Mission Vineyard Church Sermon 4_12_26

She's excellent.

I thought

struggle with

All right, Mission Vineyard family, make

it back to your seats, please.

>> Thank you.

>> All right.

Good morning. My name's Amanda McMullen.

This is my first time doing

announcements.

Bear [applause] with me.

Um, we're so glad to have you worshiping

here with us today. And if you're new,

you should have gotten one of these bags

with a gift inside.

It's a mana bag. And this gift is for

you to give away and go bless somebody

who might need some supplies.

And then there's a connect card in here

also that you can fill out with your

information. And if you put your mailing

address, you actually do get a gift from

Pastor John, a $5 Starbucks gift card.

So don't sleep on that. But anyway,

okay. Events we have coming up next

week, April 19th, 1:15 p.m. is our

five-step prayer model training at the

home of Ken and Arlene Oscar. You can

email [email protected]

to RSVP or you can find Ken and Arlene

over here and let them know. And then

May 2nd, we have Alpha Holy Spirit Day

from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the home

of Steve and Kathleen Smith. Learn about

who the Holy Spirit is, what the Holy

Spirit does, and how to be filled and

baptized by the Holy Spirit. You can

email [email protected]

to RSVP.

And then John has one more announcement.

Do you want to do that now or after?

Okay.

Okay. And then now the it's time to

give. So I missed we give out of an

overflow of what God has already given

to us. So it is a gift to give and we

give with open hands and cheerful

hearts. So whoever's doing the giving

baskets can come up and pass those

around

and then we can pray. Father, everything

in this room belongs to you. The earth

is yours and everything in it. We hold

these gifts with open hands as an act of

worship. We trust that what is given

today will be used faithfully for the

work of your kingdom through Mission

Vineyard. Bless the remainder of the

service and may everything we do here

today bring you glory. Thank you, Jesus.

Amen.

>> Thanks, Amanda.

Give a cheer for Amanda McMullen.

[applause]

>> It's not easy to get up in front of

people and order them around. And

Amanda, you just do a great job. No,

what I actually told Amanda was, I want

you to to lead in this announcement time

because when she greets people, and I

don't know if she's ever greeted you

before, she does a great job. Like, I

just I feel welcomed. I feel like other

people feel welcome when she greets

people. So, thanks, Amanda. Woo! Woo!

Awesome. Uh, my name is John. I'm the

senior pastor here. It's an honor to be

with you this morning. I do have another

announcement.

We are counting down, church, to our

15th anniversary as a church. We're

counting down [applause]

and we plan on celebrating. So, mark

your calendars for July 12th. If you

already booked that trip, cancel it.

There's truth in sarcasm. Um July 12th,

we would love for you to be here. We are

going to party. Uh we're going to take a

couple times to party. May 30th, we're

going to party as well. We're just It's

going to be a party time leading up to

our 15th anniversary. And we've got So,

we've got 14 weeks left. 13 weeks today,

actually. 13 weeks left until our 15th

anniversary. Now, one way that God led

us into this celebration was giving us a

year of transition last year, which put

us on our knees. Have you ever been

through a year of transition?

Transition, quote unquote, is a year

that really, really stunk.

Yes. Yes. Well, I saw one hand. Good for

you. And we just we lost a lot last year

as a church. We lost a building. Uh we

lost uh leaders that moved away. And it

really put us on our knees in three

different series of times of prayer. And

through those times, God said, "Hey, I

want you to get I want to give you a hub

for your church. You guys have been

active in planting churches for the last

15 years. I want to give you a hub for

your community so your community can be

healthy, but then to continue that

planting work that I've called you to.

And I want you I want to give you money

for those church plants that are going

to go out for the next years until 2035.

We have a plan for 18 total church no 18

churches to be planted by 2035 and we've

already planted a lot. The others uh

thing that he wanted to give money for

was to bless our partners. So snack pack

for kids. Uh we feed about 100 to 175

kids every weekend at Rogers Academy. uh

one hope for kids now 450 children have

been blessed with I think it's forever

homes uh up to they celebrated this past

week uh inner varsity ministering on

campuses all over the city and other

partners that we have in the city he

said I want to give you 150,000 for that

and so um people have done some crazy

things to participate in that so one

family told me yeah we took some of the

proceeds from the home we sold and we

gave it to the church and went that's

you're nuts. Why didn't you keep that

for yourself and like towards your next

home? They said, "No, this is what God

asks us to do." Another family said,

"You know, I we had plans for retirement

and to do some certain things with

retirement. Uh God asked us to lay those

down and so we're going to give that to

the church as well towards this vision."

If that's you, there's a on our donate

page online, there's a way to to give

towards the 2026 vision of the church.

I'd love to hear how God's speaking to

you about this because he's we the

church

Um, God doesn't need your money and the

church doesn't need your money. God

gives us all that we need. We get to

join in in gratitude for all that he's

given to us. And uh, if God's calling

you to join in with that, I'm excited

for you. I know uh, God's called our

leader and I to join in with that. And

so, our budgets look differently this

year. It's been interesting. Uh, but I

want to pray for that vision. Would you

take just a moment and pray for that

vision? One of the ways that I know God

is behind giving us our own home is when

he makes our temporary home so difficult

to live in.

Over the last 14 years, almost 15 years,

we've been in multiple different places.

And each time we felt these growing

pains and along with those growing

pains, um I'll give you an example. When

we were at Lionsfield Community Center,

there were probably six or seven times

when the host for the building just

didn't show up. And so we had everybody

coming to church that day and the

building was locked and we went, "Oh, I

wonder if God's asking if he's nudging

us out." Uh here in the museum, we've

had similar types of things where we've

kind of had to fight to meet here this

year. And so we we feel that sort of

agreement with the Lord going, you know,

I'm blowing on something else. I want

you to have faith for another building.

And so actually the lease with the DM is

up at the end of the year. And so we're

hoping that we'll have this $1.5 million

this summer to be able to prepare for

when this lease is up at the end of the

year so that January 2027, we'll be in a

new building of our own uh in a hub for

all that God has done through us and in

us. So Lord Jesus, we stop and we pray

because you asked us just to pray. You

didn't ask us to raise the money, to do

a campaign, to do anything crazy. You

just asked us to pray. And so we ask you

together, Lord, as we hear the cricket

stuck in the air, as we have battled

sound and video issues,

as you've called us to pray and ask, we

ask God.

We ask for money, Lord, that you would

make a healthy church home, a building

that would continue to be a hub for all

the dynamic work that you've done in our

church that you'll continue to do. We

ask for the finances to plant nine more

churches, Lord,

over the next nine years.

We ask for money to bless our church

partners in the city.

God, we don't ask in our own strength.

In fact, we ask because we feel weak

and we know you are strong in our

weakness. So come, Holy Spirit, fill us

up.

Give us all that we need. We ask in

Jesus name. Amen.

>> My microphone is rubbing on my collar.

That's got to be annoying.

>> Hopefully it won't do that anymore.

Thanks for paying attention. You're

welcome for the distraction.

Uh we're in a new series today. So,

Lucas, would you play that video for our

sermon series? Thanks.

Hey,

>> [music]

[music]

>> hey,

hey.

We're in a series called Community

Growing Together in God's love. And what

this series is really about is the

abundance and overflow of God

through his church to the community.

Today, what was rained out was an event

called Cichlovia where the church uh

gets to participate because Broadway is

shut down. on the YMCA takes over and

they run a whole amazing beautiful

program and the church gets to

participate in that. It has been

postponed till May 4th, but we looked

forward to setting up a big prayer flag

and asking people how can we pray for

you, giving out waters, inviting people

to church and uh doing all that together

with our Spanish speaking community,

Vignia San Antonio that meets on I 10.

But if you don't remember anything else

from today, I want you to know as we as

we lean into what it means for our

community to be a participant in God's

abundance for the city, I want you to I

want you to hear this. God's stuff,

which what Jesus calls God's stuff is

abundant life. God's stuff starts with a

few real people with real lives who are

willing to pray, get filled with the

Holy Spirit, and go. So if you think of

think just a moment what the city could

look like if there was abundant life

flowing from God,

if there was abundance flowing from the

city, if there was extra. Imagine that

for just a second. And and as you do, I

want you to re I want to read this title

of this article that I saw.

This is the opposite. I think the church

is called to do the opposite of what

this article says. This article from

April 7th in the San Antonio Express

News. San Antonio ranks among the worst

Texas metros for future prosperity.

That's what it looks like when God's

abundance isn't flowing. Do you hear me?

So, what would it look like if God's

abundance was flowing? Church, I want to

name the abundance of God

will not come from from government.

>> The abundance of God will not come from

political party.

The abundance of God comes from him

>> through the local church who's filled

with his Holy Spirit.

I would love for next year in the name

of Jesus for there to be another article

that's written that says San Antonio

ranks among the best Texas metros for

future prosperity because the church was

filled with the Holy Spirit and doing

what the church is called to do in

raising prosperity in the city. So I'll

say this again. God's stuff, including

God's abundant life, starts with a few

real people with real lives who are

willing to pray, get filled with the

Holy Spirit, and go. And this has always

been the case since the beginning of

time.

Abraham, remember Abraham, one of God's

first friends on the earth after Adam

and Eve,

gave a God gave Abraham a covenant. And

he said this, this is Genesis 12:1. He

Genesis 12:1

said, "Leave your native country." Many

of you have done that. Your relatives.

Many of you have done that. Your

father's family. Many of you have done

that. And go to the land that I'll show

you, San Antonio. I'll make your city

into a great and prosperous city. I will

bless you and make you famous

and you will be a blessing to others. I

will bless those who bless you and curse

those who treat you with contempt. And

watch this last sentence. This is the

call of God's people throughout history.

All the families on earth will be

blessed through you.

I want all of San Antonio to be blessed

by you.

But it doesn't just stop with Abraham.

Book after book, chapter after chapter

through the scriptures, God keeps

reminding his people even when they

don't have their own space. Look at

this. This is Jeremiah 29:6.

Jeremiah 29:6

He says, "Multiply."

Can you imagine being homeless and God

tells you to multiply?

Multiply. This is what God is saying to

his people. Multiply. Do not dwindle

away and work for the peace and

prosperity of the city where I sent you

into exile. Pray to the Lord for it. For

its welfare will determine your welfare.

The church is not meant to seek its own

welfare before it participates with God

for the city's welfare. Do you hear me?

We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit

as real weak, distracted, burdened

people, filled with the Holy Spirit and

lining up for what God has to do in the

city. And it's there that we'll find our

prosperity.

One of the things I know to be true more

than ever is if you've ever felt weak in

faith or distracted in faith or

maybe you just felt like your faith is a

little

funky. Ever felt like your faith feels a

little funky.

Just me. Good. So,

one of the ways I've always seen my

faith grow is when I begin to share my

faith.

I often don't feel like my faith is good

enough to share.

But all of a sudden, if I call somebody

or text somebody or if I see somebody

and I go, "Hey, do you mind if I pray

for you?" There was a time in my life

when I was not feeling the prosperity of

God and I was feeling really, really

sad. And God came into my life and he

told me, "I'm all you need to know." And

my whole life changed from that moment.

And he's been with me through the

hardest of times and everything's

changed because of that.

All of the sudden, my faith changes and

grows. All of a sudden, my whole sense

of who God is and how I live with God

and what I do with God, it all changes.

So, I'm asking you, church, what it

might look like for your life to look

like that abundant life. I'm going to

start by asking you to look at your

sheets this morning. On your seat,

there's a sheet. And if you don't have

one, we've got extras lying around.

If you don't have a pen, we can pass out

some pens. We've got some pens on the

Raise your hand if you want a pen. Is my

mic still being funky? Are we okay?

>> It's still funky. No, it's okay. Great.

Need a pen over here? Great.

Let's do a little evaluation. Church,

what kind of local community do we have?

You can circle what kind of community

you have. Write in what kind of

community you have. Let's do a little

evaluation this morning. What kind of

community do you have?

What does it look like in your life?

And as you're circling, identifying, oh,

I do have family locally. That's

interesting. Oh, I I actually have a

friend or two. That's interesting. I go

to school or there's a school in my

community. I go to work or I have a work

community. I have a neighborhood. I live

somewhere

and I live in that neighborhood. I have

a church community. In fact, I'm here

today with my church community. I live

in a city. I have a city community. I'm

part of a development that God has made.

I'm involved in different organizations.

I have relationships through those

organizations.

Now that you've identified those,

dream for me for just a moment. Think of

the people in your life that you would

love to lock arms with you as God would

move to bring prosperity into your

community. Who do you love to pray with?

Who do you lean on? Who do you text? Who

do you depend on locally?

Who do you want to help you pray for

your community?

The other question I might ask you to

help answer this question is, who do you

know that's praying for you?

Or who would you want to start praying

for you on a regular basis? They could

hopefully they're in this room

or if they're not in this room, maybe

they're connected to Mission Vener in

some way or maybe another church

community.

Who would you want to lock arms with?

Who do you want to pray for you? Who is

praying for you locally?

I hope that some of you are sitting here

this morning and going, "Man, I wish I

had a couple of people that I knew were

praying for me." And that gets answered

today. I hope some of you already have

that answered.

Who do you want to help you pray for

your community?

Who do you want to lock arms with?

And then that next question, who do you

want to pray for you? Who do you want to

pray for in your local community? So

when you think about your local

community, people that would be so much

better off if they had the love of God

in their lives.

Who is that?

If you could imagine yourself not

being uncomfortable or weird around

them, but just beginning to come to God

and going, "God, I would really love

these people to experience your love.

They're in my community, and I I really

want them to experience your

prosperity."

Who are three people in your life like

that?

in your family group locally, friends

locally, school, work, neighborhood,

church, city, local organizations. Who

do you know would be better off if they

experience the love of God on the

regular basis?

Now, I'm going to ask you to hold those

names in tention prayerfully as we look

together at Acts chapter 1 verse one.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

We're going to look at chapter one or

verse of the uh chapter one of the book

of Acts. The book of Acts is written by

a guy named Luke. If you've ever heard

of the Gospel of Luke, same guy. This is

like chapter two or book two of uh

Luke's writings. Luke's writing from the

testimony of other people for the most

part. You'll get to the middle of the

book of Acts and all of a sudden Luke

starts saying we and you go, "Oh, this

is the point where Luke was depending on

his own testimony." But as we look at

the beginning of the book of Acts, he's

actually he's he's writing from the

testimony of other people, from his

friends. But critically, I think for us,

it comes from a time where we recognize

that Jesus has died and he's risen and

now the disciples are left with this

question. So, what do we do now?

What do we do now?

I'll remind you, God's stuff, his

abundant life starts with a few real

people with real lives who are willing

to pray, get filled with the Holy

Spirit, and go. And this is a great

example. So Luke begins. He says, "In my

former book, Theophilles, Theophilus

could be a guy. It could be just a way

of saying, "My beloved,

I wrote to all about that what Jesus

began to do and teach until the day he

was taken up to heaven after giving

instructions through the Holy Spirit to

the apostles he had chosen." So Luke is

saying, "God chose through Jesus

apostles,

witnesses to all that Jesus said and

did." And Luke had written about this.

And now he's writing even more. He's

talking about after his suffering, he

presented himself to them and gave them

many convincing proofs that he was

alive. Have you if you've ever heard the

name doubting Thomas? This was a

situation that Luke is talking about

right now where Thomas goes, "Jesus, you

could be a ghost. You need to show me

that you're not a ghost." And Jesus

goes, "Look."

and his actual wounds after Jesus rose

from the dead, his actual wounds were

still real before Thomas. That's what

Luke is talking about here. So after his

suffering, he presented himself and gave

them many convincing proofs that he was

alive. After he appeared to them over a

period of 40 days,

40 days is used in a lot the scriptures.

If you consider holy week was the week

before Easter, now we are in the 40 days

after Easter. That's what Luke is

talking about.

a period of 40 days he spoke about the

kingdom of God, the rule and reign of

God. The meaning that Jesus is now king

because he has defeated death on the

cross and raised from the dead.

But Luke says on one occasion while he

was eating with them he gave them this

command do not leave Jerusalem but wait

for the gift of that my father promised

which you have heard me speak about. So,

if you can imagine, you're with Jesus

for 40 days. This has to be amazing. The

risen from the dead Jesus. He can walk

through walls. You're feeling really

cool about yourself. You're like with

the best, coolest person that ever

existed. He can like cook fish and

stuff, but all of a sudden appear. This

is the best thing ever. It's like going

to the moon, but landing or something.

Thank God that Artemis is back.

But the disciples were were feeling so

cool and they're in these 40 days and

they don't know when it's going to end.

It could be that they believe that

they're just with Jesus, the the walking

through walls fun Jesus for the rest of

their lives.

And he goes, "Hey, don't leave

Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my

father promised, which you've heard me

speak about over the last 40 days and

over the last three years of its

ministry as well." He said, 'For John

baptized with water, but in a few days,

you're going to be baptized with the

Holy Spirit. So, all of a sudden, Jesus

introduces this new way of living, the

baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Some of you have been baptized in water.

Some of you have not been or have been

baptized in the spirit, where the Holy

Spirit comes on you in power and

empowers you for the mission of God.

empowers you for the mission of God and

gives you the gifts of the spirit to do

the mission of God to join in with what

the church is doing but also gives you

the character of the spirit love and joy

and peace and patience and kindness

goodness and faithfulness and gentleness

and self-control and even more

so he says don't leave Jerusalem wait

for the Holy Spirit John baptized this

way but in just a few days you're going

to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and

then they gather around him and they

asked an interesting question. Jesus

told them, "Hey, I'm going to give you

the Holy Spirit." And you can imagine,

"Wait a second. Are you leaving?

Jesus, are you are you giving? I thought

you were taking on responsibility.

You're the one that's risen from the

dead. You You're the one that can walk

through walls and multiply food and

stuff. Wait for the Holy Spirit," he

says.

And you can imagine the disciples

getting a little nervous like, "Whoa,

whoa, whoa. I don't know if I can handle

this. It's about the same feeling that

I'm sure you have felt when God calls

you to share about Jesus to a friend.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second. I

don't want to ruin the status quo here.

This is going to be uncomfortable for

me. I don't know if I want to live for

you that way. Th this this could be bad.

And so instead of asking what it might

mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit

and to take on their role in the kingdom

of God that he was just talking about,

they ask him what I think all of us ask

all the time. Hey, when are you going to

take care of things around here?

When are you going to finish things?

Specifically, Lord, are you at this time

going to restore the kingdom of Israel?

That for them means we don't have to be

persecuted anymore for our faith.

Talking about you is not going to be

dangerous.

The government is going to take care of

things. Do you hear me?

So many times around the political

seasons of our country, I see Christians

get nervous

for all kinds of reasons. But one of the

ways that Christians get nervous is in

the expectation that for some reason

they need God to raise up a new king

to do God's kingdom work instead of

taking that responsibility on

themselves.

Whether it's social justice work or

morality work,

there's an anxiety that starts to build.

Wait a second, Jesus. I don't know if I

can take this on. It's going to be

really uncomfortable for me.

And so instead of saying, Lord, fill me

with your Holy Spirit and give me the

small practical things to do that'll

bring prosperity to this city, we go,

"Oh yeah, God, I'm going to vote for

that person so that they can do it."

The disciples do it right here.

Lord, are you going to restore the

kingdom of Israel? And he said to them,

it's none of your business.

It's not for you to know the times and

dates the Father has set to take his

older authority and change things around

here.

But this is your business. You will

receive power when the Holy Spirit comes

on you. And what that he gives him a

task. This isn't about them doing the

work. This is about you doing the work.

The Holy Spirit in you doing the work.

And what is the work? You will be my

witnesses.

I love this part of Jesus that he

doesn't say you will take care of

poverty.

You will take care of all of injustice.

You will take care of No, he doesn't say

any of that. He says, "You will be my

witnesses.

You will stop all immorality." No, he

doesn't say that.

You will be my witnesses.

You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem. So

in their hometown in Judea, sort of the

area around there and Samaria, the

outskirts and to the ends of the earth.

After he said this, you can imagine they

had more questions and he bails.

Just like that, he was taken up before

their very eyes and a cloud hid them

from their sight and they were looking

intently.

Intently is not a big enough word. I say

I think desperately

up in the sky as he was going when

suddenly two men dressed in white stood

beside them and they said, "Men of

Galilee, why do you stand here looking

into the sky?

Didn't he give you a charge to go and

wait and pray? Didn't he tell you that

you didn't have to do the big work? All

you had to do was talk about him.

He'll come back the same way you see him

going into heaven. And then the apostles

got it. They returned to Jerusalem from

the Mount of Olives about a day's walk.

And when they arrived, they went

upstairs to the room and they followed

Jesus's orders.

The 11 disciples were there because

Judas had just ended his own life in

desperation, realizing what he had done

to Jesus.

So in verse 14, they all joined together

constantly in prayer along with all the

women, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and

with all of Jesus's brothers. And then

Peter

realizing that the work that had been

put on their shoulders for the sake of

the Holy Spirit's work of them, he said,

"You know guys, Judas is gone."

The scripture had to be fulfilled in

which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago

through David concerning Jesus. Judas's

stuff was evil, but it's going to be

wrapped up in God's plan. It was already

talked about.

Verse 17, he was one of our number and

shared in our ministry. Therefore, it's

necessary for us to choose the men, one

of the men who had been with us the

whole time the Lord Jesus was living

among us from the beginning of John's

baptism to the where he was taken up

from us. One of these will become

witness with us to his resurrection.

And so the chapter continues and they

decide they each say you know what these

two guys they were with us since John

since Jesus since John the Baptist

baptized Jesus until Jesus was raised

from the dead. These guys have been with

us but these two are special to us.

Mathias is one of them

and Joseph Barabus Jesus. And they

prayed you know everybody's heart. show

us which of these two you've chosen to

take over this ministry of being a

witness to the world, which Judas left.

And then they rolled dice and they said,

"Yep, you're up."

Wait a second.

Wait a second. How many of you have ever

felt like one, you weren't qualified,

and two, you weren't quite sure that God

was calling you to do something?

Yeah. Thanks for some of your honest

hands.

Not qualified. You've been through it.

Your life's too sinful. You don't have

the capacity. Your little kids are too

distracting. You're too bad of a parent.

Your track record of addiction is just

too much, too distracting.

You still your language is still pretty

horrible.

There's no way that God could fill me

with his Holy Spirit and invite me into

his work. I have to imagine that's how

Matias and Bart and Joseph were

thinking.

All they were were witnesses of Jesus

for three years. They weren't scholars.

They maybe had never read read a book.

Certainly never written one. Who knows

how many people they actually witnessed

to themselves.

And all of the sudden they go, "Hey, you

guys come over here." You can imagine.

Yeah. Oh, this is great. Yeah, this is

great. Yeah. Um uh you're going to be

martyed with us

in really difficult ways. History will

know that you were martyed and and

you're going to die. What? Yeah. We're

going to roll dice to see which one of

you is going to go.

Uh I'm not qualified.

Not qualified. I don't I don't I don't I

don't know if I want to. Um

Matias, you're up. And you see Joseph

goes yes.

I wonder if you can see yourself in that

same room.

I'm sure even this sheet was a little

distracting and a little intimidating.

Me, Jesus, involved in the prosperity of

my city.

Me, God, praying for what could go on.

Me, God,

praying with praying with people. God, I

I've never said a prayer out loud in my

life.

me. God, you want you want me to pray

for other people?

Could you for just one moment, please?

There's one last question on that sheet.

It says, "Describe your dream outcome.

If the Holy Spirit did empower you,

dream with me for just a moment. If it

wasn't about you, if you let go of your

right to the way you were perceived,

what if it wasn't about your history or

your ability?

What if it was just about the Holy

Spirit filling you?

What's your dream outcome

of what God could do

through you, in you?

Some of us want so badly for the angels

to come down and say, "You're up and

it's going to be great."

When really, it's Jesus going, "Hey, I

want you to wait and pray for a while."

Then the Holy Spirit's going to fill

you. Some of your friends are going to

roll dice and call your name out

and you're just going to go.

And all of a sudden, we have St. Matias.

I hope that Mission Vineyard is one

place in your life

where the world just turns upside down

for a moment because I know what some of

you have come into this room with. So

many feelings of God, I can't do this.

So many feelings of insecurity.

So many worries and fears about sharing

that insecurity to anybody.

so many fears of being a burden.

And God says, "I'm going to fill you

with my Holy Spirit.

Your brothers and sisters are going to

come around you and you're up and the

world's going to be better for it."

The world will always value the size of

the crowd or the power of the person or

the influence. The world will always

value that.

But Jesus values how filled and sent and

obedient

people actually are.

He doesn't need a crowd.

He needs you,

just you, just as you are to come to him

and go, "God, use me.

Use me."

I have been journeying with uh our

sister church in Mendoza for a long

time. The pastors there, Mark and

Karina, sold everything they had in

Tennessee and they moved to Mendoza

and started a church.

That same month, one of their daughters

said, "Hey, you're going to have your

first grandchild."

and they still left

in the simple obedience that being

filled with the Holy Spirit would change

the lives of people in the city of

Mendoza, Argentina

for the last 10 years. They've been

there and not one person's been

baptized.

Now, let me tell you, as a pastor,

baptisms is like our simple but holy way

of feeling like we're doing an okay job

if someone's been baptized because we're

actually following what Jesus said. Go

out into the world, baptize people in

the name of Jesus. It's like one simple

practical thing that Jesus said. And so,

if we don't do that as pastors, we kind

of feel like we're broken.

And so for 10 years, Mark and Karina

have been faithfully

witnessing who Jesus is to a community

of about 300 musicians in the Mendoza

area, caring for them through COVID,

loving on them, providing ways for them

to have all kinds of prosperity even

though all the clubs were shut down

during COVID, feeding them. Homeless

people come to their front door and they

have a whole rack that they've set up in

their inside doorway to just give simple

food to people who just show up.

Homeless people have found out this is

the place where I can be safe and

receive just enough for what I need.

They've cried with people. They've done

a couple marriages.

But it was just a couple of weeks ago. I

want to show you what happened. Lucas,

would you play this video?

>> [music and singing]

>> I see.

I got to see.

for 10 years they have journeyied with

12 faithful people. I'm telling you

faithfully week after week, month after

month, year after year. And the Holy

Spirit just landed and boom, 10 people

baptized in one week.

>> Awesome.

>> The Holy Spirit is our prerequisite for

abundance. If we want to see abundance

in our lives and abundance in our city,

prosperity in our lives, prosperity in

our city, the Holy Spirit is not the

cherry on top of all that we're doing.

the Holy Spirit. Being baptized in the

Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy

Spirit is the prerequisite for all of

this.

>> Without him, we are only going to be

limited by our good intentions, and

they're just not good enough. The Holy

Spirit wants to fill us just as we are,

overwhelmed and overburdened, bad

backgrounds, and bad practices.

And he wants to fill us and say, "Go."

Yeah.

>> He wants to fill our lives and send us

out and go and just be a witness to who

he is. Would you stand with me, please?

Prayer team, I'm going to ask you to do

something a little bit differently this

morning. Jan, I know you've got some

words you want to share,

but prayer team, I'm going to ask you to

come right up front

and I'm going to move that. Stephen,

would you help me remove this front row,

please?

Today is a day we want you to be filled

with the Holy Spirit, baptized by the

Holy Spirit. And we're going to give you

an opportunity to do that. I'm going to

ask the prayer teams to pray over you in

an intentional way to be prayed for and

blessed and be filled with the Holy

Spirit. But there was a whole team

praying for you this morning. And as

they prayed, they had some other words

they wanted to make sure they shared

with you so that God got your attention

because sometimes we're just scared of

getting prayer. So hopefully this will

push you over the line.

>> Okay. If you have stiffness in your

right hip, God wants to heal you today.

If you have leg cramps from circulation

issues, please come for prayer. Another

word is count on God's faithfulness in

the midst of your difficulties.

And if you need financial breakthrough,

come let us pray for you.

>> So if you have any of those requests or

you just want to be filled with the Holy

Spirit, you recognize God has more to do

in your life. Stephen, can we can you

help me with this row as well? and you

realize that God has more for you, but

you just feel too intimidated. You, as

you saw that sheet, there's some of you

that went, I know that God has more for

me. I know he wants to fill me. I wants

to do He wants to do something in my

life. I just don't feel strong enough. I

feel too weak. I feel too overwhelmed,

too overburdened.

There's not enough time in the day. I'm

too insecure.

Just come and be filled by the Holy

Spirit. Let him baptize you and send

you. Simple, wonderful people.

Come and receive prayer.

The worship team's going to lead through

one last song. I'll come back for that

and bless you to go. But take this time

and come and receive prayer.