I’m about to BURST with anticipation! After four years of sacrifice, love and honor, this weekend long-time Questers will worship and celebrate side by side with those we sacrificed for as we all step forward in the Power of Everybody to conclude our Imagine2 Journey together!

We are on the edge of a miracle. What God entrusted to us in Imagine2 was impossible! But every miracle we read about in the Bible have this in common: they are all God’s attempts to convince us that there’s NOTHING He can’t do.

Most of us would say we believe that, but it’s a hollow belief if you believe something in principle but you don’t act on it. That’s where we experience hypocrisy gaps in our lives. But we can choose today to ACT on what we believe – even right now! It’s not too late. You have no idea yet what God might do!

“Humanly speaking it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” – Matthew 19:26

This weekend will be a historic moment in the life of our church. I want to invite you to be here for an experience you’ll never forget…whether you’ve been a part of the Imagine2 journey for years or you just walked through our doors…whether you’ve finished a commitment or don’t even know what an I2 commitment is…this is a day you don’t want to miss! You’re invited, personally, to be a part of it.

Clear your calendar. Change your plans. Be here.

We’re going to celebrate the great work of God in our lives like you can’t believe – with stories, baptisms, worship, a party and our final Imagine2 offering. We’re on the edge of a miracle and we’re going to all step forward together in the Power of Everybody! All He asks is all we have.

Don’t just witness the miracle. Experience it for yourself!

I’ll see you this weekend.

2000 years ago, God took drastic steps to swing wide the doors of a brand new community…a group so caring, so spectacular that it blew people away with real love and radical acceptance.

What made this a world-wide phenomena? First - Jesus was at the center of everything! Second – People laid down their agendas and chose not to be defined by their differences but by their Oneness in Him! No one had ever seen or experienced anything like it!

It went VIRAL!

The beauty of the Acts 2 Church was never meant to stay in Jerusalem. And just a few page turns later, the real radical nature of the church EXPLODED onto the scene in one of the most revolutionary passages in the whole Bible. In Acts 10, Peter walked 36 miles to cross a threshold he never dreamed he’d cross. He stepped across the threshold of an arch-enemy’s home – a Roman oppressor, Cornelius.

In that one step, Peter was forever changed. In that moment, he became a law-breaker for Jesus. We almost hear heaven cheering Peter on… “Go for it Peter…you know what it’s like to take a step! You left you nets, you stepped out of boat, you ran to Him on beach. You can do it Peter! You won’t be defiled! Cross that threshold and you’ll never be the same.”

He wasn’t. And neither are we. You and I (and billions of others) now live in the wake of that one step.

Now it’s our turn to cross the threshold. We get to step out, risk our hearts and invest our resources in the only cause on planet earth that will last for all eternity. For the Cornelius in your life, and in mine. We get the privilege of demonstrating people’s value to God – and to us – by our actions.

Pray. Cross a threshold this week. Be here this weekend. Come ready to be baptized. Ask Jesus what He will let you give. You just want to be in the current of what went viral 2,000 years ago!

Just five days away from the conclusion of our four-year Imagine2 journey, I want to tell you…Everyone DO SOMETHING! Be a part of the power of everybody. The baton has been passed down for generations, and now it’s in our hands! Who is it in your life that you need to make room for? Who is it that you It’s our turn to make room for the Cornelius’ in our lives.

Questers…could you believe what God was doing last weekend? It was a rare, remarkable experience…like we really were sitting down for a Family Meeting with Jesus Himself. The picture we glimpsed of the Great Exchange God made for us was breathtaking, a reminder that we are not our own. He traded the sinless One for the sinful, LOVE itself for the unlovable, forgiveness for offense, healing for our brokenness…the life of God’s one and only Son exchanged for you and for me.

Let THAT sink in for a minute…you will never get to the end of a love like that.

It is IMPOSSIBLE!

That reality is meant to shape every area of our lives…our marriages, our parenting, our sin-struggles, relationship, addictions…what we cling to and what we hold open-handedly to God. We are not our own! For those in Christ…we’ve given our lives away!

As we come toward the finish line for Imagine2, our journey to make room for more to experience God’s love for themselves, I wanted to help us take hold of Three Fundamentals to Living in the Great Exchange:

1. A Issue of Ownership - When you became a Christian, you trusted in the One who gave His life on the Cross for you by placing your life on the altar for Him. You accepted the best trade of all time…saying, “I place my sin, my trust, my future, my eternity, my life in your hands, Jesus.” And you GAVE your life away! It BELONGS to Him! Your life, your time, your resources…they aren’t yours anymore! (You don’t give someone a car and secretly keep an extra set of keys. It belongs to them.) Acting like a co-owner is a recipe for disaster! 

2. A Matter of Worth - God declared PEOPLE…common, everyday, ordinary, annoying, sinful, broken people like you and like me worth the exchange of His Son’s life! Your neighbor, your husband, your co-worker…we are all of inestimable value to Him. It’s when we understand who we are to God – the way His heart races when He sees us, that our hearts begin to beat with His! God values PEOPLE more than anything in the world!

3. The Reason Why – God made the Great Exchange for you. And now He invites you to participate in His Great Exchange for others. There is no better investment on the PLANET. As you process His invitation it’s helpful to look at the reason why:

• The first level of response is out of a place of followership and obedience…taking Jesus at His word that investing in His Kingdom is the most important investment you’ll ever make with your resources. It’s a great place to start. In the Bible we see the disciples in just that place when Jesus tells them to feed 5,000 people with fish sticks and wonder bread. They go for it, not understanding how such a small offering could make a difference…and JESUS DOES THE IMPOSSIBLE! He put the miracle in their hands and they stepped out. And 5,000 people experienced the miracle!!! If God’s promoting you to give…to offer your fish sticks and wonder bread, step out!! You won’t BELIEVE how it changes you…and changes the world!

• The next level of response is out of gratitude for all He’s done for you, and for those you love. This stage of sacrifice is awesome! This is where things shift from “got to – to get to!” Like David in Psalm 116:12, in this place we respond saying, “What can I offer the Lord for all He’s done for me?” People thank me all the time for the opportunity to give back to God here, and I’m honored to open the door for them. You may be sitting in a seat every single weekend that someone sacrificed for on your behalf. It’s a fantastic next step to give back out of gratitude to God, knowing that you’ll get to make a way for someone else to experience God the way you have here!

• For some, your response may look like the woman at the Pharisee’s house in Luke 7, a response born out of love & honor. It’s one of my favorite responses to Jesus in the whole Bible. This is the response of someone who is so overwhelmed by Jesus’ love, forgiveness and grace that you can’t NOT pour out your heart, your life, your time and your resources into the things that make His heart beat. You can’t NOT give back to Him. I’m praying for all of us that we would grow into more and more wholehearted followers like this woman who gave with no regard for herself, pouring out her most treasured possession at Jesus’ feet. What a picture!!! We’re still talking about her 2,000 years later!

In these final days of Imagine2 as we reflect on the Great Exchange God made for us, spend time with Jesus understanding the issue of ownership (it’s not yours!), a matter of worth (people are the treasure of heaven!) and the reason why (in response to love!).

For those of you already participating in Imagine2, isn’t it a great reminder?! And for those of you just stepping into the journey, this is your chance to let your heart race with God’s heart. This is your moment to change the world and all eternity. And here’s a promise from your pastor, for all of eternity, you will look back over you shoulder and be glad you did it.

It’s never a mistake to open your hands to Jesus. Whatever you give Him is better off in His hands!

Let’s step out together, Questers…rescued people rescuing people, all joining in the GREAT EXCHANGE!

You’ve heard the phrase that something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it? Last week a record-making exchange took place. The Scream, a quite famous piece of art by Edvard Munch, sold for $120 million at Sotheby’s. ($120 million!!) I wasn’t exactly an “A” student in “art appreciation,” but I feel like if we’d offered a $50 prize and gave the kids in KidsQuest the whole hour to do that, that some of them would beat out Mr. Edvard Munch! I have no idea how that’s $120 million! Absolutely crazy.

Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. An anonymous buyer gave $120m for The Scream. The pioneers of this church sacrificed time, money, resources and their hearts to start QCC. Over the last four years, hundreds of families in our Imagine2 journey have invested in God’s kingdom, laying down their dreams to make room for more people to discover God’s great love for themselves.

This weekend we spent a remarkable worship experience together at Quest looking at what God values. It’s quite simple. The story is told clearly on every page page of the Bible. The thing God values most in the world is PEOPLE. He looks past the sun, the moon, the stars, the Grand Canyon and the Milky Way…and He fixes His eyes on YOU. When God sees you, His heart races. He cannot contain His love for you.

1 John says this about Him:

God showed how much he loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

He knows the places you’ve messed up, and He gave His son for you anyway! The priceless One set your value.

God stepped back, the Great Appraiser, and looked at you and looked at me, at Oprah, President Obama, Junior Seau, Hitler, Stalin, your boss, your neighbor, your mother-in-law, your kids who just scratched down your car with the bike that you put together with your own two hands, He looks at your CPA that says you’re going to be audited, He looks at the politician that said one thing and did another, He looks at each one of us and says I’ve appraised you. The appraisal is done. I deemed you worthy of the life of My only child. The best and the worst among us. You are worth that to Me.

The Great Exchange - The pure for the marred. Forgiveness for the guilty. Love for those who hate. The powerful One for the one with no power. The servant for the selfish. The Giver for the taker. The Son of the Most High God, the Creator of everything for the flawed, mixed motive ordinary people like us. He would give His life in hopes that you would give yours for eternity, that you would take the deal. That you’d open your hands and say yes.

It’s not like He waited to see what your answer would be. In fact, Jesus Himself told us few would say yes to the trade. So why did He do it? Because you’re priceless to Him! YOU are the apple of His eye, the remarkable object of God’s great desire. If you will live in that reality, it will change your life!

Come back tomorrow to read more about the Family Meeting we had at Quest this weekend…God did something REMARKABLE in us!

I cannot believe what I am about to type: QUEST IS 13 YEARS OLD! I remember the day we were about to open our doors for the first time. A fuse blew, the bathrooms were still under-construction, our sound board had been out of the box less than 24 hours…but the pioneers of QCC had given it our all. We had taken vacations, picked up hammers, nails and paintbrushes…and turned batting cages into a church! We dry-walled, painted, renovated, invited, gave and begged God that people would come!

And…they DID!

That first weekend…201 people walked our doors!! People came! And they kept coming. And on Sunday, July 11th…Scott and Traci Tomlin came to Christ!! It was ACTUALLY happening! What we had dreamed of, sacrificed for and hoped for was coming TRUE!

A culture of redemption was being formed.

In that first year alone TEN PEOPLE went from death to life! Now…13 years later, more than 21,000 people have come to Christ through Jesus’ work in this breathtaking culture of redemption.

That’s worth reading again.

In worship services and in life groups…in the United States and in India…over coffee and in online chats…more than 21,000 people have gone from death to life!! My sons, oour neighbors, your co-worker, your spouse, my father. One life at a time, one story at a time…real people have found hope in Christ!

Thank you, QCC pioneers for going out front and dreaming this dream with Jesus. This is the most miraculous, loving, honoring community I have ever known.

Questers, you are rare in all the world, and I love you all more than you know.

Pastor Pete

p.s. Join us at ELEVATE tonight at 6:30 as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper and give thanks to God for all He’s done in this remarkable community. Can you believe who you’ve become? The miracles you’ve seen? This journey has been like nothing we could have asked or imagined…let’s honor God as we worship Him together tonight! I can’t wait to spend this night with you.

I love Joshua. He’s one of my favorite people in the Bible. (I even named one of my sons after him.) I love his courage, how he followed Moses, and how he honored and served the Lord. He’s a great model for leaders. And God reminds Joshua what every leader needs to remember: It’s God who calls us. It’s God who goes with us. It’s not our job to make miracles happen – it’s His. He just invites us into the equation!

Joshua got the privilege of leading the people of Israel into the PROMISED LAND! (After Moses spent 40 years leading them through the wilderness, Joshua got this great honor!!) Who doesn’t want to go into the Promised Land?! But getting there takes active agreement – people stepping out in faith, stepping into the water at flood stage to cross over the raging waters.

If you want to make it across the raging flood-stage waters in your life to live in the free places of promise, take your eyes off the Promised Land and look to the Promiser! Fix your eyes on the One who’s promises are always TRUE. HE is the One to accomplish the miraculous in your life, but He calls us to step before the water parts!

You won’t experience the miraculous until you attempt the outrageous for God!

Step Out! Be a part of the miracle. Participate in your own growth and change. Here’s the math behind transformation:

(t=w+r)^e = T

Transformation happens when people with willing hearts follow God and take risky steps. When we do that together as a community – through the Power of Everybody, the impact is EXPONENTIAL. THAT is how we CHANGE THE WORLD!

Welcome to all of you who are stepping into Imagine 2 for the first time! Dozens of brand new people participated this weekend and it was beautiful. Thank you for living out the principle of giving God your first and your best, Questers – it’s freeing up ministry like nothing else ever has in our past. Thank you to all of you who are stepping in for the first time – we built this for you, so you could know the God whose pursued you your whole life and experience His great love for yourself! I love you and I’m so proud of you. We’ve just got three weekends left…and we’re going to finish the journey great!

p.s. Plan to be here on the 20th as we’re not only going to have a huge baptism service, but a fantastic party as well. (More details to come!)

God is moving…stirring people up, offering redemption, inviting us into the more, changing eternity. He is always loving, always good…always ready to transform a human heart. When we encounter the God of the universe, it is impossible to stay the same!

One encounter with Jesus has the power to change everything. We saw it in Uprising pastors…we’ve seen it in the lives of hundreds who’ve given their lives to Christ in this series. The power of God to change, transform and shift a human heart is incalculable. Never underestimate the difference a day makes when God is on the scene!

As we concluded our series “The Difference a Day Makes” this weekend, Assistant Pastor Justin McCarty challenged us to pursue God for the more He has for us. I couldn’t agree more: Don’t stop short. Get to Jesus. Cry out to Him. Come humbly and ask boldly. He’s in the business of redeeming, restoring and renewing His people. Refuse to settle! He has more for you than you’ve ever dreamed!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Justin: What a week! I can’t think of a better way to conclude “The Difference A Day Makes” than with The Uprising on Thursday and a sermon on Sunday about the God who does “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” Thanks so much, Pastor Pete – it was an honor! Great things are in store for us, Quest Community Church – and what we saw this past week was just the beginning.

Digging into Mark 10:42-56 and looking closer at the encounter Jesus had with a blind man named Bartimaeus was one of my favorite sermons I’ve gotten to preach. There’s always so much more going on in the pages of the Bible. While you tend to think it’s a story about a blind man who gets to see, I was increasingly aware that it was actually a remarkable healing of a man’s heart to fight against the status quo – the way it’s always been – and to risk everything on the possibility that Jesus might have more for him.

We pulled out three keys to stepping into the “More” that God has for us – no matter where you might find yourself stuck in “life as usual”:

1. Risk on Jesus’ Reputation: Even if you haven’t personally experienced Jesus’ power or freedom in a certain area of your life, you can choose to abandon self-protection and risk your heart on the power and goodness of God.

2. Don’t Back Down, Get Louder: Bartimaeus didn’t allow the voices in his own mind or the loud voices of resistance around him to silence his request to Jesus. We may have to persist in fighting much longer than we thought, but we don’t have to give up. How do you need to turn up the volume of your request to Jesus? It may cost you some self-respect like it did for Bartimaeus, but it might also get you an encounter with Jesus!

3. Ask Big: When he had his moment, Bartimaeus didn’t ask for a change of circumstances, he asked Jesus to change HIM. He didn’t back off or hedge his bets, he humbly & boldly asked for what only Jesus could do — and he got it!

I’ve bumped into so many people since this talk who have told me that they sensed Jesus calling them into the more – in a variety of ways. Some didn’t realize they were stuck in the status quo, some had been fighting for their request to be heard, some were spurred onto to ask bigger of Jesus than they had been asking. It seemed like God had something for everyone! Which makes sense: no matter where “here” is for you, God always had a greater “there” in mind!

It was the perfect transition for our church into the new “Power of Everybody” series that will not only conclude the Imagine2 capital campaign journey on May 19th and 20th, but it will be a four week adrenaline injection of the vision of our church. I think over the next four weeks, we are going to fall more in love with the vision and potential of the church, and at the same time get an unforgettable glimpse of the “More” that God has in store for us. I can’t wait!

Last Thursday was a remarkable experience with Clayton King, Derwin Gray,  Pete Wilson and 100s of pastors and leaders diving into what God had for us at The Uprising. There’s nothing like seeing pastors and leaders being ignited for the cause of Christ. The potential for the local church is breathtaking…and the stakes for the people in our communities are eternal.

When a leader hears from God and lets it recalibrate his life, heaven and earth can’t stand in the way of what God can do through that leader’s yes.

What happened 2000 years ago in the book of Acts CAN happen again. People’s lives really can be restored and transformed in the local church. People can find hope and healing and LIFE. But it takes leaders leading the way – going out front – shifting the culture - being the impact. It takes a leader to build an authentic culture of redemption where lost and broken people can come face to face with God.

Uprising pastors and leaders…don’t recover from what God whispered to you last week. It’s HAPPENING! Ten came to Christ in Cedar Rapids…four in Youngstown…leaders are stirred up!

Never Recover…You Are the Impact!

The Uprising is underway…and God is moving! Hundreds of pastors and church leaders are being wrecked for the gospel – remembering why they went into ministry in the first place…something seismic is happening in the hearts and minds of leaders!

So grateful for my friends Clayton King, Derwin Gray and Pete Wilson who are here igniting the Church and her leaders to join in the Uprising God began 2,000 years ago. Don’t underestimate the difference a day makes. Listen for the Voice of God. And if you’re not in Lexington for The Uprising today…please pray for what God is doing. When He shifts a leader’s heart…EVERYTHING changes!

Praying this dangerous prayer with every Uprising leader today:

“Jesus, I invite You to do everything you need to do in me so that You can rescue lost people through me.”

God’s redeeming and restoring love, power and grace is available to EVERYONE. Wherever you are…whatever you’ve done, you haven’t gone beyond His reach. Whether you’re a pastor who needs to start over, a parent or spouse in a relationship that’s on the brink or you find yourself in challenging circumstances, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead can infuse life and hope into every area of your life.

Don’t give up. Don’t lose hope!

This weekend Quest’s Transformation Pastor, Helen Musick taught on The Difference a Day Makes in our relational worlds. Here are some of her reflections on God’s power to restore us:

• Lazarus’ resurrection brought his family face-to-face with God’s power to trump all pain and disappointment.

• Relationships are broken when disappointments come. When what we expected to happen doesn’t happen or what we believe should have been true, isn’t…disappointment comes in tries to push our relationships to the brink, and we find ourselves responding to disappointment with:
• DENIAL that the relationship causes pain
• DRAMA that ensues from blaming others, including Jesus
• Being DONE, shutting down our hearts and walking away

• If this seems familiar, get your hopes up: Jesus is offering to DELIVER you from this pain!  We saw Martha find freedom after Lazarus died when, instead of blaming Jesus, she boldly declared her faith: “Even now, I know that God…” (John 11:22).

• We saw massive restoration through stories told this weekend by Courtney, Slim, and the Hall family.  Borrow courage from them, believing that God wants to do the miraculous and build back you and your relationships.

• Restoration begins with change, and the only person you can change in any relationship is you. If you want this freedom, there are practical steps you can take right now:
• Identify your disappointment…find out where “the smell” is and do something about it.
• Identify the barrier (an event, a behavior) that stands in your way.
• Trade your unauthorized “if only” for a bold, John 11:22 declaration of faith: “Even now, I know that God…”
• Follow Jesus’ voice as He calls you forward!

• Remember this truth: “Even if our relationships don’t heal, we can.”  You might not see the other person change as you would expect them to, but you can let Jesus restore you to wholeness. You can be whole and free.

Give Jesus room to do the miraculous!  Raise your expectations and step out boldly. Do the difficult work of forgiveness. Ask Jesus for His heart, that you would see people who hurt you with the same love He feels towards you.  Don’t stop praying until He answers.  And when you don’t know what else to do, love – because love never fails.