Matt Chandler - The Advent of Hope

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab those; we’re going to be in Hebrews chapter 10 here in this first week of Advent. But before we do that, before we hop into that, I want to invite the entire Holloman family up. Just a quiver full of arrows here in the Holloman house! One of the things that we want to mark our culture as a church is that we want to be a place that is serious about sending. We want to be a place that’s serious about being more concerned about the kingdom of God than we are about our own kingdom. And sometimes that means there are these painful gospel goodbyes that end up happening. For me, the whole concept of gospel goodbyes has not been all that painful; we get a guy in, we train him for a few years, and we roll him out while we celebrate that. I get excited about that! And then every once in a while, the Lord will test my willingness to be open-handed. This is one of those times. Many of you might not know Jason Holloman; he has been on staff for over a decade—thirteen years, in fact. Over the last eight years, he has primarily been leading our recovery ministry. If you haven’t been part of that, it is one of my favorite things that we do here at the Village Church. It is an open-door, fifty-week-a-year ministry for the hurting and broken, not just in our church but in our community. In fact, if you’ve been here for one of our celebration services, I can’t remember the last time we baptized someone in a full service without multiple people sharing how they came to recovery with their lives in shambles and were met by Jesus Christ. Jason has preached more at the Village Church than anyone else, probably even me. In fact, on an annual basis, he might preach more than I do! He is faithful in hospitals and living rooms; he has literally discipled hundreds and hundreds of men and women here in our congregation and has felt the call of God on his life to become the lead pastor of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship in Prosper. So, we are saying goodbye to this good family today, but I wanted to say a couple of things to him—not things that I haven’t already expressed privately but wanted to share them in front of all of you. Pastoring is a complex and difficult role; you might not think that, but human beings are complex. Does anyone have relationships that can get a little odd, a little frustrating, and a little difficult at times? Anyone? No? Just me? Okay, great, never mind; it’s going great today. So yes, human relationships are complicated. Now, you throw in sin on top of that, and you’ve got really complex, really difficult situations. One of the things I’ve said to you before, brother, and want to say again publicly is that when things get most disorienting, most disheveled, and most complex, man, I have loved having you in the trenches with me, brother. You are faithful and godly. You will say what is true in the most kind way possible for the good of the soul, and that’s a rare thing, brother. So, I bless you. I’m sad that you’re leaving; I think maybe you’ve misheard, but we’ll find out. I’m just kidding; you’ve totally heard correctly. Then I wanted to say this to you, Kristen: it is no small sacrifice that you have made for the Village Church. Your husband is out on a lot of evenings; thank God the kids aren’t too spirited right now! If you don’t know the Holloman babies, this is the stillest I’ve seen them ever in their whole lives! A lot of life goes on in this home, and you have managed it well, sis. You are a woman of valor, a woman of God, faithful to your husband. Your friends love you, and your friends' love for you is a testimony of God’s grace in your lives. So, would you thank the Holloman family for serving us for 13 years? Yes, just receive this, brother! Well, I’m going to pray a blessing over the Holloman family. Just so you know how rare these moments are, the average span a pastor stays at a church is three to five years, while the Hollomans have been with us for 13. The number of men and women who have served on staff with us for over a decade is a testament to how delightful it is to pastor you and God’s mercy and grace on us as a people here at the Village Church. So, I want to pray a blessing over them, over their marriage, and God’s call on their life. Man, I love this bright, shining, biblically serious, spiritually alive church that they will be leading. It’s not that they aren’t already doing those things; it’s just I know that this brother’s heartbeat is for those things, so they will become all the more that. We want to pray a blessing over them and a blessing over this church. Then we’re going to dive into this Hebrews passage. Will you do me a favor? Just extend your hand; that’s our way of saying we’re with you, brother. I know it’s the holidays, and you’re probably a little out of shape, so if you need to switch hands in the middle of the prayer, I’ll try to keep it tight.