you I'm in Matthew chapter 25, verse 41 through 46, and I want to encourage you to turn there.

We're going to read that text just in a moment.

You know, right now as you look around our world and the events happening not only here in the US, but all around the world, if you have a basic knowledge of eschatology, you'll know that.

that it appears to the most basic theological mind that we are moving in what the Bible calls the last days or the end times.

Nobody knows the day or the hour, the month or the year, but Jesus himself warned us, and so did the apostle Paul, to watch out for the signs.

When you see these things happening, when these things start culminating together, you'll know that the end is near.

So, thank you.

One of the things that happened to me this year on my study break, and for those who don't know what that is, I go away for about four or five weeks every year, and I ask God where he wants us to take his church.

It is his church, it's not mine.

So God, give me the word, give me the revelation.

Where do you want us to take your church in the coming year?

And I was amazed at how oftentimes, as I began to write these new series for 2024, how often it had to do with the coming of Christ.

So, thank you.

There are four parables that Jesus told near the end of his life.

And those four parables had to do with the end times.

I recognize in our Easter series next year, we're gonna be talking a lot about hope and how do you live in an ever-changing world, in a place in the West where we're not used to persecution.

As that persecution comes, as our faith is gonna cost us something, how are we then to live?

We did a series this year, called The Return of the Gods, and I think there needs to be a second part of The Return of the Gods, because demonic oppression, possession, and influence in our world today is paramount.

We need to understand what it is and how to deal with it, and tracing demon possession to the Old and the New Testament gives us great insight into how the church is supposed to respond.

Now, having said all of that, we're going to go through, and I'm just laying the groundwork, we're going to have an incredible journey through the rest of 2023 and 2024.

Those of you who are following us online, I want to encourage you to not miss a weekend.

It's just going to go from strength to strength, and we're going to have our eyes opened about what God is doing around the world and how we're supposed to be living.

These are trying times, and it's important to determine right now what kingdom you're actually living for.

Are you in the kingdom of Christ, or are you still building your own kingdom?

So, as we embark on this new journey and a new season, I think there is a crucial question.

Every Christ follower, no matter where you are, it's applicable to our church, but it's also applicable to any Christ follower around the world.

And there is a question you need to ask yourself.

Now is the time.

You know, C.S.

Lewis, when he talked about morality as a proof of the existence of God, he says all of us have this sense of right and wrong that's innate, that is part and partial to being created in the image of God.

So he said, since that's true, since we all have an understanding of right and wrong, then there must be God.

Somebody planted that system within every one of us.

Now that's a long conversation, but I love the illustration he used.

He said, if you were to have attached to you a tape recorder that recorded everything you said throughout the course of your life, and every time you use the word ought, Like you ought to do this or you ought to do that.

The red light would come on, it would record it and capture it.

And then on the day of the coming of Christ, you were only held responsible for every time you said ought.

When you told somebody else they ought to tell the truth, you ought to have character and integrity.

And if God judged us, not by the Mosaic Code, not by the Ten Commandments, but simply judged us by our own sense of morality, we would all fail.

Often what we tell others they ought to do, we don't do ourselves.

Now I want to take that illustration and come at it from a different angle.

If I follow, this is the question, if I followed you around for the next say two months and I recorded everything you said, all your conversations, and I watched your actions, what would I learn about you?

What is your life really about?

What do you talk most about?

What drives you?

What is the purpose of your life?

What gives you meaning?

What are you pursuing?

What makes your heart beat a little bit faster?

What are you most passionate about?

Not what you say you're most passionate about, but what your life actually reflects that you're most passionate about.

What would it be?

I like to think of it in three words, priority, passion, and purpose.

You have other priorities, you have other passions, and you have other purposes in your life, but what is paramount in your life?

If you imagine a triangle, and I list all the things, your passions and purposes, but it came to the end of the...

the point of the triangle, we only had room to write one thing.

What would the one thing be?

What is the overarching meaning, purpose, goal, objective of your life?

Now, the passage that I told you to turn to is a passage that bothered me for years.

It's an end time parable.

And basically the Bible tells us when Jesus returns, he's going to separate all people into two groups.

There's no middle group.

There's not a third or fourth group.

Two groups, sheep and goats.

The goats are on the left, the sheep are on the right.

And then he says this, and I'm in verse 41 of chapter 25.

Then he will say to those on his left.

Depart from me, you who are accursed into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.

I was thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink.

I was a stranger, you did not invite me in.

I needed clothes, you did not clothe me.

I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me." Verse 44, they also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you?

He will reply, truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of us, of these you did not do for me.

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Now it's a simple enough parable, but here's the problem.

It almost appears that you and I are saved by works.

In other words, if I, as long as I feed the hungry and clothe those who need clothing and visit the sick and those in prison, I'm saved.

The problem is that's the antithesis of what is written in the Gospels and in especially in the book of Romans, which is a theologian.

treaties of the gospel.

Paul tells us that we're saved by grace through faith.

Romans chapter 2, Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 8.

There's therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We are saved by the blood of the Lamb, not by our good works.

We can't merit salvation.

So if that's true, how can I solve the tension between this passage where Jesus says that You've got sheep and goats, and here's how you know the difference.

The righteous fed those who were hungry, clothed those who needed clothing, visited the sick, visited those in prison.

How can I solve this tension?

And it's very easily solved if you understand the teachings that go all the way from Genesis to Revelation, and it's this.

There is a cause and effect in the world that we live in.

You've heard me use that terminology quite often.

There is a cause and effect to the gospel.

Paul said, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

So my passions are no longer my own.

The passions I have in my life and my heart come from Christ dwelling inside me.

We also use the terminology that he changes, that is the spirit of God changes not only what you do, but what you want to do.

So what we mean is that if you're truly saved, there are gonna be byproducts.

Now, no one knows to what degree, you're still saved by faith through grace or by grace through faith, but when a person generally has a conversion experience, there's a transformation called sanctification.

And the Holy Spirit of God himself comes on the inside.

And suddenly, what you didn't have a passion before, you now have a passion for.

You have a passion for the Word of God.

Doesn't mean you read it perfectly.

Doesn't mean you read it all the time.

But you have a passion for the Word of God.

You have a passion to be part of God's kingdom.

You have a passion for sexual purity.

You have a passion for worship.

When somebody says to me, and I often hear this by the next generation, well, I don't have to go to church to be a Christian.

That's like saying I don't have to go to a Laker game to be a Laker fan.

The question is not what you have or have not to do.

The question is where's your passion?

Why on earth would a Christ follower not want to be assembled together with Christ followers?

I mean all of heaven is going to be you in community with fellow believers.

So if you don't want to do that here, why would you want to do that there?

Now, I know that we're not perfect, pragmatically speaking.

We're still going to struggle with the old man.

I get that.

But I want you to see that where there's genuine conversion, your passions change.

Jesus enters your life and you see things you've never seen.

You feel things you've not felt, and you're able to have a sense of volition.

You do things you've not been able to do before.

So you find yourself praying for your enemies or forgiving those who offend you or calling or controlling your temper or seeking the welfare of others.

Not perfectly, not pragmatically, without fault, but there's a passion.

It's called sanctification.

You are moving, you are growing from glory to glory.

He changes not only what you do, but what you want to do.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Now what is the greater point of all this?

It goes back to the question that I believe is ultimate, and that is...

What is your life ultimately about?

I know you have other loves, but what is your supreme love?

I know that you're involved in other tasks, but what is your supreme tasks?

I know you have other callings, but what is your overarching calling?

We live in a world where we work, we marry, we have children, grandchildren, we pursue hobbies and all of that is good to enjoy God's creation.

But what is your ultimate pursuit?

What is your ultimate objective?

Your ultimate purpose?

What is the meaning of your life?

Now quickly, one of the Old Testament books written by Solomon or the teacher as he's referred to.

The book of Ecclesiastes.

What the writer does is he, it's like taking an onion and peeling back one layer after the next till you get to the core.

And he said in his entire life, he tried wealth, he tried power, popularity, family, marriage, friends, ease and comfort, luxury and pleasure.

He tried all of them.

And at the end of the book, he says, all is lost.

All is in vain because it's meaningless.

It's meaningless because it's all temporary.

And then as a tired old man.

Near the end of the book, this is what he writes.

This is Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13 and 14.

Now all has been heard.

Here is the conclusion of the matter.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of mankind.

For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." Now, what's he saying there?

Well, it's a long message and a long series, but ultimately he says, it all comes down to this.

Live for God and his purposes in the world.

That is the ultimate, paramount objective of your life, and only that brings true meaning.

In our church we say we want to bring those far from God near, and we know to do that we introduce them to Jesus Christ, because He is eternal.

He is everlasting.

Now let's go back just quickly.

So having heard these things, who are you really?

Folks, this is the ultimate question because it reveals your true identity.

Everyone's building a kingdom.

You're either building your own kingdom or you're building God's kingdom.

No middle ground.

You're either egocentric or egocentric.

It's all about you and what you want to get out of this world around you.

Or it's theocentric.

It's about how God...

God is the center of your life, and although he gives you all these pleasures and all these things, the creation, the enjoyment of everything that is good, you're paramount.

Your ultimate objective, your ultimate pursuit is to be God-centered.

If it's anything other than God-centered, either one of two things has happened.

Number one, you have not yet been indwelled by the power of the Holy Spirit where it's not only you who lives, or no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you, or Christ has come into your life, but you're fighting against the...

spirit, and you're not living according to the kingdom of God.

Everybody has those choices.

Now the beautiful thing about being part of a church like One and All, and wherever you are around the world listening, I always encourage you to get involved in your local church if it's possible.

I know in some places it's not, because there's not a local church around you.

But where it's a possibility.

It's paramount because God has called you to use your talents and your gifts and your resources to build the kingdom of God in community.

Not alone, not isolated, but in community.

There is a calling on your life.

And the beautiful thing about being part of a church like One and All is that you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

You don't have to come up with your own vision.

You have a calling on your life.

You have come to this church.

various ways, maybe online, maybe...

Through the invitation of a friend, maybe through Google Maps, maybe you read a review somewhere and you found your way here, maybe through word of mouth.

But the bottom line is you're here not because of any of those things.

Those were just the means to get you here.

You're here because God has called you here.

And God is a wise investor.

If he called you here.

That means you have talents and abilities that he wants you to use so that we can build a kingdom of God together.

That is the calling and that is the purpose of your life.

And if you're part of a church like this, you don't have to find new ways to build Christ's kingdom.

You don't have to reinvent the wheel.

You just got to get on board with what God is already doing in his church.

Over the years, one and all church.

formerly called Christ Church of the Valley, has had three pastors, Ron Keller, Chuck Boer, and now Jeff Bynes.

Although we're very different, there's something very similar about us.

All three of us are unapologetically evangelistic.

We have all been called to help people far from God come near to God.

We may say it different ways, like love God, love people, love the world, but historically, God's hand, his...

His anointing has been on this church and it has gone from success to success.

You are part of something special here.

We truly believe that we can have a fully devoted follower in every home in this valley, but to do so, we've begun to understand that you have to be intentional about that.

You gotta count the cost.

Before we go to battle, you gotta consider the plans that lead to success.

Before you build a tower, Jesus said, you first must draw up the plans and consider the cost.

And we refer to that at one and all as going all in.

Now I want to take you a little bit of a historical journey.

This is good for everyone to hear so you know a little bit more about us.

A lot of visitors, a lot of new people coming to our church by the hundreds every weekend.

It's important that you know who we are.

If we go all the way back to 2010.

God gave us a vision, we were busting at the seams on this campus, but we did not feel led by God to go in major debt to build something.

We thought, instead of going up, let's go wide.

And so we had, God gave us a vision for four campuses that would surround this valley, and in the middle of those four campuses we would have a care center.

And that care center would feed and clothe and visit those in prison and counseling services free from addiction.

All of these things.

We wanted the pastors in these four campuses to have a place anytime they met someone with a need to be able to say, whatever your need is, we're not just going to pray for you.

We're going to send you to a place called God's Pantry and we're going to get that need met.

Do you know the stories of all four campuses now where people have gone to God's Pantry and they had been fed and clothed and counseled, discipled in many cases, and then have come back in to serve at God's Pantry?

This is an amazing miracle of God.

No man is smart enough to come up with a vision like this.

God said, I'm going to give you four campuses and we just launched our fourth.

So we have West Co and Rancho and Upland and San Dimas campus.

We are surrounding in our mind this valley with that care center in the middle.

Do you know the miraculous nature of God's pantry and our local outreach?

2,500 families.

were taken care of per week during COVID.

2,500 families, food, clothing, education, counseling, free.

Grants are now being given because the city of Pomona, as well as the state of California, recognizes God's pantry is doing something very unique.

So now, once we invest, think about this, we invested as a people and as a church in this wonderful place that would be the city on the hill that could not be hidden, the place when people had needs, it would be the first place they thought about.

We invested and God said, okay, because I see your heart, I'm going to grow this thing exponentially.

Next thing you know, we're getting grants left and right to build on a bigger scale to help more people and to be a light to the people in this valley.

When God calls you to do something, you better believe he assumes the responsibility to equip you to do it.

Do you know that one and all church.

has gained a very positive reputation in our communities and among our city leaders.

Not all of them, of course, but this is the reputation that we sought.

We wanted to love and serve our community and our people with no strings attached.

To do it because every person is created in the image of God.

So now we have monthly serve projects in four cities.

to make us aware of and meet the needs of the less fortunate.

We partnered with the Department of Child and Family Services for Pomona and LA Serenity Services.

This year, we made 1,500 foster care kids for foster children.

1,500.

We've cleaned up 10 parks, public parks.

We partnered with Bob Hope USO as we made 3,000 hygiene kids for our military men and women who are deployed.

We made meal kits for families in need and tornado victims.

We collected and distributed 1,800 backpacks for a back-to-school project.

In fact, on July 28th, just not too long ago, we served almost 1,000 children at a backpack school event offering backpacks, school supplies, free haircuts, and Handel's ice cream.

We partner with Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Alta Loma, Covina, Charter Oak, Ontario, Montclair, Upland, Bonita Unified, and West Covina school districts to meet the needs of children, the less fortunate in our communities.

And all that coupled together with our toy store.

Every Christmas when we see the smiles on these children's faces, who would not have otherwise had a Christmas, or Thanksgiving and food distribution.

our ad hoc service projects.

Our cities know we've surrounded the valley.

They know they can count on us with no strings attached.

And folks, all that's just a drop in the bucket of our ongoing food and clothing and counseling services that happen every month on all our campuses in partnership with God's Pantry.

We're feeding, clothing, helping somewhere around 10,000 families per month.

10,000 families per month.

providing resources for the homeless, and currently we have 200 active team members as part of the Compassion Network, helping with service projects in our local communities.

Now we could go on and on.

However, we know benevolence is not enough.

Can we feed and clothe, visit those in prison?

We show that we have been changed and transformed by the power of the Spirit of God, yes.

There is a cause and effect.

If Christ is living in you, you automatically develop over time a compassion for the less fortunate.

Less judgmental, more compassionate.

However, we can give them food and feed them for a season, or we can give them Jesus and feed them for eternity.

That's the reason you will constantly hear us say, one hope, one life in Christ.

The only food that lasts is spiritual food.

The only clothing that lasts are the garments of salvation.

The only, or only the robes of righteousness given by Christ Himself can replace our filthy rags for all of eternity.

Which is why here we believe that evangelism, benevolence, good, compassion, good, love, But evangelism is the key and the calling of every individual and of his church.

We believe that in this time, in these days, evangelism is done best one-on-one.

That's why we say one hope, one life in Christ.

We are assuming that every member, if we are to go all in, will have one person in their life at any given moment that they're helping who is far from God come near to God.

It may not happen overnight.

It may not happen in a few weeks.

It may be...

an experience, a relationship, and at the right time, at the right moment, God opens the door and you walk the gospel in.

We believe that one life is worth the investment of a lifetime.

So we pray for open doors.

We use phrases like walk across the room, be intentional.

It does not happen without a plan, so we challenge our people.

Identify.

Ask God, who do you want to be my one life?

And then start asking God.

Pray first.

Always pray.

Pray that God would open a door.

Pray that in this relationship at some point in time, you would be asked the right question that would allow you to walk the gospel into a life that can be changed.

That's why we say around here, direction, not intention, determines destination.

You gotta have direction.

It won't happen just because you want it to.

You've gotta make a plan, and the best plan starts with prayer.

God, identify someone in my life that you want me to help who is far from God so that I can bring them near to God.

And then God, show me how.

Open the door.

There's not one way for everyone, but God will lead you, because he has a heart that every sinner would repent.

We say that we are the ambassadors of Jesus Christ, as though Jesus is making his appeal through us.

We say that we are God's plan to reach the world, and there's no plan B, and we really believe that.

Now, here's the beautiful thing of it.

God has already shown himself to be faithful.

He gave us the vision, and since 2010, do you know that we've had over 2,000 salvations, 2,000 first-time decisions for Christ?

Over 5,000 people have experienced baptism.

And now even presently, we have over a thousand people right now participating in, I love my city.

That is, they're using their gifts, talents, abilities, time, resources to help those who are less fortunate.

So God gave us the vision and he's proven himself worthy and he's proven himself faithful.

So now the question is, since he's shown to us that when we follow his calling and vision, that the God who calls us assumes the responsibility to equip His church and individual to accomplish His purposes in the world.

Now there are two major areas as we move forward.

Because as I've said before, we not only want people who are far from God to come near to God, we want people near to God to come nearer.

Why?

Because we love you.

And we know that your ability to weather the coming storm, it's coming, your ability to weather the coming storm is directly related to your spiritual maturity.

You cannot dictate the events of your life, but you can dictate your response, and your response is dictated by your ability to weather the coming storm.

And that's why we're here.

We're here to help you weather the coming storm.

dictated by your maturity.

In James we read, blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

As a result, we want to be intentional at One and All Church, so we have what we call the One and All growth path.

We want to be very clear of how God moves us from A to B, where we begin and where he wants us.

to end.

Now, obviously, the end doesn't come until the second coming, but there is an end goal God has in mind for every individual he's called to one and all in the here and now.

So we want you, first of all, to receive Jesus.

Maybe you were somebody's one life, and now you came and you heard the gospel.

And after you receive Christ and repent of your sins, confess your sins, we ask you to be baptized because that's what the scriptures ask you to do.

In the book of Acts, chapter two on the day of Pentecost, thousands of people got saved, thousands of people were baptized as a result of dying to their old way and being resurrected to a new way of life.

But it doesn't stop there.

It only stops there when you're looking for a loophole.

Somehow, if I can do something right to be accepted.

That's just your beginning because at that point, then you go onto that growth path of knowing God.

That means you're committed to sitting under the preaching and the teaching of the gospel.

You're saved by grace through faith.

Now we want you to grow in your knowledge and intimacy with Christ.

You do that as you participate in worship.

in hearing the message of the word, in reading your Bible, which is why we go to the next part you're in a growth path where you're growing together.

You are meeting with a group of people regularly who you're praying with, who hold you accountable, who you hold accountable, who you're maturing in your relationship with Christ because God calls all kinds of people with all kinds of different giftings and also wisdom that maybe you don't have as you bring wisdom that you have that somebody else doesn't have.

You get involved in these growth groups.

You're part of a community.

So to be all in means that you've received Christ, you've been baptized, you're sitting under the preaching and the teaching of the gospel.

You're living life in community with others who you can hold accountable, who hold you accountable, and who stretch you and who grow you.

And then we know that you're growing when you go to the next phase and you're making a difference.

You start serving.

in some area.

It doesn't mean 50 hours a week.

It just means that you know God has called you with your specific gifts and this specific time to serve, to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this world.

So we help you find your gifts and your talents and your abilities.

And we know that you're serious and it's no longer you who lives, but Christ who lives in you when you complete the circle and you go all in.

Now here's the question.

Here's the quick, let's review this quickly.

We're saying that God has already shown himself to be faithful by giving us a vision and accomplishing it.

So remember the Bible says, if I can trust you with a little, I'll trust you with much.

So God has shown us he's trustworthy.

We've given him a little up to this point and he's done much with it.

And now, God wants to do an amazing work through His church.

And that means that since He's proven Himself to be faithful, He is asking us as a congregation to go all in.

And go all in.

You know, the last thing people get is your money.

And with Jesus, where His kingdom is concerned, He tells us wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

And so, one and all church.

Here is the way we look at our finances.

Now notice I've covered this last.

Your talents, your abilities, your resources belong to God to do something greater than you could ever imagine, immeasurably more than you could ever imagine.

He's proven himself faithful.

In the scripture, this could be an entire series, but in the scripture, here is how we understand our relationship to God concerning our financial resources.

Okay?

It's four steps.

Number one, we give 10% of everything that comes into our hand.

Now what that means is there seems to be in Scripture a legal right that God has to require from us the first fruits of our lives as an indication that our heart has been changed and we realize that everything we own belongs to God and everything that comes into our hand is a gift of God.

Now this may surprise some of you, but let's say they say the average income in our area is somewhere around 80,000.

I know it could be less, it could be more.

Whatever it is, it's a good thing.

When I say come into your hand, I do that because let's be honest, the government gets $15,000 right away.

You may not like it, but that's just the way it is.

What actually comes into your hand if you make this much is somewhere around 65,000.

10% of 65,000 is 6,500.

That is what we call the tithe.

That just means the 10th off the top.

So in reality, If you make this much, and this is an important point here, if you make this much money, you have access to this, because the government gets this, and God gets this off the top.

That's what we understand the scriptures to teach.

Now, is this something legal, where we're gonna come to your house?

No.

Is it something, I'll never know what most of you ever give.

That's between you and God, I get it.

But in order for us to go all in, we have to understand this is the calling on our lives.

Think about it.

God gives you everything.

Everything that you have as acknowledgement that he is the giver of every good and perfect gift and that you trust him for your future.

This is a huge step in discipleship.

You tithe, you give 10% of what is given into your hand by God himself.

And look how much this belongs to you.

If this is the scenario, this belongs with you to do with, hopefully to even expand the kingdom of God farther.

So we say give 10% of all that comes into your hand.

Then we say, give God the first fruits.

This again is the concept.

Try to get away from some kind of legal percentage.

This is not the point of what we're communicating.

We're simply saying there is a cause and effect in scripture.

If you truly believe that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift and you trust him to provide for your future.

then as a sign, an outward sign, you give him the first fruits off the top.

You don't wait and give leftovers.

You don't wait and see how much money you have at the end of the month.

You say, God gets this first because I'm positioning myself in a place where I trust God and know that he will be faithful to provide all my needs.

Three, invest in the thing that pleases the heart of God and makes the heavens rejoice.

So if I were to look at your budget, where would I see that your heart is?

In what do you invest most of your stuff, most of your resources?

Again, this is part of what it means to go all in.

This is part of what it means to be a fully devoted disciple follower of Jesus Christ.

This is what you do.

And nobody forces you to do it.

Nobody's watching you hanging over your shoulder.

I'm simply trying to say to you, when your heart has been changed, you will have a passion to invest in the same things that makes God happy.

And what makes God happy is when people far from God come near to him.

When one sinner repents, we're told that heavens rejoice.

And finally, resist giving God the leftovers.

This is the thing that is not existing in a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ whose heart has been transformed by the Holy Spirit.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." That's important.

We just don't want to be a people all in.

It doesn't mean that we give them whatever's left over.

We give them the very last fruits.

For those who are truly all in, it means that the very first fruits, the very best of you goes to God because you realize He's the giver of all good things.

Now let's go back to our original question.

What is your, see, these are just byproducts, folks.

What is your life ultimately about?

I know you have other loves, but what's your supreme love?

I know you have other tasks, what's your supreme task?

Other callings, what's your supreme calling?

What's your overarching calling?

And I'm saying that God has brought you here in his sovereign plan because he needs you here.

Because your gifts, talents, abilities, and resources, although they may be similar to other people, are not exactly like others.

They're not demonstrated exactly like someone else.

They're not expressed exactly like someone else.

So you fill a hole in this congregation that literally only you can fill, and that's why God has called you here.

So are you all in?

Where are you on the growth path?

Are you growing in community?

Are you making a difference?

Are you, or have you gone all in with your resources?

Now why is this important?

Let me give you two quick illustrations and I'll be finished.

First, when I was a little boy, I must have been 12 or 13 years old, I noticed during the summer that there was an opportunity to make a lot of money if you were willing to mow lawns.

So in the little town I grew up in, I went to my father and said, dad, I know you've got some mowers in the garage.

Can you repair one of those?

And I want to go up to where all the doctors and lawyers live in a place called Golf Course Acres and I want to knock on their doors and see if I can mow their lawns and make money this summer.

Now, none of my brothers wanted to do that, man, but I wanted to have some money in my pocket for those big cherry slushes and those big gulps at 7-Eleven.

I wanted to go make some money and I didn't want to just sit around.

So my dad provided me with a mower and I started mowing the lawns.

Well, these doctors and lawyers, their yards are huge.

It would take me an entire day.

Now I'd get paid $20 a yard, which was big money back in the 70s, right?

But it would take me a full day.

And I started thinking, how can I do more yards?

It's taken me a week to do five yards.

I can make a lot more money if I can do it faster.

And my dad introduced me to the riding lawnmower.

Now think about it.

Now suddenly I have greater horsepower engine.

Now that thing will run.

Plus, it's a lot easier.

I just sit on it and he juiced it up a little bit, kept the blade sharpened for me and I could do two, sometimes three yards in one day.

I was rolling in the cash.

Now the question is, why did I go from here to here?

And the answer is, the bigger the horsepower, the more impact and influence you have.

This is what I'm trying to say.

What would happen if everybody in our church became all in?

Right now we anticipate somewhere around 18 to 25% are all in.

What if 100% of our people were all in?

Do you know how big a horsepower engine we would have?

What we would be able to accomplish?

You look at what God has already done, Matt Chavez and West Coe campus, man, that campus is growing.

Matt is a rock star, but he's going to need a facility.

It's so doable.

If anybody...

Everybody's all in it's not hard.

It doesn't require incredible sacrifice It just means that everybody's all in and we do this thing together Kelly soil is out at Rancho her campus is growing.

She's got a beautiful facility that God provided I'm telling you that story in itself is miraculous how we gained access to that campus for so little But now here we are, people are coming by the hundreds.

Now she needs staff, she needs youth ministry, she needs some things on her campus that will cause it to flourish.

And we can do it without sacrifice if everybody's all in.

If we've done this much with 25% all in, what would happen with 100?

Upland is young, Sam Martin is doing a fantastic job out there.

There's the cream of the crop people and I know that.

And they have a very bright future, but they're going to need our help and resources because we're all in this together.

Then Michael right here at San Dimas, he's got all these ideas and creative ways for growth on this campus, but you need resources.

And if everybody's all in, we'll easily go the next step on every campus.

I see it one day.

I can see it at the end of my life.

When Christ does come, I see this parade, and Christ, we're told in Philippians that we're the trophies.

We're the trophies.

We are the reward, awards to Christ for His salvation and for His commitment and for His sacrifice.

So I can see all these great churches who've done great things in the community marching through a parade, and Jesus is the one watching, and it brings tears to His eyes when He sees all the people who sacrificed and loved and had compassion.

We're going to be in the parade.

We're the trophies.

We're the awards.

We're marching and we're waving and smiling.

He's waving at us, but I also know that there will be many people that came to this place, that were called by God to this place, but they won't be in the parade because they never got out of the stands onto the field.

They never went all in.

They were part and parcel to this place, but they never made things happen.

You remember the three types of people?

Some make things happen.

Some watch things happen.

Some wonder what happened.

The revelation of which group you're in is the ultimate revelation of your heart.

There is no more important question than this.

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Where is your treasure?

Where is your passion?

What do you care most about in your life?

And what's interesting and ironic...

The answer to that question also cures.

It's also the remedy for your depression and anxiety and frustration.

Because as I've said thousands of times before, your soul knows deep inside what you're living for.

And if your soul knows it's living only for the temporary, for building your own kingdom, it will be frustrated, anxious, and depressed.

But if your soul, if everything inside you, the essential you, knows that you're living for something that can never fade, something that can never be shaken, a kingdom that will last forever.

your countenance will rise and you'll be able to go out and live a life that Jesus called the abundant life when he said he who loses his life to his kingdom will find it for the kingdom of Christ.

Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.

So what's your step?

I know this is a lot of information.

We give it to you because we love you.

We're not building our kingdom, we're building God's kingdom.

The older I get, the more I realize how futile my kingdom is.

I've said before that all of us pastors will always struggle the difference between building our own kingdom and building Christ's kingdom.

I hope and pray that God will continue to build His kingdom, and I would never do anything to forfeit that.

that my motivation and your motivation would always be pure, that we would never think that we're smarter than anybody else, better than anybody else, but we would consider ourself privileged to be workers together with God in the greatest endeavor known to man.

So here's my advice to you.

Back in Elizabethan Tennessee, every summertime, we would go up to a place called the Blue Hole.

I've got a photo on the screen just in a few minutes here, but it's the bottom of this beautiful waterfall.

It's deep, deep water.

It's so dark blue, and over the years we discovered why, because it's so deep no one's ever touched the bottom.

Now there are other pools that are like 15, 20 feet deep in certain sections, but the ultimate Blue Hole where we do the swimming, people have actually died thinking they could touch the bottom and stay down.

too long.

True story.

Google it.

Blue Hole, Hampton, Tennessee.

My first time at the Blue Hole, my friend said, man, you can't think of all those stories.

You can't think of all the things that could happen to you.

If you do, you'll be paralyzed.

You'll never drop in.

You'll never dive in.

You got to get on this rope, and we're going to push you, and you're going to swing out, and you're going to dive in.

For the longest time, I just sat there frozen.

I don't know if I want to do this, man.

This could be bad.

And finally, one of them said, are you going or not?

Just dive in.

I got on the rope and I said, push me, and that was it.

They pushed me.

I dropped in, but that was some of the coldest water, but also because it was a hot, humid summer, it was also some of the most enjoyable.

And you know, I would go back to the blue hole almost probably two or three times a week during my summer, all the way up until I went to college.

You know what my advice to you is?

You're terrified.

You're terrified of getting on the growth path.

You're terrified of starting to give your resources the way that honors God.

Can I tell you something?

If you'll do that.

If you'll do that, it'll be your best life you've ever lived.

And together we will be able to change the world for the cause of Christ.

I want to give you one final example of what can happen if we do this, just quickly.

God has opened a door for our church.

You know, when you meet somebody like Ajay Law, and Ajay asked me to come over and do leadership training, and I do, but there's a part of me down deep inside that knows no one is going to reach India like Ajay Law.

When we introduced Denver Chisonga, and when Stella comes from Nairobi, Kenya, and they come into our midst and we see what they're doing around the world, they do ask us to come and I'll do leadership training and I'll do some vision casting and Michael will come with me oftentimes and do some counseling and tell his story.

But the reality is we know that nobody's gonna reach Zimbabwe better than Denver Chisonga.

Nobody's gonna reach Kenya better than Stella.

Do you know something?

There is a great revival coming.

I believe that before the end comes.

And because of our ministry through One and All Media, God has opened doors for us in post-Christian Europe.

When I did my study break last year in Armenia and in Georgia, both these countries, I met an entire generation of young people who are reading the Bible but don't have anyone to explain it to them.

There are no evangelical churches in existence in Georgia or Armenia.

Did you know that?

Even though Armenians.

declared a Christian country.

You only really go to church to be married or to be buried, but there's no evangelical outreach or church in either one of those countries.

The same is true in much of post-Christian Europe, not all of it.

If you and I came together, because you're only as strong externally as you are internally.

If you and I come together and we go all in, we're not only going to change this valley with our four campuses and the care center, and people far from God are going to come near, and there's going to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus in every home in this valley as we partner with other churches to make that happen.

Intentionality.

But if you go all in, God, for some reason, this little church in San Dimas, California, God has clearly opened a door for us to start taking the gospel here.

to establish organic groups, not build buildings, not build huge church facilities, but to go in and teach and train and minister to all of these young adults who are open to the gospel because they don't have a bad history with it, that are seeking and searching given the state of our world.

And I'm telling you, you'll hear more about this as time passes, but I'm telling you, we are poised and ready to take the gospel back to Europe.

And if you know anything about our founding, the gospel came from Europe to the Americas.

And now it's void.

We can take Jesus back and give him to an entire generation that is desperately searching for answers in the midst of all the confusion and turmoil of a world that has gone mad.

Just dive in.

Immerse yourself.

The greatest adventure of your life starts when you say, I'm all in for Christ and His kingdom.

Father, thank you.

I pray that everyone who's heard this, no matter where they are around the world, will be able to hear this.

I pray that you will be able to hear this.

I pray that you will be able to hear this.

would be awakened and perhaps even reawakened to the truth that you have called us to be part of a local community, to use our gifts, talents, and abilities to do something that's immeasurably more than we could ever imagine, ask for, hope for.

I pray for an anointing on one and all in this church as we take the gospel to our community to change this nation one city at a time and then to step through a door that has been opened as we encourage the next generation of young people here in our church and young adults to take the gospel to their counterparts in post-Christian Europe.

In Christ's name I pray, amen.