SPEAKER_01 0:05

Amen. Well, um, maybe walking in this morning, you didn't know that you were walking in on a uh a special service for us. Uh that nine years ago, the first Sunday of October, uh, the story Ashland uh officially was birthed and launched. And so today is uh Vision Sunday, where I get to share with you guys uh a little bit of the story of the story. And maybe you've been coming here for a few years, maybe you've been coming for a few months, maybe you've just been coming for a few weeks, or maybe this is your first time. And uh every year on Vision Sunday, I like to go back to square one and uh just get back to what was it, the the vision that God gave us when we started this church, and to tell a little bit of the story of uh of how we got here as a church and what God is doing and what he's calling us to step into. So um I want to start this morning by just sharing a little bit of that so that if if you're looking for a church and you're like, well, what is the story? How do we get here? You can hear a little bit of the history. So uh really um uh and and and I'll move past this part pretty quickly, but I think that the story of the story, a lot of that obviously it was connected to my story because this is a church that I felt called to start. Um, and and I think that calling that I started to feel towards really doing something with my life that would add purpose and value to people, uh, it started 10 days after I graduated high school here in the Rogue Valley. The very long story short is three of my best friends died in a car wreck. The uh the car rolled off the road into the water and uh they drowned to death. And um I know that's uh that's an abrupt way to start the service, but I what I say, I say that because it was an abrupt awakening for me. Like as an 18-year-old fresh out of high school, having no idea what I wanted to do with my life, uh, the realization came to me in that moment, which was the first moment I realized that life is short and that we really don't know how many days for each of us we have on this earth. And God used that tragedy to really grip my heart in a deep way of saying, I want to, I want my life to be used for something greater than myself. And so my best friend was going to Bible college in Maui, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but I grew up surfing the Oregon coast, so I figured I might as well go to Maui and study the Bible on the side, but I can surf for my main hobby, right? So I go to Bible college to surf, and the Lord there again really got a grip of my heart. And for me, for the first time, the scriptures started um coming alive, and they actually started changing the person that I was. I started cultivating a personal relationship with Jesus through prayer and starting to learn to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit. And long story short, through uh that season in Maui and Bible college, I started feeling all the more a call uh to just ministry, a call to teach the word, um, a call to share the very things that God was doing to transform my life, to offer those to other people to help bring transformation to their life as well. And so, fast forward to the next kind of 10-year period of my life. Um, the Lord just opened doors for me to go on staff at multiple different churches, and um it was just it was just favor. It was just the Lord opening doors. I never applied for a position, I never filled out an application to be in ministry. God just opened doors and made it happen, which was really cool. And at the last church I was at, it was a church in Eugene called Ecclesia. Some of you are familiar with it. Um, I was there for five years, and the intention in being there when I went on staff was that they would send me out to plant a church one day because at that season of my life, I knew God was calling me at some point to plant a church. And so the elders said, Yeah, we want you to plant a church, but we want to be patient, we want to wait on the Lord, and uh and we want to make sure that we are all in agreement uh for when we take this step of faith. So for five years in Eugene, every year the end of the year came and I was like, it's time for me to go. And the elders were like, No, you're not ready yet. There's still some deeper things God's working in you. And I was like bummed out because I really wanted to get out of Eugene because there's so much overcast and rain and I couldn't do it. And then the next year would come and I'd be like, it's time for me to go. And they're like, No, you're not ready. God's still doing a deeper work in your heart. And year after year that happened, and then after five years, there was a transition. All the elders said, Zav, we we feel like it's time for you to go and and spread your wings and fly and go and plant a church. And then I was like, No, I'm not ready to go. That's freaky, I'm gonna stay here. So it was just kind of funny how that transition happened. But long story short, when they said it's time to go, um, I I always thought when I church planted that I would plant in a big city. Um, I thought, logically, if you're in a big city, you can reach more people, so let's go to a big city. Um, but the very long story short is after praying about multiple big cities, there was really no peace about any of it whatsoever. And after a few months of figuring out what's going on, it's time to church plant, but we don't even have a place yet. I realized that I was telling God all the places I wanted to go, but I hadn't asked him, well, where do you want me to go? And so then I decided, well, me telling God where I want to go isn't really working. So I started praying, Lord, where do you want me to go? And the Holy Spirit started uh started just slowly whispering into my little mind in the back of my heart to uh to come and plant a church in Ashland, which uh is the church, which is the town I grew up in. I was born here in Ashland. And I never thought in a million years I would ever move back to the Rogue Valley and specifically plant a church in Ashland. But the Holy Spirit just kept telling me Ashland, and I kept, I tell people it was like my Nineveh. I was like Jonah, like God's like Jonah, go to Nineveh, and he's like, No, I'll go anywhere but there. That was Ashland for me. It was like, God, I've been there my whole life. I want to just go to a big city, and he just kept telling me Ashland. And so for two months I just kept hearing that and I couldn't deny it. And I didn't want to tell my wife because I knew that she wouldn't want to move to Ashland either. And so it took two months for me to work up the courage to say, hey, I think we're supposed to church plant in Ashland. And then she said, Well, the Lord's been telling me that too, and I didn't want to tell you because I knew you wouldn't want to go there. And so that was another way that the Holy Spirit confirmed it. This is where we're supposed to go. So after we felt like, okay, this is it, we're we're supposed to come to Ashland and start a church here. We took a team of all the elders and leaders from Ecclesia who were sending me out to plant, and we said, Let's go pray over the city. Let's make sure we all kind of have peace about this. So we brought a whole team down from Eugene, came to Ashland uh to pray over the city to discern, God, is this really where you want us to start this church? And very long story short, as we were walking down Siskiu, right in the heart of downtown, um, we watched a young man jump off the Ashland Springs Hotel and attempt to commit suicide and end his life as we were praying over the city, saying, God, is this where you want us? So that for me was the final piece of confirmation. And I said, There's there's nothing else I need to hear. There, I can't deny this anymore, God, that this is a place right now where people are in darkness, where people are broken, where people need hope, where people need healing, where people need the gospel. And so that was the final piece. And we said, We're doing it. We're gonna take the step of faith and we're gonna move to Ashland. So we moved down in the summer of 2017, and uh we we started just little prayer gatherings in a park and then in our living room on smoky days, because the summer of 2017 was very smoky. So it was like, stay posted on social media. We might be at the park, we might be in my living room, and we would just pray and worship. And we came down with a small team of five people, and uh then the first Sunday of October, we launched our first official gathering at the Ashland Community Center, which has been under construction now for like five or six years. So hopefully a church can be planted in there in the future if the city kind of figures that out. But uh, we planted in the community center, and from that moment forward, uh God, God just began to move in a very powerful way. And our vision in our heart was always really just to see this community, uh, to see to have to create a space and to create a culture where anybody from Ashland, anybody from the Rogue Valley felt like they were welcomed in church, that you didn't have to fit a certain mold or check a certain box, that this was a space that you could essentially belong before you believe. That regardless of what you believe, you can come to church, you can hear the gospel, and we believe that the Holy Spirit would change and transform people's lives. So uh we started outgrowing the community center very quickly. And for those of you who have been here on other Vision Sundays, you know the story that this church, which was previously called the Christian Church of Ashlim, had been here over a hundred years, and they were kind of dying out, and we were storing our trailer in the parking lot here. Um, and and they said, Hey, yeah, you can store your parking lot or your trailer in the parking lot. So every Sunday I'd pick up the trailer, we'd go to the community center, we'd set up church, we'd set up the kids' wing, we'd drop it back off, and ran one random Sunday after four months into a church plant, I was out in the parking lot and a couple of the kind of elderly people came out and they said, Hey, um, we've been praying for God to do something new in this city for 15 years, and it seems like you guys are actually the answer to what we've been praying for. So we want to just give you guys this building and be a part of what you guys are doing. And I was like, wow, like that is amazing. And so, having owned it for over a hundred years, they signed the building over to us. No debt, no mortgage. Um, it was an absolute miracle. We did work parties for like two or three months with a lot of you in this room, volunteers who just came in and ripped out all the old carpet and took out the church pews, and especially the carpet downstairs was really gnarly. Uh, we should have kept a sample of it just for the historical records, but um, we moved into the space, and uh, once we were here in this space, God continued to fill it, God continued to grow it, and we continued to just say, Holy Spirit, what are the ways that we're called to partner with you to engage this community uh to continue to see the story of Jesus transform the city of Ashland? And so um the vision that God gave us nine years ago, uh, and the first teaching I ever gave in this church, which is usually the teaching I always give on Vision Sunday, is the story of the parable of the sower in Matthew chapter 13. And so, as we celebrate nine years of God's faithfulness here in our church, uh I want to just I want to take us back to square one. I don't want to forget uh what this church exists to do and the vision God gave us to reach the community here. And so if you have your Bibles, you can look down at Matthew chapter 13, where I want to share uh again, I think for the ninth time since we're on nine year, uh, a passage very near and dear to my heart. So to give you the context before we look at the parable of the sower, look right after that, starting in verse 10. Verse 10 of Matthew 13 says, Then the disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered them, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. So the disciples, after the parable that we're gonna get into in a second, said, Hey, why do you always talk in parables? He said, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. So here's the context. Whenever you read a parable, a parable is a mystery or a secret about how the kingdom of heaven works. God is speaking in a way that his people would understand. This is how the kingdom of God spreads, this is how the kingdom of God works. So keep that in mind. Anytime you read any parable, it is a mystery about the kingdom. And the mystery that I want to show you about the kingdom of God and how it spreads from the parable of the sower is as follows. Look at verse 1 of chapter 13. It says, That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea, and great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things and parables, saying, A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew and choked them. And other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. So again, this is a mystery about how the kingdom of God spreads. And so in the story, Jesus says, a sower or a gardener or a farmer goes out to sow. He's gonna throw some seeds. And notice in the story something very interesting that you've probably never noticed and seen in real life before. That as this particular sower is throwing the seeds, he doesn't only throw the seeds on the good soil, he throws some of the seeds by the wayside, he throws some of the seeds on stony ground, he throws some of the seeds in the thorns, and he throws some of them on the good soil. Now, again, for those of you who are here who try to grow your own plants and garden, you've probably never done this before. You never probably never went to the store, bought seeds, and said, I'm gonna throw some into the blackberry bushes, or I'm just gonna put some in the middle of the road and see what happens. No one in their right mind would ever do that. But again, this is not a story about a natural sower or a natural gardener. This is a mystery about how the kingdom of God spreads. So the question is, what is the mystery? And and how is it that the kingdom spreads? And the big idea is this Jesus says the kingdom of God and the gospel message it spreads when that seed of the gospel is thrown on all different types of soil. That's the that's the kingdom mystery. That this gospel, the good news of the kingdom, it isn't just for good people whose hearts are good soil, it is a message for all people. It's a message for people whose hearts are stony, it's a message for people whose hearts are entangled in the weeds of the world, it's a message for people who have fallen away and who have no roots in and of themselves. But the sower says, keep throwing the seed there as well. The seed is the gospel, it's the word of the kingdom, and we're gonna see Jesus interpret this for himself later in chapter 13 in a moment. But what I want to encourage us in as a church, which is what I shared on day one, is that we want to be a church that shows and throws and scatters the seed of the gospel on all different types of soil. A lot of times Christians say, Well, that person's too far from God, so I'm not gonna pray for them. Or this person has too many addictions and problems, so I'm not gonna invite them to church, I know they're already gonna say no. Or this person, I know their life is too hard and too messed up, that there's no they'd actually want to hear the gospel. And we say no to people that Jesus is saying yes to. We rather than looking at a person whose life is entangled in the thorns of the world and saying, Man, they need the gospel more than anybody, most Christians write those people off. But not in this church. And in this church, we want to be a church and we want to be a people who says, Wow, God, thank you. That the way that the kingdom works and the way that it spreads is we don't just go find all the good people and just share the seed and the good news of the gospel with them. We give it to all people. We throw the seeds on all different types of soil. And how many of you guys are thankful that the fruit that has come from your life is because somebody reached out to you when your heart was not in a good place? Somebody kept praying for you. Somebody shared the good news with you. Somebody reached out to you when you were lost and far from God, and that seed began to do a deep work in your heart. So getting back to square one, I want to encourage us as a church, don't overlook and don't write off the people in your life who you might think are too far from God. Don't write off the people whose lives are too entangled in the thorns of the world. Don't write off the people who you're like, man, they're just they're just so shallow, they wouldn't want nothing to do with Jesus or the church. No, continue to throw the seed on all soil because that is the message and the secret and the mystery of the way that the kingdom of God works. The church is not just for church people, the church exists to miss to make disciples of all nations and to spread the gospel to all nations and all people. Amen. So that was that was the vision from day one. God, we want to we want to go to the places where there's hard soil. And I remember even telling people when I told people I'm gonna plant an Ashland, a lot of people thought it was crazy. They're like, You're going to Ashland? They're like, that is like one of the darkest places. You know, 30 years ago, there used to be like 30 solid Christian churches in Ashland. Most of them have died in the last 30 years, other than three other solid gospel centered churches here. So people said, You're crazy. Why are you gonna plant a church in Ashland? It's so dark. The ground is so hard. The people are so far from Jesus, they're so enraptured in the New Age movement and in witchcraft and all that stuff. I said, that's exactly why we are going. That because this is the place that needs the seed of the gospel. And so that was our heart from day one. We don't we're we're not going to the place where we're looking for the easy soil. We're going to the place where we want to work on the hard soil. And so when we started the church, one of the first things we did, we started just doing prayer walks around SOU. We believe that SOU is a huge part of the culture in the heartbeat of Ashland. And God really gave us a heart to reach that next generation, and we still have that heart. We always want to be a church that's reaching after the next generation. And so uh we were just doing prayer ministry on SOU campus. The church was actually birthed basically by a small group of college students. Like I was on campus every day meeting college students. I was like, hey, I'm gonna start a church, and they're like, cool, we'll come check it out. And so it was really a bunch of young adults. It was a bunch of college students who were hungry for Jesus, who kind of helped in the beginning stages of the church. And then thankfully we started gaining a couple of the older folks with gray hairs and were like, please stay. Like the young people really need you. Thank you guys like for staying here, even though we're a bunch of crazy adults, we need y'all here too. But the reason I share that is that again, from the beginning, our church always had a vision to not just isolate and say, okay, we have our little holy huddle thing here. The church isn't supposed to feel like a country club. We wanted to always be engaged and present in the community. And one huge aspect of that was being on campus, being in a place where people from all nations come for school and we have an opportunity to share the gospel. So um, in the early years of the church, actually, the first baptism we ever did was a young woman who was a part of our college ministry, and we baptized her in a swimming pool behind the community center, and it was a really special moment. And God was doing such an amazing work on the SOU campus in the first couple years of the church's history. But then COVID hit, and y'all remember COVID, right? I know we're not supposed to talk about it, but COVID hit, school closed down, pretty much all schools did, and we weren't allowed back on campus. So at that point in time, we pivoted because we actually weren't allowed on campus, and we moved from an outreach model where we were going on the campus and meeting students and sharing the gospel to an inward model, which was uh a very fruitful season. And Koi and Halen, as Abby shared, did an amazing job leading the young adults' ministry, and they've transitioned out. Koy's hopefully church planting in the next couple years as well, which is gonna be really exciting. But long story short, in the last five years, we we have not had a presence on campus at SOU. And that's something that has really burdened my heart. It's something that I've been praying about with our leadership team and our elder team with Scott and Josh, um, and and just saying, God, what was it, what would it look like to get back to being a church that's engaging the culture, especially at a spot like SOU? And so we've been praying about it and um want to share with you guys today that we feel like it is time for us to begin to get back to some of our roots and really engage the culture and meet uh meet people where they're at. And so I'm really excited to announce to you guys that Pascal Brasseur, my brother, is gonna be coming on staff as the young adults pastor. So let's bring Packy up and Scott, come on up here too, brother. Yes, sir. Packy, uh, if you don't know, this is this is my my physical brother and my spiritual brother. We were wombmates. Uh, we shared the same womb. Shout out to Mama T. The womb was full many a times right there. But uh, yeah, we've really been sensing like uh coming into year nine, God wants us to, God wants us to be present in the community and specifically continuing to reach out to the next generation. So Packy's gonna be leading the young adults ministry. We're gonna be relaunching that here in the next couple of weeks. So for all the young adults in the house, stay tuned. Come talk with Packy. He would love to get you plugged in. And I want to have Scott, who's one of our elders, just pray a blessing over Packy in this season.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Oh Lord, I I'm it's just so humbling to be able to watch a person's life uh unfold in such a beautiful way. And I've had the honor of watching Packy for quite a few years now, and I I've seen him moving as a minister of your hands and feet, Lord, for a long time. I've seen him patiently waiting for you and for your direction and for him to be raised up at this moment is truly it's just you, Lord. This whole day has just felt so uh full of Holy Spirit and about you, and this moment is just beautiful. So as Packy's taking on his mantle of pastoral role and leadership, Lord, give him everything he needs to function in a beautifully, in a healthy way, in a fruitful way. Uh when things are hard, Lord, lift him up. When things are going well, just help him to dig deeper, Lord. So bring ministry and fruit and beauty into this moment. And thank you. Thank you, thank you for Packy and his heart in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Super stoked. Well, um, uh, I do want to, I should have had Scott do this part, but I do want to just be be clear up front with you guys as a church. Part of church planting, like the church plant phase, is it's always a step of faith. Like when we moved here to church plant, our budget was like 500 bucks a month, and God like opened a door for us to rent out the community center for a hundred bucks a week. We're like, perfect, that's all we have. Um, we want to let you know that as a church, we are continuing to take steps of faith, and bringing Pascal on staff is a huge step of faith for us financially. I'm just gonna be completely honest with you guys. We do not have it in the budget to bring Packy on to do this. We do not have the money in the budget, but we're doing it because we've been praying about it and saying, God, we believe that you're wanting to do this. And so all that's to say is if the story is your church home and your church family, would you prayerfully consider investing in the vision of what God's doing? We can't continue to grow and can't continue to reach more people in the community apart from your guys' generosity. So um, we don't have the money in the budget to do it, but we're doing it because we believe by faith that God is going to raise up financial partners to continue to invest in the work that God's doing here. And so please prayerfully consider that. And we're really excited for Packy to be in this new role. So um, we were on we were on campus, we're planting seeds, and that's kind of that's kind of where the church started. And again, this this was the vision was God help us to go to the places where there's tough soil and help us to continue to throw the seed of the gospel there as well. And so today I want you to flip over. If you do have your Bible, I want you to see the interpretation that Jesus gives of this parable, because again, it's best to let the word interpret the word. When you're talking about what is the seed and what is the hard soil and what are the thorns, well, Jesus actually tells us what that is in verse 18. So he explains the parable, and here's what he says He says, Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. So, as the seed, which he said is the word of the kingdom, that's the good news of the gospel, the kingdom. Here, the king's here. As that goes out, some of it falls along the path. And he says, This is a person who hears the word, but they don't understand it. And because they don't understand it, the evil one comes and snatches it away. How how many of y'all have had had that happen before where you're like, man, that was like a really good sermon? And then, like, um, like a minute later, someone's like, What was it about? And you're like, I can't even remember, right? It's like the evil one is just wanting to snatch away everything that God is implanting in us. And so we got to realize that part of what's happening here when we're preaching the word, there is a spiritual dynamic. The enemy wants to rob everything that God wants to do in your life. All the fruit that God wants from the word, the enemy wants to rob you of that. And so we have to, we have to look at our hearts and go, man, when I'm when I'm in the word, whether reading or in a Bible study, am I understanding what's happening here? Because if you're if if if it's not sinking to a level of understanding, the enemy's gonna become rob you of the fruit. And so that's why a part of what we do here throughout the week is not just a Sunday gathering. We have men's groups and women's groups and now young adults group and a discipleship group, all these things. And the the purpose of the ministries we do here isn't just, well, we we have to check the boxes like all other churches do. It's to help people grow in their understanding of the word. And so, what I want to challenge you in in this year, if you come on Sunday mornings, praise God, so grateful you're here. I hope you keep coming. I would really encourage you to plug into something outside of Sunday morning, a smaller group where you can grow in your discipleship and grow in deeper understanding of the word. Because if the only time you're getting fed is on Sunday when you listen to me or whoever's teaching, you are gonna have a very small portion of what God actually wants to give to you. And so I want to just encourage you, plug in and take advantage of the work and the other ministries that are here at the story. So the first person, it's somebody who hears the word, doesn't understand, the enemy comes and snatches it away. The second person, look at verse 20, he says, As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word, immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. So the the second result, the the word is thrown, and it's a person who says, Oh, that's good, that's a good word. Good, good word preacher, good word pastor, good word here. And they receive it with joy, but it says there's no root. And because there's no root when trials or tribulations on account of the word, when difficulty comes, they fall away because the seed fell on the soil, but it did not get rooted. And what I found, if if you're like, man, I feel like that. I feel like I'm like, I'm walking with Jesus, I'm in a good season, and then something hard comes and I'm like, oh, I fall out of my routine. What is the rootedness? The rootedness is actually putting into practice the truth of God's word that you're taking in. Like if all you ever do is hear the word, but you don't actually live it out, there is gonna be no roots. The rooted is God help me walk in obedience to your scriptures. Help me to live out and to put into practice the things that you're doing so that when hard times come, I'm not building my life on the sand, I'm building my rock, I'm building my life on the rock which is the firm foundation. So that is the second thing that can happen. A person hears the word with joy, but then they end up falling away because there's no roots. The word is not taking root in their life. And then third, verse 22, Jesus says, As for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. So this is somebody who says, Yeah, I yeah, I love the Lord. Yeah, I love the scriptures and I love going to church, but then the world has a way of continuing to pull at your heart as well. And so your love for God is only in equal proportion to your love of the things of the world. And over time, if you don't address that, over time, if you don't if you don't uproot what the world is trying to do in you, then it will choke out the word of God, and the word will not bear fruit in your life. So that is a possibility of what can happen and does happen in people's lives today. But then finally, notice verse 23 as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, and indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and another thirty. So here's the the parable of the sower. The seed is thrown on all different types of soil. Sometimes it produced produces no fruit because of different circumstances, that the enemy snatches it away, or that you're going through a hard time and you weren't rooted, or that you're caring about the things of the world too much. But the seed of the gospel does have potential, notice, potential to bear some cases a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Now, here's what's amazing about this story. Immediately after Jesus tells this parable, the same parable is recorded in Luke chapter eight, and right at the end of the parable in Luke chapter eight, we see something that we don't see in Matthew's account. I'll just read it for you. In Luke chapter 8, verse 9, after Jesus tells the parable, it says, And when the disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said to them, and he began to explain it. So check this out. Jesus just tells the parable, and then the disciples ask Jesus, what does this parable mean? Now, what does that mean? That they just asked him that question. What that means is this the disciples, their heart was not good soil. Did you catch that? Jesus tells the story of the parable of the sower. They said, What does it mean? And when Jesus explains the parable of the sower, the first person who's like a person who is the wayside is a person who does not understand the word, and then Satan comes and robs him from it. Isn't that interesting? Jesus says, the person who doesn't understand is like the person by the wayside. And the disciples are like, We don't understand. Tell us what this means. So here's what this means it means that just because you have a new heart and you are a disciple doesn't mean that the soil of your heart is always good soil. The disciples, though, here's the key they recognized, wow, I don't understand this. My heart right now is not good soil. I don't want the enemy to come and snatch what God is trying to do in my life. So rather than just going on about our day, I'm gonna actually ask him, what does this mean? Because I don't understand. So here's what this means for you, and here's what this means for me. It means, number one, there are a lot of times in your life where the soil of your heart, although you have a new heart if you've placed your faith in Jesus, he's taken your heart of stone, he's given you a heart of flesh, you have a new heart, but that doesn't mean the soil of your heart is always good and is always gonna produce fruit. So what do we do? We identify, we look at our heart, as the psalmist said, Search me, O God, know my heart. We search our heart and we say, Is my heart right now good soil? Is there things in my life that God's been speaking that I just don't understand? Is there things that God's been speaking, but I haven't been living it out? I haven't been allowing it to take root in my life. Is there things that God's been asking me to step into and walk in by faith, but I've just been caught up in the deceitfulness of riches? I'm just living for the things of the world and I'm going to church on Sunday, but I'm doing my thing with the rest of my life. Again, you can you can be a Christian and have a new heart, but not have good soil in your heart. And so the disciples realize, man, our heart's not good soil right now. We need to address that and we need to take that to Jesus. And so, what I want to encourage each one of you guys in as we move into year nine as a church, to just continue to assess the soil of your heart and even this morning to do that. Say, God, right now, what's the condition of the soil of my heart? Am I understanding what you're speaking to me and am I hearing from you? And am I walking and living in obedience to the truth of what you've revealed for my life so that my my life might be rooted in the truth of the scripture? And am I just doing the church thing on Sunday but pursuing the deceitfulness of riches and pursuing all my worldly passions outside of that? Or God, are you my ultimate pursuit every day of the week? And my prayer for you is that if there is a part of your heart that you realize this is not good soil, that there be no shame there, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but that you would just bring that to Jesus and say, Would you change the soil of my heart? Would you soften my heart? Would you help me stop pursuing the things of the world? Would you help me stop living in a way that's contrary to the truth that I know? Would you give me understanding of your scriptures so that my life can prove to be fruitful? A lot of people might look at this church, nine years old now, which just started with a couple people, and a lot of people might say, This church is an example of what a hundredfold fruit looks like. Because numerically we have over a hundred times what we started with. But I don't believe that we have even seen what a hundredfold actually looks like in this church. I don't I don't believe that we've even scratched the surface of what God wants to do in a church like this, full of people who are continually searching their heart and saying, God, make the soil of my heart good. And I'm not just telling you guys to do that. I'm gonna be real with y'all. This is something that I have to do every single day. I think part of the reason this church is not even to the degree where it should be, is me personally. Is the soil of my heart. Maybe you didn't know this, but I I I struggle with the same things that all of you guys struggle with. The soil of my heart to become a pastor doesn't mean it's automatically always good. No, I'm fighting the deceitfulness of riches. I'm fighting the cares of this world. I'm fighting to hear and understand what God is speaking to me. I'm fighting to continue to follow Jesus when hardship and trials and tribulations arise for me. And and part of the part of the reason the church today is not where I believe it fully could be, it's just me. Is that I'm a barrier and I'm a hindrance because my heart is not always good soil, and I need to address that. And I need to check that. And I hope that you guys would as well. And so just to know that as a church, this is something I'm not saying, hey, you guys need to do, I'm saying this is me too. I'm not I'm not the perfect example. I'm not saying look to me. We need to look to Jesus. Jesus is the perfect example. But as we continue as in as individuals and as a church body to say, God, what is the soil of my heart today? I believe that if that is our heart posture and if that's the question we're asking, God will produce a hundredfold in your life and in my life and in this church. Nine years feels like, wow, God's done so much. I believe we haven't even seen the beginning of what God's gonna do. As we continue to just bring our hearts before Him and say, God, today take my heart and shape it and conform it into the person that you want me to be. Amen. Amen. Now, I want to close with this this morning. As I was praying about just kind of this service and thinking about all God's done in the past nine years and getting back to square one, being a church that throws the gospel seed on all types of soil. Um, I was praying just saying, Lord, what is there anything else in this new year you're wanting us to just really, really press into? And this is another conversation I've been having with the elders, something we've been praying about, um, about just getting back to something that we've also done in the past. I just feel a burden, we need to start doing it more. And so I want to read this passage to you from John chapter 13, which says this. If you have your Bible, you can open. If not, again, we're in the living room. There's no screens that work today. So, John 13, you can just listen. It says this. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist, verse 5. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that he had wrapped around himself. This is one of the most beautiful moments, I would say, in all of Jesus' ministry. Jesus here is approaching the cross, he's approaching the end of his life, and he's gathered there in a room with his disciples, and he takes a towel and wraps it around his waist, and he says, I'm gonna wash each one of your feet. Even Judas, by the way, who it says Satan had already filled Judas' heart to come and betray him. So Judas's heart clearly was not good soil. Satan had clearly robbed Judas of the fruit that could have potentially come from the word of Jesus ministry. But Jesus nonetheless said, I'm gonna take a towel and I'm gonna wash all your guys' feet. If you know how the story goes, in a moment, Simon Peter comes up to him and says, You're not gonna wash my feet, Lord. Like you, you're God, you're the Son of Man. What are you gonna do washing my feet? You're not gonna do that? And Jesus says, Peter, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part with me. And he goes, Okay, cool, then wash my hands and my feet and everything. And Jesus is like, Peter, you don't need a bath. I just want to wash your feet, bro. Like, I'm just just let me do that. And then Peter's like, okay. And so in this beautiful moment, Jesus, who who is King of kings and Lord of Lords, shows us the ultimate example of humility, stooping down on his hands and knees and taking a towel and washing the dirty feet of his disciples. As as it says in the scriptures, that the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. And I just feel like in this in this new year that we're stepping into as a church, year nine, that this is really an area where God is wanting to grow our church in practically serving one another in the same way that Christ has. And so as a church, this is something we've done in the past. We've had a couple special foot washing services. This is something we're gonna be doing on a regular basis. Every other month uh is gonna be baptism Sunday, and on the opposite, every other month, the first Sunday is gonna be footwashing Sunday. We're gonna do this regularly because Jesus actually says in John 14, uh or John 13, verse 14, he says, if then your Lord and teacher, if I have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done to you. And it's so interesting because I grew up in church my whole life and I've never seen a single church do this. I've never seen another person do this. And the scripture clearly says, Jesus says, if I've washed your feet, you're supposed to do this. A servant's not greater than his master. If the master Jesus did this, humbled himself and washed feet, that he says you also ought to do so as well. And so as a church, this is something that we're gonna step into. Again, it's not, it's it's it's gonna be if you feel like, hey, you're ready to do that, we're gonna invite you just to come and do that. And I just believe in this next year that through being coming a church who serves each other practically by washing each other's feet, God is gonna do an amazing work. The fruit that is gonna come from that is gonna go beyond what we will ever see. And so, as a church, this is something we believe God's calling us just to step out into and to practically do, to serve one another through washing each other's feet. And so at the end of this service in a moment, there's gonna be an opportunity. And if you feel like you're here and you're like, man, you know what? As I'm looking at my heart, it has not been good soil. Maybe I've been caring too much about the things of the world. Maybe I've kind of fallen away because of a hard season. I turned my back on the Lord, or maybe I haven't been listening or understanding or hearing the voice of the Lord, and I just want to get back to that place. That's what fish washing is. You don't need to come and get baptized again just because you went through a hard season. You can come and have your feet washed like Jesus did with his disciples and say, Hey, would you just cleanse me in a fresh way, Holy Spirit? Would you just cleanse me and cleanse my heart? That's what this is. It's symbolically, you're saying, as my feet are being washed, Holy Spirit, symbolically, would you cleanse my life head to toe? Would you cleanse my heart? Would you make my heart good soil? Would you give me the heart posture of humility, the same heart posture that Jesus Himself modeled here? And so as a church, I'm really excited for this next year to see what comes of this as we become a church who takes on the same type of servant leadership model that Jesus did. And we as we become a church who serves and loves each other in the same way that Christ did through washing one another's feet. So I just want to commission and encourage us as we go out today again. Let's let's continue to be a church that throws the gospel seed on all soil. Let's continue to be a church that assesses the soil of our heart. And even today, if you're here and you're like, man, my heart has not been in a good place. The fact that you come to realize that might be the beginning of a new season of spiritual fruit and spiritual growth that God wants to do in your life as you bring that before him openly and honestly and say, God, would you change my heart so that my life might bear fruit for your kingdom? Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for today. Thank you for this moment right now, God, that we get to look back on all you've done in the past nine years. Thank you for all the seeds that have been scattered, God, for every person in this church who has scattered seeds of prayer and scattered seeds of the gospel and scattered seeds of invitation, and for all the lives that have been changed and transformed over the past nine years, for all the people who have said yes to Jesus in this building, for all the people who have got baptized in this building, for all the people who are growing and maturing in their discipleship in this building, for all the ministry leaders in this building, for all the people who are just here, God, because they want their hearts and they want their lives to be lived for a purpose greater than themselves, God. We're here because we want to be a part of your kingdom. We want to build your kingdom and we want to see your kingdom come on earth and in Ashland and in the Rogue Valley as it is in heaven. So, God, today we simply come before you and we open our hearts again. God, thank you for giving us a new heart, but the new heart needs to be a renewed heart most days of the week. So, God, today we look at our hearts and God, if our heart is not good soil, would you reveal why it's not? Would you reveal the thorns? Would you reveal the wayside? Would you reveal the stony ground and the lack of roots? Would you reveal, God, why your word is not bearing fruit in our life, why our heart might be hardened to you? And God, we just want to bring those things to you and say, God, would you make this, would you make this heart of stone? Would you make this thorny heart? Would you make it good soil? So that your your word might bear fruit in my life, 30-fold, sixty-fold, and a hundredfold. And God, do do that in my life and in my heart as well. Continue to expose and root out the parts of my heart, God, that are not in alignment with who you've called me to be, and for each one of us who you've called us to be. And God, as we step into just being a church that tries to just practically model the way of Jesus, servant leadership through even washing one another's feet, God, I pray today if anybody just needs to have their feet washed, if anybody here just needs a fresh start, needs to have their feet washed, God, you would give them the humility to just come forward and receive that. And if there's anybody here whose whose feet we need to wash, if there's a brother or sister in Christ that we've been harboring bitterness or resentment or anger towards that's here in the room, that we would have the courage and faith to go to them and say, Hey, I want to serve you today, I want to wash your feet today. So, God, continue in this next year, God, to allow every seed that is planted to bear fruit. Continue to uproot the thorns in our life, continue to allow your word to take root in our life, continue to help us to build the life, our lives, God, on the foundation and on the rock, which is you, Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray. And everybody said, Amen.