COLLEEN STICKL: Well, hey, everybody. I just want to welcome you again to the Young Adult Gathering here at Valley Creek. My name is Colleen Stickl, and I serve on staff here. And we're just so excited that you are here with us tonight. And I don't know about you, but I can feel the presence of God in this place. What a gift to be able to worship Him. He is here. He is near. He is close to you. And I just believe that He has a fresh word that He wants to speak to your heart tonight. So, thank you, God. What a gift to come and worship Him and it's as we worship Him that we experience life in the Kingdom. And so, as you can see, we get to do something a little bit different up here tonight. And so, we have been in this series called, Learn From Me: Life In The Kingdom. Let's say it together. Learn From Me: Life In The Kingdom and it has been an amazing series. And so, tonight we wanted to have the opportunity to pull it all together. And really the heart of this whole series has been just to lift up your eyes so that you can have a vision of what the kingdom looks like today.

And so, we have all been on this journey together all year of learning from Jesus and growing as a disciple. And we've said along the way that we learn from a lot of things, right? There are things that shape us and that mold us and that form us. We learn from the world, right? We learn from social media. We learn from our friends. Turn to the person next to you, you probably learn from them, right? But part of this series is shifting our perspective and asking the question, as a disciple of Jesus, where am I learning from Jesus from His life? And so, all year long we've actually looked at the Life of Jesus and we've discovered that as we learn from Him, we begin to experience life in the Kingdom. And we grow in things like joy and peace and hope and purpose with the ultimate destination of becoming a person of love. Amen? And so, I don't know if you know this, but as a Valley Creek Family, we have been on a similar journey of becoming like Jesus and living as disciples, right?

A learner, a student. And so, we've been asking the question, who am I becoming? What are the practices that I've been doing behind the scenes? We've said if you want to live the life that Jesus lives on the spot you've got to do the things that Jesus did behind the scenes, right? Like another way of saying that, if you want the life of Jesus, you have to practice His lifestyle. And so, I don't know if some of you are connecting the dots right now, but Valley Creek, A Different Way, right? Spiritual practices behind the scenes, Learn From Me: Life In The Kingdom. On the spot, joy, freedom, hope. And so, tonight we get to pull it all together. And so, here's the good news. Whether you've been here every single month this whole year or whether it's your first time here, God is here, and He has something to speak to you. And we have this amazing group up here. We've got Lexie. We've got Justin. We've got Caleb. And they serve on staff here at Valley Creek, but not only that, they are a part of this young adult community. And even more than that, they're on the same journey of lifting up their eyes, learning from Jesus and experiencing life in the Kingdom.

So, we're going to have a little panel conversation. You guys good with that? So, I want to encourage you quick with two things. Number one, listen as a disciple. We've been learning from Jesus all year. It doesn't stop tonight. Jesus wants to teach you something so learn from Him. And number two, choose to engage by faith. I already said this, the Holy Spirit is here whether you're aware of him or not. So, choose to engage by faith and believe that he wants to refresh your heart in a very specific way tonight. Are you guys ready? This is going to be fun. I'm excited. So, I'm excited to hear from these guys. See, in this series, we talked about life in the Kingdom being things like joy in every circumstance, purpose in the mundane, connection with God. And so, my first question is, how are you experiencing life in the Kingdom as you've learned from Jesus? Caleb's got to remember.

LEXIE WOOD: That's great. I'm going to start. Nope. Yeah, they're behind us. Okay. So, I'm going to kick us off. Really, the answer and it is peace and chaos. So, I've been learning a lot from Jesus in this. When you look at the life of Jesus, He carried peace with Him wherever He went, right? He wasn't dependent on the crowd for peace. He wasn't even dependent on His family for peace, and He wasn't even dependent on the disciples for His peace. He already had that within Him. And so, that was a very easy area for me to look at my life and be like, “Oh, okay. Wait, I am super dependent on how it's going around me, if I have peace within me.” And so, specifically we're called to bring peace into chaos. And so, I knew something was off there. And so, I've gotten to learn from Jesus that the peace within me is not meant to come from any circumstance around me. It's not meant to come from how much I can control something. How much information I know about a specific thing. I feel a lot of confidence in myself when I know everything about something. I'm getting to walk in situations not knowing anything interesting in God. And so, really it's two circles up there. It's the connection with God peace.

I'm learning that I get to practice over here connecting with God being aware of His presence so that I can actually bring peace into environments and not be dependent on them for my peace, if that makes sense. I'm learning like – I actually called to like and create peace in those environments with Jesus. So, to do that, I have to receive from Him first.

COLLEEN STICKL: That's awesome. And I see you walking in that, Lexie, in so many ways. You just are carrying the peace of Jesus.

JUSTIN LANHAM: Okay, okay. Good because I'm talking about hope in the midst of despair. And that's honestly what I've been learning from the Life of Jesus is how to have hope in the midst of despair. So, a little bit about me. If I'm being just totally honest with the room, I haven't had a super hard life. But this year I would say that there were some things that felt close to despair. As some of you know, just some financial things that got to come up like our house basically splitting apart almost. And our AC going out and car trouble and financial struggle.

Anybody else ever got to experience that one? Yeah, yeah. Some health things that came up, little emergency trips to the ER. You know, that can happen in life. But they were moments that, if I'm being honest, definitely felt like despair. And as I look back on them, I'm super grateful for them because what I think they actually showed me is I didn't have as much hope as I thought I would have had in those moments. And so, I'm grateful for this series because what it actually helped me do is look to the life of Jesus. Like how did He live life in the Kingdom? How did He have hope in despair? Because He always did. And so, as I got to look through scripture, I noticed and it's so ironic because I saw the icon. It's an anchor because God's Word is an anchor for my soul. And so, Jesus knew the promises of God, and He didn't just know them. He actually spoke to them. He metabolized them. They came out of him. And so, for me, my journey, yeah, I think season two of A Different Way really helped to where we got to learn how to memorize scripture. Learn how to hide God's Word in our hearts. Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.”

“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” And you all, I would just say that over and over and over again. We'd get another bill, I'd say it. We'd get another medical thing, I'd say it. And some days I believed it. Some days I didn't, but I just kept saying it and saying it and saying it. And the more that I did, the more that I began to align my heart with that and find hope in the midst of despair. And so, that's how I'm learning how to live life in the Kingdom.

COLLEEN STICKL: That's good. And I love how you shared that. Because I think a lot of times we think experiencing life in the Kingdom is all our victories. We're going to go down the line and say, “We're killing this.” But really it's through our trials that we learn to lift our eyes up and Jesus says, “Hey, I have more for you in this area.” So, that's so good. What about you, Caleb?

CALEB CHAPPLE: It's cool. You like the one that I taught and I like the one that you taught. So, I like the connection with God so I thought it was cool. But yeah, connection with God, I think would be the one that stands out to me the most. I feel like I would have always said, I have a great connection with God. And we did at the beginning of the year, Pastor John talked about it's a little pentagon on how we change.

And it's like spiritual practices, godly relationships, Word of God and I felt like I was doing all those things in my life, but Justin, you actually taught all in connection with God. And you talked about how Jesus had a connection with the Father because of the Holy Spirit. And then, I looked back at the pentagon and right in the middle is the Holy Spirit. And it was like, it's not actually doing all the practices and learning all the things. It's actually doing it through the power of the Holy Spirit. Doing it with the Holy Spirit. And it was like – I felt like this year it was actually harder to do some of the practices because I was trying to learn – relearn how to do it with the Holy Spirit. And not just like Caleb style. And learning all the things, knowing God's Word versus actually encountering God through His Word, reflecting on it. God, what do you want to show me? How did I experience God versus what did I learn about God through this Bible passage? It's tough for me because it's so much easier to just share. Here's what I'm learning out of Scripture and cite the verse and everything like that, but sharing how I experienced God, it requires me to be a little vulnerable and share some of the things that are going on in my heart.

And so, I think that was a little more challenging this year, but I've gotten to experience more of a connection with God I think through the year.

COLLEEN STICKL: That's great. And I love how they all highlighted the learn from me part. Like you're learning from Jesus on this journey. So, He really is your teacher. So, you have vision for Kingdom life, but it's not just like, “Okay, go run after that now.” Go run after peace. Go run after joy. Go find purpose. It's no pause. Invite Jesus in and ask Him to show you, to teach you so you can just take that one next step by faith. Okay. So, this is a little rapid-fire question here. Okay? You guys ready?

CALEB CHAPPLE: Yes.

COLLEEN STICKL: This is just a complete this sentence: Life in the Kingdom means…?

CALEB CHAPPLE: Life in the Kingdom means there's always more.

LEXIE WOOD: Life in the Kingdom means being aware of God.

JUSTIN LANHAM: Life in the Kingdom means full and not like calendar full, but like John 10. Jesus came to give His life to the full.

COLLEEN STICKL: That's awesome. I'm not going to stand over each of you and have them clap to see what was the best one because they were all amazing answers. But one thing I love about the series, Learn From Me: Life In The Kingdom, is that it's not a random one-off series. It's really deeply connected to what we're doing as a Valley Creek family this year, which is a different way, right? See, we've been talking about living a different way, doing the things that Jesus did behind the scenes. And 1 Timothy 4:7-8, I know you've been hearing this throughout the year. It says, “Train yourself to be godly.” And so, we've been talking about things like spiritual practices. Things like prayer and meditation and silence and simplicity. Doing those things behind the scenes so that we can do the things that Jesus did on the spot. And so, we know that in order to walk in Kingdom life, we have to embrace the lifestyle of Jesus first. So, I love that you guys just shared how you're experiencing life in the Kingdom. But I know that in order to do that, you've had to embrace some of the behind-the-scenes practices. And so, I would love to know about some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that's helping you. So, here's my question: How are the spiritual practices helping you on your journey?

And maybe which ones are the most fruitful and which ones are the most challenging?

CALEB CHAPPLE: I'll start with challenging because it's all of them. Literally, I think this year I've had to learn how to – I had to repent, change my thinking on what it means to live life like with the Spirit. I think I've always thought of they're really godly, like spiritual people. Or the ones that can like, they wake up and they're like, “What's the Holy Spirit saying this morning? I think it's Ezekiel. I'm going to read Ezekiel.” Or like, “I'm just going to go and pray for this person.” Or like it's this flowy Lucy Goosey like there's no structure. They just go and do. But I'm realizing that actually life with the Spirit sometimes means structure and habits and training. And so, it's doing literally all those things. It's not just this, like, “I'm going to show up and read whatever I feel like reading.” There is a power in having habits and doing things behind the scenes so I can do the things on the spot. So, I think I've learned through all that, but I think the most fruitful has been scripture for me.

I think for sure it's been like reading, meditating, memorizing God's Word. Specifically memorizing and meditating on God's Word. I think this year I've learned how much more scripture I can retain than I thought I could. It just means saying no to all the random facts and song lyrics and movie quotes and lots of movie quotes that I – yeah. All the Harry Potter spells. Yeah, yeah. Like it's saying no to that so that I can put scripture in me. It's just being intentional and like literally setting a time every day, every evening to memorize and meditate on the scripture. And then, naturally as I'm starting to memorize that, I have to practice it and then all of a sudden my thoughts are now going to, like, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit.” I know how to keep saying it again and again, and again, and again. So, it's been cool to get to see when I'm in the shower, now I'm just thinking the sermon on the mountain because I have to practice it.

COLLEEN STICKL: Is there something specifically that's helped you because I know I'm on a similar journey and a lot of us struggle to memorize scripture. I've done something where I take my phone, record a voice memo of the verse I'm memorizing and then I'll play it on a walk or play it in the car. But is there something you found that's really helped you take ground?

CALEB CHAPPLE: Yeah, I couldn't do that because I don't like listening to my voice back on a recording, but I –

COLLEEN STICKL: Give us a better idea.

CALEB CHAPPLE: I think for me I just have to be consistent with it. And then, I also have to invite some people in so it's – there's a student who has the whole sermon on the mount memorized. I said I'm going to memorize it. And every single Sunday and Wednesday, he walks up to me and he goes, “Where you at? How are you doing?” And it's a little harder when it's a student who now has it that I'm supposed to be leading. And so, that's like, put the fire behind me. That, and also just doing it every single day. So, I have a set aside time every single day. I'll read the reading plan, meditate on the verse and then I go to memorize the scripture. And so, just being rhythmic with it I think is the biggest thing.

COLLEEN STICKL: So good. What about you guys? Which practice?

LEXIE WOOD: I am a first letter of the word. Oh, you asked me about practice not about scripture. I can tell you all about memorizing scripture, guys.

COLLEEN STICKL: Afterwards in the atrium, I want to hear everybody's tips and tricks. But for now, which spiritual practice has been the most fruitful, the most challenging and is helping you grow and become like Jesus?

LEXIE WOOD: Great question. Okay. Mine is one for all of the above. So, in January, Pastor John put this graphic up. And he's like, “Some of these might make you really excited and some might terrify you.” The one that most excited me was Sabbath because I wanted to understand it. I wanted to figure it out. I wanted to learn what a Sabbath looked like as a young adult. And it has been the most challenging one. It has been the most fruitful one, all of the above because it's so countercultural to how my life was currently arranged is the best way to explain that. Sabbath really for me has looked like, “Okay, Jesus, does it really matter if I do my laundry on this day or on my day of Sabbath?” Because I know laundry isn't actually restful, but does it really matter if I don't do it on a Saturday? And the answer is yes. Not because my laundry is not going to get done.

But because do I trust Jesus enough to believe that He can do more in the six days than I can do working all seven days straight. And so, it has been a practice of trusting Him through Sabbath. Both Sabbath and simplicity were really challenging for me because it wasn't adding more things. It wasn't, let's go do this new thing. It was removing things. It was slowing things down. It was taking some good things out so that God could do even greater things. There was a quote from – it was actually the simplicity message of our Different Way series and it says, “Busyness is an indicator that you are failing at that which matters most.” Yeah. I had to sit there, as a person who had a really full life of good things and I was like, “Wow. Okay, am I actually failing at that which matters most?” Which is being aware of God and making Him the one thing. So, yes.

COLLEEN STICKL: That's good. Lexie, when is your Sabbath right now? What day? When do you practice it?

LEXIE WOOD: My Sabbath is Saturday.

COLLEEN STICKL: Okay. That's a good question to ask yourself. When you're struggling or wrestling with, do I have a Sabbath? Do I not? Maybe in this season, it can't be a full day or a half day. Maybe it's two hours. But it's a good step to say, “Could I answer that question?” and I have already set aside a defined time of the week. So, that's really good. Pro tip as well on simplicity. Don't donate things of other people in your families. If you're called to simplicity, just do it for yourself. Learn from experience.

JUSTIN LANHAM: That's good, Colleen.

COLLEEN STICKL: What about you?

JUSTIN LANHAM: Yeah. I don't know about you guys, but when this series started, I just wanted to master all 12 of these so that's what I tried to do. And it didn't go super well for me. So, as the series progressed, I was super grateful for Pastor John's vision to just really ask the Holy Spirit, what's the one you probably want to do least? That's the one you probably need to do most. And it's ironic. None of you will remember this, but hope in despair was right where my actual icon for practices are, which was fasting. I'm super good at satisfying my flesh. I'm pretty bad at crucifying my flesh. So, I knew that that was my invitation. And I knew that God was inviting me to get practical with it.

And so, I began to practice one day a week to just fast breakfast and lunch because I wasn't trying to run a marathon and go for a month, 40 days. But I just wanted to see and it was so exposing. If I'm being honest, the first day I remember I made the mistake of going to a coffee at Starbucks right next to Cava, you all. And I get blasted with just that harissa chicken. That garlic smell, it hits me like a ton of bricks. But I'm grateful for that moment because it reminded me why I was doing what I was doing. I fast from food to feast on God. And so, I think that fasting without God is just dieting as Pastor John put it. So, I think that I'm just learning. And I don't always nail it, but when I do this once a week, I'm learning how to feast on God during those times. I'm also grateful for the community because I've got accountability in my life that really not just helps me fast, but actually helps me experience God during my fast. And then, I think most of all what I'm loving most about this practice is I'm starting to see it on the spot.

So, I'm practicing the behind-the-scenes fasting, but I'm starting to see I'm growing in self-control in the face of temptation. And so, when I am able to fast and practice self-control, I'm able to maybe not say that thing that I want to say. Or not listen to that thing or watch that thing that I want to watch. Or not buy that impulse buy that I want to buy. I'm starting to see the fruit of self-control grow in my life as I practice behind the scenes so I'm super grateful for that as well.

COLLEEN STICKL: That's really good. And I love how all of you guys touched on, the practices don't change you, the Holy Spirit changes you. So, the practice is really our pathways of grace and we engage them by faith. So, you guys all had real tangible stories of, this is what I was doing and this is where I was seeing the fruit of it. But sometimes when we engage the practices, we don't see the fruit of it right away. But we engage it by faith because we believe that the Holy Spirit is working even when we don't see it. And another thing I just want to tag on that is how has it impacted you doing these practices in community.

Maybe just from one or two of you versus doing these on your own. Because we've been doing this as a church family.

JUSTIN LANHAM: Yeah, it's changed everything. I mean, there's been days where I've not wanted to fast like straight up. And I know the rest was there. And so, it's good for me to remember I've got guys that love me enough to ask in a week, “How was your fast?” So, I would say that for me, that's just one aspect of community that I love getting to do.

LEXIE WOOD: Anyone else in here an overthinker? Because I can overthink things just a little bit. And so, the community has been super important because I will over complicate it. What does prayer look like? When do you pray? I'll like to try to make it really specific. I want to know the right way to do it or the wrong way to do it. Same thing with Sabbath. Should it be Friday? Or should it be Saturday for me? And doing it in community, I got to ask other people, what does your Sabbath look like? What does simplicity look like for you in this season? I asked many people in this room. Hey, how are you practicing generosity? Because I'm stuck. Do I give them cash? Do I give them a Visa gift card? Do I write a check? I didn't know. And I got to ask people, which made it so easier. It is simpler than I was making it.

COLLEEN STICKL: Yes. And you're reminded that God speaks so uniquely to each person so this is the framework, but then even simplicity and generosity, it could look so different from each of us so that's awesome. So, I love how you guys have shared how you're experiencing life in the Kingdom on the spot. And then, some of the things that you are doing behind the scenes. Some of the lifestyle and practices of Jesus. And so, as we put these two series, these two year-long series together, my final question here is, what are you discovering about who you're becoming? And who do you want to become? I know that's a challenging one.

CALEB CHAPPLE: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So, I just recently read all the Chronicles of Narnia books. That's it. That's my no.

COLLEEN STICKL: You just read all of them?

CALEB CHAPPLE: Yeah. I just read literally all of them in like a month or less. It was – yeah, Victoria can vouch. Yeah. I flew through those things because they were awesome.

COLLEEN STICKL: Not audible?

CALEB CHAPPLE: Audible too. They're literally for – you can get all seven for one credit on audible. I've been trying to tell people about that. It's a steal. Where was I going with this? At the end of it so – sorry. I'm getting there. Anyone else? Chronicles of Narnia is a good book. Yeah. So, at the end of it, they're in Aslan's country. Aslan's this lion. He represents Jesus and he's awesome.

COLLEEN STICKL: He'll tell you more about it later.

CALEB CHAPPLE: Oh, you mean that. He's in the first book. So, they're in Aslan's country. He has this phrase. He says, like, “Further up, further in.” And so, it's like – represents the Kingdom of heaven, but he says, “Further up, further in.” And so, they keep going further up and further into his kingdom. Further up, further in. Further up, further in. And man, that phrase has stuck with me, like ever since. Further up, further in. Who do I want to become? I want to become someone who goes further up and further into God's kingdom. I want to be a lifelong learner. I think before this series started; I would have had a totally different definition for who do I want to become.

But I think as I've gone through it, I just want to be a lifelong learner. I want to go further up and further into God's Kingdom. Like there's no destination I'm arriving at. It's really becoming more and more like Jesus. It's getting to experience more of His grace. It's getting to experience more of His presence. It's getting to release more of His Kingdom. It's going further up and further into His Kingdom. So, that's like really my vision now is from Aslan. It's further up further in.

COLLEEN STICKL: That's awesome.

JUSTIN LANHAM: You want to be Aslan?

CALEB CHAPPLE: Yeah.

JUSTIN LANHAM: It's good. It's good.

COLLEN STICKL: All right. Justin, who are you becoming?

JUSTIN LANHAM: Yeah. I'm so grateful how he started. It's funny. I do want to become Aslan, but it's so cool how we started both Different Way and Life in the Kingdom: Learn For Me, because it was all about vision. And I think if I want to answer the question, who am I becoming? Who do I want to become? I think it comes back to a vision. I have to have a vision. A vision from the Lord. And I love that we said that sometimes the best vision is a transformed life. And so, it is the life of Jesus.

It is His life that I want to become. But I think what I'm realizing about a vision is that a vision doesn't confine you. It actually opens you up. It helped me see that I was living an inferior life to the life that Jesus actually came to give His life for. And so, I think practically when Pastor John asked the question, would the people in your life say that you're humble, secure and free? Practically, who do I want to be? I want to be those things. I want to be someone who can have others say that I'm becoming those things. And I think another thing that again you're asking about who am I becoming, but I think the important thing about a vision is it just becomes a filter for everything you do. And so, it helps you just count the cost. And so, if I'm about to start this miniseries with 10 seasons, 12 episodes each, one hour each, that's 120 hours of my life. It's like, “Okay, is this thing actually going to help me become the person that I'm trying to be?” And then, I think just lastly, another thing that I'm trying to do in the area of who I'm becoming is just celebrate more of who I actually am becoming, instead of looking to who I'm not yet.

COLLEEN STICKL: That's good.

JUSTIN LANHAM: So, I think if we replicate the things we celebrate, how do I just keep growing and celebrating the steps that the grace of Jesus, the Holy Spirit has empowered me to take? And keep looking to those things. And when I do, I go just this phrase I got, just came to me further up, further in.

COLLEEN STICKL: Who knew? I love it. And I love how you're saying that vision of who you're becoming, it's freeing. It widens the path and really it gives you guardrails for your life. So, when you have a vision, you have guardrails so you can run the race before you with perseverance. You can just be going for it. It's not all over the place because you don't have that vision set before you. So, it's awesome. What about you, Lex?

LEXIE WOOD: Yeah, I also echo having the vision makes it super clear and it makes it easier to celebrate. Because it's really easy to look at all the things I'm not or I haven't got there yet. But having that vision helps me see, “Oh I am growing, in Jesus' name. And so, specifically in this season, God has given me just like a run of three words. They'll kind of sound like the three circles and it is to walk in grace, to be aware of God's presence and a person who brings the Kingdom.

And so, those are just specific things that God's given me. And the cool thing is, six months ago I didn't have that. I didn't have those words. And so, God has given me that in this season. And so, I know the answer to who am I becoming? Who do I keep wanting to become? It's just that person who hears from God and is aware of what He's doing in this season and then goes where He's going.

COLLEEN STICKL: That's awesome. I think a lot of times when we think of vision we think of what we were going to do. So, we look to 2025. What's my vision? What are all the things I want to do? What are the things I want to accomplish? But Kingdom vision is really who I'm becoming and that's what you guys just shared. So, that is amazing. All right. I said that was the last question, but I have one more thing just really quick. As part of the young adult community here, what would just be your final thought you would share from your journey this year as we've done the Learn From Me: Life in the Kingdom series? What would be your final encouragement or word?

LEXIE WOOD: Yeah, I'll go first. We've talked about it a little bit in pockets and it is community. Just really clearly, I would not be where I am today on my journey with Jesus. I would not be up here getting to share with you what God's done in my life without community. Without the people of God helping me, challenging me, giving me ideas, holding me accountable to things. Doing it in community has been the path forward that I've gotten to be where I am.

COLLEEN STICKL: That's great.

CALEB CHAPPLE: Okay. You all, God's love is so vast. It's so expansive and I think what I'm really learning and what I want to say to you guys is like God loves us enough to give us these practices. He loves us enough to give us Jesus, an actual vision for the person that we can become the prototype for our life. And I think us doing the practices doesn't change God's love for us. But man, I want God's love for me to change how I do practices. And so, the first song we sang is, We Want Revival. If we want revival, we got to do the things that Jesus did.

And so, if I could just speak anything into you guys, it'd be like, let's just do the things that Jesus did. Let's do it because when we do, there's a life of adventure. It's not heavy. It's not burdensome. It's not religious. It's a life that's full and I think that the more you practice those things, it's like practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes preferred. So, the more you practice it, the more you're going to prefer to do it. And so, I would just encourage you guys, myself, all of us to just keep leaning in and let this become part of a lifestyle.

COLLEEN STICKL: Great, Caleb.

JUSTIN LANHAM: Yeah. And I would add to that, you can do hard things. You talked about if we want revival, we got to do the things that Jesus did. They're His practices. But we can do them. We were created to do them. And so, I think there's this notion that they're hard. And sometimes, it is hard. There's sometimes where it's like, “Man, I don't really want to do that. I don't want to give up a meal when I'm right outside of Cava.” There are times where it's hard, but we were actually created to do hard things because we have the Holy Spirit who actually empowers us to do it. And then, I'd also say – I'm doing two things.

But I'd say that this isn't just a series because I know it's so easy to go from a series to like, “This is the next series. This is the next big thing.” But this really is a lifestyle. I think that's the biggest thing that I'm learning from this, is it's not this thing that I need to obtain. It's not like the next thing to collect or the next level to achieve. It's a lifestyle. It's further up, further in, man. It's going to happen. It's a lifelong learner. I'm continuing to grow. I'm continuing to go deeper into God's Kingdom. I'm continuing to move forward into His Grace.

COLLEEN STICKL: That is awesome. I'm so grateful for you guys. I just want to thank you for your honesty, your transparency and just for being willing to share your journey with us. Yes, give them a round of applause. Give them a round. Go ahead. You guys are amazing. There's just something so inspiring about hearing about a life changed. Hearing how God is moving in someone else's lives. And so, we're just so grateful for them. And here's what I want to say to you guys. I think Caleb just kind of said it a little bit, but this series has really been our heart for you for the whole year.

Not just as a series, but for your life. And so, what you heard tonight that's their story. That's their story of how they're experiencing life in the Kingdom. How they're doing the spiritual practices behind the scenes. Who they want to become. But what's your story? How has God been moving in you in this year? How are you learning from Jesus and experiencing life in the Kingdom because just because the series is ending, this lifestyle is just getting started for you, for me. Why? Because there's always more peace, more joy, more hope, more purpose for you to experience. And so, here's what we're going to do as we close. At the seat you're at, you were given a card. So, I just want you to go ahead and pull that out really quickly. And as you do, you're going to see on the front of the card all the things we've been talking about this year. Life in the Kingdom. It's things we've talked about and more. And I love this because it is so encouraging and you'll see on the other side of the card, there are just two simple questions.

What is Jesus teaching you about life in the Kingdom? And how is He inviting you to respond? So, you remember we don't do the young adult gatherings for information. We gather together to experience transformation. Why do we say that all the time? Because we actually believe it. We believe that you're here because God wants to change and transform you. And so, what we're going to do is just give you a couple minutes at your seat to just reflect on these questions and write down what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. So, go ahead and take a moment, get comfortable. Let's all just take a deep breath together. Slow down and just become aware of His presence because God wants to speak to your heart. So, go ahead and work through that side of the card and then I'll come back and explain what we're going to do next.

Okay. So, if you haven't already done so, go ahead and finish up whatever you're writing and here's what we want to do now. Let's go ahead and I'll stand up. Go ahead and stand up. Grab your card. God has been moving in this series and we just don't want to miss the opportunity to respond. So, here's what I want to invite you to do. I want you to take a moment and just find two or three people around you and share your card. And here's what our hope in doing so is by sharing it out loud with the people in this room, it's creating momentum and it's activating your faith. Because it's inspiring you to see not only what God is doing in your life, but how God is moving in the people that you're in community with. So, go ahead and just take a minute. Find two or three other people and answer the questions, What is Jesus teaching you about life in the Kingdom? And where is He inviting you to respond? In three, two, one.

All right. Well, hey everybody. Let's come back together. What a great night. I want to thank you guys for taking time to reflect and capture what God has been speaking to you. And for having the faith and the boldness to share it with the people around you. There is so much life in the culture of these Young Adult Gatherings because together we are becoming like Jesus and growing as people of love. And so, as we close out the series tonight, I just want to celebrate you because you are growing. You are being transformed. And our hope for you – yes, you should clap for yourself. You guys are amazing. And God is on the move. And so, our hope for you is that as you keep learning from Jesus and looking to Him that you will continue to experience fullness in the life of the Kingdom. So, hey, before we go I've just got three quick things to tell you about. Everybody say, three.

All right. Hey, you got to share these cards. But now, we want you to keep these cards just as a reminder of what God has done and where He wants to take you. And so, keep them as a reminder of the next step that the Holy Spirit has invited you to take. We've also got something special for you as a gift, as a way to close out this series. So, we've got these awesome Learn From Me: Life In The Kingdom bracelets. They're amazing. They have all the different icons that we talked about. And they're really a great encouragement as you continue on your journey to remind you. I've got mine on. To remind you wherever you go that you are empowered to live like Jesus on the spot. So, please take one on your way out. We've also got some really cool merch available for purchase. You may have seen it worn here up on the panel, just saying. So, don't rush out. Stay, hang, talk, ask somebody which of the icons on their bracelet the Holy Spirit is inviting them to take a next step in. We've got pizza. The second thing is this. This is our last Young Adult Gathering for this year.

I know. But there are amazing things to come in 2025. We can't wait to see what God is doing and how He moves. So, please stay tuned. But hey in the meantime, we want you to stay connected. So, there are things like Tuesday night prayer, our Christmas services. There's a little thing coming up in January called Re. If you don't know what it is, you want to become familiar with it? It's like a few-day revival-type experience that you don't want to miss. But hey, one last thing before you go because I told you we've got three things. We are really excited about a particular opportunity coming up this summer. So, before you go, let's take a quick look at this video.