, whatever it is, if you have never come to hang out with our staff and get to know our staff, we would love to invite you to come and join us. You can register for that. You can also register for the men's breakfast by going to our Westgate Chapel app or the events tab on our website. And so please be sure to plan on join on joining us for either of those two events that are coming up now. This morning, you'll see this handsome man standing behind me. This is one of our elders, a good friend, Chad Suhon. And we are excited to be able to commission our Germany mission team this morning who's going to be heading out to Von in Germany this week. And so I'm going to invite them to come up along with any elders that we may have here. So come on up, team, and would you welcome them as they come this morning?
[00:07:53] Speaker D: Well, good morning. Good morning. So glad that you have joined us this morning. And yes, I get the privilege of praying for our team that is heading out to Baden, Germany to partner with the Caries.
They will be ministering to school students who are on their winter break and performing in an English camp while they're there. And so we wanted to take a few minutes and make sure to pray for them. So. So, Julie, what are some ways we can be praying for the team?
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Thank you so much. So there's actually two English camps going on concurrently.
A week from tomorrow is when they start at two different elementary schools, first through fourth graders. And so we actually have a group coming from Wadsworth, Ohio, from Freshwater Church. And we have some people coming from Dover Road alliance in Iowa. And so my first request would really just be logistics. We literally have planes, trains and automobiles that we are taking on our first day of travel. It's going to be a long day, so just pray everything goes smoothly. And of course, that everyone would stay healthy and strong and our bodies would work like they're supposed to. That's so my. That's my first request is just logistics for travel and our health. The second request would be we all leave people that we love here, whether that's kids or aging parents or spouses. So just pray for our families while we're gone. I know that's on all of our hearts.
Leaving our people is hard, but we're glad that we get to serve and we know the Lord will take care of them while we're gone. And then the third request would just be that we would have a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit while we're there. That and while we travel.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: You just never know who the Lord can bring into our path. And that we would just really be attuned to him and be willing to be a vessel for his words.
And that everyone that we interact with, whether it's. It's the kiddos that we get to serve menlove on or whether it's the Germans who are doing the translating for us, that we will just reflect Jesus well and be able to engage in gospel conversations.
[00:09:58] Speaker D: Awesome. All right, well, let's pray. Church, family. Let's join together and pray for our friends here. Lord, we thank you so much for this opportunity to be able to send this team to go and as an act of worship and service, to go to Varden and minister to the students there to partner with the caries. Lord, and to just do your work and be your hands and feet in this place. God, I just want to pray for their health. I pray your special protection over them in that area. We pray also for the travel that they're going to be doing. Lord, for all the different teams coming from different areas. Lord, would you help all of the connections, the timing, all of those things, God, just be orchestrated by you. Father, we want to pray for those that they might be leading back as they go and travel and spend time away from family. Lord, would you just care for love, comfort, and protect those family members that they leave? And God, lastly, we just want to pray for the students, the fellow workers, the translators. God, we just pray that your spirit would go before this team, go before the workers and just be preparing the hearts of those that they come in contact with. Lord, give them wisdom in those moments to be able to speak into the lives of those that serving and loving. And I just pray, God that they would.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: The.
[00:11:21] Speaker D: The people they're loving and serving would just.
It be unique to them, something different. And that would be because of Jesus and the work that Jesus is doing in their hearts.
Father, we commission this team in the name of the Father, son and spirit. Go before them and do great things through them. In Jesus name, Amen.
All right. If I could challenge you to stand up, find someone that you don't know. We want to be a church of connecting with new people. And so find someone that you don't know. One person and just greet them, say good morning, introduce yourself.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: Sam.
[00:12:38] Speaker E: It's always amazing to me.
The 9am Service is much. They're much more introverted in this service.
If you pin to both, you know what I'm talking about.
You didn't hear Chad, but he just said this service, you guys are more well rested.
[00:12:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:00] Speaker E: Well, we're gonna do a new song today. Does that sound good?
How many of you like new songs?
Okay, so dozen or so of you are gonna be really happy then. That's.
[00:13:10] Speaker C: That's good.
[00:13:11] Speaker E: We are gonna do a new song, and it's all about God's mercy being more than anything we need.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: Right?
[00:13:20] Speaker E: It covers everything. Right?
Amen.
I don't know about you, but I have been many times in my life, there have been times where I have just said, I don't feel like I deserve God's mercy.
I don't deserve it.
I'm not worthy.
Can I ask, maybe ask you to be a little bit vulnerable here this morning?
Raise your hand if you've been there.
Raise your hand if you've been there. No pressure.
Like you've never been there. That's fine.
You see all the hands that just went up. If you're coming in this morning, maybe you're feeling like that.
[00:14:00] Speaker C: It'S not true.
[00:14:02] Speaker E: God's word tells us time after time that he is more than enough for us. And Psalm 145, verse 8 and 9 says, the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all.
He has compassion on all he has made. And this is coming from. David did a lot of really bad things.
A lot of really bad things.
So if you're coming here this morning, I'm telling you, you are worthy of God's mercy because he made it so.
Not because of anything you did or I did or anyone in here did, but because of God. Amen.
We're gonna do this. We're gonna do this new song. And the verses are a little tricky, okay? My vocal team has let me know that this morning.
But the chorus is what I really want you to stick with. Even if you have a hard time singing the verses, just absorb the message of this song.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:14:58] Speaker E: The message is what I want to really get into your Heart this morning. Here's the chorus.
Praise the Lord.
His mercy is O.
Stronger than darkness.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: New every morning.
[00:15:23] Speaker E: Our sins, they are many.
His mercy. Sing that again. Praise the Lord.
His mercy is O.
Stronger than darkness.
New every morning.
Our sins, they are many.
His mercy is old.
What love could remember no wrongs we have done?
Omniscient all knowing he counts not their sum. Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore.
Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more.
Praise the Lord.
His mercy is.
Stronger than darkness.
New every morning.
Our sins, they are many.
His mercy is more.
Hallelujah.
What patience would wait as we constantly roam.
What father so tender is calling us home?
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor.
Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more.
Praise the Lord.
His mercy is more.
Stronger than darkness.
New every morning.
Our sins, they are many.
His mercy is more.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Thank you, God.
[00:18:10] Speaker E: What riches of kindness he lavished on his blood was the payment. His life was the cost. We stood neath the debt we could never afford.
Our sins, they are many.
His mercy is more.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: Thank you, God.
Christ the Lord.
[00:18:43] Speaker E: His mercy is more.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: Oh, stronger.
[00:18:50] Speaker E: Stronger than darkness.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: New every morning.
[00:18:56] Speaker E: Our sins, they are many.
His mercy is.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: Praise the Lord.
[00:19:06] Speaker E: His mercy is more.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: Oh, God's people.
[00:19:13] Speaker E: Oh, stronger than darkness.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: New every morning.
[00:19:19] Speaker E: Our sins, they are many.
His mercy is more.
Our sins, they are many.
His mercy is more.
[00:19:31] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:19:35] Speaker E: Thank you for your blood.
[00:19:39] Speaker B: Thank you for your blood. Washes me clean, Sam.
A thousand generations falling down in worship.
To sing the song of ages to them and all who've gone before us. And all who will believe Will sing the song of ages to.
Name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all.
All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions. Your name stands above them all.
And the angels cry holy.
All creation, Christ.
Holy.
You are lifted high.
Holy, holy forever.
If you've been forgiven, if you've been redeemed, Sing the song forever to end.
And if you walk in freedom, if you bear his name.
Sing the song forever to end.
Oh, we'll sing the song forever and amen.
And the angels cry holy.
Oh, creation, holy.
You are lifted high.
People say holy to the king of kings.
Holy you will always be holy.
Holy forever.
Is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name.
Oh, it stands above the mount.
Above all thrones and dominion, all powers and positions. Your name stands above them all.
Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above them all.
Above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions. Your Name stands above them all.
And the angels cry holy.
All creation cries holy.
You were lifted high.
Holy, Holy forever.
Your people sing holy to the king of kings.
Holy you will always be holy.
Holy forever.
You will always be holy.
Holy forever.
You will always be holy.
Holy forever.
[00:25:22] Speaker E: Sing it out, sing it out.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: You will always be holy.
Holy forever.
Amen.
[00:25:46] Speaker C: You may be seated.
Father, we thank you that you have given us this house, this place to come together as a family of believers to worship you each and every week.
God, we praise you because you are such a good God and how you've given us this family, but even more that you've given us all of your sons, given your son, so that we could be restored in a right relationship with you. And God, we just praise you in your holy name this morning as we gather together.
Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your goodness.
Thank you, God, for how you show us day in and day out, whether in good seasons or hard, that you are with us and that you are faithful.
Father, we worship you and we give you thanks. Today as we gather together and we prepare for our annual meeting. That'll be after the service. We're gonna be talking, Lord, about you and talking about the things that you have done in our lives over this past year and in our church. And our deepest desire is that you and you alone would receive all glory. You have been a good God. You have walked us through good seasons and hard.
You have challenged us and deepened our faith in you. You have given us numerous opportunities, Lord, to share the good news of your son with others. And we've been able to see how you, God, are changing people's.
And so we ascribe all of that worship to you.
And Father, I just pray that as we continue today that not only would you be magnified as we share together, but Father, you would continue to cultivate our hearts for what you desire from us as we seek to follow you and to live our lives for you as we come to our time of offering. Lord, again we are thankful for how you always provide for us. And Father, it's our joy to be able to give back because of how faithful you have been. And so, Lord, as you receive our tithes and our offerings this morning, we pray that it would truly be a worship that rises beautifully before your throne that God, you receive glory. And we just ask God that you would use it to continue to multiply our influence in this community and throughout the world so that more people will know your son. So we give you thanks. We pray this together. In the matchless name of Jesus our Savior, Amen.
We're going to take our morning offering. So if you're here on the center aisles, if you would grab the offering buckets, we'll begin passing them out to the sides and in the balcony, they're up in the corners. If you would grab those, and we'll just pass them across and we'll continue to worship the Lord through the taking of our offering.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: Sam.
[00:28:53] Speaker C: All right. Well, good morning again, church family. It is good to be here with you this morning. Rochelle and I flew in actually really late from a conference. I think we were home around midnight, 12:30. And so if I look a little tired or I stumble over my words, I apologize. It's not only the lack of sleep, but I just went from 75 degrees to 5, and my body is still figuring out how to work, so I know you guys feel bad.
[00:29:17] Speaker B: Don't.
[00:29:19] Speaker C: The exact response I was looking for. All right, sorry. Just rub it in a little bit.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: All right.
[00:29:25] Speaker C: So, no, seriously, it is so good to be here with you guys. As I mentioned, today is our annual meeting Sunday. And one of the things I love about this, I try to explain it to people. I kind of treat it like, you know, in the United States of America, we have, like, a State of the union thing that people talk about usually every year. I like to call our annual meeting kind of the State of the union or the state of the church, an opportunity for us really to be able to say, hey, here's what we've seen God do in this last year, and to really use it as a time to worship and to give him thanks for what he's been doing, but then to look ahead and to continue to say, God, where is it that you're leading us? Not just as a church leadership, but each of us as individuals, collectively, together carrying out the mission and the vision that God has given to us. And so I'm excited to be able to dive into that together this morning.
Some of you may have grabbed these as you walked in. You will definitely get one from our ushers on your way out, but they are our annual reports. When I was a child, this was nothing but 50 pages of black letters on white paper that I would call good bathroom reading material or falling asleep material. This is actually like a nice little coffee table book for you, but it is a full color brochure capturing all that we saw God do throughout 2025. And I would encourage you to grab one per family, take it home, take time reading and using it as an Opportunity to just walk, worship and see all that God has been doing. So be sure to grab one of those. But you'll see that the way that the book is set up as it has been for the last couple years is it follows our five year vision. Our five year vision began in September of 2022. We're about three years through that vision now and it is entitled Deep Roots and Broad Reach. If you are new to our church and I want to give you a picture of where that vision came from. Because the idea behind it is that as we grow deeper roots into our relationship with Christ, the natural outflow of that is he expands our reach for the sake of the gospel, to reach more people with the good news. And I want you to turn to a passage of scripture this morning with me and look at where the heart of that comes from. Jeremiah chapter 17 is where I would like you to turn. If you've got your Bibles, I'll be reading out of the esv. It'll also be here on the screen. I'll also note for you. There is like you got sermon notes probably as you walked in the front page.
You can take a few notes. It's blank for you this morning, not endless. Fill in the blanks on the inside. There's some few things that we're going to talk through. I will mention that we had a mistake. My fault. The backside is wrong. We aren't broadcasting our financials from 2023, so that was a mistake. Ignore the backside. You have a full color brochure to make up for that. So. So with that being said, I want us to jump in together into Jeremiah chapter 17.
Take a look at it with me. Here's what it says.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. Amen.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the strength stream and does not fear when he comes, for its leaves remain green and is not anxious in the year of drought. Stop there with me. I want you to look at the first part of this verse where it says blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. That word blessed. When we think about in our culture, we think of blessing typically in terms of there is something great or fantastic that is happening in your life. You are blessed maybe because you have a lot of financial resources, or you're blessed because you have materialistic gain. Or maybe you're blessed because you've got really good looks. Or maybe you're blessed because you Drive a nice car. There are good, great things happening in your life.
But oftentimes in our culture, we'll look at only the good as people who are blessed. If there is prosperity, then you are blessed. But our culture, we will often not use that word. If we look at someone who is important poverty, or someone who is going through a painful circumstance in their life, or who is going through hardship or trial, oftentimes we'll never use the word blessed of them. But I bring that up because I want you to recognize that all throughout Scripture, God's blessing is not equated to whether or not you are going through a good season or a hard season. We've seen this together over the last many weeks together going through the life of Joseph. God's blessing was on and with Joseph in every single season of life. Whether it was good and he was experiencing incredible fortune, or whether it was in the hardest moments where he was being forgotten in a prison cell for something that he didn't do, he experienced the blessing of God. You see, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. God's blessing is not determined by our circumstances.
It is determined by the outpouring of his power and his spirit and his joy in our life no matter what season it is that we are walking through. And so it says, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. When our trust is in God, his blessing pours and flows into our life. And it says this to kind of define what that blessing and trust looks like. It says, a man who trusts in the Lord is like a tree who is planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when he comes, for its leaves remain green and is not anxious in the year of drought.
The picture that is painted is a man who is blessed. His trust is that he is like a tree with roots that sink down into the soil who receives its nourishment. And that is the picture, picture as painted in this verse that we have adapted into our five year vision that we believe we are called all throughout the Word of God as followers of Jesus Christ to be those who have sunk deep roots down into Him. Because when we do, it is then that he is changing and transforming our hearts and our lives and pouring his blessing into our lives no matter what season we walk through. And we need to understand that in that blessing, as we sink our roots into Jesus, it's not just about, hey, I read God's Word and so therefore I gain head knowledge. It's not about becoming incredibly smart about God's word. It's not just about being focused on behavior modification and trying to be a better person. No, when we sink our roots into Jesus, it's about allowing him to transform our hearts. Because when God captures our hearts, when we fall in love with him, the natural byproduct is that he transforms us. Our actions, our behavior and our purpose. And rather than desiring the things of this world, we begin to desire his purposes for us. So as we talk as a church about our vision of being a church that is growing deep roots in Jesus and deep roots with each other, what we are focused on is cultivating environments where all of this can happen. Over this last year, again, there have been many ways that we do this.
We are striving to fall more like love with Jesus every time we have our Sunday morning communities that are gathering throughout this building. It is a great place as you're looking to get connected into our church to find community with other people, but to be challenged to grow deeper in your relationship with Jesus. We have Bible studies that meet throughout the entire week for all different ages where you can continue to find community and grow deeper with others.
One of the ministries that I have loved over the last couple of years here at Westgate has been our Mom Life ministry. A community that was distinctly developed for the purpose of creating community for moms of preschoolers. And it has been great. It has been thriving, but not only for them, but also for people in our community that may not know the Lord. And what's been exciting for me is I have watched this year just to see what God is doing, that we have many people that don't know Jesus actually coming to our Mom Life ministry and getting the opportunity to be challenged to grow deeper in and to find Jesus and to grow deeper in a relationship with him even as they walk through this season of life with other moms. So it has been incredible to see. We have also had a classes ministry that happens here at this church on Sunday morning, sometimes during the middle of the week, where we are trying to provide atmospheres and environments where you can grow deeper in Christ in different areas. We've held classes like the Art of Marriage, a class called Dads and Kids 101, a class about our spiritual gifting, a New Testament overview, Disciple Making baptism classes, Westgate 101 classes. And in all of these we've had 176 different people take advantage of these classes to grow deeper in relationship with God and relationship with others. And this morning I wanted to take just a moment to introduce to you, a couple who has been new to our church in this last year that has been looking and following, finding ways to get involved in community, but also to grow deeper with Jesus. And so I'm going to invite my friends Evan and Chloe Brooks here to the stage. Would you welcome them as they come and join me this morning?
As I mentioned, Evan and Chloe, it is a long run from that corner, is it not?
[00:39:00] Speaker D: It kind of is.
[00:39:00] Speaker C: I feel it every Sunday.
[00:39:01] Speaker F: I'm getting my steps in today.
[00:39:03] Speaker C: It's good, Evan, and it is great to have you here with us this morning. Thank you for your willingness to come up and share, and I would just love for you to kind of share with everybody. What is it about Westgate that, you know, as you guys got connected, what is it that has been exciting to you and why did you do so?
[00:39:20] Speaker F: Yeah, so as a family, I think one of our biggest values is community.
We try to reflect that in our neighborhood, in our friendships, and here at church.
And I think one of the biggest things that we saw at Westgate when we first graduated came here was their value for community as well. Right as we entered, we were greeted by people. We were greeted actually by Adam just.
And yeah, we just felt like a great connection here.
And we slowly saw that Westgate wasn't just a Sunday church. Westgate was a Wednesday church, a Monday church, a Tuesday church, and a Saturday church. Sometimes there are things all week long that go past, past your relationship with Jesus just on a Sunday.
And we, as a couple, we value discipleship.
Discipleship's one of the most important parts of our lives. And we saw that Westgate took that very seriously.
[00:40:15] Speaker C: So, yeah, that's great. Now, one of the ways that you guys, I know, have sought to get connected into the life of our church, but also grow was through one of our classes, and it was our marriage class that you guys could took together. And would you tell us just what was it about that class that was significant to each of you?
[00:40:32] Speaker G: Yeah, we were new to Westgate and we saw all the advertisements for the Art of Marriage class, and I think we were just challenging ourselves to get connected and to go farther into meeting other people and to talk about marriage, which is one of the most important things in our life.
And that. That was the best class we have ever been a part of.
We got connected with other couples. We had roundtable conversations.
We just had times of vulnerable, transparent, honest conversations and realized that these other people struggle with and have the same things as us. And we're able just to build relationships with each other. So it was just a really good time for us, me and Evan, to grow closer to each other, to grow closer to the Lord.
A big thing that it promoted was outside conversation of just the class. So the book that we went through, it challenged us to have conversations in the car or at home, whenever.
And it just sparked a lot of conversation and helped us grow and realize that we really do need to depend on Christ and he needs to be the center of our marriage. And so I think that was really good for both. Both of us just loved that class. So.
[00:41:49] Speaker F: Yeah, and I think something else too, specifically for the marriage class. If you guys haven't taken it and you guys are married, I would strongly advise you to.
Something that we valued was just the demographic. It was like newly married couples and couples that have been together for 50 years.
And I think it's a great class for everyone who's in marriage because it just gives you a little bit of. Of structure for the men. It helps you set aside time and lead your family and lead your wife, gives you time to pray.
And some specific things about the book that I really liked is that it has a devotional for each individual person. And it is a great opportunity to just get together and talk about what you're learning in your marriage in addition to just growing in your own faith separately.
[00:42:40] Speaker C: So that's great. Well, and one of the things that I've loved as well is not only did you guys have such a great experience in that class, meeting other couples, growing together, but I know you guys are going to be jumping into a life group here very soon. And as you think about our five year vision as a church, one of the main goals that we set out to accomplish over five years was we wanted to see 80% plus of our adult congregation, congregation engaged in a life group. And the reason is, is because we believe that the greatest growth takes place in us spiritually when we are connected relationally with other believers in Christ. And I can. I know. And you know, because you. You've had this experience and maybe you sit here this morning feeling this, but being in a large church, you can feel very isolated at times. If you don't have your people can feel like nobody knows. You kind of come in and you go out. But God designed us to be in community. And this is one of the key ways that we are trying to create an environment where we can grow deeper in our relationship with Jesus, but also with each other. And so you'll see that as we set out for that goal last year, at this time, we were celebrating.
78% of our congregation was involved in life groups. Our adult congregation, very excited about that. Now you'll see for our 2025 number, it's actually gone down. It's 71% is involved now. We could go, oh. But the reason for that is because we have had some transition in life groups, but also our church has continued to grow, and the denominator has shifted. And one of the pressures that we're feeling. I'll talk about this later in the service. Is the pressure to keep connecting at the pace that we are growing people into small group environments. And so there are a few challenges that we're experiencing here. But over the last three years of this vision, we have seen roughly a 15, 14, 13% growth in our church numerically every single year. And it's creating pressure points for us with having enough life group leaders and getting people connected. And so we would love for you to consider how you might be involved in being a part of. Of a small group or a life group. And Evan and Chloe, you guys are jumping in headfirst here very soon into a life group. Would you maybe tell us a little bit about that and what is most exciting for you as you do so.
[00:44:59] Speaker F: Yeah. So actually, through the Art of marriage class, we met another couple, and we talked with them, and they kind of told us that they wanted to start a life group as well. Those people are Nate and Cora. I don't know if they're out there or not, but, yeah, we are just super excited for it.
There is. We were approached by some people here. There was an immediate need. There's been a lot of growth here, and we just started to look for a demographic of younger married people.
And we're just super excited because we love discipleship. We love following Jesus, and we just can't wait to share those moments with other people.
[00:45:34] Speaker C: And.
[00:45:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:37] Speaker G: And something that really excites us, I think, the most, is we bought a house this last summer, which was really fun.
So this is really great.
But our dream, our vision, our prayer was when we were looking through houses. Does it have a good living room for a good life group? A good Bible study? There was a house. I remember I walked in, I was like, this is not a good life group living room. So we're like, we're gonna have to pass on the next one.
[00:46:03] Speaker C: Take notes, people.
[00:46:04] Speaker G: When you're buying houses, very important. The hut is just so important to us.
And so we have created a space in our home here in Toledo where we can create A space of transparency and honesty. But just dive deep into the Word and grow together and build community and grow in relationships and just do life together. Because doing life together with other couples who also love Jesus is such an encouragement.
Because we are new to the area.
We moved from Indiana about a year and a half ago and we had a life group there and we really missed because we were going through some hard things and those people brought us through it. And so here coming to Toledo, we want to find the same thing and we want to meet others. So come join our life group.
[00:46:50] Speaker C: Awesome. Would you thank Evan and Chloe for coming and sharing with us this morning?
Yeah. If you are young couples looking for a group, Evan and Chloe have got a life group that'll be starting up that you could join. But no matter what age you are, our desire is to help you to connect. And we have got groups that have openings, more groups that we would like to.
So connect with me, connect with Pastor Adam. We would love to help you find your place of connection here within our church family. You know, one other place that I just want to talk about as we did our five year vision, talking about growing deeper roots, is that not only can we grow deeper through our classes, like things like Mom Life and different ministries life groups, but also one of the ways that we can grow deeper in Christ, but also with each other is through serving. We also set a goal that we wanted to see 80% of our adult population serving and using their gifts within the church. Now this is an interesting number to try to measure in our church because it's really easy to measure the number of people that are serving kind of on a week in and week out basis. But then we said for people that aren't in a stage of life where they can do that, how will we count this? And so we kind of said, if you're serving four or five times at various events throughout the year using your gifts, that that's how we would track this. And so the best that we could do and come up with is taking a look and seeing that in 2025, roughly 71% of our adults are actively serv.
Using their gifts here at Westgate. And we are excited about that. I'm excited about it because when I look at national statistics of churches and how many people are actively serving and using their gifts, the number is typically significantly lower. It is usually very, very few that are doing so. And one of the things that I love, and I just want to anecdotally tell you this, I get calls from our community Partners all the time. And one of the things that they tell me is that the people at Westgate are some of the best servant hearted people that we have serving in our minist.
They love how you love our community well and you pour Jesus into everything that you do. And so thank you for being that light. I just wanna encourage you. If you are looking for a way to get involved and serve, there are a couple of things you can do. Number one, you've heard about this before, but on the screen you'll see we have our spring serve that is coming up. Opportunities to serve in our community and to find ways to do that, whether that's as an individual individual with your friends, with your family, with your life group. Be sure to check that out. This QR code that is on the screen is also in your sermon notes on the inside this morning it'll take you to our spring serve page and tell you how you can get connected serving other people. But as well I wanna remind you that coming up on March 1st, we also have our ministry fair as a church where every single ministry in this church is gonna set up a table over in the atrium and you'll have opportunity to connect and to look for ways to serve here, here at Westgate as well. Our deepest desire is that you would know your giftedness that God has given to you and that you would find a way to use it to be a blessing here within this church community, but also a blessing to our community at large. So please be sure to take advantage of those opportunities.
Now, the second part of our five year vision was not just deep roots, but also deep roots produce a broad reach. And if you'll look with me again at this passage in Jeremiah 17 again. Sherry, come with me back back to verse seven. I'm gonna look at it from the beginning. It reminder that it tells us blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when he comes, for its leaves remain green and is not anxious in the year of drought, but then it finishes and says, for it does not cease to be bear fruit.
What it tells us very clearly is that when we have sunk our roots down into the Lord and He is naturally transforming our hearts and lives, the natural byproduct of that is that our lives bear fruit. There's a clear parallel here to another passage that we're familiar with, which is John chapter 15, verse 5. As Jesus shares with his disciples the vine, the idea of the vine and the branches, he says these words. He says, I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. There's no question to the fruit that you will bear because God will be the one that produces it. In your life. He says, apart from Me, you can do nothing. We have this promise from God's Word and this is the core and crux of our vision as a church over these five years, is that as we grow deeper in Christ, the natural byproduct is that he is going to expand our reach with people that don't know Jesus. And not only will he bear fruit in our lives, but he will bear fruit in the lives of others and allow us to be a part of that.
This is the exact reason that our vision statement as a church is this, that our vision is to be a Jesus centered community that is intentional. Think about that word, intentional. In other words, it's not like hey, just whenever something happens or hey, if opportunity provides. No, we're intentional. We're seeking. We're looking for opportunities. To what? To share God's love with our neighbors in the nations. We know that God is placing us every single day in circles and environments where there are people that are far from him, that need to know Him. And he is calling us to be those who would go out and to share the good news of what he's done in our life with them.
As we talked about this with our five your vision, we set up different goals again. And these goals weren't so that we could thump our chest and go, hey, look at us. It's to really say, are we accomplishing what we said we wanted to do? Are we putting ourselves in a posture with the Lord where He's changing our hearts as a community and he then is producing fruit? And I believe the things that we've seen at least over the first three years of this vision is that God has been doing a huge work, changing and to trying transforming our hearts as a community.
One of the goals that we set out was this, is that we wanted to see 250 new households connect into the life of our church, from our community, helping us to understand whether or not we were truly beginning to reach out to other people. And what I can tell you is this, is that in 2025 we saw 89 new households connect into the life of our church. But also, Also that is 228 since September of 2022, just in three years. Praise God for that. Praise God. Because what is happening.
What is happening is that as you are growing deeper in your surrender to the Lord, allowing him to transform your heart, one of two things is happening. You are inviting so many more people into our church family, people that don't know the Lord. But even more, as people come here, they are experiencing that there is something different about what God is doing here. They are experiencing the power of his spirit moving and they are being drawn to it. And because of that, God is expanding our growth as a church. It's incredible to see.
Another part of this vision is also we set out that we wanted to see 250 people either be baptized or make first time decisions or commitments to follow Jesus Christ.
This is something that I've told you many times before.
This number of 250 was called little faith by your lead pastor. Over the years previous to this five year vision, we had maybe seen somewhere around 10 to 12 people a year be baptized, maybe two to five people come to faith in Jesus. I'm like, man, 250 in five years, that feels like a lot.
But the testimony of what God does when you surrender your heart to him is wonderful. What we have been seeing, far exceeding the expectations of this little faith pastor who God is consistently saying, trust me, I can do far more than you can ever think or imagine. In this last year, we baptized double the amount that we did in 2024 with 56 people being baptized. And we've had 158 make that decision to take that next step with Jesus Since September of 22. Praise God for that. It is cool. It is cool.
And this next, this next one is the salvations. And don't go to the screen yet, Sherry, but I just want to tell you again that when I began as the lead pastor here, I often did not give people an opportunity to say yes to Jesus in our services.
And I was convicted by that. I was convicted by a dear, dear friend of mine. And I want you to understand something. There was a podcast that I watched that I listened to that talked about the two reasons that pastors often wouldn't give people an opportunity to invite them to a relationship with Jesus in their services.
One of them was because they just believe everybody in the room is already a Christian. So it didn't matter. And I felt that I felt like, yeah, here at Westgate, that's largely what it is. And secondly, I also had this feeling inside of my heart that there was a saying of like, but if I give an invitation, invitation, nobody will say yes. And the podcast was saying that many pastors because they're afraid of how they will look if nobody says yes, holds them back from doing that. And I felt that.
And my friend looked at me and he said, rob, do you think that maybe the Lord isn't bringing more people into our church that need him is because we aren't being faithful to actually give an opportunity?
And I was so convicted by that. And I will tell you this same thing.
Maybe God isn't giving you opportunity because you aren't being faithful either to take the small opportunities you have to do the same thing. The reason I tell you that is as I got over myself and my own fears over the last three years when we began telling not only our church family that, hey, we're going to invite people and most of our services to say yes to Jesus and we're going to ask all of our ministers, ministries to do it monthly. We have seen incredible growth in this area this last year. We were able to celebrate because of Jesus. 57 people make first time decisions to follow him, praise God. And that is, that is 188 people since September of 2022.
Some people would look at that and say, maybe that's not a big number. I don't really care because it's not on me. It is the work that God is doing and the, the hearts and the lives of people. And I can tell you this if it's an anecdote for you and it will give you courage to go out and share your faith with other people. That is far more than the previous 15 years combined. And so church, family, the message that I believe that is in this, as we celebrate what God is doing, is that God wants to use you. God wants to use you in the life of the people that he is placing in your life every day that need to know Him. Now I want to take just a moment to invite Pastor Randy and Dave Hadid to come up here and join me on the platform if they would welcome them as they come as well.
We, we have an incredible ministry.
As I mentioned, we have asked each of our ministries to give people an opportunity to say yes to Jesus at least once a month. And that's everything from our children's ministry, our student ministry, our adult ministries, even our seniors ministry. And we have this great ministry that has started over the last year or so, reaching people in our senior homes throughout Sylvania and Toledo. And so, Pastor Andy, would you share with us a little bit about how this ministry came to be?
[00:58:28] Speaker H: When I became the care pastor, I was reviewing some of the information that we had shut ins and out and different visitations going on. And I'm looking at the long list thinking how are we going to do this? And it became obvious that we have to create a team. And we've created a team that goes out and visits and so forth. And one of my interactions was visiting at these local nursing assisted living places.
I try to call it assisted living. It's not nursing, it's assisted living is what's happening. They're helping them live to the other through the rest of their ending life. What's happened though is a door just flung wide open. And one of our deacons was and I were talking discussion over lunch, you know, after our visitation going, it feels like the Lord is opening up a door for us to take advantage of coming in on a regular, consistent basis and share the gospel, go through a Bible study. And it has just amazed me how many doors have opened up.
Kingston in Savannah is one of them. Oakleaf Village in Savain, Toledo is another one. And we just started another one. Kingston and Perrysburg, the rehabilitation center, just this past Wednesday. Amen.
[00:59:34] Speaker C: Praise God.
And Dave, you've gotten involved as well. What, what moved you to get involved and how are you serving in this ministry?
[00:59:42] Speaker I: So for 14 years I've been involved with ministry here and eldership. And when 2020 came around and Covid hit my father was, you know, 10 years were taking care of him at home and we thought it would be. And I had to step down from ministry. I had to step down and take care of him. And during that time we lost my father and my father in law and I became cold and I needed to serve.
And I understood when you start serving, you start to understand that that's how you worship too. That's how I worship. By serving, working.
With that being said, when Randy, I came to Randy and I said to him, I just, I need something, I need something to do.
And he said, I'm starting a ministry at Kingston. Why don't you just come and sit?
I said okay, I'll just come and sit and watch. And I sat and watched. And I came back the following week and I came back the following week and he says to me, why don't you lead a couple weeks for me? And I said, okay, great. I mean I'm used to, I'm used to teaching.
But during this time with these folks, I really grew attached, you know. And I mentioned this earlier, you know, I look at the seniors this way. We say seniors, but they're really, they're really upperclassmen.
Okay, I mean, you got the 20 year olds, the freshmen, the 30 and 40 year olds, the sophomores, the juniors are the 50 and 60 year olds and everybody else is the upperclassmen. And they have, have more wisdom than other Bible studies. I mean, I've done high school, I've done elementary. But when you get down and you sit down with these seniors, boy, they just comfort you.
They really do. We have a lot of stories. Even when Randy was.
Randy had his knees, his knee surgery. I mean, he was, you know, you're anxious, but with the seniors you can say you're anxious.
And it was funny because, you know, he's saying, I just need prayer. I'm anxious. And everybody in the room raised their hands. I had that done. I had that done.
[01:01:51] Speaker C: I had that done.
[01:01:52] Speaker I: I had my hip done. I had my knees done.
I said, randy, you're in good company.
This is why I joined this ministry.
It's my worship.
[01:02:04] Speaker C: That is awesome.
And yeah, praise God and Randy. We've seen a lot of fruit in this last year. And specifically, as we have said, let's give people an opportunity to say yes to Jesus. Tell us about what God's been doing.
[01:02:21] Speaker H: All three locations, Harrysburg included. I expect God to move and salvation will be invited for them to enter into salvation through a simple gospel presentation once we get into the study of the word of God. Right now I'm in relationship with relationship building. But over at Kingston and at Oak Leaf, I am confident God has moved into people to take that step forward and say yes to Jesus. And we also celebrated over at Oakleaf one person. I just knew there was no way they could physically make it to our baptisms here. So we decided to have a baptism there at Oakleaf Village. And it was well received from the staff and from the residents.
[01:02:57] Speaker C: Yeah, it is incredible. It is incredible.
You'll actually. In the annual, there is a picture of that baptism so special. I've had so many people be like, I look at that picture and I just start crying. And I think it was five people that have made a profession of faith to follow Jesus for the first time. Like, guys, they are on the doorstep of eternity and they are saying yes to Jesus. And that is a beautiful, beautiful thing. What I love about this ministry is that with it, many times the people that are in our senior homes are people that are forgotten and unseen by some society.
We shared about that this morning in first service and it grips my heart to know that we're going in, not only loving them well, but telling them and letting them Know that there's a God that loves them and that they can still surrender their hearts and their lives to him and experience the fullness of his blessing. Well, Dave, I would just ask you, would you share with us what excites you most about this ministry in the year to come?
[01:03:57] Speaker I: Just the expansion of the ministry.
You know, they're lonely.
They know they've been through everything we've been through. You know, the 20 year olds today, I was 20 and they were in their 50s, where I'm at now.
So I'm hoping that, and I'm prayerfully that the glory is there, the glory is sitting there, the spirit's there, it's moving there and it's to going to grow, it's going to grow with you to help us out with that. You know, the younger generation seeing this too.
You know, I, I, I, I go from Wednesday mornings teaching over at Kingston to Awana fifth graders, right?
So I got Theo, I don't know if Theo's in the room here anywhere, but Theo comes up to me and he knows I teach in the morning and he says to me this last week, Mr. Hadid, Mr. Hadid, did you go to King in this morning?
[01:04:52] Speaker D: Said yeah.
[01:04:52] Speaker I: What'd you teach on discipleship about loving your neighbor?
[01:04:55] Speaker C: He goes, oh, I said, I got.
[01:04:57] Speaker I: A picture, let me show you a picture. So I took my phone out, showed him a picture and he goes, they're old.
And I said, theo, I'm in that picture too.
[01:05:11] Speaker C: He goes, I know.
[01:05:16] Speaker I: That'S why I.
[01:05:16] Speaker C: Serve well, my friends, would you thank Dave and Randy for coming and sharing with us this morning?
Just another exciting and creative way as a church that we have seen an open door to continue sharing God's love with people in our community and inviting them to say yes. If you'd like to get involved and be a part of that, we would love to see this expand to all of these senior homes throughout our community. Touch base with Dave. Talk to Pastor Randy. We would love to get you connected as a part of that. And I want you to just hear this morning as we kind of begin to wind down as we think about having a broad reach. There are four key things that we were doing this past year that we're gonna continue to do. The vision isn't changing. We simply want to continue pushing deeper into it and taking our own individual steps with it. The first thing I wanna highlight is this, is that last year we started what we call our love your neighbor grants. This ministry was begun with the purpose and you'll see the picture that's here on the screen, we be ministry with the purpose of saying there are people every day that God is putting in your circle that are far from God. But many times you might find that they have a financial burden or a financial need that they cannot meet. And one of the ways that we can tangibly show love to them is to help meet that need. And so we created this grant program from a generous donor in our church. We have set aside $25,000 that can be used where you can apply for a $500 grant to care well and show Jesus love to somebody that he has in your circle that is far from him, that you would also not only be able to show God's love, but also then share with your words about how God has changed and transformed your heart and your life. I'm excited to tell you that this year We've already done 10 projects since our launch.
We have used $3,195 in our grants. But the things that we have done, we've been able to purchase Bibles for people that don't know Jesus. We have supported single moms in need. We've built wheelchair ramps for a neighbor. We've provided groceries to struggling families. We've hosted baby showers for families in need and more. And I want to challenge you as we continue into this year, this grant program is there for you to use when you see that there is a need. And so I'd encourage you, you can use the QR code on the screen. It's also in your sermon notes this morning. It will take you directly to the application. And we would love for you, your life group, your family to continue to think about who in my circle that's far from God, could I bless where they have a need so that I can show and share the love of Jesus with them. Another thing that we've been doing is our 4,000 meal initiative. And you'll see the pictures here on the screen. This is our wall that is over in the cafe. We began this this past October. And the idea behind it has been, is that we want to challenge you as you think about who is far from God in your circles that he is placing there. We want to challenge you to have spiritual conversations with people, whether it's over a meal, over coffee, if it's sitting at your kids sporting events and hard bleachers that are really uncomfortable. Look for an opportunity to simply talk to people about God and to find out what they believe about God, that he might use those avenues to begin to share the Good news of the his son Jesus with them. And what we've done is we've asked you that as you have those conversations, to go to that wall, to grab a little pushpin and to push it into one of the big letters and you'll see there in the letter L. We have so far to date just over 400 conversations represented on that. Can we give praise to God for that? Because here's the deal guys, 400 conversations that we should be praying over because these are relationships, relationships with real people who need Jesus. And I know that many of you have had some of these conversations and you haven't gone to that wall. Do it today, go push that pin in and use it not only as a way to encourage our church family to take those bold steps, but it also allows us, when we see those, to pray over them, recognizing those are lives that need to know him. And so I'd encourage you to continue to participate as we move through this year in strength to have 4,000 of those conversations.
Another opportunity that you can connect with as you think about people in your life that don't know the Lord and maybe are wrestling with hard questions about God, about the Bible, about Jesus, about faith is we have just started the Alpha course. The Alpha course is designed for people who are searching and want to know more about God to be able to find some answers. And this Alpha course is great, especially if you have a friend that you would invite to and come with them. You can be a part of that class in the conversation that is happening as they search out what it would mean to have a relationship with God again. You'll see the QR code that's on the screen. It's also in the sermon notes. We would love for you to scan that to be a part of that class. You can go there to find that information.
Lastly, one other way that we have been strategically seeking to enhance our vision and to accelerate it is through our Legacy team this year we have recognized that within our church family there are individuals who are passionate about financial stewardship, living lives that are marked by generosity and who feel a God given calling to invest in Kingdom Impact. And the Westgate Chapel Legacy Team exists for that purpose to help accelerate the vision of Westgate through intentional generosity that goes beyond regular tithes and offerings. And in the encounter inception of this team that we put together this year in 2025, we raised over $177,700 given to projects accelerating our vision. Let's give glory to God for that. That is, that is an incredible Incredible number.
Now, some of those were projects here in our church to keep the lights on, literally above your heads. I believe the lighting is going to be switched out either festival, February, or at the very first quarter of this year. We had to change our aging and dying sound system out. It helped with that. Also our roof that needed to be resealed. Those were some of the projects. But as well, we had ministry projects that were specifically aimed at reaching people in our community and around the world. We deepened our partnership with Door elementary by giving a donation that would provide schoolbook scholarships designed to provide scholastic books for families that couldn't afford them. And that partnership has. Has been deepening. We also were able to provide 25 scholarships for people to attend the School of Evangelism in Jassa, Nigeria, a part of the world where people are dying for their faith every single day. And yet there are people hungering to know how to share the gospel, to go back into their Muslim communities and share at the risk of their own lives. We were able to fund 25 students to go through that program because of this. It's incredible as well. We were able to give support to help sustain an incolink sports ministry in Costa Rica. And when we gave the money, we literally got a phone call from Jake Edwards, who was a part of that, who called and was like, we have been struggling to understand, like, to figure out how to fund an aspect of this ministry. And we're praying desperately. And then your gift came in and it was such a beautiful answer.
He was in tears, just astounded at how God would answer. And I just want to tell you, for those who have been a part of the Legacy team, the difference you are making is incredible. And if you would desire to be a part of that as we launch into this new year, again, if you're not a part of it, you can use the QR code on the screen or that you'll find in the sermon notes. If that is a passion God is putting on your heart, I would invite you to join us as we close. I've got a couple of things that I just want to share with you as we think about the year to come as we continue to grow as a church. We've grown by about 44% over the last three years as a church.
With the growth in people, it's also begun to put some stress on our symptoms. And we're trying to strive to address some of those issues. Three things that I want to point out. Number one, as you saw from our life Group metric and the number dropping from 78 to 71%. The challenge is finding more life group leaders so that we can connect more people into environments. And I want to continue to challenge you as a church. You may be involved in a life group, one that you have been in for years and years and years. Would you consider that maybe God is calling you to take a step of faith, to step out and begin a new group so that more people can experience the community and growth in Christ that you have been blessed to experience.
We want to continue to grow in this area so that more people will grow within this community. Number two, I want to continue to challenge you to look for spiritual conversations with people. The mission that God has given us to share the good news of Jesus is one that will never end until the day he returns. And it's not just a call that he has put on people that are deemed equal. Evangelists, everybody likes to think, no, no, no, no, that's not my job. That's the job of evangelist. No, God has written a story in your life so that you will share what he has done with other people. I want to encourage you to become an individual collectively within our church that is passionate about sharing your story with other people, but then also inviting them to come here to this community so that they would also find and follow Jesus. Be passionate about that. Thirdly, last thing I want you to focus with us on is we do need as a church to continue to grow our financial resources. You'll hear from our treasurer today that 2025 ended really, really well. But as inflation grows and we continue to want to push out into ministry, reaching our community and training up future leaders, we need to grow as as a church in how we give offerings and also tithe. Like most churches, it is the few that do the largest amount. And in order for us to be able to forge out and to push into new ministries and keep doing what we have, this is an area we need to address of spiritual discipleship. And we need to do it together as a body of Jesus Christ. I will share one thing with you. I have told you for years that my deep passion is that we start a resident program here in this church, training up future pastors and missionaries. In order for us to do that, we have to have another about 30 to $35,000 a year to begin that ministry. Can I tell you why it's so important?
It's not just because I'm passionate about training up missionaries and pastors, which I am. We need more people. But there was a statistic that was shared at the conference that I was at this week. That is gripping to me. Did you know that for pastors in the Christian Missionary alliance, and this holds largely across the United States, but if we don't develop the leadership pipeline, do you recognize that 35% of all pastors in the Christian Missionary alliance are age 65 plus 35%.
Now, this next statistic, I'm happy to tell you I'm not a part of it by one year. Okay, one year.
But for 50 plus, there are 48% of our pastors that are in that age range. Do you know what that means in the next 10 years? If we don't grow the leadership pipeline of future pastors and missionaries, the witness of the church at large is going to continue to shrink. Church family I am so passionate about this ministry. If we were to grow our giving as a church and all of us collectively do our part, or if people were passionate about giving endowments or any way we could do it, this is something I believe that God wants to call us into. I would simply invite you to go to prayer and say, God, how can I honor you and grow in my discipleship and my own generosity and be a part of what you want to do in reaching more people with the good news of the gospel? I'll close with these words as we prepare for our last song.
The thing that sits most deeply on my heart as I think of the context of Jeremiah 17 that we see started with is this. In Jeremiah 17, the words that are spoken about growing deep roots into the soil and allowing God to be the one who fills us up and who broadens our reach.
When these words were written by Jeremiah, he was writing to the southern kingdom of Judah, an area that was steeped in idol worship.
Babylon was rising as a power and would eventually overthrow the kingdom of Judah. It was a hard time, a hard time where people's hearts were growing cold within the kingdom and were turning from God.
That context sits heavy on my heart because when I look at the world that surrounds us today, I can't help but think and would you agree that this world feels very upside down?
It feels like it is losing any moral fabric at every single turn.
There are wars everywhere and rumors of wars every day in the news headlines as I watch what is happening in our communities. And it doesn't matter what side of the aisle you are on or what side of the issue you are on. People's love is growing cold, exactly as scripture says it would in the end times.
And the temptation even for God's People within the church is to allow our hearts and our actions to mirror the world rather than to mirror Christ.
My call to you as we move into this new year is to live your lives with a very deep urgency for the things that God has called us to.
That you would not allow yourself to become embroiled in the politics, in the mudslinging and all of the hate that seems to be taking over this country.
But that you would remember your own devotion to Jesus Christ and his call on your life to share his love with all people at all times, no matter what. And on top of that, that you would have a same urgency to always share God's love, not just in your actions, but with your words, telling people about the hope that they can have in Jesus Christ. Because, my friends, we are not promised tomorrow.
Jesus could come at any single moment. We could live our lives going, yeah, that's great, because I'm ready to get out of here.
Or we could recognize that those people that we know, that you can picture in your mind right now that are in your circle, that don't know him. If Jesus does come tomorrow, they will spend eternity separated from him.
Would you allow the spirit of God to burden your heart so much that in this next year you would look for opportunities for those spiritual conversations that you would feel an urgency? I must tell them they must know because eternity hangs in the balance.
God, would you please fill our hearts with a sense of urgency for the vision and the mission, mission that you have given to us as your people.
Would you help us, Father? Not to become caught up just in this world and our own pursuits or the things that are happening, but you would remind us that we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, that we are not living for this world and for its systems and for its glory or for its materialistic gain. We are living, God, for you, to change and transform our lives so that we could impact the lives of others, that their eternity would be with you.
And so, Lord, not just the leadership of this church, every individual in this room that says, I am a follower of Jesus, would you sow this passion in their hearts that they would live their lives wholly devoted to you, sinking their roots deep into the soil of your word and a life with you, and allow you, God, to transform our hearts so that our reach would increase with people that don't know you and more people would come to a saving knowledge of your son, Jesus Christ. We pray this in your name. Amen.
[01:22:16] Speaker E: All my words fall short.
I got nothing new.
How could I express all my gratitude I could sing these songs as I often do but every song you stand and you never do so I throw up my hands, praise you again and.
[01:22:57] Speaker B: Again.
[01:23:00] Speaker E: It'S all that I have is a hallelujah Hallelujah.
Set for a house Singing hallelujah hallelu.
I've got one response, I've got just.
[01:23:40] Speaker B: One.
[01:23:43] Speaker E: With my arms stretched wide God, I will worship you So I throw up my hands and praise you again.
[01:23:57] Speaker B: And again.
[01:24:00] Speaker E: It'S all that I have is a hallelujah, Hallelujah.
And I know it's not much but I've nothing else fit for a king.
[01:24:18] Speaker B: Except for a heart singing hallelujah hallelujah.
[01:24:39] Speaker E: My soul brings you praise.
[01:24:43] Speaker B: You are worthy.
[01:24:48] Speaker E: Come on, my soul don't you get shy on me lift up your soul you got a line inside of those lungs Praise the Lord.
[01:25:03] Speaker B: Oh.
[01:25:07] Speaker E: Come on my seat oh, don't you get shy on me lift up your.
Praise the Lord.
[01:25:23] Speaker B: Come on oh, come.
[01:25:26] Speaker E: On my soul oh, don't won't you shy on me Lift up your song.
[01:25:32] Speaker B: You got a lift. You.
Are worthy of it all.
[01:26:16] Speaker E: Every voice here sing this out.
So I throw up my hands, praise you again and again.
You have done it all.
Sing that again.
Hallelujah.
[01:27:48] Speaker C: If as we close our service, so we're going to be moving for our luncheon. If you have prayer needs, our prayer team is here at the front and they would love an opportunity to pray with you, minister with you today if you have need. And so we'd invite you to come as we close the service. Then as you head out, we want to remind you to grab from one of our ushers the annual report.
Take some time to look at that. Also as you head over, all of you, please come. You're invited the annual luncheon that will happen in the gymnasium. We have a paper to pick up as you go in the door that has our officers that we're going to vote on. Also our statement of faith changes that are that are happening. Be sure to grab that and have have that in hand as well. And I have not forgotten to pray for lunch.
Thank you. Deacons church. Pray with me. Lord, we love you, you are good.
And all praise and all glory and honor goes to you and to you alone.
Anything that we see and experience, the things you're doing in this church in our individual lives, it's not our doing, it's yours and you are a good guy.
I ask God that you would continue to bless us incredibly with your spirit and with your presence and that you would use us in this new year in ways that we could never imagine as we put our faith and our trust in you. We just want to see your kingdom come, God. And so we pray that you would powerfully move among us and then more people would come to know your son Jesus. To your praise and your glory and your honor alone.
As we eat, bless that meal and bless our fellowship and we give you praise God. Thank you for giving us this family. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Church family, thank you again. Go out, be blessed and I'll see you until at lunch.
