Vision Sunday - Fall 2024

Hey everyone, I'm Jordan Mello and you're listening to the Sanctus Church Podcast.

Our mission here at Sanctus is to glorify God by reaching and enabling people of all

ages and nations to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

Let's prepare our hearts for what we're about to hear.

Let's pray.

Good morning, Sanctus.

It is so good to be back with all of you.

Some of you are like, who in the world are you?

It's all good.

You must have joined this.

My name is John Thompson.

I'm the senior pastor of the church.

I've been on sabbatical this summer and it's great to meet you.

Again, a huge thank you to the board for that time of rest.

And thank you also to all the amazing staff from our own church and then guests who came

and preached all summer.

So thankful that you fed our congregation well this summer.

Okay, welcome to the fall.

Some of you are so excited it's the fall.

You're like, the kids are back to school.

Thank God.

Others of us are mourning the end of summer.

I love fall.

It's my favorite season, so I'm excited.

But welcome also to a new ministry year of Sanctus Church.

So always in September or early October, we always stop and we reflect before we dive

into our major sermon series and also as we get all existing or new ministries up and

running.

Now, this summer, I had the privilege of actually taking my family while we were on sabbatical

to Kentucky.

I have a friend who lives there and amazingly, he owns a horse farm in Kentucky.

Okay.

So that's pretty epic, but not only does he own a horse farm, he also owns a Chick-fil-A.

So basically, Jesus almost returned when I was in Kentucky because between Chick-fil-A

and horses and the beauty of Kentucky, I was like, I suppose this is it.

Anyway, we went and we were hanging out with my friends.

They were very kind to let us hang out there.

And one of my daughters declared to him that Chick-fil-A is fine, but actually a little

on the sweet side and Popeye's is much better chicken.

And then we had a quick conversation about how we honor our hosts, but he came back and

said, I like her chutzpah.

And I said, yeah, probably in the future, she'll end up probably running a group of

Chick-fil-A, which I think would be irony at the best of times.

Okay.

Anyway, while we're down in Kentucky among the beautiful horses and the peach milkshakes,

I suppose, to Chick-fil-A, I had promised my kids if we went, I would take them to King's

Island.

Now, King's Island is sort of like a sister to Wonderland.

It's bigger.

It's about an hour.

It's about an hour and 10 minutes north in Cincinnati, Ohio.

And so we were all geared up.

We were ready to go.

And then that massive heat wave that struck basically most of North America, I think it

was the mid-June, obviously hit there too.

Now, the app said that the day we were going, it was going to be 39 degrees.

That's 103 for our friends south of the border.

And I was like to the kids, we cannot go.

I mean, it's going to be so disgusting.

And gross and hot.

And they're like, you promised.

And I'm like, I know, but we can't go.

They're like, you have vows to fulfill.

So I was like, okay, I have to fulfill my vows.

So of course, I take them to King's Island.

It is 39 degrees that day between 103 and 104.

And we arrive and it's gross and it's disgusting.

And I'm like, why are we doing this?

It's so hot that literally the pavement, I think, is melting.

But the miracle of the day was no one else showed up.

Of course, because they're all logical people.

So we show up, no one's there.

And I think we set a world record.

We did 25 rides in five hours.

It was just like ride after ride after ride.

The biggest massive roller coasters there, bigger than the ones in Wonderland.

There was literally two people in front of us.

I think I probably had my back readjusted like 17 times.

I don't think I ever need to go back to a chiropractor.

It just was like adjustment, adjustment, adjustment on every single ride.

Now.

Of course, we could have not gone because of all the issues.

But because we did, we had this almost epic, amazing of days.

A day actually between me and my kids, we're going to remember for a long time.

It was the better day that could, of course, been easily missed, dismissed, or lost.

Now, here's why I'm sharing this.

I think that image of a possible lost day, which actually turned out to be the better day,

is us as a church in this moment in our history.

Now, I want to make this very clear.

I get very frustrated and uncomfortable when leaders always stand up,

especially in church communities, and say, there's always better days ahead.

There isn't always better days ahead.

Sometimes there are bad days ahead.

But in this case, I genuinely actually think there are better days ahead.

So how would I describe this year as we get going together?

What word, what image would let us get the sense,

the flavor, the feel of this year that we're going to dive into, that's going to drive us?

Again, what is this year going to feel like?

Well, the answer is found in one little item that you have tons of, many, many, many of

in your home.

It's a hinge.

You know what a hinge is, right?

A hinge is on every single door that you walk through.

It's a little metal or plastic bracket that lets the door open

and lets the door close.

They're so small, of course, compared to the door you're using.

But without them, you cannot close a door.

You cannot open a door.

You can't even attach it to your house or wall.

They are the actual things that allow doors to be doors.

So this year is going to be like that small group of brackets,

giving us the ability actually to close one door

and actually swing door a much larger door

into a new one.

A new place, new environment, new moment.

So you could call this a hinge moment.

Now, again, it's hard.

I'm turning 49 this year,

and I'm always trying to be culturally aware.

So again, just for the sort of younger millennials

and especially the Gen Z and Gen Alpha,

when I say hinge moment,

I'm not referring to any dating app at all.

Just need to clarify that.

If you don't know what I'm talking about,

don't worry about it anyway.

This is, for us, sort of a hinge moment that changes.

Now, in the Bible,

there are multiple hinge events, you could call them.

Joseph in jail, and then suddenly Joseph, prime minister.

Elijah, great miracle working prophet taken to heaven.

Then Elisha, David to Solomon, no temple to temple.

Jeremiah, Isaiah, calling for repentance,

lack of repentance, suddenly judgment, exile.

Ezra, Nehemiah, exile to home, captivity,

to freedom.

Of course, the largest hinge event in the scriptures

is John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet.

And then of course, Jesus, Emmanuel, son of God,

king of the Jews, Messiah.

Every single one of these hinge events was triggered

or did trigger a new move of God

and allowed a new place, space, chapter, moment.

All of them, of course, under and part of God's desire

and will for history.

So we as a local church are now at one of these hinge events.

The way I started talking about this just over a year ago

to staff and the board was in and around the hinge event

between Moses and Joshua.

Don't forget, Moses, called by God,

grew up in the, I mean, saved miraculously

by Pharaoh's daughter, grew up with the best education,

then, you know, years in the wilderness.

Then he, the burning bush moment that Moses has given

all the promises by God, where the people will go,

what the land will look like,

the very scope of the promised land.

He's used by God, signs, wonders, you know,

small things like the Red Sea water from Iraq,

bread from nothing, you know, all these things.

He leads the Jewish people out of Egypt, of course.

He builds the Tabernacle,

he establishes places of encounter.

He gives the very words of God to them.

He speaks to God as a friend speaks to a friend,

he intercedes for them.

That is, he stands in the gap for them.

He moves them right to the very edge of the promised land.

Then that hinge event begins to take place

between the time of Moses and Joshua.

There's like this liminal space.

Moses, under God's command, prepares the nation,

reminds the nation, sets the stage for Joshua

to take the people of God into the promised land

and fulfill the promises that have not yet been fulfilled.

In that hinge event,

Moses also speaks and gives his last grand sermon,

which you might not know is the actual book of Deuteronomy.

This is an amazing book.

Here's just a few highlights

from Moses' commissioning words to God's people

as they prepare to enter into God's promise.

We'll start in Deuteronomy six.

Hear, O Israel,

the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul,

your strength. These commandments I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them

on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie

down, and when you get up. In other words, here's what Moses says. There's only one God. We must

love God more than anything else or anyone else, and we are responsible to pass this faith

onto the children that belong to the next generation. So, moms, dads, sisters, brothers,

aunts, uncles, spiritual moms and dads, and friends. Faith should be, notice this, talked about

and embedded in the boring, everyday part of life, not just worship gatherings.

This is incredibly important, Moses says. Next, Deuteronomy 7.6, for you are a people holy to the

Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples of the face of the earth

to be his people. You are his treasured possession. You are chosen. You are elected. You are predestined.

You are loved by God. You did not get this. You did not earn this. You did not buy this. It is

given. In other words, here's what Moses is saying to the people of God. Fight identity theft.

When we become unsure of our calling, that is salvation calling,

we become unsure of our calling. We become unsure of our calling. We become unsure of our calling.

When we become unsure of our belovedness, we are done. We become some form of the living dead,

and the living dead cannot truly make any difference in the land of the living.

We must know who we really are and who we really know. You need to know who you are before you can

invite others to know who they might become under God's will. Yes, some of you might say, yes, yes,

John, it's obvious, but is it? See, there's something quite profound and deep taking place here.

Many of us might not think about it this way, but this is nothing less than an act of rebellion.

You might say, John, again, so dramatic. That's a loaded word. But do you know what rebellion means?

Rebellion, by definition, is an action or process of resisting authority, control,

or contravention. It is a word, actually, needed in our day like it was in Moses' day.

A clear understanding of identity and living out of that understanding is rebellion.

Rebellion against the world, the flesh, and the devil, because they are trying to mold you,

disciple you, make you what they want you to be. I love when my good friend John Mark Comer the

other day posted this. If we are not being intentionally formed by Jesus himself,

then we are being unintentionally formed by someone else or something else.

The 24-7 nonstop access to everything is vying to change you, silence you, distract you,

mold you to look like, feel like, act like, think like, walk in the ways of the spirit of the age.

Just think about all the worldviews we face, day in and day out, let alone the spiritual powers.

Ongoing rebellion is deeply needed. That is what Moses says before they enter in.

Here's another one, Deuteronomy 18.9.

When you enter the land the Lord your God has given you, do not learn to imitate the detestable

ways of the nations.

There. Since God is holy, we need to be holy. We must remain holy. We cannot give into sin

religiously, economically, sexually, relationally, even when everyone else says it's okay. It is the

way to live. It's the way you should live. We must choose to say no to ourselves and others.

It is better to be on the wrong side of history than on the wrong side of the author of history.

Fear God. Honor God.

Love God through Christ by the Spirit, not people or even yourself.

Here's another one, Deuteronomy 18.8.

But remember, the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.

So he confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors as it is today.

In other words, before you come into all that God has for you, before you walk through that next door,

before you experience the rest of the promises being fulfilled,

remember, God is going to give all this to you. If you start believing when you walk into the

promised land and the promises are being fulfilled that you have done this thing,

you will end up trusting yourself, which is pride and idolatry, and all will be lost.

Here's another one, Deuteronomy 31.6. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified

because of them. For the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you,

forsake you. God is the one that is sending you into this new place. He's going ahead of you,

and no matter what you face, human, demonic, spiritual, logistical, or otherwise,

God is stronger. So don't look down and don't look inside. Please don't do that.

And don't look at them. Look up. Look up. He's got this. And then lastly, Deuteronomy 32.46.

Take to heart all these words I have solemnly declared to you this day,

so you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.

They are not just idle words for you. They are your life. By them you will live long in the land

you are crossing the Jordan to possess. God's word must be the ultimate place that forms how

we think and how we act. It must form the ultimate place that forms how we think and how we act.

It must form our faith, our life, our practices.

He says, don't abandon my word when you walk in.

Now, there is, again, so much more in the book of Deuteronomy.

I think everything I just read, we could sort of say amen to

and reflect on and see where we need to change, and that would be it.

I mean, there's just so much there.

And yet, I think this space between Moses and Joshua

is the image for us as a local church, like I shared.

This is this hinge event we are now sort of standing together in.

And everything we've just heard above is key,

and we need to actually reflect on these things

and ground ourselves in these things.

But we also need to talk about our particular journey as a local church.

Last June, if you're with us, we celebrated our 25th anniversary,

at least of the Ajax site where I'm taping right now.

This is the mother.

To all we are today.

On that day, we recounted what God had done, where we had gone,

all the mistakes we had made, and also the victories we'd experienced.

If you're new, or you feel new, you should go back and listen to that sermon.

It will help you understand this part of God's family

that you either have joined or you're considering joining.

As most of you know, the journey to this moment has been amazing.

It has also been sad and boring.

And exciting, and filled with setbacks, and mistakes have been made,

and sin has been committed, and sacrifice in great ways is seen.

And there's been unbelievable faith, and holiness, and the amazing work of God.

Last June, at all five sites, we acknowledged the many different generations

of people that still are among us today that make up this church at this moment.

Some of you belong to the Bethel moment, the original sending church from Toronto.

And you've been with us since that very time.

Many of you joined us at our Steeple Hill Community Bible Church moment in Pickering.

Others of you joined us in our Ajax High years as we were waiting for this building to be built.

And we went portable before portable was portable.

Others of you joined us when we were called Crothers Creek Community Church.

And lots of you joined us in the C4 years when no one wanted to say Crothers Creek Community Church anymore.

So they just said C4.

And then others of you joined us when we were called Sanctus pre-COVID.

And many of you joined us as Sanctus.

During COVID.

And lots of you have joined us, of course, Sanctus post-COVID.

But this makes up our family.

Now, like I shared in June, let me do this quickly again.

In many ways, we've been moving to this literal Sunday, this very point, for 13 years.

The starting pistol for this moment actually started all the way back in September 2011.

And that's when, as some of you will remember, that's the first time we preached on Spiritism.

We preached on spiritual gifts in our church.

And everything changed.

Everything changed.

How we think.

How we do ministry.

The focus.

Everything changed.

Then in that same year, to 2014, we experienced a sovereign move of God that we couldn't invent.

Renewal moving to revival.

And actually the church has never been the same since that moment.

And then a few other things.

May 2014, we launched our first strategic plan.

Sort of our five-year plan to get us moving forward.

November 2015, we launched our first site beyond Ajax, which was called C4 Port Perry.

Some of you are there today.

In September 2017, we launched our first worship album.

January 2018, we launched C4 Bowmanville, our third site.

At that point, over 3,000 people were calling C4 their home.

2019 June, we revealed our next five-year plan called Plan 2.

And then September 2019, we revealed the new name.

Sanctus.

And again, there was prayer meetings and fasting, and it came out of those moments.

And of course, sanctus or sanctus, if you want to say it right, is a Latin sort of religious phrase meaning holy.

God is holy.

We're called to be holy.

It's also Trinitarian in its overtones.

November 3, 2019, Pickering launches.

November 17, Port Perry moves into its permanent location.

And then March 2020, well, that COVID thing happened.

And we had to go digital for a very long time.

And then we sort of lived in a back and forth hybrid state.

And I don't want to talk much more about that, but we all remember it.

And then during 2020 to 2022 and the back and forth and the chaos and the politics and the pain, we launched our fifth site, our online site.

And that became profoundly established even to this day.

And then from 2022, end of COVID, to 2024, we've been learning how to live with five sites because we had never done that.

Until that point.

And we, of course, were rebuilding like all other churches, stabilizing and moving forward.

Like I shared back in June, the influence has actually been quite mind-blowing and significant.

And all glory to God for that.

Since September 2011, like I did share, over 12,500 people have belonged formally to our church.

That's not guests.

That's not a first-time visitor.

These are people that called this church their home.

They gave.

They served.

They worshiped.

This represents thousands of volunteer hours and so much work between current and former staff.

This represents thousands of moments like child dedications and baptisms and conversions and alpha groups and youth and young adults gatherings and deliverances and healings and Bible studies and local and global serving.

It goes on and on and on.

And as we look at the church today, it's very different than back then in 2011, praise God.

And, of course, lots has changed.

Some of our friends who are all in have died.

They're with Jesus now.

Many, many of our friends have moved out of Durham to other parts of the GTA, Ontario, around the world, even this summer.

Core, core families I've known for years moved to the East Coast.

Others have planted new churches in the area.

Others have joined churches in this area, just like many of you have left your churches and come to us.

The point, though, is simply this.

We get a glimpse of what the last 14 years has been like.

And the influence, let alone the last 25.

And it is pretty jaw-dropping.

So, with our history clear from June till today, we now need to turn to the future.

The journey ahead is now before us.

And actually, if I might boldly say, this sermon is the next starting pistol for the next thing.

This is the beginning of the next hinge event.

And because of this, this year we're going to spend a lot of time in Joshua,

looking, learning, seeing, imitating, and walking towards our promised land, our Jerichos, and our Jordan River.

Now, there are lots of things that God promised this church that have already been fulfilled.

There are other things that God has spoken to this church that have not yet been fulfilled.

So, we who now make up this generation of this church,

in this moment, have to keep moving towards what God has called us into.

Now, there are certain things, I say this every September, October,

that do change, and certain things that never change,

between generations, and even in hinge moments like this.

What does not change is our mission.

This is not our mission, by the way.

We're just joining God's mission.

Every church on earth has the same mission.

We might use different language, but it's the same thing.

Here's how we articulate it here.

Why do we exist?

To glorify God by reaching and enabling people of all ages and nations

to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

This is rooted right in Acts 2, Matthew 28.

This never changes depending on season or moment.

We're called to witness, to reach out, to see people of different generations,

and ages and stages, and ethnicities,

become followers of Jesus from Nazareth.

But we also who now know Him,

must become more and more like Jesus.

That is why we exist.

This is why we do everything that we do.

But visions are different than mission.

Mission, Acts 2, Matthew 28, we've always used the phrase,

common faithfulness never changes in any environment.

But, visions are God-given for a season,

and they will be replaced by new ones.

It's like bread. They have a shelf life.

Strategies support vision for a season.

They can change at any time.

Now, does this always mean that God will give a unique vision?

That He'll always speak?

No.

Many times, common faithfulness is the only ongoing call from heaven for churches.

But other times, God does speak.

And He gives churches specific goals or assignments.

And this is what, quite shockingly, happened to us.

Now, our current vision, which has a whole story in itself,

bathed in prayer, tested, having community affirmation over multiple moments,

is still this.

We at Sanctus Church are called to be a missional church of 10,000,

meeting the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of people in Jesus' name.

Now, we changed the word missional.

We changed it to missional last year.

It used to be regional.

And again, for you who are joining us, let me just give you some background.

We used the word regional, and when we used to say it,

when it was first uttered, people thought,

oh, yeah, yeah, Ajax, the neighborhoods around the church.

And then people were like, oh, no, regional means Durham.

And then just before the pandemic, when we revealed Plan 2,

we talked about launching our next set of sites in Oakville, Markham, Stouffville,

downtown Toronto, North York, Lindsay, Peterborough, and Port Hope.

So it was like, actually, regional means the GTA.

And then, of course, all of that came to a standstill

as we lived through the global moment.

Now, on the other side, our goal is, in time,

God willing, to launch some of these or other opportunities

across the globe.

That's the GTA.

But again, one of the silver linings during the pandemic

was our global reach got formalized.

Our influence online was already large,

but it was growing more and more during COVID,

not just in the GTA, but actually all over the world

and like multiple countries through sermons and books

and worship songs and gatherings online and all that,

which, of course, led to our fifth site.

So we decided to use the word missional instead of regional

because it's global.

And it's local.

And it gives room for virtual and physical

and mixed expressions of church,

and it reminds us that we have to keep pushing out.

It's also interesting that as we keep growing as a church,

I mentioned this last year,

though we're a large, large church,

interestingly, we feel small even though we're big,

which I think is what many large churches will be like

in this next run.

So not only do we have our mission,

which does not change, and our vision has not yet been replaced,

by God, but we also are rooted in one other thing.

And again, some of you are like,

I've heard this a hundred times before.

I know, but vision leaks.

So we have to remind ourselves.

And for you who are new, this matters too.

Our cultural vision is just as important to us.

And it's rooted in Acts 13 out of the church in Antioch.

It says in the church of Antioch,

there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simon called Niger,

Lucius of Cyrene, Mannion, who had been brought up with Herod,

the Tetrarch, and Saul.

So you've got Jews and Greeks and Romans,

not only meeting in church for a year,

but leading a church together.

And again, like I say every year,

the list is quite amazing.

You've got Saul and Barnabas, Orthodox Jews who follow Jesus.

Then Simon called Niger.

That's a Latin name because of his sin color.

He's African in origin.

Lucius is a common Roman name,

but Cyrene is modern-day Libyan,

so he's North African.

And then Mannion, who grew up in the Herod family,

who was involved in a lot of bad things.

And now he's a leader.

Jews, non-Jews, African, North African, Roman, Greek,

God through Jesus and His Spirit have brought people together

that would never hang out with each other,

let alone worship together.

And they're now doing the work of God,

which again, we have to continually work towards,

because this is what the new heavens and new earth

will permanently be like.

And then this key verse, right? Luke 13, 2.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting,

the Holy Spirit said,

Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul

for the work which I have commanded them.

Now, I share this every year.

The word worshiping has real punch here,

and we should not ignore it.

It's almost exclusively used for priests and Levites

in the Old Testament doing God's work.

And now, amazingly, God views the local church,

the gathering of people, reading Scripture together,

taking communion together,

worshiping the Father, the Son, and the Spirit

as the same thing.

And interestingly, in this moment

of using spiritual disciplines

and then the spiritual gift of prophecy,

the Holy Spirit speaks on behalf of Jesus, of course,

and tells the church Jesus' will.

That is, Barnabas and Saul,

the two most eminent and gifted leaders,

the best thinkers, preachers, most anointed,

are called to leave this really revival-like experience.

And we've said for years,

Antioch is our chosen archetype, flavor, or cultural vision.

Strong teaching, a place of influence for the kingdom

in its region and beyond,

spiritual disciplines, mutual submission,

strong leadership, growing in cultural diversity,

all the spiritual gifts at the center of serving,

sensitivity to the Spirit's leading,

prompting, planning, the staying and going of leaders

as the Holy Spirit speaks and moves.

So, here we are,

and as one door is now closed,

a new door begins to swing open.

And as I begin my 27th ministry year launch on staff,

this is my 33rd as a member of this church,

and as you begin to start with us,

no matter whether you've been with us for a week,

a month, years, or decades,

there are some common calls,

there are some needed reflections,

there are some important insights,

there are some important invitations

that should not be ignored, dismissed, or reduced

if we are truly about to cross the Jordan

into those unfulfilled God promises.

Our attention should be sharp and very attuned.

So, this is when I beg your attention,

and I'd ask everyone to get off social media while I'm speaking

and just take a look at the screens,

wherever you might be in the world.

All right?

Number one, what do we need to do together?

Well, if you're a seeker,

or you're a skeptic,

or if you are spiritual but not affiliated,

or if you belong to another religion,

or if you considered yourself a Christian in the past

and you might sort of now or you don't anymore,

first of all, you're all welcome.

We're so glad you're here.

Your doubt, your questions, your wonderings, they're all welcome.

Your role this year

is to find out if Jesus actually is the Son of God.

If he truly, physically rose from the dead or not.

I mean, he said he's the way, the truth, and the life.

No one gets to God the Father except through him.

Pretty crazy statement.

Is that true?

You're invited this year to wrestle down

if Jesus is not just influential, or good, or helpful,

or inspiring, or interesting.

Is he who he claimed to be?

You, whether you know it yet or not,

are facing your ultimate hinge moment

between what was and what will be for eternity.

So I want to leave you

with Jesus' best friend's words about him

to start your journey this year.

John 3.16

For God so loved the world

that he gave his one and only Son

that whoever believes in Jesus

will not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world

but to save the world through Jesus.

Whoever believes in Jesus is not condemned.

Whoever does not believe stands condemned already

because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

The question for you is, who is he?

Is it true? Is it real?

What does that mean?

Now, many of us gathering across all of our sites and beyond,

we are followers of Jesus.

And so the conversation for us in this hinge moment is different.

And as we now face our future,

there are a few very specific ways we actually need to respond.

And the first one is this.

Every single one of us needs to renew our wedding vows before the Lord.

When you became a Christian, whenever that happened,

you said that Jesus was your Savior and your Lord.

In other words, you said,

Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.

You lived, died, and rose again.

Yes, and forgive me my sins.

Oh, and you're King.

And so we all need to not only say,

Lord, save us of our sins.

We need to reaffirm the Lordship of Jesus.

What does that mean?

This is what it means.

This is when you say to Jesus,

I do not own my life.

I do not own my family.

I do not own my kids.

I do not own my job.

I do not own my savings.

I do not own my health.

I do not own my reputation.

I do not own my thinking.

I do not own my sexuality, my dreams, my hopes, my pains.

It's all yours, Jesus.

I welcome your ownership, your Lordship into every part of me.

What I own,

what I'm connected to,

what I want,

what I desire.

If you just tuned me out or you got defensive,

that's always a good sign that actually you don't really want this.

And I understand.

I get it.

But I'm going to stop right now.

And I'm just going to say,

if you're a follower of Jesus,

before we move in,

we need to renew our vows now.

And so wherever you might be,

would you just open your hands like this?

Or maybe cover your face or just bow or kneel.

And I'm literally going to say,

I'm literally going to pray this with us.

Would you pray along with me?

So just say,

you can do this quietly if you want.

Lord Jesus,

I do not own my life.

I do not own family,

kids,

job,

savings,

health,

reputation,

thinking,

sexuality,

dreams,

hopes,

pains.

It's all yours, Jesus.

You're a good, good friend.

I welcome your Lordship,

your ownership,

into every part of me.

What I own,

what I'm connected to,

what I want,

what I desire.

I recommit my love to you

as you've loved me first.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

So wedding vows,

very important.

Second,

we need to all boldly ask Jesus,

the head of all churches in this church,

do you want me here at Sanctus

in this year,

in this run?

Or are you calling me out like Barnabas and Saul?

We don't need to be afraid,

by the way,

of prayers like this at all.

Jesus literally is the head of all churches.

He's in charge.

It's funny,

on sabbatical,

I was able, of course,

to attend some other churches,

try sneaking in the back,

didn't work very well,

but tried sneaking in the back.

I was in a local Baptist church near my home.

And at the end of the service,

this really amazing core couple

that used to attend the Ajax site came up and said,

John, it's so good to see you.

I'm like, yeah.

And they told me the story

that it was just before

we were launching Romanville.

And I always get up and I say,

okay, we're launching a new site.

What is Jesus saying?

A lot of you need to go,

so we make room here

and all that stuff.

And they were like, yes,

we're gonna go support Romanville.

We're open, Jesus.

And so they went and fasted and prayed.

The prayer I just said like this,

where they're like,

Lord, where do you want us to go?

And the Holy Spirit said,

you're not staying at Sanctus.

And they were like, what?

We love Sanctus.

And they're like, he's like, no,

you gotta move out beyond Coburg

and I'm gonna establish you there.

And they were like,

but he's like, no.

And so they recounted the story

going into a prayer moment like this

and being in complete shock.

They used to give here, serve here.

They were all in, core, core couple.

And so as we were meeting

in another church this summer,

they talked about how hard that was

and the grief they experienced

and what they not only felt shocking about it,

what they still missed actually

about so much of what we do.

But then they started celebrating

what God was doing in their new church,

in their new community

and why God had established them there.

And so,

essentially,

the simple prayer we all need to say is,

Jesus, where do you want me?

And you can even say that now,

Jesus, where do you want me?

He'll speak.

As long as your motives are pure,

just he'll speak and he'll assign.

None of us should be afraid of this.

This is a great prayer to pray.

And then if you get the yes to stay,

then this is what happens.

If you're called to stay in the community,

then we need to not volunteer,

but serve.

We're gonna talk a lot about this

in the next few weeks.

And don't misunderstand this,

but in the New Testament,

the word repentance doesn't just mean

don't do bad things anymore.

Turn from that.

It means changing your thinking

to right thinking.

And I think we probably as a church

need to have a pretty significant conversation

about the difference between

what the biblical vision of serving is

versus the North American idea

of volunteerism is.

If we're gonna cross into the promised land,

into this new moment,

there has to be repentance.

New thinking in around service

in a deep heartfelt way

that maybe a lot of us who've done this for a while

haven't thought about.

And then of course, lastly,

we're gonna need to ask for God's protection

and the power of the Holy Spirit

as we move forward.

And so this is gonna be quite a year,

an empowering year, an exciting year,

a challenging year,

but it is the starting pistol.

It is the beginning of a new hinge moment

in the long run of this church.

And so I'm gonna invite you to join me again,

whatever site you are at

or listening online somewhere else.

And would you just pray these simple things with me?

Lord, thank you for the grand history of our church.

Thank you that you are working,

not just in our church,

but churches all around the world.

Lord, your will be done around the whole church today.

For us specifically, Lord,

for us who don't know you,

help us to meet Jesus personally and profoundly.

Lord, help us not to resist your Lordship,

but welcome it,

because there's freedom there.

Lord, speak to us where we're assigned to be

without fear or politics.

Lord, begin to change our thinking

about serving in a new way.

Speak to us about that

and deliver this church from the evil one

and empower us by the Holy Spirit

as we prepare to cross the Jordan.

We pray this in Jesus' name,

and we all sit together.

Amen.

Welcome to this very significant moment.

We'll see you next week.

Amen.

Thanks for watching!