Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Almighty God, you welcome you. Hey there. If you're new to Restored Church, we want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in. You're listening to a portion of our Sunday worship gathering. We believe the church is not an event, but a family you belong to. So we would love the opportunity to connect with you. If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please Visit our website, www.restoredtemecula.church and click on Contact. With all that said, we, we hope you enjoy the message.
[00:00:35] It is good to be with you.
[00:00:40] It's been a full weekend for several of us. I spent the last couple days in la. We had a family of churches kind of leadership gathering. All came together, leaders in the church. Yeah, it was a really beautiful time. Like, God met with us in powerful ways.
[00:00:59] There's a lot of equipping going on, a lot of.
[00:01:03] I don't know, I just. I feel so thankful.
[00:01:07] The way, like, God writes the best stories, man.
[00:01:11] The ways that he brings people together, the ways that through his spirit enlightens our hearts in more ways. To the glory and beauty of Jesus, how He ministers to us.
[00:01:23] He's just so kind and so wonderful. And so that being said, I'm.
[00:01:28] I'm running on a little bit of adrenaline.
[00:01:30] If I say anything crazy, it's because this is message 5 in the last couple days. So a few days.
[00:01:39] I don't say that to Flex. I say that because I might say something crazy. If I do, just wave at me and say, hey, redo that. Okay?
[00:01:46] No heresy. But if I say something loopy, you'll know why I wanna welcome you this morning. This is a special morning for our church.
[00:01:53] We'll get into that in just a bit. Give love.
[00:01:56] But as I've been reflecting the last couple days, guys, I've just. I felt this deep sense of gratitude to the Lord, which I don't know if there's a better feeling in life than gratitude. Like, when you actually feel grateful, it's wonderful.
[00:02:12] But I've just been thinking about my life and I've been thinking about how Jesus has, like, he's intervened in my life and he's revealed Himself to me and he's.
[00:02:24] He really has, like. He's like saved me, you know, and he is still saving me and he's still refining me. And I was just thinking about my story and how goodness, like his intervening love and his grace and his mercy, and how he's invited me into not just his kingdom, but the mission of his kingdom to make disciples and to see the renewal of all things. And I just, like, if you know my story, I. Shortly, fairly shortly after, like, coming to Jesus, I've started kind of vocational ministry, which I don't recommend, but at the same time, I just feel, like, God's kindness on my life. And I just remember different seasons. I kind of started out leading worship in gatherings and different things.
[00:03:06] And I remember fairly recently, I ran into an old intern, one of my old kind of worship team interns, and young guy and gifted dude.
[00:03:16] And I hadn't seen him in years. And I saw him and he was so, like, I was just proud of him. But I was like, he was so kind and honoring. Like, it made me feel good. It was like, oh, this is really cool. But, like, he started thanking me. He's like, man, thanks for discipling me. Like, and he started kind of, like, being just really respectful and really honoring. And he was like. He's like, man, you taught me. Like, he's like, you taught me. Cause it was music, right? So he's like, you taught me everything I know about gear, like, the tools of the trade, if you will. He's like. He taught me everything about, like, tone. He's a guitar player. I was a guitar player. So if you ever met a guitar player, we're really, really particular about what we call tone, which is the sound of our guitar. He's like, he taught me all these things about tone and pedals and amps and all these different things.
[00:04:03] And he talked about song selection for leading worship and how you can build a set and you can use music as a tool and all these beautiful things. And he's like, affirming me in this space, and it was cool. And he was like. And he honored me. And he's like, you really invested in me. And.
[00:04:17] And he goes, you taught me how to lead worship. And he goes. And this is what he says.
[00:04:20] He goes, thanks for discipling me, man.
[00:04:25] And while I was touched by his honor and his respect and his kindness, like, I left that encounter, like, genuinely so sad because in all of his respectful, honoring appreciation, he was like, thank you so much for discipling me. Like, he didn't mention Jesus once.
[00:04:49] And I walked away from that moment with him just going, like, in some pretty significant ways, I think I failed him.
[00:05:00] Like, I failed that young man. The example that I set for him. It might have been good musically and practically and all that's fine, but it was really poor, or I guess where it really matters, it was poor spiritually and I've been thinking about that, and there's a reality that I want to communicate to all of us this morning that I hope lands in some way. And it's this. It's that the examples that we follow. I was setting an example for this younger guy. The examples that we follow have a huge influence on the disciple that we become.
[00:05:35] We become like those whom we follow the examples in our life.
[00:05:39] And today really is a special morning for our church, and not just for our church, but our family of churches today. You heard Herrick talk about we've been prepping it for weeks. This is our annual Give Love Sunday.
[00:05:50] And what I want to do for this morning, it'll be a different kind of sermon. What I want to do is. I want to talk about what it is, what Give Love is, why we do it, and how what we do in this campaign, this annual campaign of Give Love, how, what we do. It's not like a new thing, okay?
[00:06:07] In fact, we are following an example that's been set for us by some of the very first Christians to ever walk the earth. Okay? Now, unlike younger me, those early Christians, they were a phenomenal example for us to follow. Okay? So if you have your Bible with you, go ahead and grab it. We're gonna be in Philippians chapter one.
[00:06:28] Philippians, chapter one. I'll be in the csb. That's the Christian Standard Bible this morning. So if you have a different translation, no sweat. But the words will be up here on the screen for you to follow along. If you're anything like me, sometimes following along with a different translation just can be kind of tricky.
[00:06:44] And so you can open Philippians chapter one. We're going to start in verse one.
[00:06:48] Before we read this and go through this together, I want to pray for our time.
[00:06:54] So I'd love it if you join me.
[00:06:57] Let's pray.
[00:07:13] Jesus, thank you for your goodness to us.
[00:07:18] Father, you're infinitely wise, infinite.
[00:07:23] And I just man. You're so patient with us, Lord, so faithful to us.
[00:07:28] Spirit, thank you that you're present to comfort us and guide us and help us, even now. And I just pray, I even feel like right now you're highlighting this idea of, like, we all genuinely need rest for our souls.
[00:07:44] And I thank you, Jesus, that true rest really is found in you.
[00:07:48] That's what you said. Come to me, all who are weary, and I will give you rest.
[00:07:55] And so, Father, I pray that this morning you'd help us. You'd help us see the beauty of the story that you've been writing for 2,000 years. And not just 2,000 years, actually thousands of years before that, of redemption and renewal and forgiveness and making all things new and reconciling a broken, fallen world, broken, fallen creation, back to yourself.
[00:08:17] And so would you help us? Would you teach us? And would you inspire us to participate in the story and in the mission that you are on about on the earth? We love you, Jesus. We're thankful. Help me this morning. I want to honor these precious people, and I want to honor your word. We love you, Jesus. It's in your name that we pray. And all God's people said together.
[00:08:35] Amen. Yeah, girl.
[00:08:38] All right, so Philippians, chapter one, starting in verse one, says this. This is a letter. Okay, we're gonna get into this in a second. Paul and Timothy.
[00:08:47] So basically, like, from, right, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi. That's a city, okay, including the overseers and the deacons. Okay, so pause for a second. Paul, he's writing this letter right now. Anybody know where he wrote this letter from, where he's actually physically at while he's writing this?
[00:09:09] Yeah, dude's in prison.
[00:09:11] He's locked up. He's not locked up for doing sketchy things. He's locked up for telling people all the good news about Jesus. Okay? So Paul OG He's a tough guy. He's the greatest missionary he's ever lived, in my opinion. So he's writing this letter. He's writing it from prison to a city in Philippi, Okay? Like, literally the city of Philippi. This church that's there, that's located there. Now, one of the cool things about this church is this is the very first church that Paul plants, okay? So this is like, the early days of the Gospel going forward, and the birth of the church and the multiplication of the church, okay? First church that he planted in Europe, city of Philippi, located in modern day Greece.
[00:09:50] Your boy, Mike Harrelson, Marl Harrelson, they just got back from Greece a little while ago. They can tell you stories. Real place, okay? Real place located in modern day Greece.
[00:10:00] If you study the history about this church, it's a really fascinating church.
[00:10:04] There's this wealthy businesswoman named Lydia, and she gets, like, saved. Her whole household gets saved, which just means they put their faith in Jesus and God's spirit comes into their life and transforms them, right? And then the church there gets. It kind of begins out of that, right? So this church in Philippi had a really strong presence of gifted Women reminds me, honestly, it reminds me a lot of our church.
[00:10:31] I think one of the things that makes this church really unique and special amongst a lot of different things. But one of the things is there's a presence of really strong, wonderful spirit led women in this room. And not just in this room, but in this family honor. You guys, you guys really are special. Thank you for serving us and caring for us the ways that you do.
[00:10:49] But this Philippian church, they were like huge supporters of Paul, okay? They were big supporters of Paul. And not just Paul. If you know anything, if you study the New Testament, Paul. Paul always moved about on his missionary journeys in a team. So he wasn't just this lone ranger missionary guy going out and telling people about Jesus and planting churches. He always had a team. Highly relational. Okay? In the church here in Philippi, there were really big, strong supporters of Paul and his team's church planting efforts. Now I wanna get back into our passage here in verse 2. I want you to. As I read the rest of this, I want you to listen to how affectionate this letter is.
[00:11:22] Okay? Look at verse two.
[00:11:25] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:11:31] I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you.
[00:11:36] Always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer. Look at this. Because of your partnership. If you have a pen, underline that word, partnership. Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, verse six.
[00:11:53] I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. So he's saying what God started in you, not like he used Paul as an instrument, but what God started in them. He's gonna. He's God himself is gonna carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. That means until the day that Jesus returns to the earth. Verse 7. Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart and you are all. There's that word again.
[00:12:27] Partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel. For God is my witness. Look at what he says.
[00:12:42] How deeply I miss all of you. With the affection of Christ Jesus.
[00:12:49] Paul loves these people, clearly. Okay, Verse nine. And I pray this that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to The glory and praise of God.
[00:13:12] Okay, so I just want you to see something really quickly as you read this. Paul really loves these people. Like, and he knows them. It's not this, like, kind of fake, superficial, obligatory kind of like, love. It's like, no, no, no, I love these people.
[00:13:28] I kind of know a bit of what he feels like coming from different church plants in the past. And you guys know the restored story. If you don't know the restored story, this is my family and I. This is our third restored church.
[00:13:38] God's had this beautiful story that has been written and, like. And I got to spend some time this last couple days with people that I dearly love, that we've journeyed with. We've helped see these churches get planted. It's been beautiful. It's been amazing. And so I know a bit of Paul's heart where it's like, oh, man, I love you. It's not like this. Again, it's not obligatory. It's like, it's a real relationship.
[00:14:01] So he knows them. He loves them. In this letter, what it does is he starts this entire letter of Philippians.
[00:14:07] He starts it out as a thank you for their support and their partnership.
[00:14:14] Okay, Now I want you to. Let's have a little bit of fun. I want you to be interacting with me for just a second. I want you to think about some of the most important or powerful or influential partnerships in history. I'm gonna give you two, and I wanna see if you can come up with a couple different ones.
[00:14:33] The first one that came to my mind as I think about really strong partnerships is Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Okay. I don't know about you, I can't think of a better partnership when it comes to songwriting. I think they're the goats. I think they're incredible. The Beatles music, it's timeless. But I think about that and I go, man, these two dudes, so gifted, so different, but stellar art, like, unbelievable songs that are timeless.
[00:15:03] They partnered together to create things that man. Apart.
[00:15:07] They're better together is the idea.
[00:15:10] They went their separate ways. They all, you know, London and McCartney, they had solo careers and they were fine. They were good. Good stuff. I think Wings is awesome. It's fine. But, dude, their partnership together was stellar. Okay, Can I get an amen?
[00:15:23] If you don't like the Beatles, there's other churches in the valley. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
[00:15:30] I do love the bills, but. Okay, so let's look at another one here. Now, My sports side. Okay.
[00:15:34] And this is gonna date me. But it is what it is. I'm not ashamed of it. Dorian will agree. Shaq and Kobe, Okay. Like, when I was watching Shaq and Kobe back in the day, I was like, I appreciated it, But I look back now and I go, those two dudes on the same squad is like, so it's. How do you stop that? Right?
[00:15:56] Huge. And the idea here is, like, the reason I'm going with this is like, the best partnerships, like, the really great partnerships, they partner together to accomplish things that you cannot do on your own. Yeah. Shaq and Kobe had success apart from each other, but them together was way more potent. Right. In the same way Lennon and McCarthy way more potent.
[00:16:19] I think about gospel communities, if you're not sure what gospel communities are, they're kind of the organizing structure of our church.
[00:16:25] Communities of men and women in their households following Jesus together in meaningful and intentional ways. But I think about when you guys gather together for your Lord's suppers, right? And you guys eat together, and everyone's contributing to that meal. You're partnering together for the meal. Now, I do love the idea of healthy competition. And having participated in several of the gospel communities in our church, I have a front row seat. Yeah. You know where I'm going with this, Karen, don't you? Of who actually brings the best food. Okay. And, you know, you guys can argue about it if you want to. I have some opinions. I'm not going to share them from the front in order to not shame anybody. But, dude, you guys actually do a great job of feasting really, really well together. But I want you to think about that partnership. It's like, it's the whole potluck idea. It's like everybody's bringing something, right? There's a partnership going on. They're contributing something. Some people are contributing a protein or a main, and some people are contributing a side and a dessert or a beverage. Or whatever, Right? Like, you're coming together, you're partnering together, each person providing an element of the meal, and you're partnering together on that meal, and it makes it better for everyone.
[00:17:36] We're better together. That's the idea of a partnership. I think about my wife and how we partner together to raise our children.
[00:17:45] We really want to raise them to enjoy Jesus and obey Jesus and operate like Jesus in every single area of their life. And parents in the room, you know, like, parenting's super easy. Like, it's the easiest thing I've ever done in my life.
[00:18:03] That's Supposed to make you laugh. You guys are way better parents than I am.
[00:18:08] No. It's hard, huh?
[00:18:10] It's not simple.
[00:18:12] It's tricky. It's challenging. It can be uncomfortable, but it's so worth it. Like, parenting's really, really tough. But I've been thinking about this. I'm like, if I didn't have this woman as a partner, dude, my kids would miss out on so much. Why? Because we're better together. A healthy partnership means you're able to accomplish things that you could never do on your own.
[00:18:34] And so I want you to think about this concept of partnership, okay? We're better together.
[00:18:40] Paul the Apostle Paul, the greatest missionary and church planter ever.
[00:18:45] Him and his missionary team, they love this church in Philippi. They helped start it. Paul planted it, and he says that he's grateful for their partnership, their partnership in prayer. Believe it or not, guys, it might sound like lip service. You've been watching these Give Love videos. You know, like, every year we try to raise money. Many of you guys know this, but I see some new faces and, like, it can be this sort of thing, like, and please pray for us. And you might think, like, that's all just, like, they just really just want money. But, like, dude, church planting, it's a miracle that churches even survive. It's an absolute miracle, because there's the culture, there's a very real spiritual enemy, Satan, in this kingdom of darkness that is trying to oppose things happening, the kingdom of God advancing on the earth. They don't want that to happen. There really is very real spiritual opposition.
[00:19:33] And so the partnering and the prayer thing is, it is infinitely valuable, okay? This church in Philippi, they're partnering with Paul and his efforts, his missionary efforts and his team. They're partnering in prayer.
[00:19:45] They're partnering in finances and in actual money to fund the mission.
[00:19:50] They're partnering in the spreading of the gospel, getting the word out about Jesus, and especially in planting new churches.
[00:19:59] And this is happening 2000 years ago. We just read about it a little bit.
[00:20:07] And for us, Restore Temecula, our family of churches, each year, we take a special offering that's above and beyond our typical giving. You guys are very.
[00:20:18] I'm grateful for the ways that you. I'm not just grateful. I'm proud of the generosity on display in our church.
[00:20:25] But this Give Love offering that we do every year, it's above and beyond our normal giving. And what we do every year, we take this offering and we give it all away.
[00:20:35] We give it all away to different gospel Initiatives. Oftentimes the majority of the times it's church planting, but it's not exclusively church planting. There's other gospel initiatives that you guys have generously partnered together to fund and to help fund.
[00:20:48] But we give it all away. And we call this annual offering Give Love. All right? And what we want to do with this every year is we want to partner with what God is doing. Hear me?
[00:20:57] Outside of just our local church context. Okay. We are part of a much bigger story all over the earth that's been going for 2,000 years.
[00:21:09] Okay. Our give offering this year, you already know about it, is partnering with Colton and Mallory Moore.
[00:21:15] See a new restored church planted in the woodland hills.
[00:21:19] That's like the west, almost the farthest west in the San Fernando Valley up in Lake.
[00:21:25] And the cool thing is their church, it's already been kind of born again. The church is a people. They're not planting a gathering. Right. They're launching their Sunday morning worship gatherings next Sunday. Which like, yes, yes, please clap, please. Or at least fake like you're excited. So I feel better.
[00:21:43] Hear me. This is like a huge win.
[00:21:47] This is like when you're watching your favorite team on TV and they just score a big touchdown. Like the scoreboard's changing friends. Like, this is a kingdom win. It's so exciting. It's so good. Yes. It's costly, but it's so worth it. So they're launching their Sunday morning worship gatherings this next Sunday, the 4th of October.
[00:22:07] But the church has already been birthed. Cause the church is the people, it's not the event. And so they've been gathering. They have a gospel community that's meeting in Colton Miles house.
[00:22:16] And they're growing together. They're developing deeper relationships. They're partnering in really beautiful ways. Like, it's happened. The baby's been born. Okay, it's been born. But they're going public now at this point, so it's a whole other phase of what's going on. This church is coming alive. And it's beautiful. It's something that God has birthed.
[00:22:37] And I just want to talk about Colton for just a second. Cause I know most of you know him, but some of you won't.
[00:22:46] I've known Colton since he was like a 12 year old boy.
[00:22:51] Okay.
[00:22:55] He offered. I was leading worship and he offered to carry my guitar, which might sound like, oh, that's cute, whatever.
[00:23:08] I think it's a marker of the kind of man that he is.
[00:23:13] I really do.
[00:23:16] His humility, his desire to serve, his desire to Learn his desire to grow. And if you've known Colton, you've literally watched his journey. One of the things you need to know about him is he's built for what he's about to do.
[00:23:30] God has built him to do this.
[00:23:33] He's formed him. And one of the ways that he's formed him is through suffering, through his faith. His trust in God has been refined through.
[00:23:44] I'm not gonna get into the specifics, but you just need to trust me on this. Multiple areas in his life, multiple very sensitive areas in his life, not because of his own sin, but because of the brokenness of the world. He has experienced deep and profound pain and suffering. Listen to me. That has not hardened him, but has refined him and filled him with power and strengthened his faith to the point where he can go run in. Into enemy lines, run into the battlefield with confidence, with humility, and with power to make a stake for the Kingdom of God. Okay, that might sound dramatic. I don't think it's dramatic enough. There's a spiritual realm that is in opposition to the Kingdom of God. Him, his amazing wife, Mallory, they're doing this.
[00:24:30] Colton, his brother, his older brother Tyler. Tyler and Peyton, they're members of our church. We've known them, Colton and Tyler, they lived, like, two streets over from me and my brother and my family growing up. We've known them forever. We go way back. We've been partnering together in ministry, guys, for multiple decades. Okay? Not only that, Colton was on the original team that joined Ebony and I and Mark and Cass and others to move here to plant this church from down in San Diego.
[00:25:03] He helped lay the foundation. He teamed up with us to help support the effort of what God was planting, the seed that God was planting here that has become Restored Temecula. So he's a son of this house. Many of you've seen and watched him grow. You've seen him develop. You've seen him serve and love, and you've been on the receiving end of his service and love and like he's a son of this house.
[00:25:29] We talk about the church as a family all the time. This is not some random dude who's trying to get funding for a project that he's trying to pull off.
[00:25:38] This is family.
[00:25:41] This is a man who's enlisted into areas of service in the army of God to do courageous and bold things.
[00:25:50] And it's not just a rogue thing that him and his wife are deciding to do. This is prayed in consensus with all the rest of the leaders in our family of Churches, we're all united and going.
[00:26:02] This is the time. This is what? God's up. Yes. Let's roll. And so I just want you to see this. Like, he's a son of this house. And so we're trying to. Honestly, we're trying to raise as much money as we possibly can to give them a great start. Okay? Planting churches is so hard.
[00:26:18] There's never any money. It's really tricky. It's hard.
[00:26:21] But I'll say this, and some of you guys already know this, but I want to put this in front of you. The goal for our entire family of churches is to raise $200,000 for them. Okay? $200,000. The truth is, they're gonna need way more than that. Okay. But that'll give them enough of a Runway to kinda get things going. Okay, the goal is $200,000. Now, I wanna share some numbers with you because I think hopefully it will bless you. And I just wanna say I've already mentioned it, but I'm so dang proud of how generous of a church you are. Okay. Small, our church is. I think we have like 230something members in our church.
[00:26:56] And there's probably another, I don't know, a dozen or two people that are kind of like, you know, checking things out and kind of getting connected and maybe starting their journey of becoming a member of the gospel community, a member of the church, that kind of thing. So we're a small church. Okay. We really are, especially in the suburbs.
[00:27:10] But I want to give you some numbers over the last several years of our annual Give Love.
[00:27:16] What you guys, how you have been what I would argue to be as radically generous.
[00:27:25] This is being recorded, so I'm trying to choose my words very carefully.
[00:27:32] I have participated and been aware of ministries that are 10, 20, 30 times our size numerically that do not give and invest as much money into the mission of God and specifically church planting as you guys do.
[00:27:51] I say that to honor you, not to bash anybody else.
[00:27:54] You guys are so special.
[00:27:56] You're so generous, you're so thoughtful.
[00:27:59] Like, I'm just so proud. But I'm gonna give you some numbers. Okay? 2018, the year that we launched our Sunday morning gatherings. Ebony and I and the team showed up in 2017, Gospel Communion in our house. God, in his kindness grows things. People encounter Jesus. It's awesome. 2018, we go Sunday Morning. Our very first Give love. Okay.
[00:28:20] This would have been 6ish months after we launched Sunday Morning Gatherings, our tiny little church plant. You guys raised $16,000 for the first Give Love. Okay. The following year, 2019, you guys raised $22,000. Okay. This is so cool. 2020, crappy year. Okay.
[00:28:41] Really bad year, Covid. We didn't have a Give Love that year. We were trying to just keep everybody alive and staying together and all the things. Okay, 2021, $45,000 you raised for Give Love that year. Okay, 2022, another year. It was tough. The FOC. We had to figure out how we were gonna do Give Love, so we paused. Give love that year. 2023, another. Again, another $45,000 in 2023. Okay, 2024, $62,000 you guys gave that.
[00:29:16] It's been funding ministry and church plants. You guys know what they are. I don't have time to go into all the different issues, but you guys did this. We gave all this away.
[00:29:25] It's been incredible. And we see the fruit and we got to talk about it. Last couple days at the summit, it was awesome. 2025, $47,000 last year for Give Love.
[00:29:34] So we've kind of. The last three, it was 45.
[00:29:39] Actually, the last four was 45. 45, 62, 47.
[00:29:45] Small little church plant.
[00:29:48] We're not a church plant anymore, but you know what I'm saying? Small church. Like, you guys, I'm so proud of you. Like, you're doing it. You're doing the New Testament stuff, You're doing the Jesus stuff. It's awesome. Like, you should be. You should not take like unhealthy, sinful pride, self righteous pride in this, but you have all the permission in the world to take pleasure in the ways that the spirit of God has been developing us and strengthening us in generosity. And it really matters.
[00:30:10] So I just want to honor you and bless you. And I want to say I think the goal this year should be 50k.
[00:30:15] I think our small little church can raise $50,000. Now, I'll just say this. I actually think we could raise quite a bit of money and just kind of. Yeah, we should do this. This is good. Fine. Yeah, we'll give great and totally not be able to experience the joy behind it.
[00:30:34] And so I don't want that either.
[00:30:36] You know what I'm saying? Like, there's an amazing opportunity in front of us for like, deep pleasure, deep joy in investing in the kingdom of God. And it's an eternal investment. Okay. Cause this is not just about, like getting an event off the ground and like, cool, we helped do this thing. Like, no, guys, listen. The fruit of this is real. People like, names and faces like real people encountering the love of Jesus in transformative ways.
[00:31:05] Okay? Now, church plants aren't the only ways that people encounter Jesus. It's not. But if you see, like the data says, Herrick referenced this earlier. Excuse me. The data says that the percentage of people that come to Jesus for the, like, they encounter Jesus for the first time. The percentage of people that encounter Jesus for the first time coming out of a church plant versus an established church, the numbers are much, much higher. I don't know why that is. It's just the data. So I just want you to know, this is real data. This is real people encountering the love of Jesus, okay? In church plants. What they need to get going is they need external funding in the beginning.
[00:31:44] Cause early on, there isn't enough internal giving. There isn't enough internal giving to fund that local mission.
[00:31:51] And so when we give, we're giving to see that new church get going. And listen, this is how every single restored church has started. Started all of us, this one included.
[00:32:03] Like, when we were getting going, we were, my family and I, we were in Restored South Bay at the time. This is.
[00:32:14] Yeah, this would have been almost 10 years ago. Now we're in Restored South Bay, which was the second church plant of the restored family of Churches. We had just been sent out from the first church plant and. And we're there. And we knew we were coming up here. God had already spoken. We had already kind of like really prayed through it as a team. And my colleagues and the guys that leaded the churches and so we knew we were coming. And what the plan was was. The plan was I was gonna take like a three month period of time before we, like, as we were transitioning, kind of to move up here and stuff. Before we moved up here, I was gonna spend three months just doing fundraising, just going to other churches, going to other people and say, hey, this is the vision behind what we're trying to do.
[00:32:55] Yeah, we're gonna do give love with our church. But there was only a couple churches at the time, so it was like, okay, we can get some, which will be great, but how can we kind of fundraise for some kingdom minded people and that kind of thing? So I was gonna spend three months fundraising and Danny and Monique Kimlot, who lead Restored Church South Bay, some of our closest friends, unbelievably wonderful people.
[00:33:18] Monique's brother passes away unexpectedly, and so their family is crushed. Understandably.
[00:33:27] Danny and Mo are just like, oh, and they're in this, they're like, year Two and a. Yeah. Just crossed the two year mark of their church plant. So they're like in the thick of it. It's like, it's very stressful and hard. Beautiful things are happening, but hard things are happening. And so they're just kind of like gut punch, wind gets knocked out of them. And so they need to step away for a little bit for bereavement. It's appropriate. We need them to.
[00:33:52] And me and Danny are the only elders in the church. So. Okay, it was just clear. It was like, I need to step in so that they can step away. I need to step into not just my role, but I need to help fill Danny's role.
[00:34:04] So I step into kind of interim, provide leadership to the church.
[00:34:09] And that meant, oh, but I gotta fundraise. How are we gonna pull this church plan off if we don't fundraise?
[00:34:19] And I remember the Lord just being like.
[00:34:25] Reminding me of how faithful he's been to the people that he's called and the assignments that he's given them throughout history.
[00:34:33] And I remember just going like, this isn't like our idea.
[00:34:37] This isn't like, we wanna go move back. Like, no, this was like God was doing something. Oh, he's gonna provide. And guys, dude, that. Give love.
[00:34:45] The church raised $80,000 for us.
[00:34:51] And this was in like 2017.
[00:34:55] Yeah, maybe, maybe. Yeah, it was early 2017.
[00:34:58] Those churches raised $80,000 for us.
[00:35:01] And a man gave us this weird thing called bitcoin that we didn't really know much about. That like, literally helped fund us for the first few years of the church. It was crazy. It was like God, he did it, he made it happen.
[00:35:16] And I just want you to know that, like, that, that story I tell that because I want you to know, like our origin story is because Christians came together and were radically generous financially to get this thing going. Okay? This church exists. Hear me. This church exists because of the generosity of other Christians.
[00:35:33] It's like, it's why it exists because of the generosity of other Christians, because of the generosity of other local churches who gave sacrificially to partner with us, to see disciples made here in this place. So listen, if this church in any way has blessed you in your relationship to Jesus, if you've grown in your faith, if you've grown in your devotion to Jesus, if you've experienced him in meaningful ways that have, that have shaped you at all in this place amongst these people, it's due in large part to the financial giving of other Christians. Listen to me. Some of whom you've never even met.
[00:36:10] I don't know about you. I think that's beautiful.
[00:36:14] I think it's spectacular.
[00:36:20] Why does all this matter so much?
[00:36:27] Will you throw that slide up for me?
[00:36:31] Do you guys know what this is?
[00:36:35] I just hear murmurs.
[00:36:37] Rosie, the Riveter youth are kind of going. Some of the youth are like, I have no idea what this is.
[00:36:47] That's my daughter.
[00:36:49] She yells at her dad when he's preaching.
[00:36:52] Okay? V knows what is. In case there's somebody who doesn't know what this is or maybe I guess who this is.
[00:36:58] And if those of you who do, let's just do a little bit of quick American history for you really, really fast.
[00:37:04] 1941, World War II, right?
[00:37:08] Which is crazy for us in this era to think about the world being at War.
[00:37:13] So 1941, this is two years after the war gets started, right? America's trying to stay out of the war. Tak Pearl harbor happens. America gets into the war. Now, at that time, the vast majority of American women, they did not work outside the home at all, okay? They didn't work outside the home.
[00:37:34] But how many of you know, when you live during wartime, things change.
[00:37:39] They necessarily have to change. Okay? So you have most of the men that are away fighting a war, okay, in another country, oftentimes far away, right? And because most of the men are away now, there's this huge void in the workforce, all right? There's not enough workers to make the necessary supplies that the military needs to fight the war to defend this country, okay? So you have this big kind of void in the workforce.
[00:38:12] And so what happens is American women, they step in.
[00:38:17] They step in to fill that void. They enter the workforce, right? Typically, it's not working outside the home now. They're working outside the home. They're stepping in. Cause the men are gone, right? Rightfully so.
[00:38:28] And at the time, men or I'm sorry, women, they're not allowed to go and fight on the front lines. But what they could do is they could partner.
[00:38:38] There's that word again. They could partner on what was called the home front.
[00:38:45] And they did that by working in those factories, by making war, literally building warplanes in bombs, in submarines, and riveting the metal to metal, they're building this stuff. So this Rosie to the Riveter character, she was a character that represented millions of American women who stepped in, Hear me, To meet the need.
[00:39:08] And the reason I'm bringing this up is because I think it really. It's a helpful illustration to See that? Like, without this partnership, without that partnership of the women stepping in to support the rest of the country, while the men are supporting the country by fighting, essentially defending the country. Without that partnership, you and I would be speaking German right now, because we certainly. America would have certainly lost the war.
[00:39:40] Listen, it's really comfortable in Temecula Valley, but whether you care to acknowledge it or not, friend, you are alive during wartime.
[00:39:56] And I'm not talking about the wars that you read on the news.
[00:39:59] I'm talking about the war that you read about in your Bible, the spiritual war.
[00:40:07] And I'm here to tell you, as dangerous and as destructive and as devastating as World War II was, the war that I'm referring to is exponentially more dangerous.
[00:40:17] And the stakes are way higher, because what's at stake is the soul of every human being on the planet.
[00:40:33] People come to this place because they oftentimes. Because, like I said, it's comfortable, it's safer than other places. It's a great place to raise a family.
[00:40:42] All that's wonderful.
[00:40:44] I think Temecula is beautiful, but I also think it's. I think it's dark.
[00:40:52] I think this is a really dark place.
[00:40:55] I think the enemy's taken a lot of ground here.
[00:40:59] Like, a lot of ground here.
[00:41:04] People giving their life over to consumerism, people giving their life. Like, the pursuit of their life is increased comfort.
[00:41:18] People, like, genuinely held captive by greed, Living their life their way instead of God's way. And the result, I mean, we see it all over. If you just again, the data, like, depression rates in the suburbs, way high.
[00:41:42] Anxiety rates, way high.
[00:41:44] As a pastor, just. I could tell you, just, like, meeting with people regularly, the amount of fear that people carry and walk in regularly every day is significant here. The. How about this one? The hiding.
[00:42:01] Like, let's have. We can't have a. Like, we have a surface level conversation. But, like, I'm. I know I'm. Put the map. Everything's fine.
[00:42:08] Everything's great.
[00:42:13] And the apathy that comes from that.
[00:42:17] And, like, I just want to say this, like, I'm not trying to freak you out, but I love you. Like, Temecula's not as safe as you might think it is, friend.
[00:42:26] I mean, yeah, we don't have, like, gang problems in the same way that, like, you know, major inner cities do.
[00:42:33] So we're like, that, like, observable. Like, oh, that makes, you know, they're literally shooting themselves. They're shooting each other in the streets. Like, yeah, we don't have gang problems like that. You know, but spiritually, the materialism and the pride here is off the charts, man.
[00:42:49] I know you see it. I know you know what I'm talking about.
[00:42:54] And it grieves me because I watch it pastorally. I see, like, people are being defeated by Satan and they don't even realize it.
[00:43:03] They're being, like, lulled to sleep.
[00:43:11] I read my Bible and I go, oh, yeah, we're living in wartime.
[00:43:16] That makes sense. There really is an enemy to the kingdom of heaven, an enemy to the kingdom of God. You and I are living in wartime, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.
[00:43:28] And this church was planted, it was birthed to fight the war here on this front, okay? And what's beautiful is that in order to do that, other Christians who aren't here, they stepped in. They kind of, like Rosie the river did this thing. Like, they stepped in to partner with us in this fight. They were like, hey, yeah, we can't move there. We have other assignments from the Lord or we have other commitments or we can't make that happen. We can't move there to dream.
[00:43:59] But, you know, we can't fight on those front lines, but we can send supplies.
[00:44:05] We can pray regularly for you. We had teams of people praying for us when we got started. Okay? We can pray. We can send money. Like, our story, friends, is a story. Please hear me. Our story is a story of gospel partnership.
[00:44:24] And it's not just our story. It's the church's story for the past 2000 years all over the earth.
[00:44:31] That's what we're doing with Give Love is we're partnering together to see restored church west valley planted and planted well to be an outpost for the kingdom of God, where the gospel is preached and the gospel is lived out and people encounter the kingdom of God and the love of God in meaningful ways.
[00:44:50] Now, I'm almost done.
[00:44:52] We started out by reading the beginning of Paul's letter to the Philippians. Right?
[00:44:58] I want you to see how he ends it.
[00:45:02] Okay? Philippians, chapter 4, verses 15 through 20.
[00:45:11] Says this. And you, Philippians, know that in the early days of the Gospel, when I left Macedonia. When you think Macedonia, think the region.
[00:45:22] So Philippi was in Macedonia. It's like Temecula's in the Temecula Valley. So when you think Macedonia, just think, like, this region. That's what he's talking about. Okay? Like this valley.
[00:45:33] So when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone.
[00:45:41] For even in Thessalonica, you sent gifts for my need. How many times?
[00:45:48] Put that in your back pocket. Several times.
[00:45:51] Verse 17. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that is increasing to your account talking to the giver.
[00:46:01] But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance. I am fully supplied having received from Epaphroditus what you provided. Epaphroditus, he was literally the church member that went and delivered the resources to Paul and his team. So it's like we're collecting. Give love, right? It's like, for, like, Courtney and Chris, they're like, they're gonna collect it and they're gonna go travel to West Valley to deliver those funds. That's epaphroditus. Okay.
[00:46:27] Verse 19.
[00:46:28] Oh, no, sorry. I'm gonna finish this.
[00:46:30] I am fully supplied having received from Paphroditis what you provided. Look what he says. A fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
[00:46:42] Verse 19. And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
[00:46:51] Okay, so what I want you to see really quickly. I'm almost done. Is that Paul describes their giving the church in Philippi. He describes their giving to Paul as an offering. To who?
[00:47:03] To God. So you gotta get the picture. He's saying when they gave to Paul and his team, that it was actually an offering to God.
[00:47:12] Okay, they're giving to Paul and his team, but it was for God. He says their partnership in the war effort, in the mission, is ultimately for God. Okay.
[00:47:26] And it caused me to think, like, well, like, how is giving two other soldiers in the war for God, God?
[00:47:39] One of the things I love about the New Testament is how, like, connected it is.
[00:47:45] It's so fun to study. Like, if you study the Philippian Church in Second Corinthians, chapter 8, the second letter that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, right? He references these same believers.
[00:47:59] And we know from 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, that the Philippian church, He says, the same Philippian church that we've been talking about all morning, he says that that Philippian church was really poor.
[00:48:12] The language that he uses to describe that Philippian church was that they were in, quote, extreme poverty.
[00:48:22] So think about this, guys.
[00:48:25] These Christians in Philippi, they're in extreme poverty, yet they gave towards the mission of God. Listen to me. Beyond their means, okay? That means it was very sacrificial for them. Okay? This wasn't like, we got a bunch of extra money, like, yeah, cool, I wanna have Starbucks this week. Here you go. It's like, no, no, no. Like, I don't have groceries if I give this. That's the kind of thing we're dealing with. Okay, so it was sacrificial. And what's crazy to me, guys, is it wasn't just one time.
[00:48:55] Like, the Philippian Christians. They did this over and over and over and over again, like, regularly, like, probably annually. I don't know. They might have even called it something like, give love. Who knows?
[00:49:11] But they did it all the time. They did it regularly. Now, here's my question.
[00:49:16] That sounds cool. Yeah, cool. That's like, why would a group of people hear me, who had so little, willingly sacrifice so much, so frequently?
[00:49:33] Here's the answer.
[00:49:37] Because of what had been given to them.
[00:49:42] Galatians 2:20.
[00:49:47] I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me.
[00:49:55] The life I now live in. The Body.
[00:49:58] The body of Christ. The church.
[00:50:00] I live by faith in the Son of God.
[00:50:05] Here it is.
[00:50:06] Who loved me and gave himself for me.
[00:50:14] They did it because of what I should say, who had been given to them. Ephesians 5:1 2. Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and walk in love as Christ also loved us. And there it is again.
[00:50:37] Gave Himself for us.
[00:50:41] And look what he says. A sacrificial and fragrant offering. To who?
[00:50:47] To God. A sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. That sounds a whole lot like Paul's letter, how he ends it to the Philippian Church, doesn't it?
[00:50:57] That's not a coincidence.
[00:51:00] Paul's motivation was the same thing that motivated the church in Philippi. Okay.
[00:51:05] That the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me, they gave sacrificially, frequently, all the ways that they did over and over and over again because of what I should say. Who was given to them? Jesus, the lover of their soul, their savior.
[00:51:22] Many of you in this room, you. Your life is different because you've encountered the love of God. Because you know Jesus. He's made himself known to you. He's poured his spirit out in your heart, and it's transformed you. And you're not perfect, but man, oh, man, you're committed to him, and you want to love him, and you want to give yourself to him. What you are living out is what they lived out. You're part of a bigger story.
[00:51:45] These are your spiritual ancestors. They're really good examples. I shared the story about me when I was early on in my leadership journey And I didn't lead that great.
[00:51:57] I led okay in some areas, but in the areas that really mattered, I could have done a better job. I can learn from it, and hopefully I have.
[00:52:05] But we're part of a bigger story, and we have examples that have been set for us that are off the charts good.
[00:52:12] Like, really, really, really good.
[00:52:16] And so let me just say this.
[00:52:20] You and I, we. We gladly sacrificed for the mission of God because it was God's mission of sacrificing himself for us that won the war for our souls.
[00:52:32] How did he do that? He gave himself for us. He gave himself for you.
[00:52:38] So now we, like generations of Christians before us, we follow in the footstep of our Savior who loved us and gave himself for us. So then we give so that other people might have that same experience of his love and his grace and his power and his mercy and his kingdom that we've experienced.
[00:53:03] I don't know about you. I think that's spectacular.
[00:53:07] And I think the fact that God invites us into that kind of an eternal story says a lot about how much he values us and a lot about the dignity that he's made each one of us with.
[00:53:22] All right, I'm going to close. Ben, will you come up?
[00:53:35] I just want to mention one thing. As you're thinking, I want to encourage you just consistently be praying for Colton and Mallory and their team, what they're doing. Guys, I'm telling you, it is so brave and courageous.
[00:53:56] Many of you, you guys, one of the things that's really cool about our community is many of you know what it's like, the vulnerability of starting something new.
[00:54:06] Business owners, entrepreneurs, parents, like, you know, that vulnerability of, like, getting something going and how fragile it can be and how, like, at any moment things can, like, go away. Like, it's just. It's such a. It's like a little baby, you know?
[00:54:26] And I just want you to know, like, church planting. Is that on steroids?
[00:54:33] And so as you think about Colton and Mallory, like, pray that God would continue to give them the courage they need to charge the hill for the kingdom of God. To charge into enemy territory for the kingdom of God. Okay, can you just do something with me? Can you just humor me for a second?
[00:54:50] I'm not. I want to say this because there might. You might be thinking that I'm trying to manipulate you on what I'm about to ask you to do. And as God is my witness, Lord, I just submit to you. There's zero manipulation. I want you to lead us, Lord Jesus Will you just close your eyes for just a second?
[00:55:12] Like, I.
[00:55:17] I don't. I personally don't want to do anything.
[00:55:25] Like, I want to be like Jesus.
[00:55:28] I only want to do and say what the Father is doing and saying, friend. And I desperately want that for our church.
[00:55:37] And so what I'm going to ask you to do is I'm going to ask you to just consider for a second the effect that Jesus has had on your life.
[00:55:56] I review your story.
[00:56:02] Somewhere along the line, somebody loved you enough to tell you about Jesus.
[00:56:09] Somebody loved you enough to demonstrate what Jesus is like to you.
[00:56:17] And hear me, I know there's along the way there's people that have misrepresented Jesus.
[00:56:21] Maybe even leaders, church leaders, maybe even me.
[00:56:25] But, like, as much as you can, like, just fix your eyes on Jesus for a second.
[00:56:38] And just consider. The effect that he's had on you.
[00:56:46] Is priceless.
[00:56:52] His perfect life in your place, planned out from eternity past his sacrificial death in your place, willingly to free you, to forgive you, to empower you, to secure your eternity with Him.
[00:57:23] When we do this give love thing, it's so that other people can experience what we've experienced.
[00:57:33] I can't think of a better investment than that.
[00:57:38] There's all sorts of people have all sorts of opinions of the kind of investments that you should make in your life, what your portfolio should look like. You know, None of that stuff's eternal.
[00:58:02] In humility, I just tell you this is an investment that has eternal roi.
[00:58:14] So what I want to do is I just want to sit in this posture for a minute, and I just want to let God speak again. This is not about manipulative tactics to get you to put money into, you know, the church account so we can send it.
[00:58:29] I desperately want us to experience the joy that the Philippian Church experienced.
[00:58:40] It's not about hitting a number.
[00:58:42] It's about worshiping him and delighting in him and seeing his kingdom advance and change people's lives way that it's changed ours.
[00:58:52] And so I just want to maintain this posture for honestly a few minutes.
[00:58:59] And I want to invite you to go before God and just pray and ask him.
[00:59:08] I know he's calling you to give prayer.
[00:59:13] Please do that.
[00:59:17] But I want you to go before him and I'm asking you to pray and ask God, Lord, what would you have my household contribute?
[00:59:26] Like, let your father father you in this.
[00:59:29] For some of you, it might be less than you were prepared to give.
[00:59:35] For others of you, it might be much more.
[00:59:41] But we want to be people who follow him and trust in him.
[00:59:46] And it's not about numbers.
[00:59:48] It's about obedience and love and worship and devotion and understanding the purpose behind it.
[01:00:03] And so, Father, I'm just inviting you to speak to us.
[01:00:13] I really believe that you're birthing something beautiful through my friends and my brothers and my sisters up there.
[01:00:18] I'm so proud of them.
[01:00:21] It's already costing them so much, and I'm not talking about money, but they're delightfully charging enemy lines because they've experienced you and transformers and you filled them with your spirit. They want other people to experience your grace and your love. And so I just pray, Father, that you would speak to each one of us. How do you want us to partner? We want to be like the Christians that have gone before us.
[01:00:47] We want to be like the Philippian Church.
[01:00:51] We don't have the same resources that other churches have. We meet in a school.
[01:00:59] But we have you, Jesus, and you promised to guide us and lead us through your spirit.
[01:01:06] And so we're inviting you to guide us and lead us now.
[01:01:18] Take just a moment.
[01:02:17] All right?
[01:02:21] I know that there's been several who have already given, and I want to encourage you. Just take this time, like, pray for them. Those resources that you've sacrificed, those resources you've offered ultimately to God for the work of the ministry up in Forest Roybus Valley. Like, pray for them right now.
[01:02:41] For those of you that are ready to give, probably the best way to do it is just on our church's website, Restored Temecula Church. You can go to the Give. I think there's a button. Just make sure you. This is important. Make sure that you select the Give Love Fund.
[01:02:54] That way, all of that money is. We're just going to send all that money.
[01:02:58] So you can do that now, you can do that later.
[01:03:01] We will have the fund open throughout the week.
[01:03:05] We'll give an update at the close of gathering for what has come in thus far. There's already been some that's come in, which has been awesome. We'll give a, a, a kind of a preliminary update at the end of our gathering today. And then next Sunday, we'll give you a bigger total because the other churches are, are, are gathering their funds as well.
[01:03:23] I'm really excited to see what God does, guys.
[01:03:26] So why don't we do this? Will you stand with me if you're able?
[01:03:29] If you're on the prayer team this morning, would you make your way to the front if you want to? Another note if you prefer to give in person. If you prefer to give in person, I think we have a box in the back.
[01:03:42] Thank you, Cindy. If you have any questions, Cindy will be back there. You can, if you want to write a check or something, just make sure you put, like, give love somewhere on the memo. So we make sure that we earmark all of that for Colton and Mallon, for the team.
[01:03:54] And so here's what I want to do for the remainder of our gathering. We're going to. We wrap at noon.
[01:04:00] What I'd love for us to do is if you need more time to pray and process with the Lord, by all means, take that. You want to have conversations with your spouse, like, absolutely, man.
[01:04:08] But I want to affirm you guys one more time.
[01:04:13] One of the things that makes me feel really good as a pastor is when I meet with colleagues, pastors all over the state and the country and. And really the world, it. I feel kind of sometimes emotionally what Paul feels of, like, his. The pleasure he takes and being able to report. Like, there's a small crew in Temecula that, like, they way out punch their weight class with generosity.
[01:04:40] It's so cool, you guys, Young people in the room, youth, the adults that have gone before you in this room, they've set a really good example.
[01:04:53] And I'm so thankful that you guys get to grow up in a church where generosity like this is celebrated, where investment into the kingdom of God is celebrated.
[01:05:04] And so what we're going to do for the rest of the gathering is honestly just thank God for his goodness and his generosity to us.
[01:05:10] And if you need prayer for any reason, you're struggling, you need wisdom, your body's hurting, you want God to touch you, you need guidance, whatever. There's trusted men and women up here that would love to pray for you. Okay. You can come forward at any time.
[01:05:25] And I'll be back up in a few minutes to close this, but I think it would be really, really cool if we could just thank God for how generous he's been to us and really use all of this as an offering to God. All of it. Okay. I love you guys very much. Enjoy him.
