- Welcome to Switch In Real Life. AKA Switch IRL, AKA SWIRL, come on somebody.

Yes, that is going to be a thing. My name is James Meehan, and I'm just so thankful that
you're joining with us for the first night of the four semester of Switch. Whether you're
joining with us at Switch IRL or Switch online, or maybe you're watching this later on
YouTube, either way. The fact that you're here and watching this message means that
you are now officially invited to be a part of the Switch family, because what we are is a
community of students from around the country and across the world that are
committed to seeking Jesus and serving others. And our hope is that through you being
a part of Switch, that you would experience the transformation that comes from being a
part of God's kingdom. Now I told you my name is James Meehan, but I'm going to
show you a picture of my son and my wife. You can check that out. And in that picture,
you just need to take a moment and see how cute that kid is. Are you kidding me? That
is my son, Jace, Quattro, kiddos, little man, the boy, guy, chunkers or milkers, depending
on the mood that we're in. He has a lot of different names and I love the kid. He's about
six and a half months old. So he is crawling, he is climbing things. He's throwing himself
off of things. It's absolute chaos, but every day is a blast. And then you also got to see
my wife, Mandy, who is 100% the apple of my eye, the honey in my tea, and the love of
my life. And my family is crazy about Switch because what we believe is that you are
not the leaders of tomorrow, but you are the leaders of today. That your generation is a
generation that has been called and positioned by God to bring the good news of Jesus
to every corner of creation. But what we recognize is that your generation is a
generation that is having to navigate really significant challenges that previous
generations haven't. You're having to navigate all the craziness of a post COVID, but
also kind of still a part of COVID world. You're having to navigate all the challenges of
the internet age, where everything you say and do can end up on the internet and
there's no way to get rid of it after it's up there. You're having to navigate, what does it
mean to be a follower of Jesus in a world where every bad idea under the sun is
available and at the tip of your fingers? But what we believe without a shadow of a
doubt is that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is living in you. And that
is why we are so committed to doing everything we can to help you understand just
how good God is and just how meaningful and significant the life that you've been
called to live, is. But like I mentioned, there are a lot of challenges that you're going to
have to navigate, right? Any part of our lives, where we're going through transition is
challenging. And there are many of you that are not just starting a brand new year of
school, but you're like going into middle school for the first time. Or you're stepping into
high school for the first time. Maybe you're at a new school as your junior year is about
to begin trying to figure out like, what does this mean? Where do I go? Where do I turn?
Whatever it is, you're navigating transition. And transition can be really challenging
because this entire season of your life, your middle school and high school years is a
season of transition. Because you're transitioning from being a kid to becoming an
adult. You're transitioning from being defined by your parents and your family, to
starting to define who you are as an individual. And as you're navigating this time of
transition, there's gonna be three really big questions that you will be searching out the
answers for. Those questions are, Who am I? Where do I belong? And what difference
do I make? Who am I, where do I belong? And what difference do I make? Those are
three of the questions that, to be honest with you, all human beings are wrestling with
at some level or another. Because all of us want to know who we are. We want to know
who our people are. We want to know what our purpose is, and until we can find those
things, we will find ourselves feeling restless and a little bit lost. I remember all
throughout middle school and high school, having no clear understanding of who I
really am, of the place that I really belonged. And the purpose that I had been created

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for. You see, when I was in middle school, my parents were going through a really
difficult time where they actually separated. They had filed for divorce. And here I am
my seventh grade year of school, trying to figure out how to navigate all of that
craziness and also trying to navigate puberty. And it was bonkers. I had no idea what to
do or where to look and I didn't have my people. And it was during this time where
things were so frustrating and difficult and challenging that I honestly came to a place
where I just gave up on God and faith altogether. And so I tried to figure out how to
define myself. And what's really interesting that you need to know about me is I really
liked getting into fights with people and like growing up my dad's rule was, hey, if
you're gonna get into a fight at school, you are not allowed to throw the first punch.
And if you're gonna get into a fight outside of school, you have to throw the first punch.
So, yep, those were the rules in my household, right? When my parents would drop us
off for school in the morning, if it was my mom who brought us to school, she would
say, make good choices. If it was my dad, he would say, keep your head on a swivel.
Yeah, that's my childhood. And so I'm navigating my middle school years. I'm navigating
my high school years. I'm angry, I don't have a relationship with Jesus. I don't have good
friends around me. And so I defined myself as a fighter and I didn't have any community
that I belong to. So I always felt alone and frustrated, and I had no greater sense of
purpose in my life. So I was constantly looking for something to add meaning and
significance to my life. And so I legitimately defined myself as a dude who got into
fights and chased girls. And that was what my life was all about. And after I graduated
high school, somebody invited my family and I to Life Church. I got involved with the
host team. I started serving. And at this point I was not yet a believer in Jesus. I only
started serving because my mom said, if you don't go to church and serve, you're gonna
have to find somewhere else to live. And I realized that wow, going to church was a lot
less expensive than finding somewhere else to live. and it was during that time where I
was surrounded by people who genuinely loved me and who were serious about
pursuing God with every part of who they were. And that changed things for me, it was
the first time where I honestly felt welcomed and accepted for who I was. It was the first
time where I felt like I had a place to belong. And there were people who cared about
me. And it was at the age of 19 years old, where I first encountered the radical grace of
Jesus that changed everything. And that was seven years ago. And for the last seven
years, I have been committing my life to doing whatever I can, to help as many people
as possible experience the goodness of God and discover that it is through the gospel
of Jesus, it is a part of the family of God, where we find the answers to those questions
of who we really are, of where we really belong. And the purpose and calling that we
have been created for is through the truth of Jesus that those answers are found in
ways that are good and true rather than empty and meaningless. And so, whatever it is
that brought you here today, my hope and my prayer is this, is that you would just be a
little bit curious about this movement of Christianity that started 2000 years ago, and is
continuing to build and grow and strengthen His people throughout the ages and across
the planet have come into contact with the raisen savior Jesus. And that has changed
everything for them. And so here's what I'm not gonna try to do. I'm not gonna try to
answer every question you might have about Jesus, God or the Bible, because I can't do
that. Like I'm not even gonna try to get you to agree with me about everything that I
personally believe. That's not the goal. My goal is to do the best that I can to model
what following Jesus could and should look like. My goal is to do the best that I can to
introduce you to just how beautiful and compelling Jesus is and how wonderful the life
that He's invited us into can be. And so to do that this four semester of Switch, we're
going to start with a series titled Kingdom People where we're gonna be exploring the
words of Jesus. As we walk through one of his most famous sets of teachings, title The

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Sermon on the Mount. Where it's legitimately three chapters straight of spiritual
haymaker after spiritual haymaker. Where Jesus is laying out His vision for what life in
the kingdom of God is supposed to look like. And He cast this beautiful and compelling
vision for a life that is radically different, than what so many of us have been shown or
introduced to, or even modeled. It is a life defined by goodness, grace and mercy. And
so that's what we're gonna do is we're gonna allow the words of Jesus to be our guide.
And we're gonna follow His words, His wisdom, and His example, so that we can
discover the truth of who we really are, the place that we really belong and the purpose
that God has created each and every one of us for. Now this first week, we're going to
give kind of an overview of where we're going for the rest of this series by actually
starting in the chapter that proceeds The Sermon on the Mount. So the Sermon on the
Mount is Matthew chapter five, six, and seven. And we're gonna start off in Matthew
chapter four with the announcement of Jesus's mission. So just to give you a little bit of
context, we're gonna be reading from the gospel according to Matthew. Matthew was
one of Jesus's earliest disciples. One of His followers who after Jesus's life, after His
death, after His resurrection, Matthew wanted to record the things that Jesus said, the
things that Jesus did so that later generations, people like you and me could read the
story of Jesus and be transformed by everything He said and did. And so we're gonna
be picking up in Matthew chapter four, about halfway down in verse 17, where we're
told that from that time on, Jesus began to preach. Repent for the kingdom of heaven
has come near, repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near. So we're picking up
with Jesus's announcement of His ministry. Now, right before this Jesus had been
baptized by His cousin, John. He had then been led by the spirit of God, into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil, after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. And
Jesus resisted every single temptation. And then Jesus withdrew into Galilee in order to
fulfill the prophecies that were written about Him until the time had come for Him to
announce His message and His mission to the world. And the way that He announced it
was by preaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Now what's
interesting is sometimes when we read this, we read things into it that are different than
what Jesus said. So I want to break this down for us real quick. Jesus starts by saying
repent. What does that mean? It means change your life and turn to God. Then He says
that the kingdom of heaven has come near. The kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of
heaven is the realm where God rules. what is a kingdom? A kingdom is a people ruled
by a king. So what Jesus is saying is that the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom where
God rules. And then He says, has come near. The kingdom of heaven has come near.
And I think this is where we start to miss it because here's what Jesus, didn't say. He
didn't say repent so that you can go to heaven someday. He said, repent for the
kingdom of heaven has come near. Repent because the kingdom of God is coming here.
It's not about us going there, but it's about the rule and reign of God taking root and
history. It's not some wish that will something good will happen in the future. It's the
announcement that in Jesus, God's kingdom is coming on earth, as it is in heaven. This is
why the gospel is called good news because the kingdom of God is a place where
goodness and justice reign. we're told in the Psalms that God's throne is built on a
foundation of righteousness and justice and that love and faithfulness go before Him. So
what Jesus is announcing is that there's a new king and a better kingdom that is coming
to town. And everybody is welcomed in. And for Jesus, His first hearers of this
announcement for His first disciples. This would have been radical to them because for
Jesus to say, the kingdom of heaven has come near. What He's claiming, is that the real
king of the world is God. And that means that Caesar is not the emperor of Rome. What
Jesus is saying is, hey, I know that you have grown up in all you've ever known is Roman
rule. Oppression from these Romans who have invaded and conquered your ancestors.

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But the time has come for the God of heaven, the God of your ancestors to arrive. And
He is bringing a new way of being, a new order into the picture. And you have been
invited in. You see, the kingdom of heaven is a place where the least, last, and the lost
are prioritized. Whereas in the kingdoms of this world, the things that we really care
about are me, myself and I, the kingdom of heaven is a place where when other people
do things wrongly, we don't cancel them, we forgive them. The kingdom of heaven is a
place where, because of the goodness and grace of Jesus, we can live with nothing to
hide, nothing to prove and nothing to lose. The kingdom of heaven is a place where
God's rule and reign is at hand. And it has been made available to all of us, through the
person of Jesus and the invitation that He's extended. And so we're gonna do over the
course of the next several weeks, is we're going to explore Jesus' vision for what life in
the kingdom of heaven is supposed to look like. And like I said earlier today is gonna be
sort of an overview of that. And so what I want to do is, I want to give you three big
ideas that define what it means to live as kingdom people in our world today. But
before we do that, I want to read a little bit more of this chapter of scripture, where
Jesus, after making this announcement in verse 17, in verse 18, we're told this happens.
Jesus was walking beside the sea of Galilee. And as He was, He saw two brothers, Simon
called Peter and his brother, Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake because
they were fishermen. And here's what Jesus says in verse 19, come and follow me. And I
will send you out to fish for people. At once, they left their nets and followed Him. Then
going on from there, Jesus sees two other brothers, James son of Zebedee, and his
brother, John. They were in a boat with their father, preparing their nets. And Jesus
called them. And immediately they left the boat. They left their father and they followed
Jesus. What does it mean to be kingdom people? The first thing that we've got to
understand is that when we accept the invitation that Jesus offers to us, to be a part of
the kingdom of God that is taking root in history, is that we become a people who are
led by Jesus. We become a people who are led by Jesus. That's what it means to be
kingdom people. I love what theologian Scott McKnight says when he says this, he says,
hey, those who are not following Jesus, aren't His followers. It's that simple, followers
follow. And those who don't, aren't followers. to follow Jesus means to follow Jesus into
a society, into a kingdom where justice rules, where love shapes everything. To follow
Jesus means to take up his dream and work for it. You see when this announcement
that Jesus gave would have been heard by His first followers, they would have known
that what Jesus was saying is that there's a new king in town. That no longer does
Caesar decide what's good and what's right, now, it's God. And so, as we are doing the
best we can to follow Jesus in our daily lives, what we have to remember is that
following Jesus means following Jesus. If you've ever played the game, follow the
leader, and you know that whoever is at the front of the line is the leader. And
everybody else behind that person has to do and say the things that the leader does.
And I think sometimes we can get it confused because we can sort of think that just
whoever's like one step or two steps or three steps in front of us, is the leader that we're
supposed to mimic, but we can never lose sight that at the front of the line, it has to be
Jesus, because if it's not Jesus, then we aren't actually living as kingdom people. And so
to make it crystal clear, I am not at the front of the line. Your youth pastor is not at the
front of the line. Your small group leader is not at the front of the line. Jesus is. And so
everything we do is supposed to reflect the Jesus that we are following. And so, as you
are navigating your life, yes, look to those people that are a few steps in front of you as
an example to follow. But at the end of the day, the person you're following isn't me or
them, it is Jesus. Because we will fall short, we will mess up. We will let you down, but
Jesus never will. And when you follow Jesus, here's what I can tell you, is that He will
lead you to what is good and what is true. He will lead you to the life that is truly life. He

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will lead you out of captivity and in to freedom because that is who Jesus is. So how do
we live as kingdom people? First we have to remember that we are a people led by
Jesus. The second thing is that we are a people shaped by grace. We are a people
shaped by grace. What is grace? Grace is the unearned favor of God. It is the gift that
we didn't earn and we do not deserve. Dallas Willard, one of my favorite theologians
says that the most important thing is not what you do, but who you become. Because
that's what you take with you into eternity. And this is why we talk all the time about
the heart of this journey of following Jesus is about becoming more like Jesus for the
sake of others, because that's what discipleship to Jesus is. Following Jesus should lead
us to become more like Jesus, because His grace transforms us from the inside out. And
that's what's so beautiful about this story that we're reading, where Jesus shows up to
these fishermen. And He says, come and follow me. Because here's what Jesus didn't
do, He didn't go to the synagogues or the schools where the best and brightest
students were learning and studying. He showed up and found these fishermen, these
people who honestly, weren't a big deal in their society. And he says, I'm calling you to
be my followers. It's kind of like if Jesus were to show up today, instead of going to like,
Harvard's graduation, He would go to Walmart's parking lot, right? Like He's finding the
people that everybody else assumes don't have something to offer. And Jesus is saying,
I see something in you and I want you to be my followers. And what I'm gonna do is I'm
gonna change you from the inside out, by the power of my grace, so that you can
extend this movement that I'm launching to every corner of creation. Imagine if Jesus
could change the world with 12 disciples, 12 uneducated followers, a bunch of whom
were fishermen, what could Jesus do with you? What does it mean to live as kingdom
people? The first thing, as kingdom people, we are led by Jesus. The second thing, is
that we are a people shaped by grace. And the third thing, is we are a people moved by
love. We are a people moved by love. That's what it means to be kingdom people.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once famously said that only love gets close enough to know. In
verse 23, we're told that Jesus is traveling throughout Galilee. He's teaching in the
synagogues. He's proclaiming the good news, the gospel of the kingdom. And He is
healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about Him spread all over
Syria. And people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering
severe pain, the demon possessed, those having seizures and the paralyzed, and Jesus
healed them. Only love gets close enough to know. It's really easy to preach the truth
from a distance. It's really easy to preach the truth on social media or on stage. It's really
hard to practice love up close. Because it's when we get close to people, we realize just
how messy life is. You realize how much work it really is to carry the burdens of other
people. But as kingdom people who are led by Jesus and shaped by grace, we are
called to get close to those whose lives look a little bit messy because it is in the mess
that Jesus does through miraculous. What we're told is that Jesus went to the people
who were sick, demon possessed, who were crippled, and Jesus healed them. Because
Jesus was never afraid to get His hands dirty. He was always willing to get close to the
people whose lives were a mess. I mean Kevin's life was a mess. Kevin from a really
young age had this dream that he would put a smile on the face of millions of people,
but it wasn't too long before Kevin's dream soured because his life had become a
nightmare. At a young age, Kevin experienced all the kinds of abuse that no child should
ever have to go through. Physical, verbal and sexual abuse. And so Kevin found himself
in a place where he didn't know what to do, where to look or even what right and wrong
were anymore because his view of the world had been so flipped upside down by the
terrible things that had been to him. And the terrible things that had been done by him.
Because here's what we know, is that when you experience significant trauma like that,
it messes you up and you don't even know how to respond. And so later in his life, Kevin

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found himself in a place where he was out on the streets at the age of 16 years old,
trying to do anything he could to numb the pain that had been following him
everywhere he went for years. And so Kevin found himself out on the streets,
disconnected from family with no positive support in his life. But I mean, he found
people to be around. They just weren't good people. He got involved in gangs and
fighting and drugs and in alcohol, anything and everything he could try to numb the
pain and fill the void that he had been carrying for so many years. And then one day
Kevin is leaving the grocery store. And he sees his brother, his brother who had been
taken from their home at a young age to live with their grandparents. And they
immediately saw each other. And Kevin's brother Gary was moved by love. And Kevin's
brother Gary came to Kevin and said, hey, I know it's been a long time, but I think you
should come and live with us. And so Kevin accepted the invitation and moved in with
his brother and his grandparents. And Kevin stayed with Gary and his grandparents.
And then at some point in the journey, Gary invites Kevin to go to church with him at
Life Church in Shawnee, Oklahoma. And Kevin shows up to church the first weekend,
the second weekend, the third weekend and the fourth weekend. And he does, he's like,
yeah, this is good. There's great people here. But I just don't think that this is what my
life has been missing. But then on that fifth week and something happens in Kevin
because every single weekend he's being surrounded, he's being cared for. And he has
having people come up to him and showing him the love of Jesus up close. Because the
thing that Kevin had never experienced was happening. He was being accepted in spite
of his mistakes because the people that were coming to him were people led by Jesus.
They were people shaped by grace. They were people moved by love. And that brought
Kevin to the point where on that fifth weekend, he said, you know what, I'm done trying
to figure this out on my own, And I'm gonna give this Jesus guy a chance. And so Kevin
makes the decision to say, Jesus, I want to follow you. And Kevin would tell you that in
that moment, his life was radically changed. Not every problem went away. The process
of becoming like Jesus for the sake of others takes time. But in the moment that he
chose to be led by Jesus, he started experiencing this grace that he couldn't describe,
and he couldn't understand. And that grace was moving him to care for others in the
same way that he had been cared for. And here's what I love about Kevin's story. Is
today, Kevin is heavily involved in his church at Switch in Shawnee, Oklahoma, doing
everything he can to make sure that other kids that had gone through terrible things
like he had gone through, have a place that they can belong. They have people who
care for them so that they can discover who they are because of Jesus. They can
experience the radical grace of God and they can be transformed by the love of a
community that is committed to putting them first. This is the power of the gospel. It
changes us from the inside out. It turns us into people who are led by Jesus, shaped by
grace and moved by love. I didn't think there was any better way to end the first week
of this series than by actually inviting Kevin on stage with us to pray over all of you.
Because Kevin is a living example that the grace of Jesus changes everything. It
changes us from the inside out. It takes us in our brokenness and in our pain. And it sees
past all of that. And it awakens our potential inside of us so that we can become the
kind of people who can love others, the same way that God through Christ has loved us.
And so Kevin, if you wouldn't mind just praying for all of our students that are hearing
this right now, because what we know is that there are probably some of them who are
going through a really dark time and they're just desperate for a place to belong.
They're desperate for a true sense of who they are in Christ. They're desperate to
understand and to know that God can use even them. And so with that being said,
Kevin, would you pray for all of us as we close out this message.

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- Definitely, Switch. Let's pray. Heavenly father, first, just thank you so much for
everything that you've done in my life. Father and the people that you put in my life to
get me to where I am today, father, to be able to use my story and share it in such a
positive impacting way. Father, thank you for being such a good, good father, a father
that always leads us and never leaves us. Father, I pray that, that everyone watching
knows that we are people that are led by Jesus, that we are shaped by grace. And we
are moved by love. And father, I pray that everybody knows that no matter what they're
going through, no matter what they've been through or no matter where they're at right
now, that you are there father. And you've always been there. That you love us and you
were never going to leave us. Father, we love you and we come as we are right here, in
Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

- Amen. Amen.

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