My Three Year Journey

Justin Ashurst

Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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Reminder:

Record Talk

Introductory Comments

Grateful for the Break

Grateful for the opportunity to share from my heart and story today

Maybe you will find some of your story in my story.

1. This is not about me

— though I will talk alot about my jounrey today.

It’s about Christ and His Church

My journey carries weight because of my position

I have been on a journey

I am broken

2. Biblical Story

Story of Joseph — How God was working through uncertainty and pain.

God has a plan — We are seeking the Lord

3. Three Braided Cord

What I will share today is three different threads that have been playing out over the last three years.

They are all woven together like a three braided cord, but I will share each one individually to help give the whole picture.

The Centrality of Disciplemaking

The Empowerment of the Holy Spirit

Personal Leadership Journey

Pray

Luke 4:18–21 (ESV)

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

I. Disciple-Making

There’s been a growing shift in me away from the attractional model and towards a disciple-making model of Church.

This has been a process of growth, prayer and exploration.

But it also grows out of who I am and how God has called me to lead.

1. 2020 - Becoming Whole

It has it’s roots in the Becoming Whole Series preached in the Fall of 2020.

Background: I had been going through a lot of personal transformation.

Realize: The Centrality of Disciplemaking in the Church

Question Became:

“How do we best make, mature and multiply disciples”

2. Influences:

Dallas Willard, John Mark Comer, Mark Sayers, David Platt, Francis Chan, Robert Coleman, Discipleship.org, Randy Alcorn

A. John Mark Comer - The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (Fall 2020)

Led to Dallas Willard (The Divine Conspiriacy, Spirit of the Disciplines, Hearing God, Renovation of the Heart)

B. Randy Alcorn - Heaven (May 2021)

Shifted something in me

Studied Meditated on the Realities of the

Glories of Heaven

Horros of Hell

The most important thing is making disciples — in the end — for all etnerity that is what will batter.

Empahsis on Evangelism —

Started Evangelism Class in Fall of 2021

3. Results:

“Foundations of Faith” Series - Summer 2021

“Gospel of Mark” - Fall ‘21-Spring ‘22

Conviction: Let’s just do what Jesus did in making disciples:

Made disciples by declaring and demonstrating the Kingdom of God — Proclamation and Demonstration

“Psalms: Learning to talk w/ God” - Summer ‘22

intimacy w/ God through prayer and bible

John 13-17 “Friendship with God” — Fall ‘22

intimacy w/ God through the Word and Spirit.

4. Other Trends:

Culture that is shifting rapidly away from any semblance of Christian influence

The days of ‘attractional’ church are past

The trends of Church in America speak for themselves

Celebrity Pastors and Consumerism

The underground Church — penetrating society like yeast.

Come and See vs Go and show the love of God.

We are a “Kingdom of Priests”

We all have the Holy Spirit.

Being the church where we live, eat, work and play.

. Function as a discipling community.

II. Spirit Empowered Church

The second cord of this braid is a growing conviction of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

1. August 2021

In the midst of leadership struggle and conversations

Covid - 3 Weeks

Where is the power and passion in the Church?

A. Elijah and the Prophets of Baal

“I don’t want to be a church that doesn’t need God to show up”

We can do a lot of Church things without needing God.

B. Four Views

During that time a read “Four Views of the Miraculous Gifts”

Cessationist | Open but Cautious | Third Wave | Pentecostal

Sam Storms and the Third Wave

2. The Journey into the Spirit

This book open the floodgates of a jounrey that would last over a year and would shift my paradigm of the modern church.

Primary Influences:

Sam Storms, Wayne Grudem, D.A. Carson, John Wimber, Jack Deere, Dallas Willard, Pete Grieg, Mike Bickle, Remnant Radio, Matt Chandler, Craig Keener, J.P. Moreland

I was open but Cautions — in the Gifts of the Spirit.

The things I was reading and seeing was like a modern day book of Acts.

Overtime convinced of the Ministry/Gifts of the Spirit in our Day

Biblical Correct

The Gifts can be done Biblically — 1 Cor 12-14.

3. The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

The Fruit of the Spirit — character like Christ

The Guidance of the Spirit — God speaks to us through the Spirit and leads us.

The Gifts of the Spirit — supernatutal manifestations of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:7) through members of the Church

1 Corinthians 12:7–11 ESV

7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

4. Preaching

All of this is coming out in snippets in my preaching.

The Gospel of Mark

Psalms — Talking w/ God

John 13-17 — developing Intimacy with God / the Reality of Union w/ Christ and the indwelling Spirit.

5. Intimacy w/ God through Prayer and Bible.

Growing in a love for God and passion for God

Growing in a love for what God loves.

Growth in fasting in prayer in my life in 2022 was exponential.

Weekly Fast of 1 day

Various 7 day fasts and 3 day fasts

40 day fast over the Summer of 2022

6. “Live Expectantly”

All of this was culimnating in the latest series called “live Expectantly” where we were looking at the early church as a model for the modern church.

A God Glorifying, Jesus-Centered, Spirit-Empowerd disciplemaking movement known as the church.

III. Personal Leadership Journey

Summary:

First Two cords:

The Centrality fo Disciple-making

The empowerment of the Holy Spirit

Personal Leadership Journey

This one will be the most vulnerable, but I hope you will see that we are all merely human beings, broken vessels that the Lord uses.

1. Origins

I come from a broken home

Parents Divorced at Three

Abusive Step Father

Alcholic mom

Non-Christian to say the least

lot’s of brokenness

Left for Military at 18

2. Salvation

The Lord saved me in 2006 on a submarine by bringing to the end of myself — the ability to trust my own strength and abilities.

3. Early Ministry

Mars Hill Chruch (Mark Driscoll) in 2007

Grew a ton, met my wife at a Community Group

Entered Ministry at Mars Hill in 2009

Served for a few years — Called by the Lord to Orlando for Seminary

Church Wounds — Leadrship Flaws at Mars Hill

4. Seminary and Crosspointe

Came to Cross Point not seeking leadership

Found myself in leadership

2014 - Switch to Counseling Program at RTS

2015-2016 - CPWL becomes One Hope.

5. Seven Years of Transition

2016-2020

2016 - Come on Staff at One Hope

2017 - Planting Pastor Jared Davis resigns

I preach all of 2017

2018 - Hire New Lead Pastor

doesn’t go well — try for a year

Jan 2019 - Let Lead Pastor God

March 2019 - Adopt Co-Pastor Model

March 2020 - COVID-19

Note: Disciplmaking Clarity

2021 - Recovering from COVID

Many hours of meetings amongst elders about

Philosopy of Ministry

Role Clarity

Co-pastor Model

Conflict management

All while Leading a church

Note: Aug 2021 Journey into the Ministry of the Holy Spirit begins

2022 - Trying Co-Pastoring again

Fall 2021-2022 - Trying the Copastor model again

Summer 2022 - the Need for a Change

Fall 2022 - The Breaking point

Elders make the decision

Week After Ian comes and floods YMCA

6 Weeks in Home Gatherings

Start gathering at GJ at 4pm

Elders announce Leadership decision to Church

Two weeks later Partners Vote

Back to single pastor

Difficulties of December

2023

“starting a race with two broken legs”

Trying to stay healthy

Everyting has taken a toll.

Merger Talks

6 Major Weights:

Leadership Change

Loss of Building / New meeting Space

New Meeting Time (4pm)

Merger Talks

Shift to Disciple-making in Communities

Paradiem Shift into Spirit Empowered Ministry

+ Normal Church Leadership

all of this led to complete depletion emtional, mental, physical and spiritual dryness.

IV. The Needed Break

1. Help

I’ve tried everything I can to stay healthy:

Regular Counseling through all of this

Outside Mentor (every other week) for last year

Group of Pastor Friends to regularly pray with and walk with

Elders at One Hope

Good relationship with wife

Breaks from Preaching in 2023

42 retreat in december.

I reached a breaking point 4 weeks ago — anxiety, depression, on verge of panic attack

2. Break

purpose: to get back to a healthier state of mind and clarity

This was successful.

Got out of the ER

Yet i’m not healthy yet.

Talking w/ Elders and with you the Church about how to get healthy as a leader and how we can become a healthy church.

3. Reflections

1. The Need to Grieve

There were many difficult moments over last 7 years and espeically the last 6 months.

I needed to slow down and sit in the grief and feel it and talk to God about it.

2. Relief from Pressure

many things pressing down

Counseling and reflecting on some deep core wounds from childhood that the Lord wants to heal

Similar to my Conversion experience:

God bringing me to a new end of myself and my ability to carry the weight of all these things.

3. I / We are all in process

We are all broken — permission to slow down

to grieve

to take a break

to rest

4. We are the Church

The Church is not one person, or even a group of leaders — we are all the church

we are all One hope

together we get to seek the Lord

and see what he would have for us.

One Body with many members — each with an assignment, a God given gifting and function.

IV. Conclusions

You have heard my journey and my heart and passion for the church today.

How can we do this together?

What might it look like for us to be a discipleship focused, spirit empowerd Church?

How can we get to simplicity?

How can we get to sustainability?

How can we get back to health?

How can we be the church differntly than we have been?

Next Week and Beyond

You have heard my heart and journey today.

Next week we want begin a conversation in response to what I have shared and what the future of One Hope Church might look like.