← Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
One Step at a Time
00:44:06
Part 1 of This Changes Everything
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Sa. Welcome to church, everybody. So I got a question before you clap. Is anybody grateful to be in the house of God today? Now put your hands together. I feel it here at Grants Mill, every location. So great to see you on such a beautiful spring day in Alabama and Georgia Masters weekend. It feels amazing outside and I just sense the presence of God here with us today. A lot of exciting things gonna happen in church today. We have a brand new series. I'm going to share more about it in a moment. But first, everybody, we got to celebrate what God did last weekend over our Easter weekend. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And so this is Ephesians 3:20. What I'm going to share with you is so far beyond anything we could have even imagined. Our God is a good God. Can I get a better amen than that right there? He's a good God. Over all of our locations, Easter weekend, 108,000 people gathered, which is just hard to even wrap my mind around. I love this next stat. I wanted to share with everyone. Over 13,000 prayer requests were submitted. And that just shows the faith of our house that we believe prayer does change everything. And it's been an honor. I'm so grateful for Pastor Steven Winston, all the dream teamers who serve on that prayer team. Now, like never before, we're able to pray for you, walk with you, which is amazing. Of course, we do our spiritual survey. I wanna give you the results of that. The first one I wanna share is a group we're praying for. And that's those who check D, meaning they never intend on making a decision for Jesus. That was 70 people who checked that. So maybe, I don't know, it's in my heart today. Maybe you're in this room even watching online. If you check D, we are praying for you. Come on, Highlands, we're praying for you. We love you. The next is C. And this is amazing people who are just checking it out. I do know there are some of these here this weekend. 12, 14 people who said, hey, I need a little space to check it out. And we welcome you as well. But this next one are those who check baby. Who began a real relationship with Jesus. We gotta celebrate today. 4518 decisions for Jesus. Oh, we can do better than that. What a miracle. Oh, my goodness. And honestly, I'm just overwhelmed. Thank you for praying for six weeks. You know, we were really locked in on praying for Easter. And Highlands, thank you for inviting. You're the most amazing church ever. And if you're One of those 4518, we welcome you. You are a new creation in Christ. I got so many stories this week. I wish I could share all of them. But I know two of those bees came from our Prattville location. One of our newest campuses. Had a couple in our church. They've been here since 2011 praying for some family members for 15 years, everybody. And it was a spiritual journey that had ups and downs. There were times that these family members even came to church, but it never really connected. Last week at Easter, both of them checked B in a service, gave their heart to Jesus. And that's just a beautiful story of how honestly prayer and faithfulness and just you never know when that invite on the other side of that is a decision for eternity. And so bottom line is this. It is clear that God is moving. And here we are in our brand new series. When God Moves, it changes everything. And that's what we're gonna do for the next three weeks. We're gonna talk about that. Our key verse, if you wanna pull your app out today to take notes, our. Our key verse is 2nd Corinthians 5, 17. I love this scripture. What a promise. Hey, this is not just for those who are new or who check B. Can we open our hearts up to the word of God today? This is a promise for all of us. His mercies are new every day. Therefore, if anyone, everybody say anyone, all are invited. What an amazing truth of our God. For God so loved the world. If anyone is united with Christ, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation is gone. The old is gone and the new is here. And we are a new creation. We're born again. We're born fresh and new in God. And it's just the megaphone of the Bible is you can have a new life in him. And so this is going to be a powerful series for anyone who is with us for new. But once again, this is a series for all of us, especially as we kick it off here on what we call Next Steps Sunday. I want to ask a question today. You know, this is again for all of us. When God moves, you know, what is our next move? And this is, this is a question for all of us to wrestle with. So we're gonna take three weeks and we're gonna talk about three movements or three decisions that are for all of us, that we all need to make. And y', all, I'm so excited about today. Cause today is gonna be a very different Sunday. It's Next Step Sunday and we're gonna do something we've never done. In 25 years. But before I share that, I want to kind of explain our model. If you're with us new here at Highlands, we are one church that meets in many locations. We have campuses in Alabama and over into Georgia. And it's such a beautiful model. Some people wonder, you know, why so big? Why, you know, so why so many campuses? We love to champion and celebrate the power of that unity. We can do more together than we could ever do alone. It's amazing when God unites us, it's powerful. It's the diversity of our locations. And the people at highlands looks like heaven. Campuses that are called to each local community. I love that we are a big church, but also a local church. And we love Tuscaloosa. We love Auburn. We love daffody. We love Peachtree city. We love all of our locations. And each of those are led by campus pastors who are amazing. They're amazing men. They're amazing leaders. But more than anything, they're called to be a shepherd, to walk with you on your spiritual journey at every location. So today, for the first time ever, I'm going to kick off the message for the next few minutes, and then I'm going to invite at every location our campus pastors to come up and to finish the message today, to really, really from their heart for you to hear today all the next steps that God has for you. So it's going to be a whole lot of fun today. And we're together with campus pastors, we're going to teach the most important decision or movement after salvation, which is this word right here, discipleship. It's what God has for all of us. And discipleship changes everything. Now, this is a big word, so I want to take a few minutes to lean into it. What is discipleship all about? So for my spiritual pedigree, I grew up old school Methodist. I got saved in a Baptist church, and I met the holy ghost, the holy Spirit, at church of the highlands. So you may be wondering, what is my pastor? This is what I am right here. A methobaptistal. That's what I am. Some of y' all are out there. I see y' all out there as well, okay? And so I know his grace from that Methodist background. Hey, listen, I met his truth in the Baptist church, truth through the word of God. And I got filled with his power at church of the Islands. And so it was very, you know, growing up, I experienced different versions of discipleship. And so maybe you're, you know, when you think of discipleship, Maybe one of these comes to mind. It's like, for me, early on, it was like a program very methodical. There was these classes and confirmations, and it was honestly a lot of information. And it was, for me at that age in my life, very boring. And it was just like, okay, I gotta do this, I just gotta do it. And then later on, even after I got saved, you know, it was all about sanctification. And that was a scary word for me. And it felt more like behavior modification. I was very intimidated by that. Didn't really. I wanted it. I wanted the knowledge, I wanted to grow. But I always felt like it was more about, you know, like, here's all the things that are wrong with you. And so I want us to kind of today, more than for my part today, come to a centered collective at Highlands for all of us really understanding of discipleship, because it's a beautiful word, everybody. It's what's on the other side of salvation for all of us. So my favorite discipleship passage comes from my favorite book in the Bible, Ephesians. Want to read it? Ephesians, chapter four. We're going to look at verses 11 through 15. Says, now these are the gifts that Christ gave to the church. The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists and the pastors and teachers. And I'm a pastor and a teacher. That's how God has made me. That's how he's wired me. That's my role. And my responsibility is to equip you, God's people, because you have a call. We're going to talk about this today. You have a call of God on your life to do his work and to build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be. I'll say this next word, mature. God has a goal for all of us, and that is maturity. And again, that's another word that can be intimidated. We can always love that word or even how it's used, but in the. Especially in the original language, in the Greek, it's a beautiful word. It's the word teleos, which just means finished, complete, fully equipped. It's actually the same root word that Jesus says on the cross, Tetelestai. It is finished. I've done everything you made me to do. It's a beautiful word. God invites us into maturity in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard. That in the Greek is the word pleroma, which is. It adds so Much depth to through discipleship, God wants us fully mature, complete, finished. But it doesn't happen all at once. That word play rhema means it's actually peace by piece, or in our language here at Highlands, step by step by step, we grow into that completeness that God has for us. Then we'll no longer be immature like children. This is why discipleship is needed. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. No, we're going to be grounded, firm, settled, not influenced. When people try to trick us with lies so clever, they sound like the truth, which is honestly the world we're living in today. Instead, we're gonna speak the truth in love. And here's God's heart for discipleship growing in every way, more and more like Christ. This is what God wants, for all of us to be more like Jesus. And here's a beautiful. In the Greek, actually that word pleroma I shared a minute ago is a picture of a ship. Put this on the screen today. This is a great handle for discipleship. God has a journey for all of us and he fills us piece by piece, by piece so that you have everything you need to be who God has called you to be. It's Isaiah 64. He's the potter, we're the clay shaped and molded to be more like Jesus. So here's our discipleship definition. It's the lifelong journey of becoming more like Jesus. Hey, everybody, one step at a time. That's what just makes it so inviting. God has more for all of us. You've been saved decades. God has more. You've hit a wall spiritually. God has more. You've messed up. God has more for all of us. And so I'm going to get. I'm going to kind of just open the door to this topic. Campus pastor is going to come around it. But for my last few moments, I just want to share from God's word a picture of what this journey is actually going to look like. And the cool thing is this. This is also the vision of our church. And honestly, I just want to be very transparent today. I'm really not up here today to move hearts. I believe God is moving in a huge way. I'm trying to get us all physically moving today, to be honest with you, because God has more for all of us and he wants that, and I want it desperately for all of us. But it's going to take faith and it's going to take movement for all of us. God has more. Second Corinthians, Chapter three. Here's a beautiful picture in God's word of it, verses 16 through 18. Whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who've had that veil removed can now see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like Him. There's our discipleship vision, more and more like him as we're changed into his glorious image. This scripture paints the picture of the journey, and I'm going to share it with us today. And then campus pastors are going to bring it to life at your location. So powerful. Back to verse 16, the first one. It says, whenever someone turns to the Lord, that veil is taken away. Write it down. God has this promise of, and this is the most important promise of a life of relationship with Him, a relationship with God. And you can go read 2 Corinthians. You'll see more context here. But the veil is referencing a story from the Old Testament about Moses who had gone up on this mountain, had met with God, but because of the sin of the people, when he came down, his face was like on fire, shining with the glory of God, but he had to cover it. And that veil represents separation. But after Jesus raised from the dead, the Bible tells us in the temple, that veil was torn. And because of that Easter miracle, last week we celebrated it. That separation is no longer needed. And God wants all of us close. If you hear nothing else at church today, you have to hear this. This is all about relationship with God. He wants you close. Lean into him today. He is there. He loves you and he wants you close. Not just when we raise our hand or check that box, but for the rest of our life. And that relationship with him just gets better. I got saved at 17. Now, a few months back, I was reading my early journals of how, you know, experiencing. Some of you guys remember this, those early days of. Of your faith where God was just doing miracle after miracle. I was seeing things change in my life, and it was. I could see, I was thinking, like, how can it get any better than this? Now here I am. Somebody needs to testify today with me. Today. Here I am. For me, decades later, it just keeps getting better. Can we encourage those who just gave their heart to God? You're just. It just keeps getting better. So at Highlands, we're on a journey. This is how we say it, to know God and to know him not just in our heads, but in our Hearts to really, really know Him. The next verse in The Bible of 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, for the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. There's the second part of this journey with God that is a life of not just perceived freedom, but real freedom in God. So wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there's a promise in His Word today for you. Where His Lordship is, there is freedom. I gotta lean in here for a few minutes. You know, Lordship, even when you read history like an English Lord, Lordship is their domain. It's their territory. It has boundaries. Even a nation like ours, it has borders. And inside of that, the Bible's saying, inside of that Lordship with God, that there is freedom. Freedom actually happens. Not outside of boundaries, but in boundaries. That's not how we normally see it. Normally we think about freedom like freedom means no boundaries. This is the Las Vegas Throw off all restraint. Go live how you want to live. No boundaries life. That's how we normally think about freedom. But any of us, we've all actually done this. Any of us who live that way find out that is not freedom. That is actually bondage, and it comes with a huge price. In our world today, we think of freedom as living in our own boundaries. This is where we are right now as a culture. I'm going to define my own Lordship. The problem is we're not lords. So I'm going to have a truth. I'm going to define my own. Kind of like micro religion. I'm going to have a truth. But there's no Lordship and it does not bring freedom. In fact, if we create our own truth, it walls us off. God's freedom's there and we're over here and we've walled our. We've created our own boundaries. True freedom is found inside of God's boundaries, underneath His Lordship. When we find Lordship, we find freedom in His Lord. We find that Lordship through His spirit and being obedient to what God is calling us to do, and through the Word of God, which is why discipleship must always be grounded in His Word, the Bible, the BI B L E. Come on. That's the book for me, because I find his boundaries, and in those boundaries I find freedom. Jesus said, you'll know the truth, and the truth will what? It'll set you free. And that is all about this journey to find freedom. We're putting ourselves in discipleship under His Lordship. Yes to him and no to ourselves. Yes to him and no to us. The next verse is really, really amazing. It says all of us who've had that veil removed can see we're going to come back to that word in a moment and reflect the glory of the Lord. I want to talk about seeing and reflecting, but. But honestly, before that, I want to make sure we all understand this idea of glory. I heard Pastor Louie Giglio years ago share a definition of glory, because it's another one of those big kind of Bible words that was so helpful for me. And this is what he said. He said, God's glory is the full expression of who God is on display. So the best way to wrap your mind around this would be God's glory would be like, think of the sunshine. Of course, we don't physically go to the sun. We would burn up. But what do we experience? We experience everything that comes off of it. The heat, the warmth, the light. That is God's glory. It's everything that radiates off Him. Hey, it's his love that we experience. It's the rays of his grace, his truth, his power, his goodness. Hey, everybody. His faithfulness. And the Bible says, we read it a moment ago, that the first thing we need to do is see his glory and how it impacts our lives. Because when we see the glory of the Lord, it reveals something huge. And that is a life of purpose in him, that you have a life of purpose that his glory will reveal inside of you, that there is a divine design that God made you with. Psalm 139, I praise you because I'm what fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. Here's the next line that's big for us today. I know that full well. And here's the. David knew it. I'm not sure we always know it. I don't think we always have a clear view of who God has really made us to be. We see our past, we see our mistakes. And discipleship is all about getting rid of that fog and seeing and recognizing that because of his love, because of his grace, because of his truth, we're not who we used to be. And that God is doing a work on the inside of us. And that work, it's a purpose. It's uncovering that you are made on purpose, for a purpose. There is divine design. So at Highlands, we're on that journey to discover purpose, but not just to see it. The last thing, of course, the scripture says is we also reflect it. This is what's so powerful about discipleship. Honestly, this is hard for me, decades later, knowing God to even wrap my mind around is that God has also called us. This is the fourth step on the journey, and we live into this. This changes everything. To not just see his glory in us, that purpose and that calling and that change he's making, but also to reflect it. That there is a mission that God has called you into, and it's to see it. Then ultimately it is to reflect Jesus to the world around us. God doesn't just save us. He doesn't just set us free. He doesn't just give us purpose. Come on, everybody. He calls us to make a difference. Now, Highlands, we call it just that. We're on a journey to make a difference, to know God, to find freedom, to discover purpose and to make a difference. So here's my prayer, and I'm going to turn it over. Campus pastors and they're going to walk at every location through what this practically can look like. But my prayer is that through salvation, we receive a new mirror. And it's a mirror that can. That we can finally, with clear eyes, God eyes, see and reflect. And we've been praying so hard that you would see, and this is what discipleship's continually going to uncover, that you would see that because of God, hey, the old has gone and the new has come. In fact, in that original language, that word see is the word behold. Just to actually say, you know what? Even today in prayer, today, I'm not who I used to be. God has me on a journey I'm not complete yet. But guess what? I'm not who I used to be. I'm on the journey. And there's a purpose in your life to behold. But I am so grateful that that mirror is not just about me, myself and I, but that God calls us to also turn it and to reflect what he's done in us. Come on to the world around us. We are called to live on mission with Him. And that, yeah, let's clap our hands right there. That's the part of Christianity that changes everything. To know him, to live under his lordship, to discover continually the call of God on your life, and then to live that dream team life, not just here at church, but every single day. So campus pastors are gonna step into this moment and unpack what this really looks like for you. And I just wanna say one more time to all the CPs out there, I love you with all of my heart. What a joy it is to walk on this journey with you. So at every location, come on with all you got, can you welcome your campus pastors to the platform? Oh, Come on. Give them a round of applause.
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Oh, come on. This is fun. This is fun. This is fun. What a great Sunday. Thank you. Thank you. Give Jesus your best praise, everybody. He deserves it. That's awesome. You can take your seat. And man. Thank you, Pastor Mark, for the opportunity to close out this message. And I do want to take just a minute before I jump in. And I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, Lindsay, my beautiful bride on the front row over here, Grants Mill. We love you guys. And it is the honor and the joy of our life to be able to journey, to take this journey with you, to pastor you, to shepherd you, to do all the things that Pastor Mark just said. And so really grateful for this season that we're stepping into together. Of course, you've heard so much about what God did last weekend. God is on the move, and we are excited about the journey. And so what I want to do over the last few minutes we have together today is get real practical on how to live out the vision that God has for our life. God has an amazing plan for each of our lives. To know him, to find freedom, to discover purpose and to make a difference. And I think the best way to start is just to share my story with you guys. So I want to tell you I met God at a young age. My dad was a pastor. My mom loved Jesus with all of her heart. Grew up in an amazing house where Jesus was at the forefront. But when I got to be a teenager, my life began to drift. And I don't know if you can relate to that, but I found myself really tucked into some very destructive habits in my life. I found myself in some very unhealthy relationships. And if I'm being very honest, my life was filled with sin. My life was filled with shame. My life was filled with, at the time, condemnation. And what I discovered in that moment of my life was that I had a really good relationship with the church. Cause I never missed going to church. I was at church every Sunday. My dad was a pastor. My mom loved Jesus. I had a really good relationship with the church. Church, but not a relationship with God. And there's a really big difference. When I got to be 18 years old, living a very, very worldly life. I had an instance one night where I had an allergic reaction to something that I ate. My body went into anaphylactic shock. My mom had to do CPR on the floor of my bedroom to keep me alive. It was a crazy moment. When I came through that moment, there was only probably maybe two or three times in my life where I feel like I have audibly heard the voice of God say something to me. And this was one of those moments when I survived that moment. I heard the voice of God say, the reason you are still here is because I'm not finished with you yet. And in that moment, I went all in. In that moment, I committed to this journey that we're talking to all of you about today. I got fully engaged with the church. Not just attending, but really belonging. I built the right relationships in my life. I began to live out the purpose that God had for me. He called me into full time vocational ministry and hey guys, I am absolutely not even close to perfect. But I'll tell you what I am. I am called by God. I am fulfilled in what God has called me to do. And I'm standing before you today to tell you God's way is the best way. Let me say it again. God's way is the best way. Because really knowing God transformed my life. And just like Pastor Mark said last weekend, I am convinced, convinced. I'm convinced. And I told the Lord that after he called me into full time vocational ministry that I would spend the rest of my life helping other people realize the same. That you can be convinced that God's way is the best way. And we desperately want to see this for you. But here's the cool part about our God. And that is that just knowing him is not the end, it is the beginning. Because for some of us, I think, man, if I just know God, heaven is secured, I'm no longer going to hell. I all of those things are true. But that is the beginning of the journey of what God wants to do in your life. He has your best life in his heart. And that's the beautiful thing about the gospel, is that Jesus didn't just come to forgive us, which he does. And I'm thankful that our sin is cast as far as the east is from the west. And he remembers it no more. But he didn't just come to forgive us. He also came to free us that we don't have to live a life bound anymore to the things that have held us back, to the things that have weighed us down, to the things that have kept us from living the life we want to live in the life God wants for us. I met a guy a couple of weeks ago here at Grants Mill on Palm Sunday, a guy named Matt. And have you ever met somebody where when you walk up to them, they just like are carrying and wearing joy Anybody at all. Like, there's a big smile on Matt's face. He literally is glowing. And I walk up and I said, hey, man, my name's Blake. What's your name? He said, my name is Matt. I said, matt, how long have you been going to Highlands? He said, I've been around on and off for about 19 years. And I said, man, that is amazing. You've been here a really, really long time. He said, yeah, but today is my first day serving on the Dream Team. He said, because four months ago, I went all in with Jesus again. Big smile, super excited guy. And I said, bro, that is amazing. He said, and today is 89 days sober. And he followed it up with, and God is good. And I said, bro, God is so good, and he has a plan for your life. And this is amazing. But you see his story. His story had a lot of difficulty. He'd walked through divorce. He battled addiction. In his words, he. He was completely lost. But one day, he cried out to God and he said, God, if you'll give me one more chance, I'll do it your way. Fully surrendered his life got connected here at Highlands. Got in a freedom. Small group. Hey, everybody, you can't do what we're talking about by yourself. God designed you to need other people. He got a group of guys around him, and these are his words. You know what Matt said? He said, God restored my life. He reshaped my identity, and he gave me purpose. Matt is serving in this service right now. Can we give God praise for what he did in Matt's life? Hey, if he can do it for Matt, he can do it for you. Best thing about God is not just knowing him, not just finding freedom, but once we are free, we. We can now focus on how God made us. And I wanna say it again. You heard Pastor Mark say it just a few moments ago. Not one person in this room or watching on the other side of that camera. Not one of us is random and not one of us is an accident, because we were created on purpose, for a purpose. We just have to open up our heart to discover it. Let God show us what he created us for. We met two ladies in February at the growth track, Leah and Lauren. Very, very cool story. They sat down. You saw the video earlier in Lashun's video. You saw the tables and the connection. They sat down at their growth track table in February, and both of them were in very different seasons of their life. Both in very challenging situations, but in their own kind of way, their own difficulties, and they kind of shared at the table this question. They said, does God really have a purpose for my life right now where I am in the struggle and in the heartache and in the pain that we're walking through? And they shared their story that as they continued to meet throughout the growth track and as their table host kind of cared for them and loved on them and kind of helped walk them through the journey, they started hearing from God clearly because they were connected to not only God, but they were connected to God's people. And very cool. They actually started. After they finished the growth track in February, they started serving on the exact same team Leah and Lauren did together. And they've been serving every Sunday since then. And now they say because of what God is doing in their life, they're able to smile in the middle of their situation because God has shown them that they have found their purpose right where they are because they're connected to God and they're connected to people. It's beautiful. Hey, I might not know your story, but if God can do it in Leah and Lauren's life, God can do it in yours. Once we discover our purpose, though, it still doesn't end there because God is awesome. Once we discover our purpose, he has more in his heart. And it always. Everybody say awesome, always. Our purpose always points to our destiny and making a difference. And here's why. And I love this about God, because God didn't just save us from something. Every time I think about God and the relationship that I have with him, I am so thankful that he saved me from my sin. I'm thankful that he saved me from the muck and the mire of my life. I'm so thankful that he put the broken pieces of my life back together, that he brought me so far from where I used to be. I'm so thankful for all the things he saved me from. But he didn't just save us from something, he saved us for something. Because God not only wants to do a work in our life, he wants us to be a vessel that he does a work through our life. And that's why, you see, when I get up here on Sundays and do my part, I'm just serving God. I'm fulfilling what God has called me to do. I want to make a difference with my life just like you do. And you see it every week when you show up here. We've got an amazing dream team out there in the parking lot. Yellow jackets unite. Rain, snow, sleet, whatever it is, they're out there. The parking team is amazing. Serving God. Creating a parking lot where you guys can come in and encounter the presence of God. We see it in our kids area where they're back there rocking babies and taking care of kiddos. Shout out to the kids team, can I get a good amen from all the parents? Thank you, God, for those serving at check in, man, smiles on their faces, helping us find our way. We got amazing ushers, the Black Shirt crew bringing us to our seats, finding places. They're serving God by helping usher us into an environment where God can move. But what I want you to know is God never intended for the Dream Team to just be something that we do when we come to church once a week on a Sunday. God's heart has always been that it's Dream Team every single day. So when you go to work on Monday, you are a Dream Teamer in the name of Jesus. And your life is intended to make a difference. When you go to school on Monday, your life is intended to make a difference. When you step out into your community, our life is intended to make a difference. It's Dream Team every single, single day. Got a great friend here named Neil. Grants Mill. Neil works in the juvenile court, which is challenge. I mean, that's a challenging place to be, but it is an amazing mission field. As you know, we're in all of these correctional facilities to God be the glory that we have the opportunity to be able to reach. That's our family and all of those facilities, by the way. But at the same time, he's working in juvenile court, he's addicted to alcohol and opiates. And one Sunday, he's sitting in a service much like this and he hears a message and he's on a 14 day opiate detox. But he's only on day two on that particular Sunday. And in a moment in that service, God healed him from addiction, took away every symptom of the withdrawals. And from, from that moment, the addiction has been broken off of Neil's life, which is amazing. But here's what happened. The team got around Neil and saw something in Neil, said, bro, you've got potential. We saw leadership in that guy. God wants to do something not only in you, heal you from what you're going through, but God wants to do something through you. And so the team stepped in and they began to call out the potential in Neil and speak out. The leadership that we saw in his life and you guys today, this very day, he leads one of the largest teams here at the Grants Mill campus every single Sunday. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing how he's serving God. And that's really cool. But the best part is now in his career, he uses his personal story of anxiety, depression, addiction, healing to sit across the table with youth that come into his place of employment and to make a difference. You know why? Because it's dream team. Every day, God called us to know him, find freedom from our past, take the rear view mirror off and look through the windshield, discover our purpose so that we can be a vessel, that he makes a difference through every single place that, that we go. And all of these stories, you know what they have in common? Someone who was willing to take a next step. And when they did, God blessed it. The most important part you need to hear today is we just need to get moving. I want to loop back to the verses that Pastor Mark shared in Second Corinthians, chapter three. And I want to share one more verse. It's in verse 18. Take a look at this.
- [33:27]
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It says.
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It says this. And the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us. Everybody say these three words. Makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. This moment today is all about the more and more. This is the moment to commit for all of us to knowing God more. What does that look like practically here at Highlands. I am so excited to talk to you today about the One Year Challenge. This is something we've been doing as long as I can remember at Highlands, but today we are introducing a tool and a resource that is going to make it more helpful and more impactful than ever before. So go ahead and throw it up on the screen, guys. So what is the One Year Challenge? For years we've talked about it. If you'll just go all in in your relationship with God, get fully planted in the church, watch what God can do. So in your Highlands app, you'll see on the homepage now there is a One Year Challenge tab where you can click it and you can start the process. When you do that, you're going to get a message from Pastor Mark that encourages you in the journey that you're about to be on. And then you click start the Challenge. And here's the coolest part. It tailors the challenge directly to you. What do you want to grow in? You want to get better in your devotional and your Bible reading time? It will do that. You want to grow in your prayer life, be more consistent. It will do that. You want to get more engaged in church and around the life of God? It will do that. What if we all decided that we were going to take the one year challenge starting today, 365 days of God. I'm going to give you my all. I'm going to give you my best. Let me tell you what's going to happen. A year from now. You won't recognize yourself because what God can do will blow our minds. Each of us taking our own unique steps, but all together in the same challenge. I say let's go for it and watch what God does. Not about being perfect, not about being legalistic. It's about being consistent. You want a simple place to start. Step one of the growth track is a huge part of that. Today, 12:30 over in the theater, lunch and childcare are provided. This is a launching pad. The growth track is the launching pad to finding freedom, discovering your purpose and making a difference and learning what it looks like to be on the growth track for life. You're going to learn about who we are as a church. Most importantly, you're going to learn about who you are. God has more. We just got to get moving. You know what steps the hardest? The first one. First step is the hardest. But the law of inertia tells us an object that is at rest tends to stay at rest. You can leave here today and nothing change. But if you do, nothing's going to change. But it also says that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. So if you will take a step and you will let God grow you and you will let God take you on this journey, your best days are ahead. So if you want to know simply where to start. One year challenge, Give God a whole year. Commit to be consistent, intentional, and to go all in if you'll do it. There's no telling what God can do do in your life. Hey, you might be sitting there thinking, Blake, you don't know my story though. And you're right, I don't. But I know Matt's story. I know Leah and Lauren's story. I know my own story and I know Neil's story. And I'm telling you, if God can do it in our lives, God can do it in yours. And so to close today, I want to give us all a moment to reflect. I think God is calling all of us to a next step. This message applies to all of us. So the question we want to ask is God, what is my next step? I'm not talking about the person next to you, person in front of you. I'm talking to you today. What is my next step? Is it to go deeper? Take the one year challenge. Is it to get in the game? I'll see you at the growth track. Lunch and childcare provided, like a free date. Come on.
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Right?
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Just go to the. Come to the growth track, take the step. Or maybe it's to know him. Maybe you don't know God the way I'm talking about it. And that's your step today. Will you close your eyes and bow your heads right there where you are. Just whisper that question to the Lord. God, what is my next step today? For those of you that are in here right now and you say, blake, I don't know God the way that you know him or the way you're talking about him. But I want to. I want a new life. I want a fresh start. I want to be forgiven. I want a beautiful future. I want all those things. The first thing you have to do is step in that first step of knowing God, surrendering your life, receiving his forgiveness, and letting him do a great, great work on the inside. Nobody's looking around, heads are bowed, eyes are closed. If that's you today and you need to take that step, then I'm going to give you the simple words to pray right there where you are. If you need to know God in a very real and tangible way, just right there where you are, you can whisper it. You can say it out loud. The most important is that you mean it from your heart. Just say, jesus, today I surrender my life to you. I want you to be the Lord of my life. I want a real relationship with you. So right now, I ask you to save me, forgive me of all my sin, give me a fresh start. I want to live my life for you. I know you have a beautiful future for me. There's more and I want it. Jesus, thank you for giving your life on the cross and paying that price. But you rose again and now you live inside of me. And I will never be the same the best way that I know how for the rest of my life. I'll live my life for you in Jesus name. Now, if you're in the room and you say, blake, my next step is just.
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I got to go.
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I start the one year challenge. I got to step in and go deeper in my relationship with God. I got to get in the game. If that's you, I want you to open your hands just right there in your lap. If you know you gotta take a next step today. God's speaking, Father, I pray for every person whose hands are open right now. Just the next step that you're challenging them with the next step that you're bringing clarity to. I pray right now for supernatural boldness, supernatural courage to take the step you're calling them to take. And when they do, I believe, in the mighty name of Jesus, that blessing is going to follow their own obedience. So, God, I declare it over them right now, courage like never before. And as they take that step, they will see you more clearly than they ever have. And the more that you have for them, as they know you, as they find freedom, discover their purpose and make a difference, is going to be something that goes beyond anything they've ever even imagined. And so I bless every person. Thank you for meeting us here today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen and amen.