Sunday Service - 6/8/2025 - 11:15 am

Heat. Heat. Oh my god. Thank you. Good morning church. My name is Anna Brantley. I am the director of our kids ministry here at TBC and it is such a joy to get to welcome you to our services this morning. If you are a guest with us, I'd like to say a special welcome to you.

I just believe it's not by accident that you are sitting in this room right now. We pray that your affections for the Lord would be stirred and that you would just be so encouraged getting to worship with the body of believers. If you are looking for a church home, I would love to invite you to scan the QR code on the seatback in front of you.

You can give us a little bit of information about yourself and we can help you get connected into the life of our church. If you are a member with us or maybe you've been here for a little while, I would love to invite you to some service opportunities.

We have opportunities for this summer and also looking towards the fall. So, if you are looking to get involved, maybe you've been praying about a way of serving or maybe you've not thought of it until this moment. Either way, I would encourage you to go to our website here to learn more.

It is just a beautiful thing to get to serve with the body of believers. If you are a parent of elementary students, this next one is important. If you're not, you should still listen because it's, you know, important, too. um our kids village, our elementary programming, we take a break for four weeks in usually the month of July.

This summer we're starting it one week early, which means we will not have weekend programming for our kinder through fifth grade. And that's intentional. It provides kind of a Sabbath rest for our weekly volunteers who serve in our elementary ministry. It helps our elementary team kind of get prepped for our services starting back up.

And it also provides a really sweet opportunity for more elementary students to worship in this room. So if you are here for those four weeks, you will see more kids in this room. And that's intentional and it is a good thing. Um I'd also love to tell you about all this incredible decorations behind me.

If you're a guest with us, this is not normal. We don't always have this like here. We have been working hard this past week with our incredible decor team who have made this just come to life. Um, and it is for our VBS. So, we have about 650 kids that will be on site this week learning at VBS.

That's right. And we also have about 185 fourth and fifth graders who will be at Pine Cove City. So, if you are a Pine Cove City counselor, will you stand for me? I know you're here somewhere in the room. They're all back there. about 50 college students. Y'all, we are so glad you're here.

We are praying for you this week. If you've never experienced Pine Cove, those guys in the back will be jumping for about eight hours a day uh every day. This is their second week of camp and they'll be doing this all summer long. So, thank you guys. We are praying for you and excited for what the Lord will do this week.

Um it also is my joy to get to introduce a guest worship leader with us. This is Roberto Bruno who comes to us from Resonate Church in Fremont, California. Uh, one of our Axe 29 sister churches led by Ryan Quan. Uh, Roberto, it's so good to have you here today.

I know it is a blessing for our worship team as Grant is on paternity leave and the summer is a busy time for them. So, it's just God's provision to have you here. And my own heart has been so encouraged that the family of God is bigger than just one local body.

And so, thank you for being here to lead us. Roberto has anchored our worship set this morning on the verse Isaiah 25:1. And I'm particularly excited about it because this whole last season as we've been preparing for VBS, we are teaching the children about God's true word. And we're to say it is God's true word.

The Bible is from God. It is about God. And it is for everyone. And there's going to be about 600 kids in this room sitting not on chairs on the floor. You guys are going to help us with that after service, but sitting in this room hearing truths from God's word.

We're going to get to trace the gospel from Genesis to Revelation and have our kids understand that it is a story for them that they are a part of. And I just know as a parent and a ministry leader, I know what's coming for our kids as they get older. they will experience really hard things in our world.

And so the fact that we have an opportunity to take four days and teach them about a God who wanted to reveal himself to us and God didn't just give us a list of attributes to tell us who he is. He provided thousands of years of history to prove it to say this is who I am.

This is what I've done. I have made you and I have a plan for you. And as our kids get older, they need that truth in their hearts foundationally. So you have uh some bracelets. You may have grabbed one on your way in or you can grab one on your way out, but it has the name of every child who is attending VBS and Pine Cove City this week.

And I'm asking you as the body to join us by praying. And I have to tell you, these are not just names on bracelets. They represent children. They represent souls. And we are asking the Lord to do a work that only he can do to capture their hearts young for his sake to adopt them into his family.

So as you take these bracelets this week, join us in praying for our kids. I'm going to read to you Isaiah uh 25:1, that verse that Roberto has uh planned our worship set around. And I want to just remind you, remind you of the faithfulness of God. Because as we're gathered in this room and we're going to sing these words, maybe you can think about your own life and how the Lord has been faithful.

Maybe you're in a season where you can't see that right now. And I would encourage you to look to his word, where he has proven himself faithful, that he does what he says he will do, that he is good, he is what is best. Let me read these verses over us.

Oh Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you. I will praise your name. For you have done wonderful things, plansformed of old, faithful and sure. Let me pray for us. Father God, I thank you for the kids that are going to come in this room this week, welcomed into a space that is decorated in crazy ways because we want them to know this is a place where they belong. where they are free and safe to learn about you.

I pray, Father, that there would not be one who would leave this place without knowing who you are and believing it to be true. Would you do the work of salvation? Would you help them to know more of your plan for them? And Father, I pray for these men and women in this room as we gather to worship, as we declare that you are king of our life.

Would you bring to mind from your word and from our life how you have proven yourself faithful? You are a good God. Thank you. I pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Would you stand and worship with us? Well, good morning. Good morning, Village Church family. What a joy it is to be here with you today.

Would we, like Isaiah did in full recognition of our own sin, approach the throne of God with the realization that the blood of the lamb is what gives us passage into the throne room today. Lift your voices to the only one worthy. Come on, declare this. Say, a thousand generations.

Lift it up. A thousand generations fallen down in worship to sing the song of ages to the land. And all gone before and all will sing the song of ages to the lamb. Your name. Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest. Your name stands above the wall.

Yes, it does. All thrones and dimensions, all house and positions. Your name stands above the angels cry. ((applause)) Holy all creation cries. Holy. You are lifted high. ((music playing)) Holy, holy, ((music playing)) forever. You been redeemed. Sing a song forever to me. If you walk free and if you bear his name, we'll sing a song forever to lift it up today.

Come on. We'll sing a song forever and amen. The angels cry. ((music playing)) Oh creation Christ you are lifted ((applause)) Holy ((music playing)) sh you ((applause)) with holy forever. His name is Jesus. Praise him. Your name is the highest. Your name is the great. Your name it stands above ((applause)) the all thin all position.

Your name stands above the glor. Your name is your name is the rain. Your ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) name is the angels cry. ((music playing)) ((music playing)) Heat. ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) Come ((music playing)) on. ((music playing)) Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. ((applause)) ((music playing)) You will always be holy forever. ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) Christ is my firm foundation. He's the rock on which I stand and everything around me shing.

Oh, I've never been more blind. I put my faith in Jesus cuz he's never let me down. He's faithful through generations. So why would he now he and I've still got joy in chaos. I've got peace that makes no sense. So I won't be going un. I'm not held by my own strength.

Cuz I built my life on Jesus and he's never let me down. He's faithful in every season. So why would he fail now? He ((applause)) won't. He won't. He won't fail. He won't ((applause)) fail. He won't. He won't. ((music playing)) He won't fail. He won't fail. Christ is my foundation. He's the rock on which I stand with everything around me shaking.

Oh, I've never been more glad. I put my faith in Jesus. He's never let me down. He's faithful to generation. ((music playing)) I would ((applause)) now ((music playing)) he won't he won't never fail. You never fail me. So I will trust you. came when you my house was built on. I'm safe with you.

I'm going to make it through the ((music playing)) make blue. My house was built on you. Save me. You are going to make ((music playing)) me save. You are going to make me. ((music playing)) I'm going to make it through. I'm standing for you. I'm going to make it through. My house is built for you.

Christ is my foundation. Heat. Heat. ((applause)) ((music playing)) Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. ((music playing)) Never let me down. ((music playing)) ((applause)) He won't. He won't ((music playing)) fail. He won't fail. ((music playing)) Yeah. Heat. ((applause)) ((music playing)) He ((music playing)) won't He won't ((music playing)) fail. He He won't fail. He won't. Come on. Can anybody testify to that truth that he won't fail? That he is faithful and he's worthy of our praise today for his church.

He alone we sing to him today with assurance now saints. I'm calling on the God of Jacob whose love endures through generations. ((music playing)) I know that you will keep your covenant. I'm calling on the God of the one who opened up the ocean. I need you now to do the same thing for me.

((music playing)) That's you today. Make this your prayer now. Lift it up. Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh God, my God, I need you now. How I need you now. Oh rock, oh rock of ages, I'm standing on your faithfulness, on your ((music playing)) faithfulness, calling on the ((music playing)) dark whose favor upon the Lord.

((music playing)) I know with you all things are possible. Falling on the dollar a ((music playing)) shepher may not face the light, but I've got my own. Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh God, my God, I need you. Now I need ((music playing)) you for I stand on your faithfulness. For your faithfulness, oh God, my God, I need you.

Oh God, my God, I need you. I need you. ((music playing)) Oh rock of angels I'm standing on ((music playing)) your on your faithfulness. The God that we serve today is the God of yesterday, today, and forever. I don't know what you're going through today, but make this your prayer man. Come on.

He's listening to you. You heard your children. You hear your children. You are the same God. You are the same God. You answer prayers back then and you will answer now. You are the same God. You are the It's true church. Come on. You are providing. You are providing now.

You are the Somebody's got to shout it today. Come on. You move in power then. God move in power. Now you are the same God. You are the same God. You were a healer then. You are a healer. Now you are saved. You are saved. You are You are now You ((applause)) are You are Oh my god.

I need ((music playing)) ((music playing)) you. Heat. ((music playing)) Heat. Heat. Heat. ((music playing)) ((applause)) Pour out aes. I'm shing on your faithfulness. on your faithfulness. ((applause)) ((music playing)) Great is thy faithfulness, oh God, my father. There is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changes not the compassions they fell on. As thou has been, thou forever will thee.

And great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have done and proide. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Amen. Amen. Yeah, we praise you. You alone are faithful. You keep your word. You keep your promises. And your word will never return void.

Oh God, we thank you for that today. And as we open your word, God, would you speak to us? Would you open our ears to hear what you have to say to us this morning? We love you, our faithful king. In Jesus name. Amen. And amen. You may be seated.

Hey, good morning. How's everybody? Okay. All right. I like that. Hey, if I haven't met you yet, my name is Trevor Joy. I'm one of the pastors and elders here and I get the joy of getting to preach on Pentecost weekend which is so fun. If you didn't know, that's the weekend.

It's going to be a ton of fun. Um, this background behind me, as Anna explained, is not a part of a sermon series launch, though that's a great idea and it is also incredibly distracting. So, I'm going to keep facing this way. But thematically, some of the things here would be great props for this morning that I might use.

We'll see. We'll see how this morning goes. But here's how we get to do. We get to start our service this morning in a really fun way. uh we get to commission a new church plant. Amen. That's fun. So, I'm going to invite some friends out here and some of the elders that are going to come up and uh and pray with them.

Tyler Pal, why don't you come out and introduce our friends, the rest of the elders, y'all make your way up here. Hello, family. Uh I'm Tyler Pal. I get the honor to serve here as our church planting director, which uh I get to lead a 18-month residency for our church planters and replplanters.

And 5 years ago, back in 2020, 2021, uh Larry Thompson was retiring, but wanted to spend his years in retirement to serve the church through revitalizing churches. So, he went through our church planting program. And then Matt Clayley, who will share a little bit more. He was on staff or is on staff at our South Lake campus, now restoration, with a heart to replant churches.

So, I'll let him share a little bit more about what that means. So, we'll I want to put up 2030 vision here just so you point to you guys what's unique, what we're celebrating. So, if you can't read it, it's real small. Hopefully, you've seen this before. Our goal by the year 2030 is to have planted and revitalized 30 churches.

And so, what's so fun about this morning, Tyler, I don't know what number where we're at with that. It's like we'll be 20 this year. 20 this year. How amazing is that? Praise God. That's incredible. So, uh, planting and revitalization are very different works, right? They're very, very different works.

And so, I wanted to ask Matt to share with us a little bit about, man, what make what is different about the work and why it's so important. Yeah, thanks, Trevor. Uh, first of all, I'd just like to say, uh, thank you for being such gracious hosts. Uh, coming back to TVC is really a homecoming for me.

My wife and I became uh members of the village church 14 years ago this month. And so this is this is a homecoming for me and my family. So so grateful uh for your partnership. Uh we share the same heart uh for the proclamation of the gospel to see souls saved for the glory of Christ Jesus. uh and and in a room that's so full of life and and that will be full of a 600 children this week like you can't miss that the Lord is blessing this church and while that's happening here 70 churches across our country will meet for the last time their doors will close and so as even as we plant 4,000 churches in the United States this year we will only keep up with the number of churches that close their doors and so what replanting is is a desire ire to go into those churches as they're declining on their last gaffs and and see the Lord do a new work, a restoring work.

But isn't that what he does in scripture? What does the Lord do? He He enters into what is broken and he brings restoration. Yeah. He enters what is sick and he brings health and he enters into death itself and does what, church? He brings life. That's right. And so what we uh what we are desiring to do is enter into that work.

And the Lord has opened a door wide for us at Northridge Church in Richardson, Texas. A church that was planted in 1960 and has seen many decades of faithfulness and and many decades now of decline. And we get to enter into that, share the hope of Jesus, uh love the saints who are there and also raise up uh brothers and sisters to come join and partner with us to reach that neighborhood to herald the gospel of Christ Jesus in a city where the Lord has brought the nations to it.

UTD, which is just about a mile from our church building, host hosts students from 150 nations of the world. And so we have the opportunity uh as as as Northridge Church to literally carry the gospel to the nations as as we reach our neighborhood and reach the students at UTD and so grateful for your partnership here at the Village Church.

That's awesome. Yeah. So, uh as we think about church planting, like as we're praying for church kind of a typical church planters are going out, man, we're praying they're entering into a new space where they don't know anybody. It's persons of peace, a place to gather, relationships, that that kind of thing is something from nothing gets formed, but revitalization is a different work.

It's a little bit different. I know many of the things are still the same, but there there's some differences. So, help us understand and just be empowered. How can we be praying for you guys in this, especially in this first year as you step in and start this work, how can we be praying?

Yeah, thanks, Trevor. So, uh, one of the biggest differences is we're entering into a place where there's already a people. And so, there's there are saints who are the average age of our membership is is about 75. And so we're entering into a place where we're loving, encouraging those saints as uh leading them to a place where they where they treasure Jesus in their own hearts and uniting them with a group of people that the Lord is is coming to fresh fresh legs, fresh arms for the work of ministry to bring those two congregations together.

And then pray for us to be faithful in our love and our service of our neighborhood. We're really focused on the North Rich neighborhood of Richardson. uh pray that we would be faithful in our outreach, faithful in our gospel proclamation, and the Lord would be glorified. Thank you so much for your prayers.

If you want to connect with us, we're going to be right out here in the four-year after service. Um we would love to put a card in your hand just to remind you to pray for us. Uh point you to our website, Repplant DFW, that has lots of information about the history of the church and where we believe the Lord's leading us.

So, thank you guys for your prayers. Praise God. Yeah. I'm going to invite some of the elders. Y'all come on out. Michael, you want to you want to pray for these brothers? church, would you stretch your hands toward our brothers? Father, you are good. Your steadfast love endures forever and you are faithful to all generations.

Father, thank you for that good work that you have already begun there in Richardson over years and years ago. And we thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have proclaimed that you will build your church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And we are so grateful for that.

Father, thank you that your word tells us that Jesus, when you ascended on high, you led captivity captive and you gave gifts to men. Thank you for these gifts that you have given. And both uh Matt and Larry, we just pray, Father, that your grace would just abound in their lives. that the gifts that you have bestowed uniquely upon each of them will be brought to bear in that community in Richardson as you restore, Father, that which you have built and which you are building.

Father, we love you, we bless you, and we give you all the praise in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you. Amen. Thank you guys, man. So, hey, if you're if you're new to TBC or haven't been here for very long, uh this is a really really beautiful thing that we get to be a part of because we are a church planting church.

Uh and this is this morning. We hope God just continues to do in abundance in and through this place. There are congregations meeting from California to South Africa to Cusco, Peru to Colorado to Michigan of men and women that have been raised up and sent out of this place to start new gospel works in those places.

And it's incredible to see what God's doing. He is advancing his church. Okay, Pentecost weekend, I was thinking through, man, how can I what kind of analogy can I use to help frame as we us and how we approach this because I recognize thinking of Pentecost weekend that so many of us come in with a variety of you know uh very little understanding to a myriad of experiences come into this.

So here's here's kind of how I landed to start our time and how I got out for a minute. Raise your hand if you have seen the movie Field of Dreams. Okay, good. We're in good shape. That makes me feel not old. That's amazing. I was with a younger group uh last week and I asked that same question about a movie very similar and there was very few people in the room that raised their hand and I thought, "Okay, that dates you really quickly."

Um, okay. It's awesome. I'm not going to ask you raise your hand what age group you were when the movie came out. It suffice that everybody has a good familiarity with the movie and that'll save me a lot of time. Uh, so I won't break down the whole thing because most of you have seen it, but if for those of you haven't, I'll just give a really really high high level just to so we can understand.

So the the whole point of the movie is this. There's this guy named Ray Caneli. He's a farmer in Iowa. Uh and he is farming and he hears this vision that says if you build it he will come. So what that leads him to do is he plows under his crop and he builds this baseball field which is a crazy thing to do.

Everybody in town thinks he's crazy. Nobody understands it. So he builds this baseball field and what shows up on these baseball fields and what he finds out the reason is the ghosts of this uh Chicago White Sox team in 1919. They show up and they get to play on this field and it's supposed to be this kind of redemptive scene of this team who the very thing they love that was taken from them they're getting to do here and it's a kind of a really beautiful thing.

Well, as the movie goes along, what's what's interesting, what's unique about this is Rey and his wife and his daughter are the only ones that can see the players on the field. They're the only ones that can see it. And there's kind of this antagonist in the movie and it's Ray's brother-in-law who's also a banker from in town.

So, you think small town, he's doing this. Everybody knows he's doing. It's a farming community. He's doing the thing you don't do, which is plow under your crops. It's like that's what feeds you. And his brother-in-law this whole time, the whole movie keeps telling him, "Why are you doing this?

Why are you doing this? You're crazy. You're crazy. You're crazy." While all the tension builds up into this final scene where Ray and his family are sitting there watching, all these ghost baseball players out there enjoying this field. The brother shows up to kind of have an intervention and he's sharing with them, "Hey, you have to stop this.

This is crazy. You have to stop this. if you don't do this, you're going to go bankrupt. Uh, and so that leads to kind of this fight. Anyway, what what happens in a moment is one of the players crosses over from the field and Ray's brother or Ray's brother-in-law can all of a sudden see the players.

So, he's asking him, "Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this? Why you got to you've got to sell this. You've got to sell this. You got to sell this. You're going to be bankrupt. This is crazy. It doesn't make any sense." And then in an instant, everything changes and he finally sees and understands what's happening.

So, in an instant, he goes from, "You got to sell this. You got to sell this field. You got to sell this field. You got to sell the farm. You're going to go bankrupt." And in a minute, everything changes and all he says, he's just kind of in a stouper.

All he says is, "You can't sell this field. You can't sell this field. You can't sell this field. You can't sell this field." And his his sister just kind of ushers him into the house in kind of his disbelieving stuper. But everything in a moment changed for him.

What I love about that, my favorite thing about that scene is the look on his face. He's just in awe of what he's seeing. He's in awe of what he's seeing for the first time. His whole perspective changed in that mo that moment because something new was born right in front of him.

Have you ever had a moment like that? Have you ever had a moment like that where you you didn't see it? You didn't understand it and something's happens and then in a moment you're like, "Oh, I get it now. I see it. I understand it." The reason I share this example is because I think this can help us understand what kind of moment this was at Pentecost for the church when the spirit of God falls on the church here in Acts 2.

In an instant, everything changed for everyone there. Eyes were open, perspectives were changed, radical shifts took took place because something new was born. And I will share what my hope is for us today. What I in form of kind of how I've been praying for us coming into this weekend.

And it's really in this. It's in the form of my burden and what my burden is for us. And it's this that I know without a shadow of a doubt that most people in this room are settling for a version of Christianity that is smaller than what God desires for you.

I know that most of us here are settling for a version of Christianity that's smaller than what God desires for us. We've so packaged and programmed and protected our faith that when we read what we're about to read in Acts 2, I know many of us are going to immediately run it through a filter of man, that is really incredible for them then and it's amazing.

But I'm not sure that's intended for us today. And I know most of us today are not going to have that same kind of confrontational experience that Ray's brother-in-law did where immediately everything changes and amidst it and what you believe about Christianity just gets flipped on its head.

I know it can happen and I'm asking the Lord for that to happen, but I know that won't be everybody's story today. And for me, it wasn't that. For me, it wasn't one big instantaneous moment where everything changed, but it was several different experiences that God has used to draw me into a deeper understanding about what he's doing in the world and deeper ways that I can be about what he is doing.

I'm going to give you a couple examples of moments that changed my perspective. I remember when God changed my perspective about what biblical community looks like. The first church I got to pastor at. There was a man in a home group and he was in some deep patterns of sin and self-destruction.

And one night it kind of reached its climax point and he packed his bags and was literally going to press the self-destruct button, get in his truck and abandon his family. And the men in his home group got in their trucks, literally parked their trucks up onto his front yard and driveway to barricade him in.

And a couple of those dudes were pretty big men. And they literally just cornered him on the front porch and they prayed for him. They pled with him. And that night he repented and unpacked his bags and moved back into his home. His family was restored. My understanding, my perspective on biblical community changed in that front yard.

I remember the first time I sat in a house church in a closed country and I felt the vulnerability of worshiping God with a gathered group of people knowing that if those outside knew what we were doing in here, they would likely break in and arrest us. And we gathered together, we worshiped, we broke bread, we opened the word, and we prayed for the salvation of those outside that wanted to persecute those inside because they didn't believe. and we prayed for their salvation and my perspective on what it means to be the church changed in that room.

I remember the first time I met a Muslim man that was open to hearing the gospel because Jesus had for years been visiting him in his dreams telling him somebody that looks like me is going to come and tell him who he is. And my view on the power of God to save changed in that encounter.

And here's the running thing behind all those encounters. It's this. None of them were unique one-offs. None of them were unique one-offs. They were all a part of what God is and has always been doing, but it was my heart. It was my mind that needed to be open to it.

God has always been active in this way. I just had not always been available. God has always been active in this way. I was just the one who was closed off. And what was born at Pentecost wasn't meant to be a one-off encounter. It was God showing the church how and why we, as the people of God, both individually and collectively, are to exist in the world.

And here's what I know. God is moving in profound and powerful ways all around us here and all around the world. And maybe we aren't closed off to how God is moving, but I certainly don't think we're curious enough about it. And that's kind of more simply what I'm asking for the Lord today.

I would love a radical confrontation that just changes our perspective. But what I'm asking the Lord for is that at least everybody here would grow in a holy curiosity that has us take a step forward wanting more. I'm asking the Lord to make us open enough to consider that just maybe there's more to this faith thing than what we are experiencing right now.

So here I want to do I want to read this first part of Acts 2:es 1-13 starting in verse one says when that day of Pentecost arrived they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues as as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance.

Now they were in the dwelling in Jerusalem. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?"

And how is it that we hear each one of us in our own native language? Parththeians, Medis, Elommites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Capidoshia, Ponius, Asia, Friia, Panthilia, Egypt, and parts of Libya belonging to Ssirene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proelites, cretins and Arabians. We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

And what happened? All were amazed and perplexed, saying no other, "What does this mean?" But others outside mocked, saying, "They're filled with new wine." So this is the moment the spirit of God lands on the church of Pentecost. But I want to do some background work what the day of Pentecost is and what it meant.

The day of Pentecost in Acts was one of the great watershed moments in the history of God's redemptive story. What God had promised in Eden and then unfolded through the pages of the Old Testament revelation. What he secured in the work of Christ, he fulfilled on that day that he promised would come when he gave the spirit to the church.

The day itself was already regularly celebrated in the Jewish calendar as one of three great annual feasts. This one was called the feast of harvest. And here's how this feast went. At the conclusion of the Passover feast, the first sheath of barley, the barley harvest, would be offered before God in the temple anticipating the greater harvest that was to follow in that summer.

So on the 50th day after Passover, so Pentecost is a Greek word for 50. That's how we get that. All Israel would come to the temple in Jerusalem and celebrate God's presence. You'd have parents, children, male and female servants, sojourers, the fatherless, widows from all over the world would all journey to Jerusalem to give thanks and feast in memory of Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

So that's the backdrop of what's happening in act two. But what happened at Pentecost was much more than the feast of harvest. God had been foretelling the day when he poured out a spirit on his church. God said it was coming. He chose this day, this celebration, and this moment to do just that.

So why was God doing this so important for us as a church? I love the way John Sto describes about the importance of this moment. He says this, without the Holy Spirit, Christian disciplehip would be unthinkable, even impossible. There can be no life without the lifegiver, no understanding without the spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of spirit, no Christlikkeness of character apart from his fruit, and no effective witness without his power. as a body without breath is a corpse.

So the church without the spirit is dead. So there's so many references to the spirit's coming. I just want to give a couple. Here's Old Testament in Joel 2 where we see literally prophesying this moment of Pentecost. Verse 28 says, "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

Your sons and daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. even on the male and female servants. In those days, I'll pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.

The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus tells us this day is coming. We get a couple of different places.

John 15 he says this but when the helper comes that's the spirit who I will send you from the father the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father he will bear witness about me and then what else and you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning he talks about it again just a chapter later he says nevertheless I tell you the truth it's your advantage that I go for if I don't go away the helper won't come to you but if I go I will send him to you and when he comes what is he going to do convict the world considering sin righteousness and judgement ment Luke 24 and behold I'm sending my pro my promise the promise of my father upon you but stay in the city until you're clothed with power on high and what's that power he answers that right here in Acts 18 right before the ascension he says but you will receive this power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth so Pentecost isn't the only significant moment in the life of the gathered church but it is the first significant moment in the life of the gathered church because Pentecost is the birth of the church.

So, here's three things I want us to kind of three different topics I want to work through, things that I hope that will spark our curiosity. The first one is this. God is about advancing his kingdom to the whole world. God is about advancing his kingdom to the whole world.

God's power is behind advancing his kingdom to the whole world. And God's people are how he advances his kingdom to the whole world. So, we're going to start here in this first one. God is about advancing his kingdom with the whole world. Why did God choose Pentecost as the day he would pour out his promised spirit on his people?

Why did he choose this particular day to inaugurate the church? Well, what's unique about the feast of harvest is that it required people from all nations to gather in one place in Jerusalem. On this Jewish holiday, there would be people journeying to Jerusalem, literally from across the known world.

It's one of three Jewish feasts that called for a pilgrimage to the holy city. So John Scott describes this scene this way. He says this, "Nothing could have demonstrated more clearly than this, the multi-racial, multinational, multilingual nature of the kingdom of Christ. Ever since the early church fathers, commentators have seen the blessing of Pentecost as the deliberate and dramatic reversal of the curse of Babel.

At Babel, human languages were confused and nations were scattered. In Jerusalem, the language barrier was supernaturally overcome as a sign that the nations would now be gathered together in Christ, anticipating the great day when the redeemed company will be drawn from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. Besides, at Babel at at Babel, earth proudly tried to ascend to heaven, whereas in Jerusalem here, heaven humbly descended to earth.

And don't get me wrong, God could have used a lot. He used this moment to clear a lot of clarify a lot of things for the church. He could have used this moment to help us understand a lot about what it means to the church moving forward. And the church has become a lot of things the last few years.

Some of those things great, some of those things not so great. But what I want to put before us here in Flowermont, Texas in 2025 is that when the creator god of the universe, when he chose to fulfill his promise of pouring out his spirit to empower the church to move forward, he chose one thing to impart to the church as the center purpose for why and how the church exists in the world.

That purpose is this. The church of God exists to advance his kingdom on earth through the power of the spirit and the proclamation of the gospel to all peoples everywhere. The church of God exists to advance his kingdom on earth through the power of the spirit and the proclamation of the gospel to all peoples everywhere.

We are a scent people. The global harvest isn't just another thing we care about. It's the very purpose for which the church exists in the world. And I'm not putting a global mission spin on Pentecost because I'm the missions guy and that's what I care about. So I'm supposed to take every opportunity to preach to kind of keep pointing back to global missions.

God is preaching global missions to the church here at Pentecost because that's what he cares about. From the very beginning, God is showing the church what it means to be a scent people in the world. And we shouldn't be surprised by it. Jesus has been saying this the entire time.

John 20, Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you as the father has sent me." What? So I am sending you. And when he said this, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Matthew 28, Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I've commanded with you." And what does he say? Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Acts 18, but we just said it a minute ago.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has to come upon you. in what? And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. God chose this day, this celebration to demonstrate to his people what he is about and what we're to be about.

And that's taking the gospel to the whole world. And you can make church about a lot of things, but God's priority of getting the gospel to the world has to be the primary reason that we exist together. It is what God is about, and it needs to be what we are about.

God is about advancing his kingdom in the world. In this second point, God is power is behind advancing his kingdom to the whole world. This we're going to get a little spicy. What I'm about to say is going to hit everybody in this room a little bit differently depending on your background.

But God's church is a Pentecostal church. God's church is a Pentecostal church. And before you jump to judgment about what I mean by that, hear me. Many of us hear that that phrase and immediately begin associating with scenes like this that we see here in Acts two, speaking in tonesues.

That is true. through the manifestation of God's power in Acts two. A big way that was here in tongues, but his power is also manifested in a number of ways. Here in chapter 2, we see a rushing wind. We see tongues of fire. In the Old Testament, we see a pillar of cloud, a pillar of fire.

At Jesus' baptism, it was a dove. In Acts 4, when they're preaching the gospel, the building literally shakes. In chapter 6, when Steven preaches the gospel, his face becomes like the face of an angel. In chapter 16, there's an earthquake. All of God's power is accompanying the preaching of his gospel.

But consistently throughout the Bible, friends, consistently, God chooses to give his people visible, audible, touchable demonstrations of his presence and power. But you need to know this about how God shows up. God is the only one that decides how and when he's going to show up. God is the only one that decides.

He will not be summoned like a bellman. God shows up how and when he wants. But this why he shows up is always the same. So he shows up in a number of ways of how he chooses to, but why he shows up is always the same. And when God manifests his power through and among his people, it's always to advance his kingdom and not ours.

We see that model right here in Acts 2. The end result of everything that happens here, all the various manifestations of God's power at Pentecost, they don't result in the exaltation of any of the people that are involved. God shows up in power to point to himself and himself alone.

When God manifests his power, believers are empowered and the lost are saved. When God shows up in power, believers are empowered, the lost are saved. That's what happens. So the question we have to ask, you mean as a follower of Jesus, I can have access to this kind of power?

Hopefully you understand what I'm about to say. Yes. Not only do you have access to this, but Jesus says this power is crucial for the work that I've sent you to do. It's the necessary stuff. I've shared with you guys before one of my favorite things that I get almost daily.

I wake usually wake up to it in the morning because of the time difference, but I'm on several threads uh with folks serving all around the world. And the purpose of these threads are to testify to what God is doing just to keep encouraging and stirring one up other in the work.

And let me just tell you, those threads are full of these kinds of experiences happening almost daily. They have a regular diet of this stuff all of them all the time. So the question I keep bringing in here is going why then are they regularly experiencing this kind of power and we're not.

The reason we don't experience this kind of power in our Christian life, it has nothing to do with its accessibility. Nothing to do with accessibility. It has everything to do with our activity. Jesus said his works testify to the power behind his message. They point to him and the works we do are supposed to point people to Jesus.

Acts 18 says you're going to receive power when the spirit comes upon you. Why? What's the power for? To be as witness to the world. So, we're not missing out on the power because of its lack of availability. It's our lack of activity. The power is for proclamation.

The power is to point people to Jesus. How often do we find ourselves in conversations with people that are far from God and we're literally in that moment going, "I need God to show up here and manifest in a way that where my words fall short. God, I need you to show up.

I need you to show up. I need you to say this person. I need you to do this. God's power is behind advancing his kingdom. So, if you're not experiencing much of God's power, I think it's a reasonable question to ask yourself, how much of my life then is involved in advancing his kingdom?

God's manifested power here doesn't stay with this group of Christians. What happens? What happens from here? Peter, as a believer, is emboldened to proclaim the gospel and 3,000 people get fa get saved. God's power behind advancing his kingdom is never to just entertain the saints. Yes, sir. Wow.

God doesn't show up because he wants to give us something miraculous to look at. God shows up to show himself as powerful and to point to people to the only hope. God shows up to show I can do this and more. And I don't want to miss us to miss all the different ways that God's power shows up here in the scene.

Because sometimes it's easy for us to be occupied with the physical manifestations here. the rushing wind, the clouds of fire, the tongues of fire, all the ways that the powerful demonstrations of God's presence. But you know what was just as supernatural? The fact that somebody like Peter could get up and do what he did is supernatural.

Yes, sir. Peter's a phenomenal example how God can use the weakest and most unqualified person to advance his kingdom. Hear that? I want you to hear that again. Peter is a great example. Phenomenal example how God can use the weakest, most unqualified person to advance his kingdom to go.

We just saw this earlier. Peter, what did Jesus tell him to do? Stay awake. What did he do? Fell asleep. Jesus said, "Whatever you do, do not raise up in violence." What does Peter do? He grabs a sword, strikes the soldier, puts all their lives at risk. Jesus told him the night before the resurrection before he be taken away.

Peter says, "I'll stand up and fight for you." says, "Not only I'm going to do that, but you're going to publicly deny me three times before the rooster crows." It's hard to get more unqualified than that. So the question we have to ask then is how do we go from that scene that denial scene in Matthew 26 that Peter the failure the coward who disobys and denies Christ publicly out of fear of Lud's own life to the Acts 2 Peter that is boldly preaching Christ publicly risking his life and thousands of people are coming to faith.

How do you get from that Matthew 26 Peter to that Acts two Peter? The answer is the transforming power of the gospel. The transforming power of grace is how you go from that man to that man. Pentecost was not the first time Peter experienced the power of God.

I won't take you there for the sake of time, but John 21, we see this incredible scene where Jesus meets Peter in his failure and in his shame and in his guilt, and he extends him grace. Grace that called him out of his shame and his guilt into power and destiny and freedom.

Pentecost wasn't the first time that he experienced the power of God. The power of God already so radically transformed Peter that when God shows up in Acts two, he knows exactly what this is and exactly why this is happening. Just like the game whistle blew and he knew, oh, this is it.

This is time to go. What does he do? He gets up. He preaches the gospel saying this power points to a person. And that person is Jesus. And if you think all these things are incredible, wait till you see what he can do when he gets a hold of your heart. repent and believe and 3,000 people come to faith right there.

The power in Acts two isn't the purpose. The power points to the purpose and that purpose is a person. And that person is Jesus. And if you're here and you're not a follower of Jesus, that same grace that transformed Peter shame and guilt into powerful purpose is available for you.

The same power that resurrected Jesus from the dead is available to give you new life today. There is no sin. There is no lifestyle. There is nothing you can do that can separate you from the love of God in Jesus. And Christians, hear me. That resurrection life now resides in you, ready to empower you to be a witness to that transforming grace.

But that power is for people on the field, not for people on the stands. That's where I'm going to end our time. God is about advancing his kingdom to the whole world. God's power is behind advancing his kingdom to the whole world. And this church, God's people are how he advances his kingdom to the whole world.

I want to end here in this last passage in Acts chapter 2. Look at how it describes the church. And I don't want you to think so much when we read this. Don't focus so much on the specific practices. That's going to be a whole another sermon in itself.

I want you to see the orientation of these people. What do they value? And what what is the outcome of these people when they gather? Starting in verse 42. And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship to the breaking of bread and prayers. And awe came upon every soul.

And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. One of my favorite mission trips that we've been doing this past couple years has been taking uh groups of parents and students to Egypt. And when we're there, the ministry we're doing is among primarily among Muslim Sudinis refugees that have uh that have fled to Egypt that are there, millions of them that are there and the country is fine with us doing that.

And so, man, we show up. We've been doing like sports camps, whatever we can to reach them. And so, we're we're doing that all week in the desert. So, you imagine playing basketball, soccer, all that in the desert all week doing ministry. And so how we finish because of where we are geographically, how we finish is we take about a 30-minute quick flight over to the Sinai Peninsula and we go to a hotel and we, you know, eat some normal food, rest a little bit, and then about 9:00 at night, there's a bus that comes out and picks us up and we drive about 3 hours into the desert mountains.

And then right about midnight, we start a an overnight hike up to the top of Mount Si so that we're there for the sunrise in the morning. In fact, I got a picture from the last time we were there. So this is literally sunrise at the top of Mount Si.

You can join us on one of these trips. We'll be going again next summer. But this literally this is how we finish. We get to worship together on top of Mount Si. It's just an unbelievable experience like the Bible coming to life right there. But on the way back, one of the things we aren't able to see at night that we are able to see when it's daylight is we can't really see as we're walking up is right at the base of Mount Si is one of the oldest monasteries in the whole world.

It's called St. Catherine's built by Emperor Justinian around 550 AD and it was built to protect the monks in that region at the foot of Mount Si. So, what I want you to see about this picture, this is a picture of it as you're walking back from Mount Si.

The walls of St. Catherine's Monastery are made of granite and they're between 8 and 35 m tall. And up until the last century, there was only one way in and out of the monastery. And it's that door right there. You can see right in the middle. It looks like a window.

That's a door about 35 ft up. And up until a century ago, that was the only way in or out. People wanted to get in. There's a system of pulleys and ropes that you'd use to get in there. In the monastery historically has contained lots of treasures and icons, but up until recently it was mostly inaccessible to the outside world.

It was built to protect the Christians and their stuff inside and keep the rest of the world out. I love how Trevan Wax describes this and how it applies to what we're talking about this morning. He said this, "Our churches naturally drift toward becoming like St. Katherine's Monastery, a fortified doorless organization that focused upon its own preservation rather than its specific mission.

Our hearts drift towards tribalism, the tendency to gather with people just like us and reflect ourselves rather than the missionary heart of God. We're always putting up mirrors around the light of the gospel when we should be putting up windows. There's a statement that a good friend of mine, a pastor early on in ministry, would say to me about the relationship between community and mission.

And for the longest time, uh, I would vehemently disagree with him and we would have lots of lots of robust discussions about it. But I will say this, now 20 years into pastoring the church, not only do I believe that he absolutely had it right, I think his statement is actually a prophetic road sign for us here in our context here.

And the saying is this. If you pursue community primarily, you'll get neither community nor mission. If you pursue community primarily is the focus, you'll get neither community nor mission. But if you pursue mission primarily, you'll get both. And we see that here in Acts two. What brings God's people together isn't the people.

What brings God's people here together isn't the people, it's the purpose. The church of God in Acts two is a reminder for us. God making known to the world himself is the very purpose of our existence. It is our primary relational connection. It's not an optional program that we fit in.

Making God known to the world is the reason we gather as a church. Yeah. Everything about their relationships to one another and the orientation of the world was driven by demonstrating and declaring the gospel of Jesus. How do we know that? What is the fruit from this community?

We see it in the last verse. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved. I love how CS Lewis describes this. He says it better than me. And this is how I'll end. He says this. It's easy to think that the church has a lot of different objects. education, building missions, holding services.

The church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ to make them little Christs. If they're not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, mission, sermons, even the Bible itself are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It says in the Bible that the whole universe was made for Christ and everything is to be gathered in him.

That is what it's all about. God is about advancing his kingdom of the world. God's power is behind advancing his kingdom to the world in church. God's people are how he advances his kingdom to the whole world. So here's what I want to do. We're normally if you're here, if you come to services routinely, we typically, this is where we'll kind of move into a time of worship and then we come back and lead through communion.

I want to do communion together right here because I've I've got some specific reasons I want to talk through. So if you're helping with communion, you guys can get started. If you don't have one, they're going to be passing some around. If you have it, you can just kind of listen to what I want to talk about.

So, the reason that we do commune, the reason when Jesus gathered with his disciples and he instituted communion, he passed on the bread and passed on the cup that we'll talk about here in a minute. He said a statement. He said, "Do this as often as you can, as you as often as you gather in remembrance of me."

And the reason why he did that because he said, "You as believers, you individually and you collectively, you need to remember the point behind it all. that what I'm about to do, you need to remember that you need atonement. You need to remember that there was a time when you were far from God.

You were dead in your sins and trespasses. You were a stranger. You were at war with him. But God in Christ through the cross made a way. He paid the debt that you couldn't pay. That at the cross, he made atonement for you. that we are reconciled to God through Christ.

That's what we're remembering. So every time we gather this around, we are remembering what Jesus did for us. Otherwise, we're just spending two hours gathered in the air conditioned building, singing some good songs, being entertained, seeing some friends, and leaving. It really is, as CS Lewis said, it's pointless.

There are funner things we can do in prettier places than this. The reason we are gathering is this. If this didn't happen, this is pointless. And so we're remembering we're remembering the cross, what it did for you and I. And there's a there's an individual and collective element like individually for me, Trevor Joy, he entered into my life at 17 years old and he rescued me out of the domain of darkness and brought me into the kingdom of the sun.

He breathed life into me. Everything changed in that moment. Everything changed in that moment. That little idiot that was running about about trying to find connection and significance in all these thousand different ways, he changed that moment. I experienced life. That was me. And that I get to look around the room and go, "Oh, wait a minute.

This gospel wasn't just about me." It's very powerful that it was about me. And man, there's a lot of other people in this room that this was true for. So, we remember that, man. The power of the gospel, any gospel that terminates on me is not the gospel.

And any church where the gospel terminates in the room is not the church. Because when we're doing this, we're remembering, we're also rehearsing. This is why this is what's hard about this whole scene here. It's like I'm up here for the first 30 minutes or so and I'm talking and then you guys hear and you guys sing back and then we leave.

But the reason we do this is we all got to step into the story. This is the part where we get to participate. So we're remembering this is true for me because this is true for me. I'm also rehearsing this because there are thousands of people that are driving by this building this morning right now that this is not true for.

And I don't know what they're headed to. Maybe they're headed to lunch. Maybe whatever they're headed for, they are believing something else has the power of their life to satisfy that so far has proven to not be true. And many of them know it and many of them don't.

But we're rehearsing it because we remember there's you're not staying in here. You're not staying in here. We're going to leave. And what we when we leave, we take this with us. We carry in our lives the hope the death of Jesus. We carry in our lives the hope of the gospel.

And we're rehearsing it. We're rehearsing it because we're supposed to take this out of here. So, not doing that would be like, I buy you your dream truck, an F250 King Ranch, and I park it in your driveway, but I leave with the keys. What would be the point in that?

Like, you got a great You got a great thing to look at on your front yard, great thing to talk to people about, but nothing to drive. Serves no purpose in your life other than a conversational piece. We leave this in here and we don't take it up. what we're missing it.

And so before we take communion, I want to extend us a challenge. Hopefully you know by now we've been in a season uh a challenge with the church called Who's Your One? And here's where it really started. We believe that God put a an invitation to us to see a lot of people come to faith this year.

A lot of people come to faith this year. And that actually not just this year, but for this to become a normative thing that we see radical amounts of people coming to faith, being baptized here in our community. We want to see we want to see a movement.

And so we extended started in March. we extend this challenge. Who's your one? And the whole point of that is going, man, there's somebody in your life, you know, that's far from God that needs the hope of Christ. And God put you in their life for you to do that.

You're the person. You have the opportunity. You're the person. And so out in the on their way out on the hall, we've got these bracelets. And on these bracelets say two things. They say, "Who's your one?" And they say, "Made alive." Because one of those is my responsibility.

Who's your one? Man, I've got to hear this and remember this, man. I was saved and sent. We are the reason we exist in the world here is because God's not done. His kingdom's got to go forward. So we are sent people and who's your one? It's just our kind of individually and collectively us saying, "Man, we want to step in.

I don't that power is for people on the field, not for people in the stands. I'm going to step onto the field." And maybe you've got 12 people you're praying for to see come to Christ. Great. Let's start with one. Start with one step on the field. And so these bracelets there for you to get if you want to take the intentional step of doing that.

But the second thing it says on there is made alive. And that's a reminder. Every time somebody gets baptized, they screw in a bulb that made alive out there. And what's that is a reminder is that we don't we don't have the power to see anybody come to Christ.

The confidence I'm walking forward with is that the power of God exists to save. Not me. So if I fumble through the gospel trying to explain all this, it doesn't matter. It's like when I get ready to preach a sermon and I'm I prepare all this. Man, if God doesn't show up, then you guys just stared at me for 30 minutes. heard me say some stuff, maybe some cool stories and anecdotes you can take.

The power of God's got to show up. And as we go out, as we share the gospel, made alive is because God decides to do it. That's where the power is. It's not on you. It's not on me. We can step forward in bold confidence because God's the one that does it.

And the reason why we didn't hand them out on the way in is because I want us to take an intentional step and consider. I want us to just be given one. I want you to go and take one. And we leave here. We're going to take a couple seconds just to just to go before the Lord and say, "God, what do you want us to know about this?

What do you want us to do? And my hope and prayer is that every person here takes one and says, "Yes, I want us, even if you're already doing it. Take one and step into it. But you're going to have to do it. We're not giving it to you.

You're going to have to go get it. And it's going to be on your way out. So, I want us to take just a moment here before we take the elements together. And I just want us to pray the pray and consider, God, what do you want? What does it mean for me to step on the field?"

Maybe that's praying for what your who your one is. Maybe that's just going God, I want more. Maybe it's just a simple confession. God, I hear that. I want more. I don't know. Some of that stuff weirds me out. I don't know if I want you showing up in that way in my living room, but but I want more.

I want more. Whatever that is, I want more. Pray God, would you give me that kind of curiosity that goes beyond my afternoon that when I wake up Monday, I'm still curious. Let's take just a couple of seconds here to pray. The night before Jesus went to the cross, he took the bread and he passed around his disciples and he said, "This is my body broken for you.

Take this in remembrance of me. And then he passed the cup and he said, "This represents my blood shed for the forgiveness of sins. Take this in remembrance of me." Here's how we're going to respond, church, in a minute, man. We're going to stand and worship and sing.

Uh, and we're also going to have our prayer team up front. And the the reason I know this feels like a commissioning, a sending out. So, why response? Well, the reason it's really strategic. wanted our prayer team to come up because I know two things are reality. The first one is this.

We have a very real enemy that wants none of this to go forward. And he's going to deploy whatever means he can. Lies, obstacles, whatever he can. And if you right now are just even sensing that doubt, hesitation, some lie that's creeping in, man, I just want to invite you forward.

There's some people up here that would love to pray against that and empower you and bless you in that way. And the second thing is this. I know this to be true. When you don't feel loved by God, it's really difficult to feel useful for his purposes. If you don't feel loved by God, it's really hard to see yourself as useful for his purposes.

And many of us when we hear this, the first thing you go to is more that Matthew 26 Peter, I'm a failure. I'm a coward. I if you knew this about me, you wouldn't want me out there sharing the gospel. If you knew this, all those things are lies.

All those things are true. But maybe today before you grab a bracelet, you need to have a moment with God and experience the transforming power of Christ. You have that moment where you just need to lay that down and just come forward. Just have somebody pray with you, pour grace over you, encourage you, remind you in a deeper way God's love for you, and just like Jesus in John 21, call you out of your shame and your guilt into purpose and destiny.

So, they're going to be up here. They're here for you to pray um while we sing. Um, and then I I think we've got some baptisms and I'll come back up and close it. So, church, let's stand and sing together. There was a moment when the lights went out.

When death had claimed its ((music playing)) victory, the king of love had given up his life. The darkest day in ((music playing)) history. They're on a cross they made for s. For every curse is blood atone. One final breath and day. ((music playing)) Not the end could for the earth began to shake and the veil was ((music playing)) to sacrifice was ((music playing)) made as a heaven.

((music playing)) Every voice declares, "Oh, King Jesus, born ((music playing)) of King Jesus, born of the world. ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) Heat. Heat. ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) All is ((music playing)) lost. Heat. ((music playing)) Heat. ((music playing)) Heat. ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) Heat. Heat. ((music playing)) Heat. Yeah. ((music playing)) Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Come on, go ahead and do it.

Yeah. Heat. ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) Oh, people of God. Declare it now. Oh king Jesus. Oh hell Lord of heaven and earth. All king ((music playing)) Jesus. All the savior of the world. Praise him today. Praise him. Thank you so much for worshiping with us. You may be seated as we celebrate baptism together.

All right. Good morning, church family. I'm here with Justin to get baptized. What an awesome time to do it after all. Hell king Jesus. Just getting wrecked up here a little bit. Justin, do you come here today and confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? I do.

All right. On that confession of faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's a family affair today. So, this is Justin's wife, Cassidy. Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. that confession of faith. We baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

((applause)) ((music playing)) Good morning, church family. This is Ray and Nars. And I want to read from scripture Romans 1. He says, "Now there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Rey and Nars were someone else's one. So I don't want you to be discouraged because your one has been praying for and you were also someone else's one.

So keep encouraged and keep praying for your families. Ray, great room. There was a time in my life when I was easily anger and full of anxiety. Now that I follow Jesus, I have found his grace and can experience now his supernatural peace. Now I want to serve Jesus and I hope I can get others to see how great he is.

I want to help others become followers of Jesus. This is Rey and this is Nars. Narcy says, "There was a time in my life that I experienced a great loss and I was searching for comfort. Then I f then Jesus found me. He called me to be part of his family and now I have chosen to follow him.

Jesus gave me strength and comfort and I now want to serve Jesus by sharing his love for people with others. This is Ray. Ray, you believe and confess that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. It is my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

((applause)) Narci, you believe and confess that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. Yes. Then it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's amazing. Somebody's one made alive. That's amazing. Don't you want to be a part of that?

Who would not want to be a part of that? That's incredible. Hey, two announcements. Uh first one's easy. Second one's going to be a little more complex. First one is this. A week from uh well, actually it was a week from yesterday. Next Saturday night, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. we have our first men's night.

Uh here's what's really fun about it. It's open to all men. Uh, if you're a man in here, raise your hand. I wanted to get your attention, too. Make sure you're paying attention to me. There's purposeful. 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. next Saturday night on top of the parking garage.

We're going to have live music, food, games, fun giveaway, man. It's opportunity to come connect to other men. Great spot to bring if you got your one. It's a great kind of non-churchy space to bring invite other men, French men, neighborhood team, whatever it is. Any men you know, bring them.

We have free food, games, a great night. Come on. 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the parking garage. The second announcement is this. So, you heard Anna talk about we've got like 600 plus kids that are going to be filling this room all week. Well, they can't fill this room because there's chairs on the floor.

So, we do this every year. If you're used to coming to 11 o'clock service and you're here last year, you know this. I am asking y'all if you would mind as we we're going to sing the doxology in a minute. As soon as we're done and say amen, if you would help us stack these chairs, you will take what will take our team probably four hours to do and you can do it in like 10 minutes.

So, many hands make light work. So, real simple what we're going to do and our facilities team, Kirk, you guys are here. Um, we're gonna stack them in stacks of seven. So, seven. That's how high they go. Don't go higher than that. I've done it. Don't go higher than that.

Stacks of seven and then we're gonna start wheeling them out. I think some in the connect central, some in the hallway. Is that right, Kurt? Okay. So, if you can help us do that, it'll go super fast. Uh, we can all do that really quickly. It'll take time.

It won't take much time at all. If you're able to help, if you're not able, that's totally okay. Don't feel guilt and shame. U, but if you can help, it'd be it'd be a real It'd be a real big deal to us. Amen. Hey, I church, we love you.

I love you. I the feeling that the energy in this weekend and excitement around this is I just feel like this what the spirit of God is doing is not condemning because that's not what God does but inviting and the resonance here uh is really really encouraging and I am I just feel like a deep sense from God that we're going to see those waters full in a really incredible way because this church is ready to do that and to be about that.

Amen. I love it. So, I hope that leads you guys grabbing a bracelet. And more so, what that means, you guys are going to step into this with boldness and courage and see God save, redeem, and make new people alive. Amen. Hey, church, let's stand. We're going to sing together and then we're going to stack those chairs.

Okay. Praise God ((music playing)) blessings. Praise him all creatures here ((music playing)) below. Praise him above the heavenly host. Praise father, son, and holy ghost. Amen. Amen. Church, you're dismissed, but not before you stack your chair. And if you're feeling extra servanthearted, stack, too. Have a good week. Good job. Sorry. Oh my god.

((applause)) Are you ready? Please. What the hell? ((music playing)) It looks like All right. ((applause)) Everybody's Oh, you That's good.