The Time Is Now: Enlarge Our Territory

September 27th, 2026/Seventh Day Adventist

Story: First Home

I’ll never forget the feeling of owning our first home.

Jess and I were young. We were in love. We were just getting started. We didn’t have much, but by God’s grace we bought this beautiful home on Welcome Lane.

I remember driving home differently after we bought it. I would turn onto the street and see the house coming into view and think, That’s ours. I had lived in houses my entire life, but something about this was different. I remember pulling into the driveway. Opening our front door. Walking around the yard. Everything felt different because for the first time, we owned it.

I remember fixing something in the house. I think it was the sink. It probably wasn’t even that impressive, but I finished working on it and remember thinking, I just fixed my sink. My sink. That sounds ridiculous, but if you’ve ever bought your first house, you know the feeling. When the toilet breaks, that’s also your toilet. When the furnace goes out, congratulations, that’s your furnace too. Ownership comes with responsibility.

But ownership also changes what is possible. If we wanted to paint a wall, we painted it. If we wanted to improve something, we improved it. If we wanted to tear something apart and rebuild it, we could. So that’s what we started doing.

We renovated that house. We put sweat into it. We put money into it. We learned things we had no idea how to do. Then about two years later, we sold that house for significantly more than we had paid for it. And that created another opportunity. Then another. Then another.

Looking back, it is not hyperbole to say that buying that first house changed the trajectory of our lives financially. God used that first property, and the stewardship of properties after it, to eventually allow us to become debt free. But the biggest thing it taught me wasn’t about real estate. It taught me about stewardship.

There is something powerful about having something placed into your hands and realizing, I get to decide what I do with this.

I can neglect it or improve it. I can consume everything it gives me or build something with it. I can think only about today, or I can steward it in a way that changes what is possible tomorrow.

And eventually, I can hand something to my children that I didn’t have when I started.

Story: Pinewood

For eight years, Pinewood has been portable. We have set up and torn down. We’ve borrowed. We’ve rented. We’ve moved. We’ve adapted. And God has met us in every single season. But now there is an opportunity in front of us that we have never had before. For the first time in the history of Pinewood Church, we have an opportunity to own. And I believe this is about much more than owning a building.

INHERITANCE

Psalm 16 says, “LORD, you are my portion and my cup of blessing; you hold my future. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”

I love those words: boundary lines and inheritance.

Throughout Scripture, land is connected to stewardship, responsibility and inheritance. We have to interpret that carefully because God's covenant promises concerning Israel's land are not a promise that Christians can claim whatever property they want. But Scripture consistently teaches us that everything we have ultimately belongs to God.

Psalm 24 says, “The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD.” That means my house belongs to God. My money belongs to God. My future belongs to God. Pinewood belongs to God. And if this property becomes our home, it belongs to God too.

So I want to change some of our language. We’ve been talking a lot about acquiring a building. Maybe a better word for us is receiving an inheritance that we have been asked to steward.

That doesn’t mean we sit around waiting for something to happen without any effort. We are working. We are negotiating. We are talking to lenders. We are inspecting the building. We are looking at numbers. We are doing due diligence. We are going to use wisdom every step of the way.

But underneath all of that work is a prayer: God, if You put this into our hands, we will steward it for You. God, if this is going to happen, it’s going to be because of your grace in our church. And that changes the way I see the building.

WHY A BUILDING?

Maybe you've heard people say, “Why would a church spend millions of dollars on a building? The building isn't the Church. Jesus never told anyone to build a church.” And part of that is right. The building is not the Church. We are the Church.

But the Church has always gathered. From the beginning, Christians gathered for prayer, worship, Scripture, communion and fellowship. The earliest Christians primarily gathered in homes and other available spaces, and as Christianity grew we find Christians adapting spaces specifically for worship. By the early third century, the Christian gathering place discovered at Dura-Europos had a larger meeting room and a baptistery. Why? Because space can serve mission.

Jesus never commanded microphones either. He never told us to have air conditioning, kids check-in systems or cameras. Those are simply tools we use to accomplish the mission. A building is a tool.

And I want you to use your imagination for a moment.

Don't picture drywall. Don't picture carpet. Don't picture HVAC systems. Picture a seven-year-old little girl walking into Pinewood Kids and hearing for the first time that Jesus loves her.

Picture her getting baptized here.

Picture her becoming a teenager and bringing a friend from school who would never come to church on their own.

Picture her graduating from high school surrounded by people who have prayed for her since she was seven.

Picture her getting married here.

Picture her bringing her own children back through those doors someday.

Now multiply that story by hundreds of families over decades.

That's what I see when I see the building.

I see baptisms. I see marriages restored. I see teenagers encountering God. I see people far from God walking through the doors because somebody invited them. I see leaders being trained. I see missionaries being sent. I see churches being planted. I see prayer happening when nobody else is in the room. I see funerals where people hear about the hope of Jesus. I see weddings. I see kids running through hallways.

I see a place in Boulder that says for generations: Jesus is still here. The Gospel is still being preached here. There is still hope here.

Because imagine the alternative.

Go “it’s a wonderful life” with me for a moment. Imagine church after church in Boulder gets sold. They become condos. They become offices. Developers buy the properties because the land is worth more than the congregation can afford. Eventually our kids inherit a Boulder with fewer and fewer Gospel-centered, Bible-believing churches. I don't want that Boulder.

Not on our watch. If God gives our generation an opportunity to establish a long-term Gospel presence in this city, I want us to take it seriously.

JABEZ

Passage: 1 Chronicles 4:9–10

That brings me to one of the smallest prayers in the Bible.

Jabez appears in the middle of a genealogy in 1 Chronicles. We know almost nothing about him. He doesn't lead an army or write a book of the Bible. We get two verses.

His mother named him Jabez because his birth was associated with pain. And then this ordinary man prays an extraordinary prayer.

First Chronicles 4:10 says, “If only you would bless me, extend my border, let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm, so that I will not experience pain.” Then Scripture simply says, “And God granted his request.”

There is something about that prayer that has captured Christians' imagination for generations. About twenty-five years ago Bruce Wilkinson wrote a tiny book called The Prayer of Jabez. It sold millions and millions of copies. Why did a little book about an obscure man buried in a genealogy connect with so many people?

I think part of it is because it touched something many of us feel but don't always know how to say. What if there is more God wants to do through my life? Not more stuff. More purpose. More opportunity. More people to serve. More generosity. More influence for something that actually matters.

Maybe my current boundaries don't have to be my permanent boundaries. Maybe where I started doesn't have to determine where I finish. Maybe I could actually ask God to increase what He can entrust to me.

That's what I love about this prayer. The text does not say this prayer is a pattern for everyone, but here’s how I’d apply it: Jabez gives us language for holy ambition.

BLESS ME

He begins, “God, bless me.” That's a bold prayer.

Some of us almost feel guilty praying it because we immediately think, Shouldn't I be praying for somebody else? But blessing in Scripture isn't merely about accumulating things for yourself. When God called Abraham, He told him, “I will bless you... and you will be a blessing.”

Jabez doesn’t give that reason in his prayer. But what if we took Abraham’s call and started waking up and praying, “God, bless me today, because I want my life to become a blessing to somebody else”?

Bless my marriage so we can encourage another marriage. Bless my business so I can become more generous. Bless my leadership so I can develop somebody else. Bless our church so we can serve more people.

God, put things into my hands that I can put back into Yours. That's a prayer worth praying.

ENLARGE MY TERRITORY

Then Jabez says, “Extend my border.”

In his world, that meant actual territory. He is asking God to enlarge his boundaries. Bruce Wilkinson took that idea and asked a powerful question: What would happen if we began asking God for more opportunity to serve Him?

Most of us spend our lives trying to protect our comfort zone. Jabez prays for God to move the boundary. Think about what you're actually praying when you say that. God, give me more responsibility. Give me people I don't know how to help yet. Give me opportunities that require me to grow.

Stretch my generosity. Stretch my leadership. Stretch my faith. That's dangerous. Because sometimes we ask God to enlarge our territory and then get frustrated when He stretches us. “God use me!” Then He does and we say “I feel used!”

Pinewood, what if that's where we are? For eight years God has been preparing us to steward what He might put into our hands next.

I believe God has been enlarging us before enlarging our territory.

And now we're praying: God, if You trust us with more, we're ready to steward more.

LET YOUR HAND BE WITH ME

Then Jabez immediately prays, “Let your hand be with me.”

That is so important because increased territory without increased dependence is dangerous. The bigger the assignment becomes, the more you realize you cannot do it alone. I don't want us to get a building and lose our dependence on God. I don't want more resources and less prayer. I don't want greater influence and smaller faith.

If God enlarges our territory, I want His hand on everything.

God, put Your hand on our finances. Put Your hand on our leaders. Put Your hand on our contractors. Put Your hand on the negotiations. Put Your hand on our kids. Put Your hand on our marriages. Put Your hand on every decision.

Because if we're going somewhere bigger than we've ever been before, we need God more than we've ever needed Him before.

KEEP ME FROM HARM

Then Jabez prays, “Keep me from harm.”

His story started in pain. His own name reminded him of it. We aren’t told what Jabez felt about his name. What we do know is that he asked God to keep him from harm and pain. And I can't read that without thinking about Boulder.

I've heard the words. “Boulder is too hard.” “Church plants go there to die.” “It's too expensive.” “It's too secular.” “It's too progressive.” At some point you have to decide whose voice gets to define the future.

We aren't naïve about Boulder. We've been here nine years. We know exactly where we live. But I refuse to allow somebody else's doubt to determine our faith. God loves Boulder. God loves the student at CU who thinks Christianity is ridiculous. God loves the family that hasn't been to church in twenty years. God loves the person driving past this building who doesn't know yet that one day they may walk through those doors desperate for hope.

So we reject every declaration over this city that does not align with the heart of God for the people who live here.

And we pray the prayer again: God, bless us. Enlarge our territory. Let Your hand be with us. Keep us from harm. And Scripture says, “God granted his request.”

HERE'S THE OPPORTUNITY

So let me make this incredibly practical. If you were a CEO sitting across the table from me and you said, “Parker, I understand the vision. Give me the facts. What is it? What do you need?”

Here's the answer.

PICTURE OF THE BUILDING

This is the property. The purchase price is $3.3 million. We have already raised $311k. We need $1 million to close, renovate and move in. Our goal is to raise an additional $675k, and we need to accomplish it by the end of the year.

BUILDING DETAILS

That's it. This is the opportunity in front of us. And if we're going to do it, it's going to take all of us. Not equal gifts. Equal obedience.

Somebody in this room can give an amount that somebody else couldn't imagine giving. Somebody else may give something that looks small on paper but represents enormous sacrifice.

I'm not asking you to match somebody else's number. I'm asking you to pray. God, what are You asking our family to do? And then obey.

Because I think years from now we're going to discover that God was building something bigger than a building during these five weeks.

He was building faith in us. CAN YOU SEE IT?

Someday, if God puts this property into our hands, you're going to pull into that parking lot. And maybe you'll remember this Sunday.

Maybe your kids are in the backseat. You walk through those doors and hear worship coming from the room. Kids are running through the hallway. Somebody who walked in broken a few months earlier is standing in the lobby telling somebody how Jesus changed their life.

And you'll know something most of the people walking through those doors won't know.

You were here when it was only a vision.

You prayed when we didn't have it.

You sacrificed when it wasn't finished.

You believed when there were still questions.

You helped build something you knew you might never fully benefit from because you weren't only thinking about yourself.

You were thinking about them.

Maybe one day your son brings his son into that building and says, “Your grandparents helped make this possible.” That's what happened to me on Welcome Lane. I thought I was buying a house. I had no idea God was beginning a story that would change our family.

And maybe right now we think we're buying a building.

But what if God sees generations? What if He sees people who aren't even born yet? What if He sees missionaries who will be sent from there, pastors who will be called there, marriages that will be restored there and people who will meet Jesus there? We don't know the whole story yet.

We just know what God has put in front of us right now.

And our responsibility is to be faithful with our part of the story.

THIS IS WHY

And today we don't even have to imagine why it matters because we're going to watch people get baptized. This is why we do all of it.

Every setup. Every teardown. Every dollar. Every volunteer. Every prayer. Every sacrifice. Every future square foot.

People.

People meeting Jesus. People finding freedom. People going from death to life and publicly declaring, “Jesus changed me.”

Buildings get old. Carpet wears out. Roofs need replacing. But people last forever.

So before we celebrate what God might build through Pinewood, we're going to celebrate what God is already building in people.

And then, if you belong to Jesus, we're going to come to the table and take communion together.

Because our ultimate inheritance isn't property. Our inheritance is Jesus. Before we sacrificed anything for Him, He sacrificed everything for us. His body was broken. His blood was poured out. His life was given so we could have life.

So today we remember what He has done. We celebrate what He is doing. And we look toward the future with faith for what He might do next.

God, bless us. Enlarge our territory. Let Your hand be with us. Keep us from harm. And whatever You put into our hands, give us the courage to steward it for Your glory and for generations we may never meet.

The Time Is Now.

Prayer of Salvation:

Jesus, I acknowledge that I need you

I confess that I have sinned against you

I believe that God raised you from the dead

And right now, by faith, I say “Jesus is Lord”

Thank you for forgiving me

By your grace I am saved

And by your power I am set free