Here we are in a new sermon series called, “I Love My Church”.

I believe our life fulfillment begins when we realize that:  Life is about more than “me”.  Life fulfillment begins when I understand that:  Life is about “we”.

From the beginning of the Bible, we learn that: It was not good for man to be alone. (Genesis 2:18)  So, God creates community. GOD created the concept that humans would gather, pool resources, trade, share ideas, work together, collaborate and when they did, The sum of that community would be greater than the sum of its individual members.  God designed humans to gather and form partnerships. The synergy of these partnerships would create something that was impossible form individually.

Ephesians 2:19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.  22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

Acts 2:42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. 43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Read the whole book of Acts for more info on this first church. This church changed the world! We are here today because of the efforts of this group. This community. This church body.

Characteristics of the First Church:

• They met together regularly at the church property and in homes.
• They worshipped together.
• They gave generously of their possessions.
• They stuck together in the midst of a culture that was opposed to their way of life. (we know this from other historical study and further scriptures in Acts.)
• They enjoyed each other.
• They Lord increased the size of their church family. (by thousands)

The local church was an enormous part of their life. In fact, it was the core part of their life. It was from their local church that they based their life.  God honored their loyalty and dedication to the local church and gave supernatural growth to them individually, healing physically and emotionally.

I want to talk just a bit about 2 reasons why I love my church:

1. I Love My Church Because of its DIVERSITY

PromiseLand is colorful. PromiseLand is heavenly. Heaven is not going to have a white section and a Hispanic section and a black section. Heaven is going to look like PromiseLand.

A place where color absolutely does not define you.
A place where your talent or your money absolutely does not define you.
A place where your gender does not elevate or demote you.

At PromiseLand San Marcos we love every person, race, ethnic origin, every gender. Men are going to lead. Women are going to lead. We are going to have black and white and brown pastors.  Quite honestly, we aren’t going to talk much about it, we are just going to be it.

If you are new to a multi-cultural environment, then I encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and become friends with people of other colors, other economic

You know what else I love about my church? I love that we embrace those who challenged physically and mentally. We have a adult, teens, and kids who were born with special needs and they have the exact same value here as everyone else. Sometimes they make noise, walk around, act differently than we do. We love ‘em!

We have a phenomenal special needs class room for our younger ones. Some of you might not realize the importance of this class because your life hasn’t been touched personally with this situation. Having a child with special needs means it takes twice as long to get ready. Means you often have to lap a parking lot to find a parking spot because someone parked illegal in the one spot where your van has room to unload the wheel chair. It means people stare at you in the grocery store. It means some give you an evil eye in church when they get a little loud.

I’m thankful I have a church that welcomes all of God’s children no matter who they are or what they can do!

I want to introduce you to Maria’s family. Maria was born with Autism. Her parents didn’t speak English. They wanted to find a place to worship. A place that would accept them for who they were and love on their daughter. Check out this video.

(VIDEO of Chavez Family)

I am so happy to say that beginning today we are interpreting our Sunday morning services in Spanish! If you know folks that need this translation, invite them to the 9:45am service.

2. I Love My Church Because of its HEART FOR THE WORLD

At PromiseLand, we believe that we have been blessed in America because our ancestors put God first in their lives. However, at the same time, we do not believe America is better than other nations. Instead, we understand the responsibility that comes with blessing.

Luke 12:48…When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

We have been given much in the way of education, health, business, finances, spiritual renewal. Instead of wallowing in it or squandering it. At PromiseLand, we find places across the globe to partner with and participate in God’s transformation of that area.

We believe and pray that God’s Kingdom will come and His will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. We also believe that we should not just pray for that to happen across the world, but that we should put on some boots and gloves and dig wells, build homes, build schools, feed kids. We should drive long distances, get on planes and fly around the world.

Our international mission is: Transformation. We want to participate in the transformation of our world in two ways: spiritual and physical.  First, we want to help communities naturally with fresh water and education.  Second, we want to help local pastors and churches.  We believe that if we first help with the natural needs, then the spiritual transformation will follow more effectively.

Beginning in 2005, we went to Monterrey, Mexico built a house for a single mom and helped her start a childcare business.

In 2010, we went to the Nigerian village of Izzi. We drilled the first well their community had ever seen.  We bought land and built a church. A last year we built a school for them.

This year, we started a relationship with Guatemala We sent money to rescue 7 babies through World Help.

I’m so excited to announce today that we are officially adopting an entire village in Guatemala beginning a 4 year plan for a Total Village Transformation.

Check this video out:

(VIDEO of Guatemala Total Village Transformation (7min))

It is now our turn! As of this past month, we have officially adopted the village of Las Joyas.

We will be providing: clean drinking water, new school facilities, new church building, self-sustaining businesses, and possibly homes for villagers.

We have trips planned for both Mexico and Guatemala in the summer of 2016. Go to our website for more info.