Good to be back in Southern California.

Fun to visit the Midwest.

Fun to come back from the Midwest.

I'm in Matthew chapter 16, verse 24 through 27.

So we're doing something a little different.

We're about to start a new series.

I've just come back from study break.

For those of you who are new and you think, okay, we didn't even notice you were gone.

Okay, I was gone for about four Sundays, maybe five.

And every year, the elders allow me to go away and plan the next 12 months of sermons and sermon series.

Now, we want to work a year ahead of time because if the children's ministry, if the growth groups, if everyone involved in our church knows where I'm going over the next 12 months, then they can plan accordingly.

So worship just isn't something we do at the spur of the moment or as a last thought.

It's very well planned.

We're very thematic in what we do, very intentional.

But in order for the teams to be able to do that, I need to go away and just sit in a cafe for a couple hours, actually for about six to eight hours every day, and write the sermon plans for the next 12 months.

And this year I took on quite a large endeavor.

I decided I was going to go for 18 months and try to go all the way through next November, which I was able to do.

So if you ever wonder, why does Jeff disappear?

I'm not golfing.

Well, not all the time.

I'm not golfing.

I'm working, preparing, and this year was a, it really was a great year because my daughter Sian was able to come from Europe and spend a couple of weeks so I could be with her and cry again when she left, knowing I wouldn't see her again for a year.

I got to spend a few hours with my brother Tony that I talk about.

My brother Tony is one of the top five luthiers in America.

He is a master guitar builder.

He's an interesting guy.

Every time I'm with him, I laugh.

He reminds me of Jed Clampett.

I hope he's not watching.

I got a direct message from Jesus while I was away, and it came by way of a poster.

I thought you might want to be interested or be interested in this.

Drink good coffee, fear no evil.

But my home for the entire time was this place here.

I always find a place.

Well, no, not this place.

This was a cave office.

I'm sorry.

I jumped the gun here.

This was not my home.

I was not John writing the book of Revelation.

And the next slide, I was able to find one of my favorite desserts that's very difficult for me to find.

It's cinnamon and sugar babka, and so I was eating some nice desserts, thinking of you the whole time.

Here, though, is the place that I spent, right on the couch, and then I would move to the table as I would type things in.

It was a cafe that I found called Brevide.

It's from a word that means brevity, and there were scripture verses everywhere.

One of the things I notice when I go to the Midwest is that there's Bible verses everywhere.

It's amazing how free people are with their faith.

Wherever you go, it's okay to be a Christian in the Midwest, I guess, is what I'm saying.

As a matter of fact, it's preferred.

And that's kind of different from what we experience sometimes here in SoCal, isn't it?

And it always shocks me.

It also shocks me when young men open the door for me.

Let me help you, old man, find a seat.

When I go into the shop and they say, well, I'm going to give you the senior rate, sir.

You know, all of that stuff, the sir and the ma'am, it's very different.

But I spent most of my time, most of my hours right there at the Brevday Cafe.

And I continue to be excited where God is leading our church.

And we thought it would be good, August 1st, the first weekend.

before I get into these series that God has placed on my heart, to remind you that we're a bunch of imperfect people that are partnering with God to do immeasurably more than any of us could have ever imagined.

I want you to know we are so blessed here.

I know that most of you don't know our elders, but this is the best group of elders I've worked with in my life.

These are spiritual men and women who pray for our church, who guide our church, who direct our church.

And when you have elders this strong, then it frees up people who are in ministry to go out, because you're not doing battle internally, you're doing battle where you're supposed to do battle, externally, outside.

And when I go on these study breaks, I'm trying to get the battle plans from God.

What's our next move?

The other thing, how many of you were blessed by Rory and his messages?

And how many of you...

How many of you were blessed by Michael and the message he brought before he went to Africa?

So one of the things you're going to see regularly As I've said before, one and all cannot be Jeff Vines Church.

That never works.

It's got to be a church of multiple speakers, teachers, workers, and that's got to continue to grow as we train up the next generation.

Now, next week we begin a series that I've put a lot of work into.

It's called Something's Missing.

And although this sermon isn't part of that series, it still serves.

as a great segue into it.

The years that I spent in India when I was traveling, first of all, with Ravi, Zacharias, and then the years I spent with Ajay Law, there are quirky things in India.

First of all, it's the best food in the world, in my opinion.

It's hard to beat Indian food, but there are quirky things in culture.

If you go to India, you drive through the streets and there are cows everywhere.

Cows are sacred.

You can't shoo a cow.

You can't...

Tell a cow to get off the middle of the street.

If you run over a cow, you go to prison longer had you run over a little boy or a girl.

They're that sacred.

Quirky things.

One of the most quirky things I ever saw was an India bicycle race.

In India, they have a bicycle race where everybody lines up.

The entire race is only 20 meters.

And the first one to finish it loses.

The last one to finish wins.

The key is to balance yourself on the bicycle and not make any forward progress.

And if you put your foot down to catch your balance, you lose.

So you got all these guys balancing, trying not to move.

And the one who finishes last finishes first.

Now, I've always wondered what would happen, say, if Lance Armstrong shows up and he doesn't know this is how racing works in India.

And he gets his bicycle out and his steroids.

He's ready to race, and he thinks to himself, he thinks to himself, what do these Indians know about racing bicycles?

So he gets his, you know, his bike out, million, you know, $100,000 bike, and the whistle goes, and he sprints across the line, thinking he's won, only to discover he lost.

Soren Kierkegaard, my favorite quote, and I've used it numerous times, says that he has learned to define life backwards.

First, determine the goal.

and then live life accordingly.

If you don't know the goal, you lose every time.

But if you do know the ultimate objective of your life, then you're supposed to say, okay, here's my destination.

And since this is my destination, I'm going to live life accordingly.

It's called living life backwards.

So Christians are supposed to ask themselves, what is the ultimate objective of your life?

Is it money?

Well, no.

Nothing wrong with money, but if that were the ultimate objective of your life, you would spend all your time gathering as much money as you could.

Is it significance where you separate yourself from the herd, where you want to stand out and be noticed, and your greatest fear is that no one will know your name?

The problem with that is no matter how big you become, there's always a bigger bull.

There's always a bigger herd.

And it will lead to a life of frustration and futility.

What about your health?

I've heard people say, you know, as long as I've got my health, that's what matters.

Well, you've got no guarantee you're going to have your health.

I just visited finally after two years.

My high school basketball coach passed away, and I've not been able to get back to Tennessee.

And finally, while I was in Kentucky, I drove down to have lunch with Coach Nugger's wife, who's still living.

And we got to have that talk that I wanted to have two years ago.

She said, Jeff, he was perfectly healthy, going to the gym five days a week, walking, running, working out, just like that.

He ends up in the hospital.

He's dead within four days.

The point is, your health, your significance, how much money you make, the reason it can't be the goal is because all of that dies.

All of it.

You say, well...

My goal in life is to have good children and a good marriage.

Those are good and worthy goals, but they too die.

In fact, let me give you some bad news and some good news.

The bad news is you're going to die, right?

You are going to die.

The good news is that you're part of a kingdom that never will.

And because you're part of a kingdom that never will die, that means you too will live forever.

So if your life and the ultimate goal of your life is to live in eternity with God, Then if you define your life backwards, how then should you live as you're making your way toward the final destination?

Jesus spoke in Matthew 16, and he said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it.

Whoever loses their life for me will find it.

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul?

Now, I've heard that passage all my life.

I spent a little time trying to figure out what exactly is Jesus saying?

Here's what I think he's saying.

He's saying life is hard.

You are going to have burdens to bear.

And if you spend your life trying to pursue a perfect world where you have no burdens, you're going to lose every time.

Instead, pick up the burdens of your life, your cross, and live for the kingdom that will last forever.

That's the message of the New Testament.

In fact, we're told in the Bible that you and I are owned.

We've been bought with a price.

That because we've been redeemed, we have a new master.

Now, you're going to serve some master.

You're going to serve money or significance or your health, whatever it is.

Everybody serves something.

Jesus says, serve the master who always delivers on his promises.

and who always has your best interest in mind.

And if you do that, then you're living life backwards.

You're living according to the ultimate goal or objective.

In Ephesians 2.10, we're told, for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

So here are three truths that I believe that God has given me on my study break, and I'll move through this quickly.

Number one, God has called you to this church for a reason.

Number two, God has called me to this church for a season.

And three, our impact on the world has no rhyme or reason.

Did you notice how all three of those rhyme?

Did you see that?

Did you see that?

They rhyme.

Other than the grace of God.

So first, quickly, God has called you here for a reason.

What's the reason?

Let me read the verse again.

For we are God's handiwork.

Created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Handiwork is the Greek word poeme, from which we get our word poem.

God has written your life line by line by line.

Everything that's happened in your life, to you and for you, has all been part of God's equipping you to play a significant role in building the kingdom of Christ.

You have been created and remade.

You became a new creature in Christ Jesus and were told that God prepared the works that you will do before you were even born.

How does that work?

Psalm 139, you created my inmost being.

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.

Your works are wonderful.

I know that full well.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

A Hebrew phrase that means God has put you together piece by piece.

Every intricate detail.

And he's done that because he knew, listen, this is, for some of you, your God is simply too small.

This big God of ours is able to allow, cause, determine all these events in your life.

In order to fully, completely equip you.

To play a role, the role that only you with your personality and your gifts can play in the fellowship of believers to which he's called you.

It's that simple really.

You're here because God sent you here.

And not only that, the joy that you're looking for, the overarching joy, not the pleasurable satisfaction.

Remember the difference between the two?

The Greek word eudaimonia.

It's a word that means happiness.

Plato used it.

Aristotle used it.

But it doesn't mean pleasurable satisfaction.

It doesn't mean to have a happy feeling.

It means to have a centralized joy.

And even Plato said that happiness can be discovered when you find your role in life and play it.

The centralized joy, the deep joy that you're looking for in your life that you think will come from money and stuff and significance and your health.

and your body, whatever else it is, you're never going to discover it in those things.

It can only be discovered when you discover why God made you and what role he wants you to play in his kingdom.

So God has called you here for a reason.

And the reason is that you would become part of his world, his church, and his vision.

Now here's the second thing.

God has called me here for this season.

When I go away on study break, I try to do three things.

Number one, I try to evaluate my walk with Jesus and my walking with Jesus.

The older you get, the more you realize.

If you're not walking with Jesus, you're going to make a lot of mistakes.

If you are walking with him, you're going to have courage.

And you're going to do things ordinarily you would never do because you know you're walking in his will.

The second thing I do is I beg God.

Beg him for the direction he wants me to take.

With our staff, with our vision, with everything.

God, I'm not smart enough.

And it's only a matter of time before people figure that out.

If you don't give me direction.

There's no way I'm going to make wise decisions.

And then finally, by the end of study break, I have the battle plans in my mind and in my notes at hand.

I want to remind you, if you're part of our church and you're going to go with us into the future, here are a few things about us you need to know that will never change unless God himself comes down and changes them.

First, we are unapologetically evangelistic.

We exist to help people far from God come near.

Jonah saw the Ninevites as unworthy of salvation.

In this church, we think that every person is created in the image of God and loved by God, who loves them so much that he sent his only son to die for them.

No matter who they are, God loves them and God is pursuing them.

Therefore, if Jesus died to himself to go out and find the one as he left the ninety and nine, then surely he's our example that you and I become people of great generosity and great sacrifice that we put an end to ourselves, that we might live for a purpose greater than ourselves to help people far from God come near.

And so in this church, you will always hear us talk about what?

One hope, one life in Christ.

What are we talking about?

We're trying to encourage every person, listen now, to avoid the holy huddle.

A holy huddle is when you're the kind of Christian, you come to church in a safe place on the weekend, you may even attend a group, and the group you attend during the week are all believers, and that's the totality of your experience.

We're asking you to consider something, that while it's good to come to church, and it's good to be in a group where you're praying with other people, and you're reading the scripture, that's fantastic.

But our challenge is to ask the question.

How can we use this group that God has given us to reach people who are far from God?

How can we structure some of our worship services to reach people far from God?

We're not just about us.

We're about them.

Getting those who are far from God to come near.

And you do that through love and compassion and generosity and sacrifice.

You say, well, Pastor Jeff, what does that look like?

Well, it looks like, first of all, you're investing in one life.

We ask every person to have one person in their life that is not a believer.

One person that you have coffee with regularly.

One person that you talk to regularly.

And you're not beating them over the head with your Bible.

And you're not being a jerk and telling them, you're going to hell, you know, and if you don't straighten up, I'm going to be happy for you.

You're investing in them and you're letting them see what it's like when Christ takes full possession of a life.

And sometimes it takes a month.

Sometimes it takes a year.

And in the first one life I had, it took me seven years.

But when he came to Christ, he brought his whole family.

That's who we are.

Some of you who have incredible growth groups, small groups, and you meet together, that's great.

I'm happy.

But have you ever thought that while you're meeting in your home, that all around you on your street are people who are far from God?

What could you do as a group once a month, once every two months?

To open your door to those around you, to let them come in and mix and mingle with people who know Jesus.

Can't do that, Pastor Jeff.

They may cuss or something.

They may bring a beer.

Some of you say, I hope they bring enough for me.

But this is what we see Jesus doing all through his ministry.

Going into the houses of sinners.

and frustrated with the righteous.

None of us deserve to be saved, folks.

We're not better than anybody else.

We're just saved by the grace of God.

The other thing we do around here is you notice we host monthly baptism and salvation services.

You know, we believe that people should be coming to Christ in this church every weekend.

But what we do is we say, you know, the last weekend of every month, we're going to bring up the pool and we're going to preach the gospel and we're going to baptize people.

And it's kind of like the guy who by faith believes it's going to rain.

Later on in the day, so he carries an umbrella, even though the skies are beautiful.

If we truly believe that God is moving in a unique way, and people are going to get saved and baptized, then we're going to establish services that invite them to do so.

So I just want to give you a heads up.

We're going to go on warp speed now.

The end of every series in the coming year, that last weekend, I'm going to bring the gospel in, I don't know.

Full capacity.

I'm coming hard.

I mean hard.

And we're going to do that because we're going to expect people to be in the audience who are far from God, who need to hear the gospel in its simplicity.

I want to give you a heads up.

Man, we're going to be gospel-centered, gospel-celebrated, gospel-contagious.

By faith, we're going to preach the good news of the gospel, and we're going to expect people to come and receive Christ and to be baptized.

And my goodness, If Jesus left the 99 for the one, if the angels stop what they're doing in heaven and rejoice over one sinner that repents, then wow, you and I should be dancing in the aisles when people line up here and come and receive Christ and are baptized.

Second, I want you to know something.

We are, and we will continue to be, unapologetically word-centered.

We believe It is the responsibility of the local church to do more than host spiritual pep rallies.

Now, I said more than because, man, I grew up in a church.

It was like a funeral every weekend.

I mean, I walked out of there sad.

I mean, I was throwing myself on the altar of repentance every week.

Every sermon was about sin.

I just knew God was going to get me any moment.

And I felt like he had an eraser.

and every time I'm...

Did something wrong, mine's out of the book of life, you're gone, next.

I'm just beaten up all the time.

Alternatively, now when I go and visit churches on my study break, sometimes I walk away and think, man, you're just right here on the surface.

You're just telling everybody what they want to hear, but you're not telling them how to get there.

We are unapologetically word-centered.

And that means when somebody comes to this platform and preaches, We want to know that they've done their work in the word and that they're passionate about it.

See, the problem, we've got a problem now.

So I was asked about this on my study break.

Somebody said, Pastor Jeb, what do you think about chat GPT?

And pastors are writing sermons through chat GPT.

And I said, if you write a sermon through chat GPT, there's no heart in it.

And your people will know that.

Anybody can regurgitate information.

but a sermon that lives.

The speaker has struggled for five days, and there is tension.

And when he comes or she comes out here to deliver it, God has already done something in them that is now transformed or transferred over to you.

In Ephesians chapter 4, So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, the teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith.

and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

We believe at this church, it is our responsibility to equip the people of God for works of service, to assist the believer toward maturity in the knowledge of the Scriptures and of Christ himself, and to challenge all believers to take the good news of the gospel to the world.

Folks, there's a...

There is a trend in our world that makes me very uncomfortable.

Maybe it's because I'm the old guy.

But I was able to visit some pretty large churches.

Probably every church I visited in the four weeks I was away was at least twice our size.

One of the sermons I heard, I'm not going to mention it, but one of the sermons I heard was on Isaiah 53.

And I saw it in the bulletin and I thought...

Isaiah 53.

This is going to be great.

In every church I visited, it felt like the pastor just simply stated the obvious.

You know, I can tell you that Jesus died for your sins, and that may go someplace.

But if I explain to you why and what the atonement means, and I explain to you why Jesus had to die for our sins, and why there's all this blood, guts, and gore on the cross, and how that forgives us and puts us in an eternal relationship with the Father, There is a shallowness today.

It just surfaced right here.

And so if we stay there in our preaching and teaching, then when pain and suffering come into your life, if all I've done is tell you that God loves you, but not shown you how and why and how that applies into your life, when you've lost everything, I'm not helping you.

This church will always be committed.

to teach the depth of the riches of the mercy and the grace of God.

We want you to grow.

And we know it's our responsibility when we take this stage or when we teach as group leaders, it's our responsibility to study and prepare and to struggle.

And to borrow a phrase from a friend of mine, I want to teach the thinker to believe and the believer to think.

And ultimately, every believer to grow.

And we're committed to that, unapologetically.

We're not just going to state the obvious.

We're not going to give you a pep rally.

We're not just going to tell you three funny stories and hope that we entertain you.

We are going to go for the jugular.

Three, we are unapologetically driven to authentic worship.

Oh, I've been waiting to say this for a long time.

These churches that I attended, and I want to be careful here.

Please don't think I'm saying, oh, our church is great.

We got our own issues, if you've been around any length of time.

But here's what I saw.

Nobody worships.

I saw these big churches and these big stage and a band that could be a recording artist.

But nobody worships.

It's the ultimate spectator event.

Everybody comes and they're there with their coffee and, you know, their cell phone.

And everybody's kind of doing this, but nobody's worshiping.

Now you say, Jeff, that's a judgment call.

Okay.

I look around and you can see people on their phones, people drinking their coffee, but they're not engaged, but the music's fantastic.

No, I'm not doing that.

We're not doing that.

Worship is not about the band or the leaders.

The worship leaders, the musicians, it's not about that.

It's about leading every single one of us to the throne room of God.

And that happens when there's humility and when there's a desire, a strong passion to help people meet Jesus in every worship experience.

To have that kind of worship, two things have to happen.

Number one, you don't go to the tabernacle.

You bring the tabernacle with you.

That means you've been with Jesus all week.

So that by the time you get here, you already know him.

I don't need two songs to get you motivated.

You're motivated by the time you walk in the door.

That's when you have a worship culture.

And those who are leading you, whoever they are, must be walking with Jesus in love, grace, and humility.

In one church I attended, there was a worship leader who was barefoot.

I thought, that's a little different.

It's a little different.

Barefoot, jeans rolled up.

And after the service, I said, who's that guy?

I was just curious, interesting guy.

Oh yeah, he lives in this house down the road and he's living with a woman he's not married to, but they're giving him a chance to lead worship.

Okay, nah, no, I'm all for giving grace and mercy to everyone.

When you come on this stage, you're here.

And although you may not be perfect, you better be walking with Jesus.

We remain committed at this church to searching for leaders who are not merely musically talented, but who walk in mercy, grace, and the fear of the Lord.

Four, we will unapologetically focus on the next generation.

Okay, so I was able to read a little bit more about our culture.

Every article I read, everything I got my hands on told me that Gen Zs, that's 18 to 29 year olds, are driven.

for the search for community, traditional structure, and coping mechanisms in a chaotic world.

And the solution that they're finding is Jesus Christ.

And it's not only in America, it's also in Europe and in post-Christian nations like New Zealand and Australia.

There is a Gen Z movement that is basically saying this.

You people lied to us.

The secular world has lied to us.

This is not working.

And there's a thirst for the transcendent.

In a recent study recorded in a...

work by the Gospel Coalition.

It talks about Gen Z young men.

And one of the reasons Gen Z young men are coming to church is because their parents didn't take them to church, so they've not been heard by the church.

So they don't have any kind of understanding or view of the church, either positive or negative.

But they know there's got to be something in the transcendent.

So they're open to it.

And when one gets saved, when a Gen Z gets saved, you know what he does?

He brings his five friends with him.

And they are automatic, talented, passionate evangelists because they found the answer.

Our vision in this church, we have discipleship groups that are going gangbusters among this age group.

Do you know that?

Multiple, multiple discipleship groups.

We have our YA Tuesday nights that's inspirational and challenging.

And you have a few hundred young adults coming.

and worshiping and listening to teaching.

We have what we call Lead Con that happens again, I believe, this Saturday.

And we're looking for the cream of the crop among those young adults so that we can train, equip, and send them out into our community, into this valley, and also into the world.

The Gen Zs are discovering that the community they're searching for can be found in the Christian community.

So would we not be foolish?

If our church didn't spend a lot of our time recruiting, teaching, training Gen Z's to take the gospel to the world.

Fifth, only one more, we will move forward toward a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ in every home in the valley.

Now, the original vision God gave us was four campuses around the valley and a care center in the middle.

We've got three campuses and God's pantry in the middle.

Man, he's delivered on his promises.

Now I don't know where that fourth campus is going to be.

Can I tell you where I'm leaning?

It's not an actual geographical location.

I believe that because of what's happening in culture and what's happening in our church, that we have got to plant.

It would be my goal and my vision, and I say my goal and my vision, and what I mean by that is this is early days.

I believe it's our responsibility to plant lots, let's just say that, of Gen Z type community groups all through the valley, where we train and equip Gen Z leaders to communicate the gospel to their generation, and then plant these groups all over the valley, where if I'm Gen Z, I can come in and I can enter into conversation and ask my questions about Christianity.

Call those groups whatever you want to, but I would love to plan 100 of these in the next five years.

Now, the other thing it means is this.

We have moved somewhat away from satellite campuses.

Stay with me.

This is important.

Nothing else I said is, but this is very important.

The satellite model is something that is very popular across the U.S.

In California, we're in a unique place.

Don't you agree that it would be tough to drive very far without finding a pretty good church in Southern California?

I mean, you think of all the famous preachers that are, I mean, you got Greg Laurie over in Riverside.

For years, we had Saddleback.

You got Mariners.

You got great churches.

If you're willing to drive a little bit, there's no shortage of great churches in Southern California, right?

Now.

We have two choices when it comes to our growth around this place.

And I said already that I'm not going to do it.

I'll keep my word on that.

We've been frustrated for a long time at how many people come and we don't know what to do with them.

We got two choices, right?

We can go in debt for 50, 60 million and go find a place.

No, we're not doing that.

That's not our call.

And when churches do that, they stop giving to things overseas and they stop giving to things.

Benevolence, they do everything they can.

They have to scrape everything they can just to pay for a building.

I'm not doing that.

Second, you go out wide.

I'm not doing that.

I'm not And that's what we've done.

You know how much money we've saved?

How frugal it is that we have the Westco campus, the Rancho campus.

But for these campuses to thrive, I'm hoping that each campus will become like San Dimas.

I don't want Westco to remain 1,000 people or Rancho to remain 1,000 people to hit that mark and stop.

Our dream is that Rancho becomes San Dimas bigger and better.

And that Westco becomes San Dimas bigger and better.

But to do that, we've got to give some empowerment to our campus pastors in those areas.

As I'm praying and asking God for direction, we need them praying and asking God for direction.

The DNA remains.

It remains.

But we've got to release a little bit of the power in order that they can have the freedom to grow their campuses depending on where they are.

Because if you've ever been to West Coast, West Coast is very different than San Dimas.

And Rancho is very different than San Dimas and West Coast.

We're three unique places, and we've got to really concentrate on exploding and growing those campuses where they are, which means, this is the punchline, Sandimas, you got to share me.

It's time to share.

I'm going to be moving around a lot.

I'm going to be over at Rancho.

I'm going to be at Westco.

I'm going to be here, and you never know where I'm going to be.

I'm like the spirit.

You never know I'm coming or going, but the wind blows.

If you are one of those persons, however, that absolutely cannot survive without seeing me, and I don't know why that would be, I will always be here on Saturday night recording.

That should not really matter to us at this point, because I'm telling you, you don't look at me anyway.

You look at the screen the whole time I'm here.

I'll look at it and think, what's going on?

And you're looking at the screen.

In many ways, the HD screen is better than the real person.

And by the way, the hologram's coming.

Oh yeah, with AI and everything.

I don't know where we're going to be in two years.

I may be in Africa and there may be a hologram here and I'm preaching to you at Victoria Falls.

You just never know what's going to happen.

But more importantly, it's just not about me.

It's not about me.

It's about what God is doing in our church and through all of our teachers and preachers and our workers.

Sixth, we are unapologetically a local, regional, and global church.

This is the last point.

Local, we want a prevailing church in each community, Westco, Rancho, San Dimas.

Regional, we want to share the good news of the gospel.

We want to capture the Gen Zs of the San Gabriel Valley.

We're going to go after them.

But we're also global.

Now, this is where I get to have a lot of fun.

And this is the end.

And can Pastor Jeff make his way into the world of computer?

This is the idea.

We're going to see here.

I want to show you something.

I've been wanting to do this for so long.

I just can't put my Bible on the ground.

It's something my mom would kill me.

So I'm going to have to do this.

Okay?

Now.

What on earth has Jeff Vines been doing in the world?

Where does he go?

Okay, take a deep breath here.

I don't think most of you realize what's up.

So I'm going to do the best way I can.

I want to start by doing this.

I'm going to draw a little circle around this area.

Okay, you see that?

Now.

What's the world population?

Somewhere around 8 billion, right?

Somewhere around 8 billion.

How many people do you think live in this area that I've drawn here in red?

4 billion.

How many people live in the rest of the world?

4 billion.

Half of the world's population live in that circle, and it's where Jesus is not.

Now, I'm going to put a little circle here in New Delhi, and then I'm going to go over to Africa, and I'm going to put another little circle in Zimbabwe, and then I'm going to put another little circle in Kenya.

And the reason I'm putting circles there, one more circle, by the way, in Dubai, and that's a hard one to pinpoint.

There is the opportunity for you and me, through our partnership with a group called Northbound, we're going to build training centers in each of these dotted areas.

We're going to build a training center in New Delhi.

And Ajay Law has asked me to train his pastors in world religions and evidences, which is right in my backyard.

He can teach them to preach.

He can teach them scripture.

He wants me to go to New Delhi.

Northbound is going to fit it out and pay because we need help.

If we're going to do these kind of things, we've got to have partners who help us resource them.

And we're going to build a training school here to teach those pastors that go across the border.

And these Indian pastors, he's got hundreds and hundreds of them.

They're more than willing to die for the cause of Christ.

They just want to be trained and encouraged and sent out.

In Dubai, Dubai has become the gateway to Asia.

We want to build a training center in Asia so that we can send...

By the way, if you're talking about reaching Asia, no one reaches Asia better than the Indian or the African, not the white American male.

So we're training Indian pastors, Asian pastors, and then in Zimbabwe with Denver Chizanga, land has been given to us where we want to build a training school to train Zimbabwe, Zambia, Rwanda pastors, because what we're learning, if you want to take the gospel into post-Christian Europe, Gen Zs in post-Christian Europe are much more likely to listen to someone from India or Africa than a middle-aged white male.

And what is so cool about this, is that all of these pastors are more than willing to be taught and to be trained and to be sent.

So if you're wondering when Christ will return, if you're one of those that's a millennialist, pre, post, ah, whatever, and you believe that Christ returns when the Great Commission is completed, Ajay Law has hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of pastors that we're training that we want to send into these places that the gospel will be in written form, in their language.

when it comes to the Bible and the gospel we've presented by these pastors so that those far from God can come near.

When I'm not here, I'm typically either here in Zimbabwe, here in Nairobi, or here in New Delhi.

And one last thing, because of our radio program that we're doing called Today with Jeff Vines all over the world, basically primarily in Europe and the South Pacific, this area right here, We've gained, one and all church has gained incredible popularity, and we need to send church planters in to bring the gospel back to New Zealand and Australia.

Now you say, whoo, that is a big task.

Yes, but hear me on this.

Our first responsibility is our own backyard.

And that's why we're training Gen Z, young adult men and women, and challenging them to go help us reach this valley.

But there will be some.

It won't be as many, but there will be some who will fill a call to help us take the gospel back into post-Christian Europe.

And we want to enable them and inspire them and equip them to do that as well.

That's our church, folks.

That's what we're doing.

We don't want to be a church that simply has weekend services and then says, thanks for coming.

See you next week.

You are part of a church.

Let me say it again.

You are going to die one day.

Maybe not tomorrow.

But we're all headed that direction.

And I truly believe that the question that we're going to be asked when we meet Jesus is a simple one.

What did you do with the gifts, talents, and abilities that I gave you?

Did you build your kingdom or did you build mine?

It's that simple.

Did you build yours or did you build mine?

And if you can't answer, man, you know.

I got to tell you, I'm really more interested in mine than in his.

Then today's the day of repentance.

It's that simple.

It's never too late until it's too late.

What decision do you need to make?

I'm asking you to find your role in this place.

Some of you young men and young women, maybe you're the one God's calling to go to Europe.

He may be calling you to go to Africa.

He may be calling you to go right in our valley.

He may be calling you to be a leader, to establish a group.

where people can come in and ask questions about Jesus and you lead them to Christ.

I got a few good years left and I want to go out with no energy left.

No energy left.

I'm going to ask if you'd stand with me now, please.

We're going to do something together.

I know it's been a little different.

Let me give you a little advertisement.

Don't miss this series called Something's Missing.

We're going to have a blast, but this was important to inform you what we're doing and where we're going.

Now, we're going to do a responsive reading together as we make a commitment.

I'm going to make a commitment as your pastor and you as the congregation, okay?

Here we go.

I'll start.

I'm the pastor.

You're the congregation in case you need to be reminded.

Here we go.

We gather as people redeemed by grace, called out of darkness into marvelous light.

And the congregation said, let us lift our voices with passion, declaring the worth of the one who saved us.

The gospel we celebrate is not ours to keep, but a message for all nations.

Where there is lostness, we will go.

Where there is need, we will respond.

Christ gave everything for us, his life, his love, his all.

Freely we have received, now freely we give.

All right, let's do these last few with passion and vigor.

Okay, here we go.

The kingdom advances through faithful servants who love, give, and go.

And the congregation said, may our worship be fervent, our mission clear, and our hearts fully surrendered.

Now all together we say, to him be all glory, honor, and praise, now and forever.

Amen.

All right, all right.