Jill Pattison (4:58)
Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. You can be seated at all of our locations. What a God story. And that video is very emotional for me, looking back and just story after story after story. And I just gotta stand here in the first few moments. And the first thing out of my mouth in this message on our 25th anniversary is all, glory to God. Come on, Highlands. It is the name of Jesus, the power of God. And so welcome to our 25th anniversary celebration. And really, that video is what we're here to celebrate. All that God has done. Want to officially welcome all of our locations. The Highlands family. We love you. Anyone joining us online or on demand. And of course, the men and women of our correctional facilities in Alabama and in Georgia. Come on, Highlands. Let's put our hands together. Welcome our amazing church family. And yeah, just thank you, Jesus, for this story. I just want to start right there. And then secondly, I just got to stop and say thank you to you, Pastor Chris and Ms. Tammy for your yes to God and your yes to coming to Birmingham, Alabama and planting this church. Can we honor our founding pastors? We love you with all of our heart. And I just gotta say thank you to you as well. This is the best church on planet earth. We've been looking back at values over the last few weeks here at church, starting with prayer back early in January. Thank you for being a pray first church. Thank you for being a church that believes in the power of relationships. Thank you so much for being a church of stewardship, of generosity. And the miracle of Highlands is the fact that people come and they sow into this and God uses it as only God can. So thank you for. For believing, number one, for worshiping God that way, but believing in the vision. And thank you for saying yes to purpose. All of that is for that number we just saw. Church. 392,644 salvations to God be the glory. So I got really a million thoughts and emotions running through my heart today. And today has already been special. It's going to be special. Be sure you stay to the very end. Lots of surprises coming your way, but I think we need to get straight into the word of God today. Y' all ready for that? So if you have your app, you can open it up if you want to take notes. Today, we're going to start with a verse that was actually in the video you just saw from Matthew 28. Go and put it on the screen, guys. A scripture that is known as the Great Commission. And this was the really. As Jesus was getting ready to ascend, this was the final instructions of our Lord and Savior. As he was really empowering us to be the church. He was making sure we had clear vision on what it means to be the church. And this is what Jesus says again in Matthew 28. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven, on earth has been given to me, therefore go. Everybody say go. Therefore go. So again, it's all authority has been given to Jesus. He is that name above all names. And then he's saying to us as his people to go. And we have a mission to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. Now check this last part out. This is the promise. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Beautiful clarity from our Lord and Savior, making sure we knew exactly what to focus on. As the church. And I just love that last part. And honestly, the greatest miracle in the first 25 years of church of the Highlands is God has been with us. And that is the greatest miracle that God has been faithful. He has been with us, and he is a good God. And I know that's because he's a good God, but also church. We can't miss this. We have stayed focused clearly on the Great Commission. And I just want to declare Here in year 25, as we look towards the future, what we have been built on as a church, we are going to stay built on as a church, that this is a Great Commission church. Can I get a better amen in church today that we would be focused on what's on God's heart? And so today we are celebrating the first 25. But here in these next few moments, I would love to turn us as a church towards the next 25. Y' all do know that God's just getting started, right? Y' all do know the best is yet to come, right? That's Jill read that verse earlier. That he can do immeasurably more. So I want us to lean into that today. And in my heart today, today's kind of a doorway from where we have been, and we're so thankful for it, but to where God can take us. Philippians 1:6. I've been sharing the scripture. It's just on my heart right now. Says, being confident of this. I love that word, confident. We are not standing here unsure that we serve a good God who does good things. We are confident that he who began a good work and Highlands is absolutely a good work, will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. That around here at Highlands. Come on, we are just getting started. Because God is still doing that good work, and he will. I am confident today. I feel it today. I have so much faith today as your pastor, that God will continue to do this great work. And we, again, have not seen anything yet with all that he wants to do. And so today, if you'll allow today to be this over these next few minutes, let's let this be a refresh, kind of a day one experience for all of us. We were raising lights earlier, and some of you have been here for over 20 years. I celebrate that. I even see my friends KT and Deborah Bowles right here on the third row, literally from day one. So many people who've been here. Others of you, this is your first day here at Highlands. But for all of us, if we can, over These next few moments, let's let this be a fresh day one. And really to remind ourselves, fresh and new, be re baptized in what God has called us to do as a church. The way I want to do this is going to be kind of fun. So back in August, we did our first meeting for today. So we got together as a team and we began to dream and really pray about what today would be. We want to make sure, really, we honor the moment. This is a big moment, 25 years. And so we have a whole list of things you'll hear about some of these even later on today that we wanted to do on our 25th anniversary. But one of them that got put on the list was that 25 years in is a good time to really refresh your brand. And when I say brand, I mean the look and the feel of Highlands just kind of even in the business world, it's kind of a moment where you want to take a look at all that. And by the way, this is something we have done over the years. Pastor Chris has led us through this several times. In fact, I brought a picture of our entire experience as a brand, kind of the journey of the brand. You can see right there where we started in 2001, and then 2011, 10 years in, kind of refresh that. And you can see the different colors and expressions of that over the years. I saw this actually on Pastor Chris's Instagram, and then I saw it in the video earlier. I do want to just highlight. This was our very first mailer as a church. This got sent out to thousands of homes in the Birmingham area at that point. Can y' all notice something? There's a lot of purple and gold on that mailer. And I mean, he would say that's because that's the color of heaven. But we also know there was another motive right there. And so we have reached a lot of people for Jesus. I'm not sure we've converted to a lot of LSU fans, but anyway, both have been attempted. But anyway, so that's kind of a moment that makes sense. And so this whole year, by the way, I've been learning everything on the job, as you've probably noticed. And so I've never gone through a brand journey. So I started asking around, and everyone was like, hire a consultant. Obviously, this is a big job. You want to get some expertise. And Jill and I just began to pray. And I cannot. I can hardly even describe to you how it was literally like a word from the Holy Spirit that no one from the outside could really dig into the feel and the mission and the heart of Church of the Highlands, that it had to come from the inside. And so we walked back to the team, and even though this was a huge undertaking, we just said to the creative team and to really the whole Highlands team, we said, hey, you know what? God's called us to walk through this process together. That this would be shaped from people who have heart and soul all in conviction here at Highlands. The team rallied around that. And honestly, it's been an incredible journey. Went way beyond a brand journey to really a chance for us to re walk through the vision as a church. And that's what I want to do for you today. I'm excited, by the way, to show you the brand. Would y' all like to see the brand? You're gonna have to wait. Cause I'm gonna preach it first, and then at the end, you're gonna get to see it. All right. But it all starts with our foundational verse. As a church, this is where we got our name. If you're wondering where Church of the Highlands came from, we are not Scottish. It actually came from Habakkuk. 319. The Sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me. It is through his power, his strength, that we are able to tread on the heights. We say it this way, we believe God has a spiritual journey for all of us that takes us to higher heights. God always has more for us. God always has a journey in front of us and. And we get to take that journey one step at a time. So this is why I have on the stage today kind of four expressions of this journey, kind of these four mountains right here. And by the way, I didn't realize they were going to put a mountain behind me, which I'm pretty sure that's Mount Che Ha. I'm just going to go ahead and claim it right there. I feel very seen right now. But these four kind of mountains represent the know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and make a difference journey that God has for our church. That's the language that we put around really, honestly living out the great commission that we would know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and make a difference. As we head into our next 25 years, those values and even that language is the firm foundation that we are going to continue to build on. And it's important that we start. And again, if you're taking notes today, you want to write it down, we start with the one that has to happen first, and that Is that we would all come to know God. Write that down today. Know God. When we say know God, I want to make sure we catch the heart of that or remind ourselves of the heart of that. John 10 gives us a beautiful kind of unpack. Jesus unpacks it well for us. He says, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. And that word know there. This is. This is critical for us to catch this. It's not like knowing in our mind. It's not about knowledge. The word is actually a Greek. In the Greek, the word ginosko, tell your neighbor, gnosko, you probably just spit on your neighbor. They'll forgive you. All right, so it's not about head knowledge church. It's about heart knowledge that God wants to make sure we realize that this is about a real relationship with him. And I grew up kind of in a church that it was more about the knowledge, honestly. And really salvation was more about a transaction with a church and maybe even like a new worldview or, come on, fire insurance. But what God has for us is so much more than that. Even as we raised our lights earlier, what we're talking about today is knowing God in our heart. When he comes into our heart, everything changes. Can I get an amen at church today? And as a church, we can never in these next 25 years, not even one day of our life. We can never lose the passion of just knowing God more that we would continue to experience him. I first got saved at 17 years old. It changed everything about my life. But I thank God here I am now, years later and still getting to grow deeper in my love with Jesus. Anybody love Jesus out there today at church of the Highlands? Come on. We love God. And even our rally cry this year as a church is we seek God first. That we would always stay passionately in love with. It is not a got to come on church. It's a get to. But it doesn't stop with just our own relationship. We've said it this year for this way for 25 years. We are not a church just for those who are here. We are a church for those who are not here yet. That is why we showed that video today, that value of and more people getting to know God. So if you're going to be around Highlands, you just got to know we're going to do whatever it takes to reach more people around here at Highlands. So you're going to have maybe a new experience at church. It was for me when I came here. You're gonna have traffic on the way to church. Cause we're gonna continue to reach people. We're gonna launch new campuses. We're gonna reach new cities. Come on, somebody. We're gonna have new service times. Whatever it takes. Maybe you're wondering this question, you know, when is enough enough? I'll go ahead and give you the answer when all have heard. So we're just not gonna stop until every street, every city, every community, every home, every school till everyone has heard. And I know that can create tension even out there in the world today. There's tension around churches like ours, large churches. There's even phrases, you know, like megachurch or attractional church. I even heard recently the attractional church is dead. I'm like, what is the opposite of the attractional church? The unattractional church? I don't want to go to that church. And listen. I know what they're talking about, but listen. And that's not who we are. We are a church that is big because people need to know Jesus, can I get an amen at church today? We're just. That's what God's called us to. That's the bottom line. This is an expression of what God has called us to. And we're just not gonna slow down. So what does that mean for our church? Well, I'm excited today to officially welcome to highlands our latest campus. They're meeting right now on the other side of that camera. Come on, Highlands. Let's say hello to prattville, Alabama. We welcome you to the highlands family. And that's actually a picture of that of them in worship earlier. Prattville, we love you. And so excited for what's happening, really, in the whole river region. There in Montgomery, our new dream center construction is underway. And now Prattville. What a dream come true. But we're not finished yet. For the first time, I'm excited to announce they've actually already been meeting as a launch team, but our next campus is going to launch on March 15th in Peachtree City, Georgia, everybody. Yeah, welcome in. They're watching as well. And just such a God story. I'll share more about it. Peachtree city has been a God story and just so excited for that campus. We're passionate about reaching people here at highlands, but also through other expressions of the local church. And I want to make sure you know that as a church, we are just as passionate as we were on day one about planting churches. We do that through the association of related churches, which, by the way, have now launched 1202 churches. Highlands was number one church plant number one. And check this out. And many of them will actually come and watch this service. These pastors are so connected here to Highlands. If you're watching, we welcome you. 10 churches are launching today. Come on, Highlands, let's say hello to them. We love you with all of our heart. And we're also passionate about building leaders for the church. And, of course, Highlands College is our expression of that. And to date, and this is because of a good God and your generosity and that of so many others, we have now placed 1395 students into ministry who right now are serving God around the world. We're passionate. Yeah, I mean, let's clap our hands. We're passionate about people knowing God, and we're not stopping now. What does that mean for us as a church? Like never before church? I'm asking you to be a part of what God is doing here and just being at church, you know? Next Sunday, we're starting a brand new series called Loveology, where we're gonna study, really the theology of relationships. It's gonna be an amazing series for us, obviously, to be at church, but also continue to bring friends. Every single Sunday at Highlands, we will honor God and we'll create the opportunity for people who don't know him yet to experience him. And this next series is gonna be a powerful way for that to happen. All right, so everybody say, no, God. But the journey doesn't stop there. We continue, of course, in the second kind of higher heights moment, the second step in the journey. And knowing God never ends. But as we know God, we begin to find freedom. Write that down today. And finding freedom is so powerful. It's when that we get to let go of our yesterdays. It happens when we get honest with God and when we gather in community. This was something that impacted my life so much here at Highlands. James 5:16 is a verse we've used to describe really the power of our small groups. The Bible says, therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed. So only God can forgive us of our sins. Can I get an amen? The Bible actually teaches that we'll only experience healing from that when we get into community. What a powerful truth. Small groups are way more than a different version of Sunday school. We gather in groups, and of course, we study curriculum, we study the Bible. We grow together. But the real power is the community, the fact that we are together. It's important for us to be in rows on Sundays, but during the week, we gotta get in circles where we get to know each other and to make sure you know, you are never alone in this journey. So powerful. My life has been transformed by the power of relationships. But I want to lean in one level, deeper church that in our generation, this idea of community is not just important for us. It's also important for us as we reach the world that God has called us to reach. I've been studying the Great Commission leading up to this Sunday. And really, how is the Great Commission accomplished? I spent a lot of time just studying different scriptures. It's really interesting. Matthew 28, we read it earlier. You know, the only way we'll accomplish the Great Commission is through discipleship. We have to learn to obey, and then we get to teach other people how to follow God. Acts 1:8 tells us that we need power. We gotta have the Holy spirit. But John 17 gives us another layer that I think can be missed at times. And that is the power, the evangelistic power of community. This is what Jesus says in verse 21, that all of them may be one. He's praying for us as his followers, that all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us. So that. Look at this church. The world may believe when the world sees us in fellowship, we have something you can't have without the power of God. Listen, you can have friendships, but you can't have fellowship. Fellowship is a Jesus word, koinonia in the Greek. It's the power of when people who are filled with the power of God come together, we can only have that Christian fellowship. And it is so attractive to the world right now. The greatest epidemic facing our world is an epidemic of loneliness. Many of us feel that, but I'm telling you, the world feels that. And as we show the world that, we gather again to grow, to find freedom, but also just the power of community itself. So invite your friends to a Sunday, but I'm telling you like never before. The front door of this church is also our small groups, where we invite people in and say, you know what? You're walking through life alone. You don't have to anymore. Can I get an amen? And we bring them into that community. It's more important than ever before. Excited to announce today, of course, small groups are launching. We've been talking about it for weeks. This is not new information. But today is the day. We're all across highlands, thousands of groups are launching. You can go on the website or even better, the app to find the right group. And again, curriculum, all those Things are so important and we're continually creating more of that, but like never before, it's getting in community that's going to make all the difference. And so if you've never been in a group, this is your semester. If you have been in a group, don't miss out. I know we're all busy, but it is so important. Another level of connection I'm excited to announce today and you're going to hear more about this next week, actually, when we're officially launching it. But in the area of pastoral care that we feel such a mandate from Pastor Chris since day one and continuing to fill the mandate as a church team to take good care of you. And we have different vehicles for that, our prayer teams after every service, of course, throughout the week, our teams at every location are available. But we're actually going to launch a new technology next week that you'll hear more about again, that's going to let us respond quicker. That's the heart behind what you're going to experience as quick as possible. We as a church team coming around you and whatever is going on in your life, the bottom line is we are better together. Come on, church together, we win. We know God, we find freedom. Come on, y' all know the third one. We also what? Discover purpose. Love you to write that down. And just like the rest of these, discovering purpose is a journey. And truly it's a never ending journey. And discovering our purpose is directly connected to our spiritual formation. And I want to share one scripture. It's from my favorite book in the Bible, Ephesians. It's from chapter four. That kind of paints a picture of this. Put it on the screen, guys. Verses 15 through 16. The apostle Paul is writing this. Really this whole letter is written to the church. And he's basically teaching the idea that maturity or spiritual formation, or we may say discipleship, we're just growing in our relationship with God is critical and it's a never ending process. There's a beautiful journey that God invites us into. So instead speaking the truth in love, what he's saying is the more you know truth, the more you'll live truth. We will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is Christ. From him, the whole body is joined and held together by every supporting ligament. And we grow and we build ourselves up in love. As each park does its work, each park does its purpose. You have a purpose. And then the more we grow in God, the more maturity we experience, the more we discover that purpose. And Then we can live it out to make a difference in the world. You know, we have really again, for 25 years, we have built and put together over time, even updated along the way, an experience we call growth track. And this has always been the heart behind growth track is that we would invite people into that process of growth. But I want to make something extremely clear here today. The growth track was never meant to be just three classes and have a good life. That the growth track is a launch pad for a lifelong journey of growth. In fact, we don't just attend the growth track, we live on the growth track. It is growth track for life. So what does that mean for us as a church? I'm really excited to announce this today, that today, the first Sunday of the month, we always have step one. Tonight at 6:00pm at every location, we are launching a brand new growth track experience. And I am so excited about this. It's going to continue as always to help you get connected here at the church tonight, step one, you'll have a chance to become a member here at Highlands. And you'll discover your gifts over the next couple weeks so that you can ultimately get on the dream team. We'll talk more about that in a moment. But along with that, we've added some things that I think are gonna be really important for you in your lifelong journey of spiritual growth. Number one, when you come tonight at six o' clock and if you've never been, be there. And honestly, if it's been a while, be there. Tonight we're gonna gather at tables. It's a chance for us, we talked about a moment ago, to immediately get into relationship. Every table is gonna have a table host. I'm calling them the concierge of Highlands. They're gonna make sure everyone at their table gets connected and walks out of the growth track with clear next steps. And in fact, this is what we're so excited about as a team. Everyone who finishes step three will actually be in hand. Be able to walk out with a growth plan spiritually for your life, helping you make sure you take those next steps that God has for you and what's really cool. This is just the beginning, this version, just the beginning. In fact, we have new curriculum, new experiences around this idea of, of growth track for life that you'll hear more about as we move forward. A lot of honestly, what I learned as the president of Highlands College, here's the big deal. You have my word. You can grow here for life. There will always be a next step here for you and God has so much for you as you continue to discover your purpose. And here's the last one. This is what it's all about. We know God, find freedom, discover purpose, so we can make a difference. This is the heart of our God. I mentioned this earlier when I was referencing the Great Commission, but I want to come back to it. What fuels us to make a difference? Acts 1:8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth. Here at Highlands, we are boldly. Y' all look at me. Highlands, we are boldly a Spirit filled church. I'm gonna say it a different way. You're at a Holy Ghost Church. Why? Because we need power. Not for ourselves, but so we can accomplish the mission, so we can make a difference. We ask the Holy Spirit to empower us so that we can be his hands and feet to our world. And for 25 years, we have called the Make a Difference life the Dream Team. And I want to honor PC he's actually going to be on the platform in a little bit, in a few moments. But so many things about Highlands have impacted, literally the world. And this is this language, Dream Team. In fact, all this language that you're hearing today, you'll go to a church in Europe and hear no God, find freedom, discover purpose, make a difference. And globally, you'll hear this phrase, Dream Team. And the power of this phrase is it changed a mindset from all of us. You know, there's just one pastor on stage, and that's the person who's called. And all of us are kind of just out there figuring it all out, that we weren't really a part of it, when at the end of the day, it's always been in the heart of God. You're the minister, we're all ministers. And we're not volunteers. We're on the team with God. And this is the Dream Team. The things that he made us for expressing those through our lives has made a global impact. But I want to make something really clear here in year 25, and this is especially important in America today, in many ways, our whole world, especially in Europe and America, is what they call post Christian. There are people who may never walk in the doors of a church. So, Highlands, we cannot lay down the Dream Team title after we walk out of these doors on a Sunday or from leading our small group that the heart of God is that we are not just on Dream Team on Sunday. Come on, church. We're Dream Team. Every single day, we are the dream Team. We never lay that title down. And honestly, God gathers us and we serve here to grow in faith and strength. We serve the house that serves us. But as we walk out of these doors, we continue to serve. God gathers us so he can scatter us across Alabama and Georgia to make a difference. Hear this from the heart of God today. You're a minister. You're a minister. You're a teacher. Your classroom is your opportunity to make an impact, and you're making a huge one. You're in business. You're a minister. In business, you're an athlete. You're a minister in that locker room. Mom, you're a minister. Dad, you're a minister. Wherever you go, you're a minister. As a church, you have my word. We will do whatever we can to come alongside you to make sure you have the confidence and the strength and whatever it takes to accomplish the mission of God on your life. And together, we're going to make a big difference. Come on, in Jesus name. We're just getting started. I heard a story and I want to share this. And we're going to pray together. And I am going to show you that brand in a moment, the brand that I referenced earlier. But I heard a story from our Woodlawn location that really embodies everything we're talking about and honestly, who we are as a church. This is Sia at our Woodlawn campus, who's on the Dream Team, a part of our worship team. But it doesn't stop with that Sunday expression of worship. This is what I love about this story, that it's the heart of God says Siya is a member of our worship team in Woodlawn. She was recently in an Uber and invited her driver to church. Dream Team every day. Nothing happened right away, but she didn't stop loving him or praying for him. Then a few Sundays ago, completely out of the blue, the Uber driver, Jay reached out and said, I'm coming to church. On his first visit to Highlands, Jay gave his heart to Jesus. And the very next week, he came back and was baptized. That's the power of Dream Team. Every day, Highlands, it's been an Amazing first 25. God's just getting started. And listen, it is messy out there. The world is dark. It is crazy. But in the darkness, the light shines brighter than ever before before. Esther, 4:14. These first 25 years for such a time as this, this is our generation. This is our moment. And Highlands, we are not stepping back. We're not even staying put. We are stepping into the higher heights that God has for us. Come on, know God. Find freedom. Discover purpose, and make a difference. Put your hands together if you're excited for all God has. And Highlands. Welcome to the next 25 years. It's going to be an amazing journey.
