Be Thou My Vision | Earth, Wind, & Fire

We start this new sermon series. If you get it,

you get it. If not, that's okay. But we move

now to the beginning of the book of Acts. And

one of the things, as I crafted this sermon series,

as the Holy Spirit was at work, one of the things

we're going to set every sermon up with is just

an oldie but a goodie hymn. And that is because

we find a lot of truth in our hymns. A lot of

our hymns are just wrought with Scripture and

with boldness. One of the things I love about

a good hymn, it's like a good cut of meat, right?

It's dense. There's a lot there. You feel very

full after you eat it. And we sang one of my

favorites. Why? Well, because I'm the pastor

here. And it's an understanding of be thou my

vision. What a beautiful hymn, right? But it's

a bold prayer. And I don't even know if you realize

what you were praying. We didn't just sing a

nice song, but we asked God to reshape. Our sight.

Think about that. We asked, we just, not begged,

but we sang to God, we pleaded to Him to give

us vision, to give us His vision, His wisdom,

and His presence at the center of our lives.

Think about that. For some of you, that might

make you uncomfortable because you love the way

you see the world, you love the wisdom that you

have, and you want to be the center of your life.

Guess what? This is the start of the church,

and we're already calling it out that it is not

about you or me. It is not about elders or deacons.

It is not about ministries or ministers. It is

about God's vision, God's wisdom, and his presence.

That apart from him, we can do nothing. Seven

of you got it, right? That's exactly where the

disciples found themselves in Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

We all think that the beginning of Acts comes

with... The whoosh of the Holy Spirit and the

flames on the head and what we call the day of

Pentecost. It doesn't. Let's dive in. The first

eight verses of chapter one of the book of Acts.

And again, just mind you, I have never preached

through this in 20 years. I am so excited. And

Lisa, hopefully you're okay with Lighthouse starting

at noon. In the first book. O Theophilus, I have

dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach

until the day when he was taken up, after he

had given commands through the Holy Spirit to

the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented

himself alive to them after his suffering by

many proofs, remember that word, appearing to

them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom

of God. And while staying with them, he ordered

them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait

for the promise of the Father, which he said,

You heard from me. For John baptized with water,

but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit

not many days from now. So when they had come

together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this

time restore the kingdom of Israel? He said to

them, It is not for you to know the times or

seasons that the Lord has fixed by his own authority.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit

has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses

in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and the

ends of the earth. It's exactly where the disciples

found themselves, what we just talked about in

Acts in the beginning. Jesus had risen. He'd

spent 40 days. And I don't want to just go by

that, Jesus rising from the dead, because that's

the greatest thing the world's ever seen, right?

And it really has impacted all of us. It's why

we're here. And if you're not here knowing that,

let's have that conversation. I would love to

sit down and have a cup of coffee with you and

talk about that. But he spent 40 days teaching

them about the kingdom of God. Now fully established

with Christ's death and resurrection. But then,

gone. He ascends. The one who had been their

leader, had been their rabbi, had been their

teacher, their anchor, is now out of sight. It's

one of the reasons why it's so powerful when

John talks about, you believe because you have

seen. But blessed are those who believe when

they don't see, meaning it takes faith in the

word of testimony. But now they're standing at

the Mount of Olives, looking up, probably wondering,

what now? Who's leading us? Where do we even

go from here? And I think we all know that feeling.

I think we all know that feeling, you know, maybe

in times in life when we feel a little lost or,

you know, we've been following maybe a project

manager and then all of a sudden the project's

over and you're kind of, for some of you, you

want to go, how many of you just want to get

right back into the next project? Raise your

hand. Yikes. How many of you just want to take

a day or two off? Wow, some of you actually rose

your hand. Okay. But we find them, you know,

the disciples found themselves in a very weird

place and it wasn't just them. It was more than

just the 12. Well, it was 11. And then those

that have been added on. But when leaders move

on, when seasons change, when life feels uncertain,

it can feel like the ground is shifting. And

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling that

about Munster Church. I'm feeling that about

the mission and vision of 214 Ridge Road as I

pitch. Maybe that's the wrong word, as I walk

through some ideas for a new mission and vision

for our church with our admin council this week,

or in two weeks. I am so excited, but part of

me wants to throw up as well, because I put a

lot into this, because I love all of you, and

I want us to all be going the same direction.

And remember, it's not that the bounds of the

river are this big. They're wide, and we all

have a chance to play and dance in what God is

doing here at 214 Ridge Road. But just as the

ground is unstable for the disciples, change

is scary. I could ask you how many of you love

change and ask you to raise your hands, but you

probably won't. But a lot of us don't. We don't

like change. The now what, the what do we do

now can really plague us and it can keep us kind

of frozen. Maybe for some of us we scramble for

stability or security or direction. But Jesus

doesn't leave his church without guidance. He

gives them and us a vision. This is visionary.

This is what the church is going to be doing.

We have had for years kind of the mission and

vision of this church has kind of been combined

in loving God and loving people. Or loving God,

loving people. Whether you have comma in there

or not, that's kind of been the mission and the

vision. And it's a good one. It's very biblical.

But Jesus is giving them a specific vision. He's

telling them you will receive power when the

Holy Spirit comes to you. and you will be my

witnesses to the ends of the earth. That should

be so important to us that that is our jobs.

Notice, it doesn't mean you need to be a catechism

know -it -all. It doesn't mean you need to be

in that emotional testimony globbing all over

people. It doesn't mean that we do the drive

-by evangelism where we go in, beat people up

with the gospel, and flee. No, all we are called

to do, all the church is called to be, is witnesses

to Jesus, witnesses of your testimony, of my

testimony. What is a testimony? It's your life

before the cross and now your life after the

cross when you profess Jesus is Lord and Savior.

The Belgian Confession, Article 27, reminds us

why vision matters. The church is not something

we invented. pews, chairs, organ, guitar, it's

not what we invented. Sorry if that just triggered

half of you. And it's not something that depends

on human strength. It's the work of Christ himself

who gathers and preserves his people through

the Spirit. He is our foundation. So as we move

from singing, Be Thou My Vision, into this text,

the question I have for you. Munster Church,

from me, Pastor Jim, as we start this book of

Acts, what is our vision? Is it our own preferences,

our own plans, our own comfort, or is it Christ

himself? I wrote this sermon series, and Mike,

even though he's on vacation this week, Mike

can attest to it. I wrote this sermon series

before we had any building plans, just so you

know. This is not a tie to potentially having

a meeting about the new building in the coming

months. But what is the vision of Munster Church?

Because when Christ is our vision, then our calling

as a church becomes clear. And the book of Acts,

how it starts, really has been the foundation

for how I'm seeing this vision rise up for all

of us here at 214 Ridge Road. The heartbeat of

Christ should be our heartbeat. As well. For

his people. And we are called. We're called to

four very specific things. We see it in the book

of Acts. They greet one another. They gather

together. They grow with the Holy Spirit. And

then they go out to the ends of the earth. You're

going to hear that a lot. It may get annoying.

I love you, but I don't care. So let's dive into

the text a little bit. Verses 1 and 2, as we

go through the start of chapter 1 through chapter

8 over the coming months, we're going to see

the continuation of Christ's work. Luke begins

in this first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt

with all that Jesus began to do and teach. Key

word there, began. His ministry didn't end at

the cross or even at the resurrection. The wages

of sin changed. Because the wages of sin was

what? Death. Now, because of Christ's death and

resurrection, it doesn't have to be. Those of

us in Christ, death is not the final say. Oh,

death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where

is your sting? Thanks be to God, because we have

salvation in Christ. Jesus' ministry didn't end

at the cross or even at the resurrection. It

continues through the church by the what? Who's

going to be doing the leading now? Thank you,

I knew you'd get that, right? The Holy Spirit,

the paracletos, as John calls it, the advocate,

the Holy Spirit is the one guiding the church.

Why do you think I'm big on spiritual gifts?

Because spiritual gifts helps you in your profession.

No, though it might, it first and foremost leads

the church. The spirits of God, the gifts of

God from the Spirit lead the church. Those with

shepherding gifts, let them shepherd. Those with

teaching gifts, let them teach. Those with cooking

gifts, Jim, let's out us cook. Right? We all

have gifts. We are called to use them first and

foremost in the church. The Belgian Confession,

Article 27, the Holy Church is not confined,

bound, or limited to a certain place or certain

persons, but it is spread and dispersed throughout

the entire world. Jesus is still at work through

his church today. How do we know that? Let's

just for a second look at us. During coffee hour,

go and look at the history board. This church

has been through a lot. It's still the church.

Not all churches last forever. When I say that,

a class of silly animators, people throw things

at me, right? Because some of us get so tied

to our brick and mortar, so tied to our name,

so tied to the one or two things we're doing

as a church, we can never let it die. You didn't

breathe life into it anyway. It is not your call

whether it lives or dies. The faithfulness of

God's people is something that God keeps track

of, absolutely. A church that's not doing anything,

as we see in the book of Revelation, gets snuffed

out like a wick. False teaching, heresy, hurting

people. The church has never been or bound or

confined by us. It's always been by the Spirit

of God. It's always been Jesus at the helm. And

it's based on proof. There are people in my life

that think the church is a joke. Some of them

are in my family. And again, it's not awkward.

We don't walk on eggshells around it. We talk

about it honestly. I have proof. You have proof

that Jesus exists. We have proof historically,

theologically, throughout time that the church

drives that, but the church is also broken, but

that every one of us has jobs to do. Proof of

the resurrection in verse 3. I love how Theophilus

doubles down on this because it's so important.

For 40 days, Jesus gave many convincing proofs

that he was alive. Christianity is not built,

even though at this point it was called the way.

Christianity doesn't really get claimed for a

couple more hundred years. It's not built on

myth or wishful thinking, but on historical bodily

resurrection. That's a big point. We don't believe

in fairy tales. We don't believe in what the

world thinks God is and all the things that they

think about him. We believe in the bodily resurrection

of Christ. If you don't believe in the bodily

resurrection of Christ, then you are not part

of the church. You should not have taken communion

because you are not a believer. The church had

these people all come together. Now, pause. That

was an aggressive statement. I get it, but it's

true. You may You may not have all the, you may,

I just got to take it on faith. That's how we

all do it. We all have to take it on faith. But

that is, Paul makes that very clear in his epistles,

that if you don't believe in the bodily resurrection,

then you don't have belief. You believe in something

different. Christianity is not built on myth,

wishful thinking, the stars are a crystal ball.

but historical bodily resurrection. The Heidelberg

Catechism, question answer 45. Christ's resurrection

means we are made right with God, raised to new

life, and guaranteed of our future resurrection.

This is the rock on which the church stands.

Jesus is alive. First and foremost, Jesus is

alive. And he promises something. And this is

where I wish Theophilus would have said more

about that conversation, because we still had

doubting time, even though Thomas did see the

Lord and all that, but you still have him in

the room, you still have Peter in the room, Judas

not so much, but you still had all of the disciples

that have fled, but they hear now this promise

of the Holy Spirit. Jesus commands them to wait

for the promise of the Father. They were not

going to be allowed to do this on their own strength.

I think about that and go, what if they would

have just started that day? And Jesus says, wait.

The Holy Spirit's coming. You're going to be

directed how to do this. What does this mean?

We don't have to make it up. We don't have to

do it on our own accord. We don't have to do

it on our own strength. Belgian Confession, Article

27, the church is gathered, protected, and preserved

by Jesus Christ through his spirit and his word.

Without the spirit, without his word, church

is just another human organization. It is just

another non -for -profit. That's what makes the

church different. Christ's spirit, right? The

Holy Spirit and God's word. And right off the

bat, what is Jesus doing? Oh, and we struggle

with this all the time. Struggle with it even

in this week. That we are a group of people,

200 -some households, whether you're a widow

or you have a family of 12 -ish, we come with

our own expectations. You wake up with expectations.

Whether you know it or not, you do. You wake

up with expectations of how your day is going

to go. And some of you type A super planners,

Anybody? Yeah, half of you are lying so bad.

Right? But you're type A super planners. You

go exactly what your Google calendar tells you

or whatever calendar you use. People in the church,

they're human. Right? We're fallible. We're sinners.

We're going to come with our own junk. And some

of that is our own expectations and our own agendas.

That's going to get called out in a couple weeks.

But verses 6 and 7 corrects expectations. I love

this. The start of the church, it's right there.

It is right there. The disciples still ask, will

you now restore the kingdom of Israel? They still

don't get it. But they were not made to get it

yet. Because guess what? If they would have had

it all figured out, I don't think they would

have actually gone. I think they would have looked

at the road and said, it is too hard. Because

they were trying to do it on their own strength,

their own volition. They're still thinking politically.

They're still thinking nationally. Then Jesus

redirects them. The kingdom is not a political

project. It's not about Israel's borders or Rome's

downfall. It's about the reign of Christ through

what? His people. Not through brick and mortar.

Not through canvas, tents, whatever they had

in the first century. It's about the reign of

Christ. It's submitting to his lordship. You

can't come to the table today. If you did not

submit your life to Christ's lordship. If some

of you just got tense because you don't know

if you've done that, if you profess Jesus as

Lord and Savior, then you have to submit to his

lordship. If not, you're going to be in great

tension, my friends. The Belgian Confession Article

36 reminds us that Christ's kingdom is spiritual.

It's not tied to earthly governments or cultural

victories or brick and mortar or blacktop. but

rooted in the reign of Christ. I'm sorry, no

one ever looked at brick, mortar, or blacktop,

sorry, site services, and said, my Jesus is real.

They say that when they see the testimony and

witness of your life in my life. And now comes

the vision. Oh, I love this, and then I'll start

the sermon. The vision. You will receive power

when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will

be my witnesses. Oh, we don't like this. Oh,

we really don't. It's not you might be or on

a good day or on Sunday. Nope. Not try to be.

Swing and a miss. That would be me. You will

be. And notice the scope. I love this. Jerusalem.

Let's just do it here. Again, this is Jerusalem

back then. 214 Ridge Road. Then Northwest Indiana.

Then Chicagoland, Samaria. I think that fits.

But then the United States or the Midwest. Then

the globe. Why do you think we do global missions?

And we hope that our mission relationships, we

can go and be hands and feet with them. But that's

why we support them. That's why we try. That's

why we try to be missional in the here, the ridge

roads of our lives. Your schools, public, private,

or home. Your work, whatever it is. That is the

scope expanding. Jerusalem, right where you are.

Judea and Samaria, the nearby even uncomfortable

places. He hasn't stopped there. The ends of

the earth. We're going to hear a story in a couple

weeks maybe of one of us from our own who is

feeling the tension and the call to go to what

really is the ends of the earth in mission. I'll

just leave that dangling carrot there. The church,

this is the church, what I called Catholicity,

right? So when we said it in the Apostles' Creed,

we believe in the holy. Catholic Church. Notice

small C, not big C. This isn't St. Anne's. This

is the Church Universal. Every other time we

have communion, I usually get a text or an email

about it. Let's just set the record straight.

This is about the Church Universal. The Catholic

Church. Church Universal. Not Catholic denomination.

The Holy Church is spread and dispersed throughout

the entire world. Alright, so these are the first

eight verses. Friends, lock it in. This is just

the beginning. So where do we go from here? What

do we do with this? This vision that God gives

us. First and foremost, we need to wait at times

for tariffs. No. We need to wait on God's Spirit.

And we can engage that thinking that you're more

spiritually attuned than your neighbor. or you're

more spiritually tuned than your elder or your

deacon. If the Holy Spirit is the one moving

all of this, he's moving the church as a corporate

body. In Acts, he does give ways that we govern

the body and we order the body. Why? Because

God is not a God of chaos. He's a God of order.

That should be a warm blanket on a cold night

when you look at the state of the world. Because

that is the definition of God's sovereignty.

We need to wait on God's Spirit. If God is sovereign,

if His Son is sovereign, guess what? His Spirit

is sovereign. We live in a culture that hates

waiting. Amazon promises us, like within hours

of delivering, right? Man, is that not going

to be the tool of the Antichrist. I don't know.

Maybe it is. But they promise next day delivery.

Phones give us instant answers. When all of a

sudden your network goes down, you fall apart.

Man, that early Churchill, they dealt with all

that stuff too, right? Networks down and Amazon,

no. They were like, no, we're just going to sell

all of our stuff and we're just going to do this

together. We even microwave coffee instead of

brewing it. What a shame. And disgusting. But

Jesus tells his disciples, do not move. Do not

pass go. Do not collect 200 denarii until the

Holy Spirit comes. What is he telling us? You,

me, Munster Church, Faith Church, First Church.

Wow, those are, man. We got to get to those Lutheran

churches, right? Good shepherd, Jesse, right?

We get some of that meat of those. Munster Church.

We're not doing the ministries on ourselves.

We're not building it. The Holy Spirit is building

it. We don't build ministries. We don't make

decisions. We don't run ahead without prayerful

dependence on the Holy Spirit. And I know I just

ticked off half of you because you don't like

to wait. I think this building project has shown

us that sometimes we need to wait. Amen, Paul?

Amen. The church belongs to Christ. Sometimes

we act like the church rises and falls on our

programs, our planning, our preferences, having

the right people in place. But the Belgic Confession

puts it right here this morning. The church is

preserved by Christ's hands himself. He may call

us. I don't think he is. But he may call and

say, get rid of Lighthouse. Get rid of youth

ministry. Get rid of the nursery. Your kids are

going to have to sit with you in church. And

if he's the one that's calling it, again, I said

I don't think he is here. Calm down. But if God's

going to call it, if he's going to bring us to

it, guys, I've said it before. I'll say it again.

A God that brings you to it is a, the same seven

people from the beginning. You're still awake.

Thank you. Right? The God that brings us to it

is a God that brings us through it. And he may

call the church to do some crazy things. How

do we know? It's in the book of Acts. There's

a history there. Think of the global church today.

In Iran, house churches are thriving under persecution.

In China, Christians are gathering underground

for fear of persecution. In Africa, the gospel

is spreading rapidly because of the power of

God's word and the power of witness. Christ is

building his church even when we don't see it.

And I don't think we have... The same issues

as those underground churches. Oh, all the kids

hang out by the bathrooms. That's weird. We shouldn't

be a church. No. But parents, just watch, because

a lot of kids do hang out by the bathrooms, and

it is weird. But we can make all of these little

molehills of our preferences mountains for the

kingdom, and they're not. They never have been.

Guess what? You and I are not important to let

those will -be problems. That will never happen.

Though we can make it that way. We can trip up.

Council room, committee room, lighthouse room,

youth group room. We're going to make mistakes.

But Jesus is the one that is preserving it. I

love how Jesus starts with Jerusalem because

he's basically saying, witness starts at home

first. For us, that means start where you are.

The family God has put you in, the job that you

have been called to, your school, your classroom,

your homeroom, your gym teacher, whoever it is

that God has brought you there, it is so freeing

to say a sovereign God has set my life the way

it is now. And for some of us, we go, ooh, but

that hurts because I don't like my life right

now. God's going to preserve you. That's one

thing we get in the first eight verses of the

book of Acts. Your neighborhood. We prayed for

the annoying neighbor down the street. Maybe

they're praying for you because you're the annoying

neighbor down the street. Check your heart. That

people need to hear the witness and see the witness

of Christ in us. Sometimes we talk about missions

as if it's only happening overseas. It's one

thing I love about this church. I'm not going

to lie. In the call process over seven years

ago now. One of the things I loved is the desire

of this church to get missional locally. I thought

it was great because CRCs aren't good at that.

Because a lot of times CRCs is kind of our own

group, our own little clan. No, it's about the

outreach. I look out and see people that are

part of this church because of that outreach,

because of that mindset. But mission starts in

your home, in your street, in your town first.

That's what he's telling the church, the start

of the church. And all throughout, and some of

you are going to get exhausted by this as I am,

but it's going to challenge our expectations.

The disciples wanted Jesus to overthrow Rome.

They were like, okay, you did all the sin things.

Now do the battle. Like, oh my word, you missed

it. They wanted Jesus to overthrow Rome. We often

want Jesus to fix our version of the world. Jesus

come and fix our politics, fix our discomfort,

our finances, our reputations. We miss it. If

it's not about you, it's never going to be about

that. It's going to be about Jesus' reign in

the world. Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this

world. Are you willing today to let him reshape

your expectation, to lead us into places we wouldn't

necessarily choose? Guess what? I am a 40 -year

-old fallible man. You all know this, right?

What I'm going to offer our council in a conversation

in a couple weeks is an idea of a way to kind

of revision what we're doing here. And one of

the main reasons why is because I think we're

stuck in some areas of this church. I look at

our kid in our youth ministries and I go, wow.

I mean, we are doing right by the over 70. babies

that have been born in this church over the last

eight years. That's about right. At that point,

babies, I wish you all would have started crying.

But some of you are seven now, and that's weird.

But understand, the growth of this church, we

are doing a great job of making sure our kids

and our youth are being taught, have witnesses

of adults teaching them. But then I look at our

adult ministries, right? And as the chair of

the Chris Ed Committee, I'm putting three mirrors

on me first as the pastor of this church. We

have some that are working. We have a lot that

are not. Right now, we account in our adult ministries,

we account for maybe... 12 % of our adults are

studying God's word together or getting together

in God's word week to week outside of Sunday

morning and outside of council meetings. I want

to get that to like 60 or 70%. And my good friend

Joe is sitting right over there, right? And he

is one of the leads of BSF that meets on Monday

night starting tomorrow. Giddy up. You saw the

video a couple weeks ago. Men, if you want to

study the Bible, Joe, raise your hand. Wave it

like you just don't care. But he does. Come find

him. I can't believe he did it. But come find

him. Talk to him. He'll be over here in the coffee

area. Men, if you want to study God's word, he

probably can help direct women to the studies

that are around the area for that as well. Men

and women of the church, adults of the church,

we've got to get into God's word. We've got to

start praying over our kids more. The church

can offer programs, but guess what? If no one

comes, that program doesn't go. So part of the

vision is that we need to gather and grow together.

Because God might just be leading you into a

place you wouldn't choose. And you can go ahead

and wrestle with him. You go right ahead. Let

me know how that goes. Because one of the things

that we're going to move on now with this understanding

from these eight verses is that Christ is our

vision. That hymn, we sang it. Be thou my vision,

O Lord of my heart. In Acts 1, it's not a business

plan. It's a vision plan. And that vision comes

from Christ. If Christ is our vision, then our

church's mission isn't to build a brand, but

to be a faithful witness to him. You see... The

be thou our vision thing, kind of that idea,

it's going to take us through the sermon series.

The disciples looked at Jesus and wanted him

to act on their vision. It doesn't work that

way. They wanted Israel's restoration. They wanted

Rome overthrown. But Jesus looks back and gives

them his vision, a spirit -empowered church sent

to the ends of Ridge Road, whether it's blocked

or not, to the ends of the earth. And he promises

us we will never go alone. Munster Church, our

vision is not about maintaining traditions for

their own sake. Believe me, I love that we stand

on a century and five decades with five extra

years. I think that math's right, right Dan?

Yep. Of good things that have been done. But

we also stand on bad things that were done. We

also stand on strikeouts as a church. So we will

stand on the good things. We will maintain what

God calls us to maintain. But we're also not

going to chase after the world's instantaneous

whatever for the church. That instantaneous success.

Our vision is Christ himself. The risen Lord

calls us to witness in the power of the Spirit.

And here I land the plane. So when Christ is

our vision, whether you're a part of our church

or not, The path forward becomes clear. One beautiful

thing that I love about this church is that we

are a greeting church. Karen and I saw that when

we came over seven years ago to kind of an incognito

dinner that you guys put out on the parking lot.

We were greeted like crazy, and I don't think

anyone knew that we were in the conversation

about becoming your next pastor. But this church

greets. We hear it time and time again. And it's

not just Doug. You all do it. We start and begin

with our own Jerusalem, welcoming our neighbors

and friends with gospel intentionality. We do

it because we're called to do it. We gather together

on Sunday mornings and hopefully moving forward,

we all be gathering one or two other times during

the week. And I know some of you just got freaked

out because you go, how in the world can my family

schedule another meeting or two with all our

other meetings or twos or threes or responsibilities?

God will preserve a way. But the uncomfortable

thing is, he might ask you to drop a couple things.

But that's between you and the Lord. We will

gather, just as the disciples did for prayer

and worship, anchored on the apostles' teaching,

the breaking of bread in our homes, at the coffee

shops, at the bars, at wherever God is calling

us to go, and we will grow together, allowing

the Spirit to deepen our faith and transform

us to the likeness of Christ. The Belgian Confession,

Article 27, reminds us that the church is sanctified

by the Spirit, and then we will go. not only

to Munster, not only to Northwest Indiana, but

to the ends of the earth, carrying the good news

of our risen King. So, the question before us

is this mission of the book of Acts is before

us. The question is simple for this series. Who

is your vision? Is it your own kingdom, or is

it Christ's? Is it your own comfort, or the cross

of Jesus? The hymn we sang says it well. Be thou

my vision, O Lord of our heart. Let's pray that

as we step into this new season at Munster Church,

the Spirit will make Jesus our vision, our wisdom,

and our strength. So we can greet, gather, grow,

and go for the glory of his name. Not ours, not

Munster Church, but his. So please stand if you

are able. And one of the things we're going to

do differently in this series, we're all going

to close in prayer together. And then I'm going

to give you the benediction. So let us pray together.

Lord, be our vision. Forgive us for chasing after

our own kingdoms. Open our eyes to see the risen

Christ, to trust your spirit and follow your

mission. Make Munster Church a light in our Jerusalem

and use us to carry your gospel, to the ends

of the earth. Amen.