2025 Word of the Year: INVEST

In 2023, as a part of our 30th anniversary, fellowship of the Parks, launched the my FOTP 30 initiative, a three year coordinated effort that will allow us to contribute to our church's financial goal and support our mission to reach new people through a new campus here in Texas. And by supporting churches in India, equip the next generation of students, young adults and families as they grow their faith through leadership development, community building opportunities, and marriage intensive support and resources. And finally, we want to defend those in need by enhancing the FOTP Orphan Care Movement and supporting our mental health initiative. And now, after an incredible year of growth and impact on our communities, we are excited to announce Fellowship of the Park's Word of the Year for 2025. Invest as a family for everyone. We want to invest in people, invest in family, and invest in the vulnerable so that we can better reach the spiritually disconnected and better defend those in need. So as we kick off this new year, consider how you will invest in those around you and your community as we take the next step forward in the My FO TP 30 Initiative. Well, happy New Year and welcome. I'm so glad that you're here with us. Look, this, uh, to begin the year, I've really not done a word for the year for the church, but I have done that over the past few years for our staff. And here's the value of that. It just gives you the ability to sort of see things with an angle, to connect the dots maybe to the bigger picture and maybe motivate you when times are tough. Um, just to help you maintain a focus throughout the year. And so, you know, this word invest is something that man, I believe in it is one of my favorite words, and it is so simply because I, I've seen it work. I am grateful to be the founding pastor of Fellowship of the Parks of 31 years now, and I've seen God work in the process of time, you know, slowly, steadily, you know, pouring in and, and just seeing God work. But I love this concept for two, two primary reasons. Um, early on when I was 21, uh, someone showed me the, and explained to me compound interest, how that works. It's phenomenal. As a matter of fact, I would encourage a, a great website is investor.gov. It's a compound interest calculator. And it just shows you, if you, if you start out with a, a small investment, but you continue to put money into an account that is interest bearing and I'm mean investment, maybe equity stocks, whatever, s and p 500, whatever, and you put the timeframe that you're gonna leave that in there with the interest rate, how it compounds, what it shows you, that in time you'll gain. Oh, look, I, I took this to heart because by nature I'm just telling you I am impulsive. Alright? It's like I see it, I want it. Oh yeah, I, I can have it now, pay you later. You don't have the money now. Hey, credit, what a great invention, you know, until the bills due, right? But, but I'm naturally, IM impulsive. But someone explained that to me, and even though we struggled for years and years, um, in the beginning, in fact, we waited, it was the seventh year being married before we had kids, just because God didn't feel like we could afford to, you know, to do it. But we always put a little money back and, you know, monthly saved and invested. And, and I'm grateful to be 56 live long enough to see, you know, how that's worked, how that's paid off. But that was something that was so important to me. And really it altered the trajectory of my life. The second big, you know, motivator. Um, I'm also really sort of wired. God designed me to be entrepreneurial, and that's a good thing. But sometimes the difficulty is entrepreneurs wanna start thing, get it to a certain place, and then go do something else. Well, when I was nearing the end of graduate school or seminary, uh, I became aware of a person that I respect and admire so much. Uh, pastor, author authored, um, the Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren, who started Saddleback Church out in California. And he said this early on, it, it just soak stuck with me. He said that he wanted to see really the difference it would make if he as a pastor invested himself into one church and gave his life for that church. So he started it, and God's used him in incredible ways. But that had a huge impact on me. And again, it's sort of country to my, my nature country to my wiring. But I realized the power of investing. And there's a, there's a way there, there's a, there's a, there's a how and then a what. But let's look in Proverbs chapter 13, verse 11. And this is from the English standard version, but it says, this wealth gained hastily will dwindle, right? Um, you all know the stories of people that like, you know, win the lottery and then, you know, they're broke a year or two later. Or athletes that come into big money don't know how to manage it, you know, get all this, then they end up being, you know, broke. But whoever gathers little by little will increase it. There's power to that when you gain little by little fellowship of the parks as a church. We started, you know, with my wife and I recruited basically a small group of 11 people included, um, both she and I, and then the hallways who are part of the church today met in their home that included their infant, uh, Shelby. Um, the history of Fellowship of the Parks has not been some catalytic just boom, you know, type growth. As a matter of fact, most consultants would've said, you know, you probably need to fold this thing up because three years plus into it we're like 60, 65 people. But, you know, we invested those in that early part of the church invested people continued to invest. And little by little God's done an amazing, incredible, wonderful thing. And so here's, here's the deal. I I I tell you this because it really made me think a lot. Um, but true story about, uh, a man by the name of Roy. Raymond. Roy Raymond. He wanted to buy lingerie for his wife, but felt very embarrassed sort of about that. So he being entrepreneurial, he founded, created Victoria's Secrets, um, 1977 to 1982, it became five retail locations, and he ended up selling it for a million dollars. Well, I mean, that's great. I think it, he borrowed like $40,000 to start it, you know, five years. It's a million dollars, but he always regretted not sticking with it. He sold it for a million dollars. 1982 in 2021, its revenue was just shy of $12 billion. Uh, in fact, um, he never sort of got over that, tried some other things. And then, you know, his businesses sort of failed. And, you know, I don't wanna sidetrack you, but it didn't work out for him. Uh, in 1993, he, he chose to exit. Now, why am I telling you that there's a value to hanging in there? There's value to investing in the right things and staying with it, seeing it through, through hard times, you know, being there through good times. But also too, I tell you that story to let you know that it's not, but I'm not talking about money really. I'm not just talking about about wealth from the superficial perspective. Because look, financial wealth, I mean, yeah, we'd all like to have those problems, but that's not necessarily the thing. I mean, doesn't necessarily, money doesn't necessarily bring true satisfaction in life. Here's the big idea. I I want to talk about how to double down on life's best investments. And before we specifically go into the why, let, let's, let's talk about the how. And really, it's, it's simple, but it's much harder to do. And here is the, the first part, it's a word that I really just have a hard time with. Discipline. I am very undisciplined. Discipline though is simply it, it is time. It is, it is time. Over time, you are, you are being willing to commit to something for the long haul. You're investing little by little here and there. And you believe that in the long term what you're doing, your focus will eventually pay off. There'll be an ROI or return on that investment. But you've gotta stick with it because really in, in all of this, what matters is not so much the amount initially, it is the investment of time. Over the process of time. That's what produces the biggest gains. You things can, can shoot up and be great, and it seems, oh, this is awesome. But just as they, you know, they explode and become big, they can quickly implode over time. Discipline is important. Um, a writer that I enjoy reading Malcolm Gladwell in a book Outliers, he said that basically it takes 10,000 hours to really master a skill. 10,000 hours of, of application, of practice, of, of, of doing something. I think that's important. Again, if we really, it's not gonna just happen overnight. You know, you don't go to the gym and work out and the next day you've arrived. You, you don't, you know, pick up a sport and do something and, and just think, okay, hey, I've got it. I've had one golf lesson, I'm ready for the PGA. It doesn't happen that way. Believe me, I put more than 10,000 hours in golf and I'm, you know, still not even close. But here's the deal. You gotta put in the time, you gotta put in the discipline. And that can be hard to do, especially when circumstances are difficult and it doesn't feel good. It's like, oh no, here's every reason why shouldn't get up, why I shouldn't do this. And, and you can justify it, but you gotta keep doing what you know to do is right, even when circumstances sort of dictate otherwise, you hang in there because your, your big picture, you're looking at the ROI, the return on the investment. And here, here's the deal, really, the big what, and this message is really for those of you that are followers of Jesus, your relationship with God is the most important thing. Following Jesus is the most important thing. I'm not saying that just as some so trite sort of religious platitude, but that should affect everything in your life because that is the eternal relationship, your relationship with God. When you came into that place of understanding that God loves you, that Jesus died on the cross for your sin, he who was innocent took your sin, your shame, your guilt paid for it rose from the dead. You received that you committed to follow him, your life took on eternal significance. If you want the best outta 2025, then you've gotta be willing to put the time in and follow Jesus. Because the Bible says that he is the way, the truth and the life, right? He is the way that leads to the best things. It is the enemy that came to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus said, but Jesus came so that we might have abundant life. That eternal life, everlasting life. A a life that is satisfying, that is meaningful. Well, that means what do we do with that discipline? Second part of the how is you gain knowledge, you gain knowledge. Well, we have a source. Alright, look at the Bible two Timothy chapter three, verse 16. First part, and I love this the way it's worded. All scripture is breathed out by God and what, say with me, profitable. It's profitable are investing and your relationship with God. And you are reading his words. So you're gaining knowledge, but you're not just, the Bible says that knowledge puffs up. You are gaining knowledge. And then you're taking that and you're using, you're applying it to your life, to the best of your ability. You're using that to gain more insight. You're tweaking things, you're adjusting. Uh, sometimes you're going in one direction and you just need to kind of squash it and, and, and change directions. By the way, that is sort of a functional definition of repentance. You know, you, you, you, you change. And that is important. You never stop learning. You never have arrived. Not on this side of heaven. You will always be learning. You should always be seeking, you should always be adjusting and, and retooling when necessary because God has a plan for your life. And, and if you want the most out of it, you, you gotta invest in the right thing. That requires knowledge and it requires time. Let me encourage you to do this. Um, if you don't know what you version is, let me encourage you to figure that out. Alright? Download the app. It's a bible app. And I'm not getting paid for any sort of promo on this. I just find it so incredibly useful. And even if you're not a reader, look, it'll read it to you, alright? But you can go and there's literally hundreds, there may be thousands of, of plans on there, and you can begin reading the Bible or listening to the Bible every day, getting more of that in your life, thinking about those things, thinking about how you're going to apply it. And let me encourage you, do it with people, you know, get accountability, go through plans together. Because again, 10,000 hours following Jesus is always, there's always a challenge, right? But it becomes more natural, it becomes more common. We get better at it. We see things more clearly because we're investing, we're gonna experience a greater return on the investment. And, and here's the key, the thing about investing is you just can't give up. Don't give up. That's gonna be hard at times. But don't give up. Don't give in. I mean, I think about, you know, Roy Raymond and he just, he almost, he, he gave up too soon. He got, he got greedy. He thought he had arrived. He thought, you know, a million dollars was it? No, no. Hang in there. And, and I really want to encourage you when life, life is not fair, alright? It's not, when the twists and turns and things are, are dealt to you, so to speak. Um, we always don't know the reason and so forth. Do not give up on God and don't give up on the church because we need him. And God gave us each other. And there's beauty in that. There's opportunity in that. And so what we as a church do understand this here, here's the value being a part of Fellowship of the Park, is we help you sort of take what the Bible says and then funnel it down and apply it in our local context. So our vision is we're a family for everyone. I'm asking you to invest in your relationship with God. I'm asking you to invest in your church, fellowship of the Parks. And that means first of all, invest in people. Invest in people. This is incredibly important. People are extremely valuable to God. So much so that even though again, we're sinners, we've done things we wouldn't want anybody to know, but God knows yet he still loves you and St. Jesus to die for you because he wants that relationship. He paid the ultimate price. And, and you and I that are followers of Jesus, we have a seat at the table. We are part of the family, but we are there as loved children, but also empowered to be representatives of the Father. And we have a role and a responsibility. And, and God, he loves everyone. The Bible tells us it's his will that none should perish, but all should have everlasting life. So I want you to see this in Luke chapter 14. This is Jesus, he's speaking, he's given this, this parable, this uh, story. And he's illustrating and he's talking about, look, uh, you know, the master, he's prepared this great feast and so forth, and they're supposed to invite people and so forth and it, you know, friends and so forth first and all that. But the master wants the table full. He wants everyone to come in. And in verse 23 says, then the master told his servant, go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in so that my house may be full. That word compel, there is a very, very strong word. It literally means by almost any means necessary, do what you can. This has been misapplied, you know, and, and been coercive and all of that. But it's so important that people know Jesus Christ, that they hear the good news, that God loves them. That salvation is not just a, a thing that you acquire by being religious and by doing good things to offset the bad. But it is about Jesus who died so they could be forgiven so that they could have eternal life, their sins forgiven, and have the security of eternity. Look, church is awesome and the principles will help you in your everyday life. It'll help you in your relationship, your marriage, all of that. And we're gonna talk about that. But having a good, balanced life, even being successful and wealthy, yet missing out on eternity in heaven and the presence of Jesus, um, it's tragic. This is the most important thing, and that's why our vision is a family for everyone. But the first part of our mission is reaching spiritually disconnected people with the gospel. And this is something that we are always going to do. It's always going to be a priority. It is our basically sort of formulation of what, uh, is known as the great commission. That's our role and responsibility is to help others know the good news that we've experienced, forgiveness of our sin, significance. We can live life on purpose. God's called us to be a part and let others know. Here's, here's, and, and I thank you for being involved. This is something that we will always have to protect in our church. It's so easy for churches, and I see this across the board. We've become complacent. Church becomes about us and our preferences and our little people group. We protect our own little culture. Instead of sacrificially doing what it takes, going out, compelling people, uh, being willing to risk, give up our preferences, whatever, and, and bring them in. I want you to celebrate this with me. We've seen, uh, this has been the best year, you know, ever in fellowship of the Parks, and we've seen 367 people baptized this year. Isn't that great? Yeah. And you all, you've, you've had a part in that. And, and we celebrate that means that heaven is rejoicing. And so we want to continue to do that. And in 2025, we're, we're going to continue to build churches. We, we committed to build 10 churches in India. Um, we're on the fourth one right now, and we're going to see that complete in 2025. We want to, you know, watch this next campus. By the way, we'd really like to go to Rome. We think we can hi people off there. If you know anybody, we need 10 acres in Rome, that would be great. Just, you know, hit me up, email, Facebook with whatever, you know. But, but we, we wanna move out in, in faith. Why? Because this is the command God gives us until Jesus returns. But it doesn't just stop there when not only are we gonna reach spiritually disconnected people with the gospel, but we're gonna invest in family, invest in family. This is a priority. Um, our society is so success driven, so money oriented. We will pursue our own pleasure. We'll pursue wealth and we'll do it a lot of times at the expense of family. But family is so important. I wanna show you a verse in scripture in one Timothy chapter five, verse eight. That is very strong. But I, I, I have it here and I'll give you some context. But I want you to see the priority of family. God, you know, he instituted family created Adam and Eve. This is something that, that we are to value. Um, this is concerning in the church. Um, there were widows that, you know, didn't necessarily have means, but some of the widows, um, were trying to rely on the church when they had family that should step up on their behalf. And so we're gonna talk about the vulnerable in a moment. But it says this, look, anyone who does not provide for their own relatives and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. You have a responsibility to build your marriage, to invest in your marriage. You have a responsibility to invest in your kids. You have a responsibility to invest in those relationships. And I, I I'm just telling you, we have more marriages, you know, and our country that, that fail than succeed. Look, I'm not trying to guilt anyone. Uh, you know, things happen. Uh, there's, there's, there's absolutely no judgment here. But look, I know you may think, well, it's too late for me. No, it's not. As long as you have breath in your lungs, God wants to meet you right where you are. He wants to restore relationships. He wants to maybe bring new relationships, better existing relationships. We need each other. We need family. And you know what, if you don't have family, we as a church are a spiritual family, but family is important. Look, we've seen God do amazing things this year. We instituted this mental health initiative in which we have mental health advocates at each of our campuses. Almost a, a, uh, an outcry, someone reaching out almost a daily basis, particularly since Covid. We decided the church has to address this and, and connect them to the good news, but also help them and help ourselves mentally and emotionally. We've done that and we're continuing to do that. We're going to increase that ministry. Um, the, the real talks we're having, uh, counseling resources. Listen, it's because of your investment. We are seeing lives changed. We're going to continue to build our marriage ministry. In fact, we're really going to invest in young marriages. And our goal and hope is that we'll see a, a young married movement. And, and here's a specific goal. We'd like to see 500 couples, 500 couples this year invest, formulate eight hours into, you know, some of our marriage programs. You go to our website, we've got one of the best marriage ministries in the country. But here's what research shows. Research shows that if you as a couple will invest formerly eight hours, there is an incredible increase in your married life satisfaction. Again, it requires time, knowledge, and in that application and, and doing it, it's, it's worth it. We wanna see that for your kids. We're gonna continue to support and, and provide you, you know, parenting resources and so forth. And, and, and try to not just educate, but help your kids do life and know Jesus. Because it's the most important thing. Our mission is reaching spiritually, uh, disconnected people with the gospel, but then equipping them to lead their family. We want to help you. We want to help invest in you, and then you invest in others. I'd like to see more mentors, alright? That, that are mentoring and available and accessible to people. And then the third thing we're gonna invest in is investing in the vulnerable. Investing in the vulnerable. Well, the vulnerable is simply those that don't have anyone that can advocate on their behalf. They're the most vulnerable, you know, in society. Uh, Isaiah chapter one, verse 17 says this, learn to do right, seek justice. Again, what we're doing is we're taking the knowledge from scripture, we're applying it, we're giving you a context here. Learn to do right? Seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, and plead the case of the widow. Um, the fatherless, uh, orphan adopt kids, uh, that well, kids that need to be adopted, those that foster care. When you look at our world and you see the storing, uh, the soaring, staggering statistics on, on, on, on people being trafficked and so forth, why is that? It's because they're oppressed. They don't have advocates, but we can and will make a difference. And we've been making a difference in a tremendous way. And I, I have a goal. I I want to see, um, 25 new families either foster or adopt, you know, a across our campuses. And in fact, today after the service, we have covenant kids that are at our campuses. And if you can give 15 minutes for an information presentation, you can get more information about that. If you don't have the time, can't do it today, still sign up. Let us know. We're, we're gonna get you some information just so you can pray about it. But again, that's a way to make an incredible tangible difference. But what I love about our church, not everybody's called to that, not everybody can do that, but we want to be involved in orphan care in a way that everybody can be involved. And so what we've done here is we've, our hope works is we do bed builds. And over this holiday season, we had a goal to do a thousand beds and a thousand beds at $150 a piece. We set a goal of $150,000. Now, additionally, there are pack and plays and so forth in which we partner with the state of Texas Child Protective Services, and we provide beds. Every kid has to have a bed. Listen, I am so thankful for you because you stepped up and you provided for these kids of our goal. Here it is, $178,937. I am so grateful. I'm so grateful for those of you that are involved and you assemble beds and deliver beds and so forth. And here's the deal that, that money, that really is not an overage. Yeah, I'm grateful we hit the goal, but that'll provide pack and plays and more beds and we're, we're gonna continue, um, to, to change the lives and the trajectory of, of children that do not have a voice. So, look, I we're defending those in need. We're gonna defend those in need. We're gonna keep doing that in 2025. And I'm asking you to invest in your relationship with God, your relationship with people, with your family. Keep getting better, keep learning, keep applying, but also defend those in need. Join with us. What I'm really just asking you to do is next step is how will you begin and commit to invest? What next step can you specifically take that you'll make a commitment? Look, I wanna pray for you in just a moment, and I just want you to know, if you're not certain that you have a relationship with Christ that is so important, please let us know on that connection card. We'll discreetly just help make sure you understand and you've made that commitment. Maybe, you know, I talked about baptisms earlier. Maybe for you it's like, I, I need to solidify my faith and I wanna know more about baptism. Please let us know on that connection card, either physically or, or digitally. Um, maybe it's to, to sign up for a class, a small group, uh, marriage ministry, whatever. Just go forward with us. Uh, be generous. Trust God and know that what you're putting into there will be a tremendous payoff one day. And if you don't realize that fully here in this life, you will in heaven because God's word is true and we can count on it, believe it, and invest. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thank you that you love us. Thank you that you not only call us to be at the party, to be a part of your family. And God, I thank you for the celebration that, that we are yours and we can live in that security. But God, I thank you that we can live with significance and purpose, that you have a plan for us. God, I pray that we would not be discouraged when things don't in the moment. Go our way when things, uh, seem to just distract us. But God, help us to invest. Help us to be disciplined. Help us to be continually learning and growing and God, may we live with a sense of risk and faith and invest in your name, Jesus, in your kingdom as we pray. Amen.