All right, hey guys, welcome to Mercy Hill, man. Welcome to the 7 Thursday night. Hey, I know that this service might be what our entire church is seeing Sunday if Snow Mageddon happens, okay? And so we also want to welcome all of you that are going to be watching this at home as part of our church as we kind of stay on track here. Man, we can't do it, we hate canceling, man.
Our church is like the opposite of your kids' rec league sports teams, okay? We, they love to cancel, all right? We hate to cancel because, man, we just want to continue week in and week out. But it is important, man, that we get a chance for all of us to kick off group this week together. And I don't know what the weather's gonna be, and we're all gonna have to make decisions about all that.
But I do want to tell you: hey, if you're not in a group, there is still time. We would love to see you get into a community group. They do kick off this week. And just so you know, man, life happens, discipleship happens in relationships, it happens in groups, okay? That's where life change really happens.
And at Mercy Hill, I want you to know: you know, we have a real thing with our groups. We want you to understand that they are a sprint, not a marathon.
Okay, it's like, man, we get in, we go hard, and then we take a break, okay? We also want you to know that when you sign up for a group, you are signing up for that group for that session. Used to at Mercy Hill, when you signed up for a group, there was no way to get out other than to quit or die.
Okay, that was it. And we realized that's pretty. Daunting, okay, but that's not what we're asking you to do. You sign up for that group, for that session. Maybe you find some relationships in which you can grow together, guys.
They've already mentioned it, but this book, if you're here at this service tonight, you're going to be able to grab one of these if you're in a group. And this is going to be kind of your ticket to group. All right.
So you're going to be able to kind of study with us and go through that. And if you're not in one, man, we would love to have you in one.
Now, if snow mageddon happens, okay?
Now, those of you that are here are going to get a book if you're in a group, but if you're seeing this online on Sunday because we're not able to meet, then what we're going to tell you to do is if you're in a group already, we're going to email you the first chapter of the book so that you'll still be on track with your group.
Okay. And in some kind of way, you don't get that email. You can go to andrewphopper.com/slash chosen, and that will also right there. You can get the first chapter of the book so that we all sort of stay on track. And then we'll get the books out next weekend, hopefully, if snow apocalypse doesn't happen again next weekend.
All right.
So, all right, we're going to be in 1 John chapter 2. Man, I'm so pumped. To kick off this series with you guys, it's a flashback to 2020. I know a lot of you weren't here then. But we had a series that we really felt like was anointed, honestly.
I mean, God just did some stuff during that series. The series was, you know, it lined up to where the culmination of the series and all the action steps we did and even money that we raised for adoption was the week before everything shut down for COVID. And so it was like, man, it just felt like the Lord had us on a trajectory here for our church to attack community ministry in this lane of adoption, foster care, families count, and supporting those who do that.
Now, I know that in a church our size, guys, we have people that are passionate about a lot of different types of ministries, and that is awesome. All right, that is great. That is how the church is. The organism out in the world. I mean, we are every nook and cranny of society, and people have different passions, and your wirings, and all that.
That's awesome. Let's chase that stuff. But also, I think there's power in as when we come together as sort of the organization, not just the organism, that we have kind of. Yeah. And this came out of our No More Spectators years ago, but we decided: you know what?
We feel like the thing that has caught the most fire in our church where God has given us just such favor is in this lane when it comes to community ministry, bringing signs of the kingdom to our community. You know, being the church to the vulnerable, we really felt like this idea of adoption, foster care, and families count was where we were going to line up and go.
Now, we had a five-year vision, if you guys remember, all right? That five-year vision was 200 families before 2025, or you know, in that span of 2025, by the end of 2025, to see that. And praise God, we ended up right now, we're sitting at 204 families, all right, that had stepped off the side like, yes, praise the Lord for that. Praise God. That's either adoption or foster care, but we came to the end of that vision.
God began this fall to really birth in us something new that I'm going to get to. We're going to get really excited about it, I pray. And so that's what this series is: it's laying the foundation that is going to carry us for the next five years in terms of vision. I woke up this morning thinking, man, it ain't every day you get to cast a five-year vision to your church. I am so blessed to be able to do this this weekend, and we are blessed to be a part of it.
All right, now we're going to get into all this stuff. Man, it's adoption, foster care, it's families count. It's holding the rope for those who do. The first thing that I need to say on the face of all of this is: everyone, I pray, just breathe easy, okay? Because there's, man, we could do a lot of shame, fear, and guilt.
And try to get people whipped up emotionally and make everyone think that they're not doing something right if they don't step into this ministry. And that's not what we're going to do, okay? But we do want to see that all of us have a heart and all of us have a passion that can be channeled for the orphan. As we see in James 1:27, this is pure religion that we would visit the widow and the orphan.
Okay, I know some of y'all are like, man, this is a crazy church, y'all.
Some of y'all are thinking, right now, you know, that our church is so crazy, you're like, I bet you they got 150 little kids in that lobby waiting for us when we get out. And you're supposed to just pick one up and go. You know what I'm saying? We're not doing that, okay? Until next week.
Okay, we're gonna do that next week. No. All right, but the idea for us is: I want everybody to breathe easy. I understand that not, it's actually on the whole, it's going to be probably relatively few that end up kind of stepping all the way in. But we can all have a heart for it, we can all have passion around it, and we can all be those who are supporting those that do.
Guys, I'm going to tell you something right now. Is everyone called to adopt or foster? The answer to that, I believe, is no. All right, it's hard. I get it.
Okay, I'm an adoptive father, but more than R should really think about it. And that's what we want to try to push. Hey, let's all put our yes on the table and we'll let the Lord sort of put it on the map. But what we're going to explore together today, and really, I hope this is a heartbeat of our entire series, is that pressure and guilt, cute pictures, and sad stories. Y'all, those are things that will motivate us.
For a little ways and a little while. But here's the problem with adoption. And I know, okay, or even foster care, or even families count. You don't need a little ways and a little while. You're gonna need something that takes you far deeper.
You're gonna need something that will take you all the way, potentially, for the rest of your life. And cute pictures and sad stories, that puts fire under you for a little while. We need a fire in us. As a church, if we are going to step forward and jump into this vital ministry, all right? Fire under you is pressure and guilt.
We don't need that, man. The gospel will put a fire in us. To champion, to support, to be excited about, to chase some goals together. And I'm going to tell you right now, there are some of us under the sound of my voice tonight, certainly through the screen on the weekend if Snow Mageddon comes, that you are thinking right now, there's no way God could ever. And you know what?
You never say God could never. You just never say God could never, right? Because you just have no idea what God may do. And there might be years from now where you're looking back and you are one who God radically changed through this series. And I pray maybe that he will do that for many of us on a heart level, right?
I know some of us are single. We're like, man, this is so far away. You can make decisions now about what your family will be later. If you guys remember this, hey, our 200th family that stepped forward to adopt, they were college students with us in 2017. Their very first date, Chelsea looked at Ryan, looked at Mike, and she said, hey, I just want you to know I've already made the decision I'm going to adopt one day.
And if that's not cool with you, there's the door. I love that.
Okay, and so hey, there's decisions that we can make even now as students in high school and college. I mean, you just, hey, there's something for us, for all of us in this series, and especially when we start thinking about what we're going to talk about today, which is simply this: y'all, whether you ever adopt, foster, or not, if you are a believer, you are spiritually adopted, and that is something we can never get over. All right, so here's the big idea for this, for not this, this series, but just for the weekend here. Our own spiritual adoption inspires awe in our hearts. What has God done in bringing you into his family with all your mess, with all your brokenness, with all your failures?
With all of the reasons that you should be out, and yet, as a believer, you're in. When you begin to think about what God has done for you in the gospel and your own spiritual adoption, that becomes the fuel that pushes the train down the tracks. It is the water that grows the fruit in the garden. It is what we need today. All right?
And so let's just get in and talk about how God has radically shaped our hearts by what He has done for us in our life. If you are a believer, what He's done for you and bringing you into His family. 1 John 2 says this: And now, little children. Abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
Now, I just want to walk through this a little bit kind of phrase by phrase here together tonight, all right? And the first thing that jumps out at me is when the Apostle John says, And now, little children, abide in him.
Now, if you're a student of the Bible, you're going to that language is going to be reminiscent of something for you because you're going to be like, wait a minute, 1 John, Gospel of John, oh, John 15, right? John 15, we see that language again, that idea of abiding. And that's right. John is bringing back imagery that he's already used. This apparently is a deep part of his theology in thinking about abiding in Christ.
Now, the great illustration of abiding in Christ comes from John 15, where he says this, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. And that's what John brings back in 1 John 2:28 when he says, abide in him. The idea is God is going to show up one day. All right, that's what he says.
When he appears. And if we want to have confidence that when God shows up, we can run into His arms, then what we need to do is to abide in Him. What does abide mean? Abide simply means don't move on. Abide means be stubbornly persistent in remaining, okay?
It just means stay there. It's funny, I could teach you guys a Greek word, okay? The word for abide is very similar to what we would say minnow. Like a minnow.
So, if you want to think about what a biting is, think about what an actual little minnow does in a creek. It just stays there. Right, it can't, it's not going anywhere, it's not trying to, it's, it's, it's swimming around, it's there, it abides, and that's what I want to think about for just a moment when it comes to the gospel. Are we abiding there or are we moving on? You know, I think about an old-school movie, okay?
This is an old-school movie.
Some of you guys remember the movie Independence Day, okay? Vintage Will Smith before the slap heard around the world, all right? And and uh, and what happens in Independence Day? The alien ship is there, and they drop a nuclear bomb, and it's like a it's funny, it's like all that, the all the phrase in the movie, it's the one phrase that I remember, and they finally get eyes on it because they think they've obliterated it, and then what do they say? The target remains.
The target remains. That's the idea of abiding, it's not moving. It's remaining. It's persistent in staying. And what John is telling us here, much like he says in John 15.
Is that if you want to have confidence at the Lord's coming, there is an abiding that you do in Christ that is like unto what a branch does to a vine. You could say it like this: abide in Christ as a branch abides in the vine. The branch simply stays there. And as long as the branch doesn't get separated from the vine, guess what? The connection to the vine will produce fruit in the branch.
And y'all, this is what they listen. This is what the gospel really is. When we become a Christian, when we admit our sin, believe in what Christ has done, and confess him as the Lord of our life, you and I spiritually become joined with Christ. We become ones who are in him, the Bible says, and he is in us. It's a pretty good metaphor of the branch and the vine.
It's like, man, if I'm looking at it, where does the branch exactly end and the vine exactly begin? There's mystery in that joining. There's mystery in the way that you are joined with Christ. It is a totally spiritual reality if you are a Christian, that you are joined with Him. What do we do in baptism, guys?
We're baptizing here in a couple of weeks. And what happens in baptism?
Someone goes down in the water and then they come up. What's the imagery? They're dead to that old life.
Now they are alive. in Christ.
Okay, so when we become a believer, we get all tangled up. With the divine. It's an incredible reality. And what John is saying here is: hey, If that is true of you. If you are in the vine, Christ in you, you in him.
Then what happens is... When God comes back, or when Jesus comes back, or at the end of all things, at the regeneration of the whole thing, right? At the very end of the day, C.S. Lewis kind of said it like this: one day, The playwright walks onto the stage. And when the guy who wrote the play walks onto the stage, that's how everybody knows the play's over.
And one day the playwright Jesus Christ is going to walk back on the stage. And when he does, oh, so much happens, right? I mean, it's the regeneration of all things. Man, everything's sad. We're going to talk, you know, they say, Tolkien said it like this: everything sad comes untrue, kind of thing.
You know, it's this idea of no more tears, it's this idea of us being ushered into the kingdom. When that happens, Everybody under the sound of my voice, or sitting in their nice warm living room, if we all have power, hopefully, okay? Listen, we're all gonna have one of two reactions, and he mentions them here. Look, so that when he appears, you may have confidence, that's one reaction. Or you may shrink from him in shame at his coming.
And if you know that he is righteous, if you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. It's very simple, y'all. What he's saying is this. Abiding in Christ is the determiner of whether you will be confident at his coming or whether you will be shrinking in shame at his coming. You could say it like this: your reaction to him depends on your abiding in him.
Your reaction to the playwright coming onto the stage. Will be totally dependent on if you are in Christ, if you are the branch that is in the vine. Simply put, if you are a Christian or not. You know, you and I, right now, if you are a believer, when I say, Jesus Christ is gonna come back. For some of us, that is like the longing of our heart.
We think about all that is going to happen. We think about the kingdom. We think about all of the things that are going to be wiped away. Man, we think about seeing him. We think about beholding him.
We think about living every breath without the pull of sin on our life. Man, we just think about worshiping him. For others of us in here, right now, I promise you, or people that are going to see this online, when I say, man, God just showed up. That's not the reaction you're having. The reaction you're having might be fear or shame.
Why? Because you're all thinking about: well, look at the things that I've done that are not covered by what Christ has done. And because they're not covered by what Christ has done, I'm just stuck with all of this guilt and with all of this shame. You know, it's funny. My kids are not this little anymore where they do this anymore, and it's actually very sad, okay?
But you know, if you remember, and some of you guys will look forward to this, some of you guys are with real young families, and the kids are too young to do this, but there's a season in their life that is so fun that when dad pulls up in the driveway, they come bumbling out of the house. And they come running out, right? And man, they're running out of the house. They want, daddy's home, daddy's home, daddy. And it is just so fun.
But what's funny is. All of a sudden, one day they come out, the next day they come out, and then the next day, one of them doesn't come out running out. And you're like, well, you know immediately, well, they have not had a good day, right?
Something has gone on, and that shame is sticking to them. They know that daddy's home, all right, and he's about to be told whatever it was. In the case that I'm thinking about, one brother has hit the other brother in the head with a golf club, okay?
So it's like, yeah, all right, I understand, not coming out, right? But that that I want you to imagine that. The child is either going to step forward in confidence or shrink back a little bit because they're thinking about what they have done. They're thinking about their own behavior.
Now, look, the Christians and non-Christians have one thing in common: man, we are both sinners, all right?
So it's not like we stepped forward in confidence because we didn't sin or because we are better than anybody else. No, no, no. But people who step forward in confidence at the appearing of the Lord are able to do so because their sin has been covered. That's the whole idea of being in Christ. That when God looks upon us, He doesn't see all that shame and failure and sin.
Instead, what He sees is the righteousness of His Son. This is what is such good news: that you and I serve a living Savior who on the cross traded his life for yours. Then, what he did was he said, Hey, how about this? How about the great exchange? How about I take what you deserve, which is separation from God, which is death itself, hell itself, shame like you can't imagine before God.
I'll take what you deserve on the cross, and I'll give you what I deserve in terms of life before God and in the resurrection. Man, we are joined with Him. It's just the most beautiful thing. If you are in the vine, then you have the opportunity to step forward in confidence. And look what it said.
This is so interesting what it said. If you know that He is righteous, talking about the Lord. You may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him. Don't you understand the gospel motivation there? Many of us think in religion, what we think is, well, if I can do the right things, then God will allow me to abide in him.
If I can do the right things, then he'll give me the opportunity to be born of him. Y'all, that's every religion in the world, except for the gospel. Except for Christianity. Because Christianity is like, no, no, no, you got the cart before the horse. It actually goes the other way.
If you want to live a life that is being fruit popping out all over you, that is walking in righteousness, you have to be born of him first. You got to get that nailed down first. And then what happens is we stay in this constant state of awe over our spiritual adoption that pushes us to want to live into the culture of the new family.
So many people wanna motivate good behavior by saying, if you don't do the right thing, God's gonna kick you out. He's not gonna love you. That'll take you a little way for a little while, okay? But if you wanna go all the way, like for your whole life, we gotta think about it the other way and say, no, no, no, no, no. God saw everything I was gonna do and he accepted me anyway.
He sent Jesus to die in the place of me, a sinner, the chief of sinners, Paul would say. If he would do that for me, I want to live for him. And it motivates us, and the Spirit stokes that flame in our life to want to live for Him. In short, Christians live from acceptance, not for acceptance. We live from a base of I am in the family.
Not because I'm trying to get in. I'm living this way because I am already in. And listen, John starts to have a moment here, okay? In 1 John 3, look what he says: see what kind of love the Father has given to us.
Some translations say it like this: see what kind of love the Father has lavished upon us. That we would be called the children of God. And so we are.
Now, look what he says in the first verse of chapter one, of verse three. He says, see it. Behold it. That's what I'm trying to preach to you this weekend. Take it in, don't just know it, but bask in it.
One of the dangers of being around the gospel a long time is that it begins to lose its luster for us. May it never be so. May we remember it and talk about it and keep it on the front of our tongue and our mind and our heart so that we don't lose this moment that John is having. He's saying, look at what God has done. See what he's done in our life, in our spiritual adoption.
We weren't born of him, we were called his children. What marvelous news that is. Can I give you one of my little idiosyncrasies here, okay? This is just, it's a weird thing about me, and some of you guys know this if you've been around me. I can tell you every single place that you can see any mountain in northwest Guilford County.
Okay, some of you are like, I didn't know you could see mountains in Offer County in Northwest Gilford County. You can. I can show you exactly the spot. I can show you this spot on 150. I can show you this spot on 158.
I can show you this spot right down here by the Sheets gas station, right by the church.
Okay, and I'm going to tell you why. I see the tiny glimpse of hanging rock every single day when I drive home. And I always look at it. You know why? Because for four or five years, I had a chance to see the mountains all the time when I lived in the upstate of South Carolina.
And after I had been there for a couple of years, I stopped looking at them. And when I moved to Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina. And all of a sudden there were no more mountains. I was like, what an idiot. You stop looking when you have the chance.
And you stop taking in the beauty when you have the chance. And now that you don't have the chance anymore, you wish you could see it.
So, when we moved here, there's little tiny glimpses that you get of like Hanging Rock or Pilot Mountain or something up in Virginia. And man, I know where they all are, and I see them. I could drive you to a spot in Rockingham County off Alula Road. It will shock you.
Okay, I mean, I go drive around finding these places. Why? I want to see it. And I don't want to forget it. And here's the thing: just like I did when I was in the upstate of South Carolina, some of us right now need that awakening to come back into our heart by the Holy Spirit.
We've seen the gospel, seen the gospel, seen the gospel, and now we don't even bother to look at it anymore. And we've got to go back to that place. I know some of you guys were like me: man, you had a drug problem when you were young. Your mom and daddy drug you to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Monday night, Monday night visitation. Anyone remember that?
Okay, Wednesday night. All right, this was, I mean, discipleship training at Sunday school, and I am so grateful for it. I make a little of that joke, but I'm telling you, when I look back, the spiritual formation and base that I got put on me as a child, I look back on it, I can't be more grateful for it. Overall, it is so positive to have that, right? The one danger, though.
Is that you know all the stories and that you see the gospel and you hear it every single day, and all of a sudden you stop looking at it. And that's why I think John tells us, literally, he says, see. See what kind of love the Father has given to us or lavished upon us. You know the phrase that he's using here? When he says, see what kind of love, commentators will point out what he's using is a phrase from that day that would have said, what country is this from?
You guys ever said that where somebody does something, or you see something, and you're like, man, where did that come from? And where, where is that? Where that just got beamed in out of where, where is that from? That kind of idea. It's like this love is so utterly.
Man, we've got to look at it and see it. That he's lavished it upon us. I would say it like this, y'all. Never get used to the gospel. Take it in.
Talk about it. This, hey, this idea of abiding. And remembering what God has done for us, why do you think we do gather, group, give, go, you know? I mean, these whole, so much of our flywheel is built around the church remembering what God has done for us. Putting up stones of remembrance, speaking the gospel over each other, singing songs that are filled with the great love of God so we remember.
Many of us, guys, Christians, many times. We have gospel amnesia. We forget what God has done. But all of the motivation that we have for living this Christian life is wrapped up in God's love for us, that we see the pinnacle of that in the face of Christ when He's on the cross dying for us. Look what He says in verse 1 again: see what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God.
You're not born of Him, not naturally. We were born, you know, we're sinners, we're all together orphans. The Bible tells us we were children of wrath. Not children of God. This is us in our sin.
But we are called the children of God. Why? Because he has given us his love, he has lavished it upon us. I love that translation when they say it's lavished upon us because it gives this picture in my mind. I told you guys I took Anna to New York City, okay?
She'd been wanting to go to New York City literally for 20 years. She's been after me to take her, and so I took her this year. We went up there, spent a couple of days. It was awesome. I'm walking around the streets of New York City, literally in camo and boots.
Okay. And it was like, but it was great. And we were really cold one day and we were waiting for this horse carriage ride. And so we went into this department store and we started looking at these clothes and looking at these shoes. And I wish I had the shoe.
Of course, I didn't because it was $1,000. Seriously, it was more than $1,000, and it looked like it was something that had come off of the movie The Grinch. It was a green fuzzy shoe. For $1,000. And it was so funny.
We started looking around. It was us, another couple from our church. We really, we actually played an adult game. We're like, hey, let's take two minutes and see who can find the most expensive thing here. I mean, there were jackets in there that were $5,000 or $7,000.
I mean, it was just crazy, right? We look at that and we say, man, that's lavish. I mean, that's over the top, right? And we kind of use it in like a negative kind of connotation sometimes. I get that.
But this idea is a little bit like that in your mind. I want you to think about the love of God like it is just over the top. It is just lavished upon you. It's not given in measure, it's lavished. upon you.
When you admit your sin, believe in what Christ has done, confess him as the Lord of your life, you accept this incredible love into your life. And then it says this in verse 1: that we should be called the children of God, and so we are. And that's where this ties back into the idea of adoption. Right. That Romans 8 talks about, we were given the spirit of adoption.
Galatians 4 says the same thing. This is what it means: that you and I, who were not family, all of a sudden become family. Why? Because he has lovingly lavished. His love upon us, and he has called us his children.
If you're a Christian, he called your name, you came running, and you accepted him. And I know, man, that in Christianity for years and years, in churches and churches, there's so much debate on this: man, well, what about our free will? And what about God's sovereignty? And here's what I would tell you: there is mystery in that, all right? And what, you know, Deuteronomy 29, 29 says the secret things belong to the Lord.
I kind of think about it like this: leave it up to humans to argue about something that we ought to just stand in awe over. If you are a believer.
some kind of way He called your name, you came running, and you have accepted him into your life. That lavish love came in. And you went from I'm not a child of God to being a child of God, and being his child is the single defining mark on your life. You are not a parent first. You are not a husband or a wife first.
You're not employed first, you're not a boss first, you're not an entrepreneur first, you're not a baseball player first. You are a child. If you're a Christian, you are a child of the king. First, how many of us are trying to build an identity right now through social status, marital status, financial status? You've already been given one.
You are a child of the king. I think about our high school students, and we all go through this, man. You're trying to find an identity, and people, you know, they go through, you got a rocker phase, you know, or you go through a country boy phase, or people go through a hip-hop phase, or whatever it is. And it's like, man, you want to almost tell the students, you want to just, and we've all done it, we're all guilty of it, but you almost want to just tell them, like, hey, man, you already have an identity. You are a child of God.
And it happened because Jesus Christ did what was necessary to bring you into his family. You know, when there's an adoption, there's always a cost. Elizabeth Elliott said it like this: there is no love without sacrifice. There's always a cost. For us to adopt a child, right, we pay our money, we pay our time, we pay our energy.
Man, for us to be adopted into God's family, Jesus paid that price with his blood. He laid it down to bring us into his family. And y'all, that is a motivation that will take us all the way for all time. Not under us. That's how you get the fire in you.
So, here's what I want to call you to do, guys. We're going to apply this. Stand in awe over your adoption. I want you to just stand in awe over what God has done in your life. We will get practical in this series, but it doesn't matter how practical we get if we don't understand why.
If we don't understand why a church would chase after the vulnerable among us, Why would a church push its people to consider whether they would adopt or foster or hold the rope for those who do, whether they would jump into the hundreds of volunteer positions that it takes to fill our families' count classes. We've got to remember together the why. Because You were chosen. That's why we choose other people. Because you were adopted.
That's why we adopt other people. I've shown you guys these pictures. I'll show you one of Faith Ann. Guys, here's a picture of my little girl. This is our little chosen girl, okay?
And here's the deal: I want you to hear this. The Hoppers have three children from biology and one child from theology. And you're looking at her. Right? It's not a biological thing, it's a theological thing.
We chose her. out of a motivation because God chose us. Right. And I understand if you are newer, it's clicking for you. You're like, oh, I get it.
Okay. Like the church is super fired up about adoption because the pastor who's in the pulpit all the time is fired up about adoption. And so that's kind of how that works. And yes, sometimes the passions of the leaders kind of go into, I mean, God wires churches up like that way. I understand that, but make no mistake about it.
This church is not fired up about adoption because I'm fired up about adoption. We're fired up about adoption because, as Christians, we're all adopted. We know exactly what it means to be outside of a family looking in. We know exactly what it means spiritually. To have no mother or father.
To be looking at life with nothing but despair. Fumbling around, as Proverbs says, in the darkness, stumbling over what we know not. And there was a great father. Who snatched us out of that pit, turned us upside down, turned us inside out, and put our feet on a solid rock. And that's why we're fired up.
About adopting kids, about fostering kids, about helping families be reunified, about supporting those who do. Because we know it's all about the mission, man. And the mission is that we would see people hear the gospel. That's going to happen as these kids come into our homes. That's going to happen as faith transfer happens in foster situations and in families count.
And that's what we're excited about.
So let me apply this three ways and I'm done. All right.
The first way I want to apply it is to those of us right now that are hearing this online, maybe at home, or you're hearing this here tonight, and you're not a believer yet. And it's like, I want you to see something. I want you to see the desperation. of a child. who needs a family.
And then I want you to realize: if you're not a Christian, that's you. That's that's you. And it's not just that this child is this sweet, loving, you know, picture-perfect little, oh no. It's like all of the reality of all of your failure and all of your sin and everything that's wrong and all the mess and the brokenness, and yet. There is a father who chooses you.
And the Bible tells us, whosoever will may come. If you are here today And he is calling your name. You need to run into his arms. and be spiritually adopted. Admit your sin, believe in what he has done, and confess him as the Lord of your life.
And you will be in the family. Secondly. I want to say this to our church. Man, some of us are right here, and we're like, man, I don't, you know, I don't know that we would ever. And listen, that's fine.
That is fine. We have awesome families who have stepped into the foster care system. They fostered kids, and then they step out of it. And they're like, man, that was a season in our life. We're not in that season anymore.
They're heroes, okay? I mean, they're heroes. It's like, man, God does this. People step in, people step out. Man, there's things that he might put on your heart.
There are things that he doesn't. There's seasons in life. All of that. This is not pressure and guilt. All right, this this is Would all of us Say, God, my life.
Is a blank check. I've already signed it. It's on the table. You fill it in. That that's what I'm saying.
Like, if we're like, man, I would never do this, or I would never do that, really? I mean, where do we kind of have the gumption to just kind of look at God and say, like, well, I would never. I mean, you know, like he kind of saved us, put us in his family. The resurrection, we have an opportunity, you know, in front of us: purpose, destiny, heaven, like. It seems like whatever God's going to put in our path from Ephesians 2:10, the works that He's wired up for us, we should run into those headlong.
So I'm not gonna say like I would never. And that's what I want to push us on just here tonight. Hey, I'm praying that all of us. We'll just do this. Open hands.
That might look like some of us over the next five years fostering kids. It might look like respite care. It might look like guarding that lightem. It might look like adoption. It might look like holding the rope for some people in your community group, whether you become an official rope holder or not, just saying, hey, man, I'm going to, these people in our group, they're adopting, we're all in with them.
I mean, that's how our group was to us. Our group was the rope holders before there was rope holding at Mercy Hill. I mean, they were just in it with us, you know? And it's like, man, you know, maybe that's what God's going to do in your life. But would we all at least say, hey, my hands are wide open, God?
Here's the check. I've already filled it out.
Now you. You fill it out. the way that you want to. Would we put the yes on the table? And then the last thing I want to say is this, and this is what I've been almost most excited about, guys.
We have the opportunity. today to recast and reset a vision for our church for 2030. And this, man, we all have passions. We're the organism, every nook and cranny. We are the aroma of Christ in all places.
When we leave this place, I get it. But when we come together, we're on mission for some things, right? Like, you guys know this. We want to see 5,000 baptisms, 500 missionaries sent out by Mercy Hill by 2032.
So that's like one of those things. When we come together, it's like, hey, man, we're on the team. This is what we're giving time, talent, and treasure to. Like, that's a North Star for us. This 200 families in 2020 by 2025 was one of those things that became like, man, that's our thing together.
Guys, what we want to see after prayerful consideration, multiple elders, multiple staff. Man, thinking about this stuff all throughout the fall. We're asking the question: what could God do with a church that believes in its bones? that God builds families through adoption, and we want to as well. What could God do through a church who never gets over or gets used to the gospel that has saved their life?
What could God do with the church? That allows the gospel to be a motivation for everything that they do. What could he do? Man, I don't know what you can. It's like, man, I don't even know.
I know if we say it, it's probably too small. I know he could do more than we can ask or imagine.
So I cast this vision before our church this weekend, all right? And full backing with our directional team and our elders and our staff executive team and all that stuff, man. We're in it 2030. We want to see 1,000 children. impacted by the gospel through the chosen ministry by 2030.
That's the vision. To see 1,000 kids. The most vulnerable. The people who need the church to be the church the most. To affect him with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Through adopting them. Through fostering them and through helping their parents. try to reunite their families through our Ministry Families Count.
Now that's what we want to see happen. Can God do it? I believe that He can, but it's going to take a church that's willing to open their hands. It's going to take a church that's willing to say, man, I'm in. And here's what I want to ask you to do as we close, guys.
Would you pray? Would you come and pray? Man, would you get with your family? Would you say, God, what would you have us do? Would you pre-commit in your heart?
As we go through this series. And as we walk through the years that are coming. Year after year, the compounding nature of this.
Alright? Would we be the people who say, God? Our yes is on the table. Let me pray. Father, right now we go into a time of prayer.
Lord of openness. Of committing to be open to what you would have for us. And Lord, I just pray right now. God, that in the next five years. That we would see 1,000 kids impacted by the gospel.
Kids that need it. Kids that are all bound up in your heart. Kids that you grieve over right now because of situations that they are in because of sin. Father, we pray that you would do this in our church. We humbly ask.
God, this goal is too big for us. It is too mighty for us. Lord, but we believe that through the empowerment of your spirit. moving upon our faith. That this is something that we could see happen.
And Lord, I pray for every single person. That is in the room right now. And Lord, everyone that's gonna see this online. Father, I pray that we would put our yes on the table. We would say, here I am, send me.
We would say, God, whatever it is that you're going to ask of me. When we got chased together these 1,000 kids Lord. I will do it. I will say yes. Prepare my heart for that.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
