Illuminating Life's Path: Embracing Revelations, Nurturing Relationships, and Fostering Faith in the Church's Mission

All right well, that's a great commercial from the tallies there for our marriage retreat coming up in September.

Let me just challenge you couples if that's something that you feel like would be helpful and beneficial to your marriage Regardless of where you're at in your marriage we want you there so you can start a payment plan and start paying now.

Or if a scholarship is helpful there, we can work something out.

We just want to get you to the marriage retreat in September.

So, with that, kids, why don't you stand through your feet and head out to kids?

Man, let's give it up for our kids as they get rolling this morning and let's let's pray together this morning.

Father, we thank you for the chance to be together.

I'm God, we're grateful to know you, to be able to worship you in this place as the church this morning.

Father, what a gift and a privilege that is God.

Now, as we go to your word, we simply ask that your spirit would lead and guide this time, that, god, you would illuminate truth in our hearts.

And, father, help us to anchor our lives in your word.

In Jesus name, and everybody says Amen, amen.

So in 2007, there was a man who was going on vacation and he jumped on a plane to go to Mexico on vacation.

But before he jumped on the plane, he was walking through the Airport and he went in an airport bookstore and he picked up a Biography to do a little light reading on the beach.

Any, any beach readers in the room this morning have you ever read something on the beach that you were like this is gonna change everything for forever?

Right, like when you go to the beach like I don't, I don't know about you, but like I'm just like, let me give me some like low hanging fruit to read on the beach, like I'm gonna go back and read like the Hardy boys from my childhood or something.

I don't make me think, don't make me work, just let me relax.

This guy 2007 picks up a biography Airport bookstore, takes it with him to the beach and it literally changed Everything for him.

Because you see the the man, his name was Lynn Manuel Miranda and the book that he picked up in the Airport bookstore for a little light reading at the beach was a biography on Alexander Hamilton.

Now, if that's me and I read a biography of it on Alexander Hamilton, I'm gonna read it and be like, hmm, amazing, interesting stuff, and I'm gonna close it and put it back on the shelf.

If it's really good, I might pass it on to somebody else.

But hey, you should read this book.

But when Lynn Manuel Miranda, on a beach in Mexico, read this biography, in his mind what he saw was a Hip-hop themed musical that would literally tour the world when multiple awards and take Lynn Manuel Miranda's life to a whole Different level.

And he saw that on the beach in Mexico.

Isn't that fascinating?

Right, like I would have never in my mind have considered that he did.

And it changed Everything for him, as anybody's seeing the musical Hamilton, right, it's literally sold out shows across the world.

Now, with that in mind, this, this concept of a moment that changes Everything, something that you hear, see, understand, internalized, then becomes a, a mission in life.

I want us to revisit where we landed the plane last Sunday in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

This is Jesus Speaking to his disciples shortly before he ascends back to the right hand of the father, and he is Giving us an.

Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, the mission statement for the church.

Acts 1:8

This is what the church is to be about.

Acts, chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

Jesus says these words you will Receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.

We're in this vapor and rust series and we're asking two big questions one, why is the world the way that it is?

And two, what are we, as the church, supposed to do about it?

Last week we talked about who we are as the church, and today I want us to zero in on one idea the mission of the church.

What is it that the church is supposed to be about?

Jesus makes two promises in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, and the first promise is this he says you will receive power.

Acts 1:8

Aren't you grateful this morning for the promise of God that his power is available to you?

Jesus doesn't say you might receive power, or the best among you will receive power, or the most naturally Gifted among you will receive power, or the least gifted will receive power.

He says you will.

Everybody say that together you will receive power.

You will like it not a Possibility.

There's a chance of no, it's a promise you will.

And what we believe is that, at the moment of salvation, when you, by grace, through faith in Christ, give your life to Jesus and surrender to his authority.

The Holy Spirit comes upon you, indwells your life.

Jesus says you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

That happens in the moment of salvation salvation, aren't you grateful for the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life, that you don't have to sort through this world on your own?

You've got the power of God through the presence of the Holy Spirit, helping you sort out right from wrong, leading your steps, helping you make decisions, helping you keep your mouth shut when you ought to keep your mouth shut and then giving you the right words to say when you need to say something right.

Anybody grateful for the power of the Holy Spirit?

That we're not figuring this thing out, navigating this life on our own?

What a phenomenal promise.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

You are a follower of Jesus in this room this morning.

You've given your life to Christ.

That means you have the power of the Holy Spirit on your life and working in your life.

And Jesus says this is a big and you will receive power.

And what does he say?

You will be.

Everybody say you will be, you will be my witnesses.

So he gives power.

Watch this, but he gives power for a purpose.

His power, the power of the Spirit, is connected to the purpose of the church.

Jesus says you will be my witnesses.

What does that mean to be a witness?

It means that you've seen something and your job is to say something about what you've seen.

And you're gonna be a witness where, in Jerusalem, where you are, judea expanded the circle a little bit, samaria expanded a little bit more.

And how far do we carry the message of Jesus?

What does Jesus say?

To the ends of the earth.

So the power of the Spirit is given so that the message of Jesus can get to the ends of the earth.

And for your 2000 years, acts, chapter one, verse eight, has been the mission of the church.

For people who know Jesus, who have called on the name of Jesus for salvation, our mission is to receive the power of the Holy Spirit and to tell the story of Jesus every chance that we get, every chance that we get.

For 2000 years that has been the mission of the church and until the moment that Jesus returns, that will be the mission of the church.

Anybody like clarity?

I just wanna see clearly, I wanna know some stuff I need.

Let's not make this fuzzy.

Let's not make this confusing.

Let's be clear.

Here's some clarity.

Why does the church exist?

To receive power from the Holy Spirit and to tell the story of Jesus to the ends of the earth.

And what I love about that.

When I look out at you guys today, I see people from all areas of life.

Some of you work in education, some of you are in business, some of you are in the food service industry, some of you work in the political arena, some of you work in the civil service arena, some of you work for nonprofits, some of you are in construction, some of you are retired, some of you are stay at home parents.

We've got people from all walks of life in this room, which means that when we scatter as the church, we've got people full of the Holy Spirit, full of the power of God, walking into every sphere of life with the message that there's a God in heaven who loves the world so much that he gave his son so that people didn't have to die separated from God but could come to life in the name of Jesus.

Isn't that beautiful?

We don't just have to wait for Sunday to gather around that story.

As we go into the world.

We go, in the power of the Holy Spirit, as the witnesses of the story of God.

That's the mission of the church.

You receive power.

You be a witness.

Now here's what we need to understand about this mission.

For 2,000 years and until Jesus returns, the message does not change.

The message of the church does not change, but the method has to change.

Let me dig in a little bit there and we'll talk about that for a second this morning.

The message does not change, like as long as the church of Jesus exists.

The church's message should be, will be, has to be, consistent.

What is our message?

That there's a God in heaven who created all of this, and when we broke fellowship with him, he didn't turn his back on us.

He loved us even when we were dead and our sin.

So much so that he sent his son.

His son lived a perfect life.

Jesus took our shame, our sin, our guilt on his shoulders and he shed his blood on a cross.

He didn't deserve to die, he chose to die.

He was buried in a borrowed tomb and three days later, what did Jesus do?

He resurrected in power from the dead.

And because of Jesus' life, death, burial and resurrection now, people who are dead in sin, far from God, have the right to be called sons and daughters of Almighty God.

There's one name in heaven and on earth and under the earth by which people can be saved, and his name is Jesus, and so this message does not change.

Like Paul, we preach Christ and him crucified and resurrected from the dead, and this is the message of the church from now until kingdom come.

This has been the message of the church from this moment back to the time when Jesus resurrected from the dead.

So here's a little bit of accountability from me and anybody else who stands up here on this platform.

If we ever begin to preach a message that's not Christ and him crucified, you get the right to call us out and say, hey, that's not the message.

What's the message?

It's Jesus.

He is the message.

He's the name above all names.

He's the resurrected son of God.

He's the hope of the world.

Him we proclaim.

He's the message.

And my hope, my prayer, is that for as long as Somerville Baptist Church exists, christ will be preached, so that, as you invite your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, your family to come to church with you, what you hear is not some sort of self-help psychology, it's not some sort of human wisdom or human intellect, it's not the flavor of the day according to the culture of the world at this time.

It is Christ and him crucified and him resurrected.

We wanna preach with biblical orthodoxy.

That's the phrase biblical orthodoxy.

We wanna be true to God's word.

Isn't it amazing that Almighty God has chosen to reveal himself to us?

He's not hiding himself from us, but he wants us to know him, he wants us to see him, he wants us to understand him.

How has he revealed himself?

Through his word?

So for us, as the church, this message we wanna preach a biblically orthodox gospel, true to the revealed word of God.

So what that means is this when the word of God contradicts the word of culture, guess where we stand.

We stand on the word of God.

When the word of God makes us uncomfortable because it rubs up against some idols of our present day, guess where we stand.

We stand on the word of God.

Biblical orthodoxy.

That's the goal.

And at the same time, the method has to change.

Message consistent, unchanging.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

The method, the means by which we get this message out, that has to change.

I don't know if you've ever really stopped to consider y'all.

But we don't look a lot like the first century church, right?

I mean, we got air conditioning, we got heat when it's cold outside, we got electricity and some instrumentation back here that they would not have had in the first century.

I mean y'all, if y'all want to try it, one day we can give our worship teams some first century instruments and just say, hey, make it happen today, let's see what comes out.

You know, it doesn't look the same as the first century church.

We're in South Carolina, in the United States of America, in a school gym.

We don't have the thread of somebody breaking through the doors to carry us away for preaching the gospel of Jesus.

There's a lot that's different here and I'm going to make the case that difference not always bad, sometimes difference good.

Y'all.

I guarantee you that if the apostle Paul were to walk through those doors today, after we all got over the shock of the apostle Paul walking through the doors today, paul would want the floor and what Paul would say would be something to the effect of hey, those things in the back that you know, perry's back there standing behind one and there's another one up there in front of that thing hanging from the ceiling.

I'm not sure what that is.

Once Paul grasped the idea of video, he'd be like, wait a minute.

You mean those things can record what's happening here and you can send it to the clouds and it can go out to the world and the good news about Jesus can go from here to everywhere with that box in your pocket.

Paul'd be like y'all got YouTube.

Like I would have loved YouTube.

I got y'all got Twitter, now X.

Like you can tweet the gospel and it can get everywhere.

The method changes based on the day and time in which we live.

Right, it would make no sense for us to be like, hey, you know what?

Y'all, we're going to disregard all the modern conveniences of technology that are offered to us and we're just going to go old school.

Right, we're not going to take advantage of any of the modern technology to get the gospel out.

Paul'd be like no use the technology and get the gospel to the ends of the earth.

So biblical orthodoxy paired with what we'll call practical relevancy is the means by which the mission of the church goes forth into the world.

Another thought on the idea of practical relevancy Our job is witnesses in the power of the Holy Spirit, under the authority of God's word.

What we do is we translate the language of the gospel into language that the people in our lives can understand.

I'm willing to bet that you know someone today who doesn't know God and who has no concept of what's found in the scriptures.

And so if you walk up to them and just begin to use all of the church language that you know, all of the theological language that you know, and you begin to talk about stories from the Old Testament that they've never heard the gospel, the truth of God's word may get lost in translation.

So what do we do?

Well, we use metaphors, we use stories, we use our own experiences with what Jesus has done in our lives to put the gospel in language that people who don't yet know God can understand.

As witnesses, every single one of us, we are a cultural translator.

We are translating the good news of the gospel that has changed us into a language that our world around us can understand, believing that, as we do that, the power of God is working in us.

The power of God is working through the truth of His word.

The power of God is at work in the lives of people who don't yet even know God, to open their eyes to the glory of God and the gospel, and we're just doing everything we can, with the moment that we have been given, to translate the good news into a language that our friends and our family and our coworkers and our neighbors can understand biblical orthodoxy.

We're not compromising on God's truth paired with practical relevancy.

We want the gospel to connect to the everyday lives of the people that we know and that we love.

I'm convinced, y'all, that what happens as the gospel is proclaimed here on Sunday mornings, or in your life group, or as you study the scriptures in your house, that that should be the most relevant times to your life, of any times in your life.

I guess it should be more relevant than the podcast you listen to on the way to work, than the shows you watch on TV, than the news that you read each morning when you wake up.

There's nothing that's more relevant than the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You will receive power and you will be a witness to we are and what we do as the church.

So what we're gonna do for the next few minutes together this morning is we're gonna talk about what it looks like for us to live out this Acts 1-8 mission as the local church gathered at Somerville Baptist in Somerville, south Carolina About seven years ago, pastor Randy and a group of leaders from the church gathered together to put the Acts 1-8 mission of the church into language for our church, and this is the mission vision statement for Somerville Baptist.

We exist to build vital relationships with Jesus and bring others to his love, and you can see how that rises right out of Acts, chapter one, verse eight.

What does it mean to build vital relationships with Jesus?

It means that our job is to get to know Jesus.

Anybody wanna know Jesus better this year?

Right, we wanna know him, we wanna see his glory, we want to study his word, we want to understand who he is and grow in that relationship and fellowship with Jesus, because, as we do, we're also gonna grow in obedience to his word.

We wanna build our relationships with Jesus but, just like when we receive the power of the Holy Spirit, it doesn't stop with just us.

We wanna build and we want to bring Y'all.

This is good news that we have received this good news about Jesus, that we have believed the grace of God that has changed us and continues to change us from the inside out.

It is too good to keep to ourselves.

We build and we bring because we know that as we scatter into the world every single day, we rub shoulders time and time again with people who have not yet received the forgiveness of their sin.

They're dragging the weight of their shame, they're crushed under the burden of this world and they don't have any hope beyond themselves.

So we build and we bring.

We invite people to experience the freedom of knowing Christ.

We invite people to come and see what God has done in our lives.

We open our lives to the people around us, not so that they see us and praise us, but so that they see the goodness and the grace of our Father, who is in heaven.

We build and we bring, and so, on this journey of building and bringing, this team, seven years ago, came up with seven core values, and these are goals that define who we are and who we are becoming.

So some of these, I think we do really well.

Others of these we can continue to grow in, but these are the seven core values rising out of the life and teaching of Jesus that we want to define this church, and I love that these come out of the teachings and the life of Jesus, because we take Jesus seriously, not just as savior, but as teacher and as Lord as well.

The first core value is this prayer changes everything.

We're gonna hit that one again at the end, so put a star beside that one in your notes.

The second core value is this nothing compares to a changed life.

Think about the moment, if you're a follower of Christ, when you gave your life to Jesus, and then think about all the other amazing moments in your life.

Here's the reality.

As amazing as other moments in life are, there is nothing that compares to the moment when somebody moves from death to life in the name of Jesus Christ, every single time that that happens.

That is a miracle.

Can you imagine being at the tomb of Lazarus when Jesus walked up and he was like hey, y'all move the stone away.

Lazarus' sister's like he's been in there for a while, it's gonna stink.

He's like I'll move the stone, lazarus, come out.

Lazarus walks out, looking like something out of the mummy.

Jesus says unbind him and let him go.

Can you imagine what's going on in people's minds as they're watching this scene unfold in front of them?

Because I don't know if you know, but like, dead people don't just become alive people every day.

It's not normal, right?

Like, let me tell you the last time you went to a funeral and they're like, oh, we don't have to have this thing anymore.

You know what I'm saying, you know it's like that doesn't happen, right?

Except for it does.

Every time somebody gives their life to Christ, they move from spiritual death to everlasting life, and every single time it is a miracle.

We're gonna, lord willing, have baptisms in February, at the end of the month in February, and when that happens, you're all gonna roll that portable bathtub on wheels right over there, fill it up with cold water from the back and we're gonna celebrate the miracle of new life in Christ.

And so when we do here's what I want us to do I want us to celebrate like we've just seen someone who was dead come back to life.

Because that's what's happened the old is gone, the new has come, they've been raised to walk in newness of life.

And there is nothing that compares to that.

Jesus in Luke 15, he's telling a story about lost sheep, lost coins and a lost son.

And in summation of one of these stories, luke, chapter 15, verse seven Jesus says this just so I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, who changes his mind and comes back to God, than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

You wanna know what heaven gets excited about today when someone moves from death to life in the name of Jesus.

Nothing compares to a changed life.

The third value is this we are champions of children.

We are champions of children.

Matthew, chapter 19,.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

There's some disciples who are forming a wall around Jesus, trying to keep the kids from bothering Jesus as he's dealing with the important adult stuff of life and ministry.

And Jesus, if you know the story, he looks at the disciples and he's like, hey, what are you doing?

Move out of the way, don't hinder the little children from coming to me.

In fact, let the little children come to me, for to such as them belongs the kingdom of heaven.

And so the kids come to Jesus.

And what does Matthew's gospel say?

Jesus does?

He lays his hands on them.

It's a picture of blessing.

So the disciples, they're trying to build a wall and keep kids from getting to Jesus.

Jesus is like, hey, I'm tearing the walls down, I want the little kids to come to me and he lays his hands on them and he blesses them.

We want to be a church that blesses children and their families.

I don't know if you've noticed, but when we give the exit call for the kids, it's like a herd of cats moving in that direction.

If you've been back in the kids wing at the nine o'clock hour, this hour seems to be more of the older kids, the nine o'clock hour.

There are toddlers everywhere, literally.

I mean like everywhere.

Like no, we have a gate and we lock them in the room, but in that room they are everywhere.

A couple of Sundays ago I'm standing up here and like, while I'm teaching, I'm watching the back of the room and they're like six babies in the back of the room with their parents.

Their parents were with the babies, but they're babies and parents in the back of the room and I'm like this is amazing.

The kids wing is vibrant, which means, which means there is a need for some of you to step out and to hold some babies and maybe you can do it twice a month, maybe you can do it.

You're like, hey, I can hold a baby every week at nine o'clock and then I'll come to 1030 worship.

I don't know, I'm just saying we want to be champions of children In kids ministry, in youth ministry, in college ministry.

We want to see the next generation know and love and serve King Jesus.

We want to disciple them in a way that they know the truth and they stand on the truth of who God is and what God has done.

We want to be champions.

We want to be champions of children, children.

Number four we believe that compassion is our second biggest motive.

Okay, that's great.

What's the first biggest motive?

Right, compassion is our second biggest motive.

Well, matthew, chapter nine Jesus sees the crowd of people as he's traveling from city to city.

And Matthew's gospel says that when Jesus saw the crowd, he was moved with compassion, and it literally means the Greek.

Literally means he was moved deeply, at his most inner, most part, like his stomach is churning as he's seeing the crowds, his heart is breaking as he's seeing the crowds.

He's moved with compassion.

Why?

Because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Why was Jesus moved with compassion when he saw these crowds that were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd?

Because he's the good shepherd who loves wayward sheep.

Is anybody grateful this morning that Jesus loves wayward sheep.

He sees the crowd, he's moved.

And what Jesus does when he sees the crowd and he's moved is he moves towards their pain.

Maybe you need to hear that this morning.

When Jesus sees a wayward sheep, he sees you and your sin.

He sees me in my shame.

He doesn't walk away, he doesn't turn the other way, he moves towards the wayward sheep.

May we be the same.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 that now, because of the grace of God that we've received power of the spirit at work in our lives, now Paul says the love of Christ compels us.

What is it that calls Jesus to be moved with compassion?

It was his love.

He loved the world so much he was willing to give his life.

And y'all, as we model our lives after Jesus, we gotta love people.

We gotta love the people that Jesus loves.

We gotta love the people that Jesus came to save.

We gotta love the people who don't yet know that there is a savior, that there is a good shepherd.

May our compassion, our love move us in the direction of other people.

May we see the world differently.

May we see people through the eyes of Christ.

Fifth value is this courage is essential for faith.

I love the words of the song that we sang earlier today.

As I walk through the show, may I say as I walk through the shadow, your love surrounds me, and I know some of you in your story well enough to know that right now you feel like you're walking through the shadow and it feels like the shadow is deep and it's dark and you don't see the end in sight.

Isn't it incredible to know that the love of the Father surrounds us even there, in the moment, where you're not sure your faith is going to make it.

But all you know is, if your faith is going to make it, it's going to require a courage that does not come from you.

It's going to require a power source that you don't possess in your own power.

Jesus says in Matthew 28 at the end of his ministry, shortly before he goes back to be with the Father, they're on a hillside in Galilee, the mountain where Jesus told his disciples to gather.

The disciples see Jesus Y'all.

I love this.

When they saw Jesus, they worshiped him, but some doubt it.

You ever been there, jesus?

I'm believing that the battle belongs to you.

So I'm lifting my hands in worship and at the same time I got some doubts.

At the same time, I feel the shadow.

At the same time.

I got some questions about how all of this unfolds.

So, jesus, he comes and he says to them you people of little faith, stop doubting.

Aren't you glad that's not what he says?

Jesus' response watch this to the doubt of his followers on the hillside that day is all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

What is our source of courage when it feels like our faith might falter?

It is the authority of Jesus.

The shadow is real and it's deep and it's dark, but the glory of God in Christ overshadows the shadow of the enemy, and we believe in faith that one day the light of Christ will shine through the darkness.

One day he'll break through the shadow.

One day you'll see how he's been at work.

But in the meantime, we go back to Psalm 23, where David says Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for you are with me, because not only is Jesus' authority over the shadow, but Jesus' presence is with us through the shadow.

Jesus has authority and Jesus is always with you.

So, as Jesus said, take heart, because he has overcome the world, and maybe that's what you need to know today.

In the midst of the shadow, take heart.

Jesus reigns.

He has overcome, he is overcoming.

One day he will overcome.

We can live with courage.

Not only can we live with courage, we've got no other choice, because to follow Jesus in the day and time in which we live, there will be moments where it puts you at odds with culture.

There will be moments where it puts you at odds with the people around you.

There will be moments where it would be easier to give up and give them.

May we be people of courage, stand on the authority of Christ and trust in the presence of Christ.

Sixth value is this Generosity impacts the world.

Jesus says in Matthew 6, 21,.

Where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also.

When we give of time, talent, resources, it's an opportunity for us to direct our hearts towards eternal things.

Anybody got a heart that's prone to wonder why are we wayward sheep?

Because our hearts have a tendency to get off track.

Jesus tells us you want to direct your heart toward the things of God, live a generous life, open your hands and your lives to God and say, hey, whatever you want, whatever you have for me, that's what I want.

I love that we have such an incredibly generous church.

We got some good things to celebrate right here, right now, today.

Last year, in 2023, our church two campuses, one church gave over $3.5 million in giving and generosity, tithes and offerings in a calendar year.

Y'all that is incredible.

You don't believe me.

That's what I'm telling you.

It's incredible, like it's y'all.

$800,000 beyond what our budget was last year.

You gave generously, above and beyond.

12% of that goes right out the door to missions.

So when you give, you are literally empowering the gospel, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, to get to the ends of the earth.

You're part of what God is doing in the world.

When you give and I love that, in addition to the normal budget giving, we had a unified missions offering All of that went right out the door to missions.

Y'all.

We can celebrate this morning.

This is a generous church and I don't talk a ton about giving because it always just feels a little bit weird and awkward and I'm trying to get myself over that because giving such an opportunity for all of us to partner with God and His work.

But I will say this today my family, we made the choice a long time ago.

We're going to give generously to the work of God in this place and through this place, and there is no hesitation on my end to ask you to do the same, to invite you to do the same.

As Paul says in the New Testament, we want to give with a cheerful heart, not under compulsion, because the Lord loves a cheerful giver.

When you give, the gospel goes to Somerville, south Carolina, the United States and to the ends of the earth, and when we give it directs our hearts toward the things of God.

The last core value is this leadership is best expressed in service Jesus and Matthew 20, he is, I want to say, moderating, but it's more like mediating, in this case mediating a discussion between his disciples about who's gonna be the best in the kingdom of God.

He's hours from the cross and they're like hey, can we talk about something before we get to that point?

We want to know who's gonna be in the best spots in heaven, you know.

And Jesus is like let's focus on the main thing, but the disciples, no, we really need to know who gets the places of honor.

We really would like you know, I want to be in the place of honor and he wants to be in the place of honor.

Who's gonna be there, jesus?

And Jesus looks at his disciples that day and he says, okay, if any of you would be great.

Whoever wants to be great among you must first be your servant.

Whoever be first among you must be your slave, even as the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

What does it look like to lead to be great in the kingdom of God?

It's like service, laying down your life to build up others, to serve others in the name of Jesus, to build the kingdom of God.

When you serve in the name of Jesus, you are visibly modeling to the world the heart of God.

What an incredible opportunity.

That is Now all of this some great vision statement, seven core values.

Listen, the most eloquently worded vision statement and the best set of core values are powerless apart from the power of Almighty God.

And so we started with the first core value and we skipped it to come back to at the end.

Prayer changes everything.

We don't wanna just be part of a natural church, we wanna be part of a supernatural church, do we not?

We don't wanna just do stuff in our power.

We don't wanna just hold gatherings in our streets, we wanna see the power of God move and y'all.

I'll be really honest today I have been convicted like never before recently about my prayers.

I pray at dinner, lunch, breakfast.

I pray when something's not going well in my life and I need God to intervene, or pray for health concerns.

Listen, all of that is valid.

God wants to hear from you in every one of those circumstances.

I pray a lot of times in front of groups like this.

But God convicted me.

Recently I was reading in Matthew, chapter six, where Jesus is teaching about prayer.

He says when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites.

They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others.

But when you pray, jesus says go into your room, shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret, because your father, who sees in secret, he will reward you.

And I was convicted.

I was like.

I do a lot of my praying in front of people and that's not a bad thing.

Public prayer in this context is a really good, really healthy thing.

But God just laid on my heart this prayer in the secret place, in the secret place when we're praying not just for the natural, but for God to get involved and to do the supernatural, for salvation to come Something that we can't manufacture on our own For the spirit to blow through the church and the winds of revival to stir, for God to get involved and do what only God can do.

That's what I want to pray for, and I don't want to just do it here, I want to do it in the quiet place, in the secret place where nobody sees, and I want to invite you to pray in the secret place.

Let's move beyond the natural prayers and to pray for God to get involved in our world and do what only God can do.

We just commit to that as a church Say we're going to pray for salvation, we're going to pray for the spirit to move, we're going to pray for God to blow our minds with his faithfulness, his goodness, his grace, as he works in us and he uses us to be his witnesses to tell his story in the earth.

So, as we close this morning, I want to invite everybody to stand and we're going to pray together the prayer this morning that Jesus prays in Matthew, chapter six.

I'm going to orientate our hearts towards heaven this morning and we're going to ask God, in his strength and his power, to bring his kingdom on the earth as it is in heaven.

Let's pray this together.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Jesus name, amen.

As we stand in this moment and respond today in song, we're going to sing a relatively new song and it's all about our response to who God is.

It's the Claire's who God is, what God has done.

And then it says, hey, this is in light of who God is, this is who we are.

So I invite you to offering your worship to God this morning.

Turn your eyes to God this morning, ask God to shine through the shadows, to show his glory, to reveal himself to you.

If you need to join the church, you need to pray, maybe for the first time today.

You need to give your life to Jesus.

I'll be at the back.

We've got people in green shirts spread out across the room.

This is the moment for you to respond as God leads.