Rebuilding Together: Taking Action in Brokenness

Thank you! We are so glad that you are tuned in with us online today. If it's your first time here today, guess what? You can click the link right there, fill out the guest card, let us know that it's your first time, and honestly, we'll get back in touch with you, answer any questions you might have, but most importantly, make you feel a part of this big God family called Shoreline. Welcome to the family!

Also, just want to let you know if you need prayer at any time. Maybe you're going through something right now or you know a friend or a family member that is. Guess what? We have prayer available 24/7. In fact, you can email us at prayer@shoreline.net, and then we'll make sure to respond back to you as fast as we can so that we can link arms with you and believe whatever it is that you're believing God for.

Then also, I just want to let you know we want to encourage you. I know you know COVID was a big deal, and a lot of us decided, "Hey, we're going to stay home with our friends or our families and watch online," and we love that you do. Don't get me wrong, we love that because Shoreline is beyond just church; sometimes it's even gathering with your loved ones in the living room. But we just want to encourage you at any time. Man, we're open North and South, we'd love to have you come back, visit us, spend time with us. We know the importance of community and all that does, so pray about that. Maybe you've been sitting at home for a while and you're like, "You know what? Today's the day." But regardless, we're so glad you're here.

So why don't we do this? Let's all stand up together as a family, as a group, and let's get ready to worship God together. God bless!

The Israelites were traveling through the desert, trusting God and taking every single step of the day. So far it had been pretty good because God had shown them exactly where to go. But something changed in just one moment. They were faced with an obstacle; in front of them was the Red Sea, a huge body of water, preventing them from going into the promised land and continuing their journey. They were wondering how to get through it and how to navigate past the obstacle. At the same moment, the Egyptian Army was right behind them, ready to attack. The Israelites were in the middle of an obstacle in front of them and an obstacle behind them. Even though God had shown them time and time again how good He is and how He had ordained their steps, the Israelites doubted if God even saw them and if He was going to be there for them.

God responded in Exodus chapter 14, verse 14, saying, “The Lord himself will fight for you; you need only to be still.” This is an incredible promise and a powerful statement. In our lives, we are faced with so many obstacles, not just one. We have to trust God and give everything to Him. We don’t have to do anything; God will give us rest.

This morning, if you came to church and faced an obstacle, remember that God fights for you. We don’t have to do anything other than surrender to God because He is our Victor in times of battle and our champion when we face adversities. Give your worries, anxieties, and fears to God, and you will get peace.

It's so good to have you with us today! If you're new or visiting us for the first time, we just want to extend a very special welcome. If you could do us a favor, scan that QR code at your seat, or fill out the connect card. We'd love an opportunity to get to know you a little bit more—your family, what brings you to Shoreline Austin, etc. After service, meet us out in the lobby, and we have a Prezi for you—a little gift!

We take up our offering in a few different ways—you can take the envelope in the seat pocket in front of you, scan the QR code on your armrest, or go to shoreline.net.

Happy Independence weekend, everybody! I was thinking about this weekend and taking time during holidays to think about what it's really about. I'm so grateful that we get to live in this country where we can sincerely worship God and nothing holds us back from that. We know people all around the world that can't just so freely worship God, so I'm so grateful. There are so many things that God has done for us, and I don't know what I would do without Him. Without Him, I just don't know what to do.

Jesus said in Galatians 5:1, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." We get to worship God in this nation and live free from sin, guilt, shame, condemnation, and anything else the enemy tries to hold us back with. Jesus set us free, and we get to celebrate this as believers. Jesus also said in Matthew 10:8, "Freely you have received, so freely give." As believers, we have a heart to give away what God has blessed us with, whether it's our time, talent, or treasure. Our generosity does so much in our church family, like having conferences for our young people and outreaches in our community and around the world. Just yesterday, I got pictures from our Polish family at Shoreline Poland in Kosciusko, Poland. Your generosity does so much, so thank you for giving. Let Freedom Ring during this holiday.

As we give today, let us pray. Father God, thank you for this day and for every single family and person represented in this room. We thank you for giving so freely to us so we can give to others. We thank you that we are in a place and country where we can be free and free to worship you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Also, we want to let everyone know that we are not having our first Wednesday service on July 5th. We want to give all of our volunteers a break and spend time with family. We will pick it back up in August.

Save the date for our More Like Jesus Conference on August 12th.

Good morning, everybody! Happy Fourth of July weekend! Let's all of us stand to our feet and do something kind of special every single week here at Shoreline. We wrap our understanding around a collection of phrases that we call our Shoreline Creed. This just helps to remember at the end of the day that Christianity is not just about rules and regulations, or even instruction on how to live. It's about what God has done for us that we could never do for ourselves. It's about God's Amazing Grace.

So if you're new to Shoreline, you can read along with the rest of us. We say this with some enthusiasm and passion. You guys ready? Alright! And by the way, we want to welcome all of you who are watching online from around the city, around the state, and even around the world. We're so grateful for all of you. In fact, we have literally thousands upon thousands, tens of thousands of people that are watching at Shoreline Behind Bars, and so we are so grateful for our campus there that gives you the opportunity to experience worship and services.

And our young adults ministries, it's really great. So if you identify, yes, if you identified, Pastor Luke is going to be bringing the word. We got Joelle Salabria for worship; it's going to be incredible. Plus, we've got Chris Durso and all kinds of things. Turn your attentions to the screen and see a little bit more about More Like Jesus.

One of the most fascinating stories in the Bible is found in the book of Nehemiah. Just to kind of give you a little bit of a history and a background here, Nehemiah is the cupbearer to the king, and he becomes... When Nehemiah heard that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and in disrepair, he was devastated. He was a cupbearer to the king, and he knew something had to be done. He asked permission of the king to repair the broken walls, and something miraculous happened.

500 years before Nehemiah, Jerusalem was one of the proudest and most incredible cities on planet Earth. It was the center of trade in the entire world, and people would travel from far away to visit Jerusalem and be amazed by its splendor and economic prosperity. People would brag on Jerusalem and say you have to go and see this amazing city, and when they arrived, they would say it was even better than what they had heard.

Nehemiah was a patriot, and when he heard about his country and what had happened to Jerusalem, it says he wept and prayed. This shows that he had a love for God and a love for his country. In today's society, it has become less fashionable to be patriotic, but Nehemiah loved God, and he loved his nation. This idea that we can love God and love this place we call home is inspiring and a good place to land.

Jerusalem, at one point in time, was one of the most glorious cities on planet Earth. At this one point in time, it was in trouble. The people gathered resources, and in 52 days, against fierce opposition, they rebuilt the walls. I love this story, and we're going to take some time today to examine it just a little bit closer because I think there are some parallels and some principles that are important for us to embrace.

The five greatest civilizations voted by historians in history are ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, ancient Egypt, the British Empire, but some say eclipsing them all is this place called the United States of America. I love this land. Growing up, my parents moved to this country just before I was born. I was born in 1960, and I am the middle child of five kids. My two older brothers at this time were born in Holland, my mom and dad born in Holland, and somewhere in my small little brain growing up, there was a part of my identity that was wrapped up in the fact that I was the only one in my family at that time born in the USA.

So I actually had the embassy in my bedroom, and I would let my brothers and my parents stay in my country. I was fiercely patriotic, and I still remember my dad. He put us all into this kind of Chevrolet station wagon, and we drove from our small town in the northeastern part of our country all the way across the upper part of our nation to California and then all the way back along the southern states back up home, and we saw this beautiful land. We have a great country with Rocky Mountains and wonderful resources. They called it a desert, but it turned out to be one of the most fertile basins in all of the world where bread is supplied.

When you think about the United States of America, our nation's history is generous, giving all over the world. Our nation's history is sacrificial; our fellow countrymen, men and women, have shed blood in fighting against tyranny and oppression. Our nation has the greatest hospitals, the greatest schools of higher learning, the greatest businesses, and the greatest form of government that has provided the freest people that have ever lived in the history of the world. We are blessed with incredible natural beauty and incredible natural resources. This land is truly beautiful.

Shoreline families, stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. You may be seated. All success—come on, give it up for our young people. God has blessed us with a beautiful country, but there are some things that we can learn from this story in Nehemiah. I want to make three observations here this morning to share with you that I think all of us can embrace.

The first one is that even though we live in this land that we love, there will always be broken walls that need to be rebuilt. As great as our country is, there are some broken walls, aren't there? We see this brokenness expressed all around us. There are broken people we know from our own personal life experiences. All of us here, those of you watching online, we all know that life can bring some difficult challenges, some tragedies even. If we're not anchored in our relationship with God, these tragedies can devastate our lives.

We see the evidence of brokenness really all around us. This is kind of a special day in our family. It is July 2nd, and it sets in motion some tragedies that rocked and devastated our lives 14 years ago. On July 2nd, my dad was sailing off the Atlantic coast in Florida, and some accident happened, and they found his body a number of hours after his boat washed up on shore. The family gathered down there in Florida, and we honored my dad, never knowing that 12 days after my dad had his accident, my son Caleb would have an accident and be relocated to heaven within 12 days. I lost my father and my son, so I know what it tastes like to experience tragedy that could lead to brokenness.

There are broken people with broken circumstances all throughout our communities. There's stats on young people contemplating suicide that are rising, and that's a concern for all of us. Challenges with addictions, people who have gone through loss as we have, people who feel like they've experienced a past that they cannot recover from, and they drive always looking in the rearview mirror wondering if life will ever get better. With broken families leads to broken individuals, leads to broken families—people going through the pain of divorce, parents working through issues with their kids, adult kids disconnected from their families with a transient society, people are moving all over the country and have lost that sense of community and connectedness.

There are broken individuals that lead to broken families that lead to broken cities. One of the most incredible changes that have taken place in our nation has been the urbanization of our country, and our cities have challenges—drugs, crime, racial tension, and corruption. This brokenness has even seeped into some of our institutions. There's challenges with education after COVID; people are more concerned about the learning ability of our young people as they adjust back to life in school. There are challenges in our government with people split right down the middle with their political convictions. It's really difficult to get things done, and government has seen the lowest popularity ratings ever in our history.

Shoreline is experiencing an incredible season of growth, with 30-35% more people attending services at our North and South campuses, and our online campus growing as well. However, the picture of the church at large in our country is not what it ought to be; there are more churches closing than opening, and more people giving up on their faith than embracing it. Nehemiah saw the broken walls of the city of Jerusalem, and it moved him deeply. He prayed, wept, and gathered the people and resources to rebuild them.

200 years ago, William Wilberforce saw the abomination of slavery and the unimaginable pain and suffering it brought to his nation. He dedicated his life to changing it, and in his lifetime, slavery was eradicated from the entire British Empire. We must ask ourselves, what do we see that other people don't, that breaks our heart? There will always be broken walls that need to be rebuilt.

Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king, a very important position. His responsibility was to taste the food and drink of the king to make sure it was safe to eat. This special position gave him the opportunity to intercede on behalf of the people. We too have the opportunity to do something about the brokenness we see in our world. We must take the challenges we see in society and not take them for granted. We must be moved to compassion and dedicate our lives to rebuilding the broken walls.

God often places us in strategic positions in order to accomplish His purpose. You may not be an advisor to the president or someone close to someone of great influence and power, but you can still make a difference. An older couple was walking along the beach when they noticed a boy picking up starfish and throwing them into the sea. When they asked him what difference he could make, he replied that it makes a difference for this one. We may be overwhelmed by the brokenness in our society, but we can still make a difference in our own world. We can start where we are and be difference makers.

Shoreline Church is making a difference in many places around the world. They partner with a church in Poland and have taken up generous donations to help refugees in Ukraine. They also have a group of missionaries in the Philippines helping a ministry called Kids with a Purpose. We can trust God to do something great in all of these places. In the lives of those there in Manila, I just want you to know your church family. We might not be able to reach the whole world, but we're reaching this one. We're not going to sit on the sidelines just because the need is overwhelming. We're going to do what we can to make the world a better place.

There are always broken walls that need to be rebuilt, and there is always something that we can do. Nehemiah mobilized the resources from a physical standpoint and mobilized the people from a human resource standpoint, and in 52 days did the impossible—rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. What makes this story so special is that if you were to read Nehemiah chapter 3, it would read like this: this family working next to that family, goldsmiths working next to bricklayers, perfume makers working next to shepherds, fathers working next to sons, mothers working next to daughters, merchants working next to leaders in God's kingdom. Everyone is valuable; everyone is important, no matter what your history, your education, your financial capacity, your gender, your age—you matter no matter what your ethnicity. All of us working together can make a difference.

Just this week at Shoreline on our North Campus, we had an event called Kidcon. They did a little video summary of everything that happened this past week. I was proud of all the volunteers who took off work, made the extra effort to come, and poured into the children of our church. It was absolutely magnificent. When I see it, I just think about these volunteers and these leaders picking up some starfish and throwing them back into the sea.

Yeah, there are hundreds and thousands of young people, but we made a difference in every one of them that came to the church this week. The time is here now; I'm on my way out. No matter where I go, I know I'm not alone.

What's your favorite thing about Kidcon? Um, my favorite thing about Kidcon is going outside. Oh, are you having fun? Yeah, alright. It is celebrating Jesus and having fun, yes sir. Singing songs to the Lord, high five.

What's your favorite thing about Kidcon? No further questions at this time.

What's your favorite thing about Kidcon? Thank you.

What's your favorite thing about Kidcon? I like turtles when we go on the stage.

What's the bouncy house? Thank you, um, class. I like everything, and especially when we go outside for the snacks.

Get out here, give me a Yeehaw! Yeah.

On the count of three, we're all gonna say I'm wanted. One, two, three. Good job, give me a Yeehaw! K.

Wow, what an amazing time we've had. I don't want it. Just taking starfish, throwing them back into the sea.

When you think about July 4th this year, I want you to think that we are the freest people ever in the history of the world. Do we have our issues? Yeah, we do. We got lots of them. Are there some broken things that need to be fixed? Yes, but there's something we can do, and Shoreline honestly is about all of us doing it together.

There was one young man that inspired me this week. His name is Colton. He was a volunteer signed up to work at Kidcon. He took a week off from work, but right before Kidcon happened, he broke his foot. You would think he would just take a pass and rest and recover, but Colton was on his crutches all week long, loving on the kids, making a difference. And when I heard his story, you know what? Something just kind of leapt up in my heart. I think the future can be good; the future can be better than what we ever imagined it could be with folks like Colton and you and me recognizing there's something we can do, and we can do it together.

Amen.

So Father, we thank you, Lord, for the freedom of our nation, and we're mindful of the incredible sacrifices that have been made to bring that freedom to us. And Lord, I'm so grateful that the motivation for many of those seeking freedom when they first came to this land was the freedom to worship you and to honor you with their lives.

Father, I pray that this great nation would turn back to you, would put you first because the question at the end of the day is not whether God is on our side; it's are we on His side. So Father, empower us to see needs, do what we can do, and do it together in Jesus' name.

If you wouldn't mind just remaining in an attitude of prayer for just a moment longer. If you came to church today and you say, "Pastor, I'm not where I need to be with God, I'm not living right, I'm not doing right." Maybe you made a decision at one point in time to follow the Lord, but you slipped away, and today you need... If you want to meet Jesus for the first time or rededicate your life to serving Him, it would be my joy and privilege to lead you in a very simple prayer.

I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me, and I'm going to ask everyone else as a reaffirmation of your faith in God to join me in this prayer. So let's all of us pray this together:

"Heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus. Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart, forgive me of all my sins. I put my trust in you, and I will live for you from this day forward by your power, for Your Glory, in Jesus' name. Amen."

Would you give them all a great big hand clap?

Well, we're gonna end our service with a little fun here today. There's a country song I know some of you might not like country, but today you got to. Let's all of us stand to our feet, and we're gonna hear a little country song, and we changed the words in this one song. You'll know why if you know this song. It's a root beer, and that's kind of an important thing because we have root beer snow cones available after service out on the front part of our property.

So you go out the front exit, and those snow cones will be there, but don't leave early. You wanna hear this. It's going to be a great country song to inspire us for the Fourth of July. Give these guys a great big hand clap.

I thank God for my life, for the red, white, and blue, made freedom forever fly. Let it rain on the ones that give their lives. See the living room, foreign. Don't forget about the snow cones. Thank you!