Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It's one of the most famous openings in literary history. Those twelve words are the opening words to Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. In my opinion, those twelve words could summarize 2015. In some ways, they could be used to summarize just about any year, but as I think through 2015, I believe they really fit.

This last year has been bittersweet. It has been bitter in that 2015 has been one of the most difficult years I have experienced in ministry here at this church. I was reflecting on this just the other day. Coming up on January 4th marks my seventeenth year serving at this church. Looking back, time goes by really quickly, which is kind of scary, but it does go by fast. In light of that, I think this last year has been particularly challenging.

As a leadership team and staff, we have faced some tests and challenges throughout the year. I'm sure many of you can identify with that in your own lives—challenges and tests that we all face. I was talking with several people between the services, and they shared some hard things they have faced this past year.

In the midst of this, there is a sense of anticipation and a looking forward to new things. Even though it is just a change from one month to the next and a calendar year changing, in my heart and mind, there is significance to it. As we finish a year, I find myself looking back and reflecting on the events of the previous year while also looking forward to the new things that are coming in the next year.

As I have thought about it over the last several weeks, we have experienced a lot of really great things in 2015 as well. Personally, I have experienced many wonderful moments, but as a church, thinking about the great things that God has been doing and the blessings that have occurred here over the last year has been uplifting. I was talking with Pastor Mark a couple of days ago, and we were reflecting on this past year. He mentioned that if we count up and consider how many prayer requests we have received, we have prayed for about 5,000 prayer requests as a church this year. Every single week, those requests have been a testament to our community's needs and faith.

Little cards are filled out with prayer requests and praise reports. The staff takes those on Tuesday mornings, divides them up, and prays for all of them. Then, on Wednesday afternoons, a group of people gathers together to pray. You can be a part of that too if you have time. Wednesday afternoons at noon, in one of our rooms, they pray together for the prayer requests. Every single week, those prayer requests are being prayed for by at least two different groups of people, and we are praying for nearly 5,000 prayer requests.

In the midst of all those prayer requests, there have been not only requests but also many praise reports. Many of you have been the recipients of God moving in a powerful, miraculous way in your life as an answer to prayer. It is such an encouragement and exciting to see the things that God is doing in response to prayer. It serves as a reminder that God is not only alive and well, but He hears and answers prayer. He is intimately involved in our lives.

Over the course of this year, as we invite new people to come to our church, many fill out one of those cards and indicate that it is their first or second visit. Perhaps you have filled one of those out this year. You are among the 200 visitors that we have had to our church this year who have indicated that they are new here, just coming for the first time. In the midst of that, we have seen and prayed with dozens of people who have committed or recommitted their lives to the Lord. God is working in a powerful way, and it is such a privilege to be a part of the work that God is doing through this church, both within these four walls and throughout the community to the uttermost parts. It is an awesome thing to see God moving.

One of the things we have been praying for over several years is now coming to pass as we have started our small group ministry called Connect Groups in the last couple of years. This past year, we have seen more and more people come to be a part of those Connect Groups. We have had a few new ones start, and we want to initiate some new ones in the coming year. It is so important to be connected to one another.

In the New Testament, especially, there are many instances where the Lord or the apostles give an exhortation, a command to the church to love one another, to pray for one another, to care for one another, and to share with one another. This is where the "one another" teachings of the Bible take place. When we gather together in homes, not just here on Sunday mornings, it is difficult to genuinely connect with people and have fellowship when you are here for 90 minutes and we give you 90 seconds to say hello to someone. That connection doesn't really take place.

Place as much emphasis as you can on gathering with one another in homes and living life together. That really begins to happen, and we're seeing that more and more in our church in 2015. As a church, this last year, you raised $20,000 in the spring for the Alternatives Women's Center through their Walk for Life, which is the Pregnancy Resource Center here in Escondido.

I feel a little boastful about the fact that our church has been in first place for several years running in that effort. We beat out the other churches that were participating. Not that I'm very competitive, but it's coming up, so get ready. Just kidding! You've given to the Alternatives Women's Center $20,000 through the Walk for Life and much more through some of the other initiatives they've done. We've been connected with Alternatives since the very beginning; we were one of the churches that partnered with them at the start of that ministry more than 25 years ago.

You've also given more than $12,000 this year in benevolence to people who are in need in our church and in the community. There's not a week that goes by without someone in our church facing a crisis or difficulty, and many times it's a financial issue. They come to the church, and we always pray with them, but we often help as well. As a church, you've given $12,000 in benevolence this year.

On top of that, and this was a number that really blew me away, as a church, you've contributed $90,000 to missions and outreach this year. You've sent several hundred talking Bibles to Mozambique, Uganda, and Sudan. After the huge earthquake in Nepal, this church helped send 100 water filters to assist those facing difficulties in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake.

We, as a church, have been supporting eight different Native missionaries in other countries. This means that when we see missionaries go out to other countries, one of their goals is to raise up national ministry workers. They aim to see people come to faith in Christ and then disciple them to the point where they are doing the work of the ministry for their own people. As a church, we are in ongoing support of eight Native missionaries in other countries, in addition to the nine U.S. citizens we are working with and supporting abroad.

This last month, you contributed 200 shoeboxes to Samaritan's Purse for Operation Christmas Child. I heard just yesterday that 11.7 million boxes went out with Samaritan's Purse around the world this last month in December, and we were a part of that, contributing 200 boxes. We are also a collection site, and so we had a lot of involvement in that effort.

We hosted this year the Perspectives in the World Christian Movement class for the second time. This 15-week missions class has had a significant impact on our church and many other Christians' lives. It has been a great blessing to be a part of that and to see God continue to work through our church in reaching the world.

You may not know this, but we, as a church, are the overseers, along with one other church in Camarillo, Calvary Nexus, of the Calvary Church Planting Network. Pastor Bruce Zachary, who pastors Calvary Nexus, and I are the directors of the Calvary Church Planting Network. This last year, you, as part of that network, have been involved in dozens of churches being planted in the Calvary Chapel Movement. We are currently supporting more than 270 young men who are preparing to plant churches in the U.S., Canada, and to the uttermost parts. Our church is actively involved in this effort, and we have pastors with the Calvary Chapel Movement all over the country and the world who are connected through the church planting network to mentor and raise up church planters.

Additionally, one of our own, George Lim, and his family left at the end of this last summer to go to Connecticut and prepare to plant Cross Connection Church in Glastonbury. When I first met George in 2010 and 2011, he was a student of mine at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Marietta. He shared with me in my Isaiah and Jeremiah classes that he was interested in church planting. Ultimately, he and his family relocated to Cross Connection to learn about our vision and focus in ministry. The intent from the start was for them to move to Glastonbury, Connecticut.

It was funny when he and I had that first conversation. He said, "My wife and I would like to plant a church in Glastonbury, Connecticut." I asked him if he had ever been to Connecticut. He replied, "No." I then asked if he had ever been to the East Coast, and again, he said, "No." I inquired how he came up with Glastonbury, Connecticut, and he said, "I don't know. The Lord put it on our hearts." I told him, "All right, well, let's pray and see what the Lord is doing."

Now, they are living in Glastonbury, Connecticut. George is currently working as a manager at Boston Market. Their main goal right now is to connect with people and build a core team to plant a church in the fall. We are seeing God do some wonderful things through the church in that area, and many of you have been involved with this ministry.

We have connected with the Interfaith Council here in North County and have been ministering to veterans in the area. Additionally, we have been supporting hurting families at Children's Hospital through the Ronald McDonald House. God is doing some great things with that.

As we gather together to worship the Lord every single week throughout this year, we have seen our identity in Christ as we studied through the book of Ephesians. We have considered what it means to have joy in Christ as we went through the book of Philippians. We also reflected on being unchained from the bondage of sin and death in the book of Philemon. Recently, we finished a series on the book of Colossians, focusing on the importance of having a Christ-centered life.

One of my favorite series from this past year was on hell, which has turned out to be the most listened to and watched series we have had on our website. This year, we have had more than 3,000 views of our YouTube channel. All the messages are being recorded right now and are made available as video and audio on the internet. People from all over the world tune in and follow our content.

Additionally, many of you came to our church because you first saw us on Cox Cable or Time Warner. For 20 years now, our church has been featured on public access television. It’s a bit of a funny channel; if you ever stumble upon Channel 18 on Cox Cable, you’ll find some pretty strange things, including our program. People tune in regularly, and we receive letters from those who either cannot come to church or are simply not interested in gathering with others. They watch us on TV every week.

Through Cox Cable and Time Warner, we have the opportunity to reach 3 million homes in San Diego. While we don’t have 3 million viewers, it’s still a significant reach. Interestingly, both Cox and Time Warner have noted that our show is their best produced program. Thanks to Brett and Dave for their hard work on that. Because of its quality, they often use our show as filler when they don’t have something else to air, leading to frequent rebroadcasts.

This year, we have had 18,000 unique visitors to our website. While that may not seem like a big deal, our church is not a huge mega church, yet we are seeing people come to our website to download our audio and video content from not only the United States but also from countries like Russia, China, the Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Kuwait, and Brazil.

Germany, Spain, India, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, Italy, New Zealand, Belgium, France, Norway, the Philippines, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Indonesia, Ireland, Iran, Kenya, Latvia, Malaysia, Mozambique, Panama, and Poland are just a few of the countries represented. Portland is kind of a country unto its own if you've ever been there. Keep Portland weird, right? Other countries include Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, South Africa, and many others. It’s amazing to see all these different countries represented and coming onto the website.

Through the Calvary Church Planting Network, we provide resources, training, and mentoring to potential church planters within the Calvary Chapel movement. The Calvary Church Planting Network is always ranked in the top five on Google for church planting networks. We relaunched our website for the church planting network back in September, and we have a lot of resources available for free. If you ever want to take a look at it, just go to ccpnetwork.org, and it will take you to the website. Since September, we've had 5,600 downloads of the resources that are freely available, and people are coming every single day. Right now, we're trending at about 200 downloads a day, with people gathering the materials that are available.

As I've been reflecting on the ways our church has been involved in various initiatives, not just in our community but around the world, I was reminded of a verse in the Old Testament. You don't have to turn there; I'll have you turn somewhere else in just a moment. In Joel 2:21, there is a verse that resonates with this. During the time of Joel, more than 2,500 years ago, the nation of Israel, where Joel lived, was in chaos, and the world was in turmoil. People were fearful because of the condition of their nation and the world. Sound familiar? Little has changed in over two millennia.

Yet, in the midst of all that, God spoke to the prophet Joel, saying, "Fear not, O nation; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things." I think that's fitting. Don't be afraid; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things. As I look at what is happening through our church, it confirms that the Lord has indeed done marvelous things. I've only touched on a few aspects; there are many other things happening through the different ministries of our church.

Individuals in our church are reaching out in ways we don't even hear about or know about in the office. But God is doing great things. As we look at the world around us, which can be unstable and stir fear in us from time to time—especially if you follow the news regularly—it can be easy to be overcome with fear about what is going to happen.

I was having a conversation with a family member a few days ago, and they asked me, "What do you think about the presidential campaign?" I thought, oh goodness, here we go again. It's upon us. As we consider all these fear-inducing things, we should be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things. I am here to tell you that the Lord has much more He wants to do—many great things that God has planned for us.

As we prepare to exit 2015 and enter 2016 in just a few days, I wanted us to take a look at another Old Testament passage in the book of Isaiah. If you have your Bibles, open to the book of Isaiah, which is right about the middle of your Bible. You will find the Psalms, and then if you go right, you will hit the big book of Isaiah, chapter 43. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one.

We are only going to look at two verses, verses 18 and 19. So if you would stand with me, please. Isaiah 43, verse 18 says, "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

Father, I pray that You would speak to us through these short two verses. Stir our hearts for the good things that You desire to do in and through our lives as we step into a new year. Lord, we thank You for the blessings of this last year and the work that You have done in our hearts as we have studied Your Word. We know that Your Word is living and powerful, and it transforms us.

As we have gone through Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, and Colossians, and considered some of the Psalms over the summer, we thank You for the work You have been doing in our hearts, minds, and lives. We also thank You for the work You have done through our church in impacting the world and the community around us. We pray, God, that You would open our eyes to...

See the greater things that you want to do and how we can be a part of that. So speak to us today, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, Amen. You can be seated.

God, through the prophet Isaiah, 2,800 years ago, said to the people of Israel, "Do not remember the former things." This seems like an interesting contrast because through Joel, in Joel 2:21, he calls to mind the former things and the marvelous works that God has done. Here, however, he says, "Do not remember the former things." On the surface, there appears to be a conflict, but I don't think that there is. The problem is that sometimes, in remembering the former things, we can find ourselves getting stuck.

Have you ever been stuck before? Has anyone ever been stuck? You might get stuck in the mud or stuck in the snow. I remember back in 2004, I was living in Germany, and it was right around the end of November when we got our first snow in Northwest Germany. My roommate, Mark, and I would drive into a different town every single day to teach at the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Siegen, Germany.

On a Monday morning, Mark got up to teach, and there was snow on the ground. We lived on a hill, and both of us were born and raised in Southern California, so we were not accustomed to driving in the snow. He came back into the apartment about 15 minutes after he had left and said, "There's no way I'm getting out of here." There was solid ice on the incline, and his wheels were just spinning.

You've been in that place where you're stuck before, and it's a terrible place to be. Sometimes, Christians can get into a place where they're stuck. How do we get stuck as Christians? Well, first, we get stuck over our past failures and sins. It's easy to get there. I've talked with and prayed with probably more than a hundred people over the last several years who find themselves in that place. They know that God wants to do a work in their life.

It may have become a bit of a cliché saying, but it's still true: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Yet some people hear those words and come to a place where they think, "Well, God can't use me because of this," or "He could never forgive me because of this." They say, "You don't understand the things that I've done." I can't even remember how many times I've heard people tell me, "Well, you just don't understand the things that I've done, Pastor." They go on to explain their struggles.

I don't care what you've done. Don't get stuck in that mindset of thinking that God can't use you because of something that happened in your past. There is no way that God could use you.

Another way that Christians sometimes get stuck is not only in past failures, but also in past victories. It's easy to get stuck in your past victories. It's amazing how many times I've heard people talk to me in our church and in other churches where I've ministered. All they can talk about is the amazing and awesome things that God did back in 1972 at the tent in Costa Mesa with Chuck Smith. If you don't know anything about Chuck Smith and the tent in Costa Mesa, God bless you. Praise the Lord; God still has great things for you.

However, so many times I've talked with people, and that's all they discuss. Their Christian experience is primarily something that happened 40 years ago. Or maybe they're not talking about the tent in Costa Mesa; they're talking about the North Park Theater and Mike McIntosh. The names may change, the locations may change, but they are stuck in the past. They are like Uncle Rico, thinking about 1982 and his high school football career and how awesome it was. Most of you won't get that reference, and that's okay. But God wants us to move forward and not get stuck.

I can't even begin to express how discouraging it was for me when I first started out in ministry 17 years ago. I would go with Pastor Pat, who was the pastor of the church at the time. He would take me and some of the other guys to meetings with other Calvary Chapel pastors. All that would be discussed was what God did years ago, with no consideration of what God was doing right then or what God wanted to do. It was so discouraging. It felt as if God was done. That was the mindset of some people.

We can get stuck in that place of thinking, "Well, this is it. This is all we have. This is what we are all about." God wants us to move forward. We can get stuck in our past failures, and we can get stuck in our past victories. One of the biggest things we can get stuck in is the thought that we can't do what God wants us to do because we are weak, insufficient, and foolish. We can get trapped in that mindset, believing that God can't do what He wants to do with our lives because we feel weak, foolish, and insufficient.

I got a great encouraging verse for you. I'd love for you to turn there. It's in the New Testament, First Corinthians chapter one. Right after the big book of Romans is the book of First Corinthians, near the end of your Bible.

First Corinthians chapter one, starting at verse 26: "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. For God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame those things that are mighty, and the base things of the world and the things that are despised, God has chosen. And the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are."

Listen, if you can find yourself in weak, foolish, despised, base, and nothing, God chose you. That's why you're a part of this church. Why does God choose those kinds of individuals? Look at verse 29. This is awesome. God has chosen these ones so that no flesh should glory in His presence. God gets the greatest glory from foolish, base, insufficient, insignificant nothings. Because when God works in your life and through my life, everybody goes, "That couldn't have been them. That's the Lord." And that's how God wants to work in our lives.

We can get stuck in our past failures. We can get stuck in our past victories. We can get stuck in thinking that we can't accomplish the things that God has called us to accomplish because we're too little. The children of Israel got into that mindset back in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers when God was trying to bring them into the promised land after He brought them out of Egypt. You remember, "Let my people go," that whole thing, crossing the Red Sea. They went into the wilderness and were there for several months.

Finally, they came to the edge of the promised land, and Moses sent 12 spies into the promised land to spy out the land. They were gone for 40 days spying out the land. They came back with all kinds of fruitfulness from the land to show the people that it was a great land. But 10 of the spies said to the people, "Listen, there are giants in the land, and they are bigger than us. We can't go into the land because we're too small."

At the end of Numbers, in chapters 12 and 13, it says, "We were in our own eyes like grasshoppers." And all the people wept. That night, they went.

to bed crying. There were only two of the witnesses, Joshua and Caleb, who said, "No, let's go in. God is with us." They had the faith to recognize that God was bigger.

We can get stuck like Israel in that situation there in Numbers. Point number one in your outline, your sermon guide, is there in your bulletin: Get moving or you'll get stuck. Don't get hung up on past failures and past victories. Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old, Isaiah says. God is speaking through Isaiah. Do not consider.

What's the difference between remember and consider? It's the idea of dwelling on and pondering. Don't dwell upon and ponder those things of old. Let's move on. Many people are dwelling on and considering their past. I can say many people because I've talked with so many who are like this. They just can't get over their old life and the bad things they did.

But let me highlight just one other verse in Isaiah 43 that goes along with this and is so very important. Look at Isaiah 43:25, if you're still there. This is God speaking: "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins."

Listen, the Lord himself has promised to pardon and to not remember your former sinfulness. Since that's the case, stop pondering your former sinfulness.

Point number two on your outline: Remember, the Lord has forgotten your sins. This is a promise to the follower of Jesus. This is the promise to the person who has put their confidence and trust in the saving grace and forgiveness of Jesus.

Today, if you've put your faith, your trust, and your confidence in the saving grace and forgiveness of Jesus, then the Lord does not remember your sins. It's not that he's forgotten; he's all-knowing, but he's choosing not to remember them. He's choosing not to put them to your account any longer because he's blotted them out.

Them out by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. But if you haven't put your trust in Jesus yet for your salvation, if you've not received the saving grace of Christ and the forgiveness of God, I'm going to give you an opportunity to do that at the end of the service today. I want you to come into the place where you can move forward unhindered by the things that have happened in your life or by what you've done in your life in the past because God makes all things new.

If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. All the old things have passed away. Behold, everything has become new. So remember, the Lord has forgotten your sins today if you're a follower of Jesus and you put your faith in Christ. He says, "Do not remember the former things nor consider the things of old." Verse 19 states, "Behold, I will do a new thing." God wants to do something new in your life, in my life individually, and in our life corporately.

The words "new thing" or the word "new" there literally means a fresh thing. God wants to do something fresh, alive, and vibrant in your life. We've all had this experience. I just had this experience a few weeks ago. You go into the refrigerator, grab the gallon of milk, and when you pour it into a cup or over your cereal, it comes out more like cottage cheese than milk. Have you had that experience? God does not want you to be a cottage cheese Christian.

If you're living on the victories of 20 years ago, then it's spoiled, sour, and smells. It's time to move on. Behold, I want to do a new thing. One of the other English translations says, "Look, I'm about to do something new." In other words, get ready. I want to do something fresh. The only way that God can do that is if we stop being stuck over the past failures and victories of our former life or if we stop being stuck over the things that we think we can't do because we're too little or we don't have enough resources. God says, "No, let's get moving."

You're hung up on your past life. Remember, God forgot all that stuff. You're a new creation in Christ. Let's move forward. Get ready. Point number three on your outline: Be ready for a fresh work from the Lord. Sometimes we get stuck dwelling on our past victories.

Or defeats in our former life can cause opportunities to pass us by. I don't want to miss the open doors that the Lord brings before us. To be honest, there are many times when I'm oblivious to these opportunities; I'm blind to them. So, God opened my eyes. He then says, "Shall you not know it? Look, I'm about to do a fresh work. Shall you not know it?" Lord, help me to be aware. Help us to recognize and see it when the door comes, so we do not miss the opportunity when You open it.

Yesterday, my family and I were heading north on the 15 and making the interchange on the 78 West. We've all been there before. Someone in front of us decided, at the last minute, that they didn't want to get on the 78. I'm assuming they weren't from around here. They slammed on the brakes right as they were getting to the off-ramp, and everybody piled up. Thank God there wasn't an accident. Then they kind of drove through an area where you're not supposed to drive, as if they wanted to go on the 15 North. They found themselves jamming everything up. They didn't know where they were going or what was going on. They missed it and almost caused a problem.

Some of our lives are causing a pile-up because we're missing it. God, open our eyes to see what it is that You want to do. He says, "Behold, I will do a new work. Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." What is this? It's God's promise to do impossible things and bring to pass something that is not. Only God can do the impossible.

If you were here just a few nights ago at our Christmas Eve Eve service, we read from the Christmas story out of the Gospel of Luke. There, the angel comes and tells Mary, "Behold, you're going to have a child." He tells her about her cousin, Elizabeth, who is also pregnant. Mary asks, "How can this be?" and the angel replies, "With God, nothing shall be impossible." God is the God of the impossible, and He puts us in impossible situations so that we recognize that He is the one who will accomplish it. It brings Him the greatest glory in the midst of those circumstances.

I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Point number four on your outline: remember, with God, nothing is impossible. With this in mind, I'm convinced that God has great things for us in 2016. He wants to do great things.

We've seen God move in miraculous and marvelous ways in 2015, and I trust that He has even greater things He wants to do. We are expecting great things from God and attempting great things for God in 2016, continuing to do the ministries that the Lord has set before us.

On February 18, the people from our church are going to head up to Dinuba, California, to Gleanings for the Hungry for a week to serve there and prepare food to be sent to the uttermost parts. We are looking forward to the planting of Cross Connection Church in Glastonbury, Connecticut, in the fall of next year. We will be praying with George and Janelle and getting involved with them as they seek to plant this church and reach people in Connecticut. It is one of those places that is incredibly unchurched, even though it has a very religious atmosphere. There is a lot of formal religious structure still present, but many people have completely disconnected from it. We will be praying with them as we see this come to pass in the fall.

We continue to do our outreaches here in North County, partnering with Alternatives and the Julian Oaks Youth Camp in Julian. We also continue to support and work with the Ronald McDonald House at Children's Hospital, as well as with Interfaith, veterans, and other initiatives that the Lord is opening up in our community. We want to see more people involved in our Connect groups, and we would like to raise up some new hosts to simply open their homes and be hospitable to people within the church a couple of times a month. If you're interested in that, come see us at the connection point.

Recently, we conducted a survey here at the church, and many of you filled it out. Only 28% of our church is involved in Connect groups. We want that number to be higher because I am convinced we will not grow to the place God wants us to grow in our maturity in Christ without being connected to one another in true fellowship. That is what these Connect groups are all about, and we want to see them build and develop.

We also want to continue reaching more people in our community. I have said it many times before, and maybe you are tired of hearing it, but I will keep saying it: there are more than 400,000 people within five miles of this building. Research conducted by several different groups shows that more than a quarter of a million of those people—over 250,000—are not connected to a Bible-teaching church. They are not connected to church, period. That is 250,000 people within five miles of this building. That includes your neighbor, your coworker, and the other parent standing on the sideline of the soccer game that your child is playing in.

People in this community are not connected to the gospel. They need Jesus, and we want to be able to get the gospel to them. My prayer is not only that we would reach more people, but that Mission Hills Church would reach more people, and Emmanuel Faith Church, Revive Escondido, Valley Baptist, North Coast Church, and all these Bible-teaching, gospel-preaching churches would grow. That's my hope: that we would reach more people.

These pastors are my friends. We are not in competition with them, except for with the Alternatives Women's Center; that's another story. We want to see people come to faith. We will continue to train, resource, and mentor church planters through the Church Planting Network. We are doing a conference with Bruce Zachary and Calvary Nexus in Camarillo in February, where church planters will come together. I have been invited to teach again at the Calvary Chapel Bible College for the church planting class, which will start in just a few weeks.

Additionally, I have been invited to Germany to conduct a small church planting conference at the end of April with a group of church planters in Western Europe, specifically in Germany. A few of my friends are pastoring churches in some of those places in northwestern Germany, and they are praying that God would raise up church planters to establish ten churches in the ten largest cities of northwest Germany, each with a population of 100,000 people or more. They are praying for God to raise up church planters, and we will be doing a conference with them in April.

In the beginning of May, I will be participating in a conference with a group of missionaries, pastors, and Christian leaders in Western Europe. We had 500 of them attend last year. Many people keep telling me that Christianity is dead in Europe. Let me tell you, it is not. God is doing amazing things in Europe—awesome things.

Here’s the remarkable aspect: for 1,500 years, everyone in Europe was considered a Christian simply because they were born into it. Now, we know they weren't all true Christians. However, in the last 50 years, people have been given a choice. As a result, many have said they are no longer affiliated with the church, which creates the appearance of a mass exodus. In reality, it is just revealing who is genuinely Christian and who is not. God is at work. The same thing is happening here in the U.S. God is doing amazing things.

We are involved in these church planting initiatives, along with our ongoing work with Calvary Chapel, the Calvary Church Planting Network, and the Calvary Chapel Bible College. We are also connecting with and partnering with the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States and probably in the world.

They have 4,500 full-time, fully-funded missionaries throughout the world through the International Mission Board. They're planting and are set to plant 9,000 churches here in the U.S. in the next 10 years. That's their goal. We are just coming alongside and saying, "Praise the Lord. We love that. That's awesome."

Seeing God work through Calvary Chapel, through the Southern Baptist Convention, and anyone who preaches the gospel is something we want to partner with. We want to see people come to faith. Amen? Let's see people come to know Jesus.

So how can you be a part of it? There are four things. I have 2 minutes and 17 seconds to share them.

Number one: Pray. Pray for wisdom, vision, strength, and resources. Pray for how you can be involved in this work to a greater extent. You are involved by the very fact that you pray for and support the work of this church, and you are the church extended out throughout the community. But how can God utilize your gifts, talents, and abilities more as we step into 2016? Pray.

Secondly, get connected. If you're not involved in a connect group, you're disconnected. Here’s what happens: we find out about this all the time, and it drives me nuts. Someone comes in and says, "Yeah, I was in the hospital for three weeks." Really? How come we didn't know? "Well, I didn't know who to call." What? That should never happen. Get connected. Plug into a connect group. If you're not a part of a connect group, then there are a lot of people who don't know who you are here at the church, and you're not meant to be anonymous.

It's amazing to me. I have to tell you, this drives me crazy. I'll be walking through Home Depot or Vons, and someone says, "Hey, Pastor Miles." I have no clue who they are. I'm sorry if you've been that person. I go, "Hey, who are you?" We want to know who you are. So get connected.

Third, get involved. If you're not on a team serving here at the church, plug in. You might say, "Well, I don't know how." Go out to the connection point and say, "I want to serve." They'll say, "All right, here, fill out one of these cards and help out." Plug in. Come with us on an outreach to Tecate. Join us for an outreach to Ronald McDonald House or Gleaning. That opportunity is full now, but there will be more missions opportunities that we'll share with you in the new year.

Get involved. Plug in. Don't be a spectator on the sidelines of the work of God. Be on the field.

So, pray, get connected, get involved, and give. None of this happens without you. None of this happens without your support of this ministry.

Financially, I have to say thank you. This church gives in an amazing and awesome way. Pastors get together and talk about these sorts of things—the church matters that happen within the community. Our church gives, honestly, almost double the national average per capita. It's amazing. It's an awesome thing that God does through this church.

We are just shy of reaching our giving goal for our budget this year. We are only $30,000 off our giving goal, which is just like one and a half percent. No big deal; God will make it up. Every single year, you give to the work of this ministry, and God is doing a great thing through it. It is fruit to your account in heaven.

Would you stand with me as we pray and ask God for His wisdom, strength, vision, and resources to fulfill the work as we finish 2015 and step into 2016? Father, I thank you for your grace. I thank you that you have saved us by grace through faith, that not of ourselves; it is a gift from you. With that salvation, you have removed our sin as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered again. You have blotted out our transgressions.

I pray that you would help us not to be stuck on our former failures or victories, or to think we can't do what you're calling us to do because of a lack of ability, resources, talent, or whatever it may be. God, free us from these things and help us to bring glory to you as we come into a new year. Help us to rejoice in you and your goodness, the marvelous things that you have done.

Before we close, if you have never received the grace and forgiveness of Christ, if you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you still have the remembrance of sin, you have not become a new creation, but you want to. If you want to receive His grace and forgiveness today, would you just lift up your hand wherever you are? Is there anyone here today that wants to receive it? I see you there. God bless you. Anyone else? Do you want to receive His forgiving grace today?

If that's you, just pray out loud with me where you are right now. Dear Jesus, would you come into my life and save me from my sin? Forgive me for the wicked things I've done and help me to follow you by faith. Use my life for your glory. Shine through me. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.