- Jesus, we thank you for who you are today, we thank you that there's nobody else like you, no one greater than you. And in this moment that we have together right now across multiple locations, people's homes, wherever it is that they're gathered today, God, we pray right now in this moment, would you speak to us, give us a Word from you to transform us from the inside out. We thank you today, Jesus, for what you're going to do. It's in your name that we pray, amen and amen. I wanna welcome right now all of our new Collective Church and Highlands Fellowship locations, all of you joining online, our regional partners, global partners around the world. Welcome into this moment. I'm so humbled to be able to share with you today. My name is Mark. I had the privilege of growing up here in Southwest Virginia as a kid, going to college even in Virginia, and spending most of my adult life in Northeast Tennessee. And here's one of the things that I've discovered along the way. Being in churches, both as a person who attended, as a young person, and then as a pastor since the age of 21, is that I've discovered that there's a couple of primary thoughts. One thought is when it comes to Jesus and Christianity, here are a certain set of beliefs, a certain set of beliefs that we want for you to hold to. And on the other side, here are certain behaviors that we want for you to ascribe to. So all of that boils down to belief, belief or behave, belief or behave. And many of you have experienced these forms of Christianity, many of you grew up with these forms of Christianity, where you went to a place and primarily they said, "Hey, we want for you to believe like this, "and if you do, you're in," or, "We want for you to, you better behave yourself. "You better behave yourself." Some of you grew up like that, right, with Mom and Dad using Jesus and the Bible as a weapon against you, to be able to alter your behavior so you would get in line to do what it was that they wanted for you to do. This has happened to many of us. There's some head nods in the room. But here's what has happened. In recent past, not just in our general vicinity, in the couple of primary states that most of you joining in have seen, but what we have observed happening is a Barna Poll in 2019 said that only about 10% of the Christian population, those who identify as Christian, actually fit into the category of being a quote unquote "a resilient disciple." And the markers for that are really, really low. The markers are really low. It's like attend church once a month, have a personal relationship with Jesus, hold the Bible in high regard, and actually view the world around you as something that God cares about, and that you have a purpose to be able to do something with. It's interesting to me that in the middle of this, just believe these certain things or just behave these certain ways, that none of that is actually producing real Jesus followers. And part of the reason why is because neither one of those two schools of thought is actually what Jesus showed up with teaching. In fact, Jesus' opening line when he begins his public ministry, this is his opening line. Out of all the things that he could have started with, right, out of all the things that he could have said in his opening statements of public ministry in the world, this is what he says. Matthew's gospel 4:17 says, "From that time on, Jesus began to preach." And this is him starting to preach, and this is what he says. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." Notice this was not just, "I have got some stuff I want for you to believe," or, "I want for you to behave yourself. "You better behave, you've better behave." But instead he says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." Now, that word repent evokes all kinds of different emotions for us. There are those of you out there right now listening to this, and you have been so scarred by the word repent, because you've had somebody along the way in your life use that word as a weapon. You've had someone along the way even yell that word at you in very intense forms, right? You've had someone use that word to single out a particular struggle that you were going through that maybe everyone else around you in the church environment that you were in, maybe that wasn't their struggle, so they singled you out and they used that word against you. That's why for many of us in this room, even as I read this word from Jesus, we look at that and we get a little scared, or a little uneasy or a little on edge, because what might this word really mean? And while there are others of you who are like, "I'm ready for this. "Finally somebody is about to tell somebody "to get their act together. "Somebody is about to tell somebody "they need straighten up." And you are already leaning over to your teenager being like, "This is about to be for you, all right? "I want you to listen to the pastor today, all right? "If you listen to anything, listen to this." It's amazing, is that how we use these words from Jesus in all of the wrong ways. Here's what I want to do today. I want for us to see this word of repent, repent. Repent means this. Repent is the total Transformation of your way of life. A total Transformation. Again, not just what you believe or what you behave, although that's part of it. Watch this. It's a total Transformation of your way of life as the result of a complete change of belief, thought, attitude, and behavior. Total Transformation, a deep inward Transformation, that's a result of a complete change in all of these areas, belief, thought, attitude, behavior. Yes, what we believe matters. We'll see that how you think and what you think about matters. We see that your disposition, your perspective, your how you carry yourself, your attitude matters. God cares about all of those things and the decisions that we make, right, all of that. But I want for us to see today that the invitation of Jesus and what Jesus came to bring was so much bigger than believe a few things or behave a certain way so that you can just merely quote unquote, "go to heaven when you die," which is what has been primarily attached to both of those schools of thought as the only outcome that really matters. And while where we spend eternity is very, very, very significant, and we find great peace and comfort in knowing that Jesus has us forever, I want for us to be able to see right here in the here and now, Jesus has an invitation to deep inward Transformation for each of us. And if we have been settling for anything less, we have settled for less than what Jesus has come to bring. So look at this. I want for us to see today four things that you have been shaped and formed by. This is why we need Transformation, because these four things, these are four things that you have been shaped and formed by. The first one, what you believe, what you believe, or narratives. You have been shaped and formed by the narratives that you believe, or the stories that you believe. You've been shaped and formed by what you believe about God, what you believe about the world, what you believe about how the world came into existence, how you began, what you're doing right now and what matters, and ultimately where you're headed, the story, the narrative that you believe shapes and forms you. But most specifically, the narrative of the good life, the vision of the good life that you have shapes and forms you. In 2007, there was a book written by Kevin Vanhoozer called "Everyday Theology," and there's a great chapter in that book in which he writes about the good life and the grocery line, the good life and the grocery line. And it captured my imagination back then, and it has stuck with me ever since, because he writes about when you walk into a grocery line, a grocery aisle at checkout, one of the few things that actually does still exist, although it's changed greatly since 2007, but there still are some stores where you can walk into and you go down a grocery line and a checkout, and there's a person, and lined along the way of that checkout line are mostly magazines and some candies or some other random items, batteries, et cetera, et cetera. And in that grocery line, there is a vision presented to you of what the good life is. On one hand, and I did this again recently, on one hand you have fitness magazines that demonstrate to you, here's the good life. The good life is to be beautiful, and by beautiful we mean you must have now a nine pack, not just a six pack, but a nine pack is possible apparently, if you are Thor or some people like that, right? And so you must look beautiful. Not only must you look beautiful, but here's also the vision of the good life. Your home must be perfectly decorated by a better home and a better garden, right, or a southern living or a whatever form of thought, right? There's always a vision of the good life. If you were to look like this, and if you were to have a home that was like this, then you would have the good life. But it's interesting that on the other side of that grocery line, there's also, there's also magazines with recipes galore, right? That you should indulge yourself in the most decadent desserts, right, that you should indulge yourself in whatever craving of the flesh that you have. Just indulge yourself. What we all know, is that it's very difficult to look like some of the people on the covers of those magazines, have a home that looks like it has been designed by "Better Homes & Gardens," and to eat like the best recipes that have ever been created by people. It's very difficult to actually have all of those things work together for us, but it's a vision of the good life. We are all shaped and formed by narratives that have told us, this is what you should believe about what the good life is. Here's the second thing. You've been shaped and formed by what you do, which is habits. Shaped informed by what you do, your habits. I love this definition of habits from James Clear, who wrote a book called "Atomic Habits." He describes a habit like this is, "A habit is a routine or behavior "that is performed regularly, "and in many cases automatically, "regularly, and in many cases automatically." And I started thinking to myself, what habits have I been shaped and formed by to the degree that I actually do them automatically? I thought, hmm, there's more than what I realize, but one notable one, I brush my teeth. I brush my teeth every morning and every night. Well, most every morning, definitely every night, okay, most every morning, sometimes during the pandemic, my dental hygiene started slipping, all right? I got on Zoom meetings early on in the day and I didn't freshen up beforehand, i just kept drinking coffee, and anyways. All right, but for the most part, it's like automatic. And probably it is for most of you. Without even thinking, brush your teeth the morning, night, it's automatic for you at this juncture. There's also a lot of other things that are probably not as helpful to us, that are just as automatic, one of them being the number of occasions without even realizing it that you pick up your phone just to touch it, right? Just to make sure it's still there. You've done this, you pick up the phone, I do this all the time, I pick up the phone, I touch it, it opens. I'm like, hmm, what? Why am I here? I was looking for something, wasn't I? I would've just picked it up just for fun. I'm, surely I'm here for a reason, right? And then so by default then you're like, well, okay, for some of us, like TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, just depending upon your age range, right, any one of those, it's like, well, I suppose I, since I'm here, I could just, I'll click on this, and then minutes or hours for some of us just scroll by, 'cause we're scrolling mindlessly and endlessly. I wonder what that's doing to who we are? Habits shape and form who we are. In fact, James Clear says later, your habits shape your identity and your identity shapes your habits. If you actually say to yourself, "I'm a fit person," you probably work out. And if you work out, you probably say to yourself, "I'm a fit person." Internally, you don't walk around saying that, all right, very few of us probably do anyway. "Hey, I'm a fit person. I work out." We don't walk around saying that, but the internal dialogue that we have amongst ourselves, or on the inside. You do this with a number of different things. The opposite can be true. "I'm not an athlete, I'm not healthy, I'm not fit." So then I eat a certain way, I live a certain way, or I do certain things. It's connected to our identity, how we see ourselves and what we do. We're shape and formed by that. Here's the third thing. We are shape and formed by who we are influenced by. This is people. You are shaped and formed by people who you are influenced by. This is for sure true in a day and time in which there are professional influencers, right? Some of you have that as a job and as a career. When I was a kid, I'm not that old, but when I was a kid taking career prep in high school, no one showed me on the list of possible occupations you could be an influencer as a job. If that was a possibility, I would've been like, "Sure. "You mean that there's going to be platforms "in which we can make videos or provide content "and I could just be an influencer as a career? "That's amazing," right? That's unheard of. That would've blown our minds. But now you live in a world where that is a thing. What do you think that's doing to you? It's probably shaping and forming you more than you know. Also, who you are influenced by. You're influenced by your family, by your family of origin more than you realize. I like what Peter Scazzero, the author of "Emotionally Healthy Discipleship" says. He writes that, "Jesus might be in your heart, "but grandpa is in your bones." It's a good line, it's a good line. Grandpa, yeah, he's in your bones, and he has shaped you and formed you. You're like, "I don't even know my grandpa." Anybody, just in your family of origin, the home that you grew up in, you have been shaped and formed by that far more than you realize. There are things that if you catch yourself, your mannerisms are the same, and even some patterns of behavior, they're generational, and you can find yourself repeating those same patterns and those same behaviors over and over again. That's why many of us are stuck in some of the generational traps that we're stuck in. It didn't just start with you. It started a generation or two or three ago, and it's been shaping how you view yourself, how you live your life. And the fourth thing, the fourth thing is that you have been shaped and formed by what you were in, what you were in, your environment, your environment. The home that you're in, the workplace that you're in, the community in which you live, it's shaped you and formed you in ways that are worth noting and worth paying attention to, your environment. And without even realizing it, we all live in the environment that the scripture's call the world, with a pattern, with a way of life, and you're surrounded by it. You're surrounded by it, looking to assimilate you into being like everyone else, shaped and formed by it. And here's why I talk about all of these things, because it is sometimes really, really difficult for us to even imagine why we need a total Transformation, Jesus? Why do we need a complete change of the way of life without us actually getting underneath it all and bringing some things to light, and us actually seeing, wait a second. Yeah, there's a possibility, at least a possibility that what I believed and what I've been doing and the people that have influenced me and the environment that I've been in, they have shaped me and formed me. And that's part of why I am who I am, and I don't have peace, and I feel like I'm stuck, and I'm stressed and I feel shame, and I feel like I'm far from living the life that God has designed me for. And here's the good news. Like, this is the good news of that line of, "Repent for the kingdom of God is near," that Jesus came with, that he introduced us to is this, is that this is really an invitation to Transformation. Jesus came with an invitation to Transformation. Since his invitation, he says, "I have a new narrative for you, "a new vision for your life, "a new vision of the good life that I created you. "And yes, although you have been shaped and formed "by your flesh and by the way of the world," right, "I've come for you, to rescue you, to make you new, "to invite you to follow me and be with me. "I've got a new narrative for you to live by, "and I've got new habits for you in this new way of life." Could you imagine if prayer was as automatic for you as brushing your teeth? Could you imagine that without even saying to yourself, "Man, I've gotta mark this down, "I gotta pray this morning at this time" or "pray tonight at this time," but just as automatic as brushing your teeth, that you find yourself practicing prayer, going to, "God our Father who's in heaven, "hallowed be your name, "your kingdom come, your will be done "on earth as it is in heaven. "Give us this day our daily bread. "Forgive us our trespasses "as we forgive those who trespass against us, "and lead us not into temptation, "but deliver us from evil." What if that became automatic, to interact with God, to practice the habits of the way of Jesus as though that that is who we are? God, I've got new, I've got new people for you. Could you imagine? Could you imagine the Church being and becoming a group of people whose love for one another, whose hospitality toward one another, who's edifying and building up one another, whose encouragement of one another, was so notable in the world that the world is like, "We've gotta come and we've gotta see, "and we've gotta get around these people. "Not because the sermon is great "and the music sounds wonderful, "but man, these people, this community, "God is doing something here. "This is not the way that the rest of the world is. "But they forgive each other "and hold one another accountable. "They're full of grace and truth. "They have compassion and they have conviction." We want a community like that. This is new community, new people, a new environment. We're still in the world, but we're a citizen of a different kingdom, of the kingdom of God. Jesus came with an invitation to Transformation, to a complete change of our way of life. And what is he doing in that Transformation? I like what Paul the Apostle says in 2 Corinthians 3:18. This is what he says. "And we all," he's talking about Jesus people, followers of Jesus, "we all who with unveiled faces "contemplate the Lord's glory, like, we can see him, "the invisible God made himself visible in Jesus." We've seen him, we've seen his glory, we've seen his character. We've seen what he's like. We, at this juncture, they'd seen him die on the cross for them, just like he said that he would, rise from the dead just like he said that he would. We can now contemplate the Lord's glory, lean into it, behold it. And he says this, "We are being transformed into his image." We're becoming more and more like Jesus. This is the goal, this is the aim. We're becoming more and more like him, with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. He's like, here's what has happened. God the Father has shown us himself in his Son Jesus who came and died for us, rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, and his Spirit, the Holy Spirit came and now lives on the inside of us and empowers us to become like Jesus. It's like, this is Jesus following, this is Transformation. But it still, I think, brings us to a great question, a really of why, 'cause many of you have heard these things, many of us have heard these things. But why Transformation? Why bother? Some of us already, we know Jesus, we've been saved. Why Transformation? Why total, complete change of my way of life? Others of you are like, "I'm so opposed to God anyway, "why would I consider actually changing "everything about my life "because of this invitation from Jesus? "How is that even a thing? "How is that even desirable?" Jesus answered the question in Matthew 4:17, he answered the question of why Transformation. Because of this, he says, "The kingdom of heaven has come near. "The kingdom of heaven has come near." God's reign, God's rule, and the region in which God lives, that's the part of the kingdom, the scripture of the kingdom, the region where God lives is not out there, far away, is not distant. It's near, it's here. God's way of life, God's kingdom, relationship with himself and God's presence, it's near, it's here, and Jesus, when he makes this invitation, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is near," I love the way that Dallas Willard describes that. He says, "here's what I think Jesus is saying we should do. "I want for you to rethink everything in light of the fact "that the kingdom of the heavens is open to all. "I want for you to rethink everything. "I want for you to rethink what you believe, "I want for you to rethink the way that you think. "I want for you to rethink the way that you do marriage, "the way that you do parenting, "the way that you do your job. "I want for you to rethink all of it. "I want for you to rethink how you live as a neighbor. "I want for you to rethink "your past, your shame, your pain, your failures. "I want for you to rethink the generational pattern "that you've been stuck in. "I want for you to rethink it. "You can rethink it. "Not just that you should, but you can. "Through Jesus, the invitation to Transformation is" what? "You can rethink everything, "because the kingdom of God is right here. "His reign, his rule is right here. "Relationship with him is right here. "And you can step into it simply by faith "and continue in it simply by faith." But I wanna get really practical as I close. I wanna get really practical, because again, I know that for many of us, for many of you, you know all of this stuff, all of this. But this is the place where we usually stop short. I got the why, I got the why, but how? How can I experience this Transformation? What was Jesus' strategy of actually bringing this Transformation into the lives of everyday people like you and me? What was the strategy? See, what I wish was, I wish that I could merely download an app onto my iPad and just download woop, "Kingdom of God, Transformation," I've got it. I'm good now. I'm fine, I got everything in the kingdom of God in me. Jesus is my king. I got his peace, his joy, his love for God, love for God and love for people. I've got all of it. Just download it right into me. But that's not what Jesus did then, it's not what Jesus does now. How can I experience this Transformation? Just after Jesus said, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is near," this is what he did. I love paying attention to not just what Jesus says, but then what he does, what he said, and then what he did. And look at this verse 18, Matthew four, "As Jesus was walking beside the sea of Galilee, "he saw two brothers, "Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. "They were casting a net into the lake "for they were fishermen." Look at what he says. "'Come follow me. "'Come follow me,' Jesus said, "'and I will send you out to fish for people.' "At once they left their nets and followed him. "Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, "James son of Zebedee and his brother John. "They were in a boat with their father Zebedee "preparing their nets, "and Jesus called them and immediately they left their boat "and their father and followed him." Here was Jesus' strategy, Jesus' strategy then and Jesus' strategy now for how we experience this Transformation in our lives. Again, not just believe certain things or behave a certain way, but get this deep inward Transformation into our lives. It was something that Jesus called his disciples. "Come follow me. "Be my disciple. "Experience life with me, "and you'll become like me and do what I taught you to do." That's his strategy of this Transformation in your life. "Come experience life with me, "become like me, and do what I'm teaching you to do." It was that simple. "Come experience life with me." This is what rabbis did, which Jesus was, is a Jewish rabbi picking his disciples like rabbis had. And he said, "Hey, come live a life with me. "Look at me, learn from me. "I'm gonna share everything that I have with you "so you can live life the way I live it, "so you can become like me "in every facet and aspect of life, "and so you can actually put into practice "what I'm teaching, "so you can actually do what I teach you to do." That is Transformation. That is Transformation. Transformation is to experience life with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus taught us to do. This is that Transformation, for us to experience life with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus taught us to do. This is what he wants to bring into your life, to our lives. And I'm gonna say a lot more about this next week, a lot more about this, and we're bringing something about over the course of the next few weeks called The Transformational Life, which is a spiritual formation course that I've designed and I'm gonna teach in person at many of our locations and then on video at some others because I can't make it to every single place in existence, I've run out of nights. But I'm telling you, if you wanna make an investment in your life, in you as a disciple to Jesus, in learning how to experience life with him, become like him, and do what Jesus taught you to do, I could not encourage you enough to get in this. Your community pastor's gonna have more info. You gotta get in this, make the investment in yourself, in your relationship with Jesus so that this Transformation that Jesus has invited us into can become reality in your life. Which brings me to this. This is our vision. This is our vision. Our vision is a church where all of our congregations, all of our locations, and the work that we're going to do regionally and around the world, it's our vision. Our vision is to see the Transformation of people and places through Jesus. Our vision is to see the Transformation of people and places through Jesus. Our vision is to see the Transformation of people and places through Jesus. People like me, people like you, people like your family, people like your neighbor, places, places like your home, places like your workplace, places like the communities that we live in, places around the world that God has connected us to and that are hungry for this Transformation that's already happening. Our vision is to see the Transformation of people and places through Jesus. And if you are thinking to yourself, I, what's the magnitude of that? Or, how big is that? Or, that's not big enough, or, what all does that include or, what all does that mean, we'll talk about that a lot more. But here's what I want for us to see. I want for us to just consider how big a vision is for a church as an organization, like, the magnitude of good that can happen via metrics. All of that's good and all that matters, but I don't want for any person listening into this today, regardless of where you are, to be sitting back thinking, oh wow, somebody's gonna do something then. To see the Transformation of people and places through Jesus, to see something that lofty happen, wow, someone, someone's gonna be doing some work. Someone's going to be doing something. It's going to take a lot of time, energy, effort. Our vision is as big as seeing what God can do through transforming you. That's how big our vision is. Our vision is as big as seeing what God can do through transforming you. What did God do? What did God do with the sets of brothers that he called to come and follow him? They become a part of his innermost circle of Jesus followers. They don't go about just building buildings. What do they do? They build movement, they change their homes. They change the places that they go. They change their communities. It's not the same. And then they spread out and they scatter about and they transform the world, which is what we're sitting in today. The Transformation that God brought in those few people is now why you and I are sitting here today. Our vision is as big as what God can do through transforming you, not you as you are, but the new you. Not the old you, but the new you that God desires for you to be. Come on, could you imagine, could you imagine, not you as you are, but you transformed by Jesus? Could you imagine you stepping out of all that you've believed in the past and stepping into the vision of the good life that Jesus has for you? Could you imagine that freedom? Come on, could you imagine you stepping out of your old habits, your old way of doing life, and you stepping into a new way with new habits as a person of prayer, a person who's committed to the way of Jesus? Could you imagine you, your home being a place filled with peace, love, and joy? Could you imagine your workplace not being merely an idol or an irritation, but it's the mission field of God? Could you imagine waking up every day and having the perspective of, I am a citizen, not just of this world, but a citizen of the kingdom of God, a kingdom of heaven, and it is open to all people around me, so I gotta rethink everything. I gotta reconsider everything. I've gotta actually lean in and let this Jesus do this deep inward work of Transformation in me, 'cause it's bigger than I could ever imagine, and it's better I could ever have hoped for. Could you imagine? Could you imagine a church, Southfield, with the love and Spirit of God that the world must see? I gotta see, gotta see it for myself. Could you imagine? Could you imagine communities continuing to know? 'Cause they already know, there's a church that's for them. Could you imagine if they know they're for me and they're for my Transformation in every area of life, my emotions, my mind, everything. It's better because of them. Could you imagine displaced Christians and displaced refugees, places in the world, around the world, not just being cared for but having a discipleship institute to be in for months, they get the same deep inward Transformation? Just imagine, if you can, if you can, it all begins with a shift. It all begins with a shift. For you today, say, I'm going to start not just believing certain things or behaving in certain ways, I'm going to start experiencing life with Jesus as his disciple, learning from him, looking to him, being an apprentice underneath his mentorship, his leadership, and guidance will start today. Experience life with him, become more like him, and do the things that he's taught us to do. If you would is at every location, would you stay in with me for a moment? I wanna pray for us, pray with us. God, we thank you today. We thank you for vision. God, we believe that if we experience life with Jesus, we will see the Transformation of people and places. We'll see it, we'll see it. So right now, wherever you are, if you wanna see this vision come to pass, I just invite you right now, would you open up your hands toward heaven? It's out in front of you right now. I wanna see this, I wanna be a participant in the Transformation. I want to be a participant. I wanna have a front row seat to see it in me, in others. And right now, if you do, with your hands open toward heaven right now, I wanna pray this simple prayer over us. You lean into this as well. God, I want to see the Transformation of people and places through Jesus. Lord, let it start with me. Let it start with me. I don't wanna be the old me anymore, I wanna be the new me, the me you designed me to be, the me you desire. God, I'm yours, I'm yours, and I thank you Jesus, for we're going to see. In your name we pray, amen, amen.