Fellowship: Vision Sunday: Part One, Albert Tate

[Music] get glory in his [Music] fellowship family welcome we are so glad that you're with us today it's so good to to be with you uh my name is michael and i am one of the pastors here who are you i'm angela so good to be with all of you welcome to church yeah welcome to church this is fellowship we are a gospel center multi-ethnic intergenerational church and we exist to make disciples and for us that gospel-centeredness means that everything comes down to jesus and his gospel and we are people who follow him in community together and for us this whole idea of multi-ethnic really does come out of the gospel we see it throughout scripture we see the gospel as a reconciling gospel and so we really have a high value of that we have our center for racial reconciliation that we mention all the time but that really is an expression of what we see jesus doing and calling us to in the gospel so you can check that out whenever you get a chance that's right and every week you'll hear us say that we're also intergenerational because we mean that we believe that we need every generation represented in this church for us to be a healthy and thriving church and so a way that we express being intergenerational is we just have a high value on our kids and our youth they really really matter to us because we believe that if we have healthy strong kids we want them to be raised to know love and serve jesus for a lifetime and so as a church a way that we help do that is we have amazing resources online for our kids and our youth but something that's really exciting for our kids is that this weekend in person at monrovia high school our three to five year old our preschool is now available in person which is so exciting so if you've got kids whether they're three years old or 11 years old all the way through fifth grade make sure that you go to madridfellowship.com kidschurch and let us know you're coming be sure to register so that our kids team can prepare because they want to make a space for your kid which is so exciting and if you have a student 6th grade through 12th grade our amazing youth team is so excited to be able to serve your kids so they're meeting both online and in person and they're just amazing at creating spaces for our kids to encounter jesus so make sure that you check that out yeah this weekend if you've joined us this weekend it's a very special week it is it's a big thing it's a big one for us every single year as a church we do this thing we call vision sunday and as we've grown as a church we call them vision sundays there's too much to pack into one weekend so this week and next week are vision sundays and these are important weeks to tune into these are important weeks especially if you know somebody who needs this share this with them let them know what god is doing in this church and where we are going as a church because this weekend next weekend we're going to be talking about where we are and where we're going what we believe god has called us to and as you join us we just really pray that you're thinking through how can i join in what god is doing in this community of faith how can i find myself deeper in community it's going to be an incredible time together so again if you're watching with us right now you know that our digital services are 8 and 10 a.m on sunday mornings and that's where it's live and we can go back and forth and chat it's on demand all day sunday and after that and you know that if you're if you're tuning in with us now and you know that if you're in the area monrovia high school 9 and 11 this is vision sunday it's going to be incredible yeah and one of the things that we have been profoundly impacted by all the years of fellowship has been in existence is god's grace on our church god's abundant grace and his deep love for us and a way that we celebrate this deep love and this deep grace is through worship through song we love singing out to god and so right now we invite you stand up clap your hands and will you engage with us of worship fellowship let's worship together one two one two three here we go [Music] [Applause] oh bless the lord wherever you are lord how you love me i don't deserve grace on top of grace yeah more than i've asked for more than i'm worth it's your grace on top of grace how sweet once lost again [Music] more than i've asked [Music] [Music] heaven came down hallelujah [Music] worship the lord with all your heart cause you're free lord [Music] it's great hallelujah [Music] it's yours yes lord it's your grace it's your love it's your love you [Music] you didn't think twice to find us and to save us you didn't think twice but you came and rescued us lord i'll never be more loved than i am right now wasn't holding you up so there's nothing i can do to let you down it doesn't take a trophy to make you proud i'll never be more loved than i am right now [Music] going through a storm but i won't go down [Music] you would cross an ocean so i wouldn't drown and never be more loved than i am right now you're closer you are you are [Music] [Music] always enough more than enough come on always enough more than enough all sing it again forever [Music] you are enough child [Music] in every circumstance you are [Music] while we were still lost still broken still wandering jesus died for us he paid for it all the weight of our decisions the debt of our ways he redeemed every last dead and dying thing through his death on the cross he's invited us to be made new to die to the old to be raised up to new life upon your confession of faith it is my honor to baptize you in the name of the father the son and of the holy spirit [Music] right [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the old is gone the new has come [Music] hey fellowship family welcome to what we like to call around here vision sunday uh every time this time of year we like to slow things down a little bit and talk about why we're here uh talk about the season that we find ourselves in and i'm just gonna go ahead and put my cards on the table tell you what my goal is today number one is to celebrate the faithfulness of god god's been so faithful living in the season that we've been in god's been good and sometimes you wonder lord is anything happening it's such a crazy time people are being baptized we're celebrating people coming to faith in jesus christ um we're we're celebrating the investment in our young people we're celebrating continued partnerships and outreach all across the country and the world we're celebrating god's faithfulness and his healing power we're celebrating his faithfulness in the midst of grief we are celebrating god's faithfulness in this season because in the midst of all that's happening in the headlines we want you to know the greatest headline here at phallish fellowship church is that god is still faithful not only do we want to celebrate god's faithfulness but i'm going to intentionally take some time to encourage you and i pray that this vision sunday will be marked with encouragement as we give the vision of where spiritually we find ourselves and the prayer that we're praying asking god to meet us in this season that we find ourselves in so you picked a great sunday to be here um and i pray that our time together would leave you uh encouraged to keep going and trusting in the way of jesus exodus 16 is where we will start our journey together today exodus 16 beginning at verse 1. hear these words of our father the whole israelite community set out from elam and came to the desert of sin which is between elim and sinai on the 15th day of the second month after they had come out of egypt in the desert the whole community grumbled against moses and aaron the israelites said to them if only we had died by the lord's hand in egypt there we set around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death then the lord said to moses i will rain down bread from heaven for you the people are to go out each day and gather enough for the day in this way i will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions on the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days so moses and aaron said to all the israelites in the evening you will know that it was the lord who brought you out of egypt and in the morning you will see the glory of the lord because he has heard your grumbling against him who are we that you should grumble against us moses also said you will know that it was the lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning because he has heard your grumbling against him who are we you are not grumbling against us but against the lord then moses told aaron say that say to the entire israelite community come before the lord for he has heard your grumbling while aaron was speaking to the whole israelite community they looked toward the desert and there was the glory of the lord appearing in the cloud the lord said to moses i have heard the grumbling of the israelites tell them at twilight you will eat meat and in the morning you will be filled with bread then you will know that i am the lord your god god i thank you so much for your goodness i thank you so much for your faithfulness i pray that in these next few moments you would speak o lord like only you can tune our ear to your voice so that we might hear you ever so clearly turn our hearts toward you so that we might experience the fullness of all that you have for us god is to that in that i ask now that you stand in my body think through my mind speak through my vocal cords those things you would have us say know and do may the word to my mouth the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight o lord you are my strength you are my redeemer get glory in this place in jesus name amen you know i've been thinking a lot about my old church where i grew up and i find myself uh thinking about old testimony service we used to have now the testimony services was just a time when you would just brag on the goodness of god i can still hear ain't leona i can see aunt vicki i can see cousin robert lee jones i can i can hear the elders my my elders declaring and telling stories of great faithfulness and creating space filled with great joy and expectation and exuberant celebration where they would shout jump sing and dance y'all testimony service we had a good time you would think at the level of praise at the level of excitement that they had great wealth that they had uh great big blessings in material things no to be honest it was the opposite very meager means didn't have a lot as a matter of fact uh synopsis of a common testimony would be um i'm not where i want to be but thank god i ain't where i used to be god's working on me god's faithful oh i wish i had a witness in here anybody can testify like the elders at my old church i ain't where i want to be but thank god i ain't what i used to be check me out god's working on me god's still fixing on me god's still purifying me he's still sanctifying me he's still cleaning me he's still saving me he's still working on me this juxtaposition i um i i continually feel that tension with the pandemic and covet and with all that's going on in our world i feel like we ain't where we used to be but we we ain't yet where we're gonna be we find ourselves in this middle in between space uh normal that we've known ain't there no more so if you're waiting to go back to what was normal you're going to get back to normal and realize normal left normal is no longer attainable there's no such thing as getting back to how things were no fundamentally things have radically changed and yet we are not where we're going to be we are not inevitably at the place we want to be when i think about our church how we did church where we were as a church that's fundamentally changed and how we do church in the future i i don't think we've got it figured out yet but we're we're right here in the middle some of you your family what what what your family used to be in some of the dynamics it's changed what your family is going to be you ain't there yet but you're finding yourself navigating this mirror some of you in your own work in your job place you're in this hybrid world and it's like it ain't what it was but it ain't what it's going to be i'm in this middle and today i just want to talk about and give us vision for what do we do in the in between time what do we what do we do in the meantime in between time what do we do how do we find ourselves how do we not how do we not sit in anxiety knowing that we're sitting in literal literal uncertainty we don't know what's going to come next we're not sure what all the future will unfold how do we plan how do we prepare how do we get ready for what's next how do we deal with these flexes and variables and variants that keep coming at us and these different dynamics and the rules keeps changing in the game and the the fabric of our landscape of our culture seems to be eroding with all kinds of political upheaval and abroad what what what what's going on how what do we do in the meantime in between time in between where we were and in between where we gonna be what do we do talking a good friend of mine aaron lindsay uh our our worship pastor and we were talking about coming out of the covet season and coming out of where we've been the last year and kind of looking at what's next recognizing that covet's season isn't over at least as well in some parts of the country it never happened at all but that's for another sermon for another time but it's just we were kind of you know exhaling and thinking wow yo we were tested on every hand tested uh spiritually tested physically tested emotionally tested socially with our community we were tested on every hand and we were thinking we came through the test and that's when aaron lindsay said something that stopped me in my tracks and it disturbed me significantly he said it to me it disturbed me now i'm going to say it to you so it can disturb you so you better turn me off real quick you about to be disturbed um somebody did it come back come back i was playing um [Music] he said as we think about all the ways we've been tested he said albert what if that was the lesson and now this is the test what if that was a lesson and now this is the test what if what if what if the lesson was for you to see god faithfulness and moving in a time of unrest and now when think when you're trying to find your new rhythm in your new way what if this is the test that you're going to hold on all that he said all that he did all that he's doing the children of israel in our passage and in our text find them in the midst of a test they had come out of the bondage of egypt crossed the red sea walked on dry land god had done an amazing thing you would think that was the test but no as they find themselves in the desert listen to what they say their tenor and tone is that of grumbling they're frustrated with moses and god they say if moses was gonna bring us out here to die he we could have did that in egypt at least in egypt we would have died with pots and meats around we we ain't got pots of meat we ain't got food out here what's going on they're grumbling and they're frustrated and what they thought was the test in egypt maybe that was the lesson and now that they're in the wilderness this is the test to see if you can trust god notice let me tell you something if you don't get in the presence of god you will see this season and you will miss everything's god attracted you'll completely miss it listen to what those and they were grumbling their their freedom to them felt like bondage their freedom that they're sitting in they complained about it like it was bondage and their bondage when they was enslaved in egypt they romanticized it and remembered it as if it was freedom if you're not careful you will go through this in-between time season and what is in fact your freedom will feel like your bondage and what was your actual bondage you'll romanticize as though it was your freedom this vision sunday i want to tell you and i want to show you i want to give you a vision of what season we're in of what season we're in and in this between time season in this in-between season i want to give you a vision of how do you walk with god how do you hold it together how do you stay in courage in this season how do you make sure that the freedom doesn't feel like bondage and that you don't romanticize the bondage to feel like the freedom how do you walk in the test of this season recognizing that maybe the lesson was in the last season i want to give you vision for how we as a family of faith get through in the meantime in the between time what do we do and it's one simple word one simple phrase it's trust trust in god what does it mean for us to trust in god what does it mean for us to put our expectation in him our trust in him and for us to rest in him what does it mean for us to put our expectation in him our trust in him and our rest in him the children of israel are going to help us this vision sunday the first thing you need to see is god says you need to take your expectation out of egypt and put it in god take your expectation out of egypt and put it in god god heard their grumbling and he said this is what i'm going to do this is what i'm going to do for them i'm going to give them manna in the morning meat at night let me give them bread this bread substance is going to come and it's going to settle down like the dew that lands on the grass so shall bread rest on the ground for you and then at night i'm gonna give you meat i'm gonna give you meat to be able to eat so i'm gonna give you man in the morning meat at night i'm going to provide for you in this season in the meantime in the between time they were out of egypt but not yet in the promised land they're in this in between time in this season of uncertainty in this season of complexity in this season of fog and a lack of vision of what's happening you need to expect god because he will do by his hand something you've never seen before there's an opportunity in this season for you to see something you ain't never seen before expect god in the meantime in the between time he says i'm gonna put bread i can bread gonna come from heaven meat gonna come from heaven they never seen that before they never seen that before brothers and sisters in this time in this in-between time open your eyes and expect god because in this season god is still god and from what i know about him god is still good so even though it's in a season of shifting and change and unrest and a lot of doubt and a lot of confusion a lot of frustration and even a lot of anger y'all god is still god and god is still good expect god to move even in the in-between time as a matter of fact there are things that god wants to do definitely designed for this season there's an opportunity to see what you've never seen before slow down in your marriage there's an opportunity to see what you've never seen before slow down with your kids there's an opportunity to see what you've never seen before in your single life as you're navigating your own identity in your space and work and relationships and friendships god says i want to do something never done before you're going to see me move in a way that you've never seen before because you've never been this undistracted you you've never had a season where everything was slowing down and when you when you drive by slow you see mold [Laughter] i said when you drive by slow you'll see mo what if god's got you in this in-between time to show you something you've never seen before to do something in your life that he's never done before to take you places in him that you've never been before what if in this season uh our comms director works on our staff uh young loiter lord lord said this what if your prayer in this season isn't lord how long but she said what if our prayer in this season is lord how deep what if it's not about how long i'm going to stay here but what if you made this season lord how deeply can we go here how deep do you want to take me in this season how how deep do you want to show me the things what if the vision for this season ain't how long o lord but how deep oh lord what if you took your eyes off of the clock and put your eyes on christ and said lord do whatever you want to do in this season in my life how deep do you want to take me expect god in this season there's an opportunity to see what you've never seen before y'all manna in the morning and meet at night not only that but he then gives them a description of how he's going to disseminate his grace um he he he gives them a vision and and a rhythm if you will he says every day i'm gonna feed you every day i'm gonna give you enough for today watch this watch this he says i'm gonna give you enough for today so when you go out get enough for you to eat for the day don't get some for tomorrow don't get time for next week don't get something for your cousin in them no carry out plates just get some for today and then he says and listen and if you get more than what you're supposed to get for the day if you try to save something over it's going to spoil and go rotten and go back you ain't got to keep it long guess what they did they got more than what they were supposed to get they got more than what they were supposed to get they would get extra and what happened is it spoiled and it went bad they brought a they brought a costco mentality to a whole foods reality yeah yeah you know that is a they brought a costco mentality to a whole foods reality they don't go in and try to costco god in this season you know the costco you know costco what it is is you get a a big old thing of uh you know a regular thing of mayonnaise is this they'll go and get mayonnaise like this you know what i'm saying and they caulking around a big old thing and be like honey i had a deal it's like that ain't a deal we should never there's no catastrophe that could happen in the world that would warrant that much mayonnaise we ain't gonna never need that many sandwiches that many nah you all know what it was they needed a whole foods mentality whole foods you get it you got to eat it within seven hours or that stuff gonna go bad it's that apple you got seven hours because it's fresh it's fresh from the ground to your grocery store to you and you know if you don't eat it in seven hours that thing gonna go bad and you're gonna lose a 375 000 you paid for that one apple that's whole foods right there jack i i think what the issue is it's trust i don't trust you to be good today and tomorrow so i've got to hoard your goodness from today and hustle for my tomorrow god didn't call you the horde god didn't call you to hustle he called you to point number two here it is trust in him so expect him and then put your trust in him take your trust out of your hoarding and your hustling and put your trusting in your god they would gather extra because they didn't trust him they didn't trust him to provide what some of you you can't even enjoy the bread that he's put before you today because you're already anxious about what's going to happen tomorrow some of you already anxious about what's going to go on next week you already freaking out it ain't even happened yet you already stressing about that no no no no what does it mean for you to receive bread today in faith for tomorrow bread today and trust for tomorrow trust that god's going to provide what he desires to provide on tomorrow trust him in this season what what's what's our vision our vision is that in this between time that our houses our churches our families our communities that we would look to god and expect him to move and to see what we've never seen before god you may want to do something that you've never done before not only that but to trust him trust him for his daily bread don't hustle don't hoard but trust him trust his rhythm trust his timing trust his faithfulness trust his goodness somebody needs to hear this he's going to provide for you in the season y'all hear me he's going to provide what you need in this season trust him expect him to be god and expect your god to be good trust him he's going to give you what you need receive the bread for the day stand and trust for tomorrow expect him trust him rest in him can i can i give you a vision for your family for this season find your rest in god find your resting god find fight don't try to find rested money don't try to find rest and working and trying to find any incentive significance the only way you're going to really find rest peace shalom wholeness you're going to find it in god he tells them on the seventh day don't don't do anything there'll be no mana there'll be no meet on the seventh day there'll be nothing so on the sixth day get double and that'll cover you for the seventh day you know what they did don't you they went out there on the seventh day and there was nothing if you don't get in the rhythm of god's obedience you will exp in a time of abundance you will experience scarcity because you win at your own time and your own pace in your own way i'll say that again if you don't find the rhythm of obedience in a time of abundance you will experience scarcity because you kept showing up in your not god's way you kept showing up on your time you will miss the rhythm of god god is saying i need you to arrest children of israel i need you to take a day off to their credit they never had a day off in their life they didn't know what a day off was it didn't even make sense to them all they knew was hustle all they knew was horde all they knew was slavery one of the reasons why god says i need you to stop israel one of the reasons why i need you to have a day where you do absolutely nothing israel because you worked under the under the tyranny and the the hand of pharaoh and egypt and you worked and you work and you work and you work from sun up to sun down you were enslaved to that system and the reason why i need you to take the seventh day and do absolutely nothing so that i can remind you you're not a slave anymore you're not a slave so stop acting like it you're not a stave slave so stop living like you're not a slave so stop working like it stop and see the salvation of the lord be still and know that i am god you are not a slave you are a son and a daughter lay down relax and rest and see that the world will keep on spinning because contrary to popular belief you ain't running the world god is stop somebody say albert you just don't know my schedule i can't afford to rest you can't afford not to stop so that you can be reminded you're not a slave so that you can be reminded you're not god so that you can be reminded that the world will keep spinning if you start sitting you're not a slave so rest rest in god rest in his provision rest in his peace and his love you're not a slave anymore as i pray about the vision for our church you know our church is made up of folks like me and folks like you so our vision for our church is really our vision for your as we navigate this season and here's the vision in this season expect god's hand to move and i'm telling you just might see something you've never seen before as a family adjust your prayers not how long o lord but how deep oh lord as a family trust him don't bring a costco mentality to a whole foods reality trust him and say lord i'm not going to let this season mark me with anxiety i know next year we need a plan three years from now we need a plan but today i got bread so let me trust in the bread that you provided today let me receive the bread from today and trust you for tomorrow what would it mean for your family to practice that what would it mean for you to sit in that rhythm and third and finally rest in him you're not a slave so stop acting like it you're not enslaved to that check you're not enslaved to people's expectations you're not enslaved to perfection you're not enslaved to other people's ideas about who you're supposed to be you're just not a slave so rest in him if we rest in him in this season where everybody feels like it's hard and overwhelming where everybody feels like we ain't got no answers where everybody feels like we got all these complicated problems in this season you'll experience the hope of god my friend he's a pastor and this old man came up to him and said oh brother pastor i've been praying for you i can only imagine how hard it is to do your job i'd imagine now that it's harder to be a pastor than ever before i'd imagine that it's really hard to do your job because everybody's so divided everything's so hard i i'm praying for you because i know this is probably the hardest it's ever been for you my friend surprised him with his answer he says actually brother it's it's not the hardest it's ever been as a matter of fact things are clearer now than ever before it's easier now than it was before he said really how is that so he says because the whole world sees clearly that we got a problem and we're the only ones with the answer the christians we got the answer whole song we used to sing and it goes like this [Music] jesus is the answer for the world today above him there's no other jesus is the way in the between time jesus is the answer for your world today [Music] above him there's no other jesus way in the meantime jesus is in the season of uncertainty jesus is the way i don't care what the doctor report says jesus is the way i i know it's confusing but my brother my sister jesus is the way i know he could go different kinds of ways but only jesus is the way so expect him to move because jesus sees the way put your trust in him because jesus oh you can rest in him because jesus is the one so your vision is the way of jesus jesus is the way that's our vision the way of jesus cause jesus is the answer for the world today [Music] above him there's no other because jesus is the way for his glory amen so god we thank you that you are provider god we thank you that no matter where we find ourselves that you are more than enough god we thank you for this time that we've been called deeper into the life of this church god we thank you that you're calling us to greater things in the future god we thank you that you have met with us today as we've gathered together as your children god we thank you we thank you when we pray these things in jesus name amen friends we just want to say that um if you feel like god spoke to you at all throughout our time together uh that we're here for you and that might feel lofty for you of god speaking to you but uh think of it this way if anything made your heart leap if anything spoke to something that's going on in your life if anything uh moved you in a way where you want to talk to somebody if you want to pray with somebody if if you just need help if you need pastoral counseling or you know therapy type of counseling we're here for you you can see the information of how you can reach out to us but we just want you to know that we're here from you you don't have to do this alone you're not created to do this alone and we want to walk with you as you take your next faithful step to the thing that god has called you to today fellowship family we're here for you yeah and you might be in a space today where you feel like you're in the in-between where you feel like you're not yet where you want to be but you're for sure not where you used to be and you might be wondering like god how do i navigate this season of the in between we asked two questions here at fellowship that we believe can help navigate that where are you serving and who are you doing life with often times when we're in the journey of the in-between god asks us what's in your hand just like he asks moses what gifts and talents are in your hand that you can use right now for god's glory where you can meet other people who are like-minded where you can connect with other people who love jesus like you do or maybe who are also wrestling with their faith like you are and so we invite you check out the ways on this screen that you can engage even in the in-between in all of these different ways in the life of our church both in volunteering as well as getting connected to a connect group or to a rooted group we invite you to do that today yeah and at the top of the service we we invited you to invite somebody or to share this with somebody who might need this and we also want to acknowledge in this moment that we are living increasingly in a culture where your friends might not be that interested in church they might have church hurt they might be kind of beyond church and their in their words and our our society is becoming increasingly post-christian so the traditional ways of just inviting people into community might not be as appealing to your friends as they once were and that's why we have this incredible experience called alpha it's coming up in the next couple of weeks and i just want you to think right now of somebody who might not be that interested in church but they would be open to conversations about the meaning of life open about open to conversations just about philosophy and theology and who is god and does god exist and why is there evil in the world and on all the big questions that people a lot of people actually want to talk about alpha is centered on those questions it's centered on creating a really safe and inviting space and a really profound space for people who might not be convinced yet that jesus is lord so you can see the information of where to sign up but we want to encourage you if you're already a follower of christ and go through alpha with somebody that's either beyond church post church or not a christian yet they're not likely to come without you and so we invite you to sign up along with a friend who might need this uh and please join us for alpha it will be a powerful profound experience starting here in a couple weeks yeah amen it's so awesome yeah i love alpha yeah uh fellas you also might be wondering like how are we able to do these things that we're able to do well we're able to be faithful to the to the call that god has on our lives as a church because you're faithful with your giving every single week you're faithful to worship god through giving so right now you can check out the screen for all the different ways that we invite you to continue your worship and continue to um express your faithfulness to god through the act of giving so we invite you to give now and lastly fellowship uh if you just want to stay connected with us um you can see the ways that you can stay connected with us we're on instagram we've got our website um there's nothing that's going on in life our church that you can't be in the know about just at all times so stay connected with us and as we close our time together um i just want to say friends family may the lord bless you and may the lord keep you may he make his face to shine upon you in fellowship family may we live lives that are different than the people around us and that are so compelling that people are interested in who this jesus is may we be that community and we pray this in jesus name amen amen we love you fellowship we love you fam we'll see you next week

Channel: Fellowship

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Keywords: weekend services, Albert tate, midweek service, worship, fellowship, fellowship church, fellowship monrovia, midweek message, weekly service, fellowship worship, fellowship music, jesus

Id: mt5YdgR_ml0

Length: 48min 26sec (2906 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021