(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Valorous Arena where we as Valorous Church meet on a regular basis.

We're excited about what God is doing and we're honored that you are here with us today.

What we desire to do here at Valorous Church is to infuse courage into everyone to go out of this place, begin to be who God has created them to be and live that out on a daily basis.

And so we think it's very important for you to understand who God is, but also to understand who you are.

We like to say it this way here at Valorous.

You know, when you come here, we wanna introduce you to God through Christ Jesus.

It's really important for you to know who God is.

But more so, it's important for you to begin to understand that his word begins to instruct you in who you are to be as you're living life each and every day.

So we like to say it, hey, we want you to know who God is, but we also want him to begin to tell you who you are.

And so that's kind of what we're gonna talk about today, being who God has created us to be.

The scripture says this in Ephesians chapter two, verse one.

And as the writer here was writing the church at Ephesus, he says, once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.

He says, once you weren't alive, once you weren't in a place to become all God had designed you to be.

But since you have now met Christ, he'll let us in on it here in just a few minutes.

He says, now you can begin to be filled with all the good things that God desires for you to be and God desires for you to do.

But oftentimes life comes at us, doesn't it?

I mean, think about it for just a minute.

But when we begin to live life, what begins to happen sometimes is we can begin to feel empty.

We can begin to feel lonely, discouraged, begin to think that, hey, I don't really have a purpose.

I've maybe gone too far, gone in the wrong direction too long.

And the Bible says that we do have a real enemy.

He wants to keep you in that spot.

But the Bible also says that Jesus came to give us a rich and satisfying life and he came to fill us up with the right things.

It's really important for you to understand that Jesus came to forgive you of your sin, but it's more important for you to understand that he came to forgive you, but he also came to speak to your spirit so that you can grow up and be everything that he desires for you to be.

And so the Bible tells us this in Ephesians chapter two, verse 10.

It says, for we are God's masterpiece.

Everybody say we.

We.

That means more than one.

In other words, I can't become the masterpiece without being connected to some other people.

Because the scripture says we, plural, are God's masterpiece.

It goes on to say he has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

So this scripture lets us know that once we were dead, we didn't live life on purpose.

But God has come and he's made us alive in Christ Jesus so our life can be filled in such a way that we can get on doing those good things that God designed for us today.

And so I think the proper question for us to ask is, what is those good things?

Because there's a lot of good things, right?

There's a lot of good things in the world, but the reality of it is, is, you know what?

All the good things in the world aren't the good things that he planned for us today.

There's a lot of bad things, right?

And those bad things can begin to happen to good people and when those bad things begin to happen, oftentimes people stop, they quit, they pull over to the side, they throw in the towel and they don't get on with the good things that God has designed for them today.

So what are the good things?

The good things are listed for us in Genesis chapter one.

Because the Bible says that God took the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve, and placed them in the garden to do these good things.

To do the good things, God created both male and female to come together by say together.

Together.

Two people coming together to do the good things in this earth.

So what is the good thing that God calls us to do in Christ Jesus today?

It's the same thing he created them to do in the garden.

And it's to be image bearers.

It's to be a reflection of who he is.

He placed that first man in the garden, male, and he placed that first woman in the garden, female, to be exactly who he designed them to be, to come together, to be fruitful, to multiply and permeate his presence throughout the earth and not let the earth take over them.

Come on.

Amen.

But then sin came into the world.

And many people don't really understand that word sin.

Sin is actually a picture word.

And it means missing the bullseye, missing the target, missing what you were designed to be and do.

And so many people miss because they become confused by the things going on in the world and they don't live out who God has designed them to be.

Christ came to forgive us of sin and restore us back in a right relationship with our great God so that we could get on being who he has created us to be.

So today, what I wanna say to you, if God has created you to be a woman, be a woman.

If God has created you to be a man, be a man.

Come on.

And however God has designed you, he puts you in that space and place for a significant purpose.

And it is simply to come together and be a reflection of who he is in this earth, to be fruitful, to multiply, to keep permeating the earth with his goodness.

But remember, the enemy came in to their life.

They got it off target.

They missed the mark.

Sin entered this world and sin still exists in this world.

But Jesus came to forgive us of sin so that we could get over our sin and begin to learn how to hit the target with our life.

In other words, Jesus didn't just come to forgive you.

He came to restore you in the right relationship with your creator so that you and I could become who he's designed us to be and do the good things in this earth that he's created us to do.

The Bible says here in Ephesians chapter two, it's so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

So if we're gonna do the good thing that he's designed us to do, we gotta get the right thing in us so that those things can flow out of us.

We gotta get the right stuff on the inside in order to flow correctly on the outside.

And so God has called you and I to be a part of something greater than ourself.

And it's known as the local church.

And we can begin to take a lot of different passages and talk about how God gifts certain people in a certain way to come together to be a reflection of who he is in the community.

And what we desire to do here at Valorous Church is to infuse courage to your faith so your faith can be strengthened, your hope can be elevated, and you can be everything that God's designed you to be and move forward and get on with your God destiny.

But in order to do that, you gotta get the right stuff on the inside in order to flow on the outside.

Today we're gonna learn how to do that by looking at a story that Jesus told in John chapter 15.

Jesus had just spoke to his early followers, and this is before he went to the cross, and he looked at him and he says, you're gonna do greater things than I have already done.

You're gonna do good things.

You're gonna do greater things than I've already done.

And he says, if you wanna do those great things, you gotta stay connected to the source so that I can flow in and begin to flow out.

And then he tells this amazing story in John chapter 15.

And he says in John chapter 15, verse eight, he says, when you produce much fruit.

Everybody say much.

Much.

That means a lot.

He says, when you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples.

Not just a little bit of fruit.

And you need to begin to ask what fruit is.

And he says, but when you begin to produce much fruit, you're my true disciples.

And this brings glory to my Father.

So what Jesus is saying here is, look, you're created to do great things.

You're a masterpiece, but you gotta come together in order to be this masterpiece.

You are God's masterpiece created anew in Christ Jesus so you can do the good things he created for you to do before the foundations of the world.

And what he's created you and me to do is to produce much fruit.

In other words, be a clear reflection of who God is in the world.

Have you ever thought about you are a mirror for God?

We are a mirror for God.

In other words, as God works in us and we come together, he begins to work through us in the world around us.

But if we're gonna be this amazing mirror, we gotta understand what our assignment is.

And it's to be people who are fruitful, who multiply, who come together, who are a display for him in our character.

We're to be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and begin to exhibit that to the world.

I talked to you about this a few weeks ago, but you need to take the weight off your shoulders that you gotta be Jesus to the world by yourself.

Because God puts us together with other people.

Jesus is the head, we are the body.

And when we put the gifts together, we can begin to be a clear reflection of who he is into the world.

Come on.

John chapter 15, verse 11, he goes on to say this.

He says, I've told you these things so that you may be filled with my joy.

Yes, your joy will overflow.

So Jesus says, you're gonna do greater things.

And in John 15, he says, I tell you how you're gonna do those greater things so that you can produce much fruit.

And then as you're producing that fruit, you're doing that work in the world.

What you're gonna begin to do is be filled with a lot of joy, and that joy is gonna overflow.

So what I love about this passage is, Jesus is declaring when you're doing the work that I've designed you to do, when you're doing the good work I designed for you to do, then joy will begin to flow in you and flow through you.

In other words, we should be smiling on the inside because God has given us a part of bringing hope into the world.

And when we put our gift with other gifts, we can begin to express that hope to the world around us and draw people back to God through Christ Jesus and give him great glory.

And so that should bring joy in you.

I do fully believe when you're operating who God has designed you and you're being who God has designed you to be, much joy will begin to flow.

In other words, we should be smiling a lot.

Oftentimes they tell me, look, when you preach, you look so intense.

You should smile more for the cameras.

So.

But intensity brings me joy.

Yeah.

Because what I can begin to do is, I hope is infuse that courage in you like a great coach, like a coach that's trying to inspire the team to win the championship.

And when you come in here on the weekend, my heart and my hope is you'll discover that God is real and he says you are real and you wanna be a part of what he's doing in a community.

Come on, that's inspiring hope.

You are created anew in Christ Jesus.

So you can do the good things that he's designed for you to do.

But if you wanna participate, here comes the part where it becomes difficult.

Because oftentimes people aren't willing to persevere and walk through the challenges to be all God's designed them to be.

And Jesus, he declares how you can begin to overflow with this joy and be the person to do the good work that God's designed you to be.

And he says it in John 15 verses one and two.

He says, he says, I am the true grapevine and my father is the gardener.

He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce a fruit.

A lot of times he cuts off dead things and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit.

They will produce even more.

So if I'm gonna do the good things and get the right things in me to do those good things, it means I've got to remove some things.

That's what pruning is.

Is pruning is removing some things and making room for new growth and better things.

And oftentimes that can be the bad things we're doing in life.

And it's great to remove those things so God can begin to fill our hearts and our lives.

And so we'll begin to have all these things going on in our life that's filled our life, kind of like all this stuff that's filled this cup and we're going, I need to make room for God to fill me with the right stuff.

And God says, the only way that's gonna happen is you gotta get rid of some stuff.

And really getting rid of the bad stuff isn't that difficult.

We can just go, I'm done.

And we can begin to walk away from it.

But the reality of it is that sometimes becomes difficult because we're kind of clinging to some of those old things instead of pushing them out and letting God do this new work in our heart.

And I wanna invite you today, if you've got some things that are filling your life that need to be pruned out, do that.

This is the reason Jesus came.

He came to forgive us of our sin, our disobedience.

He came to forgive us for getting our life off target.

But remember, the enemy wants you to stay off target.

He doesn't want you to multiply.

He doesn't want you to be an image bearer.

He doesn't want you to be who God says you are.

And God says, no, I came through Christ Jesus to reconnect you to the Father, to the source of your life.

And you know what?

You need to receive Him and dump some things out in order to get Him in.

But then there's other times that God calls us to get rid of some good things so that He can do the great thing.

Remember Father Abraham?

Abraham, God says, Abraham, what you need to do is you need to leave your country, the familiar land.

You need to walk away from your family and you need to go to a land that I'm going to show you.

In other words, He says, Abraham, you need to step away from this good life, so to say, and you need to walk by faith to the great life that I'm gonna do through you.

It took a lot of faith to get rid of that good thing so God could do the great thing.

And again, think about a cup of coffee.

Anybody like coffee?

I don't particularly like sugar and creamers in my coffee, but for those who do, it really aggravates you when somebody fills the coffee all the way to the rim and you can't get your sugar and your cream in it.

Perfectly good coffee, but you have to get rid of some of that good coffee so that you can begin to stir in the right stuff, the sugar and cream to make the coffee, the coffee great.

Understand sometimes God calls us to prune some things out of our life, perfectly good living things.

That's what pruning is.

It's a plant that has produced, it's living, it's green, it's lush, but you prune it off so it can begin to rebirth and flourish and grow and produce even more.

And Jesus says the good plants, sometimes God prunes that, He prunes it off so that you can begin to produce much fruit.

So here's the convicting part of the message.

What do you need to trim out of your life?

Again, that's only a question that you can answer.

I can't answer that question for you.

In other words, and I do believe if you're a Christ follower and Christ has come into your life to produce great things through your life, He'll begin to show you by the power of His Spirit what those things are that you need to remove in order to move forward by faith in who He says you are.

See, if we're gonna experience and do the great things that God has created us to do, sometimes we have to remove some things from our life.

But also not only do we need to remove some things with our life, He says something incredible throughout a few verses here, seven times in three verses.

He says, if you really want to produce and be all God's designed you to be and never quit and never give up and always keep on keeping on, He says this word over and over again.

He says in John 15, verses four through seven, He says, remain, everybody say remain.

Remain.

He says, remain in me and I will remain in you.

Everybody say remain.

Remain.

He says, for a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain.

Everybody say remain.

Remain.

Unless you remain in me.

Yes, I am the vine and you are the branches.

Those who remain, everybody say remain.

Remain.

He says, those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit.

For apart from me you can do nothing.

Anyone who does not remain, everybody say remain.

Remain.

Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and it withers away.

So branches are gathered into a pile and then they're burned.

But if you remain, everybody say remain.

Remain.

If you remain in me and my words remain, everybody say remain.

Remain.

In you, you may ask anything you want and it will be granted.

That's a pretty remarkable passage of Scripture.

It says if you wanna do the good things that God created for you to do, remove some things out of your life, let God prune them out and then remain connected to the source.

God is the source.

He's the Father.

Jesus is divine.

You and I are the branches but we have to stay connected so God can flow in us and flow through us.

We have to remain.

We have to stay connected to the source over and over again.

And what we try to do as a church week in and week out is to create messages, create environments, create all kinds of things.

And when we come in this room, our worship songs, all of this is so that we can remain connected to the source.

His name is Jesus.

And man, God wants you to remain.

But the world and our minds pull against that.

Just say, hey, you know, God, one day I'll get to you.

God, you know what?

There's no way you can be in this.

No, you remain seven days a week.

We're here to inspire your faith, continue to elevate your hope because we need you to tell you you've got a God destiny but you have a responsibility to stay connected to the source, stay connected to Christ.

Remain.

You know, since the very beginning, our heart has been to show the kindness of God.

And as we were looking through some of the things we've done down through the past 20 plus years here at Valorous Church, I remember when we first started in a little hotel conference room over in the Sea-Watch after we moved from our living room.

And this was the first invite card that we had at Valorous Church.

I was the graphic artist.

Oh, that's why there's this misspelling on the back.

So it says, you're invited to join me for breakfast at church.

I will meet you at the Sea Watch Resort on Sunday at 930 AM for breakfast and fellowship.

Worship service will follow at 10 AM.

I look forward to seeing you there.

And we said, man, we want to encourage the little bit of people in that little conference room to go out and begin to share what Jesus is doing in and through our community, our church community, and begin to share it with the world.

So we said, hey, go give these invite cards.

And at that particular time, our little church had given about $7,000 and we had it in our bank account.

I had this idea of, look, we're going to take a $100 bill and we're going to attach it to every one of these invite cards.

And we're going to give it to the people so they can go out and invite their friends and do something good for them.

And so we emptied the bank account and we attached the $100 bills to these invite cards and gave it to the people.

And the whole purpose in that was, hey, let's be fruitful and multiply.

In other words, what we have brought together financially as a community, let's go and invite others to be a part of our group and let's do it together and let's give this money out so you can begin to go take somebody to breakfast, you can multiply it, you can begin to put it together and produce more, whatever you do.

And actually one of the little ladies in our group did something remarkable.

She pulled together, I don't know, half a dozen of other ladies.

She's here today with us.

And she pulled them around her table and she began to make these little bead bracelets.

And they took their $100 each, put them together, made these bead bracelets over and over again.

And I said in the first service that she produced out of pulling that together, she produced and turned that $100 into $25,000.

She corrected me in between the services, she said, no, it was $35,000.

And they took that, listen, they took that, brought it back in so we could do more.

It was all about being fruitful and multiplying.

And can I tell you, it was an act of faith at that particular time for us to take everything and put it in the hands of the people and say, let's keep on being Christ to the community.

And it worked, God multiplied it, and not only did He multiply it financially, He multiplied it exponentially.

And many people have met Jesus and families have been changed down through the ages because we took a step of faith, and we remained.

Everything we do here at Valorous Church, we're going to challenge you.

In other words, it's not always going to be like, man, I want to do this.

But the reality of it is, is all the series we do, all the things we do, is encourage your faith to be Christ to the community and operate in who God says you are together.

Back in, I guess it was 2008, 2009, somewhere along in that journey, we partnered with Potential Church, Pastor Troy and that group.

And we did this amazing Christmas series.

Remember that, Chris?

We made this amazing Christmas series called Gift Revolution.

And again, we said, hey, let's go out and inspire the world in 30 days.

And can I tell you, we began to do acts of kindness in the community over and over again.

And what happened as people were going out and showing the love of Christ, the hospitality of God, by buying people a coffee in the coffee line, doing all kinds of things, helping people, giving them this invite card that says, hey, let's inspire the world, 25 days to inspire the world.

And we would give them this card over and over again.

And can I tell you, that Christmas season was the largest Christmas season that we ever had at Valorous Church.

And more people came to know who Jesus was on those Christmas Eves from any Christmas service we have ever done.

Come on.

It's about, it's about taking these tools, these things, we've got all kinds of stuff.

We have done some absolutely crazy stuff.

And people say, why do you do all that?

It's so that we can remain doing things together and so that we can begin to express the love of Christ to the world.

Newspaper article right here, the fire marshal came over to our old building, said, what in the world are y'all doing burning cars on stage inside a building?

Come on.

I'm like, dude, that's a smoke machine.

And I'm looking over here because Chris Castarte at that time was our student pastor.

He's here with us today.

Come on, let's give him a hand clap.

He was responsible for all that.

He had all these high school students lifting this car because we didn't have a forklift for nothing.

Carried it inside of this building in a side door.

They knocked the door all out, carried it in and put it on stage in order to do something incredible.

Why did we do all of that?

It's so that we can remain connected and begin to let God dispense into our life, the amazing things he wants to dispense in our life and to produce much fruit so that our joy overflows and the world around us has changed.

You see, it's impossible to do the good things that Jesus saved you to do without connecting to him and being a part of what he's doing in the world.

And I need you to know today what God's doing in the world.

He is doing through the local church.

It's his vehicle.

As I've been preaching about for six weeks now, it's his idea, not my idea.

It's God's idea.

It's for our good and it's for his glory and it's for to bring hope and healing to the world around us.

The only way that does that, if I stay connected to the source, I get the wrong stuff out, put the right stuff in, stay connected to the source and begin to overflow with his goodness, his kindness, his love, his joy, and we work together, we'll begin to be this city on a hill, a light into the world and we'll begin to change the world around us.

Again, you have to make a decision.

I can't make the decision for you and the question is, do you believe God?

Do you believe he created you for purpose?

Do you believe he created you for significance?

Do you believe he created you to be a part of something greater to yourself and will you have the audacity and the faith to step and connect and do it consistently?

Because the reality of it is you're not going to fulfill your God destiny without being connected to God and what he's doing in the world and it's, he is the vine.

We are the branches, but we produce much fruit together.

God sometimes wants to prune some things, he wants us to remain connected to him and then, and then lastly, I wrote this down.

His ultimate goal is for us to do that good work he created us to do, which is simply to reflect who he is in the world.

He wants us to reflect his love.

Listen to what it says here in John chapter 15, verses nine through 12.

Jesus says, I've loved even you as the father has loved me.

Remain in my love when you, you, you remain in my love when you obey my commandments, you remain in my love just as I obey the father's commandments and remain in his love.

I've told you these things so that each of you will be filled with my joy.

Yes, your joy will overflow.

This is my commandment.

Love each other in the same way I have loved you.

Then he finishes off this whole passage of scripture in John chapter 15, verse 17.

He says, this is my commandment, love each other.

In other words, when we connect to the source, we get the bad stuff out, the stuff that's not doing any good for the kingdom out and we let God begin to flow in and we stay connected to the source.

We can begin to express his love to the world around us.

But what I've discovered in my life is we typically love the way we have experienced love.

In other words, you can't express something you haven't experienced.

And so Jesus says, look, remain in me, receive my love.

And the question for you and the question for me is, have you received the love that God offered through Christ Jesus?

Because it's impossible to express something you haven't experienced.

And most people express love in the way they've experienced love.

And so I don't even, I don't know where you are today or how you walked in here, but what I do desire to do is to explain to you how God expressed love so that you could come to know who he is.

And it's found in Philippians chapter two, verses three through 11, and I want to read it to you.

The Bible says this, it says, don't be selfish.

Don't try to impress others.

Be humble.

Thinking of others is better than yourself.

Don't look out only for your own interests, but take interest in others too.

You must have the same attitude as Christ Jesus had.

It goes on to say in this passage, though he was God, he didn't think of equality with God as something to be cling to.

Instead he gave up his divine privileges.

He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.

And when he appeared in human form, he humbled himself to obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.

In other words, loving us wasn't easy.

But it goes on to say, therefore God elevated him to a place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names.

That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.

And so what this scripture is saying is that Jesus humbled his heart in such a way that he didn't take his rightful spot, his rightful position, but he saw you and he saw me and he endured and he pushed through the cross because he saw joy set before him.

And that was you and that was me sitting right here today.

And so he loved anyway through a painful cross, through a painful death, through something he didn't deserve, he loved.

Have you experienced that love?

Because the reality of it is, if you haven't experienced that love, I need you to know today no matter who you are, he came to meet you in your seat, right where you are, so you could overflow with amazing joy.

But my friend, you have to get on the receiving end from the top to the bottom of what God wants to do in your life.

Let me tell you something.

I've been walking with God now since 1998 and it is a difficult journey and I choose not to do the journey along because God is who he says he is and he will begin to pour into you if you will connect to his family.

Created to do life together, to be image bearers in this world and overflow with amazing joy.

And so what it begins to look like, you say, how do I begin to experience that?

Well, some of us, when we receive Christ, you know, he begins to get in us, let's say.

And as he gets in us, we slowly begin, begin to change, kind of like this cup is changing from clear to a blue color.

But it's God working in this cup, let's call it.

It's God working in your life and as you begin to do life and life shakes you around and all kinds of things, God slowly begins to transform you from the inside out.

For others of us, sometimes it's dumping out that old stuff, just coming underneath God and begin to letting this fill our cup, just begin to slowly fill our cup.

But what I wanted to clear to you today, whether it's a slower process, it's a transformation process, whether it's a faster process, it's God doing it, changing you from the inside out so that you and I will overflow in this world with his amazing joy and become everything he has designed us to be.

My friend, I want to promise you this, here at Valorous Church, when you come in, sometimes, you know what?

It ain't going to always feel good, but our heart is the heart of God and is to inspire you to be all that God has designed you to be and invite you to step in and be courageous in this world and let's overflow and change the world.

Come on.

The Bible says, For God so loved the world, so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.

The question for you today is, have you received his amazing love?

Have you started the journey?

Because now is a great place to start the journey if you haven't started the journey.

As Kim spoke earlier, we're doing this grand opening because God's grand.

And my friend, I don't know how life beats you down.

I know it beats me down, but I can tell you right now, you're going to begin to have your faith strengthened if you'll begin to connect with God's people.

That's the decision you need to make.

If Christ becomes the foundation and the source of your life over and over again, God's going to begin to flow in you, but you've got a responsibility and it's faith and keep letting your hope get elevated.

Keep doing the good things that God created you to do.

If you step out of that, the enemy is going to come in.

Don't separate yourself.

Stay connected to the source and let's see what God can do.

Let me pray for you today.

God, you're an amazing God.

I thank you for every man, woman, boy and girl that's represented here today.

God, I pray you would speak to our heart by the power of your spirit.

God, if there is one here today that hasn't received the love that Jesus offered on that cross and begin to operate in the power that he displayed through that resurrection, God, I pray today that they would turn from their sin and turn their heart towards you.

Jesus, you loved.

You loved anyway.

You gave your best anyway.

You stepped in whenever we were dead in our trespasses of sin and disobedience.

And my friend, the question is, is do you have the faith to believe that Jesus did that for you?

Because he did it for anybody who would so dare receive that by grace today.

And my friend, if you need to pray that prayer of faith today and trust Christ, maybe right where you sit, just say something like this, God, today I turn away from my sin and I turn my heart towards you.

I trust you, Christ, for the forgiveness of sin.

I trust, God, that you're going to move in my life.

You're going to begin to purge me of the old things, replace new things in me.

And God, I'm going to begin to overflow on this journey as I connect myself to God's people and God's church.

God, we thank you for the gift of salvation that comes through Christ Jesus.

And God, today for those who responded by faith, we praise and give you glory and we give you honor as they do in all of the heavens.

God, it's in Jesus name we pray this prayer.

Amen.