Evidence of Grace

Thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. And it's already been a great day in the first service and I just want to say thank you.

It's been been a a great time. Months ago when we decided today was the day I put this on my calendar and I'm so excited to be with you and see what God is doing. Last time I was here is a little different room.

We were in a building. I think it's that way. Yeah, that way.

That way somewhere. I'm directly challenged. So, I'm glad to be back here today and just so thankful to be with you.

It's an honor for me and Lori to be with you today. Got my wife Lori with me. We recently became empty nesters.

Any recent empty nesters in the house? Okay. No.

All right. So, my last kid went to college last month. So, we're in mourning a little bit.

But also hanging out together. So, she gets to travel with me more. So, I'm excited to have her on this trip.

I get to travel almost every week and speak and but there's just something special about Elevate. So, I'm glad to be here today. It's an honor for us to be here.

I know that September is a special month for you as you celebrate your anniversary. And I hear you're celebrating officially next week, but I also hear you like to celebrate your birthday for the whole month like my wife likes to celebrate her birthday. And so, Pastor Nick and Sole, thank thank you for saying yes to the call of God.

Thank you for bringing your family to Southern Utah. Thank you for believing God wanted a spirit-ledd church right here in St. George.

And last year when I was here, just like Pastor Nick said, I told you about the connection I had with this area. And and prayer walk with this area, specifically praying for a kingdom-minded, multiplying church for years. And I honor you today and praise God for both of you and your family.

Through Aspire, I had the privilege of walking alongside church planters and starting churches like this. And it's amazing to see and watching churches begin with a little more than a calling, a burden to a city. And faith that God would provide.

And church planning is not easy. Starting a church not easy. And people see what exists now.

But they do not always see everything that it took to get here. And they do not see the prayers prayed before anyone arrived. And they do not see the uncertainty behind the vision.

They do not see the conversations, the disappointments, the sacrifices or the Sundays when they were in the room and it didn't look like the place they wanted it to look like in their heart, but God saw every moment. And I just want to honor you guys and thank you. And Elevate Church, thank you for becoming more than an audience.

Thank you for serving and thank you for praying. You have given, you've invited, you've welcomed people, you've loved people, you've helped carry the vision. And at Aspire Network, we like to do more than just start churches.

We like to come alongside churches and make sure they thrive as well. And so today, I brought along with me. I wanted to give you a gift, a check for $5,000 to continue Elevation Church.

So, let me give that to you. >> You're welcome, man. Love you.

But there's more. At the same time, we are starting in the next three months. I think it's six churches we're launching, help launch all over the nation, and I've been a little nervous, but God actually didn't tell me to give $5,000.

And I've been kind of wrestling with that, but I thought 5,000 was a good number. And but I was walking up the sidewalk here early this morning and he mentioned to me again that hey I didn't tell you to give 5,000. I told you to give 15,000.

And I said well 5,000 is good. And he said no it's not. And so I text our CFO and said hey I want to give 10,000 more.

And he said I'll send it Monday. So we're sending another 10,000 on Monday. So yes.

So, [applause] we want you to know we love you. We're thankful to be with you. And now that I paid you, you can listen to me the rest of the sermon.

So, you need to be more lively than you were at the start of the service. And but today we celebrate every life that's been changed. And, this sermon may be a little different than I normally would travel and speak.

And I speak every week, but I feel a special connection with your pastors and with your church from afar. My family does, my wife and I, just the connection with St. George, Utah, and the 13 years I spent in Las Vegas and we planted many churches around the area.

And I really believe that God has given me a word for you as a church family today. I have been battling a sickness. I never get sick.

And when we got on the plane on Wednesday, a sickness hit me. And I I travel every week. I haven't been sick in a long time.

I was home for three weeks. And now I'm going to blame my family. They got me sick.

And, I've been locked in a hotel room for three days trying to get over this sickness. But, it's just been a battle and a struggle that hasn't been normally. And, I believe it's been a spiritual battle.

And so I just want to give you a word that I believe God has asked me to download to you. And I believe it's something that he's given specifically to you. I I'll probably never speak this again.

But today we celebrate every life that has been changed in the last four years. Every marriage that's been restored. Every person who has found freedom.

Every child who has learned about Jesus. Every person who's walked through these doors looking for church and discovered a family. Your mission is clear.

Elevating people into transforming relationship with Jesus. This is more than a phrase on a website. That is an assignment God has given you in southern Utah.

But an anniversary creates an important tension. We should look back and celebrate. But we cannot live looking backward.

You see, an anniversary is not merely a celebration of how far we have come. It is a consecration for where God is taking us next. >> Amen.

>> Too often we don't continue to see miracles. Too often we don't continue to see big things in faith because we often continue to look backwards of what God did instead of look forward in faith to see what God wants to do. >> And God gave me a word out of the book of Acts in chapter number 11.

And we encounter a church planted in a difficult and spiritually complicated city. It began because ordinary believers carried the gospel into a new place. Lives were transformed, a church was formed, disciples were developed, leaders were raised, and eventually the church that had been planted because a church that planted and sent others.

It was the city of Antioch. You see, the city of Antioch in Acts 11 was not a city that people would choose to plant a church. I could tell you if Aspire Network was back in the days of the book of Acts, we would not have chose to go, "Hey, go plant a church in the city of Antioch." I don't know if you know this, but church networks don't look at St.

George and go, "Hey, that's the next big move of God and plant churches out of plant churches." Sorry to offend you, but God was up to something. >> Just like I believe that God's up to something at Elevate Church. And I believe over strategy.

I believe over things that we plan that God trumps all of that. And I believe the story of the church at Antioch has a word for the elevate church today. In Acts 11 19- 26, the believers had been scattered because of persecution.

Some of them traveled to Antioch and began telling people about Jesus. This is a reminder that God usually does his best work in your pain. You see, there was a church planted in the city of Antioch because of persecution, because of pain.

And this is a reminder that God usually does his best work in pain. Pain is because of a church was built in Antioch. Some of us quit in the midst of pain, but because of spiritual pain happened, there was a church planted and lives were changed.

And may I just speak into that for a moment? Maybe you're standing and sitting in the midst of pain. Maybe you've faced pain of divorce.

Maybe you've pa faced pain of illness. Maybe you've faced pain of death. Maybe you've faced pain of addiction.

And maybe you've faced pain of financial struggles. May I say to you this morning that just because you face pain doesn't mean your life's over. But maybe God wants to do a work in you you've never thought of.

Maybe because your dreams have died that maybe God wants your dreams to die so he can infuse his dream into you what he has for you for the future. And maybe some of you are living in death because you're walking in death. God can't use you and God can't speak to you.

May I say to you, just because you're living in pain and because you've experienced pain doesn't mean that God's not done. You're not dead. God's not done there means a bright future for you.

And he wants to use you and be with you in communion with you. And some of you are walking dead, and that's not what God wants. God wants you to live not a life that is striving, but he wants you to live a life that's thriving.

And some of you continually come to Elevate Church, and you live in pain, but God wants to deliver you from that pain. You need to use that pain for a purpose to know that you have a redemption story inside of you. And some of you need to get past that pain, understanding that just because you have pain doesn't mean your life is done.

It's just beginning. A church was built in the city of Antioch. [applause] Not just built in the city of Antioch, but the gospel was spread all over cities everywhere.

In a city that no one would ever have thought God would have used. And a city that no one ever would have thought the great revival would have started. But it was the city of Antioch that God chose.

A ch city that no one would have chose. A city that was spiritually complicated. A city that was spiritually oppressed.

A city that had confusion when it came to religion and God. He decided to say to say that I am going to plant people in Antioch, but it's going to take some pain and it's going to take some persecution. It's going to take some push to get them there.

And because of pain, people walked into a city of Antioch. And because of pain, people's lives were changed. And because of pain, people came to Jesus.

And may I say, my friend, it may be the pain that brought you to elevate. But the pain doesn't have to stay. It can be the catapult to make you walk into what God has you for your future so that you can spread the kingdom of God.

>> And this is a reminder that God usually does his best work in your pain. There always seems to be an unsettling before there is a movement of God in people's lives. Can I ask you this morning that maybe there may be an unsettling in your life right now?

Maybe there's a shift happening you don't understand. It may be the next step for you to take in your faith. We see in verse 21 of chapter 11, the Lord's hand was with them and a large number who believe turned to the Lord.

When the church in Jerusalem heard what was happening, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. People couldn't believe it. There's a revival happening in Antioch.

There's people coming to Christ in Antioch. Of all the cities that something is happening, it's Antioch. We've got to go see what's happening.

We got to go help these people. And so, they sent their best, Barnabas. In verse 23, it says, 'When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts.

Barnabas then went to find Saul and brought him to Antioch. He he found someone to disciple. For an entire year, they taught the church.

It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. Think about that. Out of all the places where they were first called Christians, it was a city no one would figure that would happen at.

From the story of Antioch, I want to give you elevate three challenges as you step into the next season. Before you celebrate next week your anniversary, before this place is packed and you're all full of tacos, I want to give you three things that I believe the Lord has given me specifically for Elevate Church. Here's the first challenge.

Never forget what only God could do. Never forget what only God could do. Acts 11 and verse 21 says this.

The Lord's hand was with them and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. [snorts] That one statement, the Lord's hand was with them explains what happened in Antioch. It also explains what's happening at Elevate Church.

There were people involved. There was planning involved. There was leadership involved.

But none of those things could transform a human heart. Only God can. Only God can do that.

You see, programs can gather people, but only God can change people. Music can move emotions, but only God can awake a soul. Preaching can communicate truth, but only the Holy Spirit can reveal Jesus.

Leadership can create an environment, but only God can bring life. You see, the author of this chapter, Luke, doesn't say their strategy was with them. He doesn't say their talent was with them.

He doesn't say their resources with them was with them. He says in God's word, the Lord's hand was with them. Nothing else matters, ladies and gentlemen.

Elevate Church for the last four years, the only explanation in a desolate land, only explan explanation at St. George, Utah, is that the Lord God was with them. Elevate.

When you look back over your story, do not merely remember the work you did. Remember the hand that was with you. >> Can I tell you something?

The challenge that I want you to remember today is never forget what only God could do. Never forget that only God could restore marriage. Never forget that only God could stop people from harming themselves.

Never forget that only God could restore people from addiction. Never forget that only God can save a soul. Never forget only God can can save your child.

Never forget that only God can do it. There were moments when you did not know how it was going to work. There were needs you did not know how God would meet.

There were people you were praying would come. There were Sundays when the room did not look like the vision that God had given elevate. There were moments when the pastors carried pressure that most people never saw, but the Lord's God's hands was with you.

You're not here because everything was easy. You're here because God has been faithful. That means today we celebrate, but we also stay humble.

One of the greatest dangers of success is beginning to take credit for only grace could accomplish. When Barnabas arrived into Antioch, this is important. He looked at everything happening at Acts in 11:23.

He says this, he saw evidence of grace. In verse 23, it says, "When he arrived, he saw the grace of God. He was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts." What did he see?

He saw people who had once been far from God now worshiping Jesus. He saw people from different backgrounds becoming family. He saw people, broken people being restored.

Ladies and gentlemen, before I got to the door this morning, and the handle was already hot. I got to the door. I saw evidence of God's grace.

At the end of the last service, I saw four people stand at this stage and receive Jesus Christ as their savior for the first time. I saw evidence of God's grace. [applause] The fact that you're in this room from different backgrounds, different walks of life.

You like different sports teams. Go dogs. I'm from Georgia.

You like different things, but we all came to worship one true savior, Jesus Christ. That's the evidence of God's grace. [applause] The evidence of God's grace is not a building.

The evidence of God's grace is not a program. The evidence of God's grace is not music. The evidence is now God's grace is not this building.

It's not tacos. It's not anything else but the fact that it's people who have come together and seen God change people's lives. >> You see, the clearest evidence of God's grace at Elevate is not a building.

It's not a crowd. It's not a budget. It is not even an anniversary.

The evidence of God's grace is changed lives. It is the person who walked into this church feeling alone and found a family. It is the marriage that was restored.

It is the person who discovered that their past did not disqualify them from the God's purpose. It is the person who encountered Jesus here and will never be the same. Every transformed life is evidence that the hand of the Lord is on this house.

So the first challenge is this. Never forget what only God could do. We're all replaceable.

I want you to know if Elevate Church closed its doors tomorrow, God would rise up another expression of God's grace. >> Barnabas walked in to the church of Antioch and he saw the evidence of God's grace. He saw it through transformed lives.

Celebrate what God has done, but make sure God receives the glory. >> Amen. Yes.

>> Here's a second challenge. Protect the heart of what God is building. It's very personal to me.

When Barnabas saw the grace of God, he encouraged everyone to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. That phrase matters. Phrase matters big time.

Barnabas did not simply tell them to keep attending. He did not tell them to merely to remain committed to the organization. He told them remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.

Look at the screen. Read those words and let it sink in. He told them, "Remain true to the Lord." Why?

Because it is possible for a church to grow outwardly while drifting inwardly. You're four years old. [clears throat] There's a new stat out.

American church today, 97% of all churches on Sunday have 150 people who attend or less. Look around you. In one service, you've beat that.

You are getting to see in less than four years what churches in America don't see in a lifetime. Please, please take that responsibly. Protect what God is building.

And the way you protect what God is building is you are not loyal to a pastor. You're not loyal to a building. You're not loyal to a church.

You remain true to the Lord with all your heart. It's possible to grow inwardly. You know that this church will continue to feel differently.

If you were in that last building, this feels a lot different. It's bigger. It's bigger than the the last church building.

It's bigger than the last place that was met. If you're not careful, you'll start saying things like this. It It doesn't feel like it used to feel good.

It should never feel the way it used to feel a year ago. >> A church should always be transitioning. It should always be transforming.

Why do people think the only place that can't grow is church? The only place that can't change is church. You can change.

Your family can change. You want your bank bank account to change. But the only place that can't change is a church.

And it's the only power of transformation is a church. But we don't want it to change. Can I just speak life into you?

Protect what God is building. Because when God builds something, it's out of your control and it's out of my control because he wants to transform lives. Not just here.

He wants to transform lives all over this city and beyond. I hope I come back if I'm ever invited back. But I hope I come back.

And I hope when I come back, you're saying again, hey, it doesn't feel the same like it used to feel. But by the grace of God, we see the evidence of grace because people's lives keep continuing to be changed. And so am I.

Praise be the God in heaven. But that's the only explanation I have. >> Protect the heart of what God is building.

It's possible to celebrate yesterday's movement while no longer carrying yesterday's hunger. >> It's possible to celebrate yesterday's movement while no longer carrying yesterday's hunger for people to know Jesus like me. Remember when you met Jesus?

People who walk through the doors next week for the first time. I hope you hunger for them to meet Jesus like you. >> Remember when you had no hope for your husband and he sits by you today?

Remember when you have no hope for your wife? Remember when you have no hope for your child? Remember when you had no hope for your illness, but you saw God healed?

It's possible to celebrate yesterday's movement while no longer carrying yesterday's hunger. And so Barnabas tells them this, stay close to Jesus. Elevate.

>> Your greatest responsibility in this next season is not simply to grow bigger, but is to grow deeper. >> Do not lose the presence of God while expanding the work of God. Do not become so familiar with what happens here that you stop being amazed by Jesus.

There should be an amazement that four people walked down an aisle last service and said yes to Jesus Christ. There should be an amazement that people still walking into the doors of a sports complex. Someone thought they were building a sports complex and God's up in heaven smiled and said, "I'm building a church." [applause] Do not allow serving Jesus to replace being with Jesus.

>> Jesus didn't call us first to accomplish something for him. He called us to abide in him. If you're not careful, you'll forget when God restored you to himself.

If you're not careful, you'll forget the blessing that your family is here together in church. If you're not careful, you will forget that all your family's under one roof. If you're not careful, you'll forget that he saved you from sin.

If you're not careful, you'll forget that he restored you from vices. If you're not careful, you'll forget of all the things and the blessings of God, and you'll start coasting. You'll start coasting.

And just as quickly as four grown adults walked the aisle to receive Jesus last week is as quickly as the hand of God can be removed. And he'll use someone else when we don't protect what God is building. You said, "Pastor Mark, I I don't really have nothing to give this church." Yes, you do.

You have your relationship with Jesus to give this church. >> John 15:5, it says, "I am the vine. You are the branches.

The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit because you can do nothing without me. That doesn't mean we can't hold services but we can hold services without Jesus. That doesn't mean we can't hold programs but it means we can hold programs without the move of the spirit of God.

That doesn't mean we can't have activities in the name of church but we can do it without Jesus. It means we can't produce spiritual fruit without him. Activity is not the same thing as fruit.

Crowds are not the same thing as disciples. Momentum is not the same thing as transformation. The future of elevate will not be secured merely by better systems.

It will be carried by people who remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. >> People who pray when nobody sees them. People who worship when there's no stage.

People who serve when they receive no recognition. People who love the person standing in front of them. People who remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

People whose public service flows from a private relationship with Jesus. And that begins with leadership. >> I love the way Barnabas was described.

And this is what we ought to strive for. Acts 11:24 says this, "For he was a good man." He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit of faith. It doesn't say he was a perfect man.

[snorts] It says he was a good man. It doesn't say he knew all the Bible. It says he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit of faith.

You see, the author Luke tells us what was happening inside of Barnabas before he tells us what was happening around Barnabas. >> Did you hear me? Some of us never see God work through us because he's not working in us.

Quit asking God for you to perform a miracle and ask God to work in you first. Luke tells us what was happening inside of Barnabas before he tells us what happened around Barnabas. He was a good man.

He was full of the Holy Spirit. He was full of faith. Then Luke says this in Acts, "And a great number of people were brought to the Lord." You know how you protect what God is doing around you?

Just go be a good person and full of the Holy Spirit. >> You know what St. George needs and beyond just a good neighbor, a good coworker, a good family member.

They don't need you to stand on a soap box and preach them a sermon. They need to see you to see they need to see Jesus through you every day. Who Barnabas was becoming mattered to what the church was becoming.

You see, the best thing you can do for elevate church is not on Sunday. The best thing to do for Elevate Churches Monday through Saturday. >> Giving high fives on Sunday, but treating your family awful on Monday is not the Lord's plan.

>> Healthy churches are built on healthy leaders, not perfect ones. Leaders who remain teachable, leaders who repent, leaders who know their limitations, leader who refuse to sacrifice their families on the altar for ministry. Leaders who understand that their first calling is not a platform but to intimacy with Jesus.

Pastor Nick and Sogal, the greatest gift you can give Elevate is not simply a bigger vision. It's a healthy soul fully surrendered to Jesus. >> And Elevate, one of the greatest gifts you can give your pastors is permission to remain healthy.

Pray for them. Encourage them. Protect their family.

Allow them to rest. There is no difference in a pastor's kid than there is in a plumber's kid. >> Amen.

>> They're both kids >> who need the grace of Jesus. Thank you. The next season will bring greater opportunities but will also bring greater weight.

You see, gifting may open the door to the next season, but only a healthy soul can sustain you there. I don't know about you, but you're celebrating four years. Woo!

You're barely in the adolescent stage. You barely just got started. But if you want God to continue to see the work in you and through you, you must spend intimacy with Jesus and continue to grow in the Lord and protect what God is building.

Here's the last challenge. Multiply what you have received. >> Amen.

When Barnabas saw what God was doing in Antioch, he realized something important. This was bigger than him. God did not start Elevate Church for you to be comfortable and feel good about yourself.

God brought you to Elevate Church because this is bigger than you. He wants to transform your life so you can be an extension of what he's doing in expanding the kingdom. If you're not careful, you'll start becoming a castle builder, building your own castle to be healthy, wealthy, and wise on planet Earth instead of expanding the kingdom and continually being uncomfortable for Jesus Christ.

>> When Barnabas saw what God was doing in Antioch, he realized something important. God wanted to do more. Read Acts 11:25-26 with me.

Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul. He went and found somebody. And when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch for a whole year.

Then he met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. Here's what Barnabas didn't do.

Barnabas didn't protect his position. He went looking for someone else to develop. Barnabas wasn't a castle builder.

Barnabas didn't say, "Hey, the church of Antioch, we're just going to we're just going to build this thing up to feel good. We're going to build this thing up for ourselves and our families." No, he wanted to expand the kingdom. He understood this was bigger than himself.

So, he went to get a disciple to make disciples. >> If you carry a title at Elevate Church, that title is just to be the first disciple in front of the line to disciple others to expand the kingdom and let go. >> He went looking for someone else to develop.

He recognized the call of God on Saul and brought him into the work. Then for an entire year, Barnabas and Saul taught the church. And the church at Antioch didn't merely gather a crowd.

It developed disciples. And that must always be the mission. You see, elevate exists to form people into the image of Jesus and release them into the God-given calling.

Does this language sound familiar to anybody? It's yours. >> Amen.

The win is that people encounter Jesus, find family, grow in their faith and begin living on mission. The win is when the person who was reach begins reaching someone else. The win is when the person who was served begins serving someone else.

The win is when the church plant becomes a church planting church. Acts 13 shows us what eventually happens in Antioch. While the church was worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Elevate Church.

God's not done with you after four years. He's just getting started. And what he wants to do is for you to multiply, not just in southern Utah, but beyond all over Utah and all over this country and the world.

[applause] You see, there's more marriages that need to be healed. There's more people that need to know that their life is worth it. There's more young people that need to understand that God's got great plans for them and loves them.

There's more people that need to be freed from addiction. There's more people that need to understand the one true God. And the church that once received leaders eventually releases leaders.

And the church that had been planted became a church that planted and sent others. And that is spiritual maturity. Maturity is not simply having more for ourselves.

[snorts] Maturity is releasing what God has given us for the sake of others. If you're part of Elevate Church, maturity and growth is you not receiving as much as you're giving away. Maybe God is calling you into more spiritual maturity.

Maybe God's calling you into spiritual formation to grow. Maybe God's calling you into taking your next steps of faith. Maybe God's calling you into being spiritually mature with your finances so you don't cringe when you're asked to give more because you've taken care of your finances in your home so you can give more.

Maybe God's calling you into spiritual maturity and parenting and marriage or whatever the case may be. You see, Elevate Church hasn't arrived because you're in a bigger building and you're adding services or you're celebrating an anniversary. Elevate Church starts arriving when disciples go make disciples and we start giving away what God is giving us.

Elevate. God planted this church in St. George, but I don't believe his vision ends at the walls of this building.

There are still people throughout southern Utah who need genuine encounters with Jesus. There are still marriages that need restoration. There's still people who feel spiritually displaced and need a family.

There's still young people searching for identity. There's still leaders waiting for someone to recognize the call of God in their lives. We don't do this anymore as preachers who preach the gospels and stand on a stage like this.

But there's a young man or a young woman in this room. Maybe you're in the back. Maybe you're in the front.

Maybe God's given you dreams and visions of doing what these pastors do. God's not done calling people into full-time ministry. >> Maybe you sit there and you are.

The enemy is already on your soul shoulder saying, "Nope, nope. Don't say a word. Don't say a word.

Put your head down. Start pulling out your phone. Start fidgeting.

This is getting uncomfortable. But maybe God's calling you in your 30s and 40s to go into ministry. God's not done with you.

>> Come on. >> God wants to use your redemption story. You say, "Mark, I have no biblical background." Yeah, we all start somewhere.

I'm simply saying maybe God's called this guy from South Georgia that yells a lot. And maybe he's just saying to you to shake you a little bit that God's given me a word that he's called you to multiply what God's done in you. And maybe he's called you to get a little uncomfortable cuz God's never called a Christian to be comfortable on planet earth because we're going to be comfortable around the king one day.

But not till then. And he wants us to do his work for the kingdom. There's still communities that need a god-given church.

There's still people in your neighborhood. There's still people in the schools. There's still people all around that need Jesus.

And the only way they're going to see Jesus is through you. Not through your pastors, not through your leadership, but through you. They're in your own homes.

They're in your waver children. They're in your grandchildren. They need you to live for Jesus and go be Jesus.

>> And your anniversary, your birthday, or whatever you're calling that thing is not the finish line. It's a sending moment. God did not bring you this far simply to make you comfortable.

He brought you this far so that you could carry the gospel farther. The question for the next season is not merely how many people can elevate gather. The question is how many disciples can elevate develop and sin?

Who's the next leader? Who's the next pastor? Who's the next broken person who will encounter Jesus?

Find freedom and discover purpose. Someone's future is connected to elevates faithfulness. Don't allow God's blessing to stop you.

Now, I don't know why I felt a heaviness. I even felt a heaviness coming here. [snorts] I I I feel like I've been fought for four days on this message.

I usually have my message all set before I leave my house for trips and I will leave here and I'll go to Chicago and I'll speak in Chicago and for some reason I kept waring with what to say and I didn't explain this in the first service and I'm almost done. I paid you to listen so keep listening. [laughter] Then I I use this notebook and my wife knows I have this system down.

I've done it for all my ministry career. I'm dyslexic and I have this whole way I have to do things and I usually print it out and I do the things old school because the way and I was so discombobulated if you even know what that word means. I had to go to a UPS store to get this printed out and then they couldn't figure it out.

The lady even invited me to go back behind the counter to figure out her printer and I couldn't figure it out. Then I went to a FedEx store and finally they figured it out and I wanted to hug her and take her to lunch with me and I thought that's awkward. [snorts] Then I came here and I felt sick and we stayed in the room last night and just I was just really praying, God, I I don't know I've never really done this before and I felt God just download these three challenges to Elevate Church and I'm ending my time with you.

K ringing in my ear evidence of grace. This world doesn't need to know what we're against. The Bible says truth is clanging symbols without God's love.

I'm not even a part of this church and I get emotional. This city needs the evidence of grace of a loving savior in Jesus Christ. There's more.

[music] Today we honor the past. I hope you celebrate it up next week and eat a taco for me. We honor every prayer that was prayed.

Yes. >> Every sacrifice that was made, every person who gave, every volunteer that showed up, every leader who carried responsibility, every person that set up and tear down this place. Every moment leadership chose faith over fear.

But we're not gathering around a monument to what God did. We are standing at the doorway of God. What God wants to do next.

The same hand that sustained elevate in the beginning is still on this church today. [snorts] Elevate in its beginning is still on this church. The same spirit who transformed lives in the first season is still moving.

The [snorts] same gospel that reached you is still powerful enough to reach the rest of the city and beyond. So as you step into the next season, remember these three challenges with bigger hurdles of face, bigger giants, bigger enemies, bigger financial struggles. Never forget what only God can do.

Protect the heart of what God is building. Multiply what you have received. I believe you will see God show up in ways you have never seen before.

Because you chose the opposite of comfort. Families will be restored because you chose to make room. You have a history to celebrate, but you have ground to take.

You have a marriage to celebrate that's been restored, but there's so much greater works from your family God wants to do. And I want to invite you into this season. Next week, you will celebrate another year of Elevate Church.

Before you celebrate what God has done through this church, I want you to consider what his grace has done in you. Barnabas came to Antioch and said he saw the grace of God. Grace had become visible in people's lives.

And I believe the same is true here. Some of you found Jesus here. Some of you found help here.

Some of you found your people here. Some people walked with you. Some people prayed for you.

You found healing here. [snorts] You've seen the evidence of the grace of God here. I've been here for 3 hours and I sense the presence and the evidence of grace of God that's overwhelming.

[music] Don't lose it. Don't let it be so that in a year it's gone. Don't let it be so that it ended with you.

Don't let this be a first generation church, but let this be a legacy church that sends its children, its daughters, [music] its grandchildren that starts a legacy in Utah and beyond. [applause] Don't ask, "What will God do for my church? Ask what will God do with my family?

What will ask God do with my addictions he freed me from? Ask what God do with my divorce that I have pain in. Ask me what will God do with me.

Me who was broken. Me who my life was messy. Me who he has changed.

God, what can you do with the evidence of the grace that you've given me? What can you do with my brokenness? What can you do with my scars?

What can you do with the sinstained life that has been given to me? What can you do with my second chance? What can you do with my testimony?

What can you do with my res restoration story? And I can tell you the moment that you decide that I'm not looking backwards. I'm going forward to take new ground.

I'm not ashamed of my past, but I am for him. I give glory to God for the scars of my life, and I'm looking to the future in love. [applause and music] Remember, I paid you to listen to me.

But I want you to know this in all seriousness. From a man that's going to get on a plane and fly to the next town. [snorts] Maybe I was just sent here today to remind you before you celebrate.

[music] The evidence of grace is not in the name Elevate. The evidence of grace is not in this building. And the evidence of grace is not in the future of growth.

The evidence of [music] grace is in you. In you. Don't let it stop with you.

[music] In the name of Jesus, I pray.