Kingdom Come: Six Voices on Your Place in God's Kingdom

Come on. Welcome to Journey Church, everyone. We are celebrating sweet 16 today. Come on, somebody. Hey, did you all get some sweets out there? Cuz we got sweets. Welcome home. Hey, tell somebody happy birthday next to you. Just slap them. Say happy birthday. Happy birthday. You may not know it, but it's your birthday today. We're celebrating sweet 16, which is why we got the car theme, which is why we got the sweets. We want to celebrate God is doing something new in this house. Come on. Come on. It's going to be a great day in the house of the Lord. Say it. Welcome to Journey Church. Pastor Brand and I are here to encourage you. We don't want you to stay right where you are. We have a very special guest today. Jonathan Trailer's in the house, everyone.

And with that said, I I want to encourage everybody. Would you want to just press forward just so we press into the presence of God today? Maybe you want to get out of your seat. What's the age limit to come up front? Well, my daughter is seven. She's up front and I'm about to jump down there with her. You got to be 27. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, hey, if you're 18 or 81, you can make your way up to with all the Holy Spirit worship mosh pit this morning. Let's go. Really, I I do want to encourage you to come forward because there's just something about worshiping with other people, pressing forward. Come on forward. Come on. Let's make this the family of God today. Here we go. I want to just ask you a favor as as we press into the presence of God today. Would you have a heart of expectation?

God wants to move in your life. He's not finished with you. And today, you're going to be blown away with the love of God. So, I want to I want us to lean into that. Why don't we just pray for expectation right now? Lord, I thank you so much for who you are. I want to thank you for what you've already done, but I thank you that 12:30 is the best service that Lord, we get to let loose a little bit and we get to have an expectation that God, you're going to meet with us here. You love every person here. Yes. So we invite you, Holy Spirit. Have your way today. We thank you. It's not just Jonathan Taylor this here in this house. There is freedom in this house. And we thank you Lord. The Lord is spirit. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's welcome Jonathan Taylor everyone.

Journey family. How we feeling? Yeah. How you feeling? What's your name? What's your name? Oh, Sada Joy. That's a beautiful name. Make some noise for Seda Joy. She's like, I'm ready. She's like, I don't like this attention. Are you guys ready to worship the King of Kings? Lift those hands to heaven real quick. Father, we love you. We thank you for this day. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your faithfulness. God, thank you. It was not our alarm clock that woke us up this morning. It was you who put breath in our lungs.

So with every breath that we breathe, we will bring you glory. God, we're here for you. We're here for you. I pray for my brothers and sisters in this room that we will not leave the same way we came. I pray for a freedom to hit this room like never before. A fire to hit this room like never before. A passion, a joy. Man, I pray that a hunger will hit us like never before. With our hands lifted up, God, this is what we're saying. God, let your will be done. Do whatever you want to do. This is your house. This is your house. This is your house. This is your house. We are your people.

God, we were created for your pleasure to bring you worship. So God, do whatever you want to do in the name of Jesus. Let everybody say, "Hey amen." Hey to the man. Okay, we good. Happy birthday journey. What's good, fam? Okay, cool. Now, we traveled far and listen, I'm about to I just feel good. Okay, I'm going to be jumping around, but I'm not just jumping around and singing loud and acting crazy because I can't. No, God has been good to me. Has he been good to anybody else? Has he been good to anybody else? No.

But he deserves everything. So look at your neighbor and say, "Don't hold back." Y'all didn't look at you. You did this. Look at your neighbor. Say, "Don't hold back." Don't hold back. Say, "Don't hold back." Don't hold back. Cuz he doesn't hold back. He's given us everything. He deserves everything. Okay? So, I don't listen. When it comes to God, it ain't no American Idol type of stuff. Okay? He loves when you sing to him. Whether you're on key or off key, he loves when you dance before him. Whether you're on beat or offbeat, he loves it. He doesn't care. He loves it. He loves the childlikeess. He loves it. So, give him everything. Be free. LA like yo, we get in church and we get real serious and stoic.

Be free in the name of Jesus. There's freedom in this house. I'm not talking about the four walls. There's freedom in this house. Because whom the son says free is what? Whom the sun says free is what? Whom the sun says free is what? Cool beans, we free. Let's go for it, family. Lift those hands. Let's go for it. Okay. Well, clap those hands loud. Oh, anybody free in here? Anybody free in here? Anybody free in here? You free? She's like, "Yes, sir." Are you free? You free, sis? Come on.

Hands up. Hands up. Song says, "Lift your hands if you've been forgi." There is fre. Oh, you got it. You got it. You got it. Lift your voice. If he's been faithful, shout it out. Tell love you're grateful. There is fre. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Hands up. Let's go. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

to the laughter. There is freedom in this. There is freedom in this house. Lift your voice if he's been faithful. You're grateful. There is freedom in this house. There's a grave where we used to be before grace everything. If you know that you've been born again, come on, say amen. It's the song of the redee. Yeah.

Lift your hands if you've been forgi. Everybody free in here. Lift your voice and feel the grateful. Shout it out. It's time you're grateful. There is like this. See the chains on the floor. Prison doors open. All the hope is resto

is One day from Lift your hands if you've been forgi. There is freedom. There's freedom in this house. Yes, there is. Let's go. Lift your voice. Shout it out. There is freom. There is freedom in this house. Come on, we sing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

What's up? There is freedom in this house. Hallelujah. What's up, y'all? Hallelujah. Y'all ready to turn up? Y'all ready to turn up? Hallelujah. Let's go. Anybody

been redeemed? Anybody been set free? Anybody been redeemed? Anybody been set free? Anybody been redeemed? Anybody? Anybody been redeemed? Anybody been set free? Well, get up. Get up. Get up. Get up out of that grave. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get a part of that grave.

That grave of depression, that grave of fear, that grave of worry. Get up. Get up. Let's go. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Everybody, I'm free indeed. I'm free indeed. I'm free indeed. Anybody got a reason to praise? I said, anybody got a reason to pray?

If you don't have a reason, I will give you one or two or three or four. If you don't have a reason, I can give you one or two or three. Cuz he woke you up this morning, started you on your way, put food on your table. I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. He woke me up this morning, started me on my way, put food on my table. I got a reason to praise. Woke me up this morning, started me on my way, put food on my table. I got a reason. He woke me up this morning. Started me on my way. Put food on my

He woke me up this morning. Started me on my way. I got a reason. Say, "I got a reason to praise." I got a reason to praise. Say, "I got a reason to praise." I got a reason to praise. Say, "I got a reason to praise." I got a reason to pray. I got a reason to pray. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep it? We got a reason to praise. I won't God is alive. How could I keep it inside? We got a reason to praise. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep it inside? I got a reason to praise.

I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I know some of y'all like this. If you check your Apple Watch, check your Apple Watch. We should have burned like 1300 calories. Okay? And if you didn't work out all week, this is your workout right here.

God in worship journey journey 16 16 years. Thank y'all for having me back. So before we keep it going from me to you. From me to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, dear Journey. Happy. Break it down. Break it down. Break. Happy birthday. Do your birthday dance.

Happy birthday to you. I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. Wait, wait, wait. Keep going. Wait. waits white. 16 years is a huge deal. That means that God is doing something here. I've seen churches fade off after a year. But every time I come, it seems like God is growing this church and doing something. But I don't think he's growing it just for you to say, "We're growing. Look at us." I think he's growing the church because he's wanted to send out his soldiers to change Oregon.

So he's sending people here to be trained, to be developed, to go out and spread the good news of Jesus to lead people to the kingdom. So happy birthday to you. Happy this takes on a whole new meaning. Happy dearourney. Bring it down. Happy that pull to the floor. Happy birthday to you. That's the reason to praise. That's a reason to praise. That's a reason to praise. That's the reason to praise. Go look. Say, I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. Say, I got a reason to praise. I got a reason to praise. Say, I got a reason to pray. I got a reason to pray. Now, if you have a reason, give God.

Let's go. If you have a reason, Anybody got a reason? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I keep stopping because this is blessing me because I see all generations up here. I see the young over here going crazy. I see the older here going crazy. Not old, but just older. Just older. I just want to see who's in the room. Teenagers, make some noise. Teenagers, make some noise. Teen, if you're a teenager, make some noise. Okay, let me see. 20s, make some noise.

20ies. I just want to see who's here. 30s, 30s, 30s, 30s. Let me see. Let me see guys. 40s. 40s. 40s. 50s. 50s. Y'all look. I'm just I just want to see who's in the room. We got a reason. 60s 60s. Ain't no way. Can I 70s? Holly. Should I keep going? That's I want to see. He's faithful through generations. 80s 80s 80. That's I I heard you. I heard you. Listen. You got a reason to praise. You got a reason to praise. You got a reason to praise. Point to somebody. You got a reason to praise. You got a reason.

Point to them. You got Why? You ready? Great is his faithfulness. Great is his faithfulness. Great is your faithfulness. Great is your faithfulness. Great is your faithfulness. Great is your faithfulness. Great. You got a reason to pray. Great is your faithfulness. Great is your faithful name. Great is your faithful name. Great is your faithfulness. Great. You got a reason to pray.

He woke me up this morning. Started me on my way. Put food on my table. He woke me up this morning. Put food on my table. I got a reason to praise. Woke me up this morning. to be on my way. Put on my woke me up this morning. On my way, put food on my table. Y'all play too much.

You better stop that. You better stop that. I got a reason to praise. We good. We good. We good. We good. Oh my goodness. Anybody grateful in the room? No. For real, for real, for real. Not that cute pops up. Anybody grateful? For real? Fam, you can't just sing songs like that and not think about what God has brought you through, what God has pulled you out of. See, I wasn't calling out ages because I'm trying to call you out. Be like, "Oh, she's 80. She's 70." No. No. God's faithful. Like, you're still standing. You're still here because of the grace and love and power and faithfulness of God.

Anybody grateful in the room? Come on. Come on. Listen. Listen. Listen. Sometimes you ain't even got to know somebody's story. You can just watch the way they praise God and be like, "Yeah, they've been through some stuff. God has brought them out of some stuff." I was talking to my brother Abel. He was sweeping in between services. He said, "Can you stop and pray for me?" Said, "Yes, sir." He said, "Pray for this. Pray for that." I'm like, "God, listen, bro. You got a heart to serve." Oh, God. God can do something with that. He can do something crazy with that. So, David, remember that shepherd boy to king and lives impacted to this day.

Watching that, reading about that, man. I'm grateful, man. I'm grateful. My grandmother used to say, "If he doesn't do another thing, he's done enough." Let me say it like like her. If he doesn't do another thing, he's done enough. That's how my granny would say it. My granny, listen, if my granny's name is not in the lamb's book of life, the second the second one like after CC Wis and then my granny like we not making it. I'm playing. My granny one save on you. You feel me? All the granny's make some noise. I love you granny's. GG's. I love you. God bless you. Cuz granny's, they be covering the family. They be praying. They be praying. I love a good praying grandmother. Thank you, Lord, for my praying grandmother, my praying mama, my praying family. I would not be here today if it wasn't for those prayers.

Y'all don't understand, man. We were homeless. I went through abuse by my stepfather. Hurt by the church. full of hate in my heart. I know it's there. Can I can I best listen? I was done. I was like, Lord, I love you, but your people be tripping. But it's crazy. The same people that hurt you, God will be like, "Hey, come to me. Let me give you a hug. Let me fix you up. But I want you to turn back around and go back and minister to them." What? What? God, what? Grace. What? Okay, Lord.

I would not be standing here without the grace of God, without his redeeming power, and without forgiving, letting that stuff go. God has changed my whole life around. You don't understand, guys. We were in the in in in our house when the lights were cut off. The water the water was cut off. We were taking bath with with gallons of water trying to take wash offs. The lights were cut off. And my mom, she would she would take a candle, light it in the middle of the living room. She'll pull out some Uno cards. You know the game that turns family into enemies. We'll play Uno and then word of God and we'll break bread. We go we go through the word of God. We'll sing songs and

worship him in the room. We may not had everything, but we had Jesus. We had each other. And I'm telling you, if you only knew what we've been through, you will worship, too. I'm telling you, family, sometimes you don't have to know someone's story. You can look at my look at the way they praise, man. Even the introverts like, "Yeah, yeah, God's been good. God has been good.

God, I'm just grateful for God. I'm just All my life you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just Who am I? I'm really really grateful for you. Oh my Let's go for it.

Think about your story. There was no way until you made one. Grace upon grace. Hallelujah. Even though I don't deserve it, you did it. Even though I couldn't earn it, you hands up in the room. Let's sing this together. Who am I that you keep me on? You're my God. I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. All my all my life. You've been here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you.

Really, really grateful. Just grateful for you. Holy holy. There's only one. I give you glory for all that you done. Even though I don't deserve it, you did it. Even though I couldn't earn it, you come on, say, "Who am I? Who am I that you keep me on? You're my God. I'll just wait for you. Come on, son. God, I'm just grateful for you. All my life. Oh my.

You been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Who am I? Who am I that you keep me on? You're my God. I'm just grateful. I'm grateful for you all my life. You've been right here by our God. I'm just grateful for you, God. I'm just grateful for you. Anybody grateful in this room tonight? If it had not been for the Lord on my side, I don't know where I would be. Let's sing this together.

And I'm lifting both of my hands cuz you gave me chance after chance after chance. I'm giving all that I am cuz you gave me chance after chance after chasing and I'm lifting both of my hands cuz you gave me chance after chance after chance and enough.

I'll give it all that I gave me after chance forever. Whoever you keep me on your mind, God, I'm just waiting for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Say, all my life, all my life, you've been right here in my God, I'm just grateful for you. I'm grateful. I'm grateful for you. Oh my god. God, I'm just grateful. Come on, God. I'm just grateful. Say, "All my life, all my life, you've been right

here my God. I'm just grateful for you." I really, really just grateful for you. Say, "I survive. I surive and I'm here to testify. God, I'm just think you're crazy till this. I'm out of my mind. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. He lives. I can face tomorrow because

he all fear because I know I know he holds the and life is worth living. Follow me. Christ alone, cornerstone, weak made strong in the Savior's love.

through the storm. He is Lord. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. For keeping me God, I'm justful for keeping me in perfect peace. God, I'm just grateful for keeping my heart, Jesus, for pulling me out the dark. Jesus, I'm just grateful for healing my body. God, I'm just grateful for healing my heart. Jesus, I'm just grful for saving my life. Jesus, God, I'm just grful for saving my life. Jesus, God, I'm just grateful. You save my life, Jesus. God, I'm just grateful. You save my life. God, I'm just grateful. God, I'm just grateful. God, I'm just grful.

You've been so good. So good. You've been so good. So good. I'm just grateful. You've been so good. So good, God. I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. You've been right here by God. I'm just grful. God, I'm just grful. I love this part. I got you.

I'm just grateful for you. There were some things you shouldn't have made it through. There was some things that should have killed you and taken you out, but you're still standing here with breath in your lungs. So since you're here with breath in your lungs, I dare you to testify of his goodness through your life. I dare you on the count of three, we're just going to shout out what God saved us from. On the count of three, we're just going to fill this room with gratitude. Don't be scared. Don't be ashamed. We're family and we're all jacked up and we all need Jesus.

So on the count of three, I want you to shout what Jesus saved you from. Okay? Okay, you got me. Don't whisper it. He saved me from lying. No. No. He saved me from myself. Now be real. Be real. Be real. Be real. He saved me from addiction. He saved me from unforgiveness. Can we keep it real? He saved me from racism. Can we keep it that real? Keep it real. on the count of three and I want to sing that line after that. Okay? One, two, three. Shout it out in him. Come on. Come on. Come on. Again. One, two, three. Louder.

Now this time on the count of three, praise God and just thank him for what he saved you from. One, two, three. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Say, "Who am I? Who am I? You keep me on your mind. God, I'm just grateful for you." Come on. God, I'm just grateful for you. All my life, all my life, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just I

just I'm I'm all right. God, I'm just grateful for you. Now, if you're grateful, let them know. Let them know how grateful you are. Come on.

Oh my god. I'll never be more than I am right now. Wasn't holding you up. So there's I can do a trophy to make you proud. I'll never be more than I am.

But I won't go down. I hear your voice carried in the rhythm of the wind to call me out. You cross. You've never been closer than you are right now. Gyra, you are enough. You are enough. I will be safe. I will be content in every circumstance. Cuz you are you are enough.

Forever enough, always enough. Say more than enough. Everybody help me sing. Forever enough, always. I don't want to forget how I feel right now on the mountain top. I can see I can see so clear what stay by my side when the sun goes down. Don't want to forget how I feel right now.

You are enough. You are You are You are enough. I will be I will be content in every circumstance. You are you are you are enough. What's that say? Forever enough. Always enough. More than enough. Come on. Forever enough. Always enough, more than enough. I'm already chosen. I know who I am. Cuz I know what you've spoken.

I'm already loved more than I could imagine. And that is enough. Come on family, sing. I'm already lost. I'm already lost. I'm already chosen. I know who I am. I know what you've spoken. I know what you've spoken. I'm already lost. I'm already lost. More than I could imagine. And that is enough. I'm already loved. Say, I'm already I'm already chosen. I'm already chosen. I know who I am.

I know who I am. I know what you spoken. I know what you spoke. I'm already love. I'm already. That is enough. That is enough. That is enough. That is enough. That is enough. That is enough. That is enough. That is enough. That is enough. That is enough. That is enough. That is enough. You are enough. You are enough. You are enough. You are enough.

My provider. You are enough. You are enough. Can you say this? Say, you are enough. You are enough. So I am enough. So I am enough. You are enough. You are enough. I am enough. So I am enough. Sing you are enough. Gyra you are. I will be I will be in every circumstance. I will be I will be content in every circumstance.

I will be I will be content. Every circumstance every circumstance I will be safe. I will come with will come with me. Every circumstance gyro You are enough, Lord. We give you praise today because you're the provider.

We give you praise today because you're still Gyra. You were, you are, and you will forever be the God that is for us. You've always been God. You are, and you will forever be God. Lord, if there's ever any doubt in our heart, it's moments like these just just to remind us. It's it's it's our stake in the ground to say that you are enough. It's not the things of this world that we get distracted with. It's not the hurt that others have caused us. But we come before you because you're healer. You're the restorer. You're a redeemer. You're the God that turns things around when we couldn't see a way. You make a way. You are a miracle worker. So, we just thank you that God at just the right time, we get to see that you you you've had a plan. You're sovereign. You're in control.

So we thank you, God, that you don't leave us where we are, but you love us. You meet us. You set us on a on a trajectory of of a future, a hope, and prosperity. Because of who you are. We thank you for being our God today. We love you. We celebrate you. We give you the glory. We praise you. We give you honor. I thank you so much for Jonathan Trailer. And I pray a blessing upon the trailer family that what the enemy intended for evil to take him out, God, you're using it for a testimony against the accuser by the blood of the lamb and the word of Jonathan's testimony. Not only will his children, which are beautiful and young, but his children's children and a thousand generation will forever be

changed. So we give you the glory, God, for what you're doing through the trailer tribe. We thank you, Lord, just for even an impartation to this house. God, we believe in greater things. We believe Central Oregon shall be saved. This is just the beginning of greater things because nothing's too difficult for you, God. Nothing. We're praying for a Third Street revival, Lord. Of all the places in the world, this is the most unlikely. So, we say, God, do it, Lord. Why not, Lord? Why not here? Why not now? Why not us? We invite you, Holy Spirit. Wreck our lives. Ruin our plans. We want to receive your kingdom because it's perfect. It's good. We want your kingdom come. We want your will to be done in our generation. We thank you, Jesus. We give you all the glory and the praise. And my my last prayer, I just want to give you a thanksgiving for this 12:30 service.

Lord, I just thank you. I believe this is the beginning of greater things. So God, thank you God that you're doing something great and we just welcome even more in Jesus name. Everybody shout, "Amen." Amen. Amen. Hey, God bless you. Hey, while you're just taking a seat, tell somebody you're loved by God. You're loved by God, somebody. You're so loved by God. You're loved by God. Malik, you're loved by God. That's the truth. So loved, Kendall, I know you're loved by God. You were standing playing the drums. Ain't nobody as good as you. That's so good. Did you guys see the drummer standing up playing the drums? Those hands are prepared for war. Yeah.

Well, Pastor Caris, it's good to be in the house of the Lord. It is. Hey, happy 16th birthday, everybody. Yes. We're here not just only to celebrate God's faithfulness, but the promises of the goodness of God to come. So, we want to give away some journey gear. Some journey gear. This one, this one's unique. And so, this requires vulnerability. And one of our core values is to be relentlessly real. It is a 2X large. All right. 2X large. Anybody willing in the house? I I see that hand back there. All right, I'm going to just go for it. You got to understand, I got to first testify today. I was raised by a single mom who was left-handed. Okay, I got it. I got this. I got this. I got this. The basketball.

Oh, hey. Hey, hey, hey. She didn't want to embarrass her husband here. Come on. Give away something there. Let's go. This one's XL. XL. Anybody want an XL right here, Kalita? Yeah. Yeah. This one I'm just going to go for a surprise here because this one's a journey bag with a gift card. Oh, with a gift card. So, go to the grocery store and to the journey store. I see that over there. Somebody There we go. There we go. Hey. Hey. There we go. There's a large. Anyone want a large back there? All right. There we go. Uh I don't know if we have any church merch left, but it's available. And if we don't have it available, we'll get a reorder. But it's been a lot of fun today just to celebrate. Did anybody get some sweet treats out there? We're celebrating our sweet 16. that hence the car name. Uh we're we're having a lot of fun today. Yes, we are. Praise God. A good day.

Well, I'll tell you, although we're celebrating today, the best is always yet to come. And we want to just tell you about some things that are happening for all the ladies in the house. What's going on this Friday? Yes. This Friday night, I want to invite you ladies to come back. Get into the house on Friday night at 5:45. We are hosting the IF gathering one night. It's going to be awesome. It's going to be powerful worship, powerful speakers. Come join us. Meet some new ladies. It's going to be amazing. Also the same night, if you are a young adult man, go talk to Pastor Connor. He's taking you bowling that night. Come on. So ladies, you got the if gathering. Do sign up though. Sign up today. And then guys, just so you know, you got an opportunity, young men, to go bowling. What a what a great thing. Kara, I'm so excited because there's there's definitely a shift happening in our church. In fact, Malik and I were talking about this, the the culture of expectation here at this church. And

having a legend like Jon Jonathan Trailer here is the real deal. He's the real deal. He loves the Lord. We've heard his testimony and he comes here and he gives us his heart. You know, he was on on Friday night, he was down in San Jose recording a live album uh with Red Worship and they're going on tour with CC Wins and he's but he's the real deal and we're so honored and we're grateful for what God's doing here. In just two weeks, we have another legend coming here who's changed uh church worship as we know it. You may not even know it, but his name is Martin Smith. He's going to be here at pursuit night on Thursday, March 12th. And that pursuit night's not going to be an ordinary pursuit night. We're going to extend it. It's going to be a two-hour night of worship. And so that's a night you want to bring someone to. I

mean, really, we are so honored to have him here in this house. And then he'll also be here on that Sunday, March 15th. So mark that on your calendar. It's going to be great. I can't wait. Well, Kara, before we get into the sermon today, which is going to be absolutely amazing, uh, let's just share the story of Journey Church with those that may not know it because we come from humble beginnings, and I'm so grateful for what God's done. We started off in 2010, everybody. Styles were a little different then. Uh, this is what I used to dress like in 2010. I say, "Let's bring it back, somebody. Let's bring it back." Looks like that. Yeah, we we can bring it back. You might find that shirt at Ross today, so who knows? Uh, but I'll tell you, it wasn't about the styles. God did something good. This was our first ever baptism at Journey Church in a horse trough. And we're still doing that, everybody. We got

baptisms next Sunday. If you've never been baptized, we want to encourage you get baptized. We got kicked out of the school, though. We went to the Regal Cinemas, which was a lot of fun. We were down by the river and we did baptisms. This was our first ever spontaneous baptism at Journey Church. Let me just tell you that story. Go back to that baptism for just a moment. That baptism I it was the first time I offered to somebody just openly. I said, "Hey, here's the deal. Jesus loves you. He died for your sins. And if you've never been baptized, you want to believe in him, get baptized." This young man came forward and got baptized. Afterwards, I asked him, "Hey, so were you at church today?" And he said, "No, I'm actually on vacation. I was just walking by. I saw what was happening, heard you, and and I I came forward." And I'll tell you, from that day forward, every time we've done baptisms, we've done spontaneous like that. And thousands of people have gotten baptized over the last 16 years. So good. Well, we didn't

stay at the old mill. We went back to the high school. This was Easter 2010. There was about a hundred of us, which was a little embarrassing in a 1500 seat auditorium. So, we decided we need to go somewhere. We went downtown, which is why we had to buy chairs. Here you are. Yes. And our son. And our son. You're you're unwrapping chairs downstairs in a location downtown. It was prime location, which is great. Uh, but it just happened to be also underneath uh a strip club. It did. It did. But you know, there we go. There we go. Uh, we couldn't even afford a sign. We had to actually put just a banner up on the wall because we didn't have any money, right? But this this solidified our mission to go where Jesus would go to reach people Jesus would reach. Praise God. And this was our auditorium back then. We could only seat about 80 people underneath that bar. And uh, but I'll tell you, we've come a long ways.

Do you notice? Not even anyone's raising their hands. Look how far we've come in 16 years, everybody. That was about 15 years ago. Let's go. Praise God. Hey, this is my son and I. We've always had church merch here. So, I was just showing you how cool we were back then. And come on, somebody. Uh, this was our first ever Christmas program. It was the entire kids ministry. That was the whole kids ministry. That's that's about two families represented right there. But, you know what? We've come a long ways. So, about four years later, that strip club closed down and the church got to move in. We turned it from a strip club into a sanctuary. And that was on I believe our fourth birthday. And the theme that year was our future so bright you got to wear shades. And so we we prophesied that just believing God's best. And uh so one of the things to move into that place is we had to change it because everything was black. The enemy loves darkness. And

so we decided we want to get rid of that black paint. And so we would have these parties where the men would come and they would strip the paint off. And so what we would do is we'd say, "Hey, we're having stripper parties." All right. So, we were a part of this. Only the men were allowed. Stripping parties. Hey, that was in 2014, just four years later. We've always believed in superheroes. You can change the world. We don't have volunteers at this church. We have superheroes who are transforming the world. Praise be to God. Uh this was actually our fifth birthday party. And our fifth birthday party, we brought in a Christian magician. Yep. We lost people that year, everybody. Uh but it was a we've always tried to do things differently, but uh we've come a long ways in 11 years. Uh that was our first ever church in the park. Was anybody at Church in the Park this year? Man, we've come a long ways, haven't we? We've come a long ways from that little teeny banner to to bringing the good news of God. I'll give you just a secret and I'm going to ask you to join me in prayer

here. Can you believe God's best that we'll go into the amphitheater this year? Uh we've been praying and believing for a long time. Hey, let's pause there for just a moment. Hey, that's Jeff Stringham with the son Landon Stringham. They've been a part of this church for a long time. Here's what's interesting is when that was posted on social media, this picture, Jeff was being promoted as a Journey Kid superhero. Yes. He was here last service and he was wearing a Journey Kids shirt because today he was a superhero still. How amazing is God? Next to him is not little anymore. He's not little anymore. In fact, he'll be preaching on this platform today. He oversees all of our groups and community here at Journey Church. And not only does he do that, but he's also our son-in-law. and we're so proud of him and he's come a long way since this picture was first taken. He's our son-in-law and that same year that this picture was taken, his now wife, which is our oldest daughter that was on the stage dancing, got baptized. So tell me God's not

faithful, somebody. I'm so grateful that we've gotten to baptize our our children here. And uh that was actually on our our sixth or seventh birthday. This is Hannah, who's also going to be one of our preachers. Uh this picture was taken uh 12 years ago. Was it 12 years ago? uh when she was just a child serving in our kids and now she oversees all of our communications and graphics and so blessed by God's faithfulness preaching today. Amen. Well, and God has continued to grow our journey kids here. We don't believe we just have kids ministry. We certainly do not have child care. We have kids church and kids can change the world. They too can be superheroes and we believe God's best. And from the beginning we we believe that. We've witnessed it and now our journey kids have grown from just a few kids to dozens of kids to now every Sunday we're reaching hundreds of kids and we believe this is just the beginning of greater

things here at Journey. Praise God. Uh this was our our seventh or eighth birthday. Uh just showing you once again how the styles have changed. Okay, I'm just showing you. Uh this was our I believe our eighth birthday and we had a comedian who was our guest that year and his name was Nazareth. Some of you have seen him and his first joke was who decorated this place share. you know, so you only get that joke if you're over 40, but uh we went for the share look that year, somebody uh God has done a lot of great things. I believe this was our ninth birthday party. That's Elena right there, who also was on the platform today. Just showing you the faithfulness of God's people in this house. And Elena's getting married this this June, somebody. And I believe she met her husband here at church. So, you never know what's going to happen in the house of the Lord. Uh just always be open to what God's doing. So that that

year was our eighth or ninth year. And then we got our our 10th year, which uh was I believe it was the the greatest, let's see, that's just our auditorium, the greatest showman uh theme. Do you guys remember the greatest showman? And we just believe that it was the greatest day. God's not done. And if this is the day the Lord has made, come on, we ought to rejoice and be glad in it. God's not finished with us yet. And we've always been open to doing greater things. And we've done church in the park every year and it's grown every year. Uh the only exception was in 2020 something was happening that year. Uh, I don't know what that year was. I think it was forest fires. Uh, but oh yeah, and a worldwide pandemic. But, uh, God's continually being faithful. This is Haley, who was also on the platform today. Uh, she's a daughter that was raised in this house. She might just look like a little girl in this picture, but now she's married.

Not only is she married, but man, I you know, you guys know, preachers, they just put their foot in the mouth all the time. Uh, I've got I just, I just open my mouth and words come out. And so I just I announced to the church first service, which it hadn't been announced, and my wife gave me a look and I'm like, not only she been in this house, and she's married, but she's with child, everybody. So I I got to make that announcement today. Uh so just to be really clear, Haley was the one singing over here with the microphone. Uh she's the powerhouse voice of this house, gifted by God, and we're so grateful for Haley. So Haley, wherever you are, we give you honor and thanksgiving. This was uh 2019 when uh we were really growing and we decided we got to figure out what to do. We had bought the building, but then we decided to sell the building. Yes, we outgrew it.

Yeah, that was a big year because not only did were we growing really uh much larger than ever before, but that was snowageddon. Do you guys remember snowmageddon when all the roofs were collapsing because of all the snow? Now it doesn't even snow in Bend it feels like. Right. I mean, it's just like it's I I've been loving this winter. That was our our ninth birthday. And then fast forward to uh our our this was our ninth birthday when we did our first ever six and six to start the year off. I was one of the six preachers and it's always casting the vision for what God's doing that year. This was six and six back when I still had hair. Somebody and uh I no longer have hair but we're still doing it. And today you're going to get to hear from six preachers in six minutes. This was the year we did Easter at the Tower Theater. Was anybody around for that? Uh the way it worked is we were growing so large we couldn't have

Easter all day at our services. We did Easter at downtown, Easter at the tower, then back at downtown, then the tower, and then back at downtown again. We had five services, and someone literally drove me in a car. Uh the worship would happen and uh I would drive over another location and start preaching and we'd go back and forth, and God's just been so faithful. This year, we're going to have to do five services one more time. Here we go, everybody. Uh this was the same year that I got to baptize my youngest daughter. So, I just want to share that God's faithfulness, uh, unless the Lord builds the house, we're just we're just laboring in vain. Uh, so so glad for God's faithfulness. I didn't put my son getting baptized, but he got baptized, too, in the river. All of them were 10 years old. I don't know. God, just God's faithfulness. Now, in 2020, we launched Journey Church Redmond in February of 2020. They just celebrated their six years today.

Yes. And we went to their Saturday night service last night, and the place was packed. It was incredible. Yeah. Now, it might look like Fabio on there, but that's actually Pastor Luke, who has since cut his hair. They're now at four services up in Redmond, everybody. So, if you know somebody that needs a lifegiving church in Redmond, God is moving mightily where most churches would have failed in 2020 with the worldwide pandemic. They pressed through. They made it through. And God is doing greater things in Redmond. We're so grateful. But that pandemic did hit and that is just a reality. And this was that same year. Mary, who's currently our still our kids director, was serving during that time and so grateful for the faithfulness of our kids team. But then we go further and I'll tell you, I don't know if you Oh. Oh, let's stop here for just a moment. I don't have my phone. Uh Lori, that's my mother-in-law, Lori. Could you bring me my phone? Uh I want to just share with

you guys a text that this is Sherry. Uh Sherry's been a part of our church for 10 years, and she text me this morning. So, I had to throw a picture of Sherry up there. That was her and I hugging in 2020. Wasn't that a miserable year? Come on, somebody. Uh, that was a year there was forest fires. There was a pandemic. Uh, that's the year that we all got divided. Do you remember that? Some people still aren't talking. I'll tell you, the devil worked overtime uh to kill this nation and the church. Sherry wrote me this morning. Good morning and happy 16th. I just wanted you to know that I was getting ready for church this morning and I've been crying all morning thinking about my early days, even my very first my very first day in church, even in my life, and how terrified I was walking in completely broken and not knowing if I was going to make it the next day without drinking or using.

I had nobody left. And then I walked into journey the second Sunday of May in 2016 out of prison and I found something beyond my wildest dreams. Now I look back and realize that he had called me by name. He had put me right where I needed to be and I just I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the best 10 years of my life. Praise be to God. Sherry's story is just one of many here at Journey Church. It's really all of our story. We all need hope. And I I'll tell you, if God can save Sherry, he could save you. If God could save me, he could save you. Well, let's fast forward and see the difficult days. This is Kaylee, who's currently on staff. She does all the behind scenes here. So, when you see lights go up and you see things happening, that's Kaylee behind the scenes, but she's sporting a mass.

Do you remember those awful masks, somebody? Well, we tried to make them cool. I'm not sure if you can do that, but we we tried to do our own thing. And I tell you the blessing of God is we may have stopped services for just a minute but we did go on TV and we got to go into every television in central Oregon and uh that that was a unique season for us. We can go to the next slide uh where we uh just got to go on Fox TV, we also got to go on ABC and that was just an opportunity that although we weren't meeting in person, how many you know that God can meet you right where you are, right in your living room. And we didn't stay uh we didn't stay isolated long. We ended up having to find a location because we sold the church. Yes. While we weren't meeting, people didn't even know we sold the church. So, we had to go from what was formerly a strip club to here we are now in a strip mall.

Come on, somebody. Uh, right in between Goodwill and Harbor Freight. Here we go. Uh, this is actually our first year in this facility. This is Noah and Hannah who are both going to be preaching today. And this is them dedicating their oldest child in 2021, five years ago. We fast forward into 2022 and this is uh was our theme birthday. This was the very last birthday that I had hair. Uh and that was that was a big year for us. Uh we were actually on our own journey that year of transformation. Uh we all have to to be on a journey of transformation. The very next year 2023, I was no longer on the platform alone. This time I brought this lovely lady up with me and I realize we're better together. And what the enemy intended for evil, God is used for good. You have a voice.

You have a story. God loves you. He wants to use you. And we got to recognize that God has equipped us with gifts. And so I've had to push my wife up on the platform at times. Uh but here she is. We're linking arms in ministry. Uh we are united not only in our marriage but in the church. And that was the very next year. And then fast forward to this past year 2025. Our theme was love like Jesus. And John 11:35. It's a commandment Jesus gave. And here we are now everybody. Our 16th birthday. Congratulations. We've made it this far. And whether you're visiting for the first time, we say welcome to Journey Church. We want to invite you on this mission. We we really believe that the Lord Jesus transforms our lives. And just last week, Andy, one of our our our video storytellers, just ask people what Jesus has done here at Journey Church.

Let's look what he's done. Since coming to Journey Church and surrendering my life to Jesus, I found a life worth living. Our journey of transformation has been in love and surrender, building our marriage and raising our children in faith. My family's getting closer. My kids serve here. Every time I come here, I feel something renewing myself, renewing my body, renewing my family. Jesus has restored me to a place that I never thought was possible with so much joy. I never saw this coming. My journey here has been a love for others and a love for Jesus Christ. The people inside of the church helped give me confidence to share my faith outside of the church. This place is amazing. I've been here for about 6 months and the people of the community just a blessing. Found a home. Really found a home.

We are so thankful for Journey and the opportunity to just see the power of prayer work in our lives. And his faithfulness is so good. Being at Journey Church has really encouraged me to take God at his word and follow him faithfully. about Jesus. We love every people so much. Journey changed my life is that it is my family. Everybody's welcome and this is such a great place. Come on. Can we thank the Lord for what he's doing right now. Well, I'm going to go quickly. I realize that our service is going to be a little longer than usual today. That's what happens at the 12:30 service when we don't have another service. But I want to introduce to you our six and six. If you've not been here for six and six, it's like WWE tag team wrestling but on steroids. It's even better. It's absolutely awesome. Here's how it works.

Don't read into the number six. Spiritually speaking, it has no spiritual significance here. Uh all it is is just a number to allow us a time to cast our vision for the year at Journey Church. Our vision is kingdom come. So what's going to happen is there's six preachers and they're each going to get only six minutes each. If they go over six minutes, they will hear a buzzer and they've got to go back to their seats. Here's what the buzzer sounds like. Come on. There it is. We might give them grace of an extra 5 seconds before the buzzer hits, but that buzzer will go off if they get to zero and they go back to their seats. The way this is going to work is they only get six minutes, which means they're going to need your help to preach. In fact, they'll be even shorter if you just shout back to them. All right? So, we want you to be a preacher today. If you agree with something in God's word, all you got to do is shout, "Amen." and try it out.

If you think something's good, let them know and say, "That's good." Come on, try it out. Now, you can find your own phrase. You can say, "Praise God." You could say, "Wow." If you receive a revelation, just just give a shout back and you're going to really encourage the preachers today. In fact, if you really want to even clap and just thank God for what you're hearing today, you could just start clapping for them and let them know an encouragement be behind what God is doing. Now, I do realize there are always some introverts that in fact I know some people want to come to the 12:30 service because it's the lighter service and they don't want to see all the crowds. So, the introverts like I'm not going to shout at church. It's not what I do. It's not who I am. Well, I'll just say introverts, they still need your encouragement. Let them know you're alive and not sleeping. So, all you got to do, you don't need to shout. Just raise your hand like this. That means amen. Okay? All right. That means amen.

You just wave it in the air. It's like that's good. Okay? You just That's all you got to do introverts. Okay? You can still participate today and I want to just encourage you today. We're going to hear this theme, but I this is our third service. So, we want this to be the best service. Let me introduce to you our preachers today. All right. This is Landon Stringham, the one we were talking about earlier. He oversees our groups. He is the Scottish warrior. Everybody, let's go. This is Noah. He's our outreach pastor. He's got a prophetic voice. He oversees our prayer and prison ministry as well. And this is Noah who has a voice. Come on everybody. I just I'm making this up as I go. Okay. Noah. Noah who has a voice. Do Do you got it? Okay. Okay.

This is Connor. He laughs at all my jokes and makes me feel better. My wife's like, "You're not funny." And I'm like, "Connor says I am." Okay. Conor's our nextgen pastor, overseeing all of our youth and our college and our young people here. And uh this is Conor McGregor, everybody. This is Conor Morardi. If you don't know Conor McGregor, he's a billionaire that fights in the UFC. So, come on, somebody. You're going to hear a good fighting story today. Here we go. Uh all right, here we go. Uh Lena, she's the hostess with the most. She's our experienced director. When you see something that looks good aesthetically here, like the cars and motorcycles, that's because she's our experience director. She wants you to feel welcome here. She works really hard

and overseas a lot of areas from our parking greeters, ushers, hospitality, and more. Lena loves you, everybody. Come on, somebody. Was that better? Lena loves you. Let's Let's go. Let's go. Jesse's our kids pastor. Uh this this woman has a voice. She's a shepherd. She's the one that makes sure that our our kids just don't have a ministry. We have kids church, everybody. It's just Jesse, everybody. Everybody say, "Hey, Jesse." Hey, Jesse. All right. That probably gets old, doesn't it? Lastly, but certainly not least, this is Hannah. And I'll tell you, this this is a mighty warrior woman. And and I'm just believing God's best. She oversees our communications here. That includes all of our social media, our graphics. If anything looks good, you can know that this lady had her fingertips on it while

also running her family, I tell you. But what you're going to see today is just a dignified woman who's who's got a voice. She's made for more. So, uh, Hannah's going to give us hope, everybody. Come on. How about that? Hannah's going to give us hope. So, without further ado, can we please welcome our first preacher today, Landon. Everyone, all right. Do you know that you have a role to play in the kingdom of God? You are going to hear a lot about what the kingdom is and how it applies today. But I want to focus in on your place in the kingdom. You, yes, you have a special assignment given to you by Jesus. Okay? We always want to identify as something or identify with something. You say things like, "Oh, I'm a drinker. That's who I am." Or or, "Oh, I'm a

pornographer. That's who I am." Or, "I have this disorder. That's who I am. That's how I identify." pour things lighter like oh I am a Beavers fan or this is a Beaver's household. You always want to identify with something. And you want to know why that is? Is because we were made for it. We were made to identify and edify which means to build up something. All right? And so we come up with these big questions like who am I? What do I do with my life? How do I identify? What's the truth? Well, God has answered those questions for you. And you got to know your place if you're going to be working for the kingdom of God. So I'm going to go through a short list of descriptures God has used to describe you. All right? And this is just the tip of the iceberg. This is just the Costco sample. Just go in, read the book for yourself. It's good. First of all, God said that you are a soldier.

When I was a little kid, I would put on this plastic knight's armor and I would take my fake sword and I would go out and I would defend defend my house from all the vicious prairie dogs in the field. And not a single person could ever tell me that I was anything less than a little boy. I I was a warrior, man. I I've slayed lions. I I protected my household. That's what I was made to do. I was not told to do that. That's who God made me to be was to fight for our kingdom. He's assigned that to you. Now, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, this is what it says. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of

God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. You have been given the entire armor of God and you have been given the powerful sword of the spirit. Okay? Now, God also said you're a royal priest. 1 Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Okay? In ancient times, the priest's job was to enter the presence of God and petition and intercede for their people. People who don't know God can't pray for themselves, right? And they sure as heck can't save themselves. I don't know if you're like me and you tried. How did that go for you? But as a royal priest, you are the bridge between God and his people. That's a big deal. And God has given that to you. God also said that you are an heir to the kingdom. You're

God's prince. You're his princess. All right. When I was writing this, I asked my wife, "Honey, did you ever dress up like a princess when you were a little kid?" And she said, "Uh, yeah, absolutely." And I said, "Well, did you know that that's true?" And she said, "Well, that was really cheesy, Landon, but you're sweet." And I said, "No, God actually said it before I did." Romans 8:15-17. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into the fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, "Aba, Father." The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we also be glorified with him. No one told my wife to dress up like a princess. No one said, "Young lady, you will put on this princess dress and you will like it." No, she was made to be an

heir of the kingdom. You were designed to be an heir of the kingdom with Christ. God also said that you are an ambassador. Second Corinthians 5:20. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Do you know what ambassador means? It is a political diplomatic position. Okay? You are the official representation of your kingdom. You've got God's logo stamped to your face. And I would go so far as to say that we don't often act like it. You are an ambassador for your kingdom. Okay? God also said that you are his righteousness. Now, hear me on this. I'm not saying that without you, God wouldn't be righteous. No, God is God and you are not. But what I am saying is 2 Corinthians 5:21. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, Jesus. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Quit saying, "Oh, I'm just a sinner. Oh, I'm just a a flawed creation. Oh, I'm just I'm just I'm just You are just the righteousness of God." Is what he said. Is that true or not? So it looks like your role is pretty dang important to God. It looks like he has carved you out an identity and formed you intrinsically and uniquely to fit it perfectly. So why in the world are we choosing to instead identify with our shortcomings? Oh, I'm ugly. I'm I'm weak. I'm not capable. Wrong. If you're taking what God has said, it's true. You better start living like it. Unless you want to call God a liar. Unless you want to say, "Oh, God, I don't think you had that one right. I think you missed the mark on that one." Well, did you know what the phrase missing the mark

translates to? The word sin. Yeah. God does not do that. He did not miss the mark when he said these things about you. If you do not renew your mind, if your identity is not transformed by these truths, you are going to be useless to the kingdom while you're here on earth. That don't try and effort your way into the kingdom. That that's like going to the Grand Canyon and trying to sweep it clean. Like if I just keep working harder, if I just keep sweeping, it hasn't worked these 40 years, but if I just keep sweeping, maybe I'll get into the kingdom. No. All you got to do is renew your mind to the truth that you are the kingdom's soldier. You're the kingdom's priest. You're the kingdom's heir. You are the kingdom's ambassador. You are the righteousness of God just as Christ is. You want to see the kingdom come down, you got a part to play.

Good. So good. Well, I'm just here to tell you, repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is just going to be a fun little twist on your regular turn or burn message. Repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 3:2. before Jesus was a big controversial name and and doing a lot of public preaching and miracles, um John the Baptist was in the wilderness saying, "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And then again in Matthew 4:17, Jesus from that time Jesus began to preach saying, "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

And then later on in Matthew 10:7, Jesus sends out his 12 disciples saying, "Proclaim as you go, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." And I'm going to tell you just three things today. Jesus is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus preaches the kingdom of heaven. And Jesus sends out his 12 disciples to proclaim the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Before Jesus steps into his earthly ministry of miracles and preaching and teaching and revealing who he is as the son of God and inviting people to follow him, John the Baptist was preparing the way saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent because Jesus is the kingdom of heaven.

The ways of Jesus, following Jesus, the redemption and restoration of Jesus is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is the king's ways. How he chooses to reign and rule in his kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is Jesus. Once he steps into his earthly ministry, what does he preach? Repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And this is not a try harder, do better, try your best to escape this life unscathed by sin. No, the kingdom of heaven is not white knuckling through life, doing your best to hope for heaven. The kingdom of heaven is fixing your eyes on Jesus and walking in life and life abundantly.

Do not be mistaken. The tone of this verse is not condemnation. The word repentance here means to change your mind. Change your mind from what you thought you knew to what God says. Change your mind from what you believe about yourself and come into agreement with what the word of God says about you. Everything we know about this kingdom is going to look different because the kingdom of God is nothing like the kingdoms of this earth. Repent. The kingdom of God is at hand. Is an invitation for you and for me to be part of this kingdom. Repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. could be said, change your mind of what you think and and know that the

King is here and he loves you. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind." And John 10:10 says, "The thief, aka Satan, the ruler of this world, comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but I, Jesus, have come that they may have life and life abundantly." We see this throughout the Bible that the ways of this world, the ways of the kingdom of darkness are death and sin and destruction, but the ways of the kingdom of God are freedom and life in Jesus Christ.

Do not be conformed to the ways of the thinking of this world. The the kingdom of this world says that you can do this on your own, but the kingdom of God says I've already done it for you. The ways of this world say that I am stuck here and I will never be out of it. But the kingdom of God says, "Behold, I am doing a new thing." Do you not perceive it? The ways of this world say, "This is too far gone. This is unreparable." But the kingdom of God says, "I can redeem this. I will restore this." The ways of this world say, "I am unlovable." But the kingdom of God says, "I chose you. I chose you." I only have a minute left, so I'm going to fly through this last one. But Matthew 10:7, Jesus sends out his 12

disciples, saying, "And proclaim as you go, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Remember, the kingdom of of heaven, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Is our invitation to be part of the kingdom of God. The kingdom is here. The kingdom of God is happening now. Jesus is the king of all kings. That's the truth. And our invitation is to be a part of it. The kingdom of God is here and I need the kingdom in my life. The kingdom of God is here. And you need the kingdom of God. Central Oregon needs the kingdom of God. Our government needs the kingdom of God. Our school systems need the kingdom of God. Your neighbors, your family members need the kingdom of God. are prisons. They need the kingdom of God.

The kingdom is here. The king is coming back. Who is going to tell them of the kingdom of God? Repent. The kingdom is at hand. Wow, that is so good. Hey, the kingdom of God is at hand, right? And we have a role in it. Now, simply put, when we mention the kingdom of God, that simply means that the king has come. That the king has arrived and he has shown up and he is here in our midst right now. It means with the kingdom of God, his wills, his ways, his beauty, it's instituted in this world right now.

And guess what? This king, he's no ordinary king. Amen. He is Jesus. And his name is Jesus. So that means it's not Muhammad, right? Not Buddha. Nope. It's not anyone else. Just Jesus. He is the king of all glory. And I want to tell you that he is all loving. He's all merciful. He's all knowing. And he is all present. He is here with you right now in this room, Journey Church. And I want to let you know that you are meant to be a carrier of this kingdom. But in order to carry the kingdom and allow the kingdom of God to come here on earth, we must understand the heart of the king. We have to understand the nature, the restorative nature of his ways and who he has in mind when he chooses to display his love and his power. And if you're not taker, I got two notes for you. The first one is this. Carry the

heart of the king. And number two is you're not crazy. You're kingdom. I remember last year a group of men of us, we're going up. We decided to stay late, but we're going up to what we called man camp, which is a men's retreat up in Washington Family Ranch. And together as a staff, so is Pastor Connor over here and Landon and Pastor K, some other staff members. We decided to go out to Washington Family Ranch. And there we stopped in Madress to have dinner. And man, I'll say that that place was really good. Whoever's been to the place called Real Really Good. Got some good smoky salsa, good stuff, right? So we're we're chilling, right? And by the time dinner ends though, Pastor Connor walks up to the to the main street there and he's just hanging out while the rest of us are uh taking

our sweet time. Um where we're at the bathroom, y'all. Um anyway, so he's there and I'm kind of walking out and this young man and his dad start just come straight up to Connor on the sidewalk and something was happening in the spirit because Pastor Connor being so polite, he's standing there and the young man and his dad come walking up. They're like, "Hey, we know you." And Connor on the inside he's like do not I do not know you but okay and so but and during this time Connor starts asking questions and he got to find out that this young man he's dealing with a potential prison sentence. He's uh going to be a dad. He's friend just got shot and killed and he's also dealing with alcoholism and he's being tormented on the inside. And Pastor Connor having the heart of the king, he starts pressing in and he's loving on this young man and he's saying, "You are a child of God.

There is hope for you. God's had a good plan. He's destined. He's going to restore things. He's got good things. The kingdom of God is for you." So, he's pressing in. He's loving on this kid. And then he starts to pray. And then I notice, so we go over and start praying over this young man. And then as we start praying, behold this this young man, he falls down on the concrete, face flat. He starts screaming out. And during that time, demons actually started to leave this young man. And that moment, this young man is experiencing the manifest presence and the power of God. The king has come. Wounds restored. The torment gone. Because guess what? Where the who the sun sets free, they are free indeed. Where the spirit of the Lord, there is freedom. The kingdom of God was there.

Jesus, the king has come. And that young man experienced it. Now, I want to notice that some of you in the room are maybe looking at me like I'm crazy. And I swear I'm not crazy. I'm just kingdom. I'm not crazy. I'm just kingdom. And I believe this. Jesus is our model for everything. He himself walked in this and demonstrated it. But we got to know his heart. We see the glimpse of the kingdom. his heart for the kingdom. In Matthew 5 verse 1-3 in the sermon on the mount the very first words uh Jesus says on this it says and seeing the crowds he went up to the mountain and he sat down in his disciples came to him he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven meaning my heart is on those who are holding on to life by a thread. My heart is for those who are striving and cannot

find hope. My heart is for those who are struggling and are tormented and are going through life. My heart is for those who are living in despair. Guess what, Journey Church? If you feel that way, guess what? You are blessed. Amen. The kingdom is for you. The kingdom is for your family. You're not crazy. Guess what? Your kingdom. If you believe that your family member is going to get healed, guess what? You're not crazy. Your kingdom. Jesus says this about himself. He says in Luke 4:18-19, he says, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, the recovery of the sight to blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." This is the king's heart. And that's the craziness of the kingdom.

This is the king's heart for those who are poor in spirit. And this is the craziness of the kingdom. So, I want to let you know, J, guess what? You are called and anointed to walk in this. You're not crazy. If you're believing that the cancer is going to go in Jesus name, guess what? You're not crazy. You're kingdom. If you are believing this today, would you stand to your feet and would you declare, "I'm not crazy. I'm kingdom." Would you declare, "I'm not crazy. I'm kingdom." Jesus, we're not crazy. We're kingdom. We are called and anointed for this generation to bring freedom in Jesus name. We're anointed to bring. All right, I'll get out of here.

Wow, that was so good. Man, I love the 12:30 service. I only have six minutes, but it's worth telling you guys how much I love the 12:30 service. If you are a parent in this room who consistently brings your kids to Journey Kids, I want to say your kids transform me every single week. I am a new person every single Sunday because of your kids at 12:30. Micah, you're amazing. Okay, man. Something else is so amazing. The summer camp lost and found. Let's go there. If you have ever seen with your own eyes the summer camp lost and found, I know you guys have. There is something like a force to be reckoned with. The summer camp lost and found. This thing is like abundant and overflowing. All the things

we've got jackets, water bottles, Bibles, shoes, only one. Always, always one. And mystery hoodies. They never ever get claimed yet kids are always cold. It's It's the craziest thing, right? I literally remember I handed this kid this Bible one time. I'm like, "It has" He's like, "This isn't mine." I'm like, "It has your name written in it." He's like, "Okay." 10 minutes later, it's back on the lost and found table. I'm like, "Oh my goodness." So, what does that have to do with kingdom? Well, it has to do with kingdom because it's a beautiful example of how kids grasp the world. It's loose. They don't need breadcrumbs because they have stuff that they leave behind. You can always find them because there's a whole trail of their stuff. So, what does that mean? every time, every service.

So, it's easy to look at that pile of things and think like, what in the world is happening here, especially when you're trying to leave camp and you're the one responsible for it. But the answer is profoundly simple. Kids live with the loose grip on the world. So, somewhere deep inside, children carry this steady, unshaken confidence that my needs will be met. And that posture, that loose grip is actually a beautiful picture of the kingdom. Jesus says in Matthew 19:14, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." This is the scripture that God has had on my heart on repeat for months now. And when I prayed about it today, about today about the message

that he would have me prepare, um, he gave me this verse again. And to be honest, I was like, well, like, could I have a different one because I'm the kids pastor and it seems kind of predictable that I'm going to talk about kids. And he he said no. Um, but he did say, "What did Jesus and children have in common?" So, I was thankful for the question. And when you really look at it, they share two defining traits: dependence and expectation. And here's what's so fascinating. Children naturally do this and Jesus intentionally did this. In Matthew 18, it says, "Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Friends, that should unhinge you.

It should unhinge us as a church. That unless we become like children, we'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. This isn't sentiment. This is instruction. Jesus is revealing what kingdom life actually looks like through dependence. Children living with open hands, they live with this built-in understanding that I am not my own provider. And Jesus, the son of God, modeled this consistently. He withdrew to pray. He sought the father and he said, "I only do what I see my father doing." Dependence was not weakness. It was his operating system. Children with children also live with this wild exciting expectation that something good is always going to happen to me. I love it. That's why I love being back there.

It's the best place to be. They ask boldly. They seek relentlessly. And they knock with astonishing persistence like a toddler. No one has ever obeyed ask, seek, knock more faithfully than a toddler standing outside of a locked bathroom door. For real. just this absolute confidence that you will open this door. That's my expectation because I'm dependent on you. And Jesus lived this way intentionally. When he prayed, he expected. When he healed, he expected. He expected the expectation flowed from his dependence on his father. And as we grow up, the world trains us to tighten our grip through control, self-reliance. I'm getting I'm running out of time. But the kingdom invites us to loosen our hands again, to live dependent and to live expectant.

So I expect the love of my father without hesitation and without shame. Why? Because he sings a song of promises over me every single night. And every single night, he sings a song that he made just for you, over you every single night. And for the rest of my life, I will expect that song. I expect that he hears my every word because he tells me that he does. I depend on him because he is my provider. He is my strength and he is my source. So what does this all have to do with the kingdom? It has everything to do with the kingdom. The life of Jesus, the character of Jesus, and the love of Jesus, that is the kingdom. And when you live truly knowing, deeply knowing that you are a child of God, your posture completely changes. Your trust deepens, your striving loosens,

and your actions begin to follow your belief. For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Not the self-sufficient, not the self-protecting, but for those who live dependent, expectant, knowing that they are children of God. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as you. When I was growing up, there was a kid in my neighborhood who was the ultimate instigator, who knew how to get under my skin like nobody I've ever known in my life. And there was one day in particular where he was just pushing all the right buttons and things were devolving rapidly and I just knew that

this was going to end in us throwing down fists. And I could hear the voice of my father in the back of my head saying, "Conor, if you find yourself in a position where a fight is inevitable, make sure you throw the first punch, make sure it hits him in the nose and it'll stun him and give you time to get out of it." So, my expectation is there's no way in God's green earth that my hand eye coordination could betray me from two feet away. Now, the reality was, not only did my fist miss this kid's nose, but it clipped his forehead and went right through his hair, and in that moment, I was bequeathed a brand new reality. And that reality was he's much, much faster than me. And a reality stacked on top of that was the beating

of a lifetime I received from him. It was great. Expectations versus reality, am I right? So when we're thinking about expectations versus reality, if we put it in the context of the church for the last 500 years since the Protestant Reformation, we have come to ex expect that the kingdom of God, the life of Jesus, the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit that it comes externally almost despite us. If we plead hard enough or if we get with the right amount of people and we have the right amount of faith, maybe we can convince God to come down and manifest his presence and then it'll change us and those around us. That's how we behave. The reality is the kingdom of God, the life of Jesus has already been revealed within you.

Paul said in Galatians, "When it pleased God, it pleased God to reveal Christ not in front of me, not not even to me, when it pleased God to reveal Christ in me." John 14:20 says, "In that day, Jesus is in that day, you you're going to know, you'll realize that I'm in my father and you're in me and I'm in you." That is I listened to a talk a couple weeks ago from Gene Edwards from 1994 and he made this uh connection that I knew intellectually but I had never heard quite put this way and when I heard it I wept. I mean it hit me so deeply and it was just this. He said it wasn't in the beginning God created. It was in the beginning God created everything within himself not outside of himself. And we see this throughout

scripture, but I don't think that our hearts have been captured by the reality of the staggering reality of this truth. So, let's look at a few spots here in scripture where we see this. Colossians 1, for in him all things, everyone say, all things all things were created and in him all things hold together. Romans 11:36, from him and through him and to him are all things. John 1, all things came into being through him. We want to have a kingdom impact. We want to see kingdom come. But I I tell you this, we are handicapped and hamstrung by our error and belief about what our starting point is. We think if if if I have enough surrender, if I have enough hunger, if I have enough

desperation, then the kingdom will manifest. Friends, the truth is the kingdom of God is manifesting in your life. whether you're aware of it or not. And a secondary note, I want to draw a picture here for you about desperation. Anytime you have, if you just picture a little boy and a little girl that is desperate for the affection and love and presence of their father, that's by definition a dysfunctional relationship. So, we've got to stop relating to our father out of desperation because he doesn't play that game. In scripture, it was the kingdom is among you and then it was the kingdom is at hand. And then in Luke 17, we see the kingdom is within you. Come on,

somebody. As Damon Thompson would say, the kingdom among you is great, but it's not as good as the kingdom in your hand. And the kingdom in your hand is great, but it's not as good as the kingdom within you. Hey friends, if if we start to see Jesus, if we start to see the life of God in all the small things every day, we begin to expect him in everything. Because here's the kicker. He's in everything. He's actually holding everything together. And I'm going to tell you one final story. I have a dear family friend. He's a worldrenowned theologian. Brilliant man. Changed my life. His name is Baxter Krueger. Baxter loves to tell these stories about how he helps people see where they're already participating in the kingdom of God, but they weren't aware of it. So after a conference, he goes to this lunchon and there's a young

man. He's this bluecollar looking guy who's sitting at this table kind of dejected, just giving off this feeling that he doesn't think he belongs there. Baxter sits with him, strikes up conversation, and he says to him, "What do you do for a living?" And the guy almost embarrassingly embarrassed of himself says, "You know, I'm a I'm a semi-truck driver. I I'm a delivery truck driver." And he says, "Well, what do you what do you deliver?" And he says, "Well, every week, twice a week, I deliver flowers this long distance across the country." And pastor says, "Have you ever considered how God is partnering with you with in his with his creation, for his creation? Think of all the anniversaries, the funerals, the weddings, the these celebrations where God has partnered with you to bring these flowers to bring life where there where maybe there wasn't where it needed to be." He said, "Have you ever thought of And in that moment, Baxter said he he

was sitting upright, shoulders back, and he looked at him and he said, "Backter, tell me one thing in your house that wasn't delivered by truck." I'm going to go over time, but somebody's going to pry the mic from me. This is what I want you to know for this year. My heart for you is that you would start to see the small things that God is working in your life, because I can promise you, he is working in your life, whether you're aware of it or not, and he's participating with you. Matthew 13:31-32. Jesus reminds us of God's kingdom through a parable that he told to his disciples. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and swed in his field.

It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is larger than all the garden plants, and it becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. You see, the mustard seed, it's literally no bigger than a freckle. When it's placed in the palm of your hand, it just seems so tiny, so insufficient. It just seems worthless. But once planted, it spreads quickly. It invades its surroundings and it transforms everything. That is the kingdom of our God. The kingdom does not grow because man says that it looks grand and impressive. It grows because God placed his life inside of it. When God plants his living word in us, we have the honor and the duty to become the carriers of his kingdom.

First Peter 23 reminds us we've been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. That means that his promises and his kingdom it will never be destroyed nor shall it ever fade away. Now here's one thing that I learned through a Bible study last year through the parable and I absolutely love it. The mustard seed for many it's just considered a weed. Many people don't even want it around because of the effect that it has. And isn't that just like our God? While man sees a weed, God sees the power and the beauty of it even before it hits the soil.

Over and over and over again, we see in the Bible, God, he did not choose the most grand or the most impressive by the world's ch standards. He chose the weed, you guys. He chose the weeds. He chose Moses, a man who was full of fear, a man who struggled to speak. And he said, "I choose you to set my people free." He chose the Samaritan woman, a woman who was isolated, rejected, full of shame, and with one encounter with Jesus, the Bible tells us that her testimony was used to bring many to believe in him. He chose ordinary men like fishermen, tax collectors, doubters, and he said, "You will be my disciples." And in Acts 18, Jesus told them before he ascended to heaven, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the

ends of the earth." My sweet mother-in-law, Jan, she went to be with the Lord last month. Jan was an incredible woman. She gave her life to the Lord. She spent her years traveling the world and telling of Jesus. She wrote many books and many Bible studies with one simple mission in mind to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. And this week, as I was preparing and I was going through photos for her celebration of life, I came across a picture of the first time we had met. Let's see if they can get it up here. You guys, look at that. Look at how young and pale and wannabe emo I am. And sweet Jan, she's trying so hard to smile and she's like, "Lord, help me right now."

What I love about this picture is alongside it, I found a little tiny prayer note that Jan had written before she met me. You see, apparently my husband Tyler kept talking about a girl named Lina and she said, "Oh Lord, I think for sure you have answered my prayers. You've blessed me with a sweet Christfilled future daughter-in-law." You guys, that's sweet Jan. We called her the golden retriever. But here's the reality of things. When Jan wrote that note, I wanted nothing to do with Jesus Christ. And can we just agree that sometimes God has a sense of humor and he answers your prayers by taking you on a very long bumpy ride.

I I debated every single thing that Jan said. I resisted his word. I resisted her prayer. But do you know what Jan did? She never stopped sewing. She stood on his promises. She planted the seed and she trusted the Lord to water that and bring the growth. And before I even realized what was happening, the kingdom had taken root within me. It wasn't religion or man that saved me. It was the love and grace of Jesus Christ. The week after Jan passed, I received a message from a church in Virginia. 28 women in that moment were doing one of Jan's Bible studies and being impacted.

That is the goodness of our God that even now the seed is bearing fruit and it is multiplying today and it cannot be stopped. Friends, we have seen it in scripture. We have seen it through the people that went before us. We have seen it through Journey Church over the last 16 years. God's kingdom is advancing. It will not be stopped. So my question is for you today, whether this is the first day that you have heard of Jesus Christ or you have been walking with him for 16 to 60 years, what seed is God asking you to sew? He has chosen you. He wants to work in and through you. So today is the day to release that seed and let the kingdom take root.

Come on, let's stand to our feet and thank these preachers today for reminding us about God's kingdom. Come on, stand to your feet. God's been so good to us. Thank you for your patience today at this service as we just have an anticipation that the best is yet to come. Do you believe that today? Before we rush out of here, I'm just going to just say this is a sacred moment. If you could just not rush out for just a quick moment. So only take a couple of minutes and I just want to ask this question. Have you received that good news? Do you believe that Jesus is your king so that you can receive that kingdom? It's simply just one step by believing in the Lord Jesus. He doesn't make it difficult. He did not make it hard. You just have to believe in your heart that Jesus is the Lord. He's your Messiah and he died on the cross for your sins. But it doesn't stop there.

You've also got to be willing to confess it with your mouth. And God is faithful. If you're unashamed of the Lord Jesus, he'll be unashamed of you. You'll receive the hope of heaven. You'll receive that kingdom in your heart. And the kingdom is righteousness, joy, peace, and it's in the Holy Spirit. Everything that you were made for. You're made for this. And I can't assume just because you came to church today that you've made that decision to believe. Going to church does not save you. Being a good person cannot save you. Being religious does not save you. But Jesus does. So it's in this moment I want to give you an opportunity to believe, to confess. And when you do, the Bible says from this point forward, everything

changes. Eternity changes. You're now saved. In fact, there's all kinds of illustrations. You're now born again. You're now a new creation. You're now a child of God. Everything changes by believing in Jesus because it's no longer about you. It's all about Jesus. So, I'm just going to say in the seriousness of this moment, would you just close your eyes? I don't ask you to close your eyes to be secret. I ask you to close your eyes for the seriousness of making this decision. I want you to ask yourself, have you believed? Have you surrendered to King Jesus? And if today if there's any uncertainty, if you're if you're ready to cross over from death to life, this is your moment. I'm going to ask you to make a bold step outwardly, would you just raise your hand right now if that's you and you want to say yes to Jesus. You want to believe in Jesus. You want to be saved

today. Yeah. Just raise your hand. Raise it high. Be unashamed. Keep your hand up today. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. We want you to know you are not alone. You've just joined a great big family. Praise God. This is your day of salvation. God has not left you where you are. He loves you so much. He'll never stop loving you. I tell you, even if you don't feel it, even if you don't see it, he's faithful. God is good. He loves you so much. I want us as a church to pray right now together in unison. If you believe in Jesus, I want you to join me out loud. I tell you, you can pray anywhere at any time. Prayer is talking to God. It's listening to God. And you can do it out loud. You can yell. You could do it in the quietness of your heart. You could do it at school or work or wherever you are. But in this

moment, just in unity, can we pray this out loud? Lord Jesus, you're my king. Forgive me of my sins. I receive your kingdom. I receive the Holy Spirit. Help me follow you all the days of my life. Let your kingdom come and your will be done in my life as it is in heaven in Jesus name. Everyone shout amen. Amen. Amen. Praise be to God.