This Is Where We Went Wrong

1:11 A, this is the kingdom. Come on. God's word going out and not returning boy, but doing what he intends to do with it. but it illustrates why it's so important for us to continue to do what we're doing here at this ministry and send God's word out week by week. So someone like this can be impacted and be grounded and then be deployed, be deployed into all that God has for her. So we're so thankful to each of you who support what God's doing here. And if you haven't yet begun that journey, we would welcome the partnership. That's right. You can between now and the end of the year, participate in our year-end offering by going to freshlife.church.com. Many of us will be giving on the weekend of December 7th, but you can give at any point to say, hey, I want to see more people like this reached by God's Word. And we're so grateful for you praying for us, for those of you who write in, sharing your stories, and those of you who support this ministry financially.

2:06 That's right, yes. Enjoy this message from God's Word. It's going to be good. Matthew chapter 18 is where we'll begin. A while back, I was getting on an airplane, and I had brought with me a prescription. I had complained to a doctor that it was hard for me resetting international travel. And he said, hey, here's what you should do. Let me give you a prescription for a pretty powerful sleeping pill. Only use it on international travel. It's habit-forming if you let it be a part of your daily life, so you don't want to get hooked on that stuff. But if you just use this prescription, going across to Asia or heading to Australia or Africa, or in this case, I was heading to Europe. So it was a red-eye flight. If you don't know, that means you're going to get off the plane and your eyes are going to be red, right? That's what that means. It's presumably through the night. So getting on a plane 10, 11 o'clock at night. And so I got settled into the seat.

2:59 I got my neck pillow on. Pro tip, brush your teeth before you get on the plane. Skip the meal. try and maximize hydration and sleep. So I did my little mask on, and last step was going to be to take this Ambien. Now, we were already taxiing. Like, we were in the motion of heading to Europe, right? And so I popped this pill and started to settle, and already started to feel drowsy when the pilot announced we're returning to the gate. There was a mechanical problem, and we needed to disembark.

3:35 And I didn't know what to do. I briefly considered making myself throw up. I didn't know if that would work. I figured it had already dissolved. The chalky taste was gone, you know? Oh, gosh. So Daisy and I, she was with me at the time. We get off the plane. I pointed over there. Daisy's over here. I see you now. We get off the plane together. And I said to Daisy, I said, Daisy, I'm not going to be myself for this period. I said, I need you to do something. No matter what happens, don't let me fall asleep and miss this flight, right? And I don't care if you have to poke me, prod me, pull me. And here's the worst part. We didn't know when this limbo purgatory situation was going to end, because they said it could be three hours, it could be four hours, and it's going to be a while. And so, I mean, you have never seen a man try harder to fight sleep as everything. It was like the goofy cartoons.

4:31 You're just so sleepy. You know, it's like for three and a half hours, like I could taste color. Like all I wanted to do was sleep. I was slapping myself. I was pinching myself. I wouldn't let myself lean on anything. And so finally, we get on that plane, and I blacked out and remembered nothing, OK?

4:51 To be falling asleep when you need to be wide awake. Title of this message, this is where we went wrong. I know exactly where I went wrong. I will never again take a sleeping pill until we are in the air, okay? That was a huge mistake. Where do we go wrong? We as the church, we're gonna see the disciples learn an important lesson the hard way. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, who then, here's the question, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Then Jesus called a little child to him, set him in the midst of them, and said, Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

5:54 Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, look at this. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. That is mafia, bro, right? What are we talking about here? It's so intense. He chooses the most intense language available to him to try and get this point across. And if you kept reading verse 7, verse 8, verse 9, he even says, like, do anything to keep yourself from drifting from this mission. Cut a hand off. Pluck an eye out. Cut a foot off. Whatever it takes, make sure you stay focused in my kingdom on what's what. As though that weren't enough, he now takes our attention to heaven to show us how the priority of youth evangelism is like paramount in heaven. He says, verse 10, take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones.

7:15 For I say to you that in heaven, their angels always see the face of my father who is in heaven. He's referencing a Persian court where only the who's who would have the ability to show their face in that court. And he's saying the angels that are intended to advocate for and are responsible for. These little ones, these ones have the front row seat in heaven, right? You think it'd be like the angels who were like the ones, guardian angels of presidents or kings, and he's like, no, it's the babies. Their angels have the front row seat. This is powerful, powerful stuff here. Four, here's a mission statement, right? The Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. If you're lost today, good news. Jesus has come to save that which is lost. What do you think, he says in verse 12? If a man has 100 sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the 99?

8:13 And I love this. Go to the mountains. One of the most common questions I get asked as I travel the world, why Montana? Why Montana? I think in Spanish it means mountains. God called us to the mountains. This ministry is in the mountains on purpose because we have come to the mountains to seek out the one lost sheep that is straying. If there's even one lost sheep left, and if you should find it, Assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep, more over that sheep than over the 99 that didn't go astray. Even so, it is not, look at this, what's God's will? Well, I can tell you what it's not. It's not God's will that even one of these little ones should perish. Can we thank God for Jesus and his heart on display?

9:04 Now, with your best SpongeBob SquarePants voice, I need you to say the following. 12 seconds later, right? Because literally one chapter flip over, verse 13, after this intense lesson, it says, little children were then brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them. Wah, wah, wah. But Jesus said, come on, guys. Let the little children come to me. Do not forbid them. Look at this. For of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them and departed from there. There was evidently a tradition that on the eve of the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, this time when the animal would be selected that would be ceremonially a picture of Jesus coming on the cross, right?

10:17 Until he got there, this placeholder that would keep their faith. Because people have to talk about how people got saved in the Old Testament. It's the same way we get saved today. They got saved forwards on credit because of what Jesus would do. We get saved retroactively looking back at a payment that has already been made, OK? So the cross is the fixed point, the central point, the incarnation, the most consequential moment in human history. Why did it split time in two? His coming. So he would come, and they were saved on credit because he would come. And Yom Kippur was this day of representation of all of this, right? You have blood brought into the most holy place. You have this goat running away. We talk about someone being a scapegoat. That's because literally the hand was put on the goat. The sins transferred to it. And then one was killed and one ran free. One lived because one died. We are the goat that ran off because Jesus is the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the earth, right?

11:12 So all of this. And on the eve of the day of atonement, on the eve of the most important sacred day of the Jewish calendar, apparently they developed this custom that parents got their kids blessed the day before that happened. It was just this beautiful thing. It wasn't one of the three high feasts that you had to travel in person, so it would happen right where you were. And we know Jesus at this point with his disciples is in Peter's house, right? They're just hanging out. And so you have what would take place all throughout the hamlets and towns and villages of Israel. People will be looking for an elder or a rabbi, anybody who seems like they had more quiet time last year than you did. You know what I'm saying? You seem like you've got a direct call to heaven. So we just pray for my kids. I just love that. And you even can find, as you look into it, examples of the kind of things that they would want to have prayed over their kids.

12:04 And it just kind of really can inform the imagination as we pray for our children. Here's one example. They would pray that their child would be famous in God's word, faithful when it came to marriage, and fruitful in God's work. Praise God for parenting done right. Praise God for this is the center of the bullseye. Notice nothing about, you know, GPA or net worth or square footage of home or got a vacation place and a side hustle that makes passive cash flow. Hello, what can we care for more than this? That our kids will be famous when it comes to God's word. Faithful when it comes to marriage and fruitful when it comes to God. Come on, come on, there's nothing more important than getting that blood up over your home. getting that blood up over your child. You know, it doesn't matter what school they go into, it doesn't matter what job career they go into, the kingdom of heaven is what we need to care for that they go into.

12:58 There is nothing that matters more than seeing our daughters saved, seeing our sons saved. And so they would find someone holy and they would say, could you pray for my child? Could you pray for my child? And Jesus and the disciples standing here are approached by some moms and dads and they're saying, would you just pray for my kids? And the disciples, this is where we got it wrong. The disciples are like, get these kids out of here. Get these kids out of here. Because Jesus has some important stuff to do. But Jesus tells them in no uncertain terms, the heartbeat of this message today, that young people, hear me, are not a distraction from ministry. They're the heart of it. Come on, somebody. This is what he cares for. This is what lights heaven up. This is what he wants to have. He wants young people to be saved. And so he doesn't scold the parents.

13:52 The disciples are scolding the parents. Jesus turns and scolds his disciples. Now, this is week three of a series of messages that are meant to reignite our passion for the vision that God's given us here at this church. We use language pulled from what Jesus said he came to do, to seek and to save that which is lost. We've come to see people who, as a ministry, who are stranded in sin so they could find life and liberty in Jesus Christ. And around the year end, we just want to, like, you sometimes have to do with your car, get the tires realigned. right? Because if the tire is moving in different directions, it's going to pull all over the place. You're not going to efficiently and safely and quickly move to where you're called to do so. This is a chance for us to realign ourselves after this one vision. Because you get a lot of people talking. It can just be noise unless they're all saying the same thing. And then it can get really loud. It can get really loud. There is power in unity. And one of the values that we believe that God has given to us that is a distinctive that we see will move us towards what he's uniquely called us to.

15:03 We use this language. You can find all this on our website, is that we say we are a youth-led movement, a youth-led movement. It's not just like, oh, that's a cute little thing. That's going to go good on the wall. No, we really do want to call out an under-challenged generation that the enemy is gunning for. and we want to see them tap into their full potential so that they can change the world. This is us. I mean, obviously, when you've been called to something, you just see the whole world in that way, right? But I'm just like, how can you not see life this way, through this lens? Billy Graham was the one who said that the church is always one generation away from extinction. That should cause your blood to run cold. If we're not careful, any move of God can end up with what happened in Israel after Joshua died.

16:02 The book of Judges begins this way. Eventually, that entire generation died and was buried. Then someone say, another generation. There's always another generation. Grew up that didn't know. They didn't know. They didn't know anything of God. They didn't know anything of the work that he had done for Israel. Joshua dies and the children of Israel followed God as long as Joshua was alive. But after that, they went their own way, did what was right in their own eyes. And soon you have a generation, biblically illiterate, blind to the blazing glory of God, unaware of the great and mighty things that he had done. And the window, hear me, the window most fertile for the seed of God's word to be sown in the heart and produce the good fruit that he wants to come from it is youth. It's youth. Research shows that on average, 72% of all decisions for Christ will come before the age of 18. And listen to me, Hollywood knows this.

17:17 Big tech knows this. So why is the church so often sleeping in the terminal while the gate's taken off, the plane's taken off from the gate towards Europe? We oftentimes forget about. And we want the church to be this big, happy, potluck social club while the next generation goes to hell. It must not be so among us. Three things that are barriers. Why did we go wrong? Where did we go wrong? Number one, we stop seeing in the church greatness as he sees it. This is what happened with the disciples. The fundamental problem is how they define greatness, because they misunderstood the nature of God's upside-down kingdom. Because in the Roman Empire, it was one way. Even in the Jewish religious leading, where it was all about how impressive you were and how big your prayers were, and I like big Bibles, and I do not lie, right? It was just all about what they could do.

18:11 And it had become this twisted version of a version of a version, like telephone, of what it originally was meant to be. This is why Jesus is flipping over tables. It's meant to be this house of prayer for all nations. This is because you have the Jewish leaders trying to quiet the children who are trumpeting Hosanna. And Jesus says, didn't you know I perfected praise out of the mouth of babes? I'm raising up a song from this generation. There's going to be a sound rising up of worship from this generation. and you might have missed it, but they see it. They receive it. They're celebrating me. Charles Spurgeon said, I love it. He said, before a child is the age of seven, they have to be taught all the way to heaven. And better yet, the work will thrive if it's done before age five. And that's not just cute and rhyming and thus feels more spiritual, which is a preacher trick, by the way. Just going to expose that for you.

19:04 It's also an imperative, because there's greatness in the kingdom seen in the eyes of a child. So the disciples come to Jesus one day, and they say, who's the greatest? Who's the greatest? And the text says, well, let me just do it. The text says he grabbed the hand of a child. Let me see you just grab the hand of a child. And he brought out a child. This is Everett Hashley, by the way, everybody. Can we sit down together? You want to sit right here? Is that OK? All right. So he brings his child out, right? Jesus is asked by the disciples. big all important disciples who are always fighting about which one of them is the most important, which one of them gets the most attention. And they go, Jesus, who's the most important? And he brings out a little boy. Some people say it was Peter's son he brought out because he's in Peter's house, right? G. Campbell Morgan, A.T. Robertson, among others. Now, look, we don't know if it was Peter's son. That's interesting. And it would be fabulous if it was, you know, because then he's Peter was like, who's the most important?

20:04 He's like, move over, Peter. Move over. Your boy. This is greatness. So you're seven, right? I understand you had a birthday party yesterday. Is that right? Happy birthday, bro. Happy birthday. OK, now last service, you told me about one of the toys you got. Could you tell me another toy you got besides the Legos that were super awesome and they were from Minecraft, which is pretty great. What's your other toy you got? Did you get any other gifts besides Minecraft Legos? I got a other jet Lego. You got a Lego that turns into a jet? That's pretty great. Do you have to keep it away from your sisters? You can't have them messing up all your Legos, right? Now, I happen to know you got to go to Disneyland earlier this year. Now, I have a really important question, because I understand you went to the Star Wars land, right?

21:02 Did you pick the green milk or the blue milk? I think it was blue. You got blue milk? Is it good? It's not natural. Hey, I just want to tell you something. There's always been something so special about you. Just the quiet strength. You're always noticing everything going on. It's such a joy to have you in the church and to have you in any room you walk in. And I just want you to know something, Everett. God has huge plans for your life. And he loves you so much. And he's going to use you in ways that's going to surprise all of us. And your whole church family is for you. We believe in you. We believe in God in you and what you're going to do in your life. And we love you. Thanks for being in my sermon. All right, you can go to your mom now.

21:54 Thanks, buddy. Everett Ashley, everybody. Come on. So while the disciples are trying to figure out who has the most clout and which one of them is going to go on to do the greatest things and have the greatest position in his kingdom. He goes, you guys are totally thinking about it wrong. That's how the world thinks. That's how the world approaches greatness. That's the ladder the world's trying to climb. That ladder is propped up against the wrong wall. My kingdom slipped upside down. It's about serving. The greatness of a child. Children are, there's this simplicity, right, to a child. I heard this one story. A Sunday school teacher saw this little girl just furiously scribbling on this paper. And he said, what are you doing? She said, I'm drawing God. And the Sunday school teacher thought this was a chance for theology. He said, no one knows what God looks like. And the little girl said, they will when I'm done.

22:48 and that is greatness. There's a purity. There's a beauty. There's a simplicity, and he's calling all of us. The invitation is on the table for all of us to see ourselves as weak, to see ourselves as helpless, to not ever grow up, right? One theologian, he said that, this is Stuart K. Weber, he said there is a sign on the gates of God's kingdom reading, no grownups past this point, no big shots allowed, that the only way in is to humble ourselves. The only way in is to be converted and to approach God like a child. Remember, it's children who have guardian angels with VIP access. He's trying to tell us when we approach him with weakness and humility, because it's not just about the size issue, right?

23:43 And you have to understand, this is countercultural for us. it would be that times 100 in the first century. During the time in the Roman Empire of Petria Petestas, you know what that is, right? It's the absolute right of the father in the Roman home to rule sovereignly. With power, life, and death conferred upon him every time a child is born from his wife or his concubine. They would bring, you know, today, it's a beautiful moment. They bring the child to the breast of the mother. In that day, they first set it at the feet of the father. and if dad picked up the child, it is a son or a daughter. If he left it there or it went like this, it would be discarded. Don't want that gender. Don't like that deformity. Don't like anything about it. Just have enough mouths to feed and the child would be discarded.

24:37 And did you know one of the reasons the church exploded in the Roman Empire in the early days of Christianity was because so many Christians would seek out discarded children and bring them into their homes as a picture of the power of the heart of the father to say, you might have been discarded, but there is a father in heaven, and he sent me. You have a father who loves you, and he accepts you and welcomes you into his home. And even in the Jewish people, the Jewish nation, where there was not this mentality of just cast away the children, There was a value of the sanctity of life. There was very much this patriarchal society. It was very much until you were not seen and you were not heard. Let the grown-ups talk, right? Children had to sit on the ground in the synagogue if they were there at all. And into this, I mean, just to have him bring this child and elevate him and say, this is greatness in my kingdom.

25:29 He's teaching us what God values, this whimsy, this faith, this generosity, this purity that can at times get beaten out of us by the rigors, the difficulty of life, and maybe a little success. And we start letting it go to our head. And so what we need to do, if we've drifted, is to stop seeing greatness as the world defines it and go back to Jesus's definition. And then secondly, where did we go wrong? We stopped seeing youth as he sees them. When we stopped seeing youth as he sees them, Again, this lesson had just been preached, and one chapter later, the disciples are like shooing away kids because the adults are talking. They're wanting to treat these babies as like next generation. And it's just not how God sees it. Why?

26:20 God always selects what man rejects. So God doesn't see. And we have fought to have this language be a part of the beating heart of our church from the beginning. Though we have amazing youth programs, though we have phenomenal things happening in Fresh Life Kids and Fresh Life Youth, and we'll continue to. We don't see ourselves as a church with a youth group. We see ourselves as a church that is a youth-led movement. That's how we view the world. And we see, you know, in scripture, we see so many times people overlooking Jeremiah. God said, but don't tell me you're just a youth. Moses, I can't. Don't tell me you can't. You have Esther. I'm, who am I? God says, I've got a plan for you. The little boy was the one who brought the five loaves and two fishes. It was Timothy who was told, don't let anyone look down on you because you're young.

27:14 You have Mary, just a teenager, when she's given this honor and assignment of bringing Jesus Christ into the world. You have Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and a big of these young men who brought an empire to its knees, spiritually speaking. You have Joseph, who's given the dream of greatness when he's just a boy. You have Isaac, who's just a lad when he willingly goes to the top of Mount Moriah with his father Abraham, presenting us a picture of the gospel, the likes of which the world has never seen. And God still uses young people today. There's no such thing as a JV Holy Spirit. There's no such thing as the church of tomorrow. Young people, hear me. You're the church of right freaking now. God has a plan for you now. He wants to use you now. He'll give you the Holy Ghost. He'll give you a calling. You have a part to play. Your church believes in you. We need you to lead. We want you to serve. We are championing you as you do all that God has called you to do.

28:09 We are willing. And we're going to do this not as an end, but because we know it's just a beginning. Psalm 145.4, one generation commends your works, God, to another to tell of your mighty acts. Why? Because you're going to be the one holding the sacred flame. We must give you the baton and not be selfish with it because you need to give it to the ones coming up behind you. Scripture tells us regarding youth, they're not to be overlooked. They're not to be failed to be received. We're not to stumble them. We're not to fail to seek them. We're not to despise them, exclude them, or fail to learn from them. And I speak to you in Jesus' name that we are in this moment in front of an opportunity the likes of which in my lifetime that maybe we've never seen, where the embers of revival are glowing and need to be blown on.

29:12 God is doing something in the world today. We're seeing youth movements rise up around the nation and around the world. Within Gen Z and Gen Alpha, there is a spiritual hunger. There is a desire for God. Sociologists are speculating as to whether we're witnessing a post-secular turn, because there's been this turn towards secularism. There's been this turn towards none. None checking the box of no religious affiliation. There's been this exodus from the church, and we're seeing these young children leading the way back towards Jesus, filling up the churches, buying Bibles, downloading spiritual content, specifically young men rising up. We're seeing young men rise up with the scales of the emptiness of secularism falling from their eyes, seeing a calling, seeing a future, seeing a vision, seeing that the devil is a liar who's come to just rob and to steal and to kill and destroy, but that Jesus has life and life everlasting. And it's young men the devil wants to devour. And it's young men the Holy Spirit is calling out. And we're seeing young women as well, of course. I mean, even the Wall Street Journal is reporting on what to make of the Bible phenomenon. Young people are buying Bibles and downloading the Bible online.

30:31 And if there's a wave of the Holy Spirit happening, here's what I say. Let's not waste the wave. Come on, let's point our boards towards it and paddle for all we've got to be a part of what God is doing in all the earth as the Holy Spirit poured out on all flesh. He's giving dreams and visions and revelations and callings. And listen to me, listen to me carefully. We are going to spend ridiculous money to continue to reach every language and get the attention of youth and see them mobilize for Jesus Christ.

31:05 This will happen through outreach. This will happen online. This will happen in the physical room as well. We're gonna see it happen locally. We're gonna watch it and witness as it happens globally. We're gonna do it as we continue to prioritize outreach partners that are making a difference with those who are last and least of these, those who are afflicted and those who are affected from hunger to blindness to sex slave. human trafficking, to not having access to scripture in their language, to not having access to a life-giving church that needs to be planted so they can be reached in the midst of. We're going to continue to do that as we have throughout the years of this ministry. We're also going to do so through our digital missions, which we're going to believe God is going to continue to breathe on. We don't see it as a mistake that this church was planted the same year the iPhone was invented. And from the beginning until now, we have watched God work as we have put his word out there and let the internet take it to the four corners of the globe. And we get to fulfill the Great Commission going into the whole world and reaching with the gospel. I mean, we're sitting in a crazy moment. YouTube just surpassed Netflix as the number one most site people go to for streaming entertainment. And praise God, we've had millions of hours of Bible teaching downloaded around the world through our various YouTube long version.

32:26 And now with more shorts we're putting out, if attention spans short, we'll give them short. We'll give them a little Jesus. Bam, a little Jesus right there, up in there. I mean, we'll do this again through strategic friendships and partnerships. You know, God gives favor. God opens doors no one can shut. You know, the friendship we have, for example, with Come and See. Come and See is the nonprofit arm of the chosen, which has taken the message of the gospel and put it into a visual generation, a visual format that's not only consumable for a TikTok generation, but also I believe spiritually speaking has done what Eugene Peterson did with the message translation, what was done before that with the amplified translation, what was done before that, the J.B. Phillips translation, just taking and putting to a format that can be received by the common person and how many illiterate people around the world do not have access.

33:22 These pages are blank no matter what's written in them. But to watch on the screen the depiction of Jesus as meticulously and carefully presented by the chosen. Well, the nonprofit arm just two weeks ago got to be with them as they met at a summit to work on what they're working on, to take what is currently Guinness Book of World Records certified most languages any show has ever been translated into, 86 right now is the number, and to bring it to 600 languages. So literally no one around the world can't watch and hear Jesus in their own heart language receive the God. And through this partnership, God's given me. Dallas likes to joke that I'm the pastor of the chosen, but I just think it's an amazing gift that we've been able to be aligned with them. We've been a part of every single chosen con and be able to speak into the fundraising and help them and be connected with them. And is that in the Bible and other things to be able to be aligned with them is a great opportunity.

34:17 We're also gonna continue to do our work with the open network. You might not know, whenever we come through a campaign or a series, we design things around it. For example, your kids, if you were here a few weeks back, received something even before you did, carefully presented to help them have buy-in with this language of this experience we're in. Now, when we're done with it, we get to have the benefit of it in our bodies and hearts and souls forever. But we don't need the same asset package, design, materials, any videos we've created that are specific to it. So throughout the history of the last decade or so, we've bottled up everything we created for a series or an initiative, and we put it on the open network where pastors of churches of any size, but my heart especially goes out to a pastor who doesn't have a fresh life creative to design assets and speak a vision, and all of a sudden they're creating things around it. And they can download it all for free, and they can have their own series in their church as it moves the gospel forward in their community.

35:14 And you did that, free of charge, Literally thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon thousands of churches have downloaded resources that you paid for that's helping the gospel in their community to do something great. So for one example, they told me this one in specific, that 4,000 plus pastors have downloaded is a Jubilee Lent journey for this little mouse named Jubilee that makes a journey towards Lent something that's fun and exciting with coloring and storytelling and brings the gospel into a format that a little child could receive. And this was a big blessing to us when we first ran with it. So we just put it out there. And to think of 4,000 plus churches, this being a benefit to them during an Easter season. You didn't even know you did that. You didn't even know that you were a part of that. And so as we continue to do that, we're going to watch God work in an incredible way. Then there's YouVersion, the Bible app.

36:07 On Monday of this week, I had the chance to be in Oklahoma City for the YouVersion team to celebrate 1 billion downloads. Did you know that happened? I was joking with Bobby Grumwald, the creator of the app, and Pastor Craig Rochelle, the pastor of the church that developed it and funds it. And I said, you know, billions are ridiculous. There's only 7 billion people. I mean, McDonald's and Mickey Mouse, they get to touch a billion people. But praise God, you have brought his word to 1 billion devices. And we have been aligned and in partnership with the YouVersion app, because one of the ways that they're able to give it away for free is they don't develop all the content. They rely on partnerships with other ministries to create the content that then gets to be on the phone alongside of scripture. And so not only have we done the verse of the day videos that would teach the verse of the day, which for some people is just all they can handle, like just a little taste of Jesus in the morning. Just, it's just that, you know, the Bible says you start with little, then you grow from there. Like the kingdom of God's like yeast that spreads.

37:11 And so there's a beauty to that. Some people, oh, that's just, you know, get off your high horse. If someone's opening up their heart to God's word, I say that's a good thing, right? So we've been doing that, which we've done forever. But all these plans that we've been able to curate and put out that have been completed, literally, I mean, just so many people have been able to go through plans on a billion devices around the world. And they told us a while back that there's a lot of people who are willing to step up and create content for the adults. But we found out that there's not as many people creating custom content for kids to receive. And so we just were like, hey, we'll do that. So here's one that's going to be on the YouVersion app, going to a billion devices this Christmas season. Check it out. OK, picture this. Outside at night, just watching your sheep, when suddenly a bright light appears. Angels feel the sky.

38:06 And they're like, hey, the Messiah, yes, the Savior, has just been born in Bethlehem. These guys, they weren't rich. They weren't famous. They were just regular shepherds. But God picked them to be the first to hear the good news and see baby Jesus. And how did they respond? Luke 2.20 says, And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. The shepherds didn't go back to their sheep like nothing happened. Nope. they couldn't stop praising God. Advent is a time to do what they did. Look back at Jesus being born, look forward to him coming again, and right now, worship him for all he's done. What about you? You may not see like angels in the sky, but you've still heard the good news. So how can you respond this Advent season? Thank him, sing to him, tell someone Jesus came, or you could just whisper, thank you, Jesus, because that's worship too.

39:04 Praise God. Praise God for the chance that we have as a ministry to take the gospel and to bring it out to the real VIPs, the ones who need it, the little ones in his name who have angels with VIP seats in heaven. So we're pretty excited about that. And we're going to keep in our hearts that Jesus said, whatever you do to a little one, you've done to me. When we receive a young one in Jesus' name, He says, you've done that kindness for me. But there's a catch. There's always a catch. Where did we go wrong? We went wrong when we stopped seeing sacrifice as he sees it. When we stopped seeing sacrifice as he sees it. Reaching youth and having and being a ministry that is relentlessly laser focused on reaching youth has its problems.

40:03 Here they are, as I can see them. It's inconvenient, uncomfortable, and expensive. It's inconvenient, uncomfortable, and expensive. And if it wasn't the case, why would the reference of a chopped off hand or a chopped off foot be pulled in? Here's my 19 years of my two cents on it. It costs an arm and a leg to reach people for Jesus. It costs an arm. And Jesus says, worth it, worth it, worth it. When we lay aside our preference, when we lay aside our comfort, when we lay aside convenience, and when we shoulder the cost. Let me tell you something. You will not come back from the mountains with a shoulder load of lamb that would have died from the bear or the wolf. When a young person receives you, when you're coming back rejoicing, There is nothing in the world that can come close to the exhilaration and the joy.

41:01 Because you're not just thinking of that moment. You're thinking of that moment leading to the next moment leading to the next moment. You gave that sheep a story to tell. One generation to another generation. And you never know what can come from one life marked by God's glory. D.L. Moody once said if he could go back and live his whole life again, he would spend it all on youth evangelism. Thank you. because what can come from one life touched by God? Check out this story. Aiden was two years older than me. We went to the same school in Polson, and from early on, it was clear he was the kind of person people respected. What I remember most is how I felt around him. He was just different. One of the kindest people I'd ever met, calm, genuine, and steady.

41:55 Everyone knew Aiden was a Christian, not because he talked about it all the time, but because he lived it. You saw it in how he carried himself, how he treated people, how he never seemed shaken, even when everything in his life actually was. He was diagnosed with cancer when he was 13. I can't imagine getting that kind of news at that age. But Aiden faced it with a kind of quiet courage that didn't make sense. He went through treatment, relapse, surgeries, and chemo, and somehow even in the middle of all of that, he was still Aiden. He still smiled. He still showed up. He still loved God. Aiden attended Movement Conference in 2023 with his family and a few friends and absolutely loved it. He didn't get the chance to go again, but because of his impact, his influence, and how much he loved Movement, a big crew from our youth group came the following year.

42:50 His faith pulled people in. A lot of people talk about faith, but Aiden lived it. I remember hearing he once said, I'm glad this happened to me and not someone else. Wow. How do you even have that kind of perspective? He passed away last June, almost exactly four years after his diagnosis, and I couldn't stop thinking about him. The way he carried peace, the way his life left a mark, it stayed with me. His celebration of life was packed. People from all over came. I remember sitting there thinking, I want my life to count like that. I'd been baptized when I was younger, but something shifted that day. I wanted to follow Jesus for real. I prayed with my volleyball coach, gave my life to Christ that night, and something inside me changed. Since then, I've felt more honest, more at peace.

43:46 I've made things right with people and started spending real time with God and in the Bible. One month later, I went to Movement Conference, the same place Aiden loved so much. I got a ticket the day of and ended up driving up with Aiden's mom. When they asked if anyone wanted to get baptized, I knew I was ready. I don't think it's a coincidence that I knew Aiden. I think God used his life to open my eyes and so many others. He went through the hardest thing imaginable and still stayed on fire for God. And if he could, then I can too. He only had 17 years, but his legacy is still unfolding. Through his youth group, through this conference, through people like me. He showed me that following Jesus doesn't have to be flashy. It just has to be real. And even when life is hard, even when it doesn't make sense, God can still use it.

44:44 Aidan's life proved that a faithful life, no matter how short, is never wasted. We praise God for Aidan's life. We praise God for Aidan's story. and the impact of Claire's story and life.

45:15 Yeah, so the sacrifice is there. To leave the 99 and go after one is a sacrifice. It's inconvenient. There's a level of discomfort to it. And yeah, search and rescue is expensive, right? And you also have the loss of what the ministry could be like. You know, we've heard so many people, Why do you put us into a youth conference? Why don't you do an adult conference, right? Because I'd rather immobilize the adults with vision to serve, to reach young people. We're getting a conference. We're getting a conference too. It's just not the country club conference. It's not the potluck. Like, yeah, the communion water, wine tastes just right. And the baptismal, that's how I like the temperature of my baptism. Like, I'm not getting fed. I'm not getting my knees. Like, feed yourself. Open the Bible. and let's do something for God for this next generation. You'll get fed.

46:08 Real discipleship is following King Jesus into the wild, into the highways and byways, inviting more people into the wedding feast. There's discipleship. There's being fed along the way. It's expensive. It's uncomfortable. It's inconvenient. But the sacrifice in Jesus' name is worth it. I think about Movement 2023. That's the one Aidan came to. and I know the backstory. I know how much, how hard that was. I know, I know how much it costs. I know how far from breaking even we were on that event. I know the agony and the sleep is not, how is it going to work? Because spoiler alert, registration covers a fraction of the cost. People are like, oh, all the money of youth conference. I don't know one youth conference that's even close to breaking even around the world. None of them that God's using, but there's something maybe more important than break even? Breakthrough. In Jesus' name, for one person. So I'm excited to be a part of a church that looks at that and says, put it on my bill.

47:12 Every youth coming into First Life Youth each week, every youth serving in their gifts across the weekend, making the experiences happen, every young person coming in a movement conference, we have to treat, like that could be our last chance with them. None of us knew that was our last moment with him. None of us know at any point when it's the last chance to reach somebody for the gospel, for Jesus. But what's the alternative? The alternative to the inconvenient sacrifice and discomfort and the expense of trying to just keep reaching one more lost sheep is what Hezekiah did. You know Hezekiah's story? Hezekiah's one of the greatest kings Israel ever had. Now, that's not saying a lot. They had some terrible kings, okay? But he happened to be a pretty good one until it came to his second half of life, until it came to his final season of life. Because one day he found out he was dying Isaiah actually came to him and said, hey, you're dying, bro. Get your affairs in order.

48:04 You know, he said, God, give me more time on the clock. God, give me more time on the clock. And God said, okay. Isaiah literally turned on his team and was like, actually, God said, you're not dying. Just kidding. This just in. Because you know why? Prayer works. Prayer works. God said, you get 15 more years. And it would have been better if you would have died.

48:27 Millstone on your neck in the sea. Here's what he did. He made his last 15 years on this earth all about him. All about the opposite of sacrifice. All about the opposite of inconvenience. All about the opposite of expense for others. He lived like it was all about him. His whole last 15 years was all about just being comfortable and bigger barns, bigger, more, more, right? And know what happened? God came to him and said, because of what you've done, because of this captivity is coming, the next generation is going to be carried away in chains. You know what he said? I have it to put up on the screen for you.

49:05 There will at least be peace and truth in my days. Not my problem. At least I won't live to see it. That's my grandkids and my great grandkids problem. So this is our choices. Are we going to live with whatever time God gives us on this earth for our story? or are we going to fight so our great, great, great grandchildren will be saved in Jesus' name? Will we prioritize legacy? Will we prioritize what God wants to do in the coming days? Can we keep a mission mindset all the time and not drift away from it? I want to hand this next generation a debt-free church and we are a long ways away from that. I want to continue to build. I want to continue to fight. I want to see young people from all over the world come to know Jesus. But I'm specifically passionate about people coming to know Jesus in these mountains, in this region.

50:04 where the suicide rate is double of those in cities. That's from JAMA, Journal of American Medical Association. If you live in a rural community, you are twice as likely to commit suicide as if you live in a large city. Why Montana? Why the mountains? Because the sick don't need a doctor. God has called us to go where no one's going so we can reach those that no one's reaching. God has us here for a reason. And not one conference has come and gone without at least one testimony of someone who came to Movement Conference already with a plan to take their life that God rescued from the jaws of death. And I want to spend whatever time God gives me reaching one more boy, one more girl with the message of hope. And I'm begging you to come with me.

50:58 The stakes are too high. I close with this. My family experienced a flood. It was a small thing. People have been very kind, too kind. Our home flooded. We had to move out for five weeks while drywall was ripped out and insulation was ripped out. And check your hot water heater is the moral of the story.

51:28 and in one of the temporary places we were living in, one night about two in the morning, I was woken up from sleep, and it was a children's toy beeping at me. And, you know, you never know with dreams. Is it a prophetic word from God? Is it the Mexican food you ate too late because you're 40, you know? It's real. Those Tums, I never need them in every room more than right now in my life. I had a late dinner. It was 4 p.m. I need Tums now, you know? Sleeping in an elevated position, the things we never thought we'd come to, right?

52:01 And this beeping in my dream got louder. And I was trying to kind of sleep it off, but I felt like something just was like, you need to pay attention to this children's toy. So I sort of sat up at the edge of the bed and I felt really groggy. And that's when it got louder and louder and louder. And so I thought, I actually need to investigate. It wasn't a children's toy. It was what's called a carbon monoxide detector. And it wasn't beeping. It was blaring. And my first thought, once I ripped it from the wall and tried to figure out what it was, because nothing made sense, I felt just like I did sitting in the airport terminal that day before I got on that plane, was I need to get this outside so it won't wake up my family. And I literally turned, my legs felt like concrete to get outside, to put it away from where my family would be woken up by it. When it hit me, this is a carbon monoxide detector. At which point, I began to like almost like move through water to yell for my wife and my kids who were sleeping in the house. And we all got outside, and we opened all the windows, and it turns out an oven was kicking carbon monoxide out in the home. And this deadly gas was filling this house.

53:25 And as we held everybody, it took a while to get Daisy up. And that was the big scare is that she wasn't responding. Everybody else was getting up, but not Daisy. And so when eventually Daisy and everybody got up, and we all realized we were fine, we were all lucid and calm, and we realized what had just happened, we just felt so thankful. So thankful this technology exists, which is a relatively modern phenomenon. I think just some 50 years old or so that this has been out there. but I marveled, and this isn't the exact one, but as I hold it in my hands thinking about, you know, sometimes I can feel like an inconvenience to check the batteries every month, you know, and put through the test, and there's even dates on them. I now know I'm like an expert, I'm like an advocate of hot water heater inspection and the things we never thought would come to.

54:15 But the one that I pulled off the wall that day didn't even have a battery compartment. And so literally, the battery was hanging on by just the brats in there that day. These are $15 at Walmart. And the battery costs like $1.43 at Ace Hardware. But to think about now how I view about what could have felt like an inconvenience and an intrusion on the back end, had it not been for the smoke detector, it could be that Olivia isn't coming home for Thanksgiving. She's coming home for five funerals. This is carbon monoxide detector. That's how loose the batteries are. and if had it not been for a device like this my family might have perished in the night I think about the gospel which is the only difference between life and death and the bible says it is not God's will that any one of these little ones should perish if we don't wake up a generation in Jesus's name well God will raise up someone else but who knows like Mordecai said to Esther, if we were not here for such a time as this, and may the fire of the flame of youth evangelism never go out from this ministry.

55:38 May there be wood for the fire, like we're told, and I'm done here, Leviticus 6.13. Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. The fire must never go out. So Jesus, We pray it would be so. Where we've drifted, where we've ended up like the disciples, clamoring after our greatness, our kingdom, our... May we remember it's about dying to ourselves. It's about serving, not being celebrated. It's so easy for us to shift into ego. It's so easy for us to shift into cruise control. May we always, God, go after those little in size, little in status, those overlooked that you've selected. May we reach those, God, behind bars and in so doing help and encourage those who are not behind bars because their dad or mom is behind bars. May you continue to help us go around the world doing good, sending out your word.

56:31 Lord, you said your word would be preached to the whole earth and then the end would come. Thank you for our part to play. If you're in on this with me as we're praying all across our church, Church Online, if you're in on this, should you just raise up a hand, raise up a hand. I just want to bless you, bless you in Jesus' name. May the fire in your heart never go out. may we always be after the one may we always be after the one you can put your hands down I want to now pray a tender prayer over the hearts of those lives of those who have a prodigal son or daughter someone in your heart it doesn't have to be your child, it could be your grandchild it could be someone just in your heart you long to know Jesus they've been hurt perhaps by the church even just you there's things about how you approached it early on you would change, if that's you I'm describing could you just raise a hand up so I could pray for you God, we pray for these prodigal sons and daughters by name. We ask for them to come home.

57:25 May they come to their senses, come to their selves, and come to the Father. We speak in Jesus' name a return to the table, a return to the house, a return to your kingdom. Jesus, would you work on their heart, even if it's like Saul who was arrested, going one way and you brought him back. Whatever it takes, God, would you bring him back through your spirit and give us the chance to participate however we can. We pray. You can put your hands down. I want to now invite anybody who's here today and you've never received Jesus as Savior. The devil would love for you to hear the gospel and just go, ah, it's a little kid's toy, and not hear it as the alarm being sounded that's trying to save you. He'll try and get you to say, put the alarm outside. Do it later. Do it. Get right with God when you're older. Have fun. Eventually, you'll get right with God. But listen to me. Today's the day of salvation. we never know when it's our last chance we never know when it's our our final day on this earth what if this was your last chance to get right with God we pray you would sense and see the Holy Spirit drawing you to Jesus the enemy trying to get you back to sleep but this is your wake-up call Jesus loves you he died for you he rose from the dead religion can't save you can't fix yourself by being good or being nice.

58:42 Only through the blood of Jesus poured out the ultimate day of atonement where the veil was torn top to bottom. Jesus saying, come on in. Be made right. Be whole. Head to heaven. Be filled. Be on purpose. Be on mission. If that's you I'm describing, I want you to pray this with me. Church, pray it with us. Say this. Say, dear God, I know I'm a sinner. I can't fix myself. Thank you for sending Jesus. for his death, for his resurrection. I believe in you. Come into my heart. Make it your home.