Hello and Happy Mother's Day. Everyone. Today we're gonna talk about what it means to be for other people. And I can't think of a better picture than what moms do for us on a daily basis. I think of my mom, Julie Cragle who taught me about having a strong work ethic, a positive attitude and a love for God. I also think of a great example I see in my mother-in-law Carrie Stream where her care and compassion for people is evident in every relationship that she has. And finally, I think of my best friend and my wife Samantha who makes daily sacrifices and serves our family, always putting the needs of our family first and then creating a safe environment for our kids to flourish to all the moms out there. I just want to take a moment for Mission Grove and say thank you. And if you're just tuning in, I wanna encourage all the dads and kiddos who are watching this right now to stop by Saddle Creek Coffee Company to pick up a free bouquet of flowers and a vase while supplies still last. If you have been around Mission Grove for any length of time. You've probably heard me share our vision here at Mission Grove. We exist to help every man woman and child experience Jesus. We believe that for far too long, the church has been known for what it is against and we wanna be known by what we're for. We believe that God is for you and therefore we are for you, simply put, we are for the community. Now, today, I want to take a deeper dive into why we hold this belief. We're gonna look at the promises of God and then share practical ways that you can be for our community. If you have your Bibles open up to Romans chapter eight and we're gonna start things off in verse 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us, he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things who shall bring any charge against God's elect. It is God who justifies who is to condemn Christ. Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us. So how do we know that God is for us? Well, in this passage, we learn three things. First, Jesus paid our debt, the fact that God gave his only son to die in your place and in my place really paid the debt that was owed because of our sin. You see sin is what separates us from God. The word sin really means missing the mark. There are sins of co mission, meaning things that you did that are wrong. And then there are sins of omission where you should have done something, right? But you chose the other path. Now, it's not just the sin itself that separates us, but it's the sin and who we sinned against. For example, if you took money from a family member or a friend, they might be upset at you. But if you give that money back and offer an apology, chances are you're gonna be fine. Now, if you take money from your job, you could be fired. But if you take that a step further and you take money from your country and you give it to an enemy country, you could be tried for treason. How then do you measure sin against a perfect eternal God? Well, God is good and God is just so we cannot simply let that sin go. But rather a payment is required also known as a propitiation or atonement for our sin. And this is where Jesus comes in. He pays our debt. He lived a perfect life here on earth. And when he died on the cross, he uttered the phrase, it is finished or Te Toles die also known or translated as paid in full. When Jesus died on the cross, it satisfied the justice and the wrath of God while also offering us forgiveness, mercy and grace. And so the cross is the perfect picture where we see the justice of God, meaning the grace of God. And now we are the recipients of that. Imagine going to a grocery store, loading up your cart, plenty of toilet paper and other things. And you go through and you get ready to check out and you realize that you forgot your wallet. You do not have the ability to pay for what is owed. Now, imagine somebody else stepping in and making payment where you could. This is exactly what Jesus did for us. Paul, the author of this Romans passage also wrote to a church in Colosse and in Colossians chapter two verse 14, we read this by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. So when Jesus died on the cross, he paid in full what we could not pay ourselves. And he who knew no sin became sin or took on the weight or the payment for us so that we could receive God's blessing. Our sins could be forgiven and now we can go to heaven when we believe and trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. How do we know that God is for us? First, Jesus paid our debt. Second Jesus justifies us. The idea of justification means to be declared righteous or declared free. Think of being in a courtroom setting. And when the jury reads the sentence, whether someone is guilty or innocent, we find that Jesus declares us free or righteous. Paul writes this in Romans chapter three, verse 23 to 26 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And I wanna pause there for just a moment because I've heard that verse throughout my life, we are all sinners and fallen short. So the sin has separated us from God. But a lot of times when you hear that verse, people stop right there. But notice the very next phrase and we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ, Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation or payment by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. And we're gonna zone in here on verse 26. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justif fire of the one who has faith in Jesus. Notice that phrase, Jesus is both just and the justif fire in a courtroom setting. He is everything. He is the judge, he is the prosecutor and he is also the jury who declares us righteous or not guilty. When God looks down. He doesn't simply see our sin. He actually sees Jesus. Jesus dying on the cross or paying for our sins is covering our sins. And so while we still feel shame or guilt or battle addictions and sinful habits, the reality is, is all of the sin of the world, past, present and future was paid for by Jesus on the cross. And so how do we know that God is for us? Well, number one, Jesus paid our debt. We owed God an eternal debt because of our sin. And we could not make payment, but God gave his son to die on the cross as payment for your sins. And for mine, second, we know that God is forced because Jesus justifies us. He is just in the justif fire. It is a perfect picture at the cross of justice and grace. And finally, we know that God is for us because Jesus intercedes for us. The idea of interceding is speaking on behalf for somebody else in Hebrews chapter one verse three, we find this truth of Jesus. It says that Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of His power. Isn't that an incredible phrase? If you think about it, that Jesus upholds the universe with the power of His word? That's how God spoke the world into existence. That's how he created us. He has called the word in John chapter one. And now he sustains us with that very promise in his word. And so now that we see that he's upholding the universe with the power of his word, he continues on and he says, after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, he didn't sit down because he was tired. He sat down because the job was finished. Our debt was paid in full. And then in first John chapter two, verse one, the Apostle John writes this. He says, my little Children. No, he's not writing to little Children. He's writing out of a place of endearment in the last days of his life. And so he writes this my little Children. I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the righteous. In other words, God is pleading your case on behalf of you to God, the father. Again, we bring before God even on our best days and also our worst days, everything that we have in life and we do not deserve heaven. But while we could not reach up to God, God reached down to man and by dying on the cross, Jesus both covered our sins and then He conquered death. And so we know that God is for us because number one, Jesus paid our debt. Number two, that Jesus justifies us and declares us blessed and righteous and free. And finally, we, we know that God is for us because Jesus is at the right hand of the Father right now interceding on your behalf. He is our advocate. And so we can have forgiveness and grace and love. And then if we continued reading on in Romans, we would find out that nothing can separate us from the love of God. And so how do we respond to this? Well, first, we have to recognize this truth because God is for you. We are for you. We have been created in his image. And if we have been forgiven, then we can forgive. If we have been loved, then we can love. If we have been blessed, then we can be a blessing to our community. We don't simply want a big church, but rather we serve a big God. And so we want what's best for our community. And this is why at Mission Grove, we love to say that we are for the community. Here's just a few of the things that we've done so far to be for the community. During this time of the Coronavirus, we've delivered around 15 different grocery carts to families who have lost their jobs or been furloughed. This week alone, we are delivering 10 different grocery gift cards to teachers within our community. We had grove, teens and kids write close to 100 letters to be delivered to the elderly in a nursing home. Just last weekend, we had some of our grove teens and even our grove, young adults go out and do a drive by celebration of Thomas Brown as he got ready to enlist in the Navy. I think about our grove kids who are using their creativity to show love to their family and their neighbors. Some have taken chalk outside and drawn beautiful happy pictures on the sidewalk. I think about Elijah and Corinne Holmes who made life size paper cutouts of themselves and then they delivered that to their grandparents so that their grandparents could get paper hugs. I've heard repeated stories of how you in our church family have reached out to your neighbors and your friends and purchased groceries, everything from toilet paper to vegetables, to other meals and delivered that to people in need. I wanna just say thank you for helping us before the community. But also I want you to know that we are just getting started and this is why today we are launching the largest initiative in our church's history called The Four Challenge. We are gonna talk about four ways that you can practically be for the community over this next month. Number one, the first part of our four challenge is to worship with us on Sundays. Now, some of you might be thinking, hold on a second, John, we are watching you right now. How can worshiping on a Sunday be considered being for the community. Well, if you've ever ridden on an airplane, you've probably heard the speech about what to do in time of crisis when the oxygen masks drop down. The first thing you're supposed to do is to put the oxygen mask around yourself before you begin helping others. In the same way, we wanna provide a weekly chance for you to put on your spiritual oxygen mask to be filled up with the spirit and the word of God so that you can go and be a blessing to your neighbors every weekend, we're gonna be posting and sharing a relevant message from God's Word and then personalized music from our worship team. I don't know when is the next time we're gonna gather in person yet? But I do know that God's power is alive and well and that you can experience God where you are right now as we experience church together along with worshiping on Sundays. I wanna challenge you with this that I want you to invite people to experience church with you. It has never been easier to invite someone to join you for church. You can literally shoot them a text, share a link, share on social media. You can share through email and in a few seconds, you can be experiencing church together online. So not only do I want you to worship with us on Sundays, but I also want to challenge you to invite somebody to worship with you. The second part of our four challenge is to connect with us during the week. Now, putting on your own spiritual oxygen mask on the weekends is nice. But being a Christian is 24 7 and we want you to live out all 100 and 68 hours of the week on mission for him. Now, part of that involves connecting with and being in community before you can be for the community. We have all kinds of options for you to connect with us during the week. First, I wanna invite you to join us tomorrow night Monday, May 11th for a brand new study with Pastor Dave Reno entitled the next chapter. We were getting ready and even began this Bible study before the Coronavirus hit. But now more than ever, I think we are all longing to discover what's next. And so I wanna encourage you to join me along with Pastor Dario tomorrow night Monday, May 11th for an online zoom Bible study entitled Next chapter. You can register on our website and when you do so, we will send you the zoom information to log in so that we can study together. Now, along with this online Bible study, we have stuff available for every age range for growth kids. We have a Facebook group you can join for grove teens. They're doing a weekly zoom call throughout the week for our young adults. They're doing a zoom call on Thursday nights and then our grove gals are actually doing a hike happening on May 21st in the morning to connect with one another. So wherever you are, wherever you find yourself, choose to connect with us during the week. So in order to take part in our four challenge, number one, I want you to worship with us on Sundays. Number two, I want you to connect with us during the week. And number three, I want you to play for the community bingo. You heard me right? Being for the community involves playing bingo. You see, we've created a very fun and interactive card that shows 25 practical ways that you can love and serve your neighbors. It has some simple components like order, take out from a local restaurant to personal components like reading a story to a friend or family member to impactful opportunities like donating food to the Harvest Compassion Center or one of the three nonprofits that we have included on our bingo card. Now, the idea is real simple. Download the card and then when you complete five actions in a row or you get a bingo on your card, you can bring in your card or on your phone or paper and bring it to Saddle Creek Coffee Company and you're gonna receive a free drink as well as our brand new for the community. T-shirt. So have fun with your family, impact the community and then come in and get a free drink and a free t-shirt just for taking part. Also, I wanna note and point out that I want you to tag us on social media to let us know that you're playing and then tag us with your kids when you get that bingo moment so that we can share it with all of our church family. So to take part of the four challenge involves four components. Number one involves worshiping with us on Sundays. Number two, I want you to connect with us during the week. Number three, play for the community bingo. In other words, make a practical difference right now. And four, I want you to give to the community now all week, I've been promising on social media that today we were gonna share the biggest announcement in our church's history in light of the national health care crisis that we're facing right now. We as a church wanted to find a practical way to give to our community. Ultimately to show that we are for the community. Medical debt can be crippling for a family. This debt can lead to bankruptcy, financial hardship and ultimately failure. It can be difficult to get new credit or a housing loan or a car loan when your credit scores are low due to a mounting medical debt. What happens when somebody owes $10,000 to the hospital and they can't pay it. Maybe they have a financial hardship or they live below the federal poverty line, that $10,000 debt is sold to a creditor for a penny to the dollar. In other words, it sold to a creditor for only $100. That collection agency will then try to collect what they can from the person. What R IP Medical does is that it purchases that debt for that same penny to the dollar but turns around and forgives all of the medical debt. When I reached out to R IP medical, I asked them how many families are impacted in our area? Specifically the 85050 zip code and the 85331 zip code. After doing the research, they came back to me and said that there are currently 667 household impacted by steep medical debt after prayer and discussion with our leadership team, I called them back and said, we'll take it and they said we'll take it said, yes, all of it. We're gonna pay the medical debt for all 667 families right here in our community for a donation of $13,000. We are gonna be able to pay off $1.3 million in medical debt for families right here where we live. Every household will receive a yellow envelope in the mail with the R IP medical debt logo and the Mission grove church logo on the outside and on the inside a letter telling them that all their medical debt has been forgiven inside that letter, we're going to include a personal note, letting them know that we are here as a church for them, that we love them. And that while we may never meet them, we want them to know that their debt has been paid and that ultimately, we are for them. Jesus paid our debt when we couldn't pay it for ourselves. So as a picture for a church family and our community, we're gonna pay off the medical debt for 667 families to the tune of $1.3 million. Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for giving not to Mission Grove, but through mission growth. If you are a regular tither and donor to our church, you are already a part of this mission and this campaign. However, I also wanna extend an invitation to those watching right now and I wanna invite you to join our generosity. Maybe you're feeling prompted by the Holy Spirit to give to this mission to be for the community, who knows what God's going to do. But you can give securely online right now on our website at Mission Grove church.com. Maybe through your gifts and donations, we can surpass our goal of 13,000, which would pay off more than $1.3 million in medical debt. And it's going to be an incredible outreach into our community. I don't know what's gonna happen. And honestly, I don't know when the next time we're gonna be able to physically gather as a church. But this one thing I do know that if God is for us, who can be against us and if God is for you, then we wanna be for you. And at the end of the day, as a church at the core and heartbeat of who we are, we wanna be for the community. Let's pray dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for paying our debt when we couldn't God. Thank you for dying on the cross and providing a way for salvation. God, if there are those right now who haven't received you as Lord and Savior, may we admit that we are sinners? But we believe that you are God and that you paid for our sins on the cross. And God may we believe that when you rose again from the cross, you not only covered our sins, but you also conquered death and we can experience eternal life in the next and abundant life in the present and God because you are for us, help us for our community. God help us to worship together every Sunday, help us to connect with one another during the week, God, may we play for the community bingo even if we don't want to play the game and we find practical ways to love and serve our neighbors well, and God thank you for allowing us to be the church that gives to our community. It's in your son's name. We pray, amen. Thank you for tuning in. We love you. God loves you and we are for you.