>> Pastor Eric
00:00:00.580 Good morning. Welcome everyone to Freedom
00:00:03.740 Church. My name's Eric, and I'm the lead pastor here with
00:00:07.720 my wife, Rachel, who is leading us on keys and worship.
00:00:11.150 I just wanna say welcome everyone watching at home, online.
00:00:14.680 Several of you have been saying you're on vacation, text me you're watching, so I
00:00:17.400 wanna say welcome. So glad. Let's all welcome everyone watching, at home or
00:00:21.300 online. To say so glad you're joining us virtually.
00:00:25.180 Uh, our 11:00 AM service is the one that's always live streamed.
00:00:28.720 Uh, so if you ever miss a Sunday or if you- you're just joining us at Freedom
00:00:31.940 Church and you miss the last two, you can always go to our website or
00:00:35.480 YouTube and look us up, Freedom Church, Murrysville.
00:00:38.600 You can find us on there and watch previous messages, previous worship
00:00:42.240 times as well, 'cause we wanna keep you connected and informed of what God is
00:00:46.080 doing through Freedom Church. So for those of you who haven't met me
00:00:49.980 yet, I, I wanna get to meet you, I wanna talk to you, I wanna get to know you.
00:00:53.260 Um, but we at Freedom Church, I wanna share, as I have been the last two
00:00:56.720 weeks, that this is our third Sunday.
00:00:59.360 In the last two weeks I've been sharing a little bit about the church, about
00:01:02.700 myself. Last week my wife, Rachel, actually shared part of her
00:01:06.040 testimony, which was very powerful of, of God's redemptive
00:01:09.760 work and rescuing power for her and all that she's been able to do since
00:01:13.560 then. Uh, but l--, Freedom Church as it, when it comes to our church as an
00:01:17.120 organization, I'm gonna take a few minutes and just share about who are
00:01:21.060 we. Who's Freedom Church, and, what, what, how are we structured, and
00:01:24.980 what you can maybe expect as being a part of Freedom Church.
00:01:28.600 Freedom Church is a life-giving church, where we help people know
00:01:32.560 God, find freedom, discover purpose, and make an
00:01:36.260 impact. In the last two weeks, we've really talked about how important it is to
00:01:40.060 know God and how to find freedom. 'Cause in order to find freedom,
00:01:44.040 discover purpose, and make an impact, it starts with knowing
00:01:47.360 God. Not just knowing about God, but having a real and
00:01:51.380 personal relationship with Him. So that's gonna be the most important thing.
00:01:55.360 That's something we bring up every single week is knowing God.
00:01:58.440 How do you, how are we learning about God?
00:02:00.480 How are we learning to grow in our relationship with God or beginning that
00:02:03.620 relationship with Him? That's gonna be number one all the time.
00:02:07.080 But finding freedom, it's literally in our name.
00:02:09.521 We wanna help you live a life of freedom in Christ, and
00:02:13.380 not just so that you can live free, but so you can help other people
00:02:17.400 get set free as well. The goal of freedom is not just for us to
00:02:20.920 receive, but for us to give away, for us to help other people
00:02:24.760 experience what we've experienced in that freedom in Christ.
00:02:27.940 Today, we're gonna talk all about discovering purpose. What is purpose?
00:02:31.820 Why do we know what our purpose is? And, and diving into understanding how
00:02:35.080 important it is to know our purpose, our God-given
00:02:38.240 purpose. Next week, we're gonna have, make an impact.
00:02:42.240 How many of you wanna make an impact?
00:02:43.620 You wanna make a difference in people's lives, right, and for the, for the glory of
00:02:46.720 God, ultimately. Next week, you're gonna learn all about how do we make an
00:02:50.620 impact, and why is that so important.
00:02:53.180 Uh, just a little bit more about Freedom Church as well is, you know, we,
00:02:57.500 are non-denominational, meaning we stick to the Bible.
00:03:01.150 We don't have, a hierarchy or bureaucracy of different places
00:03:05.100 around the country or the world telling us necessarily how to be a church.
00:03:09.020 Uh, I say this is, this is our instruction manual. This is our authority.
00:03:12.720 This is our highest authority, the Word of God, and Jesus
00:03:16.580 is our highest authority. Now, we have overseers.
00:03:20.080 We have other senior pastors who've been doing ministry for many decades.
00:03:23.660 They're there for support. They're there for care.
00:03:25.769 They're there to help in times of need.
00:03:28.180 So we're not here all on our own, but we're connected with other
00:03:31.800 churches. Um, we're working with other churches.
00:03:34.680 I just had lunch this week with five other pastors right here in Murrysville,
00:03:38.780 surrounding churches. How do we work together is really what we're talking
00:03:41.980 about, sharing resources, sharing the, just this, we all have the same
00:03:45.880 heart to build the Kingdom of God. For the tens of thousands of people that we know
00:03:49.840 are not living a life of freedom in Christ, we wanna work
00:03:53.160 together, and that's something that I believe is so powerful, that God
00:03:56.360 commands a blessing when it's not just about what we do or
00:04:00.340 how many people we get to come to our church, but how many people are we really
00:04:04.060 getting into the Kingdom of God? How many people are we pointing to live that life
00:04:07.840 of freedom, not just for any one of our churches, but together,
00:04:11.820 collectively, the Church of God? That's where we're in the business of building
00:04:16.041 and advancing His kingdom. Um, internally as well as
00:04:19.601 structure, we have a board of trustees that oversees the
00:04:22.940 finances. I think it's very important to make sure the finances are being
00:04:26.480 stewarded well, that we're very wise with how we spend money,
00:04:30.390 with how we resource and use resources, and there's a whole board of people,
00:04:34.240 men specifically, who are leading and making those decisions on how we set the
00:04:37.680 budget, how we spend money to make sure we're using it wisely and
00:04:41.640 according to what God would have. So just a little bit of structure.
00:04:44.740 If you wanna learn more about that, I invite you to come to Next Steps.
00:04:48.620 Next Steps is gonna be right after we dismiss today.
00:04:51.220 If you go out those back doors through our cafe into our youth room,
00:04:55.220 we're gonna be gathering in the youth room for about an hour from 12:30 to
00:04:58.580 1:30. There is lunch provided. Um, there's childcare as well.
00:05:02.320 You just have to, come talk to, come talk to me, go to the youth room and just
00:05:06.120 say, "I'm here for Next Steps," and we'll, somebody will direct you to how to get
00:05:09.680 to everything. Um, but I want you to, invite you to come be a part of Next Steps.
00:05:12.940 You'll hear a little bit more about that, of upcoming dates and
00:05:16.400 opportunities for when you could be there.
00:05:18.960 Also, just one of the values that I wanna mention today, as I'm sharing
00:05:22.980 a little bit each week, is authentic community.
00:05:26.040 I believe, having authentic community is so important and so core to
00:05:30.000 who we are as Freedom Church. You can have a lot of community in different places.
00:05:34.020 You can have a community at the gym, you can have a community at work, you can have
00:05:36.500 a community at different places, but in the church, and men--, unfortunately, many
00:05:40.240 times at church, we put on this Sunday morning face.
00:05:43.420 We think we're perfect. We want everyone to think everything's good, right?
00:05:46.620 When somebody says, "How are you doing?" You say, "Good." "How are you doing?"
00:05:49.890 "Fine." "How are you doing?" "Everything's good." And there's time for that, but
00:05:53.420 there's also time, like, we wanna have authentic community where we are just real
00:05:57.320 people. It's exhausting pretending to be one person and trying to be
00:06:01.400 somebody else, and you're trying to keep it all together, remember what you told
00:06:04.400 one person, what you told somebody else.
00:06:06.640 Let's just be real. Authentic community is something.
00:06:09.488 So authentic is first and foremost a decision we all have to make to choose to be
00:06:13.428 real, to choose to be transparent, to be authentic.
00:06:16.168 But then community is where we're not meant to do life alone.
00:06:19.488 We're meant to be gathered together.
00:06:21.048 We're meant to be a part of the body of Christ, united together,
00:06:24.948 functioning together, doing life together.
00:06:27.448 So there's opportunities for you to be here on Sundays, but there's alop--
00:06:31.288 also opportunities throughout the week with groups.
00:06:33.988 So we have Bible study groups throughout the week. There's a few of them available.
00:06:37.588 Uh, you can go to our website, click the Get Involved tab.
00:06:41.148 You can find out more information on that website as well.
00:06:43.868 We wanna get you connected to the community of God, to
00:06:47.478 m--, not just have more stuff to do, but have more people to do life with.
00:06:51.268 Good, godly influencers. Right? Um, just
00:06:55.168 another culture thing, we call this room the auditorium.
00:06:58.468 A lot of churches call it a sanctuary, and that's fine.
00:07:00.948 Um, but ultimately, we are not... Uh, the building is not super
00:07:04.668 special. It's not holy. Uh, I believe the Bible says you are holy,
00:07:08.608 that we are holy when the Spirit of God dwells within us, that
00:07:12.468 the church isn't just the building, it's the people who come.
00:07:16.148 So when you're not here, this is just a church building.
00:07:19.088 When you're here, the church is here, 'cause you are the church.
00:07:22.288 You are the people of God that God has given His Spirit to.
00:07:26.248 Um, so we welcome you to bring coffee and tea and biscotti and, and
00:07:30.188 things into this room, 'cause it's not the room that's holy.
00:07:33.688 You are holy because God is holy. So if you haven't
00:07:37.268 experienced it yet, there is coffee, tea, and biscotti that are free. Always free.
00:07:41.248 We just wanna bless you. We wanna be a light, part of that life giving, just give
00:07:45.128 things away. Um, it's not to take away the
00:07:48.648 reverence and the fear of God, though.
00:07:51.188 You know, many times it's the room is what we revere because it's God's presence,
00:07:54.868 but ultimately, we revere God because He's always around
00:07:58.288 us. That's why during worship time, we think it's very important that
00:08:02.268 we're not chatting and hanging out outside the room, but we're in the room,
00:08:05.748 gathered together to worship God together, to hear the Word of God together.
00:08:09.538 And we put those things as a high priority.
00:08:12.188 That's why we don't sell T-shirts and serve coffee and those things during worship,
00:08:16.168 because we believe everybody should be hearing the Word and worshiping Him
00:08:20.008 together. And just so... Uh, if you haven't noticed, there are T-shirts and crew
00:08:23.768 necks, things for sale in the cafe.
00:08:26.468 All of that money that we make off of that goes right into kids ministry and youth
00:08:30.468 ministry. We're not in the profit-making business, but we're in the ministry
00:08:33.968 business. So when you buy a shirt, there is money we make on that, and we put it
00:08:37.468 right in the kids ministry, right in the youth ministry, to keep the kingdom of
00:08:41.468 God advancing forward. Um, so just a couple little things there to
00:08:45.468 share with you. I'll be sharing more in next steps and also next week and
00:08:49.248 beyond, so keep coming. Uh, let me pray, and then we'll jump
00:08:53.068 into today's message. Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, that we
00:08:57.088 can gather together. God, I thank you that we have power, God, that we have
00:09:00.808 internet, God, that we can be in this place worshiping you, hearing your
00:09:04.768 Word. God, I pray that your Spirit would speak through me, God, that you'd
00:09:08.728 speak not only to every person here listening in the room, but God, to all those
00:09:12.668 watching and listening online, God, that your Spirit would speak to them right
00:09:16.588 where they are, God, that it would be your grace, your anointing that's upon the
00:09:20.048 words that I speak, God, that your Word would be alive to each and every one
00:09:24.068 of us. Help us hear from you to know our next steps and to
00:09:27.688 identify and discover the purpose that you've given each and every one of
00:09:31.308 us. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
00:09:36.208 How many of you, just show of hands, I like participation, how many of you have a
00:09:40.028 junk drawer at home? Anybody have a junk drawer?
00:09:42.308 My, some of my junk's falling out of the bag here.
00:09:44.288 How many of you have a junk, closet? Uh, a junk attic?
00:09:47.798 A junk basement? Maybe a junk garage? Look at that, more stuff. Right?
00:09:51.288 Many of you have a garage. You know you're supposed to be able to park cars in
00:09:54.588 those garages, but many of us have so much stuff we can't even fit the car in the
00:09:58.288 garage. Well, I brought some junk from my junk drawer.
00:10:01.028 I was just looking through them. Like, where are these, all these parts from?
00:10:03.668 You know? And I realized it's when we bought some furniture, and they give you
00:10:07.048 those extra parts. Any of you ever put IKEA furniture or any furniture
00:10:10.568 together, and they give you all these extra parts, and you, you should probably
00:10:13.908 just throw them away. But what do we all do instead?
00:10:16.908 I'll hold onto it, right? I, I might need this someday.
00:10:19.748 And this is probably from a couple years ago. This is from last year.
00:10:23.168 I actually don't know what this is. But it was in the junk drawer.
00:10:26.008 Um, if anybody's missing it, please let me know.
00:10:28.288 Um, we hold on to so many of this, these things, right? We're missing...
00:10:32.008 We have all these extra parts just in case we need them.
00:10:35.688 And just like we, most of us have a junk drawer or a junk closet, or we have so
00:10:39.768 much extra stuff, we have a lot of extra stuff in
00:10:43.328 life, right? We have a lot of stuff on our schedule.
00:10:46.188 We have a lot of stuff in, going on with our children or in our lives or
00:10:50.088 in work or at home. And many of us have a lot of extra things going on
00:10:54.008 in life. But also, many of us have something that we feel is missing in
00:10:57.948 life, right? We, we know there's all this good going on.
00:11:01.328 Maybe your life is going pretty well, but maybe there's just something missing
00:11:05.128 inside of you. It's like if you've ever put a piece of furniture together
00:11:08.908 and you, you're missing a part, you very much notice that, right?
00:11:12.748 You notice it when you have a four-legged table and it only has three legs.
00:11:16.108 Like, it kinda works, it kinda stands, but it's missing something very
00:11:19.988 important. Purpose is that thing that's missing in, I believe, many of
00:11:24.028 us. We're missing the purpose. We're missing the meaning of life.
00:11:27.968 We're missing the big picture that God has for us,
00:11:31.868 and we're, we're, we're okay. We're standing on three legs, and things seem to be
00:11:35.428 okay. We're working. We're functioning.
00:11:38.028 We may even have some extra parts in our lives, but we're missing something
00:11:42.048 that's so important. And even if you know your purpose, or maybe you're living
00:11:46.028 it, you, you understand it, there's something more about really being more
00:11:49.768 intentional with our purpose. In Proverbs
00:11:53.108 3:5-6, it says, "Trust in the
00:11:56.448 Lord with all your heart." He doesn't say, "Trust in the Lord
00:12:00.408 with some of your heart. Trust in the Lord a little bit on Sunday morning for an
00:12:03.888 hour and a half." He says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your
00:12:07.048 heart. Do not depend on your own
00:12:09.948 understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will
00:12:14.048 show you which path to take." Now, he doesn't
00:12:17.904 say don't think at all, right? A lot of people accuse Christians, they're like,
00:12:21.384 "Oh, that's just faith and you never have to think." No, God actually has given us
00:12:25.244 intellect and intelligence and minds and such beautiful, intelligent
00:12:28.984 minds to be able to see, discern, make decisions.
00:12:32.864 He's saying, "Don't depend on your own understanding
00:12:36.444 only." When things don't make sense, we're often relying on
00:12:40.464 our own understanding. He says, instead, seek His will
00:12:44.684 in all you do. Seek God's will because the Bible says that
00:12:48.424 God's ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than
00:12:52.324 our thoughts. So if we only seek to understand in our own
00:12:55.564 ability, we're always gonna fall short and be less than God's
00:12:59.564 will for our lives. And when we seek His
00:13:02.304 will, He shows us which path to take.
00:13:06.184 Many times we flip that. We say, "God, tell me which path to take.
00:13:09.284 God, tell me which road to go, which job should I take, which house should I buy,
00:13:12.964 which person should I marry?" And we're seeking the path to take, and He says,
00:13:16.784 "Seek my will first." Not in what maybe makes sense in
00:13:20.744 the natural, but what is God's will for you and for your life?
00:13:24.844 Because the reality is we were created on purpose and for a
00:13:28.764 purpose. You were created for a purpose.
00:13:33.104 So to give a definition of the word purpose, it means the reason
00:13:37.484 for which something is done or created or for which
00:13:41.284 something exists. There's a reason you were
00:13:45.004 created. There's a purpose that you have on this planet.
00:13:48.844 You, you were created by God and for God, that you
00:13:52.424 exist to accomplish the work that God has given you, but not just to
00:13:56.424 live and do and be all these things, but to truly know
00:14:00.204 God. It's to a setting forth. Another translation
00:14:04.104 that couples right along with it is a setting forth.
00:14:07.084 It implies a plan or resolution designed
00:14:11.224 ahead of time.
00:14:13.164 Do you know that nothing God does is by accident?
00:14:17.124 That God is very intentional. God knows.
00:14:19.204 He, He's made this plan, this resolution designed ahead of
00:14:22.944 time. He's not wondering what's gonna happen so He can make His next
00:14:26.464 move. God already knows. God already sees.
00:14:30.104 That there is nothing that happens that surprises God,
00:14:33.924 right? We get surprised. We open our Facebook feed or Instagram or
00:14:37.884 we look on the news, and we're shocked by what we see in the world.
00:14:41.704 God's not shocked. God's not up in Heaven worried and anxious, wondering
00:14:45.764 what He should do. He already knows.
00:14:48.944 God has this plan, this resolution, this purpose that's
00:14:52.404 set before Him, that He has set this plan in
00:14:55.864 place. It's us realizing we need to deter--, discover
00:15:00.044 our purpose that God has given us. God knows what He's
00:15:03.584 doing. In fact, in Genesis chapter 1, the first book of the
00:15:07.404 Bible, Genesis 1:27-28, it says,
00:15:11.074 "God created human beings in His own image.
00:15:14.884 In the image of God, He created them.
00:15:17.244 Male and female, He created them. Then God blessed them and said, 'Be
00:15:21.084 fruitful and multiply.'" Talking about Adam and Eve, the
00:15:24.904 first people on the planet. God
00:15:28.624 created mankind. God
00:15:31.684 created you. God is the author and the
00:15:35.544 creator of life, that you, you are not an
00:15:39.124 accident. God knew exactly what He was doing when He created
00:15:42.764 you. Do you realize that? That maybe you've been told that you are an
00:15:46.604 accident or you are an oops or you are an unplanned pregnancy.
00:15:50.554 There's no such thing as an unplanned pregnancy, only
00:15:54.204 unplanned and unprepared parents.
00:15:56.984 God knows what He's doing. God is the creator of life.
00:16:00.244 We think it's all us. It's actually God who creates life.
00:16:04.104 It's only through Jesus that all things can be
00:16:07.364 created, John chapter 1. That it's really not up to
00:16:11.364 us. It's up to God creates us, that you are here on
00:16:15.164 purpose and for a purpose. Another thing about Freedom Church is we're
00:16:19.104 unapologetically a pro-life church, meaning that we believe that
00:16:22.964 life begins at conception. Why do we believe that?
00:16:26.924 The Bible says it, yes, but science says that, biology says that, common sense says
00:16:31.004 that, and we believe protecting the most vulnerable people is a high
00:16:34.684 priority. So yes, pro-life has become political, but
00:16:38.624 it's a biblical, spiritual issue first.
00:16:41.824 We are unashamedly, unapologetically pro-life.
00:16:44.964 That also means pro-mom, pro-family, pro-health,
00:16:48.964 pro-fam--, pro-helping the family, not just keeping babies alive, but
00:16:52.744 helping people along. We're connected with many ministries and, and other things
00:16:56.684 that we're gonna talk about over the next several weeks as well.
00:17:00.084 But I wanna help you see that it's just because things have become political
00:17:04.124 doesn't mean we're gonna stop talking about them, because they're biblical issues
00:17:07.844 first. They're spiritual issues at play, and the enemy wants
00:17:11.754 nothing more than to stop churches from talking about
00:17:15.704 spiritual and biblical issues just because they're a part of the
00:17:19.325 politics or the t- or the news.
00:17:22.565 From the very beginning, humanity was created by God.
00:17:26.444 It's His image. We're created in the image of God.
00:17:29.724 You were created to reflect God's image, designed by God
00:17:33.704 for a purpose. And it's interesting how God says to Adam and Eve to
00:17:37.624 be fruitful and multiply. Now, in that context, it was literally
00:17:41.704 to populate the Earth. They had to make kids.
00:17:44.644 They had to repopulate the Earth so they could govern the Earth.
00:17:47.884 But we see in John chapter 15, Jesus, He's talking about being
00:17:51.984 fruitful, but He's not talking about having a bunch of children, which I think is
00:17:56.024 a good idea. I- we're on number four, so I'm like f--, couple more
00:17:59.664 maybe. Um, keep going. Um, next subject.
00:18:03.164 Be fruitful and multiply. It's a command that God has given His
00:18:06.764 people. Um, and Jesus here in John 15, He, He explains
00:18:10.684 it in a new way. He explains this, and actually understanding the
00:18:14.404 disciples who He was talking to at this time, this is right at going into the
00:18:18.284 Last Supper, He washes the disciples' feet.
00:18:21.144 I mean, what kind of king does that?
00:18:23.644 As, as Rachel read earlier during worship, that Philippians 2, that He left
00:18:27.424 Heaven and died a humble death on the
00:18:29.884 cross. That's Jesus the one who washed his
00:18:33.864 disciples' feet, washed the feet of Judas who's about to betray him, and here he
00:18:37.744 is explaining and teaching. He's giving this farewell discourse.
00:18:41.544 He's, like, teaching his disciples, leaving as much as he can with them.
00:18:45.044 He says, "I am the true grapevine." He calls himself the true grapevine
00:18:48.944 because there was a false grapevine. There are false gods.
00:18:52.464 There are false things that people try to cling to and think are gonna
00:18:56.244 sustain them, gonna give them life, when Jesus is the only one who
00:18:59.824 truly gives you true life, the only one who gives you true
00:19:03.723 freedom. He says, "My Father, God in heaven, is the gardener.
00:19:07.564 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce
00:19:11.364 fruit. He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will
00:19:15.124 produce even more." Right? He cuts off...
00:19:18.444 Just like if any of you garden or you've known of gardening, you cut off the dead
00:19:22.224 branches. You cut off the ones that are not producing fruit or not
00:19:25.884 blooming so that there's more life and more sustenance and more
00:19:29.824 room for the ones that do bear fruit.
00:19:32.294 And this word he uses for pruning is actually like a clearing or
00:19:36.244 a cleaning up of. It's not a removing.
00:19:38.834 Pruning, though, it's when you snip the branches, you cut them back.
00:19:42.824 I imagine when we would get pruned, it doesn't feel good, right?
00:19:45.964 Like, cutting off part of us doesn't feel good, but it's
00:19:49.924 what's in our best interest. God has your best
00:19:53.904 interest in mind. He wants what's best for you, so at
00:19:57.444 times he's gonna prune some things.
00:19:59.804 He's gonna remove some things that don't feel good, that maybe hurt a
00:20:03.804 little bit, and many times it's people who are doing all the things
00:20:07.184 right. You're going to church. You're really trying to, to not swear so
00:20:11.024 much. You're, you're really trying to be good at work.
00:20:13.304 You're doing the, as best as you can. You're, "God, I'm, I'm trying to serve you.
00:20:16.904 I'm trying to live right. Why do bad things keep happening?" It could
00:20:20.884 be God's pruning you. He's strengthening in you.
00:20:24.244 He's creating a, a deeper a- ability to have perseverance when more
00:20:28.124 trials and more things come because he wants you to bear more
00:20:31.624 fruit. Jesus says in verse three, "You've already been pruned and
00:20:35.664 purified by the message I have given
00:20:38.624 you." You've already
00:20:42.304 been pruned. He, he was making sure the disciples knew, "Hey, guys.
00:20:45.904 You've already been cleansed by my word.
00:20:48.504 You've already been cleansed by the message that I've given you." It's, so it's
00:20:52.424 not about produce fruit and then something happens.
00:20:56.124 He says, "No. You've already been saved.
00:20:58.684 You've already been forgiven. My mercy and my grace is enough.
00:21:02.244 You've already been cleansed of your sin.
00:21:05.084 Now you should be producing fruit as a result," not flipping it the
00:21:09.144 other way around, that our
00:21:12.924 purpose is found in abiding in Christ.
00:21:16.594 And Jesus says this how? In verse, verse
00:21:19.044 four. He says, "Remain in me,
00:21:22.974 and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if
00:21:26.984 it is severed from the vine. And you cannot be fruitful
00:21:30.944 unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the
00:21:34.924 branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will
00:21:38.204 produce much fruit. For apart from me you can
00:21:42.024 do nothing."
00:21:45.044 How do we produce fruit?
00:21:47.524 We simply remain in Jesus. We c--, we stay in
00:21:51.064 relationship. And the closer we get to Jesus, the more we
00:21:55.144 know him, the more we spend time with him, then the fruit is
00:21:58.784 produced. But so often we flip that and say, "If I would just
00:22:02.724 be en--, able to produce fruit, then God would be close to me," and it doesn't work
00:22:06.744 that way. I mean, he says you are the branches.
00:22:10.124 He is the vine. What is the vine? The vine is the life source.
00:22:13.504 The vine is where all the s--, nutrients and sustenance
00:22:16.864 comes to the branches. All we have to do is stay
00:22:20.864 connected to the vine, and as a result, the branches
00:22:24.724 don't necessarily produce the fruit.
00:22:26.544 The vine produces them through the branches. How do we do that?
00:22:30.164 What's the best way that you can stay connected to the vine?
00:22:33.384 It's by reading this,
00:22:35.204 reading the word of God. It's his words to us.
00:22:38.904 It's God speaking to us, the creator of the universe, the one who knew
00:22:42.964 you before you were in your mother's womb. He knows you.
00:22:45.744 He wants to speak to you. He wants to tell you the truth
00:22:49.584 in love, and his words are right here.
00:22:52.944 He speaks to us. Some of this is history.
00:22:55.224 Some of this is, are lessons that we can learn that are good advice and wisdom.
00:22:59.204 But ultimately, this is a letter to, to God's people through history
00:23:03.264 over th--, over thousands of years that is for us today to
00:23:06.924 read, to learn, to know the heart of God, to know the character of
00:23:10.864 God so that we can know him in a real and personal
00:23:14.584 way. That's how we can know Jesus. And Jesus even says, he
00:23:18.324 goes, "The Holy Spirit's gonna remind you of Jesus'
00:23:21.784 teachings." Well, if we've never read Jesus' teachings, there's nothing for
00:23:25.684 him to remind us of, so we have to be reading the word.
00:23:28.924 If you don't have a Bible, please do not leave here without a Bible in
00:23:32.924 your hands. We will give you one. We will get you one.
00:23:35.704 We will send you one. Come find us. Come talk to the connection point. Talk to me.
00:23:39.724 Say, "I would love a Bible." We will get you one.
00:23:42.584 And when, if you've never read the Bible, then one of the best places I al--, always
00:23:46.144 tell people is in the New Testament.
00:23:47.844 So there's the Old Testament, the New Testament.
00:23:50.214 The New Testament, there's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, four
00:23:53.534 gospels. They're writing about the good news of Jesus, and that
00:23:57.464 you hear all of Jesus' teachings and his words.
00:23:59.824 You see how he lived and the miracles and how he treated people.
00:24:03.384 Learn about Jesus, then go get into everything else in the Bible.
00:24:06.964 It's all good, but I always recommend start with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
00:24:10.904 If you're like, "I really need... Just tell me which page," John chapter one.
00:24:14.364 Just start there and start reading. And get help. Ask for help.
00:24:17.944 Go to a group. We want you to know God, to
00:24:21.364 remain in him. And for Him to remain in us,
00:24:25.332 the best way to do it is by reading the Word of God by studying the
00:24:29.252 Bible, we're learning the Bible, reading the Bible. Secondly, through worship.
00:24:33.022 I believe worship is a great way to, to get our focus on
00:24:36.872 God, how big He is, how great He is. Your problems, as big as
00:24:40.852 they are, are nothing in comparison to how big God is.
00:24:43.882 And when we remind and sing our-- to ourselves about how big God is and
00:24:47.892 we sing to God, we worship Him, He changes and renews our
00:24:51.872 minds. He actually shifts our focus off of all the stuff
00:24:55.732 going on in the world and back onto Him, and it's so helpful
00:24:59.732 when He inhabits our praises and our worship to Him.
00:25:03.472 Uh, another way is just being around people, other Christians.
00:25:06.792 Not just your friend, not just people outside the church or who aren't Christians,
00:25:10.312 but being around Christians, being around other like-minded people is a great
00:25:14.232 way to hear and learn from each other about who God is.
00:25:17.952 So how do we abide in Him? Primarily the Word.
00:25:21.252 We do it through worshiping. We thru--, do it through others as
00:25:24.652 well. So the best questions to ask are, "Do I really
00:25:28.691 know God or do I just know about God?" Do you really
00:25:32.612 know God? And if you don't, begin to.
00:25:36.172 Begin to learn about Him. Begin to know Him in a real and personal way.
00:25:40.112 Are you close to God? Are you abiding in God?
00:25:43.322 Are you connected to Him? Is life flowing through
00:25:46.892 you, or are you just consuming a lot of things around you?
00:25:50.272 Most of us, we live in a consumer culture with Instagram and
00:25:53.992 social media and all this stuff we consume, consume, consume, but life is supposed
00:25:57.912 to flow through us, again, the vine through the
00:26:01.592 branches to produce fruit and to others.
00:26:04.992 But the thing with, purpose and, you know, purpose in
00:26:08.732 itself in the New Testament primarily means that reason or that, that,
00:26:12.632 that something exists. In the Old Testament, it, there's this
00:26:16.672 explanation, this description of the tabernacle.
00:26:19.332 The tabernacle is the dwelling place of God, the dwelling
00:26:23.172 place of God where His physical presence was in the holy place and the Holy of
00:26:27.072 Holies, and there was this bread that was set out, that was always to be set out,
00:26:31.052 constantly set out before God, representing His presence
00:26:35.452 but also representing our lives that are supposed to be presented
00:26:39.312 before God. So that same exact word in the Old Testament
00:26:43.232 as the New Testament, that meaning of our purpose, that setting
00:26:46.552 forth, it applies to our lives, that your
00:26:50.092 purpose is to live your life before God, presented
00:26:53.992 to God, that you be used by God and be aligned by God as
00:26:57.972 well.
00:26:59.872 So John, he says, Jesus gives this explanation of being connected to Him, this
00:27:03.692 fruit that's produced in us, but purpose always requires
00:27:07.832 sacrifice. You realize that, you know, the, that bread, the
00:27:11.732 showbread or living our lives before God, it, it's gonna cost us
00:27:15.572 something. There's going to be a sacrifice that Jesus
00:27:18.932 Himself modeled this. Jesus, the, the
00:27:22.752 creator of the universe, God Himself, He modeled
00:27:27.052 a sacrifice and surrender. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He's
00:27:31.012 about to be crucified. He's being betrayed by Judas.
00:27:34.692 He's about to be arrested. Jesus goes to the garden.
00:27:37.412 He has James, John, and Peter with Him, three of his disciples, and the Bible
00:27:41.352 actually records it in three different, of the gospel accounts, Matthew,
00:27:44.912 Mark, and Luke, that talk about Jesus weeping
00:27:49.032 and sweating drops of blood. His body is physically
00:27:52.892 agonizing so much that He's sweating drops of blood
00:27:56.652 out, that He's praying in His humanity. He's praying to God.
00:27:59.852 He says, "God, if there's any way this cup of suffering could pass
00:28:03.772 from me, if there's any way I don't have to go to the cross, I don't have to be
00:28:07.132 beaten and tortured and nailed to a wooden cross, God, God, if there's any way
00:28:11.572 this could pass and you could do it some other way, would you make it happen?"
00:28:15.492 But then He says, "Not my will, but yours."
00:28:20.152 Not my will, but yours. Jesus
00:28:24.102 still said yes to the most horrible experience that any of us
00:28:28.152 could imagine in, in our natural lives, let alone the
00:28:31.772 spiritual weight of the sins of the world being put on
00:28:35.272 Him. Jesus said, "Not my will, but yours." Both
00:28:39.391 fully God and fully man, He prayed this prayer that models for
00:28:43.391 each and every one of us that our purpose is not to build our
00:28:47.252 kingdom, but to build God's kingdom, that Jesus Himself
00:28:51.182 did not exist for Him--, His, His own kingdom, but for the Kingdom of God the
00:28:54.832 Father. But the world would say, "Follow your dreams.
00:28:58.252 Follow your heart. Follow your desires.
00:29:00.292 Build your life, and you do you," instead of saying, "My life
00:29:04.332 is not my own,"
00:29:06.372 that we don't exist for ourselves.
00:29:08.412 We exist for something greater and bigger than ourselves.
00:29:11.412 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 20 says it this way.
00:29:14.872 It says, "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy
00:29:18.472 Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by
00:29:21.752 God? You do not belong to yourself.
00:29:24.932 For God bought you with a high price, so you must honor
00:29:28.732 God with your body." That if you are a
00:29:32.652 Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus, you've surrendered your
00:29:36.532 life to God. You've said, "God, I surrender.
00:29:39.632 I give up ownership. You paid for me.
00:29:42.712 I belong to you now." That's what it means to surrender
00:29:46.672 your life. That's what it means when you purchase something, you pay a price, it
00:29:50.452 belongs to you. God purchased us by paying the blood
00:29:54.332 of Jesus. He purchased us. He bought us with the most valuable thing
00:29:58.632 that we could even imagine, the blood of His own Son.
00:30:02.412 That's how valuable you are. That's how important you are
00:30:06.312 to God, not to make yourself bigger, but to realize God's love for
00:30:10.252 you is so much greater than you imagine.
00:30:14.012 You know, w--, with three kids and four on the way,
00:30:17.352 I don't necessarily have a purpose for my kids other than to love them and be
00:30:21.292 in relationship with them. Like, I don't, I don't determine what my
00:30:25.232 kids are gonna grow up and become someday.
00:30:27.392 The purpose that we have children is to have a relationship with them.To
00:30:31.300 love them, to grow them, to become men and women of God someday.
00:30:34.720 That's the only purpose I have, is that they would be men and women of God in their
00:30:37.820 own lives.
00:30:39.360 But ultimately, it's to spend time with them, it's to love them.
00:30:42.420 God's purpose for creating each of us is to spend time with us, to
00:30:46.560 love us, to have that relationship with us.
00:30:49.660 Beyond all the stuff that we can do for God, it starts with
00:30:53.580 that relationship with God, His love for you.
00:30:56.700 He wants to spend time with you. He bought you with a price, and He wants to
00:31:00.680 have that relationship. God's purpose for your life will always
00:31:04.540 be better than the plans that you create on your
00:31:07.500 own. I had a lot of my own thoughts. I had a lot of
00:31:11.320 my own plans as a young adult. I, I had these plans of, of
00:31:15.360 real estate, and business, and making tons of money, and I started achieving and
00:31:19.209 accomplishing all those things. I thought I was doing awesome, and I was
00:31:23.200 according to the world's standards, having money, having houses, having business.
00:31:27.140 And I thought, "Look at me." But yet inside, I was so
00:31:31.000 empty. I was dead inside. I was
00:31:34.260 missing real purpose, a God-given purpose.
00:31:37.420 I was living for me, and my world was that
00:31:40.600 small. My world was wrapped up in me, myself, and
00:31:44.260 I, and my purpose stopped
00:31:46.860 there. But then when God got ahold of me, when God
00:31:50.580 revealed Himself, when I began to know God, I began to find freedom, and
00:31:54.560 then I discovered my purpose is not to live for me, but it's so much bigger than
00:31:58.520 my life. God's purpose is so much greater than what I can do, but
00:32:02.420 what God could do through me, that God could use me in my
00:32:06.460 life to do something impactful, and in, in part impactful to other people's
00:32:10.280 lives. That's when everything changes.
00:32:13.240 That's when you realize that your life is meant to be used for the Kingdom of God
00:32:17.020 first and foremost. It changes how you live.
00:32:20.200 It changes the joy, that you don't get outta bed going, "Ugh, gotta go to
00:32:23.840 work. Ugh, gotta do this. Ugh, I got..." You get up and go, "What
00:32:27.860 can I get into today? Like, God, what are we gonna do? We're gonna go to the gym?
00:32:31.540 Let's go. We're gonna go to work? Let's go. I bet there's lost people there.
00:32:34.740 I bet somebody needs prayer today.
00:32:36.300 I bet I could just love some- maybe I could smile and ask somebody how they're
00:32:39.760 doing and put a smile on their face." Like, when you have a purpose inside of you,
00:32:43.560 it drives you, it fuels you. It's not a, "I have to
00:32:47.520 do this," it's, "I get to do this? I get to impact people's
00:32:51.580 lives?" I've heard people talk about pastoring and ministry as it's like the
00:32:55.360 worst job on the planet. It's the most stressful job.
00:32:58.580 You have to be crazy to do it. And I say, it's the most
00:33:02.020 enjoyable, life-giving job on the planet.
00:33:05.260 I get to help people. I get to love people.
00:33:08.200 I get to care for people, some of them on their, their death bed, and I get to pray
00:33:11.640 for them. I get to help parents. I get to help people who are just looking
00:33:15.540 and trying to find the meaning of life.
00:33:17.800 We get to celebrate births, and we get to help people when the p--, family members
00:33:21.480 are dying. Like, it's the greatest job on the planet, to
00:33:25.180 impact people's lives for eternity.
00:33:28.080 And it's not just me as a pastor, you have that ability.
00:33:31.700 God calls you ministers. In Ephesians 4, he says, "You're, you
00:33:35.800 are the ministers. You are the church.
00:33:38.180 You are the saints who are to do the work of the ministry." I'm
00:33:41.980 just gonna lead you and tell you w--, how to get there and how to do it.
00:33:46.160 Because ultimately, together, it takes all of us, right?
00:33:50.100 We need all of the pieces. Maybe it's not purpose you're missing, but maybe you're
00:33:53.980 missing where your purpose fits. Maybe you're the leg of that table that's shaky
00:33:58.000 on three, and you're the fourth leg. Maybe you're the bolt that's missing.
00:34:01.680 Maybe you're the part, you think, "I'm not a big deal. You're... I'm just a bolt.
00:34:05.440 I'm just a nut. I'm just a, a washer.
00:34:07.320 I'm just this." But those little parts add together to make up the
00:34:11.080 whole to function exactly how it's supposed to
00:34:14.200 function. In 1 Corinthians
00:34:18.120 12, it's not up on the screen, and I just wanted to share it about, it talks about
00:34:21.361 how we're one body with many parts,
00:34:24.880 right? All the parts together are important.
00:34:28.321 You are important. Your role is important.
00:34:31.660 Your gifting is important. The things that God has put inside of you
00:34:35.500 are very important, that you're not here by accident, you're here on
00:34:39.600 purpose, for a purpose. You're supposed to be using your life and giving
00:34:43.520 your life for a purpose to build the Kingdom of God.
00:34:47.519 I'm not just talking about Freedom Church, I'm talking about the Kingdom of God,
00:34:51.140 the big picture that every single one of us has a place to
00:34:54.920 pl--, play and a place to fit into the body of
00:34:57.880 Christ. Jesus said the one thing He would build is his
00:35:01.820 church. Matthew 16:18,
00:35:05.620 Jesus says, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against
00:35:09.540 it." Now, if you realize, He used the word gates.
00:35:12.240 The gates are actually a de- defensive mechanism, something you can't
00:35:16.080 get through. So it's not that we have to fear evil, or
00:35:19.940 death, or bad things coming against us.
00:35:22.240 No, it's actually, He's saying, "I'm gonna build my church, and the defenses of
00:35:26.120 hell will not be able to stop." The defenses of the realm of the dead will not be
00:35:30.120 able to stop the advancement of Jesus' church.
00:35:33.340 His Kingdom will advance. No matter what we do or don't do, He's
00:35:37.260 going to advance His Kingdom. We simply have to say, "Jesus, use
00:35:40.860 us. Would you use us to advance your Kingdom?" It's the
00:35:44.740 one thing Jesus said He would build, and it's the one thing Jesus is coming
00:35:48.660 back for, his church, his bride, his body of
00:35:52.580 believers. I wanna make sure I'm a functioning part of the
00:35:55.840 body, not just sitting back waiting for Him to come back, but to be
00:35:59.840 active in the body, functioning as the body.
00:36:02.240 Just as we want all parts of our bodies to be functioning and healthy,
00:36:06.200 Jesus does likewise. He wants our bodies to be, and our
00:36:09.960 lives to be lived on purpose with intentionality.
00:36:14.940 So instead of asking, "What's in this life for me?" We ask God,
00:36:18.940 "How can my life be used by you? God, use
00:36:22.180 me. God, not my will, but yours be done.
00:36:25.540 God, not my desires, but your desires.
00:36:28.400 God, I know it's gonna be hard, but God, I wanna live for something
00:36:31.740 beyond just this life." I don't know if you know
00:36:35.660 this or not, but time is limited. Time
00:36:39.852 is finite to each of us. Now, we're eternal beings, but
00:36:43.612 ultimately, we live in a finite world.
00:36:47.812 The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 90:12, says, "Teach us
00:36:51.712 to realize the brevity of life so
00:36:55.632 that we may grow in wisdom. Teach us to number
00:36:59.512 our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Teach
00:37:03.392 us, God, to realize that our lives
00:37:06.372 are temporary. We just have moments
00:37:09.852 that, that... I'm not wanting to cause fear or anxiety, but
00:37:13.852 to help you realize that someday we're all going to
00:37:17.092 die. Someday we're all gonna pass from this life.
00:37:21.032 Someday we're all gonna be buried or cremated.
00:37:23.712 We're gonna be put in the ground, and we get a plaque or a tombstone that looks
00:37:27.332 something like this picture,
00:37:31.612 where you have a year of your birth, a year of your death,
00:37:35.612 and what's that thing in the middle? Just a little dash.
00:37:40.052 That dash
00:37:41.632 represents so much. Your first
00:37:45.232 words, your first steps, your first day of school, your
00:37:49.112 relationships, your marriage, your children, your house, your car.
00:37:52.532 It represents all of your experiences, your victories
00:37:56.472 and your struggles. Everything you experience in your entire
00:37:59.972 lifetime is summarized in the dash
00:38:04.472 on a tombstone.
00:38:07.192 If you're really lucky, you get, like, a paragraph or two in your
00:38:09.372 obituary. Our entire lives,
00:38:13.312 like, the reality is nobody's really talking about us in
00:38:16.692 10, 20, certainly not 50 years later.
00:38:20.492 The only thing that matters are the things that we do for
00:38:24.252 eternity, the things we do for the Kingdom of God, the things
00:38:28.212 we do for Christ, for His name to be known, not our name
00:38:32.252 to be known. We're gonna be buried in the ground and nobody's talking about us.
00:38:35.892 But that dash, what does that dash
00:38:38.412 represent? Of all, everything we
00:38:41.332 experience, is it worth it just for
00:38:45.292 the dash? Or is there something so much
00:38:48.752 greater? A greater purpose, a greater reason that we're
00:38:52.332 here on the planet.
00:38:56.892 We live our lives
00:38:59.072 not just drifting through life, not just waiting for
00:39:02.592 someday.
00:39:04.572 Someday I'll follow God seriously.
00:39:06.772 Someday I'll live on purpose. Someday I'll start to be
00:39:10.692 serious with my faith.
00:39:12.732 Someday turns into years, years turn into a lifetime, yet
00:39:16.552 God has not created you to drift through life.
00:39:20.312 God has created you to be intentional, to be on purpose, to live with
00:39:24.372 purpose, to wake up every day excited about what God's gonna
00:39:28.052 do through you today.
00:39:32.232 I believe some of you are here today and you say,
00:39:34.772 "I need to make today the day that I surrender my life to
00:39:38.252 Jesus." Today's your day, March 15th,
00:39:41.892 2026. You need to say, "God, I'm done living for me.
00:39:45.692 I'm done living for my life and my s--, desires and my dreams.
00:39:49.032 God, I want your will to be done in my
00:39:51.852 life." You need to make that decision
00:39:56.272 to say, "Not my will, but yours be done.
00:39:58.892 Jesus, I surrender my life to you," and now He becomes
00:40:02.272 Lord. He calls the shots. He tells you what to do.
00:40:06.032 He gives you that direction, not depending on your own
00:40:09.232 understanding, but seeking His will, and He shows you which path
00:40:13.172 to take. Abiding in that relationship with
00:40:16.192 Him. And I believe others of you, you're, you're drifting.
00:40:20.112 You know God. You, you have a relationship with Him, but you're
00:40:23.732 drifting. You're, you're not really intentional with your life.
00:40:27.172 You don't know your purpose. You don't know your direction, and you're asking the
00:40:30.792 question, "God, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to live?
00:40:33.832 What is my purpose?" It could be love your
00:40:37.612 spouse, love your kids, steward the resources God has given
00:40:41.512 you. It doesn't have to be these big, crazy, audacious things, but for
00:40:45.352 most of us, it's be a good, faithful steward of what God's already given
00:40:49.112 you. But I know there's more for each of you.
00:40:52.452 I know there's more purpose, I know there's more direction for each and every one
00:40:55.592 of your lives to be used, but for the Kingdom of God, for His church to
00:40:59.571 be built, for His kingdom to advance.
00:41:02.112 Here in Murrysville and Franklin Regional School District, and the surrounding
00:41:05.432 communities, I believe God wants to use each and every one of you.
00:41:09.252 Whether you believe it or you feel qualified or not, God says you're
00:41:12.812 qualified. God says, "I've given you gifts, I've given you abilities, I've given
00:41:16.132 you things to use for His kingdom, for His
00:41:19.492 purposes."
00:41:23.472 So I invite, if you could stand to your
00:41:25.232 feet.
00:41:32.192 I invite every one of us to take a
00:41:34.012 moment, even everyone listening online, if
00:41:37.912 you would just ask God this question: God, what do you want
00:41:41.792 my dash to represent? What do you want my
00:41:45.412 life to represent? What do you want my life to mean?
00:41:49.052 What's the, what's gonna show for all of our experiences, all of our
00:41:52.832 decisions, everything we do, God, what is it going to actually
00:41:56.852 result in?
00:41:59.372 And let Him speak to you. Let Him tell you
00:42:03.452 your purpose. That's ultimately His
00:42:05.852 purpose.
00:42:09.592 And I invite every one of us in this room right now, if you're here and you say,
00:42:12.982 "I, I want more clarity, I want more to know God, f--, I need to know God's purpose
00:42:16.632 for my life," I wanna pray for you.
00:42:20.132 Maybe it starts with making that decision, "Jesus, I surrender my life to
00:42:23.812 you." Maybe you say, "I just need more clarity, I want more direction.
00:42:27.792 God, I wanna know you more." Whatever scenario it is for you, wherever
00:42:31.772 k--, wherever you're at, I just wanna pray for you.
00:42:34.652 So if you say that to you, I say, I wanna, I wanna know you more, God.
00:42:38.292 I wanna know my purpose more. God, I need more intentionality in my life.
00:42:41.832 I invite you just to open up your hands just as a sign of receiving something from
00:42:45.852 God. I believe He wants to speak to you.
00:42:47.872 He wants to s--, share with you your purpose, and I'm gonna pray a blessing on
00:42:51.612 you. Heavenly Father, we thank You, God, for who You are.
00:42:55.168 God, we thank You that You modeled for us how to live a life on
00:42:58.748 purpose and for purpose. That Jesus, You, as the
00:43:02.428 ultimate example, were so intentionally focused on
00:43:06.328 fixating on the cross, fixating on what You did for each and every one
00:43:10.308 of us, that You lived Your life on
00:43:13.708 purpose. You lived Your life with intentionality, that You
00:43:17.608 did not get distracted. You did not get swayed by the temptations
00:43:21.548 of the world or Satan himself, but You stayed focused on the
00:43:25.408 mission at hand, advancing Your kingdom, building Your
00:43:29.148 church. God, You used Your life, You gave Your life so
00:43:33.138 that we could be set free. God, I pray for each and every person in
00:43:37.008 this room. God, that those that need to make that decision to surrender their
00:43:41.028 life to You, that they would make that decision, that, God, You would
00:43:44.768 draw them to Yourself, God, that You would show them how it's not how
00:43:48.588 good they are, but, God, it's all about how good You are, that You've already
00:43:52.528 done the work by dying on the cross, being buried and raised back
00:43:56.688 to life three days later, that we can truly be set
00:43:59.608 free. God, I pray for every person
00:44:03.388 who's just looking for their purpose, God, to make it so
00:44:07.488 crystal clear to them. God, I pray You'd speak to them, God, You'd show
00:44:11.468 them as they seek to abide in You, as they seek Your will, God, that
00:44:15.368 You would abide in them, that You would lead them and show them which path to
00:44:19.068 take, that, God, they would not be left to their own understanding, but Your
00:44:23.168 Spirit who dwells within us would show us how we can
00:44:27.188 give, how we can serve, how we can be used by You to
00:44:31.108 build Your church and advance Your kingdom. Use us, God.
00:44:35.128 If every single person in this room is willing and says yes and
00:44:39.048 amen to You, Lord, I pray You'd bless each and every one of us.
00:44:42.108 God, You'd do something so magnificent in this region that this
00:44:45.668 region, that Franklin Regional School District, would be completely
00:44:49.148 transformed for Your glory and for Your honor.
00:44:53.068 It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
00:44:56.448 Amen.
00:44:56.678 Amen. Well, you can be seated, and, Jared is our youth ministry
00:45:00.508 leader. He's gonna come up and share a few more things.
00:45:03.128 I just wanna invite you, if you wa--, made that decision, you say, "I wanna surrender
00:45:07.068 my life to Jesus," you can take your phone, hold it to the tap card on the
00:45:10.908 seat back in front of you or scan that QR code.
00:45:13.848 That's also how you can fill out our connection card, but on there's a spot that
00:45:17.748 says, "I wanna surrender my life to Jesus." Fill that out 'cause we wanna help you
00:45:21.808 take your next steps with God. We wanna help you understand what you should
00:45:25.177 do now that you made the most important decision you've ever made.
00:45:28.808 Uh, so we wanna keep you connected. That ... Jared, come on up. Close us out.
>> Jared Kean
00:45:32.508 Amen. Thank you, Pastor. Could we give Pastor Eric a hand for the word shared?
00:45:36.188 It's very, very impactful, very powerful, really, to the--, to think about that we're
00:45:39.908 here for an eternal purpose. And, you know, speaking of eternal purpose, we
00:45:43.928 are actually gonna shift into a time of giving as an act of worship
00:45:47.948 to the Lord. And there's a really beautiful picture that I often think
00:45:51.928 about based on what Jesus had shared with His disciples in
00:45:55.948 John chapter 14, really rooted and tied into eternal
00:45:59.228 purpose. In John 14:2,
00:46:03.028 Jesus says, "There is more than enough room in my Father's
00:46:05.968 home. If this were not so, would I have told you that
00:46:09.828 I am going to prepare a place for you?"
00:46:13.728 And such a fascinating thing to think about, that Jesus, the King of the
00:46:17.268 universe, says to His disciples, "Hey, I'm going to go build a home for
00:46:21.288 you. There is more than enough room in my Father's house in
00:46:24.788 heaven, and you have a purpose and a seat with me in
00:46:28.268 eternity in my rooms." And what's so
00:46:31.988 fascinating and amazing is that Jesus invites us and calls
00:46:35.808 us as His followers to participate in Him
00:46:39.448 building and expanding eternal real estate in heaven, that whenever
00:46:43.488 we give of our lives, whenever we fulfill the purpose that God has for us
00:46:47.448 or we give financially and partner so that the purposes of God
00:46:51.468 can be fulfilled, we are literally funding eternal real estate.
00:46:55.148 We are literally giving Jesus a motivation and opportunity for more
00:46:58.988 people to know Him, to experience Him in a real and transformational way.
00:47:03.188 So every dollar that we give to make an impact in the Kingdom of
00:47:07.088 God, Jesus then in turn says, "Oh, we got another room, another one crossed the
00:47:10.788 bridge, another one in eternal life.
00:47:13.087 Oh, there's a kid up in Franklin Regional.
00:47:15.188 He's waiting to hear the gospel." When he gets to hear the gospel and we get to
00:47:19.028 partner in giving to that opportunity, we give Jesus
00:47:22.388 motivation and resource to build more rooms in eternity, and
00:47:26.268 we get to be a part. So whenever we have the opportunity to
00:47:29.988 give to the Kingdom of God, I want you to really keep in mind
00:47:33.788 John 14:2, that Jesus says, "There is more than enough rooms,
00:47:37.568 and I'm gonna go prepare a place for you." And
00:47:41.648 we together get to give to be a part of Him preparing a place
00:47:45.608 for so many more people. How exciting is that?
00:47:48.408 You guys know that you're a part of building eternal real estate.
00:47:51.768 It's phenomenal. And so I'm just grateful this morning that we have an opportunity
00:47:55.628 to give, and because of the faithful giving of so many people already in this
00:47:59.328 room, a lot of real estate's been built, but there's more to be had.
00:48:03.168 There's several ways to give. You can scan a QR code to give online.
00:48:07.108 In the back of the room on the wall, there's also a box for cash or checks.
00:48:11.368 If your bank provides Zelle, you can give through Zelle.
00:48:14.068 Um, there's so many different ways that we can give, but really what's important is
00:48:17.468 the why and the eternal purpose behind why we're giving and what
00:48:21.508 we're truly giving to. Let's pray and believe God big for
00:48:25.188 our investment to make an eternal impact.
00:48:27.548 Lord, I thank You so much, Lord, that we get to be a part of Your
00:48:31.248 expansion of eternal real estate, that You, Jesus, You promise You'll
00:48:35.248 build Your church, You will expand Your kingdom, and You choose to
00:48:39.188 partner with us through Your Holy Spirit, through Your Word, to make an eternal
00:48:43.288 impact, that we all have purpose. And Father, I ask You help us to
00:48:47.188 give today with fresh eyes of faith, knowing You're our provider and that
00:48:51.128 You invite us to partner with You in expanding Your
00:48:54.528 kingdom. And Lord, I thank You that everything we give is gonna make such an
00:48:57.988 enormous impact, Lord, that we'll get to see All the eternal real estate
00:49:01.992 that we get to be a part of giving to.
00:49:04.052 It's in your precious name we pray, amen.
00:49:07.292 Amen. If you're with us here this morning and it's your very first time, or
00:49:11.112 perhaps you just haven't gotten a chance to fill out a connection card, we would
00:49:14.632 love to keep in touch with you and keep you up-to-date with all the amazing things
00:49:18.612 happening here at Freedom Church.
00:49:20.292 I just encourage you to pull out your phone, scan a tap card on the back of the
00:49:24.012 seat, or you could scan the QR code there.
00:49:26.452 Just, leave some information for us for a way for us to keep you
00:49:29.792 up-to-date with so many awesome things happening here and what God is doing through
00:49:33.432 our church. Also encourage you, if it's your first time and you haven't, on the way
00:49:36.972 out of the room we have Miss Charlene in the back, sent with some gifts that she
00:49:40.252 wants to give to you, just as our way of saying thank you for being us--
00:49:43.852 With, with us here this morning as well.
00:49:46.952 And you know, speaking of being a part, if you would like to become an active and
00:49:50.492 growing part of Freedom Church, we want you to know that God has uniquely gifted
00:49:54.052 you and given you a God-given purpose.
00:49:56.552 And also learn more about the church, why God has put us here.
00:49:59.692 As Pastor Eric mentioned, pa--, Next Steps is taking place immediately
00:50:03.652 following dismissal, out the hallway to the left, past the cafe, back in the
00:50:07.552 student room. We'd love to get to know you and help you understand where
00:50:11.552 your part fits in the body here, as well as we do have food,
00:50:15.252 lunch, childcare provided, so a great, great time for us to spend
00:50:18.472 together. Another amazing celebration we have coming up is water
00:50:22.012 baptisms on Sunday, March 22nd. For those of us who have chosen
00:50:26.012 to follow Jesus, believed and received Him to be our Lord, our leader,
00:50:29.992 our savior, a great next step to grow in your relationship with Him
00:50:34.192 is to declare that with your church family by water baptism.
00:50:38.252 Maybe you've never been water baptized and you would like to take that next step.
00:50:41.492 It's also a great opportunity to get signed up to be water baptized.
00:50:45.352 March 22nd's a great party and celebration we take with one
00:50:48.872 another. Such a phenomenal time to celebrate what the Lord is doing in and through
00:50:52.812 our lives here at our church body. And last, but certainly not least, we have...
00:50:56.452 How many of you guys know Easter is right around the corner?
00:50:58.352 It blew me away knowing that Easter's, like, E--, really early April this year.
00:51:01.752 We are gonna celebrate on Good Friday.
00:51:03.612 We are gonna remember and reflect and celebrate the victory of Jesus's death
00:51:07.652 on the cross on... That would be Friday, April 3rd.
00:51:11.842 April 3rd, 7:00 PM. April 3rd, 7:00 PM, we'll be here. It's gonna be amazing.
00:51:15.652 Invite friends and family. And then a couple days later, the real celebration
00:51:19.632 begins at the Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday here at 9:00 and
00:51:23.452 11:00 AM. We're gonna celebrate the victory of Jesus conquering
00:51:27.312 death, hell, and the grave together. You're not gonna wanna miss it.
00:51:30.432 Invite as many friends, family, neighbors, coworkers as possible.
00:51:33.672 It's gonna be a phenomenal time. If you guys could please stand to your feet, I'm
00:51:37.592 gonna pray. Whenever I'm finished, you're dismissed.
00:51:41.712 Father, I thank you so much, God, that you do call us and make us and design us on
00:51:45.552 purpose for a purpose. Lord, I thank you, Jesus, that before you
00:51:49.312 created the heavens and the Earth, Lord God, that we were a thought in your heart,
00:51:53.312 Lord God, that you wanted us to exist, that you wanted us to be in relationship
00:51:57.032 with you. You wanted us to bear your image, Father, and I ask that we would
00:52:00.992 go out marked with purpose this week, God.
00:52:03.872 Let this week be the beginning of a transformational time in our lives where we
00:52:07.652 discover our purpose and walk in it and share it with others,
00:52:10.952 Father. I thank you we get to be a part of your kingdom expansion, both,
00:52:15.112 locally here, as well as worldwide.
00:52:17.372 I pray a blessing on every family represented, every family represented online,
00:52:21.052 Father, that we would go forth knowing that you're with us, that you're
00:52:24.932 for us, and that you empower us with purpose, and it's in Jesus' name I
00:52:28.672 pray. Amen. You are dismissed. Have a great and awesome week, everybody.