God Is Self-Existent and Self-Sufficient

AI Transcript

Good morning. It's good to see all the smiling faces.

Last Monday, two weeks ago, I was so looking forward to saying Amen on Easter and then just relaxing. Like, full cards on the table. The last six months have been probably the hardest, the most work I've ever done in ministry. And so after seven weeks of preaching in a row, after going through compelled, after all that, like I was just so looking forward to just...

relaxing and to looking forward to catching up on so many years of my life that I've just let go by the wayside and But God had other plans because after saying amen on Easter on Monday You get that feeling where you're like, oh, I feel like I'm getting sick here, but I ignored it and Got hit. I don't know. I got a hit by the doctor said the flu walking pneumonia, whatever I had a fever for eight days straight. So

I was just laid up in bed like I was like, this going to break? I'm going to break. So that was not awesome at all. And I was so bummed to not be able to join you guys last week as we had baptisms and just to be able to celebrate all that God is doing there. even now, even now as I stand, like it's still there. Like I just, I'm tired. So I might pass out, but.

I tried this week to turn my attention to, okay, what am I preaching on? And as I was beginning to unpack that in very small bits, because I didn't have enough energy to really dig into it, I was just reminded of the gift of sickness, the gift of weakness. We are in this series where we're lifting our eyes and beholding the

the majesty of the person of God. I was reminded this week as we look at this topic, and you can begin to look, go to Exodus 3 is where we're going to be at. But I was reminded in this topic that we're going to look at what theologians call the aseity of God. It simply means this, that God is eternally self-existent and God is eternally self-sufficient.

the weakness of sickness and not being able to get out of bed is just this, contrast there couldn't be more contrasted. Like where I am totally weak, which is true every day, I just don't live like it. God is not. God is eternally self-existent and self-sufficient. And he is the only one who is that. So a couple charts to help you just get that in your head. So the first one here is

What is created? Go to the next slide. So uncreated, only God. What is crea... That should say created, sorry. That's bad theology.

The second one should say, created. I was sick. I need some grace.

What's that? Anathema. know. You should walk out now. All right. So this simple chart, what's uncreated? God. Who made God? No one made God. God is eternally self-examined. What else is created? Everything else. Everything we see in the whole universe. Okay. Let's see if the next chart is wrong. Next one. What is self-sufficient? Only God. What is totally dependent? Every molecule of the cosmos is totally dependent on God's sustaining work.

And so as I was just realizing my weakness, my sickness, I just realized that this is a gift. It is always a gift to realize that we aren't what we think we are. We aren't as strong as we think we are. We're not as capable as we think we are. We're not... In every way, we are limited. And that's a good thing. We are finite. This is kind of a gift. Because most of my days, I live like you live.

with this idea that I'm in control. I decide what's going on. I decide what good things are going to come in my life. And I look through the trie... And I'm like, yeah, I can do some things. Most of my days, I am self-focused and believing I'm in control. It's the air that we breathe, right? Post-enlightenment, post-modern, post-everything world. We have this idea in our culture that...

Well, whatever you say, you can define yourself in any way you want to define yourself. Whatever you want to be, you could be like just go out, put in the work, put in the grind and you can have like, this is the air that we breathe, right? And it sounds like because it's the air we breathe, we're like, yeah, that's right. And true. We got to create our own identity. We got to create our own worth and value and, and, and show the world that we're worthy. And, and on the surface, that sounds good, but, but, but in reality is

It's absolutely exhausting. Like when we are just doing everything we can to make a name for ourselves, doing everything we can to show the world and to show ourselves that we are valuable and worth it. Like to live under that pressure, it's too much pressure. And this is why so many people just feel so burdened. And so it is a gift whenever we can wake up to our finitude, to our weakness. We can't do it all.

There's no one in here that wears a cape even though we think we can. Calvin, at the very beginning of his most famous work, The Institutes, he opens up the work like this. says, nearly all wisdom we possess, that is to say true and sound wisdom, consist of two parts. The knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves.

The knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves. When we see God clearly and we see ourselves clearly, now we can begin to walk in wisdom. Now we can live as God created us to live. But there's a problem in this world, It is the problem of sin that distorts and twists everything. Augustine had this theology in the city of God and Confessions that Martin Luther later

came along and in Latin it means this, Incurvatus Inse. It means sin is a life curved in on itself. Where your whole focus just starts to become your self. And so we don't love God rightly because we're not related. We don't love others rightly because we're curved in on our self. Incurvatus Inse. And this is a huge problem for us.

If we aren't intentional, we will live life as if the only thing that matters is what I'm dealing with, what I want, what other people will make much of me. Like this is just the default of the sin-filled heart. I want to give a shout out to my wife, her first book of eight, Enough About Me, Finding Lasting Joy in the Age of Self.

The solution, if the problem is curved in on yourself, then we've got to somehow uncurl ourselves, unfocus on ourselves, somehow lift our eyes. This is the path to actual joy, actual life for us. You can take that down, but get the book so I can get some money.

Thanks for writing that book. Many years ago I heard Pastor John Piper use this illustration. I think it's so helpful that helps me understand this incurbitous insight, how we live our lives, and the need to kind of open up. He says it's the difference between a microscope and a telescope. Maybe you've heard this before, a microscope and a telescope. And if you think about it,

What does a microscope do? A microscope takes that which is infinitesimally small and it blows it up. So you can see it. But like when we live our lives oriented towards the microscope, what we're doing is we're looking through the lens and we're seeing the stuff of our lives. The problems, the successes, the challenges, the relations. Like everything just seems massive. Like look how big this problem is. Because we're looking through the microscope.

theology done well is looking through the telescope. The telescope does what? It takes that which is massive, that which is almost incomprehensible, and it brings it into perspective. It helps us order things rightly. so to live rightly, to know who we are, to know who God is, we've got to move away from the microscope.

focusing on our own lives and take some time to look through the telescope. That's what this God is series is about. It's just a, it's an uncurling, it's a beholding who God is. What we need to know is that all theology, all theology you know is a gift from God. But like if you know anything true about God, it's first and foremost because it was a gift from God.

to you. It is God revealing Him. Like God didn't have to reveal anything. And to be sure, God is infinite and we are finite. So as Pastor Rick said last week, there will never be a moment in eternity where we will have arrived at all the knowledge of God. This is the glory of eternity. There will never be a moment where we aren't just filled with more awe, more wonder, more knowledge.

More discovery like this goes on and on and on and on forever. This is the beauty of eternity with God. But God has revealed some things about himself in different ways that we get to study. We get to look through the telescope if you will. And how has God revealed himself? Let me give you some examples through general revelation and special revelation. What is that? So general revelation is God reveals himself to

creation through his creation. This is Romans chapter one for the for since the beginning of the world the things that have been seen point to as a divine nature and eternal nature. So we can behold the heavens declare the glory of God for example Psalm 19. We can see God's providence directing the course of human history. This is another part of general revelation that the conscious that God has given to humans and human nature.

Just that there is some right and there is some wrong. This is what theologians call general revelation. We can know something about God just by observing the world that he's created and put us in. But that general revelation is not sufficient to come to know him personally, to know specifically what it is God like. We needed special revelation for that. So the special revelation is a few things.

God's redemptive acts in the world. So redemptive acts of God where he intervenes into his creation. What we're going to read about one of them in Exodus chapter three. When God reveals his word either by himself or through his prophets or or apostles these are divinely given words that special revelation. So we learn something. Ultimately the way we see who God is we look to Jesus.

in the incarnation as He came and lived among us and loved. Like what is God like? Look to Jesus. This is the whole point of the book of Hebrews. Like He is the exact image of who God is. So as we behold Jesus, we see who God is. And then captured in all that is the Word of God. These 66 books to you and to me and to God's people too.

capture that, to study that. So we as God's people, we as people can look at creation, we can look at special revelation, and we can know something of God. And we should know something of God. We don't know all the things for sure, but God has revealed Himself to us. So if you have your Bible, Exodus chapter three is where we're going to be at today. Exodus chapter three, Genesis, Exodus, the second book of the Bible. Let me set this up here. So at this point,

salvation history. God's people have been enslaved in Egypt. 400 years, their cries are going up to a God that they don't even really know. But we read in chapter 1 that God hears their cries and he begins to move. Well Moses is born, but Moses, you may remember his life is preserved. He grows up as a prince of Egypt.

Though he's Hebrew, he grows up in Pharaoh's household with all the wealth and the prestige and the power that is afforded to that, the most powerful man on the planet at that time with the most powerful army in human history up until this point. But Moses also comes to find out and realizes he's also a Hebrew and he sees this disconnect between his life, his comfortable, opulent life. And then you've got his people just being oppressed.

And so when he's about 40 years old, he sees an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew and he's like, oh, I'm the guy. I've got power. I'm going to take things in my own hand. And he murders the Egyptian, buries him in the sand, and he feels pretty good about himself until he's caught and they seek his life. And he has to run for his life. And he spends the next 40 years in the wilderness, gets married, and for 40 years, from age 40 to 80,

His job is just to look at the backside of sheep all day. I mean, is he's like, how did I go from Prince of Egypt to here? And in Exodus, chapter three, he's on the side of this mountain Mount Horeb or later gets called Mount Sinai. He sees this bush on fire that's not burning up and it catches his attention and he turns to to to see what is going on. And in that he hears God's special revelation.

revealed to him the voice of God. in verse four of chapter three says listen carefully this is God's word says when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look God called to him from within the bush Moses Moses as Moses said here I am he's calling to him but but then verse five do not come any closer God said take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is

holy ground. It's this picture of God who is both transcendent above and beyond everything and imminent close here now. It's this picture of like come close don't come too close. Like this is the tension we have with God right? Come close don't come too close. And so as he comes close God begins to reveal and says I have

I've seen the suffering of my people. And in fact, I'm going to do something about it. It's time to act Moses. And in verse 10, he says to Moses, so now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites out of Egypt. This is, this is crazy, right? You go.

He has this encounter with the living God and he gives Moses this great commission. You're going to go. But Moses does what you and I do. When God calls us to something great, we're like, well, who am I? Don't you know my failures? Don't you know my past? Don't you know my weakness? I can't go, Lord. I know you've given me a commission to go and make disciples, but that's...

That's for the extra credit Christians. That's for other people like not me. I'm too weak. I'm too frail. I'm too broken. I have too much sin. My past. You can't use me. And God's like what do you what are you talking about? You go. And so he asked this question of of God. Verse 11. It's a question we ask. Moses said to God who am I. Who am I. Who am I to do anything for God. Now remember

God is eternally self-existent and self-sufficient. What that means is that God has no needs. So what that means, sometimes people will say stuff to me like, God just really needs me to do this one thing. I'm like, no. God does not need you to do anything. God doesn't need Redemption Parker to do anything. Get that very clear. Sometimes people are like, well, God needs me to No, he does not.

That's blasphemy to think that God has any need, any deficiency. Like sometimes people will be like, well, God created people because he was lonely. No, he has no need. He's eternally self existent and self sufficient. is in the Trinity is perfect unity love like zero need. And so then we have to ask the question, if God has no need, then why does he give us commission?

Because he's inviting us to a life of purpose and meaning to join our story with his eternal story. It's a gift to us to be invited in. It's a gift to Moses to receive this commission. But Moses does what we do. He's in curvidus in say, he's like, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? It's a question of identity.

And the answer to that, God gives, is the answer that He gives throughout Scripture. Verse 12. God said, will be with you. Who am I? Don't worry, I'm with you. Listen, if we understand who God is, the eternally self-existent, eternally self-sufficient, all that God is, when God says, I will be with you, that should be the end of the story. sweet, we're good. Let's go.

But sometimes it takes some growth in our faith, right? It says, will be with you and this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. It'll be the same place where they receive the law of God. Look how God speaks. He speaks with absolute certainty because why? He stands outside of time. He knows this will happen and this will happen.

We think we know, we live like that, and then I'm going to do this and I'm going to accomplish this, but we don't know. We think we're going to have a great time after Easter and then we're just in bed for eight days. It's just how it is. We don't know, but God knows. So, when God says, will be with you, it is this promise of God for the people of God. God with us, verse 13. Moses said to...

God suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they asked me what is his name then what shall I tell them so that the question moves on from a question of who am I to someone saying well I'm to be with you then okay well then who are you who are you what am I going to tell them and he's asking for the name of this God now in the ancient Near East he's not just asking to exchange business cards

He's not like, I just need a label. Names were your family heritage. It was your background. It spoke to your capacity and ability, your nature. And so he's like, I need to know who you are. What do I tell these Israelites that I'm going to lead out of Egypt? And this verse, verse 14, becomes the central verse in our understanding of who...

God is throughout the rest of the Bible. In fact, the rest of the Bible is an exposition on verse 14. It explains and unpacks what is verse 14. God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you.

Moses' brain blows up a little bit. Like, I was asking for a noun and you gave me a verb. More than that, you gave me a verbal phrase. What do you mean? I'm looking for a label and you gave me a whole theology. I am who I am. It is, am who I am. Or it is the verb to be, I be. It encapsulates past, present, and future. I was.

I am, I will be, I am who I am. And Moses is like, I don't understand what you're saying. This is too much. Let me help explain this. on the next slide, the Hebrew is at the top. The little dots below the Hebrew, so you would read that right to left, the little dots below the Hebrew were added in the sixth century. They're vowels. Hebrew as a language doesn't have vowels.

And so in the sixth century, they're like, well, how do we actually pronounce some things? And so the best they could possibly do is come up with vowels and we transliterate that Y-H-W-H. This would be where we get the words. Some translations say Jehovah. They're adding a whole bunch of vowels in that. Others, sometimes we say, Yahweh. But we don't know. We honestly don't know. This is the I am who I am to be.

You got to understand in the history of God's people how sacred the name is. Like in Hebrew class when we would be reading, we would not say the name out loud. We would take on the the Messianic Jewish tradition where we would replace the name Yahweh with Adonai, a generic name. just we wanted to be sacred with that. If there was a Messianic Jew in our class.

And for whatever reason in a test or something you had to write the divine name in Hebrew. They would take that piece of paper and keep it safe for the rest of their lives. The name is sacred. I don't know what you do with a PowerPoint. I guess I'll keep the USB for the rest of my life. But this name I am who I am is packed with theology. We get I am from.

In your Bibles if you see the word Lord all caps it's the divine name. It's it's this I am sent you. That's who you are to tell him. It's it and it has this Hebrew emphasis again they don't have exclamation points so it's I am who I am. It's emphasizing God's freedom. He alone has absolute freedom in the universe to do whatever he wants. It emphasizes his consistency. I was I am I will be.

forever and ever and ever. There is no changing in who God is. It emphasizes a call to us to complete trust and hope. What is God saying to Moses and by extension to us? He's saying, I am the center of everything. I am running the show. I am the same today, tomorrow and forever. I am the Lord.

everything. am the Lord. I am the owner of everything. I am the creator and sustainer of all life in the universe. I am the Savior. I am more than enough. I am inexhaustible and immeasurable. I am God. That's how he answers Moses question. Well who are you?

And did you notice in answering the second question, who are you? God also answers the first question. Well, who am I? Did you see that in that name? Let me help you. I am not the center of everything. I am not running the show. I am not in control. I am not the solution. I am not the owner of anything.

I am not all powerful. I am not the savior. I am not the Lord. It's important to understand because then we see things rightly. All wisdom begins with knowing who God is and who we are and then living in light of reality. So there are aspects of the character and nature of God that we are called to emulate to.

model to try to become. But then there are other aspects that we are not called to emulate. Theologians break it up in these ways. The communicable and incommunicable attributes of God. We get in trouble when we don't understand which one they are. So let me give you some... let's get... So incommunicable attributes. Only God has these and he does not expect us to in any way try to be these things. We are not infinite.

So embrace your finiteness. We are not, we are comprehensible. God is incomprehensible. God is self-existent. We are not self-existent. God is self-sufficient. We are not self-sufficient. God is eternal. We are not eternal. God is immutable, unchangeable. And we change every day. Every day my eyes get a little worse now.

We are not omnipresent. can't be everywhere. But God is. We are not omniscient. No matter what you think, Jack GPT is telling you. We do not know all things. We are not omnipotent. We do not have all power. God never asks us to be any of these things. In fact, it's when we try to be these things that the world gets broken.

This was the first set that you can be like God if you eat this fruit. You can have power and all authority. It's a lie. We can't but we can be and should be the communicable. We are called to be holy like God is holy. We were called to love imagine if we just leverage our life to love like God loves. We are called to be just and good and merciful and gracious long suffering wise jealous.

for His glory, because He is worthy of all praise, honor, and worship. We are called to be faithful, righteous, truthful. This is why we study these things. We understand this is what the Lord is calling us to and empowering us to do. So God is eternally self-existent and self-sufficient. Throughout this whole series, as we look at God, we should end with this question. So what? What does it mean

that God is eternally self-existent and self-sufficient. What does that mean for us? Here's what it means. And some of you need to hear this. We all need to hear this. It means the pressure's off. The pressure's off. You're not God. And that's a good thing. The world is exhausted trying to define themselves and prove their worth. It's exhausting to always try to show

the world you're worthy. God says you're worthy. I am saying, who said you had to create your own identity? God is the only one who creates his own identity. We don't. We can rest in who he says we are.

So I am not. But here's the beautiful thing in Christ in a relationship with him which by the way you read John's gospel it's a whole exhibition on this. Nine times Jesus says I am in John's gospel. I am the bread of life. I am the way the truth in life. I am I am I am. So I am not. But in Christ I know I am. I am not.

but I get to know I am. This is the beauty of what we're invited into, the story of God. And so it means you're off the hook. You don't have to prove yourself. You don't have to show the world that you're worthy of praise and worth. Here's the thing. Don't take this the wrong way. You and I and everyone in this room, we're average. Your kids are average.

What? Not my kids. We're average. Our marriages are average. Let's just even say you're not average compared to God. We're nothing. We're just here for a very limited time and that's okay. God sees.

Again, I know the call you average is not the way to build a big church in America. The way to build a big church is like, man, you guys are so awesome. You got this. You're going to go out and just absolutely crush it this week. And here's a couple of God pieces for you to help you out. Like, God, some divine CrossFit coach cheering you on. No. No, that's not the way to build a big church. But there's two problems with that. That message of you got this, you're awesome, you're going to crush it.

That becomes crushing to ourselves, first of all. And secondly, it's not true. The message of Bible isn't that you're awesome, you got this, you're going to crush it. The message of the Bible is God is awesome. God's got this. He's crushing it. And He's with us. Amen? Amen. So, what if we were a church that held out before us or looked through the telescope constantly just reminded that God

is self-existent, self-sufficient. What if we didn't expect ourselves or others to be what only God can be in our lives? Man, how much better would your marriage be if you didn't expect your spouse to be God in your life? How much more freedom would you give yourself to be like, man, I am, I'm limited, I'm frail, I don't have it all together. That's okay. I know who does.

I know who does. So theology again is meant to give us freedom, give us peace. It's meant to recalibrate our hearts and our minds and our lives. And so if you got a bulletin on your way and you can see on the back there's just some questions for reflection. Hopefully sometime this week maybe you have a meal with your spouse or with your kids or at your gospel community and just think about these things. In light of who God is, in light of who we are, what does this mean?

Well, I want to pray and then we're going to do communion and then I'm going to come up and give some update on on compelled. But let's just go before the God who is with us, the God who is eternal. Now, what a gift it is that he invites us to this. Let's pray. Amen.

Amen. Well I wanted to celebrate with you. I to give an update if you're just joining us welcome. If you've just been here for a couple of weeks welcome but for six weeks we turned our attention to this idea. What does it look like for a body of Christ to be compelled by the love of Christ. Second Corinthians 4 5 14 where Christ writes where Paul writes

Christ's compels us. As a church at this crossroads moment, what does that mean for us? This two-year discipleship journey. We said it looks like this, and we're just at the beginning of it, but it looks like continuing to go deeper in our love for Christ, our relationship with Christ, spurring one another on, encouraging one another, doing life together. It's just what God has already called us to.

It means going wider on mission with Christ. What would it look like if we together leaned in and sacrificed together to go wider, to reach one more person for Christ, to reach one more generation for Christ, to live in such a way that ten generations are blessed by our faith and our sacrifice here and now. And so many of you have sent so many stories of encouragement and love like

Different parts of this journey have spoken to different people. Some are like, man, I am just compelled for one more. Like Jesus was compelled. Others are like, man, I think it's really important that our youngest image bearers have a place where they can grow up and hear the gospel. And others are like, I've never thought about living a life that 10 generations from now will be blessed by my faith. I'm so encouraged by that. Yeah. And then forward together.

One of the hardest, hardest, hardest things for a church to do is to come from that stage of church plant set up and tear down every week to have a place where they can call home and establish an outpost of light in the kingdom of darkness. And so part of this is just a call. We've bought land. We're going to build a building. But that's incredibly difficult to get to. It's so expensive for...

For a church to get to that point, but we believe that God was calling us to it So, let me just remind you our primary goal was just 100 % engagement that all who in whatever way shape or form called this church your church home That you would lean in Compelled by the love of Christ. And so we we sought the Lord we fasted we prayed And to have absolutely everyone at RP play a role in compelled. We've asked you to lean in

Now, as covenant members, you've already committed to give sacrificially and you've done that. You do that. I just want to say it's such a privilege and honor as we step back to see our people go above and beyond what we've asked. Paul writes, if you remember my last message, compelled by generosity, Paul writes to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 8, that the Macedonians gave not only what they could

up to the limit that they were able to give, but beyond. And that's what you guys have done. Like that's what is just blowing, like the evidences of God's grace are so huge in our midst right now. We should all be encouraged. But engagement is not just something that can be merely quantified. Engagement is something that will continue through the next two years of this initiative.

and is better celebrated as an illustration in the Numbers. So before I get to any Numbers, our team has just done an incredible job of just kind of capturing some of the ways that God has been moving in people's heart as people press on to go deeper, wider, and forward. And so I have a short video that we'll share here with you on

There are moments in the life of a church when God brings his people to a crossroads. These are moments when God calls his people to courageous faith to step forward into what he is doing next. God has brought us to another defining moment because God has exceeded our hopes, grown his church, and is now calling us to take the next step of faith at this crossroads. This moment is not accidental. It is part of a much larger story, God's story, and in this season and in this place,

It is our turn. I would say the culture of RRP is authentic people trying to authentically follow Jesus Christ. It's a place where you can know others deeply and be known and people truly care and see one another on a daily basis. I'm compelled and driven by the need to build a Christian kingdom and community that the next generation can be excited to.

I am compelled to continue to invest in Redemption Parker because of the impact I've already seen it make in the lives of its members and also children specifically. What excites me about the future of RP and this compel specifically for our youth is that you can point to pretty much any person who is a believer and say that at some point someone decided to invest in them. This is a place where you can be seen, known, and loved.

And at the same time, we're pointing them back to the truth and the goodness of the gospel. As I look at Redemption Parker and the next two years in this compelled initiative, I'm definitely convicted on how am I giving? Am I giving sacrificially? Am I giving generously? You know, can I give more? I stirred up some really great conversation with my wife and I, just how do we be more involved and engaged with what we're doing at RP, and how do we dig in just deeper? It's such a delight to see people who love the gospel and love Christ.

But they don't stop at being welcomed in by him. They work hard laying down their lives to welcome in others. And I think that's what's gonna compel us forward.

How I want to grow deeper in my relationship with Jesus is getting baptized and reading the Bible every day. I can be generous by bringing an offering each week. I want to give generously by giving toys away when people have none. I want to give generously by giving money to the church. I want to spread the gospel by teaching people about Jesus and praying for them.

Our compelled commitment means putting down roots where our kids and family will be known and loved and poured into and getting to provide that opportunity for many more families to come. The compelled initiative to us just means a place for us to call home. We've been searching for home and a place for our kids to feel at home. That's what Redemption Parker has been for us. This compelled commitment means to us a place to know and be known, a place to establish roots for our

children and their children and future generations. One year ago, almost to the exact date, we walked into RP not knowing what to expect and we were greeted with an amount of warmth and kindness that compelled us to come back and standing here one year later, we have been compelled to give back to this church hoping that future generations are able to feel the same way that we have felt for the past year.

As we step into this season together, Christ is calling us to go deeper in our discipleship, trusting Him with every part of our lives, to reach wider in our mission, living as sent people for the sake of others, to move forward in faith, building for generations we will never see. We move forward together compelled by the love of Christ. This is God's story, and in this moment and in this place, it is our turn.

All right, let me share some numbers with you, first of all. So let me remind you, if you've been around, know our normal operating budget is about a million dollars a year. So that covers our missions, it covers our staff, it covers renting this facility, it covers everything we normally do. And so that number itself is actually an amazing number. Like you guys have grown in your generosity over the years.

just as a testimony of God's grace. So a million dollars a year is amazing. If you were to do that over two years, you could say like, we would expect to receive about $2 million in operating expenses over the next two years. But we've grown a ton in that. So.

Now it's time to reveal the number, right? Is that the next slide? wait, I didn't tell the households, sorry. I got ahead of myself. I wanna share some numbers here, first of all. So total households and singles who are committed to this compelled journey. So we had 124 households make a compelled commitment. Let's praise God for that. That's huge.

That represents over 412 men, women, and children made in God's image saying, we are leaning in, we're all in on this place. That's an amazing number that, that, cause again, our primary goal was 100 % engagement, the people to lean in. Now of that number of the 124 households, we had some that

for the very first time that it took a step of discipleship and say, yeah, I've never given here before, but I'm going to start giving. was 34 households that first time give it. Let's praise God for that.

Again, that's like over a hundred people that are like, okay, we're in. We're for that. We believe that Christ's love should compel us. So excited for all that God has done in us and through us in this. Again, what we believe God is calling us to is not easy. It takes all of us. And some of you are going to jump in and join us even today. There's still time, right? But for most of us, this has been an incredible journey together as we've seen.

God move in ways we have not seen him do before. But God gets all the glory. Again, our normal budget's a million a year. Over two years, that would be two million. And so, are you ready for our total commitments and expected gifts over the next few years? Go ahead click on that. So we got, in commitments, we got...

Four million. Let's praise the Lord for that.

Just again, like what Paul said about the Macedonians, they gave to what they could give and they gave beyond that. Let me tell you why I'm just so excited about this. This is such an amazing number for a church like us and a stage where I just want to, as your pastor, thank you. Thank you for taking a huge and significant step of faith in partnership with your brothers and sisters, in partnership with the family of God. I cannot wait to see what God will continue to do in us.

and through us as we take bold steps. here's the thing. You might remember our secondary goal for compel was actually 4.5 million over the next two years. But let me just say this. It's a two year journey. There's still time to join us. Others will join us. I think we'll actually probably crush our goal. And I praise God for that. Some of you may join us. In fact, we got a commitment today. I'm like, man.

You can do that even today. You can make a commitment. You can go online. But let me tell you why I'm super, super, super encouraged by this. I have a friend, church in Texas, they were doing an expansion on their church. It's Texas. So they needed 50 million dollars for their expansion. But I know something that the church doesn't know. I know that he's got these connections to these young oil guys and he went off and had a retreat with them and the oil guys committed 50 million dollars.

before the church did anything. I was like, well, that's nice for you. Doesn't take any faith for you, pastor.

Let me tell you why this number is so, so, so, so encouraging. Some of you know like, often times churches are funded by the few. Where 10 % give 90 % of the budget. Where then they make their goal and they have a celebration. That's not our church. Here's why this number is so exciting. Because so many of you are sacrificing so

But there's a question in your mind. There's a question in my mind who sacrificing a lot is if I make this sacrifice will others and the resounding answer for the from your brothers and sisters your fellow covenant church members is yes Yes, they are sacrificing this like like we don't have any very large gifts, but what we have is everyone Holding hands together saying we will do this together. Can we just praise the Lord for that?

Tricia, I'm sorry I'm cutting into your time. me just, let me try to, she's like, yeah, we have no time left. So again, this is just the beginning of the journey. We call it today our first big give. Some of you have already started and have given. If you haven't, now would be a great time to begin to fulfill that commitment. Let me explain why it's so important to start even sooner rather than later. I do want you to know that the elders, all of their families, Jen and I,

Like we're sacrificing more than we've ever sacrificed before. And I only say that to say, hey, we would not ask you to do what we're not willing to do ourselves. We believe that there's a scriptural precedent. We need to lead the way. So Jen and I are going to write the largest check we've ever written before because we believe a couple of things. That giving is not only God's grace through us, it is God's grace to us. Like we get to invest in eternity. We get to reap eternal rewards for that.

gonna give. Now let me give you a quick update on the land, the building, all that stuff. we had hoped to close on the land in December, but then there was a little hang up with the county. They're gonna have a hearing in May, should go through smooth, pray for us. Once that gets closed, we have the money you've already given to pay cash for that. The architects and the builders are working together right now doing the construction documents. That's where they pick the actual like stones and lights and all that stuff and getting bids on all that.

by the end of the summer, we could be breaking ground. Which is praise God for that.

We're dealing with church lenders because again even that doesn't cover all that. But so this is why we say if possible if you're able to give up front just like you going to get a mortgage we want to show the best financials possible to get the best deal possible. So if you could if you have that capacity begin now to do that. So the best response and the reminder from David and everything anything we give is only because God first gave it to us.

Like we don't pat ourselves on the back actually. All the glory goes to God. So I'm going to pray and we're going to worship and we're going have some ice cream. Amen? Amen. Let me pray.