Enduring Faith | Ps Sam Picken

[MUSIC] >> Hey, welcome to the C3 assembly podcast. Thanks for joining us today. Every week, we share Bible-based, down-to-earth messages of hope and freedom in Jesus from across our locations. We're praying this message encourages you, built your faith, and helps you know him more. Grab a coffee, and let's get into it. >> Welcome everybody online. >> Pleasurise, Lord God, we love you. God, I thank you for what you're doing in our house. I thank you for what you're doing in people's lives. We open up our heart to you, Holy Spirit. You're speaking to your church, in your name Jesus. And everybody said, amen, amen, awesome. Praise the Lord, amen. [MUSIC] Well, welcome everybody. Again, please high five, or kiss, or hug, or squeeze, or tickle. [MUSIC] Amen. Let it love. Let it love in the house. I love church, I love this church. I love you. I know you love me. It's my birthday yesterday. I got lots of birthday love. I know. I feel it. Love you guys. I'm 29. 42. 42. Well, welcome, awesome, it's so good that you're here. As Pastor Ange said earlier, that we are in our vision builders. Season right now, this series as a church. Locatable places of hope. You're in a locatable place of hope. Even online, it's kind of a version of that. But we love the fact that we get to touch one another and be a community together. Hear each other's voices singing the way the church was meant to be. It's meant to be a communal thing, a together thing. And if you're watching online, please make your way down to the house of God when you can. I understand that we have these beautiful things called technology. So when people are traveling and doing different things, it's so beautiful to feel connected. But church is never meant to be just online. And I have met people from time to time who are like, "Oh yeah, you know, like I do church online." I do church online with this church in Florida or some other place. And it's like, "No, that's not your church." I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You listen to good messages and you are influenced by content creators. But that's not your church. You need to be in a place. Anyway, I'm getting distracted. So it's awesome. Pastor Jess and I, we get to be the lead pastors here. It's awesome. C3 is a part of a larger context, Christian city church. Churches all around the world. And if you're visiting, welcome. And we are a different kind of church. Like we lean in and we're energetic and we're engaged and we just love. We want to be a part of something that is outlives us. And that's what I'm going to be talking about today. And so in a few moments, I'm going to play a video that is kind of sums up. Vision Builders for the last year. You've got some stuff in your books and you can read those later. You can take them home if you want for consideration. And this is an invitation to financially partner with what God is doing through the life of our church. Key word, invitation. And as I said, we're a different peculiar kind of people. We lean in pretty hard. We understand that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence. Because there is a dark force and we're waging war against that dark force to take ground back for the kingdom of light. And we're unapologetic about it. You're like, man, that's pretty full on. I'm just visiting. Yeah, we're pretty full on. And so you'll feel that. And also, I preached a message last week. There is something that God is doing, shifting perspective, supernaturally in our church. And last week's message was definitely on God's agenda, on God's page. And I endeavor to do that every time I preach. But sometimes you just find yourself locking into something that you know hits slightly different. And that was definitely last week's preach. And this will be a part two of last week. You can turn in your Bible to 1 Peter, chapters 1 and 2, as you get ready. So listen, at the end of this service, you're going to be invited to respond to the gospel and meet Jesus and invite Jesus in your heart. You're also going to be invited to financially make a commitment for over the next 12 months. And Jess and I, it's a weekly amount that is automated out of our bank account. And then we look to exercise faith beyond that. And so you're invited to be a part of that. And this is above what we call the tithe, which is a response. It's a returning, and the tithe is about honor. So Malachi is a book that is a prophet that's speaking about dishonor. And one of the things of dishonor, which is also in idol worship and these different things, is how we're not returning honor back to God. And so that's what, and that's the kind of the first 10%. And if you're like, "Man, this church talks about money a lot." We do. Jesus did, because money talks to you a lot. And money, the maman, which is this, it's maman is bigger than just money, but money is a part of maman. And it's a spirit that wants you to live without God. It's a spirit that wants it to be God. And this is a very forceful, very demonic spirit that is constantly trying to play tug of war with your heart when your heart is meant to be surrendered to Jesus. And now it can be a preach for another day. So we're going to play this video. It recaps over just 12 months, which is a celebratory video. It recaps 12 months, seeing these five priorities we have taken ground as a church in the last 12 months. And so let's check this review out from Andrew. Vision Builders is the sacrificial giving of our church, where we give above and beyond the tide to build the house and move the mission of Jesus forward. And church, over the past 12 months, we have seen God move in extraordinary ways. Last year, we placed five bold priorities before our church. We prayed, we gave, we sacrificed, and what we once saw by faith. We can now point to. On September 20th, C3 Assembly Itopico opened its doors. A new community is forming. People are finding home, and the gospel is being preached in another part of our city. On August 30th, C3 Assembly Hamilton opened its permanent home at 276 Kennellworth Avenue, North. After years of gathering faithfully in temporary spaces, Hamilton now has a permanent place, where people will encounter Jesus, and generations will be established in the house of God. At Geary, we continued reducing the mortgage, strengthening our financial foundation, and creating greater freedom to respond when God opens the next door. The Geary Studio is also complete, and already helping us carry the message of Jesus further through worship, discipleship resources, and content for the next generation. And in February, C3 Assembly Mexico City officially launched. People are encountering Jesus, community is growing, and leaders are emerging in one of the world's greatest cities. Church, look what the Lord has done. In 12 months, we launched two new locations, open Hamilton's permanent home, completed the Geary Studio, and continued preparing our church for everything God wants to do next. Every person who gave played a part, and we believe this is only the beginning. We know the local church is where the hope of the world is found, and there is more ground to be taken for the kingdom. This year, Hamilton became our first permanent locatable place of hope. Channel worth has shown us what is possible when our church unites around a God-given vision. Now, we want to strengthen what God has placed in our hands and position our church for whatever he asks us to do next. So over the next 12 months, our priority is to build an even stronger foundation across C3 Assembly. That means building the financial strength to act when God opens the door to our next permanent property. When the opportunity comes, we will be ready to move with faith. Ready to respond with wisdom. to say yes. So together, we are believing to raise $5 million, $5 million to strengthen our position and resource the future God is inviting us to step into. This is faithful stewardship of what God has already given us and faith-filled preparation for what is still ahead. Everything we have is temporary, but God gives us the privilege of investing it into what is eternal. We give what will not last to build what will outlive us. Church, this vision belongs to all of us. It is not equal giving, but equal sacrifice. So we're asking every person who calls C3 assembly home to seek God and ask, Lord, what part are you calling me to pray? Make a plan for what you can faithfully give. Then ask God what he could do through you beyond what you could do on your own. We have already seen vision become testimony. Now, we strengthen what God has placed in our hands and prepare for what he will do next. Church, let's continue building together. Beautiful. So I mean, it's a lot of ground that has been taken, and as you hear the messaging in your vision-builder's books, this year is a year where we're going to strengthen ourselves to be in a position to be prepared for what God could do next. Man makes plans for the Lord direct steps, and this is true with you and I personally as well as all the 13, 14 years that we've been doing this. I can present a vision that's pretty clear, but at the end of the day, like God, you kind of moving and then God, as long as you keep moving, God can't steer a parked car. And so we keep moving and we keep stepping in faith and it's amazing looking back. Faith only makes sense in the rear vision mirror. And so you look back over the history of what God's done through the 13 years that our church has existed and the ground that's been taken and it's been like, there's been a sequence of taking ground and then strengthening, taking ground and strengthening. And so over the next 12 months, we're going into a strengthening season so we can take ground again. So the vision that I'm presenting today is not like another list of another five priorities. There is a whole bunch of priorities, but I'm going to go to the 30,000 foot level now and talk about what our ultimate priority is, which ultimately is aligning with the God's story. It's aligning with what God, and that's what our church's mandate has always been, what every church around the world's mandate should be, and what we're never going to change on this mandate. And so this message is called enduring faith, somebody say faith, enduring faith. We don't have to repeat everything I preached today, but it's okay. Can you imagine? Somebody say can you imagine? I'm joking. All right. First Peter, chapter 1, verse 23, kind of picking up from last week is for you. By the way, before I get going, I just want to thank everybody for coming to the vision-builders, Gala, whoever was there. I mean, what an amazing spirit there was and there really is an incredible spirit. I will not be, I'll be kind of doing about 30% of what I did at the Gala, just want you to know that it's different than Sunday. A lot of people say, "Oh, that's the same thing." No, it's not the same thing. It's not just making that clear, making that clear. All right. First Peter 1, verse 23, "For you have been born again." And so last week I was talking about how like this identity, this perspective shift that we become foreigners to this earth when we unite with Jesus, it's like the way that everybody that doesn't know God doesn't live, like everybody that doesn't know God lives with the focus of the here and now, the temporary and but the Bible says it's like a vapor. Your life, my life, that's it. That's crazy, but we live in the truth. We've been unplugged, the matrix says. We're out and we understand perspective what is going on. We live in this deal of eternity and it says, "But you've been born again." So when you and I meet Jesus, when people get saved and Jesus transforms their life, you don't become a renovated version of the old. So a drug addict meets Jesus, they don't become a renovated drug addict. What they used to identify with in the past, they may still struggle with addiction, but it's the sin in them that's not who they are, who they are is righteous and there isn't a lot, so then the sin becomes disassociated from your identity. Death is not your destination, death becomes a doorway and that when we understand as a baptism is the old is gone. So although you're looking the mirror, you might not, you hair might have changed, but you don't look that different, but you aren't renovated, you are in you, born again, transformed. So you think different, behave different and there's everything's trying to line up with this, but we need to line up with this imperishable idea. So not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, you've been up to me to say imperishable. And that's what I've been trying to get at is what we're doing. We use the temporary, what Andrew said. We use what we have here and now, but we lay it up for something that lives beyond here and now. We don't lay out for ourselves treasures on earth, where Moth and Rust destroy, we lay ourselves up. So we use our treasure on earth for eternity, eternal purposes through the living and enduring, enduring, enduring word of God. The word of God, the word is His purpose. The word, the word of God is the thing that nothing exists eternally outside of God's word. You and I cannot make up an eternal word. We only have His eternal word. We can't add to the word, we can't take away from the word, it is the word. And His word started in the creation of time and it's still the enduring word, the first words out of the mouth of Creator, God out of the Creator, not a Creator, not one of the creators, the only Creator. The word of God wasn't spoken to another human being. Human beings hadn't been created yet. He spoke into a void, into chaos, it was prophecy, and His word started with the word let. And He said, let there be what? Light. Before a son was created, he didn't need a son. He is light. He is the way, the truth, the light. So in other words, God was saying let there be me. And Jesus is the light. So in other words, Jesus was saying let there be Jesus, because He is light. He is the word. That's what John tells us. The word started, oh man, I can do it. But these revelations, they're celestial, cosmic, massive ideas. And so we lean it and that's what I'm trying to get is we're going to 30,000 feet, we're going way up there to be like man, I need to live for the thing that's going to endure. And every time you and I align with His enduring word, everything in our lives become another manifestation of that mission. So every time you say yes to God, you are essentially saying let there be light. Every time you go to work and you're a bang God and you're following the word of God and your faith is aligning with the word, you're saying let there be Jesus. Every time you say no to sin and no to the devil, you resist the devil and you flee from that and you say yes to your transformed identity of a new creation of who you are and Jesus, you're saying let there be Jesus. Every time you renew your mind and you're saying I'm going to take captive every thought, I'm going to make it accountable. I'm saying let there be Jesus in here. I'm saying let there be Jesus. Let there be Jesus to my pocket book to my wallet. I'm saying hey you aren't living for anything here temporarily because it's saying come on let there be more of sin. Let there be more of your selfishness. Let there be more of you know that stuff that you want, the stuff that you desire. It's nice. And then the Bible says after this, Isaiah 40 says all the people are like grass and their glory is like the flowers of the field. Our flowers look pretty. Just for a moment their glory looks pretty for a vapor. Oh man we look at the world, we look at the ways of the world and we look at its glory. Our pocket book looks at it and it's like oh get that, get more of that. What marketing is it saying no this glory that fades don't let it lie to you. It's just for here for a vapor that Tesla that you just got. All right I'm playing. I don't need to go way down in there but but all this stuff it wants to say hey this is what you need is glorious. Look at this and it's not a no no it fades. You're a fading glory but when you say to your finances you say all every dollar and every cent that I have I lay it down for the kingdom of God because I'm saying hey I want more of Jesus. I want to I want to enjoy with the I want this to endure for the word of God I want to. I want it to matter like the light of Jesus. I want to say let there be more light for more souls. I have the light of Jesus, but they don't. I walk down Queen West and they don't. I walk down the streets of the city and they don't. I walk in Hamilton. I walk through Mexico City. I walk around the world and I'm like, there are so many people that do not have the prophetic words of Jesus from the dawn of time. They do not have light. They do not have hope. And that's what we're aligning with. That's what we're doing. How many people want more of that? You are more of that for your teenagers. You are more of that for kids. You are more of that for society. That's what I want to live for. And that's what we're aligning for. Man, this is awesome. The mission of God. The flowers are filled, but the grass with us. The flowers are full, verse 25. But the word of the Lord endures. Forever. Man, I want to live for that. Chapter 2 and verse 4. It says, as you come to him, as we come to him, so he's already came to us. Jesus already came to us. He did come on the cross. He died. It was buried and resurrected. And he's coming again. The Lord's day revelation tells us that the spirit and the bride, the bride, is the church. They say, come. And he says, I am coming. But he's saying, well, what would you come? The harvest is great. And the work is a few. Many are called, but few are chosen. Many are called to come, but few do actually come. And as we respond, and we're responding to him, he is the initiator. You aren't the initiator of your faith. You're not the one that says, I'm going to approach Jesus. How arrogant is that? He already came to us. He's the only God in any religion that left a place of authority and came to us. Every other God says, I'm staring on here. You've got to come to me. And you never make it. Do more, act more. This is the gospel. The gospel of Christianity is that he first came. For God so loved the world that he sent. And God is ascending God. And he's also inviting you and I to be a part of the mission of God. Oh, man, I'm preaching today. I'm so excited about the mission of God. I hate the atrophy of humanity. I hate the carnality and the depression of it. I hate things that are temporary and that aren't going to endure and aren't going to exist. But I love the fact that light did come. And God loves so loved the world. And so God sent His Son, and then the Son went and ascended to heaven and the Father and the Son because their mission of sending beings, they sent the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit and the Trinity of God is now sending the church. So this is the commissioning. It's ascending for us. Will you be sent? Will you come to God and receive the invitation to be a part of something larger than yourself so that you can be sent so that there could be more light and more of the manifestation of what God said in the beginning of time? We get to live in a time and space in 2026 where God isn't-- He hasn't come yet. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. But right now you and I are living in a place of choice. It's called the church. It's an amazing season of time. One day, it's not going to be needed. As you come-- oh my gosh. I preached like four messages already. As you come to Him, the living stone-- V living stone, not A living stone, not another living stone, V living stone sent-- living stone rejected by humans. And that's in reference to the Jews rejected by humans, but chosen by God. And precious-- somebody say precious-- that word is repeated three times. Man, precious. Precious. I can't do it, Schmigelboy. And all living stones are being built. You also like living stones. You and I are not the living stone. There is nothing you can do. You can't take your bank account and give it to God and say, I'm going to save the world. You are not the world's savior. But you get to be a part of your saving plan if you want to be. But you aren't the living stone. But you are like living stones. Are being built, we're being built, into a spiritual house. Oh my gosh. What is this? The spiritual house. To be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices. Money is only a part of the spiritual sacrifice. Romans 12 says we give our whole lives as living sacrifices. The money is such a strong representation of what we're sacrificing. See, you can't give your whole life to God and keep your money. And that's hypocritical. And that's-- for Scripture says, see, I lay a stone in Zion. See it. The word see means behold. I lay a stone. Do you see it? A chosen and precious cornerstone. And the one who trusts in this living stone will never be put to shame. If we trust in anything else, the word shame is stricken with panic. If we trust in anything else, we're going to be panicked. There are too many Christians that say they trust in God, but in reality, actually don't, and come to church every week in panic. We're going to-- we need to trust in God. Now to you who believe, believe, remember the title is Enduring Faith. You are a believer. To you who believe this stone is precious, that's the third time it's mentioned. But to those who do not believe the stone, the builders' rejections become the chief cornerstone. And a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message. What was the message? The message was, is come to me. Accept Jesus. And there was people in the Old Testament, people in the New Testament, that there was Messiah's-- Messiah's Holy Spirit. There was prophets, prophesying about the Messiah, and they wouldn't see Jesus. They wouldn't accept Jesus. They rejected him. And so they were tripping. Somebody say they were tripping. They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. And I love verse 9 says, but this is their identity in God. And I'm here to remind us of who our identity is. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare. There's our mission, declare that we are meant to manifest, let there be light as well. Declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness to His wonderful light. That's the mission of the church. Amen. I got this screen that illustrates verse 9, a chosen people. This is our new identity, a royal priesthood. This is new access. I mean, you are born again. You're made new, new access. So you're a holy nation, a new citizenship. We have a new king, a new mission. What I'm saying is the living stone. Jesus is the living stone. We're a part of this deal that is this holy priesthood. It's like a supernatural thing. We are talking about buildings like Kennellworth. We're talking about even this one. We've leased this one. But this is in our future. I mean, there's going to be more to come. That's not what we're really talking about. What we're really talking about is that we are a part of inviting more people to come and be a part of this royal family. That every single person living and breathing on the planet is chosen by God and predestined to have relationship with Him. And so we, as the church, exist to say, will you come to this message of hope? Will you come and accept, confess with your mouth and believe with your heart? And Peter is the one that writes this book. We're building an imperishable house. Peter, Peter, Peter, this is here. He's got the revelation of the cornerstone. And it's no surprise to us from chapter 1 and chapter 2 that he is the one saying, will you get it? Because in Matthew chapter 16, Peter's name literally means rock. He came from Simon, bent, broken, and he became Peter, rock. And Jesus says in Matthew 16, hey, I want you to get a revelation of the rock. I want you to, because on this rock, I'm going to build my church. So now he's writing it and articulating it in these first two chapters, because in Matthew 16, Jesus says, who do you say that I am? Based on how we act, when we give financially and we lay our lives down to God and how much we want to align with some sort of eternal vision, we'll all be founded off our revelation of Jesus. If you and I do not see Jesus as precious, as the living stone that we need to align to, we will build our house a different way. He is, he is, he's the enduring living stone. He doesn't change. And as long as we resist, we're going to be, we're going to be walking through life and what was that? You know, that was every person throughout history. He's not coming back until the gospel is preached to everybody. So everybody's going to hear, everybody's going to have an opportunity to come up and to meet this thing and go, woo, hey, wow, oh, this actually, this is different. This is not another religion. This is precious. Peter was like, you're the Messiah and he's like, I'm the Messiah, you get it. Peter's like, you're the rock, you're the cornerstone. The one that the prophets and Ephesians chapter three, and Ephesians two, it says that this is the foundation that was built off the apostles and the prophets. Peter's like, oh my gosh. I see this thing, this is the thing that they've been prophesying over for 500 years. And it's this carpenter's son that's standing right [BLANK_AUDIO] front of me, the one that John the Baptist was talking about, what's, it's precious. And so instead of trying to, and all people are like, ah, you know, live whatever, the tripping over it all the time, it's like, ah, you just live your truth, like when everybody has the truth and it's like, woke ideology and, ah, you know, like, you can believe whatever and it doesn't matter. What is Jesus? Who am I? Who do you say that I am? What am I just like another prophet? Am I just kind of a good guy? Am I like, am I like the ultimate Canadian? Hey, I'm Jesus. I'm like the ultimate Canadian. I'm like, I'm just such a good guy. Man, if that's the limit of our revelation of who light is, or I'm not going to give what's trying to let me, what made me live myself, I'm not going to give up my selfish life for that. I'm not going to go and nestle up, so you and I are like living stones and we're walking around and we're these people that God wants, we're called living sacrifices Romans 12, so the problem with the living sacrifice is just still alive. So you want to get off the altar all the time and then there's stones here instead of trippy on it and every time we, you know, is stumbling, I'm kind of, if you and I constantly resist the truth that is Jesus, we are going to be offended by it. It's going to be a stumbling block. And then what we're going to do is we're going to look at the bride, the church, and we're going to write blogs about it. We're going to get on Instagram. We're going to become these people that are going to be like, yeah, you know, the church is, it's all they want in your money. No, the church doesn't want just your money. The church wants all your money. The church wants all your mind. The church wants all your life. The church wants you to lay it down, baby. The whole thing. The Old Testament, the Old Testament, yeah, that was in the Old Testament and all that was required of you was to relate to a high priest, give 10%. You know what's required of you in the New Testament is to become a priest and give up 100%. Well, I don't like it. You don't get to, you don't get an opinion. He is the living stone. He is objective truth. Ah, well, it's new day is changing. It's like that's not our identity anymore. You don't get to change it. We don't add to the Word of God. It's the enduring Word of God. And so the moment we realize that, we say like Peter, we're like, oh my gosh. You're the one of the foundations of the apostles and prophets. I got to do something. Why have I been resisting for so long? You're the principle piece. Oh, man, I don't need to, I don't need to worry. Oh, man, this actually feels, this rock feels good. Matthew 7, man, he who obeys the Word of God is like a house built on a rock. That just makes you want to get up on it even more. You're like, ah, ah, I feel so secure. How much more could I illustrate this? I'm like, man, the waves are coming. Psh, spiritual warfare. The this thing ain't moving. It's never moved. Wait for thousands of years before the dawn of time. Why have I been, why have I been stricken with worry? I've been, I've been living with fear, but perfect love of the chief cornerstone cast out all fear. What have I been freaking out about? Come to me, all you are weary and laden and I will give you rest. I really took that far. I don't even know if I'm lying there. That's revelation. Peter's like, and this is what I'm trying to get at as a church is we're inviting you to be a part of a vision and there's practical dollars and cents with it and there's things that we want to do. But ultimately, this church exists for expanding the kingdom of God so more people can live this life, this surrendered life and be free of themselves. I was getting puffed out with all the tripping so then I needed to just rest. Number two, faith is our only means. This house is not built any other way. Faith, faith, faith, faith, faith. This is a something. It's not a nothing. Hope is the message. Man, everybody needs what I just illustrated. Love is our motivation. Man, I'm okay to let myself be put out so that other people will know love. I don't live for myself anymore. We don't give to vision builders because we want something because I want a nice building with nice carpets, nice seating, good air conditioning. No, that's not why we do it. We do it so more people and we've got a video later that's going to illustrate this. Now faith is the thing. Money is the currency of Canada of this world. You can't take someone, take something without money. That's called stealing. You can't access the kingdom of heaven over a wall. You have to go through the door. Thieves and robbers try and do it other ways but there is only one way it's faith and it's not faith in nothing is faith in Jesus. Faith is the currency of heaven and we use something on this world to exercise faith because faith without works is dead faith and these sacrifices that are pleasing and acceptable to God, Hebrews 11.6 says without faith it's impossible to please God. So I'm inviting you to exercise faith. Hebrews 11.6 says without faith it's impossible to please God. It's impossible to align without faith because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists. You have got to have that Peter revelation. You exist Jesus. You are the Messiah. Okay. Thank you, Sam. On November 1st, 2026, I finally saw that it's not about me. It's all about him. Foying. I'm awakened. The light turned on and we've been doing vision builders. We've got this reel of some of our other. I mean, we've been doing vision builders long before you were here. Like and all the years of all these vision builders and these different, they've all said the same message. It's just presenting the gospel and aligning with the gospel in different ways and I just want to tell you that by placing our faith in this higher deal and this 30,000 foot in the God's story, by placing our faith in this story, that we have always been looked after. The Bible says the just shall live by faith and the just are the ones that live their life off the righteousness of Christ. When you rely on a line like this, I'm telling you, it's amazing how God continues to look after us because people gave in 2014, because people gave in 2015, because people, and some people have moved away, some people have been through all these things and they're given that your life got baptized, your life got there, there are lives here that are now here in the gospel. I mean, our kids curriculum that we've been producing has now gone to 55 other churches that get to use and propagate the kingdom of life. That's amazing. The worship, those songs, has gone to over 127 countries around the world, are singing, and these things, I mean money does something, but that is something that's a special possession, that is something that's a part of a spiritual house. There is something supernatural going on. That's why we've been a part of that. I want to tell you just to encourage you in faith, because faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. I want to tell you the word of God and His proven love over and over again in Jess and I's life and being a part of this. He's never failed us. Amen. I want to quickly just show you what could be possible. Why $5 million? I'm going to show you this is a real estate listing that existed, but this building has now sold to someone else. I'm showing you this as a hypothetical of what could be possible, because this existed in the city. We looked at this building. It was a $19.5 million building. I think it was an old Canadian tire. I wonder if this, the $5 million could be the strengthening to position us. We can't move on something like this if we're not ready. That's just the way we don't want money. We want money and can buy. So someone could give us it. Maybe there's some guy out there, some landlord out there. This guy has finally catched the revelation of Jesus and the vision of God and be like, "Hey, I want a $20 million building. I don't really need it, but the church and the kingdom needs it." Then thank God. We don't need to worry about giving envisioned builders. That would be great. I'm cool with that. Anyone cool with that? But although we believe for the best we plan for other things and so we're going to give them, we're going to give faithfully, and this is like a $56,000 square foot. I'm just showing you a scenario. Imagine this was a Kipling and Rexdale on $3.5 acres, 200 parking spots. This building got on the next one. There is dollar value here that's crazy. The fact that there's no columns in a 16 foot high ceiling thing that could accommodate it. people. When we're walking through, we're like, "Oh my gosh. Can this please be filled with the people of God? Can this please be a locatable place of hope?" I'm like kissing the floor, like, "God, I what?" But we just weren't in a position to transact. I'm inviting you. There are people in our church that have connection, like living stones. You're not the Messiah, not one person who's going to do this, but together as a church. There are people in this church that are connected and have the means together, altogether, as we could make something like this a reality. And this particular location already had religious owning allowed on it. I'm talking like with the engineering of the columns and the possibility in the relief, that's like two and a half, three million dollars worth of value right there and a heck load of stress. It can't happen if nothing happens, but many are calling you and inviting you to this so that we can do more things like Kenelworth so we can do more things like Mexico City. We're talking about Poland and Warsaw now. I mean, this is a flagship church, but the devil is a legalist and he doesn't want that to transact into kingdom hands. He wants that used for temporary things. He wants buildings like this used where Moth and Rust destroy. So we're going to go again. We're going to believe again. Why? Because we're people of faith. I'll get the keys up. So faith is not nothing. It's something. First Peter, the first Peter 2 verse 6 says, "See, I lay a stone." The word stone is a sure foundation. I'm inviting you that if you use all your money for yourself, your life is not founded on a sure foundation. That's the reality. That's the truth. We want to control. We are controlled freaks. Because we're driven by fear, we grip and we control. But when you release that and you have a revelation, it's crazy. And I'm not preaching prosperity gospel in terms of like, "Hey, you're giving to God in a way to manipulate him so that you can drive a Maserati." I'm not saying that, but I am saying that God's word and His testimony is unfailing. And He never sees the righteous forsaken. So He never sees His children begging for bread. That's the testimony of the children walking into the promised lands. Their shoes never wore out. Their clothes never. God can't help it. He's a great king and he looks after His kingdom. He doesn't try and do it. He just does it. The question isn't whether He's going to do it. The question is whether we're going to align to it, but that takes faith. Faith isn't positivity. It's not wishful thinking. It's not, you know, the universe. It's going to put a couple of crystals out, positive thinking, and it's going to be great that the universe is going to align. Let's sleep. No, no, no, faith. It hangs on His word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. Ephesians 3 says it's rooted and grounded. It's grounded in something. And it says, "Well, it's grounded in His love and it gives us power." And it says Ephesians 3, 21, it says, "Now to Him who is able to do He measurably more than we will ask or imagine according to His power to Him be the glory in the church and Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever are men." God wants to do an measurably more in this spiritual house that's connected to all generations. And we as living stones are invited to be a part of this, what is the spiritual house? It's the connected God's story. Hebrews 11 says, "Well, Abraham was connected to this, Enoch was connected to this, Moses was connected to this, Abel was connected to this, but none of them saw the whole story. And only together with us that this story unfolds." And so it's like Noah, I mean, if we looked at Noah's circumstances, he looked like everything was going to drown. But faith is an overcoming spirit. Have you ever heard someone say, "Oh, you know, how you're doing?" And then a really natural response is like, "Well, you know, like under the circumstances, not bad." You know, it's kind of like, "When I'm in to live under the circumstances, I don't, faith is an exercise." And, "Well, let me just count up the circumstances and see what I can do." No, you're not counting up the circumstances. You're counting the truth. And your circumstances need to align to it. So you become like Noah in the ark, and it's like, "Man, I'm going to do something different." That's why we're peculiar. People, we do things a different way. Just because the economy is sinking, doesn't mean you're going to drown. That's what the rainbow was all about. The rainbow was about God's promises of never failing. And so, you know, I was talking to someone on Friday night, and they were sharing a story of their vision-builder's testimony. And they're like, "I don't know, this is measurably more. I don't know how it makes sense, like it doesn't make sense." It's crazy. I'm just, I'm telling you this story to encourage your faith, to encourage the person in this room that's just like looking and counting the cost and it's just like, "I don't know how to do the math. You're in good company." I'm telling you this story to give glory to God because he deserves the glory that he keeps looking after his people. And so, in early 2025, nearly two years ago, at the beginning of this year, the company that this person worked for was lost a giant contract. And 95% of the employees of this company, because this contract fell through, they had to be laid off. 95% of the employees. That in that company that was, he was telling me this, is 350 employees. He was one of them. But he said, like, "Oh, man, like this," you know, and he was motivated and encouraged in vision-builders in May of 2025 to step in to be a part of it. It was his first time that he wanted to join in with vision-builders. And so, he gave a significant amount. He said, "Listen, I want to live according to a different economy. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence. I'm going to live in a different evidence. I know." And, you know, it says those who trust in God will not be stricken with panic. And talk about a scenario where you're stricken with panic, like the company is tanking. And he says, "I want to do it different." And he's like, "Sam, you wouldn't believe what happened after I did that." And I was like, "Oh, well, I probably would. I've been doing this for some time. Are you found the goodness of God? Is that what happened?" He's like, "Yeah, man. It was crazy." He's like, "I still worked for the company. 15 months later, they just keep extending." They're like, "Everyone, all these other people, different things. But for some reason, they keep coming back to me and they just want more." And so, I'm not even really meant to be working in this scenario, but it's been 15 months and I'm still there. And then after I gave this thing, it's like certain things shifted. And he's like, "I'll just cut along story short. My personal income has exceeded 10 times the amount after I gave it, mate." Oh, here we go. Look, it's the past that's telling us again. You know, like, "No, I'm telling you, God is faithful!" We place our faith in anything else. You place your faith in income. You place your faith in businesses. You place your faith in contracts. You place your faith on anything. It has nothing to hang off because it's not hanging on the enduring word of God. And I'm here telling you that the church is an imperishable vision, placing our faith and aligning with the mission of God in advancing the churches with what he's done. It's the whole reason the New Testament was written. The Book of Acts is still a Book of Acts now. We are meant to be acting in faith from the revelation that Jesus the Messiah has. We align with this. And I'm inviting you to do that in our way. This is our little part of the body on the planet. C3 assembly is like, it's a whole bunch of living stones, a part of this house, which we are all a living stone that's connected to the living stone. And I'm saying, "Would you have faith to align, to be a part of it?" And it's not, yes, we want locatable places to hold. We want people, wouldn't it be amazing if there were just addresses, dotted, more addresses where it's like buildings are just thriving. I remember the first time I presented the Midtown highlight reel to the Anglican church who owned that church and the Archbishop of the Anglican church was at the prayer breakfast in downtown Toronto. I walk up to him on the stage and I show him the highlight reel of the first service of Midtown just packed with young people, packed with people just worshiped God. And the Archbishop of the Anglican church just looked out and I'm saying, "Hey, listen, I am so grateful that you let this locatable place be rented to us because the church is alive." I don't know if you think churches are empty, but the church is alive. And he's sitting there at the prayer breakfast and we're just tears rolling down his face. It's going well. Let's do it again, church. We got the creative team put together this awesome video that explains what it's about. about life change. If you think of any of these stories in this video and you put a dollar amount to it, what would that be worth? I don't have a dollar amount. Are you kidding me that the devil lost grip of one more person's life? They came, they gave their life to Jesus. They were baptized in water, baptized into the church, baptized into faith, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and their life is transformed, that they don't need to live for death anymore, but they can live for eternity. Sam, what is that worth? Like a hundred dollars? Are you kidding? Let's watch this video. I don't know, this is from the past. Like, old, like old, I don't remember. This is the old one, right? I don't remember that. When I started coming everyone was wearing hats, and I kept asking why is he wearing hats, why is he wearing hats? I've always loved the imagery shared from our pastors throughout all these years of like, as we pray maybe as a church, it's like when we're praying to new locations, it's like thinking of each chair, each seat in that location, representing an actual person, an actual soul. Someone is going to walk in here today and see their life transform. I wasn't a believer before we walked in here. I didn't believe in God, I didn't believe in Jesus. I thought everything fell into alignment because of the universe and man did that change and I walked in. I experienced the Holy Spirit for the very first time. I live for Jesus now and I love it, so that's it. It's been really amazing. We wanted a church community, that's what we found here. Yeah, it's a place for our whole families, our kids who are 10 and 12 and have that we can come and worship and learn about Jesus together. I started now 17, he's grown up in the church and just watching him go from see three kids to youth and now on team with three kids as a mother it just brings so much joy to my heart that where he's he's growing up with the church and in the church and yeah God's part of our lives. We got married and then I started school so we were like too high. Yeah finances, like it was not like it's not easy and I remember being so like we would record every dollar we spent. Like I remember people offering me a coffee and I was so generous and so I wanted to build it off with that back that like hold fell off me and I felt a lot of like peace and giving. We started looking for houses in the beginning part of 2018. At some point over that spring, God like jogged our memory, it was like remember your vision, build this commitment like we had committed a number and I think honestly we kind of needed that money for the down payment on our house and so ultimately he was he was definitely asking us to trust him. So we fulfilled our pledge, we did that. The next house we offered on was was our ultimately our first home that we got but it was for the exact and now less than the vision builders pledge was really cool. Yeah. I work at Matihal so I saw firsthand how our church community welcomed the refugee claim and this is my forever home. The people and the community here is just outstanding, remarkable beyond anything I could have imagined everyone is so happy, so friendly, so loving and that's what I was missing my entire life. That love of Jesus radiating through everyone. I think we I can say that you can give from a position of gratitude and we're expecting of that many people will get to experience which is what I miss at God. I think one of the things that's like which would always attack vision builders or like a compete for vision builders is like the thing in this world. It's like suffocation, renovation, the nice of car, down payment, down payment. I just think this side crisis is very beautiful and it's what God called us to do. I really feel like I have seen what the kingdom of God does in lives of people. I want my life to be spent building God's kingdom. I feel home and I feel so blessed and honored to be part of starting something new. It's great to see people like me. I had just moved to an apartment and I was like looking for a church and then when I found out so yeah I looked it up. It was a two-minute walk from my house and I was like okay this is like on a hundred percent so I've been here since. I just feel like there's so much freedom in our lives because of what God has done for us that I would be full to say no to further invitation if life with him is what he's inviting to be able to walk with him. Yeah. I went from going to church on Sundays just as a task check off my list for the week to actually make another life stuff and something I do every day. I've gone from being hopeless and depressed to having hope and having a whole future. It has always felt like and it always will feel like eternity hangs in the balance. When you're fighting for people to meet Jesus to know and to experience the presence and see their life change completely. Yeah. He's done it for me. He's done it for us. He's gonna do it again. Yeah. It's such a beautiful thought. It's the song. Hell else to another one. The way I see the church now is it's God's plan A. We decided to skip that ties. Yeah. That was one of the best experiences of our life. Yeah. Before it was about instant gratification and I'm seeing now it's more of what can I do for those around me to get back to the kingdom and to be part of kingdom building. I did not feel equipped at all. I felt like God was inviting me into something new and was inviting me to to step up. As we continue to build the local church and to have vision for other sociable places of hope I think that gets sick cited about being able to put our finances behind that vision. I saw a bunch of people with signs. They seem very happy. He said it was a church. It was literally right there. The impact on my life has been love. Amen. So we're going to be praying and preparing our hearts as to how we would be a part of this. Remember it's an invitation and there's going to be people down the front ready to pray for you to stand with you as you are committing and being a part of vision builders past the Jonathan's going to give you some instructions in a minute. But I love that last line where it's like man, you know, it was an address. It was right there. But the impact of my life was love. And being I just I just want the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of light. And I know you do too. I'm preaching to the choir. You want this to be the most prevalent thing in society. It's always meant to be that way. There being mothers and fathers of faith in ages going by that have given their lives for this and the Bible is calling us to do the same. To live for what matters. And we shouldn't do this. Obviously before we've let that love transform our hearts. And if you are questioning your relationship with Jesus, I want to give you an opportunity just quickly to make your life right with God. And people watching online too, to make your life right with God, if you've never made a decision to follow Jesus today's the day. He is he created you. He loves you. He wants relationship with you. That's he is the source of hope. There is no other hope outside of him. If you've if you've once made this decision before, but for any number of reasons you've walked away from God, you need to recommit your life. You too need to make your life right with God. And so can I ask you to bow your head and close your eyes. If you're someone that's never made this decision today's the day. You want to recommit your life to Christ today's the day. If you're someone that wants to pray this prayer, we're going to pray together as a whole church community, I want you to indicate to me that you are someone that wants to pray this prayer, either for the first time where you want to recommit your life to Jesus. And the way you would indicate to me is by raising your hand. Is there somebody here in this place that says, yes, that's me. I want to make a decision to follow Jesus. Thank you. That's awesome. You can put it down. You can thank your seat. You can put it down. Who else is there here today? Say yes, that's me. I want to make my life right with God. Thank you, Jesus. Raise it up nice and I'm not going to invite you to the front. I just want to acknowledge your hand before heaven. Yeah, I see that one up the back. Who else is there? Say yes. I want to accept this message that you're talking about past the sand. I've been living for other things when I've got to live for Jesus. Just raise your hand up nice and I believe people are responding online as well. Amen. Just stand to your feet church. There's a few people that raised their hands. Why don't we just give God some praise for that? Amen. Just repeat quickly after me. Repeat this with faith in your heart, say, "Dear Jesus, I thank you that you died on a cross for me, forgive me, of my sin, clean me, make me new, right now, help me, follow you as my Savior and my Lord from this moment on Jesus. I thank you that I'm saved." Amen. Amen. Thanks for spending some time with us. We believe God has something for you in this message, and we're standing with you in prayer as you carry it into your week. If you want to know more about who we are and get connected, head to c3assembly.com or email us at [email protected]. Better yet, come join us in person on a Sunday at one of our locations. See you next time.