Well, church today is considered Vision Sunday. See coming on the other side of the pandemic. In 2021 we decided to really focus in the theme of our church around one word. Maybe some of you have done this individually where you pick a word for the year. Um Unless your word is procrastination and then you just put that off a year. But as an organization, we decided, you know what, let's pick a theme, let's pick a direction and just focus on that and prayerfully go after it that year. So in 20 really in 2021 we had this theme here of empower. We, this theme of power and, and really it center around the idea that God has called us to be disciple makers that we are disciples, we are followers of Jesus. And that coming on the other side of the pandemic, what the world needs are, spirit filled believers to go and make a difference. And we saw people start ministries and Bible studies. We saw kids starting uh Bible collection programs. That's really cool. I collected a couple 100 Bibles to give out to those in need and homeless. And incarcerated. And so we saw from kids to adults and ministries groups and things there that culminated that at the end of 2021 we brought in a pastor named Craig Craig Klauke who feels led to plant grafted church. And so he did a residency with us. He is now currently uh trying to plant grafted church. They meet every Sunday just off of I 17 at Sandra Day o'connor High School. And so we are praying for Craig and his team at grafted church. And so that came as a result of our prayer through this idea of empowerment. Then in 2022 we centered our idea around the theme of more, not more as the world gives more, not like more stuff, more things, but we wanted more God, more love and more disciples. And so we prayed for a God who can do immeasurably more than anything we can ask, think or imagine. And once you know it that right there at Christmas, we got to hold up the keys for a new space, a new building that really was just an idea that just existed at the beginning of the year. And that brings us to this year. Now, before I share the theme for this year and, and the word that got laid on my heart, II, I wanna share this picture, this illustration because I think this summarizes where we sit in a church surrounded by culture. And that is I almost entitled the message, the climb versus the cross. Because how the word world behaves and believes is much like this and what the church has called us to is much like this. Now, I understand in the first service. Uh because this idea came to me that I think I'm getting to the point where I feel old. There's a turning point in your life. I'm not saying that I am old. I'm gonna cling to my youth as long as possible. But here's how I know I'm getting older because I'm about to do something that if you're around 40 years old or above feels very dangerous. And if you're under 40 you don't even give it a second thought. You ready for it. Here it is ready. You know what I'm talking about. You know what exactly what I'm talking about? You hit a certain age where this right here, this seems very stressful right here. And you're thinking, ok, just don't get hurt, don't fall, don't pull a disk, don't do something. Right. Some of you are feeling anxious right now and those under f for under a certain age, they're like, what is he talking about? See if you're, if you're sitting there wondering what is he talking about? You haven't crossed the line yet? Ok. If you have, you're with me. And so why do I have this ladder? Well, because most of the world as we know it views religion and views life through the lens of the latter, whether there's its popularity, whether it's followers on social, whether it's money in the bank account or it's the newer car or the bigger house or the next thing that wherever you are, you find yourself climbing and you're just climbing and no matter how tall or how high you get, there's always another rung on the ladder and it just never stops. And it's not just our culture, other religions are framed this way outside of Christianity. Every religion you're gonna find some form of latter in that is saying, even if God created you, he's now gonna give you a list of rules, a list of expectations or judgments that if you do A B and C, maybe God will accept you. But what's tough about that is that there's always another rung on the ladder and if you keep climbing and you're going up and you're going up, if I just try harder, if I just grind, if I just keep going at some point, see some of you are like, oh, ok, I want to stand on this part, but that's probably not smart. So my own safety, I'll go down. But there's always another step to take and another thing and it's just another cycle, another, another move, another, another action. If I just read enough. If I just pray enough, if I just evangelize enough, if I do this? Well, what happens when you get there or you get that thing, you get that house, you get the promotion, you have the bank account, you have the followers, you have whatever and you realize that the things of this world will not satisfy the cravings of your soul. And then what happens if you're climbing and whether it's life or whether it's self, you fall because we're all fallen in and broken people and we mess up. Now, sometimes we like to climb up next to people who are worse than us. Right? So like, well, I'm not that guy. I am not a Cowboys fan. I just, just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding. Misery loves company, doesn't it, doesn't it when everyone's waiting for the other team to lose? And it's a great feeling. Um Where was I? No, when, when you climb up these rings and you think, oh, I just need one more. I just need a little bit more. I just need a little bit more. Well, if you get to the top, you realize that that doesn't satisfy. And if you fall, you feel lost. See, pride and pity are actually two sides of the same coin. Pride says, look at me and then pity says, look at me and it's focused on self, but this doesn't satisfy the soul because you're always climbing, you're always grinding, you're always searching. But in contrast, cling to the cross, see the latter or put your emphasis on your circumstances. Christianity puts your emphasis on your calling. The latter says, just reach up to God, keep going, keep going. And if you're good enough, maybe the cross says there's no way you're reaching up to God. And that's why God reached down to man. The cross says, I see you, I see all your mess ups, I see your addiction, I see your betrayal, I see your hurts. I see your circumstance in your situation. And you know what I see significance. See, salvation is something to be received not achieved. When you begin your life at the foot of the cross, at the feet of Jesus. God changes everything. And that's why for me, God laid this word on my heart. That's not just original to me. But when I, when I started praying through this, I see this all throughout scripture and it's my prayer, not only for my life, but for our church this year. And that's why our theme for 2023 is simply new. It's new. See, we live in a culture that has fomo right? Fear of missing out. Um I need one more. I need one more rung, I need one more. It's close. Do you know what I have a fear of? I have a fear of missing God. I want to see God in every situation and circumstance in my life. See, when you focus on the ladder, you, you see stress. When you focus on the cross, you see significance and that's why this year my prayer and I invite you to pray this with me. It is simply this idea that this year choose to walk in the newness of life, to walk in the newness of life. We have a God that conquered death, rose again and then sends his spirit to dwell inside of us. I'm ready for God to do something new this year. Are you see, this comes directly from Romans 64 which reads this, it says that we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death. In order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, don't miss that. Just as Jesus defeated death, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father that we too, that we get to cling to this, that we are a part of this that we too might walk in the newness of life. The word walk is used over 200 times in the Bible most often. It's actually connected with this idea of living. So if you put the word live in that is that in order that we too might live in the newness of life, I have this habit when you go, when you go to the grocery store, I don't know what it is and, and maybe I'm just weird or you're with me, you have to put back the first fruit you pick up when you examine it, right, you pick it up and you look at it and let's be real. Do you honestly know what you're doing in that moment or do you just kind of look? No, clearly, not that one. Some peasant might grab this apple but not me. Yes. You know what I'm talking about or it's just me. OK? You pick the fruit, right? We want fresh, we want new, we have a God of new. See, God didn't come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. That's why every story is a miracle. And then we're invited to walk to live in the newness of life. God created the world in six days. But can I tell you something? He hasn't stopped creating. He's still creating in you. And in me, Paul writes in Colossians chapter two verse six and seven says, therefore, as you received Jesus Lord, as you cling to the cross as you received. So walk in Him rooted and built up in Him, established in faith just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Oh, I love that imagery rooted, built up established in faith, abounding in thanksgiving. That is someone who has embraced the idea of new. It's a person that can enter the room and says, I'm ready versus by default, how we walk into every room which is here we go again, right? It's so true. All of us have something in our lives right now that if you're being truthful this week, at some point, you will think here we go again. A relationship, a job, elbows going in the audience right now. Right? But what if God, I wasn't just gonna give you something. Here we go again. But rather something new to step into. That's why in walking in newness of life. That's why we celebrate baptism. That's why in two weeks you take that step because baptism is a public declaration of an internal belief that I actually quote that verse when we baptize it, buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life. Because it symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus himself was baptized as a model for us to follow. And then we're given the great commission, go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, son and Holy Spirit. And then, and then teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you. There's new available and it's in this newness that we're praying for three things. I'm praying for three things and I invite you to pray these with me. Number one, pray this year, pray for a new self, pray for a new self. It starts with you. It starts with me to quote the theologian Taylor Swift. Hi, it's me. I'm the problem. It's me. OK. God can work in your life and see we get so focused on praying for a new situation when maybe God wants to change you in your situation. Let me give you two examples. Ok. Christmas story. I love the Christmas story. OK. Yes, the T BS special that runs with the movie. Ok, Red Rider BB. Got it and the whole thing. But no, the Christmas Christmas story, right? Who were the first witnesses? The Shepherds? Right? We always make a big deal about the Shepherds, right? Oh Shepherds, how cool elevated responsibility and title like they were working in the field and they get to declare that the savior is here. Do you know what they do after the Christmas story? Probably went right back to the field. I'm not aware of a church that was started that the first church of the shepherds. Ok? They went back. Isn't that? That's gotta be a weird feeling, right? Like you're watching some animals, angel appears in the sky. You go and get to meet the savior of the world, right? And then you go back to watching animals. That's odd, right? So in some ways nothing's changed but internally everything's changed. You see that another example, Mark chapter five, Jesus heals a demon possessed man. It's a crazy story. Everyone knows this guy. He gets healed demons cast out, he tries to step on the boat with Jesus like, hey, I'm going with you, Jesus turns to him and says, hey, I actually I want you to go back home and tell the people of what God's done. See, sometimes we pray for that new situation. What God's trying to do is use that situation to give us a new self and that you can approach that meeting that job, that relationship, that responsibility differently and in a new way because of the power of God working in you. That's where people start asking questions. Wait, what's different about you? It's a new self. It's a new attitude. It's a new mindset. Second Corinthians chapter 517, second Corinthians chapter five is the basis for a crazy love project that we've been talking about as a church for the love of Christ compels us. Well, a couple of verses later, verse 17, it says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The oldest pass away, behold, the new has come. Matthew 917, Jesus uses his example. He says, you do not pour new wine into old wine skins or in Luke 536. He says that no one tears a piece of a new garment and places it to patch an old garment because it'll tear God is in the business of making new as Christians. We're not bad people who become good. We're dead. People who become alive. And therefore, we're called to walk in the newness of life. If you have spiritually been raised from the dead, stop going back to the grave that was holding you right. We need to walk in freedom and in life and in newness and know your situation might not change, but God can change you. He invites us into the process. That's why in places like in Ephesians 424 it says, and put on the new self created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness to put on the new self. It is a new perspective. I wonder how many of us have missed the beauty of Christianity because we've been surrounded by it for so long. Have you ever had a friend or a family member visit from out of town? They get amazed by things that you don't even think about. Right. I had a friend to fly in to speak at a youth camp a couple of years ago and we're driving up to the camp and he's off on the side of the road. We're in the middle of nowhere. Right? You get outside of the valley here and it's just like desert and he's going, what? Great click click. I'm like, bro, what are you doing? See that cactus? You see that like, yeah, it's a lot of them but it's so green and like spiky and stuff. Right? And they get so amazed. Right. And we miss it. Like you do the same thing if you go into a city that you've never been to before you get off the plane and you're like, wow, like tourist. I wonder how many of us have gotten used to the blessings of God that it doesn't seem new anymore. So, to walk in the newness of life means number one to pray for a new self renewed mind that comes through knowing His word and the power of God working in you to understand that it's not about climbing up the ladder of success that the world offers, but clinging to the foot of the cross and allowing God to change you. But the second thing I wanna pray for this year is to pray for a new season, pray for a new season. Everything in is a season. It doesn't feel like that because we're in Arizona, right? We have three seasons. We have hot and we have monsoon and then we have, this is why we live here. All right. Those are the three seasons here. Right? Summer feels like that Mario level. Like the old school Mario. You know what I'm talking about where the sun chases you and wants you to die like that. So it feels like. But right now we look at the rest of the country we're like, yeah, like everything in life is a season. Do me a favor and turn to your neighbor and say it's a season and if you weren't paying attention, you're really confused right now, I'll give you another chance. Go ahead and turn to somebody else and just say it's a season. Now, seasons might have different lengths, right? It might be a moment. It might be a day. It might be a week if you're walking through something hard though. Right? Sometimes it's a year. Two years, a decade. I, you're walking through sickness or betrayal. Right. It's so difficult when you're embracing kids. Right. It's like, oh, it seems so slow. Oh, so fast. It's a season. Here's the reality. I think that God has prepared a new season for our church. Right. We had a season where we was trying to start. We were in a school, we had a season, we were online only. We had a season in a comedy club right now. We're getting ready for a season in a new building. But here's the thing, God's preparing this building for us. But I, I wanna know, are we ready for the new building? Right. Are you ready for the new season that you're walking into? Because what story do you want to tell the old one at some point in time? Every situation that you find yourself in, you're gonna look back and summarize in a couple of words. Right. Here's how I know. That's true. Oh, how was college? How is this? A couple of sentences? Right. Tell me about the time you worked at this job. It's a decade of my life and I summarize it. It's good. Right? I feel weird. Summarize t segments of your life in a few words. So let me ask you, what do you want to say about the season you're in today tomorrow? Is this the season that you, our victim overwhelmed, broken down or is it gonna be the season that instead of overwhelm, you're going to overcome, instead of being broken down, you're gonna break through instead of pain, you're gonna tell the story of perseverance because we have a God of new who wants to prepare you for this new season is called you to something greater if you're ready for it. See, second Corinthians chapter three verses 4 to 6, it says, and such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient in ourselves and claim anything to come from us. See, it's still a clinging to the cross so you can't boast in anything of your own. It's not that it says what our sufficiency comes from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter of this, um not of the letter, but of the spirit for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life a new covenant. Here is a reference to Jeremiah 31 in which we are promised a new promise of God. So you have the Old Testament and you have the New Testament. It could also be written or described as the old covenant and the new covenant. And what he's saying here is that as Christians, as new creations, he's given us a new covenant or a new promise to life that is better than anything this world can give you because it's not based on us. It's based on Him this is where our confidence lies. And then he goes on further. And then he says in John 13, Jesus is speaking, he washed the feet of disciples and he turns to them and he says a new commandment, I give you that you would love one another just as I have loved you. So you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another, do you see it? Church? We are a new creation, walking in a new covenant and promises of God given a new command to walk in the newness of life so that other people can be made new amen. So it brings us to the last thing here is that I'm praying for a new song, a new song in a book that's about complaining lamentations, they're struggling, they're hurting. So it's not ignoring the pain. But in the midst of it, they cry out and they cry this out in lamentations three verse 2124. But this, I call the mind. It's a choice. This I call the mind and therefore have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies, never come to an end. They are new every morning and great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in him. Psalm 96 verse 1 to 4. It says, oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord. All the earth sing to the Lord bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations. His marvelous works among all the peoples. I've been a pastor for 18 years. You know, we've been in this church now going on our fifth year and it's easy to feel like a grind, right? So it's my prayer as a person, as a father, as a husband, as a pastor, God. Give me a new song this year. Give me a fresh spirit. I'm not a car guy, but I was curious, I looked it up. I said, what is the fastest manufacturer to pro produce car right now as of last year? And the fastest produced car was a Bugatti sport that clocked over 300 miles an hour. And the 16 year old version of yourself was like, oh, ok. Ok. Let's be real. Any, any version or so I was like, wow, ok. Now imagine taking that car that was built for speed, but imagine that thing never leaving the driveway just sitting there, fastest car in the world, just sitting in the driveway and people like what's so great about this thing? You know, I sat in it, put the seatbelt on, turn the lights on. Yeah, I wonder how many of us as Christians are doing that? You have the power that defeated death and yet our faith is still in the driveway. Church. We're busy trying to climb the ladder of success to things that don't matter. And God says, I've conquered death. Given you a new spirit, given you a new life, called you to a new command with a new promise to make an eternal difference. And we're doing what this is why we're praying. So we're praying for a new self. We're praying for a new season. We're praying for a new song. Your circumstances, situation might not change, but it can start with you and your attitude and your mindset. And what you might have thought was the problem was actually the platform from which you can stand and proclaim Jesus. So this year choose to walk in the newness of life. And here's what we wanna do church. We want to help you Saint Ephesians four. The work of a pastor is equipped the saints for the work of the ministry. And I take that personal and we take that as a church personal. And so we want to help you. So part of walking in the newness of life is helping others walk in the newness of life that everyone is called to be discipled and to be a disciple maker. That's why today we're releasing a brand new series that's meant for you. That's meant outside of a Sunday morning. That's simply entitled Plant Grow Multiply. What we wanna do as a church is what I want you to do as believers. And so right, now we've created, we're gonna focus on planting the gospel. We've created a video series. There's eight video trainings here and it covers topics. It's real simple. Like who is the Holy Spirit? You know, how do I share my story? What is God's story? What is a disciple? How do we pray? How do you re read the Bible? What does it mean to obey God? Along with these videos, we have a leader guide with it and a student guide with it. And we had uh some incredible people within the church family who have a heart behind this and actually wrote three devotionals for every single video. So you have 24 devotionals ready to go. All of this is free. We didn't even put the church branding on it so that if you have somebody in your community that's like, I'm not ready to go to church, I'm not ready to do this or I belong to a different church, whatever because it's not about little C church. It's about big C church is about His kingdom, his glory. And so take these videos. Download, you can scan the QR code, you can visit the church website slash plan, grow multiply. You can also just get there. If you go to Mission Grove, church.com under growing faith, you'll see it there. We're gonna end up recording more videos, more resources and developing this as we go. But the whole point of this is so that you can do it. You don't need to be a pastor. You don't need to be a group leader. You don't have to have a special set of skills that everyone has been called to be discipled and to be a disciple maker. And these are not the meals. These are the appetizers. OK? You're not gonna learn everything about the Holy Spirit in five minutes. But you can start and you can pray and there's questions and there's, and there's resources and there's additional readings to go. And so if you wanna have newness in life this year, I invite you to walk with somebody else and help them experience that because church that, that's what it means to be a disciple and to be a disciple maker, this is not some class that you take and then tell other people to take. This is something that you take because it's training you to train others. This is something that you can walk through with somebody right now out of the gate today, it's eight weeks in there. It's just getting started. We're gonna expand it. But watch it, talk with someone, pray with someone and just take that step. Because when you take a step towards Jesus, that's what it means to walk to live in the newness that God's promised. Can you do that with me? Let's pray dear God to thank you for the newness that you give us. Yeah, we wanna walk in the newness of life we wanna live in that we want you to do something new. We want something fresh, we want something strong. We want something that can change our lives. Help us to remember to cling to the cross and not just strive through that ladder that climbing through the ranks of the world, but rather being renewed by your power and your spirit to then turn around and help others take a step in faith. We love you God and we pray that you do something new in this church today. It's here. It says that we pray amen.