Built for the Dark | Pastor Jeremy Saylor | Sunday Service

Today, we're kicking off a brand new series that I'm so excited about that's gonna last this entire month.

It's missions on the move.

We're gonna be looking at the Great Commission over the course of the next month together, and we're gonna be asking one simple but very, very significant question throughout this month.

And here's the question Is what kind of church, what kind of church is Jesus building and where is he sending us?

What kind of church is Jesus building and where is he sending us?

Question church is not whether he's sending us somewhere.

He's sending us.

It's just a question of where.

And this month we're gonna explore that together, both on Sundays and on Wednesdays, as Pastor Caleb mentioned, Wednesday nights are kicking back off this week, and we can't wait to dive into the Word of God together.

This month on Wednesday nights, we're gonna be really looking at what God's doing locally here in Birmingham, internationally, nationally.

We're going to hear, you're gonna hear stories of the mission of God on the move in our community and around the world.

It's gonna be an incredible time in the presence of God together as we learn more about the church that Jesus is building.

What part he wants us to play?

Turn to your neighbor and say, You have a part to play.

Turn to your other neighbor and say, You have a part to play.

Hey, can I tell you, there's no spectators in the kingdom of God.

We are all participants in the mission of God in the earth.

Jesus had one plan.

There wasn't a second plan, there wasn't a third plan.

He had one plan, and is that his disciples, his church would take the gospel throughout the world, and we have the privilege of sharing the good news of Jesus.

Anyone thankful you know Jesus today?

Come on, thankful I know him today, and I get to share him with the world around us.

If you have your Bibles, grab those this morning and stand with me as we turn to God's word.

We're gonna look at the words of Jesus recorded in three different places that help to point us to his purpose for his church.

And we're gonna begin in Matthew chapter 16, Matthew chapter 16, starting in verse 13.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention Matthew 16 · chapter mention

It says, now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is?

And they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others still Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

And he said to them, But who do you say that I am?

Can I tell you it doesn't matter what other people say about Jesus, it matters what you say about Jesus.

Who do you say that I am?

Simon Peter replied, You're the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against on this rock I will build my church.

On this rock, I'm gonna build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Can I tell you that for 2,000 years Jesus has been building his church, and hell hasn't been able to stop it yet?

Man, that excites me.

On this rock, I'm gonna build my church, the gates of hell.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Now turn to John chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

John chapter 20, turn to John chapter 20, real quickly.

John 20 · chapter mention John 20 · chapter mention

John chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

We're gonna end at Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

John chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

Verse 19.

These are some of the final words of Jesus to his disciples before he ascends to the Father.

Says in verse 19 of John 20, on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.

Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands in his sight.

Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord and listened to the words of Jesus.

This wasn't just to the disciples, it was to us today.

Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.

Turn to your neighbor and say, He's sending you.

Turn to the other neighbor and say he's sending you.

As the Father has sent me, I'm sending how does Jesus build his church?

He builds it by sending his church into the world.

And when he had said this, he breathed upon them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit.

Finally, Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

Jesus said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Jesus will never stop building his church.

Church, this is God's word, and the title of my message this morning is simply this: built for the dark.

Built for the dark.

Say, I am built for the dark.

Turn to your neighbor and say, You are built for the dark.

Turn to the other neighbor and say, We are built for the dark.

Turn around the person behind you and say CLC is built for the dark.

Father, we thank you for your word this morning.

It's a lamp into our feet and a light into our path that shows us the way to go and how to arrive there safely.

And I pray this morning we wouldn't just be hearers of your word, but doers of it.

In Jesus' mighty name.

Everybody said, Amen.

You may be seated.

Thank you, Joey.

One of the questions that I get asked over and over again is how, Pastor?

How do I live out my faith in a culture that is increasingly post-Christian?

How do I live out my faith in a world that doesn't share my faith?

How do I live in the world, but not of the world at school, in the office, in my neighborhood, online?

How do I live out my faith?

There is a movement in our culture today, and a lot of it is because of the online community where everybody has an opinion about how we should live our lives.

You don't have to go very far, and you will have somebody that is more than happy to tell you how you need to live your life, how you need to manage your money, how you need to parent, how you need to live, how you need to work, how, how, how.

There are keyboard warriors of plenty that are telling you there's podcasters, there's influencers, there's news anchors, there's that our culture, maybe more so than any other culture, is emboldened to tell people how they should live.

Today, I don't want to add my voice to that.

What I want to do is to add God's voice to it.

I want to take us to scripture and look at what kind of church Jesus wants to build, and how he wants to send us into the world with the greatest story that's ever been told.

The story of Christ in us, the hope of the world.

Can I tell you that's the story our culture needs?

That's the testimony, the witness that our world needs, that Christ is the hope of the world.

So, what what kind of church does Jesus want to build?

When you ask that question, the first thing that you're going to find is quite surprising.

You find that Jesus doesn't build his church in nice and neat and sweet and pretty little places.

Jesus delights in building his church in the darkest places.

It's in the darkest places of our society where Jesus loves to walk into and build his church.

Can I tell you why?

Because it's in the dark that the light shines brightest.

And we see this in Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

In Matthew chapter 16, that begins with Jesus being before the religious leaders of his day.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

And they are asking him to prove that he's the Son of God.

Give us a sign, they say.

Show us, demonstrate, do a miracle right here in front of us to prove you are who you say you are.

And Jesus declines their request.

Instead, he does something that's really remarkable.

Jesus retreats from their request.

He gathers his disciples around him, and he takes them on a field trip.

He takes them on a two-day journey about 30 miles north of where they are, to a place called Caesarea Philippi.

Let me tell you, this isn't accidental.

This is incredibly intentional.

Jesus takes his disciples to Caesarea, Philippi.

Let me tell you a little bit about Caesarea Philippi.

It was a Gentile region that Jews were forbidden to go to.

It in many ways was the most perverse and dark place of Jesus' day.

See, it was here in Caesarea Philippi that the imperial worship of Caesar originated.

And it was also the place of pagan worship to the Greek and Roman god Pan.

See, there was a there was this mountain, Mount Hermon, there at Caesarea Philippi.

And as the mountain came down to the valley, there was a massive cave there.

And the cave had a spring that flowed from it.

And the cave was was so deep and it was so dark, they weren't able to mine its depths.

And it was believed that this cave was an opening to the spirit world below.

And it was through this cave that the spirits of the underworld would come and go.

And here, under the pagan worship of Pan, there would be rituals that they would perform.

Death rituals, sexual rituals, idolatrous rituals, all in the hope of appeasing the pagan god Pan and blessing the land with fertility.

Do you know what the opening of this cave was called?

It was called the gates of hell.

So think about this.

Jesus in Galilee stands before the religious leaders and says, Prove, prove to us you are who you say you are.

And he retreats and gathers his disciples and takes them on a 30-day journey to Caesarea Philippi.

And he asks them the question, Who do people say that I am?

And they say, Well, some say you're John the Baptist, and some say you're one of the prophets, and some say you're Jeremiah.

But but Jesus says, Well, what about, but what about you?

Who do you say that I am?

And Peter says, Well, you're the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

And Jesus says, Flesh and blood, Peter has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

And upon this rock, the rock of the revelation of Jesus, that He's the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

He says, I'm gonna build my church and the gates of hell, this place that pagans worship, this place that is idolatrous, this place that is dark, this place that is perverse, this place will not be able to stop the forward progression of the church.

Can I tell you, Jesus loves building his church in dark places because the light shines the brightest there.

Jesus said, On this rock, I'm gonna build my church, and the gates of hell will not be able to stop it right in the middle of the place that everyone else has written off.

Jesus said, Here I'm gonna build my church.

Let me ask you a question.

What person or place have you written off in your life?

That might be the place that Jesus wants to build his church.

Right in the middle of the darkness of the world, Jesus says, I'm gonna plant the flag of Christ.

And we're gonna build something that hell cannot stop because God delights in turning the gates of hell into a house of hope.

God delights in turning the gates of hell, the place that everybody writes off as a place, a house of hope for the world.

Jesus does this, and then decades later, the apostle Paul is on his first missionary journey, and he's going throughout the Mediterranean.

He starts in Antioch and then he goes through through through Turkey and then he grows through Greece and he ends up in a place called Corinth.

Thousands of miles he's traveled.

He's preached the gospel in city after city after city.

He's been to some amazing cities like Philippi and Thessalonica and Berea.

Actually, in Berea, the Bible says those that were there accepted the word with great gratitude.

But it's in Corinth.

That God stops Paul in his tracks and says, Here in this place, I want you to plant a church.

And I want you to pastor it for 18 months.

Why Corinth?

If you study history, you understand that Corinth was the Las Vegas of Paul's day.

It was Sin City.

It was the place that what happened there stayed there.

As a matter of fact, if you read history, you find that anytime a Greek play was written and a Corinthian was depicted in the play, they were always depicted as drunk.

It was a place of perversion, lewdness in every shape and form possible.

Why in the world in that place would God stop Paul in the middle of his tracks to plant a church because God delights and establishing his church in the darkest of places?

Can I just be candid with you this morning?

I think we've fallen too much in love with comfort, church.

We've fallen too much in love with ease.

We've fallen too much in love with sameness.

We've fallen in love with things that are nice and neat and pretty and well packaged and easy to process.

Yet God delights in planning his church in places that are hard, that need the gospel, where the gospel will shine the brightest.

It's time that we break free from the chains of comfort and go to the place that needs the gospel.

I find it incredibly ironic that Jesus goes to the darkest place of his day, and God stops Paul in the darkest place of his day and says, Here I will build my church.

Turn to your neighbor and say, You've been made for the dark.

Can I tell you, I'm so glad that when man sinned, separated himself from God, God didn't reject us.

I'm so glad that when the human condition became dark, God didn't turn away from it.

You know what?

God did something that is the greatest miracle of all.

It just absolutely gripped my heart that we've fallen in love with places that Jesus rejected, and we've rejected the places that Jesus accepted.

And there's a call going out throughout the earth to the church.

Can I tell you where the church is doing the best right now?

Is in the darkest places on the planet.

The church of Jesus Christ is exploding in Muslim countries.

The Church of Jesus Christ is exploding in communist countries.

The Church of Jesus Christ is spanning the chasm in places that nobody wants to move to, places that nobody wants to live, with people that people don't want to hang out with.

That's where the church does the best.

Because we've been made for the dark.

Not that it's one of our hopes, not that it's an option.

The only hope for the human condition is Christ crucified.

The hope of glory.

This church is our call.

But it's all too easy to fall in love with nice and neat and sweet and comfortable places.

But can I tell you that's not always where God's called you to go?

To reach the people that nobody else will reach.

To embrace the people that nobody else wants to embrace.

Why, Pastor?

Because that's what he did for us.

We were all dead in our trespasses and sins.

But God, in his wonderful love for us, died that we might have life and it more abundantly.

And if he did that for us, how can we not do that for others, church?

How can we hold on to the hope that has changed everything and not share it with the world?

See, we've been built for the dark.

How are we built for the dark, Pastor?

We're built for the dark because we don't go in our power.

We go in the power of the Spirit of God.

Jesus sends his church in the power of the Spirit.

And then He sends His people in His power to do His work that changes everything.

See, before the power of the Spirit descended upon the disciples, they were hiding behind locked doors for fear of their lives.

But once they had been filled with the Holy Spirit, those that were previously behind locked doors were now in the open streets, declaring with boldness the testimony of Jesus.

The one you crucified, Peter said, is the risen Savior.

See, we're built for the dark because we don't go in our strength.

We go in the strength of the Spirit of God.

As a matter of fact, if you try to go there in your ability, you're gonna get beat up.

But if you go in the power of the Spirit of God, you go with Him on your lips and His Spirit in your heart.

There's nothing, there's no gate of hell that can stop the progression of the gospel.

We're built for the dark because we have the Spirit of God inside of us.

And the final words of Jesus recorded in the Gospels in the book of Acts, we find Jesus gives us two commands, two promises that have two implications.

The two commands that Jesus gives us are seemingly contradictory commands, but they're actually very complimentary.

The commands are go and wait.

Go make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them all the things that I've taught you.

Go make disciples, but wait.

Wait until you receive the gift my Father has promised.

Go.

Everybody say go and wait.

Go make disciples, but wait.

You need something that you currently don't have.

You need to wait because there's something, there's a promise, there's a gift that I want to give you that's going to change everything else.

And here's the two promises: you will receive the Holy Spirit and power.

You will receive the Holy Spirit and power to do what?

To be my witnesses.

Listen, church, there's far too many believers that are going without the power.

They haven't waited to receive what God has for them.

But when you wait and you receive the promise of the Holy Spirit and power, it changes everything because Paul tells us this what we receive is the same Spirit of Christ.

The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us.

What are they going to think?

What are they going to say?

How are they going to respond if I share my faith?

If I tell them about Jesus, if I ask to pray for them, how what are they going to do?

How are they going to respond?

We're operating in fear, or do I have enough inside of me to deal with what is before me?

I don't know that I can I just clear something up for you.

You're not enough, but he's more than enough.

The theological thing that I want to clear up is this.

We know it theologically, we know it intellectually, we know it in our minds, but practically we don't live it.

God and Satan are not equal opposites.

Are you hearing me this morning?

God and Satan are not equal opposites.

Jesus said, I saw Satan fall like lightning.

Can I tell you the Father didn't have to lift a finger to cast the enemy out of heaven?

All he had to do was say the word, and like lightning, he was sent from the prayer.

Listen, you have more power in you than you realize.

The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you.

I I fear that we live life too much from the standpoint of I don't we tiptoe around the enemy.

We don't want to upset him.

We want to fly under the radar because we don't want to get on his radar.

We don't want to do anything that's going to ruffle his feathers because what might he do to us?

It's not about what he might do, it's what he might do.

Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

See, we've been made for the dark because it's in the dark that the Spirit of God rises up inside of us and releases the power of the Spirit to change a life.

I'm afraid that we retreat from, we avoid the very places that we're praying for miracles to happen in.

Matter of fact, I hear it all the time, Pastor.

I need a new job because I'm not in a godly environment.

Maybe you're supposed to be there as the light.

Maybe you're supposed to be a missionary to that place.

Maybe God is answering the prayers for the miraculous that you've been praying, but they're in a different way than you envisioned.

Maybe there's something transformational in that place he wants to do through you.

And all the while we're moaning and we're we're crying and we're whining.

I don't I don't have a good environment at work.

Nobody likes me.

It's not godly.

Well, then start interceding for it.

Start binding and loosing, bind the spirit of the darkness and release the spirit of Christ.

Greater is he that is in you may be there on assignment.

Now let me pause.

I get there isn't a singular response for every situation.

You hear what I'm saying, church.

But I think far too often Christians retreat from the very places that God wants to send them.

Because it's easier, it's more comfortable.

I know this.

From scripture, beginning to end.

If you're going to do anything of eternal consequence, it's going to get the enemy's attention.

But greater.

Greater.

Greater.

Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

Maybe what needs to happen, whether it's your home, your school, your place of employment, maybe you need to start fasting for it.

Maybe you need to start anointing it with oil, praying over it.

Maybe you need to go to war in the spirit for it.

Because it very well might be connected to your destiny.

Church, it's time to stop retreating from the darkness and to go into it with the power of Christ.

This is our call, church.

Jesus took the disciples to Caesarea Philippi on this rock, in this place.

I'm going to build my church and hell can't stop it.

Stops Paul in Corinth, the most perverse place of his day, in this place.

I'm going to build my church and hell won't be able to stop it.

Why can't hell stop it?

Because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.

Understand the power that lies inside of you, that is awaiting an opportunity to be released.

Jesus said, just bind and loose.

Whatever you bind on heaven, whatever you bind on earth, be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth, be loose.

Lord, I bind the spirit of darkness that is controlling this place, and I release the spirit of light.

I release the spirit of Christ.

The goal of life, church, is not to arrive at the grave safely and securely.

Can I tell you what the goal of life is?

Is to leave nothing in the tank.

The goal of life is to suspend it all for the glory of Christ.

That's what Paul did.

Paul at the end of his life says, I've run the race, I've fought the fight.

Now a crown of righteousness is stored up in heaven for me.

Stop trying to just get by and not tick the enemy off.

How about pick up the sword of the spirit?

Lay it to the root of the enemy's cause.

This is our call.

This is the mission of Christ in the earth.

We were built for the dark because the spirit of God lives in us.

And then finally, number three, Jesus empowers his church with the message of the gospel.

Jesus builds us for dark places, sends us in the power of the Spirit with the message of Christ.

Christ, the crucified church, is the hope of the world.

First Corinthians chapter one.

Paul illuminates this in verse seventeen.

He says, For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.

That's not just Paul's assignment.

That's your assignment.

That's my assignment.

We preach the gospel in all kinds of different ways, church.

We preach it through how we live, we preach it through our words, we preach it through our prayers, we preach it through our story.

We preach it through our priorities.

We preach, he said, but to preach the gospel, listen to how he says this, not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Verse 21.

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Can I tell you, I'm so glad God uses foolish things.

Because if he didn't use foolish things, we would all be disqualified.

Because none of us are good enough, none of us are strong enough, none of us are smart enough, none of us are anything enough.

It's the foolishness of the gospel that is preached that saves believers.

Verse 22.

Jews demand signs, Greeks look for wisdom.

But this is the message that we preach.

We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Gentiles.

Christ church is the hope of the world, and that's our message.

See, we've been built for the dark, sent in the power of the Spirit with the message of hope through Jesus.

That is missions on the move.

This is our call.

Stop settling for less than God's best.

Stop playing it safe.

Nothing risked is nothing gained.

And it's time to gain the world through the message of Jesus.

We have to go.

Turn to your neighbor and say, Be courageous.

Be bold.

Tell your other neighbor and say, be bold.

And then finally, be focused.

Turn around the person behind you and say, be focused.

We have to be courageous.

What does that mean, Pastor?

It means go where he tells you to go.

Be courageous enough to go into the darkest places of your world.

Because you know what's inside of you.

Be courageous.

Be bold.

What does that mean?

It means you don't just go where he tells you to go, you say what he tells you to say.

You bring the message of Jesus and be focused.

What does that mean?

It means do what he tells you to do.

Let them know the hope they have in Jesus.

I'm gonna ask my prayer team to join me to my right and to my left this morning.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I have just a couple questions for you today.

And here's question number one.

How many of you would be so bold to say this morning, I'm struggling with a spirit of fear?

Every head bowed and every eye closed.

It's just between you and me and the Lord.

I want to pray for you today, and I'm gonna ask you to respond in just a minute.

Because God's going to free you this morning.

How many of you say, I struggle with a spirit of fear?

I struggle with timidity, I'm I'm I'm insecure about going where God's called me to go, but I know that He's calling me out of my comfort zone to reach the world.

If that's you, would you raise your hand right where you stand?

Yeah, I see that hand, I see that hand, I see that hand, I see that hand.

Absolutely, hallelujah.

Thank you for your honesty.

Second question is how many of you would say, I know God's calling me to be more bold with my words, that I need to say the word of God over my family, I need to say it over my friends.

I need to pray that I need his word on my tongue, and I need boldness.

If that's you would just raise your hand right where you stand.

Yeah, I see that hand.

I see that hand, I see that hand.

I see yes, thank you for your honesty this morning.

And finally, number three, you're here this morning, and you say, Pastor, I need to be more focused on the mission of Christ.

I'm focused on myself and my dreams and my desires and my ambitions and what I want to do with my life.

And I know the Spirit of God is convicting me today.

And I need to be more focused on the call of Christ in my life.

If that you would just raise your hand right where you stand.

Yeah, I see that hand, I see that hand, I see that hand, I see that hand.

Thank you for your honesty this morning.

Pastor Megan, the worship team is gonna lead us to a song.

If you raised your hand this morning, and many of you did, I'm gonna ask you today, I'm gonna implore you this morning, get out of your seat and come agree with one of our prayer team members.

The Bible says that when two or three agree upon anything, that it's done, that it's done, that it's done.

Hear me this morning, it's done in heaven and in earth.

So if you raised your hand and you know God's got something for you this morning, get out of your seat as they leave the Father.

In the name of Jesus, I thank you for your work today.

I thank you for the response of your people that are already moving right now out of their seats.

Because they know you have more for them.

I pray, God, meet your church, meet your men and women of faith, empower them with courage, empower them with boldness, empower them with focus to share the message of Jesus to the world.