The Core of Us: Devotion, Mission, and Rejection

A Word to the New and the Familiar

Brothers and sisters, we are in week nine of our series God of Miracles, walking through the Book of Matthew line by line, verse by verse. Jesus has launched a public ministry of healings to show that he is the Messiah, confirming the Gospel through miraculous signs and wonders.

Today, I want to do something different. While I had scheduled another text for this week, I felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to address something more important right now. I want to personally welcome all the new brothers and sisters who have slipped into 2819 while my wife and I were away. And then I want to talk to all of us as a community to remind you of the purpose for why we're here.

You can be in something so long you forget the purpose for why you're in it. It just becomes obligation—go to church, go home. Sing three songs, three points and a poem, and go home. Good leaders are good repeaters. Jesus said the same things over and over with different, powerful parables. If you lead any organization or have staff under you, you need to be the chief repeating officer, because people forget.

Understanding Our Culture

I want you to understand the culture of this house. Every organization, business, company, home, church, and family has a culture. Culture is either created by design or created by default. We work very hard to create a culture here on purpose.

We are living in perilous times. You don't have to look hard to see it. You don't even have to spend five minutes on social media to realize we are living in very perilous times. For those of us with a real prayer life and those sensitive to the Spirit of God, I would venture to say we might be entering into—or already living in—probably the end times.

When I read what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3, listing the atmosphere of the earth in the end times, I look around at the climate we're in right now and I stand here boldly in 2023 and say: wake up. We are living in the end times.

The Spirit of This Age

Men are lovers of themselves, lovers of money, lovers of what is evil.

All throughout our nation right now we see the rise of ungodly perversions. We see the celebration of perversions. We have whole pastors—famous ones too—apologizing for and appeasing whole groups of perversions in our society. We have drag queens in the pulpit on Sunday preaching the doctrines of demons, trying to reorganize the church as if any man could change what Jesus has founded.

We have drag queens teaching children in school, trying to rob us of what God gave us—our birthright. For he created you male and female, not non-binary. Non-binary does not exist according to the word of God.

I've never seen a man with a baby in his belly. I've never met a man with a period. They lie on social media and say God created us non-binary. But in the beginning he said: "Created them male and female."

We're living in times full of great delusions and lies—lies across social media, lies across the pulpit. Right now, there is a demon somewhere in our city and across the country preaching to unsuspecting people the lies and heresies of Satan. And for the sake of fame and popularity, we just ascribe our approval because they have large followings or big names, as if they're not fallen human beings like you and me.

I don't care if they're your favorite worship leader who abandoned the faith for R&B songs, or your favorite pastor. We are living in the era of leadership compromise. The devil is patient. He waits until you get up there, you get prideful, and then he picks you off from the mountaintop, and millions of people following you go down with you.

We reminisce over the songs you used to sing while we watch you twerking now, and we approve of that because we're full of compromise. That is the carnality of this generation.

The Answer Is Not Political

So what is the answer? It is not the federal government. It is not the current or next president. The answer is not indifference. The answer is not turning a blind eye.

The answer is the prayers of the Saints. The answer is the gospel activity of the Saints. The answer is the advocacy of the Saints. The answer to all of the evils in our society is the agency that Jesus left in the earth: the Church of Jesus Christ.

If you are saved, you are part of the answer. The only hope this sin-sick world has is the Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ until He pulls us out of here.

Our Core Devotion: Acts 2:42–47

If you are new to our church, I want you to agree with us around three things. Let me give them to you.

First, our core devotion. What is our core devotion here at 2819 Church?

Luke, a historian and a doctor, wrote the book of Acts, which records the first 30 years of the church. Peter preached the first sermon on the day of Pentecost; 3,000 people were saved. The church was exploding. Then Luke records this incident in Acts chapter 2, beginning at verse 42.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the breaking of bread and to prayer.

We are devoted to the apostles' teaching. We're not devoted to Google. We're not devoted to articles downloaded from Yahoo. We are devoted to the apostles' teaching—all of the Old Testament, all of the New Testament, all of the record of Scripture, which is the record of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is hidden in the Old Testament; he is revealed in the New Testament. From Genesis to Revelation is Christ. At this church, we are firmly devoted to this Gospel, these Scriptures. We have a fidelity for the word of God. We have respect for the word of God. We are anchored to the word of God.

We believe in the word of God. We're going to stand on the word of God. We're going to teach the word of God. We're going to preach the word of God. We're going to confront you according to the word of God. We're going to keep you accountable according to the word of God. We're going to rub you back with the word of God. We're going to love on you with the word of God. We're going to rebuke the mess out of you with the word of God.

Our hermeneutics, our homiletics, our exegesis—I will learn line by line, verse by verse, unpacking the scriptures because it's powerful in and of itself to save, deliver, and transform, without us trying to force things into it that are not there. That makes for good preaching. That makes for good doctrine.

We love emotions, but we don't love education. You love doing backflips off the stage and running around the church and dancing, but you don't like to learn. At this church, we want our people to be biblically literate. We want you to be taught. We want you to be educated. We want you to know the word of God even more than you know my voice.

Because a day will come when you will not have me, but you will have the word of God. We want you to know how to open this at 3 o'clock in the morning when the devil is trying to wreak havoc in your house and know how to flip to the Psalms and comfort your heart, or flip to Proverbs and get some wisdom, or flip to the New Testament and get some doctrine, or flip to the Old Testament and see how God worked throughout history.

We are devoted to fellowship. We don't live in silos here. We believe that 2819 thrives in radical community. We want to live in gospel community—albeit messy, albeit she ticked me off this week, but I'm going to pray for her.

We want to love each other when you're likable and love each other when your attitudes stink. If you read the New Testament, all of the New Testament prophesies that you're going to have friction with brothers and sisters. So if you creep up in here during the summer, don't leave if somebody offends you next week.

Let's practice Matthew 18 and go to that brother or sister. If they don't listen, let's bring another brother or sister with them. If they still won't listen, we're going to tell it to the elders of the church. But we want to live in gospel community where we love each other so well that we even buy cars for one another.

A woman in our church, living in community with her brothers and sisters—her brother saw her Ubering, getting rides home from work. They met her at work, walked out the parking lot, and said, "Here's the keys to your car."

In our church, we meet each other's needs through community. We pray for each other through community. We help pay each other's bills through community. We bring food to your house through community. I got a bag of clothes that don't fit my kid; I'm going to bring it to your kid through community.

I hate to see you on Uber all the time. We're going to buy you a car through community. We solve each other's needs through community. Some of you don't even understand that the thing you've been believing for is in the handshake of the person right next to you. Some of the greatest blessings in your life will come into your life on two legs.

People rob themselves of the best that God has for them when they live in silos. I know that you are afraid that if you come into community and we find out who you really are, you think you're going to be judged and torn down. But here's the truth: this is a glorious mess, and it's okay to not be okay as we're growing together into the image of Christ. Sanctification is a process.

We are devoted to the breaking of bread and to prayer. At this church, we're serious about prayer. We don't act like we know what we're doing all the time. I don't act like I got all the answers all the time.

You'll never catch us in a meeting where somebody did not pray. You won't catch us in a creative meeting if somebody did not pray. You're not going to catch us in a staff meeting and somebody did not pray. We're never going to open up a gathering if somebody did not pray.

We don't do anything unless somebody prays at this church. Here's our motto: We plan like everything depends on us. We pray like everything depends on God. We're serious about prayer.

Somebody told me the other day about my preaching. They said, "I don't know the secret source of your preaching." My prayer life is the secret. I'm not eloquent. I'm from the hood. I'm still growing. I'm a sheep like everybody else. But my prayer life—I got issues. People can preach circles around me. But I got to pray for me, and I keep guns in my house. I got daughters. I don't even fully trust my own heart yet. I've still got some stuff that God is trying to work out of me.

There's a little bit of darkness in my heart. But that prayer life—that keeps me grounded. That keeps me walking. We're serious about prayer.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

That's why we're not a stingy people. We help one another at this church. We share. I don't have to send an email for the church to send benevolence. We don't step over needs. We don't see a sister come to church every week in the same outfit and scheme on her—we take her shopping.

We want to live like that at 2819 Church. If you stay here long enough, you're going to feel it. It's not perfect, and the person with the microphone is not perfect. But we are striving for this, and I fight for this. I hold people on my staff accountable for this because this is what we're striving for. This is our core devotion.

The Mark of a Gospel Community

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.

Day by day they were attending the temple. And who hung out at the temple? Unbelievers. And what was God doing? He was adding to the church. That means they were serious about evangelism, inviting people to the gathering, sharing the gospel, and being bold witnesses.

We want to be about all of that at 2819 Church. So if you hear that we're acting crazy on social media and on Saturday night, we're inviting the world to church. We try to drag people from the office to church. We go through the drive-through window and throw invite cards through it.

You're laughing, but one of our top photographers in this room is here and has had her life changed because somebody put an invite card in her hand in front of Target. God's changed her life.

So we are about that evangelism. Don't think for one second it's only the pastor's job to bring people to Christ.

Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved.

This place is packed to capacity because we're about this life right here. We're going to add a second gathering during our anniversary because we are about this life.

Our Core Mission: Matthew 28:18–20

Second, our core mission. Where is it found? Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20.

Do you know where the name "2819" comes from? It's from Matthew 28:19. This is the mission of 2819 Church:

Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Last week we baptized over 200 people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

At this church, we are serious about the spread of the Gospel. We want to win souls. We want to multiply disciples. We don't want to make church a 10—just fill up seats. We were about this life when there were only 30 people in this room. We were about this life when the church was only 12 people. We've been about this life for 10 years, and even more so since we changed the name from Victory to 2819 Church.

We changed the name because we're serious about this right here. For us, if we're not doing this, we are wasting our time. It doesn't matter if we're doing conferences, selling books—none of that matters if we're not doing this. We're wasting our time.

What is a disciple? A committed follower of Jesus Christ. We're fighting for that. We're giving towards that. We're praying for that. We hold meetings for that. We do course correction for that. We're trying to fix the AC for that. That's all of what we're about.

So don't wonder what is the mission of this church. You can investigate—sniff around, talk to leaders, go underneath everything you see. Just investigate, and you'll get to the bottom of it. Even an admin sending out an email—you'll see it's about that life.

We are a body of believers commissioned to spread the Gospel.

If spreading the Gospel is boring to you, this church is not going to be for you. If you want to be entertained, this church is not going to be for you. If you want to feel awesome every single week, this church is not for you. If you want me to make you feel like you're all of that and a bag of chips, this church is not for you.

We care for one another in community, but we are outwardly focused. That is our core mission: Matthew 28:18–20.

Our Core Rejection

Third, our core rejection. This is what we are not about.

We don't like the sticker that says "coexist." We ain't here to coexist. There is only one God, and every other god is an idol. They cannot see. They cannot hear. There is only one true, living God, and His name is Jehovah.

The brother of Jesus, Jude, didn't say "coexist." He said you need to contend for the faith. He didn't say coexist. He said fight for this truth. He said snatch people from the fires of Hell—from the ranks of atheists, from the ranks of unbelievers, from the ranks of false religion. There is no coexist.

Let's fight for the spread of the Gospel. Let's stand for the truth. Let's hand off to our children the faith that came down to us in blood.

I want to run my race and run it well, and I don't want to hand off to my four children a faith corrupted by perversion. So our core devotion is Acts 2:42–47. Our mission is Matthew 28:18–20.

Our core rejection is everything that's antithetical to the word of God. The lies of the devil—we will not tolerate them. Anything that destroys the church, we will not tolerate. Gossip, we shut that down. Slander, we shut that down. Your little cliques, your little factions—we shut that down. Predatory behavior in the church—we shut that down.

I'm not playing with y'all. We come against anything that threatens the unity of the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. If Christ is the head and we are the body, why do you keep punching it like a punching bag?

I'm not talking about correcting people—I'm talking about the little things we do in church to tear up a whole gathering. Leaders who are out of order—nobody confronts them. But I will. I will.

Our core rejection is everything against the word of God. I don't care who's saying it. I don't care how popular they are. I don't care how many books they wrote or how many degrees they got behind their name. If it goes against the word of God, it is the lie of the devil, and we are against that. We reject that.

Standing for Biblical Truth

I'm going to say something right now, and I know some of you are going to get offended—especially in a room full of Black people. We fight for the Unborn. We believe in biblical marriage. We believe in the truth of the word of God without changing it, bending it, and rewriting it to tailor our sin and our comfort.

I bring my old self in subjection to the word of God. Philip Anthony Mitchell, I repent. There is lust in me—die. There is jealousy in me—die. There is covetousness in me—die. There is envy in me—die. You want this person's ministry—die. You want that person's wife—die, die, die, die.

You have more allegiance to a political party than to the word of God. But we're not paying for abortions anymore. I've been down that road. We fight now for the Unborn. Why? Because God said to Jeremiah:

Before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you.

There is grace for our past. We're in heaven now. But there is wisdom for the present. And yes, I know you don't like that because it doesn't fit your coaching, what your mama taught you. But it's the word of God.

The sanctity of human life and the sanctity of biblical marriage—I fight for that. Y'all are so terrified to say something on social media because you're afraid of trolls. I deal with trolls. I pray for them. I say, "Lord, rebuke you in Jesus' name." No, I'm going to fight for this biblical gospel because this is the thing that changed my life.

Some of y'all are going to say, "Man, that's not the pastor I came for. I ain't coming back here next week." I know. Go find a place that keeps you comfortable in foolishness at the expense of truth. We may not see you in glory, but just hang out here for a little while. Let me get this word in you. Let us get this love on you. Let us get this community in your life. Give us six months.

I know you think I'm rough, and I am. I talk like this out of love, not condemnation.

A New Initiative: The 2819 Institute

I've never done this in 10 years as a pastor. I've never been a money man. I've never done a capital campaign. I've never begged people for money. I've never done special offerings. We just support the church by the generosity of the people. We pay our staff. We pay bills. We take care of our kids. All of that costs money. We just trust God to supply our needs.

But right now, family, God has put a new baby in my belly. It is the 2819 Institute of Theological Learning. God spoke to me to leave in the earth an institute of theological learning born of the fire of the Holy Spirit with fidelity to the word of God.

I'm getting ready to have an interest meeting in a couple of weeks for everyone in this room who feels called to teach. If you understand hermeneutics, homiletics, exegesis—if you understand the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament, if you understand those 66 books, if you love this word of God, if you like to teach it, unpack it, study it, go through it and break it, if you like to sit with it and pray through it like you eat, sleep, and breathe this—I want to talk to you.

I'm about to raise up a core army of people to help me give birth to the 2819 Institute of Theological Learning by faith.

Why? Because Sunday is not enough. We want classes where we've taken you through Romans, where we're taking you through New Testament letters, where we're going through New Testament survey and Old Testament survey. We want you to understand who these people were that lived and died—not characters, but real human beings. We want you to understand dispensations and biblical prophecy and what's coming next on the biblical chart.

We want you to understand the Rapture of the church. We want you to understand the Great Tribulation period and who the Antichrist is. And I think he's in school right now—his spirit is in the earth. That's why I see them trying to get rid of cash and trying to make one-world currencies. Everything's becoming plastic. Y'all don't even see how those pieces are being set up for the rise of the Antichrist.

When I die, I want to leave something in the earth that keeps training people to take the Gospel seriously. It's going to cost them, because it's only going to get worse. And we want some firebrand theologians who know how to stand for truth.

I could handle a non-believer on the corner, yeah—on aisle four of Walmart or you ain't gonna poke me down in the gym. We want people who can poke holes in bad doctrine and who will honor this word because God has exalted us even above His own name.

I can't do that by myself. So I'm going to rally everyone in this room who feels called to teach. We're going to raise up an army locally and abroad in Jesus' name.

Building a Facility

I've got to be honest with you. We have three years left on this contract. We do not own this facility. Without the mercy of the school, we wouldn't be here. We love them. We partner with them. We provide stuff for them. We want to be good stewards while we're here. We want to keep funneling money and resources into their programs and helping the vision of the principal because we want to honor them.

But we know that this is their facility, and our time here is going to come to an end.

I've got to tell you something: I cannot pray us out of here. The bank doesn't care about the fact that I have a ferocious prayer life. We live in a very expensive market. A building here costs 10, 20 million dollars.

I've never taught our church that a building was the Promised Land. We've been 10 years with no building because we've built up people. You build culture. We have a ferocious volunteer servant leader corps. I do not believe that a building is the Promised Land.

I do not believe that if the Lord never gives us one, we will preach this Gospel in schools, anywhere He puts us—in barns, in the streets—until He comes back. I will do that for Him. If He told me to, we'll grind it out for Him.

But every morning we have people showing up at five or six a.m. to set all of this up. And y'all go home and eat dinner, and they've got to stay here and break it all down. We've been doing that for 10 years. It's time now.

So we're about to start something I've never done. Three times a year, I'm going to challenge you to bring a very generous offering to this house. We'll do it in the month of love—February. We'll do it in our anniversary month—October. We're going to do it twice a year.

For the next three years, I'm going to try to raise five million dollars. That's the minimum. We're going to try to raise five million dollars in 36 months from inside this room.

I mean like selling my Nikes to the consignment shop so I can put an extra hundred dollars in the offering during October and February. Take the shirt off my back. Sell a chain I don't use. Why? Because I'm not trying to pimp you. And if you think I'm a pimp, then talk to somebody in our church. I'm not a charlatan. I'm not about that life.

But I do understand that for our Institute, for expanding the Gospel, we still got the shoe in my hand. But for the next level of what we're called to do, we're going to need a place where we're not constrained. There are things we want to do, and we can't do them because we can't gather outside of this day.

Everything we do at our church, we've got to rent facilities all around the city. It just drains our budget trying to do anything. People ask us, "How come y'all don't do that?" "Where can we do it?" "Can you do it at my house?" "Pastor, I'm believing for y'all to get a facility."

But you don't give, though. And that's got to change. You can start by just being a generous, percentage giver—whatever the Lord puts in your heart. In the Old Testament that was 10%. In the New Testament, as you are led, the percentage was the baseline.

But just start being a faithful giver. And then in February and October, we're going to come and bring a generous gift. We'll save up money. We'll take our tax return. Whatever we got to do, we're going to raise five million dollars in 36 months.

Show us the building—it's in my spirit. I don't know where it is. But God has it for us in the city somewhere. And that five million dollars? That's just a down payment.

Preparation Meets Opportunity

Let me tell y'all something personally. Everybody, look right at me. Stop waiting for your opportunity to get ready. I don't know who this is for. Oh, I thank you, Holy Spirit.

The law says: get ready now. The opportunity is coming. Prepare now. The opportunity is coming. Write the book now. The opportunity is coming. Start the podcast now. The opportunity is coming.

Something powerful happens when opportunity meets preparation.

Let me repeat: I don't know who this is for. If this is for you, just wave your hand.

Something powerful happens when opportunity meets preparation. Opportunity will come, but will you be ready when the door opens?

Some of you, your biggest issue is not failure. Your biggest challenge is going to be success. The door's going to open, and you're not ready. The door's going to open, and you have no prayer life. The door's going to open, and you have no good friends. The door's going to open, and you have no community. The door's going to open, and you have no team.

Be ready now.