In today's message, we explored the concept of deploying our faith, drawing parallels between the startup culture and the early church as depicted in the book of Acts. Just as startups focus on launching their products and services, our faith is meant to be active, reaching out beyond our immediate circles to bring hope and transformation to others. The early church in Antioch serves as a powerful example of this, with its diverse leadership and commitment to spreading the gospel across cultural and geographical boundaries. This church was not content to keep their faith within their walls; they actively sent out leaders like Barnabas and Paul to share the message of Jesus with the world.

The startup mindset teaches us the importance of forming effective teams, and the early church exemplified this by bringing together individuals from different backgrounds to work towards a common mission. This diversity was not just a strength but a necessity for the church to thrive and adapt to the Holy Spirit's guidance. Similarly, in our own faith journeys, we need mentors, peers, and encouragers who can help us navigate the challenges and opportunities we face.

We also discussed the concept of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) as a framework for aligning our efforts with God's mission. Just as businesses use OKRs to stay focused on their goals, we are called to align our lives with Jesus' objectives, ensuring that our faith is not just a private belief but a public declaration of hope and love. This involves taking bold steps, much like a company going public with an IPO, to share the gospel with others, even at the risk of misunderstanding or criticism.

Ultimately, our faith is never finished. It is an ongoing journey of learning, adapting, and growing, both individually and as a community. We are called to be active deployers of our faith, sharing the love of Jesus with those around us and responding to the cries for hope and healing in our world.

**Key Takeaways:**

1. **Faith in Motion:** Our faith, like a startup, is always in motion, reaching new people and refining its message. It is not meant to be static or confined within the walls of a church but should be actively shared with others. This dynamic nature of faith calls us to continually seek new ways to bring hope to those around us. [29:36]

2. **Diverse Teams in Faith:** The early church in Antioch thrived because of its diverse leadership, which included individuals from various ethnic, political, and cultural backgrounds. This diversity was crucial for discerning God's voice and adapting to His guidance. In our own faith journeys, we need a team of mentors, peers, and encouragers to help us grow and navigate challenges. [34:24]

3. **Aligning with God's Objectives:** Just as businesses use OKRs to align their efforts, we are called to align our lives with Jesus' objectives. This involves making our faith public and sharing the gospel with others, ensuring that our actions reflect the love and grace of Jesus. True alignment with God's mission propels us to make a tangible impact in the world. [41:19]

4. **Going Public with Faith:** Sharing our faith publicly is akin to a company going public with an IPO. It involves taking risks and facing potential criticism, but the potential impact on lives and communities is worth it. By going public with our faith, we offer hope, grace, and love to those around us, inviting them to experience the transformative power of Jesus. [47:55]

5. **Continuous Growth and Adaptation:** Our faith journey is ongoing, requiring us to continually learn, adapt, and grow. Like a startup that never stops innovating, we must keep deepening our understanding and expanding our influence. This involves being open to the Holy Spirit's guidance and embracing new opportunities to share the love of Jesus with others. [49:40]

**Youtube Chapters:**

[00:00] - Welcome
[27:53] - Introduction and Prayer
[29:36] - Faith in Motion
[31:13] - The Church in Antioch
[33:11] - Faith Beyond Walls
[34:24] - Diverse Teams in Faith
[41:19] - Aligning with God's Objectives
[43:44] - Measuring Progress in Faith
[45:59] - Going Public with Faith
[47:55] - Offering Hope and Grace
[49:40] - Continuous Growth and Adaptation
[51:06] - Embracing the Mission
[53:23] - Antioch as a Prototype
[55:34] - Responding to the Call
[56:59] - Closing Prayer

**Bible Study Discussion Guide**

**Bible Reading:**
- Acts 13:1-3
- Matthew 28:19

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**Observation Questions:**

1. What was the composition of the leadership team in the church at Antioch, and why was it significant? [31:13]
2. How did the early church in Antioch respond to the Holy Spirit's guidance during their worship and fasting? [31:13]
3. What parallels were drawn between the startup culture and the early church in the sermon? [29:36]
4. How did the early church in Antioch demonstrate a "sending culture"? [33:11]

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**Interpretation Questions:**

1. How does the diversity of the Antioch church's leadership reflect the necessity of diverse teams in faith communities today? [34:24]
2. In what ways can the concept of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) be applied to personal faith journeys? [41:19]
3. What does it mean to "go public" with one's faith, and what are the potential risks and rewards associated with it? [47:55]
4. How does the sermon suggest that faith is an ongoing journey of growth and adaptation? [49:40]

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**Application Questions:**

1. Reflect on your current faith journey. Are there areas where you feel your faith is static rather than in motion? What steps can you take to actively share your faith with others? [29:36]
2. Consider the diversity within your own faith community. How can you contribute to building a team that reflects different backgrounds and strengths? [34:24]
3. How aligned are your personal objectives with Jesus' mission as outlined in Matthew 28:19? What changes might you need to make to ensure your life reflects this alignment? [41:19]
4. Have you ever faced criticism or misunderstanding when sharing your faith? How did you handle it, and what did you learn from the experience? [47:55]
5. Identify a mentor, peer, or encourager in your life who helps you navigate your faith journey. How can you strengthen this relationship to support your growth? [49:40]
6. Think about a recent situation where you felt the Holy Spirit guiding you in a new direction. How did you respond, and what was the outcome? [51:06]
7. What is one tangible way you can "deploy" your faith this week to bring hope and transformation to someone in your community? [55:34]

Day 1: Faith in Motion: Active and Transformative

Our faith is not meant to be static or confined within the walls of a church. Like a startup constantly refining its message and reaching new audiences, our faith should be dynamic and active, continually seeking new ways to bring hope to those around us. The early church in Antioch serves as a powerful example of this, as they were not content to keep their faith within their walls. They actively sent out leaders like Barnabas and Paul to share the message of Jesus with the world. This dynamic nature of faith calls us to continually seek new ways to bring hope to those around us, ensuring that our faith is always in motion and reaching new people. [29:36]

"For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:20, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your life needs to hear the message of hope and transformation that your faith offers? How can you actively share your faith with them today?


Day 2: Diverse Teams in Faith: Unity in Diversity

The early church in Antioch thrived because of its diverse leadership, which included individuals from various ethnic, political, and cultural backgrounds. This diversity was crucial for discerning God's voice and adapting to His guidance. In our own faith journeys, we need a team of mentors, peers, and encouragers to help us grow and navigate challenges. Just as the startup mindset teaches the importance of forming effective teams, the early church exemplified this by bringing together individuals from different backgrounds to work towards a common mission. This diversity was not just a strength but a necessity for the church to thrive and adapt to the Holy Spirit's guidance. [34:24]

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ." (1 Corinthians 12:12, ESV)

Reflection: Who are the diverse individuals in your life that can help you grow in your faith? How can you intentionally build a team of mentors, peers, and encouragers to support your spiritual journey?


Day 3: Aligning with God's Objectives: Living with Purpose

Just as businesses use OKRs to align their efforts, we are called to align our lives with Jesus' objectives. This involves making our faith public and sharing the gospel with others, ensuring that our actions reflect the love and grace of Jesus. True alignment with God's mission propels us to make a tangible impact in the world. By aligning our efforts with God's objectives, we ensure that our faith is not just a private belief but a public declaration of hope and love. This alignment requires us to take bold steps, much like a company going public with an IPO, to share the gospel with others, even at the risk of misunderstanding or criticism. [41:19]

"Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established." (Proverbs 16:3, ESV)

Reflection: What are the specific objectives that God is calling you to align your life with? How can you take bold steps to make your faith a public declaration of hope and love today?


Day 4: Going Public with Faith: Boldness in Witness

Sharing our faith publicly is akin to a company going public with an IPO. It involves taking risks and facing potential criticism, but the potential impact on lives and communities is worth it. By going public with our faith, we offer hope, grace, and love to those around us, inviting them to experience the transformative power of Jesus. This boldness in witness requires us to step out of our comfort zones and share the gospel with others, even when it may be challenging or uncomfortable. The early church in Antioch serves as a powerful example of this, as they were not content to keep their faith within their walls but actively shared the message of Jesus with the world. [47:55]

"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." (2 Timothy 1:7, ESV)

Reflection: What fears or hesitations are holding you back from sharing your faith publicly? How can you overcome these obstacles and boldly witness to the transformative power of Jesus in your life?


Day 5: Continuous Growth and Adaptation: Embracing the Journey

Our faith journey is ongoing, requiring us to continually learn, adapt, and grow. Like a startup that never stops innovating, we must keep deepening our understanding and expanding our influence. This involves being open to the Holy Spirit's guidance and embracing new opportunities to share the love of Jesus with others. The early church in Antioch serves as a powerful example of this, as they were not content to keep their faith within their walls but actively shared the message of Jesus with the world. This continuous growth and adaptation ensure that our faith is always in motion and reaching new people. [49:40]

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV)

Reflection: In what areas of your faith journey do you need to grow and adapt? How can you embrace the Holy Spirit's guidance and seek new opportunities to share the love of Jesus with others today?

Our faith, like a startup, is always in motion, always reaching into new markets and refining its message and always seeking to bring hope to new people. We're going to return to the book of Acts and see how they learn to deploy their faith, form effective teams, and share the hope of Jesus from beyond their city's borders. [00:29:48] (23 seconds) Edit Clip


Barnabas, nicknamed son of the encouragement, he was known for lifting up others and helping them find their place in God's work. He's that one friend that you could call when you're sad, when you need some encouragement, the one to make you laugh. And you have people like Saul, or his name is also Paul, in different transliterations of the scripture. [00:35:07] (19 seconds) Edit Clip


Having the correct objectives that align with God's objectives propel us to make our faith public and deploy it for the experience of others in tangible ways. In a company, as a result of their alignment through correct objectives, they deploy a product or a service through something called an IPO. [00:44:38] (21 seconds) Edit Clip


An IPO, like sharing the gospel, is a bold step in going public. Companies risk failure and even criticism when they go public. Believers, we risk mockery. Or misunderstanding. Yet, the potential impact changed lives in communities is way worth it. Offering something of value, an IPO offers shares. [00:47:35] (23 seconds) Edit Clip


Think of Antioch, again, as a prototype of thriving, a thriving faith community. They didn't see themselves as passive recipients of a message. They were active deployers going public with the love of Jesus. And this is what we desire here at Menlo. All of us engaged with open hands and hearts full of good work. [00:54:30] (23 seconds) Edit Clip


They may not even be able to articulate it with their own words of Jesus and come bring hope to me, but their lives are crying for it. Their actions are crying for it. Their pain and suffering are crying for it. Will we or will we not deploy the faith of God to bring hope to everyone? We cannot let the hope of Jesus, the message of hope, the message of faith to ourselves. [00:55:57] (30 seconds) Edit Clip


Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God who never gives up, that you are a God who's intentional. We thank you. You are a God who hears the cry of people and you're not a God who is just chilling, kicking it, disconnected from us, but yet in your grace, in your love, in your mercy, you come near. [00:57:03] (25 seconds) Edit Clip

Good morning, Menlo Church. My name is Javon. I serve as one of the pastors here.

We're a multi-site church with campuses all the way throughout the Bay, from here in Menlo Park, Saratoga, Mountain View, San Mateo, and we are all united around one mission, and that one mission is to bring hope to everyone for all of us to live out our identity in Christ every single day.

And so again, as we welcome our campuses, or if you're here joining us online, thank you so much for spending your day with us as we consider what God would have to say to us today in His Word.

Now, in the last week, we're going to wrap up our series called Startup Faith, where we've actually been exploring the parallels from the present-day startup movement and the ancient church in the book of Acts in the Bible.

Now, in week one, we covered dreaming big and overcoming barriers in faith, where we explored how the startup mindset helps us actually move forward. And then in week two, we talked about that design phase. In that design phase, the faith MVP, or the minimum viable product, was introduced as a concept in a startup culture, and it applied it as a model of us pursuing Jesus consistently each day, each week, and each year.

In week three, we spoke about developing faith through resistance. We examined how startups refine their products or their services when facing stalls or setbacks, and discovering how our faith can similarly grow stronger through seasons of resistance.

Now, this week and today, in week four, we're going to talk about deploy. This is one of my favorites, our faith in motion, where we get a chance to explore our faith like a valuable new product or service.

Now, before we begin, I'd like to pray. And I'm going to pray for our time together and ask that God would encourage us and teach us the scriptures, because the scriptures, the Bible says that He is the revealer of all truth and all wisdom. So join me in prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you for another opportunity to come. God, there are many people who today are in a lot of different places in their life. Some people are hurting from a loss. Some people are coming here for the first time, or maybe for the last time, that they're just trying to figure out, God, would you help?

So God, I pray that you would meet all of us wherever we're at today. I pray that you would meet us today so that we would learn much about you and be encouraged about what our life means and what our life matters. Would you guide our time today? It's in Jesus' good name we pray, amen.

Now, whenever you hear the term startup, many of us picture a young tech entrepreneur, sleepless nights coding. I'm like, just so you guys know, I can't code. Someone actually told me when they saw me type, they were like, you type like a dad. And I was like, well, hold up, fam. I am a dad. And yes, I did get a D in typing class. I almost said typewriting, but we didn't have typewriters. Thank God for technology, right?

And when we think about this young picture of an entrepreneur, you think about those things, the inventors hustling to get a new product off the ground. Yet I believe that there's something incredibly valuable in the startup mindset that actually resonates with the Christian faith.

The thing that resonates with the Christian faith is the same thing, that just like that, in a startup, everything is about deployment, getting a product or a service ready, and then launching it publicly. Now, there's a focus on growth, meeting needs, and innovating, and also risking failure for a greater purpose.

Today, we want to see the parallels of the life of the early church and in the book of Acts, and then what we're going to do is we're going to see that faith is never finished because it's for everyone. Like a good startup, faith is always in motion, always reaching into new markets and refining its message and always seeking to bring hope to new people.

We're going to return to the book of Acts and see how they learned to deploy their faith, form effective teams, and share the hope of Jesus from beyond their city's borders. And along the way, we're going to draw some business terminology, things like OKRs and IPOs to help illustrate the importance of faith in the future.

And we're going to draw some business terminology, how we might do the same in our daily lives and through our life of Menlo Church as our home. So if you're new to Menlo, if you ever wondered about a church or often wondered why Christians talk about Jesus so much, consider this an invitation behind the scenes like they used to do on MTV Cribs about why we care so much and what has captured our attention, our lives, and our devotion.

Now, let's begin with the book of Acts chapter 13, verses 1 through 3. It says, "Now they were there in the church in Antioch, prophets and teachers, and Barnabas and Simeon who was called the Niger, and Lucius the Cyrene."

I'll just pause right there. When I see Lucius, I know he was a chocolate brother. I know a name like a strong name like Lucius. Lucius, yes, God. You know, the writer Luke, he attaches these different things like the name to help explain where these people came from, which is painting this beautiful picture.

But he says, "Simeon the Niger," which this is Latin for "the black." So I don't know what Latin translators were translating that way. But then you got Simeon, you got Lucius from Cyrene, and Menean, a lifelong friend who is of Herod the Tetrarch in Saul.

And then while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas for the work which I have called them for." Then after fasting and praying, they laid hands on them, and then they sent them off.

Now, Antioch was a vibrant city. It was known for its cultural diversity, its hustling and bustling trade. Now, believers had arrived there after being scattered, and they were able to be scattered by persecution in Jerusalem. Instead of allowing persecution to actually silence them, they actually carried their faith like a new product, and they believed in it so strongly that they had to share it.

Now, a couple of things about the church of Antioch is kind of like a majority of churches, that it was packed with diverse leadership. The leaders, Barnabas and Simeon, and like I said, Lucius, the chocolate brother, the Menean, and Saul, they always represented different aspects of the church.

This church was deeply committed to the singing of songs together, like we just did when we started today's service. And they gathered in prayer. They were praying, a praying community, and seeking God's direction. Lastly, they were a church with a sending culture, which means y'all roughly translated, they wasn't stingy.

When they sensed God's leading, they sent out leaders like Barnabas and Paul, and they sent them out for new missions to be with the rest of the world, like here at Menlo, where we really rally around people, around the name of Jesus to inspire them to be for the Bay.

And much like a startup that invests time and energy into the market research and product development, the church at Antioch invested deposits of faith, fasting and praying and giving worship. And these moments are the ones where we listen to God's voice, where we find the next steps in our faith journey.

Well, why does that matter? Why does any of it matter? Well, the early church recognized that faith was a way of life. It wasn't meant to be kept in house. It was supposed to be moved beyond the walls of their local gathering, move across the political lines or their leanings or their preferences.

Some of us, we have a lot of preferences, and we know that if it wasn't for Jesus, we would not be talking to some of these people. Some of you guys are looking at your spouse right now. You need to stop. Some of you guys, I can't even stand the way some people chew.

But what would it look like? And this is what we get a picture of what it looks like when Jesus binds people, where they bring people together, where they forego all about their personal comforts and their agendas, but they're united in alignment with Jesus and his mission.

They operated, these people did, with a sense of urgency because lives were at stake. And the good news of Jesus had to be deployed into the world.

Now, one of the first things any business or entrepreneur owner would learn to do is that you need a team if you're going to succeed. You can't do everything by yourself. The same is true, the Christian faith.

Barnabas, nicknamed son of encouragement, he was known for lifting up others and helping them find their place in God's work. He's that one friend that you could call when you're sad, when you need some encouragement, the one to make you laugh.

And you have people like Saul, or his name is also Paul, in different transliterations of the scripture. He was once an enemy of Christianity. But then he became transformed by an encounter with Jesus. He had a sharp mind, an extensive theological background. He went to the Harvards, he went to the Stanfords, he went to all of the most prestigious schools that you could think of. He was that guy. He was him.

And then again, you have the people like Simeon and Lucius and Menean, who clearly played also well a significant role in discerning God's voice of the guiding church. Together, they formed a leadership team, reflecting different ethnic, political, and cultural backgrounds and strengths.

Now, I've even found the same to be true in my own experience, especially as I've been in pastoral ministry. I think of my spiritual father named Wayne Taylor. Like, how in the world does this 70-year-old white dude embrace this young rapping kid who's learning in Bible college and befriend him? And now he's still called my Papa to this day. I love Papa Wayne.

He's planted over 37 churches, and he invested in me. I also think about the church that I planted and pastored and the amazing team with me in Seattle called Flourish Church, where people sacrificed to see one of the roughest neighborhoods in Seattle have the expression of Jesus of a multi-ethnic church who championed the justice of God in the righteousness for our neighbors.

That is just a glimpse of some of my diverse team of where God has used people in my own life who are yours.

In Acts 16:6-10, we see how this diverse team, who you would never think would be friends or ever even work together apart from Jesus, they are also unified as they seek God together. The team's sensitivity even to the Holy Spirit leads them to shift their plans.

In verse 6 it says, "And then they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come upon Myasia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So passing by Myasia, they went down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was there standing urging him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them."

The team intended to go to certain regions, but God had redirected this group's plans to Macedonia. Some of the people who had come to Macedonia in the night were called to the other region, but no one of the people got the word.

The part of this vision was that God had come to Macedonia to heal the evil people. He doesn't say anything if it's for you that it's a call to building a unit of righteousness to angle you to Christ Jesus, but to live and telling the Church to believe in him as the faithful hopes believed in him as the faithful body which published the gospel.

The scripture of Acts chapter 2:90, "I didn't get here alone. There have been faithful men and women who have invested in my life with their time, with their energy and life. They've used their own faith as an investor or a venture capitalist would, never knowing if the investment would actually yield any return or not. But they did it, and I'm glad that they did it because of Jesus's work in them, my life is not the same."

Faith deployment isn't a solo affair. So even if you have been exploring what it means to follow Jesus, you don't have to figure it out alone.

Some of you may be thinking, "Okay, Javon, I hear you, but how do I deploy my faith?" Well, I'm so glad that you asked. If deployment of our faith is not a solo task or one to be done solo but one to be done in community, we can learn how it mirrors the early church with something called OKRs, which stands for objectives and key results.

You know, we find people in this journey where we can actually encourage you to ask the hard questions. We need people in our lives like that, right? To help us discern what might be the next best step. But Christianity is also at best deeply communal. We learn, we serve, and we go together.

In the business world, OKRs or objectives and key results are the most important things that we need to know about the future. We learn that the key results help teams, whether they are businesses or nonprofits, actually stay aligned toward a major goal.

Here at Menlo, our staff even has embraced OKRs as part of our calling to help bring hope to Jesus to the Bay Area. Our audacious vision to see the next 3% of the Bay Area residents actively living out their identity in Christ every day.

We don't view this as merely some happy, clappy slogan. Rather, it's a concrete framework that guides our strategic efforts as both a church and as a staff, because God has called us to partner with him, like Milo said in the video, with the family business to bring hope to everyone.

In his book, Measuring What Matters, author and venture capitalist John Doerr offers an explanation of what OKRs are and why they matter. He says that OKRs are a management methodology that helps to ensure that a company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization.

He goes on to say, according to a Harvard Business Review, companies whose employees are highly aligned with the organization's goals are more than twice as likely to be top performers. However, true alignment is surprisingly rare. One study found that only 7% of employees fully understand their company's strategies and what's expected of them to meet the shared objectives.

This lack of alignment, cited by a global poll of CEOs, is considered to be the number one barrier between strategy and execution. There is so much truth to this, not just for a startup company but also for many of us. Many of us come here every day and are frustrated and angry at times because we feel like God is not getting with our personal program or agenda.

But spoiler alert, guess what? He's not. He never will, and he's not. The real question is, are you aligned with Jesus' objectives?

Just as we are today, the early church had a clear OKR objective from God, given by Jesus himself in Matthew 28:19. "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

And through that objective, there came some tangible key results. There was conversion of 3,000 people responding to Peter's first sermon at Pentecost. There were church plants that happened where communities were forming all around in Judea, Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, and Corinth.

You see, even the geographical expansion of hope. They spread the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria, even to the ends of the earth, which is us. Spoiler alert, guess what? Christianity did not start here. We are the ends of the earth.

And praise God for his holiness. And praise the Holy Spirit and people being obedient to him because now we are in faith because of the disciples and because of faithful men and women throughout history. Now we are a sent people again.

You see, these people even reviewed progress regularly, and they even adjusted and pivoted by listening to the Holy Spirit. Paul and Barnabas, for instance, returned to Antioch to report how the Gentiles, meaning non-Jews, responded to the gospel. They adapted and pivoted when necessary.

Paul and Barnabas, for instance, returned to Antioch to report how the Gentiles, meaning non-Jews, responded to the gospel. They adapted and pivoted when necessary.

In a silo, it's done in community. These are opportunities for us. But we have to remember this, that measuring progress doesn't make us less spiritual. It simply ensures that what we say is important actually gets our time and energy.

Having the correct objectives that align with God's objectives propel us to make our faith public and deploy it for the experience of others in tangible ways.

In a company, as a result of their alignment through correct objectives, they deploy a product or a service through something called an IPO. And yes, a company can also have already put their product or their service into the market before they get to an IPO, but an IPO is something where it's a very important moment as well, where a company transitions from private to public.

It's not the only choice, but for a business, it's also a bold step. It can often be scrutinized, but it can also lead to a greater resource and impact.

You see, they adapted and pivoted when needed. For Christians, going public with our faith means that we stop treating the gospel as a private message that we have to be held in secret. Instead, though, we go and share it with others through our words of truth of Jesus, through our actions and through our attitudes that even reflect those of Jesus.

An IPO reminds me of this invention, a venture that impacted me early on in life named Lonnie Johnson. Now, Lonnie Johnson, he's a former NASA engineer who invented something called the Super Soaker. I know, it changed history forever.

And if you're a 90s baby with your Everlast elastic pants and the neon shoes and the Ultimate Warrior and the Hulk Hogan, you remember that. You see, that Super Soaker, he accidentally discovered this high-pressure nozzle design by working on a heat pump system.

And then once that he actually found out, oh my goodness, I can make this crazy little device that kids would love, he actually started to spend all his free time building and fine-tuning it so he could share it with everyone.

And like Lonnie did with the Super Soaker, when we have something just as good as that, we have something good as that called the gospel, the message of Jesus, so why wouldn't we share that? That is a beautiful opportunity to share that.

An IPO means that someone or a business is saying, I believe in this product so much that I want everyone to have access to it. Though it was an official IPO since on the New York Stock Exchange, Lonnie Johnson believed that his invention was so much bringing joy that he had to share it.

But friends, we believe in Jesus, the one who brings joy. The one who brings hope. The one who brings new life. Johnson, we should be bursting with excitement to tell others just like him. My life as a young kid was forever changed by that Super Soaker. Till this day, I know the joy of what it is.

An IPO, like sharing the gospel, is a bold step in going public. Companies risk failure and even criticism when they go public. Believers, we risk mockery or misunderstanding. Yet, the potential impact changed lives in communities is way worth it.

Offering something of value, an IPO offers shares. We offer hope and grace and love through Jesus and hope that changes lives profoundly more than any stock option ever could.

It also brings transparency and accountability. A public company's finances or even their operations face a greater level of scrutiny to the public eye. You see, but public faith invites people to watch how we live. It challenges us to live with integrity, admit mistakes, and show how grace changes us from the inside out, reaching a broader audience.

Public companies even attract attention so that they can scale more. And we share our faith publicly because it is for everyone. If we keep our faith hidden, if we keep the message and hope of Jesus hidden, if we deny the opportunity for others to encounter Jesus, what are we doing?

You see, enabling growth and multiplication is when we move beyond a private belief, we discover a new partnership and new collaborators with opportunities to multiply our influence for the sake of Jesus.

And you think about the woman, the Samaritan woman in the book of John, how she became what we would call now an affiliate marketer. When she encountered Jesus, she came at Jesus sideways, or as a young kid would say, she was speaking in cursive to Jesus.

And Jesus was like, yeah, all the smoke screens, I see through all of it. And he looks right into her life and calls her to himself. And she was so excited that she went out there and created like the first TikTok and got her whole town to come and follow Jesus.

And maybe it's you and you're asking, "Alright, Javon, I see the parallels, but what does this have to do with my life?" Well, friends, faith is for everyone. The same way that it was in Antioch and how they intentionally reached across cultural lines. We are called to reach across social, economic, and personal barriers.

No one is alone. We are off limits to the love of God. Faith is never finished. And just like a startup that doesn't stop innovating, our faith is ongoing. We keep learning. We keep adapting. We keep growing deeper into our understanding and to our broader influence.

And then we, if we don't understand that if we don't deploy in our teams, we will fail. Paul and Barnabas needed each other. We need mentors. We need peers. We need encouragers. We need people who can look at us, who can sharpen us, even critics.

You know, when you're changing lanes, one of the things you do is you turn on your side, your mirror, I mean your blinker, and then you look and you see a side view mirror. Many of us are not having the direction that we need in our lives because we don't have friends that are like the side view mirrors.

We don't have friends that can say, "Hey, there's danger on this side. Hey friend, there's danger on this side." Ask yourself, who's on your faith team? Who's praying for you, advising you, cheering you on?

Embrace the mission, whether you're a long-time believer or you're still exploring, recognize that part of faith's beauty lies in sharing it and deploying it.

I love the reality that if Apple and Google kept their innovations locked away in a closet and never released them, what a loss. Some other inventions I wish would have kept in secret, like maybe when I was raising my children, Cocoa Melon. Some of y'all know what I'm talking about. If you don't know, you can go look it up. God, why did they do that to us?

But we have greater inventions than things that Apple or Google could ever create or any other company. It would be a loss for us daily to not be able to partake in what they offer. But how much of a loss would it be even more about the gospel that is infinitely more valuable than any product or service or anything that any person could ever conceive that brings hope, that brings healing and purpose?

What happens if we keep that to ourselves? Friends, the world would be robbed of joy and hope and life change. Now you might need to pivot. The Holy Spirit redirected Paul to Macedonia, and sometimes our best laid plans take a turn.

Be open to the unexpected guidance of God, that job that you didn't get, that closed door, that relocated friend. Perhaps God is gently nudging you toward a new market or a new opportunity. A new opportunity of love and service.

And before we go any further, we recap this church at Antioch and why it's so important is because Menlo, this is the prototype for us as a church. You see that Antioch, it was founded by dispersed believers. They turned persecution into opportunity. They're sharing their faith wherever they went.

They were multicultural in outreach. Antioch intentionally preached to the Gentiles, meaning non-Jews, not just the Jewish people. And this was absolutely groundbreaking at this time that they would talk to those people.

This was also the first time in the first place where they were called Christians. Their identity in Christ was so distinct that the surrounding culture around them gave them the name of Christians or followers of Christ.

So again, Jesus Christ, his last name is not Christ. It's a title of anointed one or Messiah. This church also had generosity and compassion. They responded to a famine by collecting resources for Judea, and they showed their faith in action.

We think about how many churches, Menlo was one of them, helping aid people who are victims of fire and floods. It's our faith in action. And they also became a sending hub. Antioch was a launching pad for the first of major missionary journeys in the scripture.

And we get a chance to partake in that work as well. It had strong, diverse leadership. People from every different background, all guided by the same spirit, continued to support Paul and Barnabas as they reported back to Antioch, celebrating God's great work together.

Think of Antioch, again, as a prototype of thriving, a thriving faith community. They didn't see themselves as passive recipients of a message. They were active deployers going public with the love of Jesus.

And this is what we desire here at Menlo. All of us engaged with open hands and hearts full of good work. God is calling all of us to serve the Bay Area. And like the church at Antioch, we have the same Holy Spirit that fuels and propels us for this desire to bring hope to everyone.

The church in Antioch grasped this deeply. They became a center of the church. They became a center of the church. They became a center of the church. They became a sending hub, launching people like Paul and Barnabas through new frontiers.

They got their faith funded by prayer, and Jesus is leading. And he is still doing that today, friends. Don't hide your faith. Go public with your faith IPO. Deploy it.

And like the vision that Paul got with the Macedonian ministry, go public with your faith. Go public with your faith. Go public with your faith.

Go a call as they made plans to go one way. But because the Spirit of God led them to go another way, they said in that vision, a man cried and said, "Come here."

There are men and women in the Bay Area crying, asking, "Please, would you people who have the hope, who have the love of Jesus, come?" They may not even be able to articulate it with their own words of Jesus and come bring hope to me, but their lives are crying for it. Their actions are crying for it. Their pain and suffering are crying for it.

Will we or will we not deploy the faith of God to bring hope to everyone? We cannot let the hope of Jesus, the message of hope, the message of faith to ourselves. We have to deploy it.

So today you might have come in here going one way, but today you might have come in here going the other way. Today, God is calling for you to change with his objectives and to deploy his word, to deploy his message, to deploy his love of grace to a world who is calling for help, even so deeply that they don't even know how to articulate it.

This is the great joy and the great opportunity that we have as a church. Will you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God who never gives up, that you are a God who's intentional. We thank you. You are a God who hears the cry of people and you're not a God who is just chilling, kicking it, disconnected from us, but yet in your grace, in your love, in your mercy, you come near.

And God, just as you came near and you brought a message of hope and grace and peace, we pray that you would empower us, show us that we are not called to live life in isolation, in a silo, but we are called to live life in community.

May we no longer just keep coming here day after day, wondering what should we do, but we would actually connect with you and your love and your church. And if this is our first time or our last time that we're just trying to give this a try, God, I pray that you would meet that person now in their pain, in their suffering. I pray that you would meet them.

We thank you for all of these things. It's in Jesus's good name we pray, amen.