The Secret Growth Accelerator | Andy Wood

joining us online and all of our campuses. This  is a great weekend because we're rolling out,   we're launching the dream team. And as Jacob said  earlier in the video, there are already 3,500   people that serve on a on a regular basis who are  part of our church family. So many myriad of ways   that they're using their lives in a powerful way.  And there are many of you today that you're going   to take that step. You're going to get into the  game and experience the joy of watching God use   your life. But I do want to take a minute just  to honor all of our dream team, those who serve   in various capacities, if you will, at all of our  campuses. Will you put your hands together for our   whole team that serves and pours out their lives?  And today as we talk about growing, we've been   looking at this conviction over the last three  weeks. It's this growth is God's will for you. God   wants you to experience the fullness of life that  comes as you grow over the years. And if you're a   follower of Jesus, that means that you look more  like him over the course of time. That means that   your life is formed and shaped, that you grow to  become who he's created you to be. So, we've been   looking at these key areas. We looked in the first  week at how as we read the Bible and pray and we   get God's word into our hearts, it produces  growth. And then last week, we talked about   relationships and we labeled it the secret killer  of growth. When you get the wrong people around   the table, now today I want to talk to you about  the secret accelerator of growth in your life. And   I want to show you a little picture right here.  Uh this is cabbage. I wonder if there's anybody  

that likes cabbage out of curiosity. Okay. Last  week there were some people that like broccoli.   It's the same people both weeks. Now, one of  the things that you'll notice about this nasty   vegetable called cabbage. Um is underneath the the  dirt. Um it's kind of this lighter brown color,   but at the top there's this nutrientdense soil.  That's cow manure, by the way. And what happens   with cow manure is if you let it sit for a time,  it becomes aged and then there's a nutrient in   it that causes growth. It accelerates the growth  close to 25% the the growth happens as a result of   that acceleration of the nutrients. Now, when it  comes to your journey spiritually, there is a way   that growth can be accelerated. The way that God  does that is through a life that's poured out over   and over again. And Jesus talks about this in John  12:4. Look at this verse with me and I want to   invite you to read it aloud. John 12:24 says, "I  tell you the truth unless I think we can do better   than that." All right, you guys ready? All of our  campuses, I tell you the truth, unless a kernel   of wheat falls to the ground and dies. It remains  only a single seed, but if it dies, it produces   many seeds. So baked within how God has created  life to work, if you're a follower of Jesus,   there is a death to ourselves that produces life.  So when we learn to live with a life of service,   it creates growth. So a life of service really is  a secret accelerator of growth. I want to say it  

one more time. This is so important. A life of  service is a secret accelerator of growth. And   I've seen this over and over again. I've watched  people that kind of plot along in their journey   spiritually. Maybe they're kind of incrementally  growing and then they learn to pour their lives   out and they experience more growth in several  months than they had in years before. Today I want   to make an invitation for you to experience the  fullness of life that comes through service. Now,   as I was thinking about this this week preparing,  I thought about all the reasons why people often   choose not to serve. And maybe one of the reasons  why if you haven't taken that step yet is because   you don't know where to start. like you don't know  where do I begin to let God use my life and we're   going to talk about that. Maybe for some of you  you you don't yet you you yet to have a big enough   vision that would compel you forward and God wants  today to put a deeper dream in your heart. We're   going to talk about that. Maybe for some of you  there there's the reality of your life being very   full and sometimes the busyiness of life keeps  us from taking the step to let God use us. And   we're going to talk about that. And then finally,  a lot of people don't believe that God could use   someone like them. And maybe for you, there's a  part of you that say, "God can use other people,   but God can't use me." And through all of this,  we're going to look at three very important   reasons to serve. We want to deal with those  reasons why we don't serve with the truth that   comes from God's word of why we do serve. So, I  want to share with you three reasons why we serve,   starting with Ephesians chapter 2. And this  principle is that God saves us for service.  

So God saves us for a life of contribution. Now  when Jesus enters into the scene of our lives,   he transforms us from the inside out. And the  book of Ephesians says that it really does   start with the love of God. And it says this, the  great this because of his great love for us. God   who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ  even when we were dead in transgressions. What   that means is that the the problem for humanity is  not that we're bad people. The problem is that sin   produces death and it separates us from God. It  says though, it's by grace you're saved. So, it's   not by trying harder. It's by the love of Jesus.  It's the grace of God. And God raised us up with   Christ, seated us with him in the heavenly realms  in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages,   he might show the incomparable riches of his grace  expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.   So God is a God of love and his love is what  produces a heart that wants to respond to him and   it's out of that grace that we have relationship  with God. In Ephesians verse 8 to verse 8 it   explains it further and says it's by grace you've  been saved through faith and this is not from   yourself. It is a gift from God not by works so  that no one can boast. So the message of Jesus is   contrary to every other religion in the world. All  religions are about earning your way to God. That   if you try a little bit harder, that if you would  keep these rules, somehow you can get to God. But  

the message of Jesus is that God came to us and  through his death on a cross, his resurrection   from the dead, when you put your trust in him,  the Bible says that you are saved. And notice   what this verse says next. It says, "God saved us  for we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus   to do good works which God prepared in advance  for us to do." Now, notice this. This is very   important. Good deeds are not a requirement for  salvation. I want to say that very loud and clear   that there there is no amount of of religion or  good deeds that you could perform that could ever   earn your way to salvation and relationship with  God. the the salvation that we need comes through   Jesus dying on a cross for our sins. But uh uh  the the decision for us to serve in good deeds,   but they are a requirement for our growth. So good  deeds are not a requirement for salvation, but   they are a requirement for us to grow. And we're  going to look at how that happens because when   you when you pour out your life, you do experience  the fullness of growth. And a lot of people don't   because they hold back. Now, I I love how this  verse frames what what God has for us in terms of   receiving from him. Salvation. Salvation is a free  gift that God gives to us. And it's not just about   what God saves us from. It's about what God saves  us, too. And I I believe with all my heart, the   more we understand salvation, the more we're going  to want to serve God. The more I understand the   depth of what Jesus did for me on a cross, that he  has ownership in my life when I surrender to him.  

There's this internal desire. The Apostle Paul  says, "I'm compelled from within." So the more   I understand what he saved me from and to, the  more I want to serve him. And the these are some   of the reasons why God saves you. God saves you  ultimately for relationship with himself that you   might know him. And he saves you for wor worship  and and the the the delight in his presence. He   saves you so that you might walk in freedom and  that you might live a life of significance and   that you might make a difference with your life.  And in that he saves you for a life of service. So   God wants to use your life. This is so important.  Whatever your background is, whatever personality   you have, God has a plan that he put into orbit  before you were born that he planned in advance   these good deeds that your life would do as an  act of worship back to him. Now, it's important   for us to also see as God wants to use us, he  doesn't need to use us. So God could accomplish   his purposes on planet Earth with or without us.  And the Bible is full of examples of this. I think   about stories like Elijah in the Old Testament  who would pray and as he prayed, God shut the   heavens and no rain came. And then he prayed for  rain to come and it came and God used Elijah, but   he didn't need to use Elijah to stop the rain or  to start the rain. I think about Esther in the Old   Testament when she would pray that God would save  the Israelites and God responds. He didn't need to   use her, but he chose to use her and responded to  her prayers. Jesus didn't need the boy's lunch in  

the Gospel of John to feed the masses, but he took  a little boy's lunch and multiplied them so that   thousands of people could eat. Jesus didn't need  to use his disciples to roll away Lazarus stone.   Yet, he engaged them in a miracle, rolling away  the stone and then unraveling the the linens on   his body after he had been brought from death to  life through the words of Jesus. So God has a way   of engaging ordinary people in his work so that we  get the joy of participating in his purpose being   accomplished on planet earth. And what happens  is that when you and I as ordinary people say   yes to him, God gets recognized and glorified  when we serve. So there's a kind of glory that   comes out of God taking a person like me and a  person like you and using our lives that people   would look and say that there's only one reason  why that would happen. It's because God did that   through their life. And I love how Ephesians 2:10  and the ESV says it. For we are his workmanship   created in Christ Jesus for good works which God  prepared beforehand that we might walk in them.   Now that word workmanship literally means a poem.  The original word is poma and it's saying that God   is writing a poem. He's creatively displaying his  power and his goodness through a life of service   that's surrendered to him. So God has a unique  set of good deeds he wants to do through your life   that he doesn't plan hasn't planned for anybody  else's life. And the goal for us then becomes to  

walk into that to say, "God, I want to surrender  my life to a life of service. To walk into the   dream that you've placed inside of my heart."  Now, I believe with all my heart, there's a dream   inside of you that's unique to God's call on your  life. And it's different than the person to the   right and left of you. It's different than your  spouses. It's different than your parents or your   kids. There's a dream inside of you that God wants  to unleash. And when that dream comes to fruition   in our lives, the Bible calls it like a tree of  life that the more that dream comes to fruition,   the fullness of life is experienced in and through  you. And I want to encourage you like as we think   about our church, one of the questions that I I've  gotten over the last four years since coming to   Saddleback is what's your vision for and fill in  the blank like what's your vision for the color of   paint in this room? Like I don't have a vision for  the color of paint in that room. Somebody does,   but I don't. And the truth is there's so many  parts of our church that are wonderful. And   there are certainly things God has put a  burden and a vision in my heart that burns.   But he's also put a vision, a dream in your  heart. And that dream he wants to bring to life.   And that's why right now we have a very crucial  moment where we're taking everything that we've   done with serve teams over the years and we're  putting it into this this team called the dream   team. And the reason why is because that dream  inside of you, God wants to unleash. And we as a  

church exist to help unleash that dream inside of  you. And the cooperation is this beautiful dance   of you saying yes to God and then us as a church  coming alongside of you and resourcing. It reminds   me back of the first Olympic basketball team for  the United States of America that was called the   dream team and it was all the best players from  all over the country that came together. Well,   the dream team is all of God's kids coming  together in his church and letting God use their   lives because there's something inside of you  that's unique to you that when it gets unleashed,   the church gets stronger. God God uses your life  in a powerful way and the community is impacted.   So, we're going to invite you to be a part of this  vision to be on the dream team and to be a part   of what God is doing in our day in our generation.  God saved you for service. And if you want to live   the fullness of life that God intends for you to  and to experience the fullness of growth, it means   a life of service. Now, with this, God also shapes  us for service. God shapes you and gives you a   design. And I want to invite Pastor Jacob Wilson.  He's going to come forward. He's going to unpack   this point. Will y'all welcome him as he comes to  the stage. I want to share a little bit about him   before he he shares with us tonight. Jacob is  actually um the leader of all of our dream team   efforts and has done a fantastic job preparing for  this moment. So, one more time, give some love.

Thank you, Andy. God shapes us for service. Now, I  want to tell you a story and then I want to unpack   this point a little bit more. Um about 11 years  ago, my family and I came to Saddleback for the   first time and I was brand new to being a pastor.  I was a 20some down at our San Juan Capistrano   campus and I had zero idea what I was doing. And  one weekend a woman named Mary came up and she   asked me, she said, "Pastor Jacob, I want to start  serving. Where can I serve?" Now, this was awesome   because I needed a lot of help at the time. And  so, I told Mary, I said, "Hey, why don't you go   serve at, you know, this team?" And I I sent her  off. I helped her get plugged in. The next week   after, she came up to me and she said, "Pastor  Jacob, is there anywhere else I could serve?"   I didn't really enjoy serving on that team last  weekend. And I said, "Sure, sure. Of course." So,   I put her on another team and she went out and  she served and she came back the next weekend   after and she said, "Pastor Jacob, I don't really  like talking to people and you keep putting me on   teams where I have to talk to people a lot." And I  said, "Okay." And truthfully, I had zero idea what   to do in the moment. So, I took her we said, "Meet  me at the office um and we'll we'll chat." And I   actually introduced her to another volunteer named  Trish. Now Trish had more ministry experience in   her little pinky than I had in my entire body.  And so Trish met with Mary. Few weeks later, Mary   ended up serving on our data and admin team. And  she's processing financials. She's doing expenses.  

She's doing all of this incredible stuff. Fast  forward a few more weeks and I'm sitting in my   office um and I'm typing away on my computer and  Mary is behind me and she's typing away on her   computer and I start hearing this sniffling and  I'm like what am I going to do? I don't know what   I don't know how to what am I she it sounded like  she was crying and I thought to myself well I'd be   crying too if I had to do invoices and accounting.  That's just not my thing. And so I turned around   to her and I said, "Mary, are you okay? Like, is  everything okay?" And she turned her chair around   and with tears coming down her face, she said,  "I think I finally found my purpose." And I said,   "Mary, that's amazing." And she said, "Yeah,  I feel like I was made for this." And the the   truth of the story is that I almost missed her.  I almost looked past this moment to discover more   about Mary's shape, to help her get plugged into  the area that she was gifted in rather than the   area that I needed a spot to fill. And the truth  is that God shapes all of us for service. That God   has been planning your life from before your life  began. He gave you a unique shape to serve him.   and he wants to use your shape to use to serve  others and to serve him in his kingdom. Now,   shape at Saddleback is actually an acronym and I  want to walk through each of the letters of shape  

and these are different components of how God  put you together so that you could serve him.   And the S in shape stands for spiritual gifts.  Spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 11 says that the   Holy Spirit gives every believer a spiritual gift  at the time of salvation. Every believer is given   this spiritual gift to use to serve others. Now,  here's what I want you to understand. Spiritual   gifts are not just talents. There are specific  abilities which the spirit enables you to serve   in a specific capacity. And the spirit moves in  such a way that is unique and that is powerful.   Just as an example, I think one of the reasons  we love when Pastor Andy and Pastor Stacy teach   is not just because they're great teachers. It's  because they have the gift of teaching. And when   they teach, the spirit moves through them in a  way that is unique and is powerful. So spiritual   gifts are given to us by the spirit to aid us and  for the spirit to move through us when we serve.   The H in shape stands for your heart. And your  this describes the ways that your heart breaks   for things. The things that tug at your heart.  And these are unique to you as well. Where do   you find yourself drawn back to the things that  stir around in your heart are not just accidents.   They're signals for how God made you. It might be  a heart for certain group of people. It might be  

a heart for a role. It might be a heart for a  cause. But all of these things are designed so   that God would draw your heart into something.  The A in shape stands for abilities. Now,   these are the natural talents that you're just  like naturally good at. And you may not even   consider them to be special or unique in any way,  but all of us have abilities which God can use for   us to serve him by serving others. I grew up in a  finance family. We have a lot of financial people,   accountants, CPAs, financial analysts in my  family. And you may think that finance and   being good with numbers just runs through  our family's bloodstream. And you would be   wrong because I cannot deal with numbers. I am  not gifted in this area. There is no amount of   prayer that will help me find my way out of  a spreadsheet. I just cannot do it. But the   reality is that that's okay because I'm a 10 at  other things. I might not be a 10 at finance,   but I'm a 10 at other things. And we might not be  tens at everything in our life. But the truth is   that you are a 10 at something. And God wants  to use that something to serve him by serving   others. The P in shape stands for personality.  And this describes the way that God has wired you.   Now, I've heard it all. I'm too shy for God to  use me. I'm too loud for God to use me. I'm too  

energetic for God to use me. I'm too talkative.  I want to just be behind the scenes. And there's   truth to all of that. That yes, you are wired in a  specific way. But the reality is that God can use   every type of personality to accomplish every type  of ministry. Not everyone wants to wake up at 6:00   a.m. and take on the world. Some of us are slow  getting up and that's part of our personality.   Some people are stage people. Other people like to  be behind the scenes and do things without anybody   ever noticing them. But God can use every type of  personality and every type of person to accomplish   every type of ministry. The E in shape stands for  your experiences. Your experiences are not just   something from your past that you have to deal  with. They are the building blocks of who you are.   And we have tons of experiences that we've gained  throughout our life. It could be your professional   experience. It could be your family or relational  experiences. It could be your education. It could   be the difficult seasons of your life that you've  walked through that have given you a perspective   that other people need to hear. God can use all  of your experiences, even the hard ones. Paul   says it like this in 2 Corinthians 1:4. He says  that God wonderfully comforts and strengthens us   in our hardships and our trials. And why does  he do this? So that when others are troubled,   needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can  pass on to them the same help and comfort that God  

has given us. You see, in the hands of God, your  greatest wound can become your greatest ministry.   And those experiences that you've learned, you get  to now pass on to others. There are opportunities   here at Saddleach for you to discover your shape.  The moment is waiting for you to have that same   moment that Mary had where you can say, "I was  made for this." But it requires you to take a   step. It requires you to take a step towards  what God wants you to do. So God saves us for   our service. God shapes us for our service. And  then point three is that God grows us through   service. And Pastor Andy's going to come and  teach about how God grows us when we serve. Thank you, brother. Well, God clearly gave Jacob  the shape to preach on stage, didn't he? He did a   great job. He uh he spoke in our staff meeting a  couple of weeks ago, and I was like, "Oh, man. He   needs to he needs to stand on the stage and share  that." So, um, as you look at that shape concept,   maybe some of you have heard it before, but  in Activate, we go deeper into shape. And   we have a whole team called shape guides, I'm so  thankful for them. They're part of the dream team,   and they get this. They have it deep in their  hearts, and they love to sit with people and   walk through what does it mean to use the shape  God's given you. Now, I remember earlier, uh,   about 23 years ago, right after Stacy and I  got married, we went to a church. There was a  

short period of time between college and then we  started a church during seminary where we went to   this church. They eventually sent us out to plant  a church. But at first we had gone through their   activate style class and then at the end of that  they put us on a team uh put both of us on a team   and they decided to put me in the sound booth uh  working the slides pressing the buttons for the   slides to come up on the screen. And the sound  booth just so happened to be right by the door.   And because I'm an extrovert, every time somebody  would walk through, I'd just start talking to   them. And the person next to me in the sound  booth would be like, "Hey, bro, the song is   like 14 slides behind. Come on." So then they  took me from the sound booth and put me at the   door the next week. And then I would just talk to  the people at the door and created a bottleneck.   And so finally they're like, I think you should  be a small group leader. So I moved over to be a   small group leader. And then that eventually grew  and they sent us out to plant a church. Now, the   moral of the story is that wherever you are, just  get started. And it's so much easier for a ship   to turn when it's moving. A lot of times we we're  trying to find that perfect place to serve, but   really it's our yes to God. And it doesn't have to  be this massive thousands of hours of commitment.   It can be you're serving an hour to two hours a  week. You're involving your family in that. You're   engaging in the life of the church and using  the shape that God has given to you. Now with   that there's a kind of growth that comes in three  areas and the first one is with our character. So   as we serve God is growing us on the inside and  in Philippians chapter 2 there's this beautiful  

picture of Jesus laying down his life and it says  have the same mindset as Christ Jesus who being in   the very nature God did not consider equality with  God something to be used to his own advantage.   Rather he made himself nothing by taking the very  nature of a servant. It goes on to say he became   obedient even to death on a cross. So the creator  of the universe became one of us, fully God,   fully man. He humbled himself and walked among us.  And that character of Christ, the character of a   servant is what God wants to form in us. If we're  a follower, if you're a follower of Jesus today,   what God wants from you and what God wants for you  is that your life would represent his character.   So that when the world looks at you, it would  see Jesus. It would see the character of one who   serves and loves and put the goals and interests  of others above their own. And as you do, as you   serve, God is forming that on the inside. The more  we lay down our lives, the more we're becoming   like Jesus. Now, we have some amazing dream team  members here. Um, as you already know, of these   3,500 people that serve across our campuses, but I  want you to hear just some stories, brief stories   of people across campuses. They're going to come  forward and share a little bit about how God is   using serving to grow them on a personal level.  Let's welcome them as they come to the stage.

So, one of the things I love right now is  that we have multiple campuses represented.   We also have international campuses that  we couldn't fly anybody in for this. Um,   so you'll get to hear at your local campus, but I  want you to hear some stories. Tell us your name,   what campus you serve at, and what team you guys  are on. I'm I'm Bob. This is my wife, Bonnie,   and we're at the uh San Juan uh campus, and we  serve on the weekend experience team. Yeah. The   weekend experience team, which means they welcome  people as they're coming in. and tell us a little   bit about how God's used serving in your lives  to grow you. Well, what I why I love serving is   27 years ago when I came here, a greeter welcomed  me and said, "I'm glad you're here." And I know   now that was the hands and feet of Jesus. It so  impacted me. I've had the privilege of welcoming   others for 27 years. Wow. Wow. That's incredible.  and and to think about, you know, the the joy that   we get to have when you welcome somebody onto  a campus. If you're not an extrovert, you don't   think of it as joy, but I do. So, um All right.  And tell us your name and what campus you're at.   Yeah, I'm Brandon and I serve at Irvine South  in the student ministries. I lead a high school   small group of 11th grade boys. Well, they're  seniors now, so Awesome. Yeah. And and you can   do more push-ups than them, right? I try. That's  uh one way I grow uh by serving. Your biceps are   growing. Yeah, my biceps. So, tell us a little  bit about how God is using serving to to grow  

you. Yeah. I would say, you know, before serving,  it was hard making community friends at church,   but when I joined the student ministries team,  I was on a team with other volunteers who shared   the same values and the same goals. And that just  always inspired me to also deepen my faith. That's   awesome. That's incredible. So, the community  around you as you're serving, God's using that   to strengthen you. Yeah. Awesome. Stephanie. Hi  there. I'm Stephanie. Um I serve here at the Lake   Forest campus. My joy. My favorite thing to do  ever. Um I serve in the women's community, so on   campus Bible studies, all the fun things women. Um  I serve out at the hub on the weekends and I lead   HSN life group as well. My girls are going to be  juniors next year. Awesome. Tell us a little bit   as people are thinking about serving, how has  God used serving in your your life? Well, God   has really grown me to help prioritize my time. I  have a lot of free time now with grown kids. Um,   I was reminded that I did serve as they were  growing up, but just not at this capacity. So,   don't be afraid to jump in and serve. I served,  we called it summer spectacular. I think it's   called summer blast now. Um, so I served there,  just wherever they were. So, jump in and join a   team. I love being at the hub. I love welcoming  and helping people find their niche, you know,   where they want to plug in and and serve.  There's nothing like being on a dream team.   What I love about what you're saying is every  season of life is different, right? So it   looks one way in one season and different in the  next. Awesome. We're grateful for you, Stephanie.

All right, tell us your name, what campus you're  at. Hey everybody, my name is Eddie. I'm from the   Brea campus. Yeah, North OC. Um, yeah, I've  been serving at the worship team over there   for since 2018. Awesome. and tell tell us a  little bit more about why you serve and how   God's used it in your life. Well, why I serve?  I I think our it's in our DNA to serve God and   to serve others. And I and I believe that, you  know, just God has just used me tremendously   in in serving it. It actually revealed what  what what your true spiritual gift is. So,   if you're I'm that type of guy that gets lost  like what am I supposed to do, God? Like,   what's my purpose? Jump in serving cuz guess what  happened? God will just speak to you directly,   give you that gift. and also give you a heart for  something as well. So, it's great. And community   as well. Awesome. Awesome. Well, on behalf of our  whole church family to you guys who represent over   3,000 of our team members, we honor you.  Thank you for pouring out your life. God   is using you in such a powerful way. Can we put  our hands together one more time? Love you guys.

If you know somebody who's serving, you might ask  them, "How's God used serving in your life to grow   you, to grow your character?" God wants to grow us  through service. And I look even at family members   of mine. I think about my kids who've ser been  in serving and my actually my dad over the last   decade started serving in his local church. He's  an entrepreneur, business owner. He serves in his   church. He also serves outside of his church  in the local community. And what I saw happen   is when he got a vision for service, he started  growing faster. I believe he's grown more in the   last decade than I watched him grow in many years  before that. And it happened through service. Now,   the other part of this is that when we lock arms  together, God does more through our lives together   than any of us can do on our own. And God has a  way of growing his church through service as well.   So God puts something inside of you that he wants  to use to grow his church. Ephesians 4:1 says,   "Christ gave himself to the apostles, the  prophets, the evangelists, the pastors,   and teachers to equip his people for works of  service so that the body of Christ might be built   up until we all reach unity in the faith and in  the knowledge of the son of God and become mature,   attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of  Christ." Now, watch this. So, what Paul is saying   is that there are some spiritual gifts that God  gives that are these kind of equipping leadership   gifts. You could think of these in many ways  of like the pastors and the staff members of a   church. And he says what they're to do is they're  to equip the saints for ministry. So God wants you  

to be a minister. Every member a minister. That's  God's design is that every person with the dream,   the wiring that God's placed in them, the shape  he's given them that they would use and the body,   the church gets stronger as a result of that. Now  in verse uh 16 of chapter 4 it says from him the   whole body joined and held together uh grows as  every supporting ligament grows and builds itself   up in love each part doing its work. So as each  of us does the part that God has assigned for   us to do the church gets stronger. Now I what I  love about all of this is God can God can use any   church to accomplish his mission on planet earth.  Like God can use big churches and small churches   and everything in between. If the Bible is opened  and the gospel is preached and we're true to his   word, we teach about the love of Jesus, God can  grow a lot of different types of churches. And   what I pray for for us is that as God is moving  on planet earth, as God is blessing churches and   reaching lives, that God would not pass up our  church in this generation. That we would be a   part of the movement of God today. And what that  requires for us to step into the fullness of what   God has for us in this day is every person who  says yes to Jesus that they would engage fully   in the life of the church. You know, somebody said  one time that church can be a lot like a football   game with 22 people on the field in desperate need  of rest and thousands of people in the stands in   desperate need of exercise. And so often it can  happen like that, but not so with us. In fact,  

our church would never be what it is today had  there not been many people have gone before   us that said, "Yes, God, use my ordinary life to  make a difference." And there are some of you that   you've been sitting in the stands and this is your  week to say yes to Jesus, to say, "Jesus, use my   one life. I know that I I only got this one shot  and I want to be used by you to make a difference   here on planet Earth." The church gets stronger  when you engage with your gift. There's something   in you that's unique to you that God wants to use.  And not only does he grow his church, but he also   grows our reach together. So, as we say yes to  God, he reaches more people through us together   than any of us could reach on our own. And I  love how Acts chapter 2 speaks of this. Talks   about how the early church, they met together. I'm  summarizing the verses, but it says at the end,   each day the Lord added to their fellowship those  who were being saved. So as the followers of Jesus   who are gathered together, we're serving, they're  meeting the needs of others, God used that to   reach more people. So there's something about the  beauty of the local church that when we lock arms,   God uses us to reach people who would never have  been reached as we're working together. So, as   you're hearing stories even on stage this weekend  of somebody standing at a door smiling as people   walk through, that that smile, that welcome could  be one thing that God uses as a link in the chain   of somebody's life being changed for all eternity.  And there was another friend that prayed for that   person, for that daughter or son for years on  end. And the weekend that they came to church,  

thank God, we had a greeter at the door that  welcomed them and loved them. This is also true as   God unleashes your gifts into the community. That  there are people in our church that serve. They   love. They they roll up their sleeves to love on  a local level in business and in community events   through the church and God is using us together.  Now, I want you to see a picture here. Um, this is   a little bit of a sad weekend for us cuz our good  friends, Pastor David Hibiski and Kendall Hibisky,   who are on our team, uh, moved here with us  when Stacy and I came almost four years ago.   We've served in ministry for a really long period  of time, over 16 and a half years we've served   together. Kendall was Stacy's roommate in college.  Um, they actually met in seminary where Stacy and   I were going to seminary as well. And then when  we moved to the Bay Area in 2008 to plant a church   about 18 months after we moved there, they came  to be a part of the team to help build the church.   Now God is calling them to move to Virginia. Uh  David is going to be a senior pastor at a church   in Virginia called Waymaker Church. And we're  very excited for them with a call that God has   placed on their life. But there's so much joy when  I reflect on these years that we've had together.   And I think about what God's done through us from  a church that was about 300 people when they came   to over 3,000 when we left and all the lives that  got changed along the ways. And to see how when   we lock arms with people who are different,  different personalities, different gifts,  

that we as two couples got to experience so much  more together than we ever would have apart. And   now God's going to use us in different spaces  now. But there's something so beautiful about   the partnership that comes when you lock arms in  God's kingdom to say, "God, use my life." It's a   different kind of relationship than what you have  anywhere else on planet Earth. It's my favorite   type of relationship is when I'm arm-in- arm with  another human being saying, "I want to be used by   God with this dream and vision that God could use  our ordinary lives to do more than we could ever   think, ask, or imagine." And some of you who are  journeying with Jesus, you're missing out. You're   missing out on the fullness of life that comes  when you roll up your sleeves. And I understand   there's so many reasons that go through our  mind of why we can't be used by God. And again,   maybe it is your background. And what I hope you  hear is God wants to use all of that. God takes   all the mess and turns it into ministry. God takes  your your your quirks and uses them for good. God   takes all of your spiritual gifts and multiplies  them through the power of the Holy Spirit. But it   requires your yes. It requires you to say, "God,  I want to be used by you." Some of you right now,   even in your mind, you're too busy. Think I don't  have enough time. And what I would say to you is   you you don't have time to not serve. Because  in reality, one of the greatest decisions that   you will make is to engage. Some of you who are  parents right now, you're thinking to yourself,   I've got all these kids activities. I got to go  back and forth to and I've got, you know, seven  

immersion language schools and 14 sports my kids  are in and seven instruments that they play. And   you're doing all these things and yet one of the  greatest contributions that you can give to your   kids is that you would raise them in the life of  the church and they would see you serve. Because   studies show that when they go off to college,  one of the things that's going to make the biggest   difference whether or not their faith sticks is  one, if they had a relationship with an adult who   loved Jesus from the church, and two, if they got  engaged in serving and let God use their life. So,   one of the greatest things that you can do is  enter into the chaos of it and let God use your   life. Stacy and I have so many memories of other  families with kids and snot running down faces   and dirty diapers and missing naps. And I tell you  what, now as they're teenagers and they're turning   into their 20s, all of it seems like such a small  sacrifice when we see them loving the church and   serving now. And so I want to encourage  you if you are a parent with a young kid,   I've been there. It's one of the hardest seasons  of life with busyness. But I will just tell you,   if you just throw your kids into the mix and  you love them and you share the stories of God's   grace and they get to watch God move, they'll  miss a few naps, but at the end of the day,   when you mobilize them into the world, they're  going to love Jesus and his church and it's   worth it. So, the last thing I want to say is  God wants to use our church. The question is,  

do we want to be used by him? Do we want to step  into the fullness of what he has? He doesn't need   us. He can do it without us. But don't you want to  be a part of what he's doing on planet Earth? If   there's a revival happening on planet Earth, don't  you want to be a part of it? Don't you want God to   use your life to to accomplish his movement in a  generation? Well, I want to just share with you   very practically a step that you can take today.  So, I want to invite you to pull out that card   and perhaps you've already started filling out the  top. It's a little green card. On the top of it,   uh, it says, "Get growing." If you flip it over,  you'll notice on the back there's a place where   you can let us know your name and email and  those practical parts of of us being able   to help you take that step. But you'll see three  boxes. I want you to know that these three boxes   are not sequential. So, you can do one or all of  them. And I want to encourage you if you've never   taken the step to come to activate. We we talk  in depth about the church, how to get involved,   how to make this your home church, how to use  your gifts. That's happening next weekend at all   of our campuses. You can sign up for that there.  You'll also see the shape guides. Uh the people   that meet individually with folks in the church.  They would love to meet up with you. We're going   to do a training on this. We're going to have a  online training. So, we're going to walk through   more how you can discover your spiritual gift. and  these other parts of who God made you to be and   unleashing that dream. So, you can check that box.  And then third, you'll see the last one is to join   the dream team, to be a part of what God's doing.  And I will say to you, if you step into a team,  

it's not a lifelong commitment. You can try  it one time and if you don't like the person   that you serve with, you can just be like, I'm  going to another team. Sorry. See you later,   Joker. But you can take that step and you can keep  moving. But it's so much easier if you're going,   if you're moving to watch God get you into that  spot where you're experiencing the fullness of   life that comes from letting God use your  shape to make a difference. Now, I want to   give you just about 20 seconds to fill that out  because after I do that, I'm going to lead us in   a time of response to the Holy Spirit and what  I believe God wants to do as we wrap up. So,   just take about 20 seconds right now and then  I'm going to lead us in a moment of response. Some of you may already be a part of our teams  here and I would just love for you still to let us   know what team are you on? What part of the church  are you serving in? And in just a few moments,   we're going to pass some buckets and you can drop  those cards in. But I want to ask you if you would   after you fill that card out just to empty your  hands for a moment. And I want to invite you just   to kind of put your hands in front of you as a  moment of surrender back to God. And you know   the reality is that God gives to us gifts. And  the gift that we looked at today that God most  

importantly wants to give to you is the gift of  salvation. And it requires for us to receive.   And sometimes in our lives, our hands are so  tightly clenched that we can't receive. And the   gift of salvation is one that is received by faith  in Jesus. What he's done on a cross, his death,   burial, and resurrection. The Bible says that  by faith in him, you can be saved. And today,   you can open up your hands to him and to surrender  your heart to begin a relationship with Jesus.   And I want to invite you if you've never done  that today, just to from your heart to say, "God,   I want to receive from you the gift of salvation."  And I'm going to lead you in a prayer of response   if that's you today to receive the gift of  salvation. But there's some of you right now that   maybe God's given you an assignment and you know  what that assignment is and you feel inadequate   for that assignment. Maybe it's a dream that  he's placed inside of your heart and you're like,   "I need a gift for that. I need an anointing  from God for that." And one of the things that   we talked about earlier is how all of this is  really based on the Holy Spirit's work inside   of us. That the moment we put our trust in Jesus,  what the Bible says is the spirit comes and lives   inside of us and takes up residence and then gives  us the power to live a different kind of life and   gives us gifts. And there's a desiring of those  gifts that the Bible talks about in 1 Corinthians   12. I want you to see this. It says, "So you  should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts."   And then Paul goes on to say, "Let me show you the  best way as he talks about love." But I want you  

to notice this longing for the gift that is needed  in this season. And you might today have a deficit   in your heart that you feel. You're like, "I need  the gift, God. I need wisdom or I need some kind   of strength or ability that the Bible talks about  these spiritual gifts." That you might come to   the Holy Spirit and just say, "I need you. I need  you to give me a power that I don't have in of my   myself. I have for the last four years cried out  to God for the gift of wisdom. I've said, God, I   need wisdom in this role. It's way beyond me. And  I remember there was a season earlier in ministry   where I would share the gospel and I would feel  like I'd get to the end right where I was leading   people to Jesus and I get all tongue tied. And I  remember just crying out, "God, I I need the gift   of evangelism. I need you to use me in a way  that's not ordinary based on my power to lead   people to you. I'm asking for a deposit of that  gift. And there was a very clear marker where God   started to use my life at a different level with  reaching people who don't know him. And I believe   it was that God was responding to that request.  So what I love about the living God is that he   is present with us right now. And if you're a  follower of Jesus, he's on the inside. And the   Holy Spirit is the giver of gifts. So he wants to  give you the gift of his presence. And he wants   to give you spiritual gifts that he unleashes. And  the invitation from God is not to live an ordinary   life. The invitation from God is to live a kind of  life that when people look at us, it could only be  

described by the power and the grace of God upon  us. Don't you want to live that kind of life that   when people look at you, they see it's not it's  not an ordinary just an ordinary person. And it's   an ordinary person anointed by an extraordinary  God using their life. That's the Holy Spirit   working in and through us. So if you will, I told  you to put your hands out like five minutes ago   and I just kept talking. So if you will at all  of our campuses, if you'll just put your hands   in front of you, two invitations. I want to invite  you to close your eyes. If you've never received   the gift of salvation right now, you can do that  in between you and the living God. With your hands   open, just say, "Oh Jesus, I surrender my heart  to you." Just tell him right now, "I surrender my   heart to you." Have your way in me. I give you my  yes. Just tell him, I believe you died on a cross   for my sin. I believe you rose again from the  dead. And just invite him in. He's taken over.   He's forgiven you of your sin. There are others  of you today that you just need help from God.   You need the Holy Spirit to come and empower you.  There might be some specific gift you just need to   ask him for. Just from your heart, just tell him,  "I need you." The Bible calls the Holy Spirit a   helper that he wants to come alongside and help  you with the assignment that God has given to   you. So, we welcome you, Holy Spirit. We need you.  We need you to open our eyes. is we need you to  

empower us so that streams of living water would  flow from within us. We need gifts. We invite you   to empower us, Jesus. We believe with all our  heart the same things that you did in the Bible   are the things that you do today. And Lord, I'm  asking you to unleash your gifts in our church.   I'm asking you to give gifts of wisdom and healing  and the ability to speak bold prophetic words for   you. the ability to be used by you in ordinary  ways with acts of service and leading and wisdom.   But God, I'm asking you in a day like today in our  world, in our nation that needs the power of God,   I'm asking, Holy Spirit, that you would give  your power to Saddleback Church. I'm asking you,   Lord, if you agree with me, just ask in your  heart, Lord, give your power to my life. Come,   Holy Spirit, help me. And Lord, we  honor you today. Thank you, Jesus,   that you're with us. In the mighty name of Jesus,  we pray. Amen. Amen. I want to invite you to stand   with me. And the ushers are going to come forward.  They're going to pass that bucket. Make sure to uh   put that card in as the bucket goes by. We want to  declare right now how much we need God. The prayer   team is going to come forward at the end of this  song. And maybe something in you just resonates   that you need prayer for. I love this song that  we're about to sing out. God, I need you. God,   I need you. I want to ask you if you will  from your heart to God, just tell him today,  

I need you. Those are some very powerful words,  aren't they? Let's sing together. Let's worship   God. Come on. Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh  God, my God, I need you now. How I need you now. Oh rock, oh rock of ages, I'm  standing on your faithfulness. On your faithfulness. Say, "Oh God, my God,   I need you." Oh God, my God, I  need you now. How I need you now. Oh rock, oh rock of ages. I'm  standing on your faithfulness, your faithfulness. You hear your children. Then you hear your  children now. You are the same God. You are the   same God. You answered prayers back then and you  will answer now. You are the same God. You are the   same God. You were providing. You are providing  the same God. You are the same God. Same God.  

You are the same God. You move in power and God  moving power now. You are the same God. You are   the same God. You are a healer. You are a healer.  Now you are the same God. You are the same God.   You are a savior. You are a  savior now. You are the same. Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh God, my  God, I need you now. How I need you now.   Oh rock, the rock of ages. I'm  standing on your faithfulness.

On your faithfulness, oh God. Oh God, my God, I  need you. God, I need you now. How I need you now. Oh rock, oh rock of ages, I'm  standing on your faithfulness on your faithfulness. What a great message from Pastor Andy. And how  awesome was it to hear from Pastor Jacob and   also a couple people that are a part of our dream  teams as well. And you might have been watching   this message and listening along thinking, "Well,  how can I serve if I'm not physically by a campus   in person?" I want to let you know there are  ways to serve with our online community. And   that's why we want to invite you to fill out one  of these forms that Pastor Andy was talking about   at the end of his message. You can open the  Saddleback app and then look for the what's   my next step prompt and click on that so that  you can either join us for activate discover   your shape or get directly plugged in with a  dream team. Our team would love to personally   connect with you help you to discover your shape  so that you can use your gifts, your talents,   your heart and abilities to serve God's kingdom.  So make sure to fill this out by going to the   Saddleback app. And if there's something else that  you might need prayer for or maybe another next  

step that you want to take, whether it's joining  a small group or taking the step of baptism,   we want to invite you to let us know through  the Saddleback app as well. Church family,   we are so grateful that you were with  us this weekend and we hope that you'll   join us next weekend as we continue our  Get Growing series. We'll see you then.