A (0:00)

Foreign. Come on. Red Rocks Church. Can you lift up a shout of praise to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, man? We're here to worship and celebrate Jesus today. And I'm so glad to be here with you this weekend. I'm glad you're here this weekend. Would you all help me welcome all of our locations around the Denver area, all the way over to Brussels, Belgium, down to Austin, Texas, people joining us online. And let's ramp it up for the VIPs of this church, the men and women at our correctional facilities. We love you so much. It is such a gift to be a part of one big church. Family all over the place, on one mission to make heaven more crowded. Now, before we get to the message today, I gotta shout out two things real quick. Number one, it is group lunch weekend. Come on. Here's my word to you. Get in a group and commit to it. 17 years ago, I was a student up in Boulder. SCO buffs. I was driving to a Bible study on. On Thursday night, and I can tell you, thirsty, Thursday was not a Bible study night for a guy like me in college. I was in a car, had been invited to a Bible study that I didn't want to go to, but felt like I should. I was with my two buddies, Doug and Ryan Weckenman, all talking about how we didn't want to be in this small group. But we showed up that night. We kept showing up. And here's what I can tell you. Seventeen years later, God used that group to change our lives. And people say, well, you guys found this group. You found gold. You struck gold. And I say, no, no, no. We mined for that goal because we committed to each other. We kept showing up. We didn' like each other all the time. We didn't agree on everything all the time, but we kept showing up because there's something bigger that God called us to, and that was to build his kingdom together. And so get in a group this weekend and commit to it, and it will change your life. The other thing I gotta shout out, it's a very important birthday weekend. Two of my favorite people in the world share a birthday. The first is my wife, Stephanie, who is in Austin right now with our boys, very pregnant. Love you, babe. Happy birthday. And the other person is our senior pastor, Shawn Johnson. Sean's celebrating a birthday and I'm really honored to be preaching on his birthday weekend. He actually texted me months ago and asked me to do this as kind of a birthday wish that he had. I think we have the text message I don't know. Yeah. He said, hey, Ethan, it's Shawn Johnson. My birthday's coming up. There's nothing that would mean more than if you preached in Denver on my birthday weekend. I know you're so busy building the church and being a millionaire and changing the world, but any way you can make it happen? And of course, I was happy to agree to make his birthday dreams come true. And he was so happy, he said, wow, the first. The guy who I named my firstborn after preaching on my birthday weekend. I know Bo Nix and Jokic are gonna want to hang out. We don't have to include all that text. But he did want to take me to lunch. He's even generous on his own birthday weekend, offering to take me to lunch. And so, Sean, I'm so honored to make your birthday dreams come true preaching this weekend. And I'm cheersing and drinking water to you. But seriously, I am so thankful for our senior pastor. I'm so thankful for Sean. We get to be a rowdy church and joke around and have fun and also build the kingdom of God because of our leader. And of all the things I love about Sean and admire about him, maybe at the top of the list is that he just never quits on building the church. Never quits on building the kingdom of God. No matter what this life is thrown at him, no matter what the enemy throws at him, no matter what he's going through, he will not stop building the church. And I'm honored to be on the team and follow your lead. Happy birthday, bro. You got a whole church family so grateful for you, and we believe this is a year of miracles. We're praying for you, we're journeying with you, and we're going to build this thing this year. And so happy birthday to Sean. Let's pray and get into some tik Tok theology. Jesus, we love you. We thank you for our church family. We thank you for our pastor. We thank you for the gifts that you've given us to build your kingdom, to make heaven more crowded. And I just pray as your church that you would speak to us, that you would build us to be the church you've called us to be this weekend in Jesus name and everybody said amen. Take a seat. Say hi to somebody around you. Is anybody grateful for Jesus in this place? Come on. Every location. I better hear you. Try this. Is anybody grateful for the church this weekend? All right, Less enthusiastic. And I thought that might be the case. And here's the deal. We should cheer the loudest for Jesus, right? He did the heavy lifting, he did what we could and he came here and laid his life down, shed his perfect blood to pay for your sin and mine. And then he rose from the grave, victorious, conquering death. And so we should cheer the loudest for Jesus, who's invited us to abundant eternal life. But when I say, what about the church? Some of you are thinking, I don't know if grateful is the word that I would use for the church. A lot of us have a complicated relationship when it comes to the church. I don't know if I'm going to cheer for the church. Somebody in here at one of our locations right now is thinking, I don't know how I let my friend talk me into being in a church this weekend. I don't know what I'm doing here. A lot of us have a complicated relationship when it comes to the church. Maybe based on how you grew up, some experiences you've had with Christian people. And in this digital age, we hear a lot about everybody's opinions, especially about the church. This series TikTok theology. The idea is this, that in an age of 30 second sound bites, we need to find depth and discernment to know what the actual real truth is. And here's my greatest concern for our era of humanity right now, that we are being discipled more by algorithms than we are by Jesus, that we are listening more to Silicon Valley than we are to the word of God, and it's shaping us. There's a lot of opinions out there about the church. I've learned this, that there are church reviewers now who will go to a church and get their phone out and then they'll put up on social media. Here's what I like about the church. Here's what I didn't like about the church. We've been on the good side and bad side of those as red rocks. I've had people like, hey, so this guy reviewed some churches and said red Rocks was actually worth checking out. Like, why'd you say actually? Like you were surprised by that. But we've been on the bad side. Somebody will send me, I don't know if you want to watch this TikTok video. Somebody blasted red rocks and I don't have TikTok because I followed the leadership of our senior senior pastor. And so that's a blessing because I can't watch this person just criticize our church and see where the comment sections go. But that's a thing now. People just going and saying whatever they want, criticizing the church And I think the prominent feeling for a lot of us, and I'll give you this, a lot of people are preaching the gospel on social media. God will use any tool and he will get his glory. But there's also a whole bunch of people that are putting the church on blast and it's making a lot of us think this, this is some TikTok theology. The church is a problem. The church is the problem. I might be into the God thing or the Jesus thing if it wasn't for the church or when I look at the problems in this world, I blame the church for those. The church is the problem. A lot of us, I think, have some church baggage and hurt and there's some reasons that we feel like maybe the church is a problem. More commonly now, though, I think most of us are secondhand smoking other people's church baggage and it's souring us to how we feel about God's church. Some of us treat the church like dating apps, right? I'm gonna check one out and if I don't quite like it, swipe to the next. If the profile doesn't perfectly match the reality, swipe to the next. And too many Christians spend their lives swiping to the next and next and next church, never planting in one and building the kingdom of God. Some of us treat the church like our sports teams. So I was born and raised in Denver. I'm a die hard Colorado sports fan. And over the last few years, Broncos, Nuggets, AVs, Buffs, it's been an exciting time. And praise God, there's a contingent of us in Austin, Texas, Colorado sports fans taking over. And when we're talking about our teams, it's us, it's our teams, right? We're gonna win this year. This is our year. But then when we start talking about our beloved Colorado Rockies, it's like, and I'm praying for revival in Jesus name. It's more like, when are they gonna figure this out? What is their problem? Right. When things are going good, it's us. When they're not, it's them. And so many of us are that way with the church. We're kind of church adjacent, one foot in, one foot out. I like the church when it's good, but when something's going wrong, I don't want to be associated with those broken people. I'm kind of part of the church a little bit. The problem with this mentality that the church is the problem is the word of God and what Jesus has to say. And here's what he has to say, the church is the plan. The church is the plan. That's the title of this message. The church is the plan with problem crossed out. And I'm not saying the church doesn't have problems, but I am here to tell you this weekend that the church is the plan. Now, if you're new to the idea of church, maybe you walked into one for the first time. I want to tell you this. You didn't walk into church this weekend because of the building that you walked into. You walked into church this weekend because of the body of believers that you walked into. Into the Greek word in the New Testament, ekklesia means a body of people, a gathering of people, not a building. We need these buildings to meet in. But it's us. We are the church I love. In First Timothy, Paul describes the church. So think of this in light of a world that says the church is the problem. Paul is writing to a young pastor and he's given him advice on how to lead a church. He says this in chapter 3, verse 14. Although I hope to come to you soon, Timothy, I'm writing you these instructions so that if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household. Well, what's that he says, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. In a world that says the church is the problem, the word of God is telling us actually it's the pillar and foundation of truth. It is God's household. That in a world of relativity and TikTok theology, this is the place that we come to, this body of believers that carries the pillar and foundation of truth. It's the plan. And it's always been the plan. And it's kind of a crazy plan if you ask me. I want to read to you when Jesus launches the church, because this was his idea. Now Jesus has gone to the cross. He shed his blood for your sin and mine, and he's risen from the grave. And then for about 40 days, Jesus is unhinged, resurrected. Jesus is like playing pranks on his disciples, talking to people, walking through walls, just like I'm back. Anything's possible. Let's go. And then he gathers his disciples together to start the church, to ascend back to heaven and launch them off. This is Acts, chapter one, starting in verse six. Then they, his followers around him. They gathered around him and asked him, lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or Dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Like, this is what you guys need to focus on. Now, if you're new to church, this next verse will rock you. After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes. And a cloud hid him from their sight. He ascends back to heaven. The disciples were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, just watching, when suddenly two men dressed in white, which are angels, stood beside them. Men of Galilee. They said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven at every Red Rocks location. Can I get an amen this weekend that Jesus will come back? But I remember being a college student and my college pastor Bill shared this story. And then he said, how many of us Christians are standing here staring up in the sky, just waiting for Jesus to come back and need someone to tap us on the shoulder and go, hey, he will come back. But between here and there, you got a job to do. You got a church to build. You got a kingdom to go and build. Now I'm a systems guy. I can talk vision all day, but I want to figure out how we're going to make the vision happen, right? You don't rise to the level of your vision, you fall to the level of your system. And it kind of seems to me like Jesus never read Atomic Habits because this isn't much of a plan in my. Like, it almost feels irresponsible. It's kind of like Jesus is like, well, I did it. So you guys just go tell everybody and when they believe, you dunk them and then you tell them to go tell other people. This is gonna work like, that's it. There's no handing out of a Church Planting 101 manual. It's gonna answer all the questions that you have. All of us logistical minded people are picturing this. They're all just standing there watching Jesus like he's a balloon floating away. Like, is that still him? I'd be trying to grab his foot and pull him back down like, hey, before you go, I got some questions for you, man. What's the proper age to start baptizing people at? How often should we take communion together, right? Is there a decibel limit to how loud worship can be? Can you tell us the perfect temperature to Dial a thermostat to in a church auditorium, right? And hey, by the way, Jesus, you told a lot of stories when you told that one about that Good Samaritan, you weren't possibly implying that I'm supposed to love my neighbor who votes differently than me, right? Like, I just want to make sure you weren't saying that, right? I got some questions. And Jesus is like, just go tell the world, guys. You got this. Or maybe Jesus wasn't irresponsible. Maybe he was so confident in his Holy Spirit working through willing people that he knew his church would be built and it wouldn't be stopped. Some people make the argument one of the biggest arguments against God is the church, right? Making him look bad. I'm on the flip side of that. I'm like, I think one of the greatest arguments for the power of God is the survival and existence of the church, right? How do you know this was the plan of Jesus? We're still here. Two thousand years later, we're still here. I want to show this to you. Got a little map for you of how it started and how it's going. Okay, so there was 120 people in the beginning of the church, at this ascension of Jesus, that tiny little dot in Jerusalem. Two thousand years later, the church has grown and spread like a wildfire. We're talking about 120 fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes. These were nobodies. They had no power, no prominence, who were in the face of the Roman Empire, the most powerful empire ever in Earth's history, who soon wanted nothing more than to stamp out this movement called Christianity. And how did Rome do? How'd that go? Us pastors like to remind you Caesar is now your salad dressing. And Rome is a cool city that you go visit to learn history and eat some good food. For 2,000 years, empires have tried to stop the church and destroy our scriptures. How'd that go for them? Persecution that still happens today. Attack times of Christian genocide. And guess what? Two thousand years later, we're still here. We're talking about Jesus on the other side of the world, 2,000 years later, a carpenter turned rabbi who claimed to be the son of God and taught things like, lay your life down, love your enemies, let himself unjustly be crucified, rose from the grave, had this ragtag group that went to tell people about Jesus. And 2,000 years later, we're still here. The ethics of Jesus. Like, here, let me tell you, this good news doesn't make the news. This growth, this story of the church. For 2,000 years we have been the church. We've been changing the world. This has happened through faithful Christian people who have taken up the teachings of Jesus, the life of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and gone to the ends of the earth. The ethics of love, of laying your life down in sacrifice and service, those were not popular ethics in the ancient world. But Jesus changed everything. And out of what he called us to do, it was Christians who started elevating and serving widows and orphans and women and children. Christians who started things like hospitals and made healthcare and education available to the masses. Some people think science is, like God's greatest enemy. Some smart physicist comes along and God's like, oh, no, he's going to checkmate me, this human that I created. Science started with a bunch of people who wanted to love God with their minds and understand more how he created this whole thing. Christians have innovated. Christians have been changing the world. There's a story in Rome, there was a plague where people were being cast out of their own homes to die in the streets so they wouldn't infect other people. And Christian people went out into those streets and they prayed for them and themselves got infected and died. But it was worth it to them to share Jesus with these people in their dying breaths. And Rome looked at that and said, who are these crazy Christian people? It was Christians on the front lines of fighting for human rights, for civil rights, Christians fighting against injustices like slavery because of Jesus. This is our story. For 2,000 years, the church has been changing the world. In 2,000 years, we're still here, and we're still changing the world. That's our story. I also want to acknowledge that in these 2,000 years, it has not always been pretty. There have been some ugly stories in the church, abuse, manipulation. Not just stories where somebody got it wrong, but, like, completely wrong. And people have been hurt by the church. I want to talk about that because I think it's led a lot of people to a common mentality. You'll hear this all the time. Sure you have. The church is full of hypocrites. The church is full of hypocrites. Now, in one sense, every human being is hypocritical in nature because none of us perfectly practice what we preach. Today you were driving to church. You're focused on the road, and you can tell somebody near you is on their phone and you're honking like, get off your phone. But tomorrow you'll be driving and you'll get a notification that feels like, I have to see this right now. And you'll check your phone and you'll swerve a little bit and someone will honk at you and you'll go, where's the grace on the roads anymore? Right? I heard a pastor say this hypocrisy isn't failing, it's faking. It's pretending it's performing. I actually don't agree with the statement that the church is just full of hypocrites. Who did Jesus call hypocrites? The Pharisees. Why? Not because they were sinful, but because they pretended that they weren't. That's what hypocrisy looks like. Not that we are imperfect. In fact, that's exactly who we are. Here's the truth. The church is full of imperfect people pursuing a perfect God. That's who we are as the church. I was talking to the great Brian Zabel, bz, who's one of the cornerstone people of this church, probably dealt with more church criticism than maybe anybody over the 21 years of red Rocks, talking about this sermon. And he of course sent me this beautiful write up, one pager of like things he's learned and wisdom. And he said something so profound. He said, our imperfections don't contradict the power of Jesus. They confirm our need for Him. Right? He said, bad doctors don't disprove medicine. Bad scientists don't disprove physics. Corrupt judges don't disprove justice. Our imperfections actually show why we're doing this whole thing, why we're pursuing God, because we need him. And when you show up to church and maybe you're new to church and your life's a mess, I remember being that college student going, I don't know what these Christian people are going to think about me because I'm not really living a Christian life, man. You hear somebody get up on stage, maybe you brought a friend who doesn't really know what they think about the church and about God. And you're looking at whoever's preaching like, please don't screw this up for me. And then you hear somebody on the stage go, hey, we don't wear capes here. We're all just a bunch of imperfect people pursuing a perfect God. And it's like a weight off your shoulders, okay, maybe I can be part of this family. Because it sounds like nobody here is pretending to be perfect. But what happens is over the years, your feelings about that statement might change, Right? When you get involved in the church, you start to deal with the imperfections of imperfect people. And you're not sure you like that anymore. It's awesome. When God's grace is sufficient for me, it's a lot more challenging when his grace is also sufficient for that person in my small group. That drives me crazy. Right. Or maybe you start to get to a high and mighty like a Pharisee and start to think like, I've got this Christian thing dialed in and now I'm not so sure. I like that those imperfect people can be a part of this. But may I remind you, when you walk into this body of believers, that is the church. This is not a courtroom. This is not a country club. This is a hospital. Jesus came for the sick, which means if you are part of the church family, you will always deal with the imperfections of imperfect people. And. And sometimes that makes us maybe think like, Jesus must resent the church, like we are always making him look bad. But this was his idea, this was his plan. And he always knew he only had imperfect people to work with and seemed comfortable with that. Let me read you a famous moment in the gospels. Matthew, chapter 16. This is where Jesus kind of alludes to like, here comes the church. In verse 13, he says, when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you? He asked, who do you say I am? Which, by the way, is the most important question you will ever answer in your life. TikTok theology will tell you he's a consciousness. He's a good moral teacher. But the truth is he's the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the Way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. He is the resurrected King. And I pray that that's your answer. When he asks you that question, which Peter, for the maybe only time in his life, gets it right, he answers, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. You're our Savior. And Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, which means rock. And on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of Hades or hell will not overcome it. I'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This was the plan. Imperfect people, little irresponsible These guys. Peter, right after this, famously rebukes Jesus. And Jesus goes, get behind me, Satan. Peter denies Jesus three times before Jesus goes to the cross. Peter's also the first pastor we ever had, the leader of the church, that guy. When we were driving to Austin, Texas to plant a church, I think a lot of our friends were going. Those guys, Sean and BZ and the crew were starting Red Rocks 21 years ago. Those guys tends to be that God uses the unlikely, the imperfect, but all he's looking for is the willing. That's what Peter ended up having. He was willing. And this kind of feels crazy because not only does he go, hey, I want you guys to be a part of this thing I'm doing. He gives them the keys, the authority of heaven. Go for it. Go do this thing. It seems crazy, but Jesus knew this was the plan. And so I want to ask a few challenging questions to those of you that maybe are not sure about the church on the fringes. Maybe with that tic tac theology idea that the church is the problem. Let me ask you this. Have you been expecting perfection where it was never promised in the church, in imperfect people, when the promise is that Jesus is the perfect one and that's why we need Him? I hate this stories. It breaks my heart when there's some sort of issue at a church and people not only walk away from the church, they walk away from their faith. Breaks my heart. It can be really difficult to deal with a situation like that. But it does beg the question, who was your faith in in the first place? Was it in an imperfect person, a pastor, a small group leader? Or was it in Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith? But I also need to ask the church because there's a reason the world says things and looks at us and has expectations of us. Can be real easy on the weekend to post that picture of my coffee and my Bible and I'm at church and I'm a Christian. But do people look at your feed on Friday and go, this seems like a completely different person? Do your co workers hear how you talk about other people and go, I thought you were a Jesus person, but it doesn't seem like that. And I'm not saying we're expected to be perfect, but we are supposed to be a picture of Jesus and so does your walk with Jesus compel or repel people? I think back to when I was new in my faith as a college student, and I think about the conversations I so badly wish that I had had with some of My best friends that weren't Christians, I wish I'd sat them down and said, you know, this is gonna sound crazy. I'm a Jesus guy now. I'm really all in on this Jesus thing. I'm seeing that he's changing my life. Keyword, changing. Because I'm a work in progress. I'm an imperfect person pursuing a perfect God, and I will always love you and I will never judge you. But I need you to know this is what my life's about now. And I want to ask one thing as my friend. Do you have the grace that when I'm not perfect or good, it doesn't make you think God's not perfect or good, but it reminds you of why I'm doing what I'm doing because I need him. But instead, I think a lot of my friends got a confusing version of a Christian. I'd start to go in a small group. I'm going to church. I'm reading my Bible, and I get almost, like, judgmental. They're like, okay, bro, so you're the Pope now. You were doing this stuff a month ago. Then I'd fall my humanity, my brokenness, and I would hide or I would justify. And they're looking at me going, so what is it? Who are you? And I wish I'd said, I'm an imperfect person pursuing a perfect God. That's who I am. May we lead with that humility and transparency, and maybe it will compel more and more people to go, I need that, too. Now in the TikTok critic era, because there are always going to be problems in the church. It's led a lot of us to think this. The church needs my criticism. That's how I'll help. I'll point out all the things the church isn't getting right. But let me tell you what the truth is. The church needs your commitment so much more than it needs your criticism. I was sitting in my backyard the other day looking for a YouTube video. And you know those YouTube shorts, they'll grab you. It's like, pastor Sounds Off. I'm like, well, this is sermon research. I need to watch this. I came across a video of a pastor who is criticizing another pastor for his criticism of a church that neither of them have anything to do with. I was sitting in my backyard by myself, out loud. I went, what are we doing here? There's a story where the disciples come to Jesus. They're real proud of themselves. They go, hey. So we came across this group of guys. They were trying to do Ministry like us in your name. But they don't really do it the same way as us. They're not really on our team. So we told them to stop. Don't worry, Jesus. We took care of it. Jesus looks at him like, what are we doing here? If they're not against us, they're for us. Hey, guys, Rome is going to be coming for you soon. You probably don't have to worry too much about those guys that are praying in my name for people. There's going to be so many different beautiful expressions of the church. Find your flavor and build it. Paul says, fulfill your ministry. Our church has a ministry specific to us. Your life has a ministry specific to you. And I just think in this world, if we put as much energy into fulfilling our ministries as we do criticizing other people trying to fulfill theirs, and we probably would have already completed the Great Commission by now. Fulfill your ministry. Find your flavor. The message is sacred. The method is not. So find your flavor and go build it. Commit to it and be careful. In this age of division and criticism, Paul warns us. Romans 16:17. He said, I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. In today's language. Unfollow them. Don't let divisiveness start to be a sickness in you now. The church always needs correction. I'm not trying to get out of that. That's why Paul, the systems guy, gives us a lot of instruction for how leadership works and how a lot of people speak into things. And we're always trying to get better. As a church, there's a lot of checks and balances. That's why we have to have that. Because we are imperfect. We always need to get better. And there's things like Jesus told us, and we have lost this art. In Matthew 18, when there's a problem, get together. Bring in a leader. If you need to figure it out, heal together. What do we do now? That person rubbed me the wrong way at church. Unfollow. That small group leader votes differently than me. Not going to small group anymore. That pastor said one thing I didn't like not going to church anymore. And Jesus goes, no, no, no. You gotta bear with one another. You gotta unify. You have to fight for family. Social media has made us all kind of feel like we're elders of every church in the world. Everyone gets to just criticize churches they've never gone to, never given to, never served at it's. Not even in your state or your country. Maybe let them figure it out and you go fulfill your ministry and build a kingdom. And when it comes to church bashing, why I'm ranting a little bit right now, this is why it really breaks my heart. The church is referred to as the bride of Christ. So when Steph and I first got married, there was a buddy of mine, not a big marriage guy, wasn't a big fan of Stephen. And every time we'd all hang out later in that day or night, I would get a scathing review text from him of my wife. Here's the things she said that I don't agree with. Here's the things I just don't like about her. And I'm not even sure I'm glad that you guys got married. Don't know what you're doing. That did not actually happen. But how uncomfortable were you just now? Some of you were like, give me that guy's phone number. How much would I feel like that guy was for what I'm for, Right? So why are we so comfortable and quick to go bash the bride of Christ to give a scathing review of his bride? We have made the bride of Christ a punching bag on social media. Will we be proud of the ways we talk about his bride? The ways we treat his bride and build his bride, or do we treat it like a punching bag? That fight that some of you just had for, I want to go fight that person. I wish we had that same fight to go build his church, to go fight for his bride. And so many people, because of social media, feel like, I'll help by breaking the church down. No, no, no. Scripture says you'll help by building it up. Charles Spurgeon once said, the easiest work in the world is to find fault. That makes a lot of money for Silicon Valley, doesn't it? Gets a lot of likes, a lot of comments, a lot of traction. Finding fault goes viral. We're really, really good at that. But here's what the scriptures tell us. Things like this First Corinthians 14:26, everything. And by the way, the Greek word for that means everything must be done so that the church may be built up. Everything we do to build up the church, not to tear it apart. I'm giving you homework this weekend. It's to study Ephesians, chapter 4. And if you don't, God will know. It's a beautiful picture of unity and maturity that we're called to as the church. It says things like, be humble and gentle. And bear with one another in love. Can you imagine a church like that? Make every effort to keep unity through the bond of peace. It calls us to be a unified body that bears with one another. And it tells us in verse, verse 14, here's what will happen if we live like this. Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves of the world and blown here and there by every wind of teaching on TikTok and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming to divide the church instead speaking the truth in love, 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, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work to mature and grow together. And yet so often it feels like we as a church have an autoimmune disease, the body attacking itself, eating our own. While the scriptures call us to be a picture to a divided world of unity. Paul, actually, in his letters, Paul would literally call people out by name that were causing division. Could you imagine for the rest of Christendom, like history, you're known as the church divider. You're like, hey, thanks, Paul. It was a bad couple of weeks. I was in a weird place. All right, thanks, man. But so much more. What he emphasizes is those that are building and unifying. I was thinking about this. I don't want division and criticism to be what's viral. Wouldn't it be amazing if what was viral in the church was faithfulness, was goodness. Let me show you what should be viral in the church. I asked every campus, send me somebody that's just faithfully building the church. There's not going to be a viral TikTok video made about them, but there should be Alyssa and Cheyenne at Arvada. Listen to this. They have served in Youth Ministry for 15 years. Jordan is going to be mowing their lawn in heaven. Fifteen years, hosting parties and boat days and building leaders and raising up the next generation. Jordan said their yes to Jesus and the next generation has never wavered. Right here is Yareth from Austin. She serves on our facilities team. She serves up at the Lane Murray Unit, our correctional facility, and is a buddy for kids with special needs. Never gonna wanna be put on a slide. In fact, I saw her and she found out I was gonna shout her out. She's like, don't do that, as she was taking toilet paper to go stock a bathroom. That should be viral. Faithfully Building the church out in Brussels. Ryan told me about Sabine. This is how you know somebody just wants to build a church she sets up and tears down every single week for Red Rock's kids. You know you love the church when you're in the setup tear down crew. And he also said this. He said, she is one of those people that's about every single one. She's faithfully teaching these kids one life at a time, bringing life change in Jesus. Over at Lakewood, Diana. Diana serves some kids in Red Rocks youth. Dakota said it. She doesn't just. She doesn't just serve. She disciples the next generation. In fact, she's baptizing her niece in that picture, building the church, discipling the next generation. David here at Littleton, he's a campus suite. It's a guy that in the same day you'll see him cleaning a bathroom and then talking with a new person to hear their story and then training a new volunteer, all within the matter of like an hour. Zajic, he said, this is a man who embodies the heart of Red Rocks church. He'll do whatever it takes to make heaven more crowded. Over at Park Meadows, we got some best friend campus leads, Kobe and Kim. Kim actually helped us plant Red Rocks Austin and then moved to Colorado. And she's a campus lead at Park Meadows. Colby and her husband have been part of Park Meadows since the very beginning. James said, Colby's one of those people that she doesn't just serve. She pastors people when they walk into the church. And none of these people are serving to be seen or asking for attention. But this is, I think what God cheers for is people who are faithfully just building his church week in and week out. Now, I want to wrap this thing up, but I got to real quick. There's something I hear about the church all the time, and it's this. The church just wants my money. It's a man made institution just trying to get rich. I'm like, well, the early business plan was that they all lost everything and got martyred for their faith. So I'm not sure that's the plan of the church. But let me tell you the truth. The church wants to change the world. And let me gently remind you, that's not your money. Just like that's not your breath in your lungs right now. Every breath you breathe and dollar you have is because God let you. He gave it to you to steward and to build his kingdom. And I know money is uncomfortable for a lot of people. It's not uncomfortable At Red Rocks Church, we're the church that'll tell you other churches to go give, to take cash out of the baskets, Right? I remember hearing Sean say that when I first walked in. I was like, what kind of place is this? You guys are gonna go out of business in a year. Cause we're not trying to guilt you into paying our electricity, but we're trying to raise up a generation of Christians that's gonna go change the world. We want you to experience the freedom on the other side of obedience, the joy on the other side of generosity. And Jesus says it this way. Jesus wants your heart right, more than anything else. And he says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So where do you think Jesus wants your heart to be planted? Right in the middle of his plan, which is the church to build his kingdom, to build his church, to live the purpose of your life. I remember walking into. I was living in California right after I graduated college, going to this cool church on Sunday nights. I walk into a service one week, and it was testing our relationship, me and this church. Because the sermon was gonna be on money. I'm like, oh, here we go again. The church just wants my money. Fresh out of college, doing an unpaid internship as a youth ministry. They're like, oh, thank God this kid showed up. Now that we have his $40, we can complete the Great Commission. It's amazing how rich we all suddenly think we are when we talk about money in church. Oh, everybody's just trying to get my money. Like, okay, you're fresh out of college, man. That sermon was life changing. Because at the end of the sermon, after some great biblical teaching about why Jesus talked about money so much, the pastor said, you know, I dream of the day that we will read about the problems of the world as history and history books, that centuries from now, people will go, wait. There was a time when global hunger was rampant and kids were starving, and a third of the world lived on less than a dollar a day. Well, what changed that? Well, the church did. There was a time when the number one killer in the world was waterborne illnesses. People just didn't have clean drinking water. Well, what happened when the church stepped up? The church changed that. There was a time in the 2000s when slavery was rampant and human beings were being trafficked. Well, what stopped that? The church did. And I walked out of that church service with my heart beating differently than it had. Like, I want to be a part of that. I want to rewrite history. I want to change the world. And 15 years later, I get to be a part of a church family that is changing the world, that is feeding the hungry, fighting for people to get them into freedom. Last year, we built buildings for churches in Kathmandu, Nepal, multiple church congregations in India. We built a Bible school and a training center in India, a training center in South Sudan for James Bond Christians that go and risk their lives for the Gospel. We are funding and fueling the underground church movement happening in the Middle east right now. We are changing the world. We get to be a part of that and rewrite history. And I don't want you to miss out on that. I don't want you to miss out. So let me say this to you. When it comes to the church, don't give up and don't miss out. Maybe you're in here right now going, it's time I get on the field, show up to a welcome party, learn about ways you can get into this place and start building this thing with us. One of the things that drives me nuts about espn. Great transition right there is on Monday, you watch a bunch of guys sit around a table and criticize the guys who on Sunday were doing something that none of the guys on Monday can do. And so often, that's how social media is when it comes to the church. A bunch of people criticizing the people who are actually out on the field trying to build this thing, imperfect people. And maybe it's time to get off the sidelines and get on the field and start building the church. Come to a welcome party, join a group, get on a team. Don't miss out. We're changing the world. We want you to be a part of it. And what I fear is if you think the church is the problem, if you think it's full of hypocrites or it just wants your money, these kinds of narratives going to leave you with this last mentality. And it's this. I don't need the church. I don't need it. I can follow Jesus and do my thing. I don't need the church. But let me tell you this. Yes, you do. And we need you. Yes, you do, and we need you. It's actually a fallacy to believe that you can just follow Jesus without his church. You don't separate the head from the body. You don't divorce Christ and his bride. Paul talks so much about how we are the body of Christ, it says, don't disconnect from it. Right? A hand's not a lot of use if it's disconnected from the body. Maybe your faith journey Feels like you're spinning your wheels because you've disconnected from the body and it's time to reconnect. Maybe one of the ways that will help you to want to do that is stop secondhand smoking everybody's church criticism out there and start building. But what I also know is some of you are sitting here this weekend, maybe some of you at our correctional facilities, going, yeah, but you have no idea how church people have treated me. Me. You have no idea what I've. I've gone through, how the church hurt me. And so let me speak to you as we close here. I. I want to encourage you. I heard a sermon from Pastor Torren Wells. He planted a church in Austin, Church of the Whitestone. Amazing church. He's an amazing pastor. And early on in the church, he preached this sermon. I loved the title. I still love the church. And he talked about moments and issues that he'd had himself with the church. Moments when he, man, it was tough to keep being the church and keep being a part of it all the way to a moment. He got real, real, and he shared. When him and his wife were going to get married, they sent out wedding invitations, and there were Christian people, Christian friends of theirs, who didn't want to be a part of their wedding because it was an interracial marriage. He said, at this point, offense level was 10. Talk about getting it wrong. And then torn in light of being hurt by church people. He goes, so do you know what we did? And there's this pause, and you're filling it in with all these human ideas of left. The church probably took a break from church, at least. Probably decided it's just going to be us and God against the world. We don't need the church. But you know what Torren said? He said, in light of all that, you know, what we did kept showing up, sat front row. He said, here's what I learned. You cannot judge the majority who are trying to do it right by the minority who are getting it wrong. And thank God they didn't give up because they have led so many people to Jesus fulfilling their ministry. Right? Don't give up. Maybe you've been hurt and you feel like the church hurt me, so I can never go all the way back in. But let me encourage you. Relational wounds only heal through relationship. And God wants to meet you in that healing. Nobody was hurt worse by religious people than Jesus. He knows what it feels like. They crucified him so he can meet you in your church, hurt your pain, whatever. You've gone Through. And here's why I'm pushing you this weekend. I hate when people miss out on fulfilling their ministry because of some pain in their life. They miss the calling that's on the other side of you. Healing your miracle this year might be healing that church wound so that you can actually lift the calling that God placed on your life, that you experience the freedom that's on the other side of forgiveness. Don't miss out, man. Maybe you've been hurt by the church. As a pastor, I. I'm so sorry that happened. I'm not going to treat the church like the Colorado Rockies and be like, well, that was those people. This is my family. When somebody in my family gets it wrong, I'll step up and say, hey, we got it wrong here. You didn't get our best. What we're really all about. Can I invite you to come back in so we can heal and. And grow and go build this thing? Because I don't want you to miss out. Don't give up. Jesus told us this, and this is a promise. I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not stop it. And for 2000 years, they haven't. And they won't. They never will. This is the plan. Everything must be done so the church will be built up. It's interesting that he says the gates of hell and so many of us are living our lives playing defense against gates. I think what's really clear is Jesus told us, go storm the gates of hell and pull people out of darkness and into light. Be the hands and feet of Jesus. Be the picture of unity to a world that is divided. Go and build my church. And in the love of Jesus, bring people to me. Go church and change the world. Don't miss out. Don't give up. Let's go change the world. Amen. If you're able, if you would stand, we're going to worship right now. Let's pray. Jesus, we love you. We worship you. Today I pray for healing in this place for those that have been hurt by the church, those that are listening, those at our correctional facilities, for healing in places of wounds. Would you heal those places so they can live the calling that you've given them to build your church? Would there be forgiveness? Repentance? Would people get off the sidelines, Lord, would you call us onto the field? I thank you that you choose imperfect people like us to be a part of your plan and change the world. And for everything we've got, Lord, we will pour it out for you. Would you use red rocks church, all of us imperfect people, to change the world in your name. And it's in your name we worship now. Amen.