Amen. Amen. Amen. Man, it was awesome worship.
I've got a couple quick announcements for you, and then we are going to hear—so excited to hear from our new lead pastor, T.C. Mooney. But we've got a couple things I just wanted to share with you first.
First things first, if you are new here, we are so excited that you have joined us here at the Point Church. I just want you to know, I just want you to feel a warm welcome from us because we are so thrilled you have chosen to click in online and hear the word that God has for you today.
So we just want you to know if you're new here, we've got a little gift for you. But more importantly, we just want to get connected with you. We’ve got an online connection card. Just go to thepointchurch.net/connect, and that's going to give you an online connect card where you can fill out your name and info.
Most importantly, this is for everyone. If you're new here or whatever, we would love for you to fill out your prayer requests. Right? Whatever you're going through, we want to lift you up in prayer. Our staff will receive all the prayer requests that happen in person or online, and we pray for them. We go down the list and we pray for each person on Monday morning when we get that list.
So we would love to pray for you. We would love to pray for whatever you're going through—good, bad, highs, lows, or the in-betweens.
Here, we do a thing called Focus on the Fort every single month, and it's just our way of being able to love on awesome organizations that are happening locally in our community. This month, our Focus on the Fort is to collect and donate towels. Right? This is going to be for Shepherd's House, which is an amazing ministry, and we just want to love on them by donating something really simple like towels.
We ask these to be new towels, not used towels—new towels—and you can donate those at the bin at the front doors of the church. Also, if you're not local, you can also just send them in. Our address is 5335 Bast Road, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46808. It should be on the screen as well.
We just love to partner with you in being able to bless a ministry that is doing amazing work for the kingdom in our local communities. So would you consider doing that with us?
I mean, those are the announcements I got for you today. But most importantly, we got to pray because we are about to hear an awesome message, and I want our hearts to be ready for what we are going to hear from our new lead pastor, T.C. Mooney.
So would you all bow your heads in prayer with me now?
Father God, we just want to lift you up because you are so holy. You're so good, you're so powerful. You are a mighty God, and you have worked everything together for your good, Lord.
Even at the Point Church, we celebrate today our 18th birthday. Lord, you have kept this church together for 18 years. God, we thank you. We praise you for that, Lord.
As we prepare to hear the message today, God, would you help our hearts be ready to listen, to hear, and to respond? God, because you have a word for us today, and so may we be ready to hear it. God, may we be prepared for what you have for us today in your wonderful and powerful name. Amen.
Hey, good morning, Point Church.
Hey, this is an exciting Sunday. You know, if you're a first-time guest, we want to give an extra special welcome to you. Many of you know that we entered this discovery process for our next lead pastor back in May of 2022.
Right? The first step we did in that search process was put together a pastoral search team of 11 members from a diverse background from our church to really be the leaders in this discovery process.
And, you know, along this process, not only has the search team done phenomenal work, but the board of directors expanded a little bit and took on more roles. The staff has done a beautiful job of filling in gaps in the church. All of you have stepped up in so many amazing ways over this past year and a half.
You know, when we started this process, we were leaning into one of our core values here at the Point Church, which is being reliant—right, reliant on God's timing and on what He has in store for this next season of impact for the Point Church.
Another thing we were looking for was, God, we would love to find a leader that has a heart for our mission, right? That understands our culture and DNA.
And, you know, in this journey and this discovery process that we saw back in May over in Utah about four months ago, there was another journey starting with the Mooney family. Right? And God was stirring in their lives about what their next chapter might be.
About four months ago, those journeys kind of collided, friends. And on behalf of the search team, on behalf of the board, on behalf of the staff, we are so excited to announce and introduce for the first official time our next pastor, Pastor T.C. Mooney, and his wife Kody and their kiddos have come on for a run because they have their little one Reece here and little Miss Lindley, I think, is in the kids' area right now.
But church, we are so privileged to have this family join us. Over the next four weeks, T.C. will still be speaking in the series we're in. That gives us a chance, church, to be able to hear his heart and just to hear the passion that he has.
But one of the things that this family has done a phenomenal job of is just having a passion for the lost, helping people find Jesus.
Now, I know there's a question on your heart, our heart, that we want to kind of ask this family for this morning at least. And, you know, out of all the opportunities and the gifting God's given you, what kind of made you fall in love with the church here in Fort Wayne?
We'd love to hear that from your heart.
Yes. Thanks for, first of all, hello. Nice to meet everybody.
So, I mean, there are a lot of things over the process of talking with your search team and your staff and your leadership board that we love. But the thing that first made us interested was actually your values.
Primarily your first value, which is being real, made such an important part. As you look through the New Testament and see the character of Jesus, Jesus always confronted people and cut to the truth of the situation.
Whenever he spoke with Nathaniel, whenever he spoke with Peter, time and time again, Jesus always engaged people with the reality and honesty of who they were.
But a lot of times, church becomes this thing that we feel there’s an expectation or a pretense that we have to have in order to be accepted, in order to be spiritual enough, that we have to act a certain way.
And that is the furthest thing from the reality of who Jesus was. So when we saw that that was your primary value, we were so excited, so interested to begin to learn more because that is what God wants from us—our true selves.
As messy and messed up as we all are, God wants that. God blesses us whenever we engage Him with the truth of who we are.
And so seeing that being real was important to you guys, we wanted to get to know you more. And now that we are meeting you, we find out not only are you real, but you're really nice and really fun and just so many other things.
We are so honored, so grateful that you have allowed us to come and be a part of what God is already doing here at the Point.
Also, at this time, I would like to invite any of the search team that's here, any of the board or the staff to come up on stage.
And friends, in a few minutes, there are going to be cookies and conversation out in the gathering area. So you get a chance to kind of meet them, have some conversations, and enjoy plenty of cookies.
But another thing that we do here at the Point Church, you know, you're familiar that we commission our missionaries, right? If we have missionaries going to El Salvador, we'll take the time to commission and pray over them because they're answering that call to therefore go and make disciples of all nations.
Well, the Mooney family has done two things. One, you guys have said, "Lord, here I am, send me." Right? And the other thing they have done is they've answered the call—not just for the lead house, but for the entire family—to say, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations."
They've chosen Fort Wayne as their mission field, church, and we are so privileged for them to be joining this mission to help people find and follow Jesus.
So what we love to do is commission this family, and church, if you can engage with us, if you feel comfortable with it right where you're at.
Mercy, and we previously reach your hand out for. We're going to ask our search team, our board, our staff to lay hands on this family, and we're going to pray over them to commission them for this next season, this next chapter of impact.
Church, would you join with me?
Heavenly Father, Lord, we are just so grateful for this journey that you've had us on, Lord, the journey that you've had the Mooney family on, Lord, and the unity that we have seen in the heart of our church.
Lord, we are so excited for this next season, this next chapter of impact. As we go forward, we are praying blessings over this family, over T.C., over Kody, over their little ones, Lord, that you would just bless them, that you would give them clarity on how they can use their skills and abilities to continue to move this mission forward.
Lord, we know you have great things in store, and Lord, we come before you with a heart of gratitude for the big God that you are, for the leaders that you have brought, for the leadership you have in place.
Lord, for this next season of impact, we pray. Amen.
Hey, the Point Church, my name is T.C., and I am so honored to be your new pastor here at the Point. I am so excited. Over the past few months, my wife Kody and I have spent so much time praying for you and falling in love with all that God is doing here.
This church is poised with a talented, passionate staff, a hopeful and active church, and a growing community all around, and a mission to help people find and follow Jesus.
I've told everyone who's asked that it feels like God took the list of what Cody and I wanted in a church and community, and then He made the Point in Fort Wayne.
It's been so easy, so exciting, so effortless connecting with the staff team, the leadership board, and the search team. And now we get to meet and spend time with all of you.
One of the best ways for us to get to know you is through these desserts. We're going to be doing these pastor desserts starting this week. You can sign up and come grab some cookies at our house so we can get to know you, answer questions, and hear what you love about the Point.
So sign up by clicking the link, but somewhere around here—I don't know where they're going to put that—but sign up.
But today we got to celebrate our birthday. The Point launched 18 years ago today, and God has done so much through this incredible church as it's helped so many people find and follow Jesus.
I mean, we're in the series right now taking a look at what it means to us at the Point to live out finding and following Christ.
I want to take these next four weeks sharing some of my biggest motivations and passions for the church and its mission.
From what I see in the Bible, I see we just moved here into our house recently in Fort Wayne, and it feels like we are lost in an ocean of boxes.
Even though I tried to be methodical and specific in labeling them, we aren't quite sure what exactly is in each box. So much is missing. I was trying to find my clothes, right? Pants are pretty important.
So I went on the hunt for the right box and narrowed it down to the one that I thought would be a good choice. And then I realized I don't have any scissors to open that box.
So then we went on a hunt for the scissor box. But where do you—how do you open a scissor box without scissors? It feels like we've lost absolutely everything we needed during this move.
And what do you do when you lose something? Well, you go looking for it. The Bible tells us that God is looking for something that was lost.
In Luke 15, verse 3, it says, "Then Jesus told them this story: If any of you has 100 sheep and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won't you leave the 99 in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulders and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, 'Let's celebrate! I have found my lost sheep.'"
Jesus said, "In the same way, there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over 99 good people who don't need to."
That missing thing that God is looking for—it's me. It's you. God is searching for you.
This small little story has so much amazingness crammed into it. I want to point out a couple of things real quick.
The first thing is the 99 good sheep. I remember thinking the first time I read the story that the shepherd was crazy for leaving the 99 sheep to go look for that one crazy lost sheep.
I mean, what if the other sheep wandered off while he was gone? Just cut your losses. Don't do the work to search. You still have 99 more sheep—99 more sheep that were not silly enough to wander off in the first place.
But this shows just how much that shepherd cared about each one of his sheep. I remember working with this guy that had 13 kids.
Thirteen. That's a lot! I can't even imagine. I mean, I feel like my wife Kody and I, we have to move heaven and earth just to get our two kids in the car and to the store and back home with everybody surviving.
How does someone even do that with 13 kids? Do you think he's ever at the grocery store with the family and they go to get in the car and they count off?
Okay, real quick, we got Billy and Joel and D'Artagnan and Donatello and Han Solo and Bruce and Wayne and Mona and Elsa and Bogart. Wait, we only have 12. Well, that's still over 90% of the family, so why don't we just go home?
Absolutely not. They aren't leaving until all 13 are there. Why? Because he doesn't love his kids collectively, but individually. He loves each one of them.
And God loves the same way. He has God so loved the world, but He also loves me. He loves you. He cares for and loves every single one of us.
That is the heart of God. He doesn't go, "I got a bunch of people going to church, so I don't care about Joe or Susan or Harry or Ashley." He wants everyone to accept Him and experience His blessing.
That is incredible. But I still struggle because if the lost sheep is the person that doesn't know God, then the 99 are those of us who are Christ followers—people that are doing what God wants us to do.
But the story is all about God prioritizing the one. So why is it that once we find God, it's not about us anymore?
I mean, if we do the right thing, why isn't God focused on the 99—on us? And why is it that the church isn't focused on the people in the church?
I genuinely used to wonder these questions, and then I realized that none of us started off as the 99. We were each at one point in our lives that one lost sheep without God, living in our brokenness and our sin.
God and His 99 were focused on finding me at that point in my life. And now it's my turn to join the search for the next one.
If I don't do my best to see God's kingdom come, I will leave that one lost sheep out there. I will ignore the lost sheep when God and the 99 did not ignore me.
But how much easier is it to find something that's lost when more people are involved? How much easier will it be to find your friend, your coworker, sister, brother, mom, dad, husband, wife if we are all trying to help them find Jesus together?
So join the search. Join our volunteer teams. Invite some people to come to church or even come to one of these pastor desserts, or share your story with someone about why you started following Jesus.
All of that helps people find God. And I promise you this: the Point will always be a welcome place for people that are searching for God—a place that people can belong before they even believe.
That actually brings us to this next thing that I want to point out in the story. The second thing was that the shepherd was carrying the lost sheep.
Luke 15:5-6 says, "And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder and carry it home."
Did you notice that when the lost sheep is found, the reaction isn't, "You stupid sheep! Now follow me back and don't look up from the ground." Not at all.
He's so excited the sheep is coming home, and that Jesus, as He carries the sheep back on His shoulders—that is the VIP treatment right there.
The last time I remember feeling like a VIP was on my own and Cody's seventh wedding anniversary. This particular year, Cody picked the restaurant.
And where did she pick? She picked Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. I had never been to Ruth's Chris before because I heard it was expensive. And guess what? The rumors are true. It was very expensive.
I wasn't done paying off that anniversary until the next one, but the experience was worth every penny. We got there, and we went up to the hostess to let her know we had a reservation, and she asked if we were there for a special occasion.
We were like, "Yeah, it's our anniversary." Instantly, she started talking into a microphone on a panel, and I see the server in the background go running and blow rose petals all across our table.
Then they walk us over and seat us at the rose petal-covered table. Our waiter came out and he said, "Mr. and Mrs. Mooney, it's a pleasure to have you dining with us this evening. Happy anniversary."
How did he know that? We had never been there to Ruth's Chris, so we told him and asked what he recommended.
He spent like 10 minutes walking us through every item, answering our questions, letting us know what appetizers would complement our meal perfectly.
Then he went and spent a little bit of time just hanging out with us, asking us the secrets to our happy marriage.
And then once the food was ready, they came out and gave us our silverware because there was no way that wasn't just laying on the table.
No, that's not fancy enough for Ruth's Chris. They had to come and present us with the various cutlery options in which we could attack the steak.
Then we ate, and oh my goodness, the food was amazing.
As we got all wrapped up and getting ready to leave, they came out to say, "Mr. and Mrs. Mooney, we hope you come back soon. Thank you for letting us serve you."
I left that place knowing full well that both Ruth and Chris care about me.
We want people to know that God cares about them. So we want to do our best to give every guest at the Point the VIP Ruth's Chris experience.
We want to help them find their parking space, give them a little bit of swag and gift cards for coming, answer their questions, show them to their seats, invite them, laugh with them, celebrate with them, and ask them to come back.
We want people to feel like they are being welcomed back home with the VIP treatment. And you're a part of that too.
Well, how are you a part of that? That brings us to the next point.
The third thing I see in the story is party invitations. Luke 15:6 says, "Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, 'Let's celebrate! I found my lost sheep.'"
Invitations are powerful things. You inviting someone to church to experience God's love, inviting someone to the Point to meet other people that are looking for a Christ-centered community.
You inviting someone into your journey with God has the power to change their life and change so much more.
Most people, if they only knew a little bit about the Bible, they know about Simon Peter—the most famous of the 12 disciples, the one who helped establish the first church, wrote parts of the Bible.
I mean, the Bible even tells of one time when Peter preached a message that was so good that 3,000 people accepted Jesus and were baptized. That's a pretty good Sunday morning sermon, right?
But do you know how Peter came to become one of the disciples? How he met Jesus? Peter met Jesus because his brother invited him to meet Jesus.
John 1:41-42 says, "The first thing Andrew, Simon's brother, did was to find his brother Simon Peter and tell him, 'We have found the Messiah—that is, the Christ.' And he brought him to Jesus."
One invitation has changed millions of lives and eternities throughout history. And let's be honest, you're probably here because someone invited you to meet Jesus.
They invited you to church. Your invite has power, so invite and share.
And lastly, we see in the story celebration. Luke 15:6 says, "Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, 'Let's celebrate! I found my lost sheep.'"
Jesus said, "In the same way, there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over 99 good people who don't need to."
The Bible is filled with celebration. You read through the Old Testament, especially some of those tougher-to-read parts about the laws and the commands.
You'll actually find joy and delight nestled in there. God creates festivals and celebrations that the Israelite people were commanded to enjoy.
They were commanded to rest frequently. Even in His instruction of how to make sacrifices to honor Him, God created something called the Fellowship Offering, which was literally a barbecue that the entire community would come to enjoy.
As I read through the Bible, both Old and New Testament, when people began to sincerely follow Jesus, it filled their lives with laughter and life change.
But is that what people think of when they think of Christians outside of church? I would imagine for most people it isn't.
I grew up in a small town in Tennessee. Everyone went to church in that town, but most churches were somber and stern. Kids couldn't have fun; people couldn't clap. It was all very quiet.
It seemed like the more spiritual you were, the more reserved and serious you were supposed to be. And that just doesn't make sense to me.
When something incredible and life-changing happens to us, our reaction tends to be an overflow of enthusiasm.
Our daughter Linley just turned four a couple of weeks ago, and I remember our first Christmas with her was fun, but a four-month-old was just kind of a blob, right?
I mean, the next year she kind of crawled around, and then we thought when she was a little over two, then we could finally get that Christmas wonder that everybody told us about.
Other parents would say, "What happened?" We’d seen it on social media. But while she still enjoyed the toys, she was still a little confused by the wrapping paper and everything.
But this past Christmas, it finally happened. It all clicked. We had it all prepared to dazzle and delight. Cody had found this big dollhouse that we had spent the entire night before assembling, and Linley came out the next morning and she was stunned.
Then she was ecstatic. I mean, look at the grin on this girl's face. For the next two weeks, she would wake up and ask every single morning if we could open more presents.
Needless to say, she had a good time.
James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows."
God is the ultimate gift giver. He freely gives His purpose and His peace, His wisdom, His patience, His goodness, His kindness, His gentleness.
The unlimited, all-powerful God that created the furthest reaches of the cosmos has created and stitched together every single atom in existence, then knows everything and can do everything—also, He loves you.
He knows every detail of your life and cares about all of those details. His love resulted in the greatest gift He could have given.
John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
God loves us enough. Jesus loved us enough to rescue us from our brokenness and our selfishness and our sin.
And every time someone accepts that gift and gives their life to God, heaven erupts into a party. When someone chooses God for the first time, if you've known God for a while and never been a part of helping introduce people to Jesus, then you're missing out on all the fun.
There's nothing better than seeing someone take their first steps with God and join our team, help serve, and welcome people into the family of God.
If you've never accepted Jesus, then we would love to invite you to meet our God. We would love to celebrate with you. We would love to champion you in your walk with Him.
The Point Church is here for you. And so if you want to accept Christ, man, I would love to walk you through a prayer to invite Jesus into your life right now.
Pray with me. God is everywhere. Just close your eyes. Have a moment to focus on Him. He can hear your thoughts, but you can speak out loud if you would like to say,
"God, I understand that I am broken, that I have sinned, that I have done things that I know wouldn't make you proud. But I also am aware that you love me anyway, and you, through Christ on the cross, have made a way to restore me, to heal me.
God, I pray now. I see that you have given so much to me. I want to give myself back to you. I want to follow you and make you king of my life.
So, God, here, now, in this moment, I'm yours. I'll do my best to follow and learn and grow."
As in your name, we pray. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, we are so excited for you and would love to help serve you. So please connect with us, and we hope to see you soon.
Thank you so much for that amazing word, Pastor T.C. We are so excited for what you bring to the team, and we are so thrilled to continue to hear your heart through the messages you're going to give us in the coming weeks.
Guys, I've got a couple quick things for you before you tune out today. We just want to say, number one, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening.
Most importantly, if you call the Point Church your home, is it time for giving? Right? We believe God calls us to be bold and to be courageous with trusting in Him, and that comes with our finances as well.
So if you call the Point your home, would you consider making this a time of giving right now? You can give online at thepointchurch.net/give, or you can do it by texting this number right here, and it will walk you through how to give.
We would just appreciate it if you call the Point your home, if you would consider giving right now. We just want to say thank you already for the way that you're blessing this ministry by giving your resources to help us help others find and follow Jesus.
The second thing—and this is all I got for you—is would you consider following us? Right? We've got an Instagram, we've got a Facebook. We would love to stay connected with you.
We've got a YouTube where we post the worship sets if you want to listen to them later that week, and you've got the messages separately.
So if you want to check any of that out, we just ask, would you follow, subscribe, like, comment? It's just a great way to have midweek engagement and to stay connected as a church, even on social media.
And so we would love for you to check us out.
Most importantly, I hope you have a wonderful, blessed day and that you take what you heard from T.C. today and put it into action.
We hope you have a blessed day, and we'll see you soon.
on Nov 05, 2023
