We're starting a new series called "My Church Is..." and each week we're going to fill in that blank.  Even though my parents founded City of Life 40 years ago in 1986, they are not the original founders of the church. Jesus is the founder of the church.  As founder, He gets to define what the church is.  

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, "On this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."  If Jesus built something, hell can't stop it. And notice what Jesus says about gates. Gates keep people out, right? So what Jesus is really saying is: we're coming for hell. We're coming for every person that's been thrown away, every person who's been written off. The gates of hell cannot stop the revival that's coming.

The church is a place with power. Jesus made it powerful and gave us authority through the Holy Spirit. I want to be in a church that has authority and power, and we've been given that authority and power by the Holy Spirit.

The Pioneering Spirit

Genesis 1:1-2 says that "the spirit of God was hovering over the waters," over something that was formless and empty. That's God's very nature: to hover over something that is undeveloped and see the potential in it.

Can you see the potential in your neighborhood? In your family? In your workplace? When you look at all the new houses being built everywhere, can you see what God could do through those people's lives if the Holy Spirit was in their homes?

Throughout the Book of Acts, we see this pioneering message reaching people others had written off.  Some examples are  Simon the sorcerer, who was a wizard doing demonic magic; the Ethiopian eunuch dealing with confusion and identity issues; and Saul of Tarsus, who was essentially a terrorist murdering Christians. The gospel of Jesus Christ reached a wizard, a eunuch, and a terrorist. That's the pioneering spirit. No matter what the story is, the gospel is available.

It takes a visionary to see what other people can't see. Can you see what no one else can see in your family? In your community? That's what a spirit of a pioneer does.

Breaking Free From What Church Is Not

Before we talk about what church is, let me tell you what it's not.

The church is not a pile of luggage. You don't have to carry around every mistake from your past. You don't have to have it brought up all the time. Think about Paul. On his worst day, on his way to commit murder, God calls him out and gives him a brand new calling. God doesn't care about your luggage, and the church shouldn't either.

The church is not a broken record. Your life isn't stuck in the same groove, playing the same mistake over and over. God has already lifted you out of that place that tries to keep calling your name.

The church is not a locked gate. You're not on the outside looking in. Jesus is the key. He has already opened the doors to the kingdom and given you full access.

The church is not an endless ladder. You don't have to constantly prove yourself. The Bible says we are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. The ascending has already been done by Jesus, and He's given it to us once and for all.

A Hospital for the Hurting

In Mark 2, Jesus says, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners." When those doors open every week, it's the church's responsibility to see broken, hurting, messed-up people come in and love them back to life again.

When I hurt my back last year and couldn't walk for almost three months, going to the hospital gave me hope. I didn't like being there, but I felt in my heart that there were people who knew things I didn't know, who could help me. That's exactly what the church needs to be: A place where broken people can come and know they're going to get nursed back to life.

Our responsibility is to help the hurting. No one restores the broken like the church because Jesus is the great physician.

A Haven of Hope

A haven is a place of safety, a place of refuge and rest. It should be a place people run to, not from. It's a place people run to for protection from danger, for shelter from storms, for relief from pressure.

Biblically, a haven is where the chaos is held back and peace is allowed to exist. A haven doesn't deny the storm; it simply outlasts it.

And we're not just any haven. We're a haven of hope. There's nothing worse in life than losing hope or having no hope for a situation. The human soul is not designed to live without hope. The Bible says, "Why so downcast, oh my soul? Put your hope in God."

But I'm not talking about the kind of hope where you're wishing it doesn't rain at Disney. That's not true hope. Christian hope is the confident expectation that something good is going to happen. Read that again: Christian hope is the confident expectation that something good is going to happen.

That's what we should be as a church. A haven where people get stirred, where they start to feel hope for their situation, where they develop a confident expectation that God is going to turn things around.

A hospital heals the hurting, but a haven protects the healing. It keeps people who have already been healed protected so they don't get hurt again.

Give God One Year

Here's my challenge to you this year.  Maybe every new year you've made a pledge to God, like a 21-day prayer challenge or fasting challenge. That's important. But I'm challenging you to give God one full year.

Decide right now that this year, you're going to lean into church like never before. Dedicate your Sundays to the Lord. Lean into leadership, development, and volunteerism. Lean into all the things God has called you to do: personal devotions, reading your Bible, praying, tithing, offering.

Transformation doesn't happen in isolation. It happens in community. And the best place for that to happen is church.

Maybe at the beginning of this year, you've already gotten off to a start you're not happy with spiritually. Don't give up on the year yet. We've just gotten started. God's got something fresh for you today. He's ready for any mistake you've made. He's ready to put you right back on track.

This community needs you. The body of Christ needs you. Why? Because you've been called out. That means God has a role for you, a responsibility for you. It's like He's calling your name at a restaurant: "I've got a table reserved for you with your name on it. Are you going to leave it empty or are you going to come fill that spot I've called you to?"

My Church Is...

If you're hurting, this is your hospital. If you're weary, this is your haven. If you're searching, this is your hope.

The word church comes from the Greek word ecclesia, which means a group of people that have been called out. You're not ordinary. God has called you out because you're special. That means the church isn't just a building; it's a people. An assembly of people with a pioneering spirit who see potential where others see impossibility.

For 40 years, City of Life has been bringing this message of hope to the whosoevers. And we're not stopping now. We're a hospital for the hurting and a haven of hope. We're a place with power, with structure, with authority. A place where broken people become whole, where the weary find rest, where the hopeless discover confident expectation.

That's my church. And I believe it's about to be your church too.