Left Out, Looking for Power....Acts 1

This is that moment in time obviously we've seen something this week we worked hard this week and preparation yesterday

I was blessed on Tuesday with the lesson that we went through on Tuesday night

And so I hope this week you've had an opportunity to hear from the Lord and maybe in your own prayer time or read in your Bible

Or whatever or even if it was yesterday in Grand Prix or Tuesday evening, whatever it was

This is your opportunity to speak up. What do you got?

What do you got?

So

Chakra I was listening to music and there was a

There was a song I was listening to while I was at work and I was listening to my earbuds and

Like I get a lot of variety of music when I listen to music

I get country rap rock hip-hop the whole the whole thing is in my playlist. My playlist is very random

and

but lately I found myself listening to like I guess more Christian rap and

The first thing I found out was one some of these people that some of the musicians I listen to are so underrated

there's there's so talented but yet because they refuse to give into what the world wants and the secular music that the world does and

they don't get the recognition they should and

then

Which brings me my first thing is?

Sometimes when we do what we are supposed to and God we don't get the recognition we should

Because it's not what the world wants

so we have to remember that just because

We're not doing what they want us what what the world perceives is a good thing or hey

You should do it this way instead

We're doing it God's way just because we don't get the recognition that we think we deserve doesn't mean that God doesn't see that

right so whenever we're doing something we

Understand that just because the world might not recognize it doesn't mean that God does

Then this brings me to a second thing one of the songs I was listening to

Was I can't remember the name of the song I can't find it anywhere and it's annoying me

But there was a lyric in there and it said that we need this in clubs and it was talking about

like Christian pop music and

so I started going through and I've got a playlist of like 110 songs now of

Christian songs that are I guess more club type songs and they're all about the gospel and

Absolutely mind-blowing to know that there's all these songs out there that have such positive messages

But yet nobody wants to listen to it

Because it's about things that they don't want to hear about how yeah, we're all failures and yeah

We all fall short of the sense of the glory of God

but God still forgives us and he still loves us and we're gonna do what God wants us to do regardless of what the world wants

us to do and

it's

and I guess it makes me feel good because it shows that you know there are people that are really really willing to

To stand and say no, this is what I'm doing. I found out that one of the Christian rappers

I listen to a lot and it was pretty well known as KB

He's turned down like I think it was a hundred million dollar deal from a couple record labels

Because he refused to fear from his

God that he does and it's like, you know

We that that's the stand that we as Christians need to take

We need to we need to take that stand and go no I'm doing this because God wants me to do this not because of

Anything else this is what God wants me to do

So I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna do it regardless of what the world says and regardless of whether or not they recognize

What I'm doing because it's what God wants and God's the one that's gonna get the glory for it

Yeah, it's why you're speaking I was thinking about

Thought about this this week

I'm going to plan tomorrow whatever my devotional anybody think Satan's got access to money

I'll bet he does

Absolutely plenty now. It's like I can restrain him from any kind of activity that if you can be bought off

You can be paid to not do what God wants you to do. He'll probably pay you there's a good way is a

Artist that started as teenagers that bring us, you know

Just brought an encouraging message that there was really nothing about God in it that abandoned that and now work for

a

Machine basically that turns out song after song after song and some of its literally Satan worship or whatever and they're

Millionaires ultimately there's billionaires even there's plenty of money and not following God if you're about money if it's about making the bucks

You can you can do it

But you got enough you gotta be willing to give up God to do it and then there comes a time

The money won't get you where you're trying to get to it's a false God. They will never buy that

It's worse than that. I think money will take you to hell because it'll happen if you let it be the pursuit of your life

Jason

Video and it was this I think the cast that you would go around

public places and teach the gospel

In huge crowd and some people would ask a different question and one of the questions was

Oh, it's good. I'm being up there and said unless you can get me physical records or

Medical features that Jesus came back alive. I would not believe it

in

What you spotted is if you need physical proof to know that somebody this

Then you will live your life like what you see and what you feel is the only thing that's in your life

Yeah, yeah

He said you're asking for an unrealistic standard and you don't ask for that standard for anyone or anything else

You believe stuff all the time just because you believe it and you don't need that medical records to believe

We believe it has a friend told you believe it because you saw something you believe it because there was evidence of any kind

Of feelings, etc. Yep. It's good work

That's right, you can't necessarily touch love right?

All right teams remember last time we decided to do a video game a dream of letters and you guys won because of it

I have candy and I'll pass it out after service

So I just want to get my candy out

Candy, huh? So good

No, this is candy

This is what I identify with this is mine. This is what I say is candy

Who are you to say that this is not candy? I say this is candy

So you're right

Why would I want to identify with candy when I would say this is candy because this is candy

This is what's coming after service

What I want to share today is that the thing is and I'm not making fun what people identify with this

I want to give people a chance to see what they actually identify with it's like the idea is if I identify with this is candy

No matter what there's no truth in this. This is not candy. This is water

This will never be used for candy if you know if I uh, I drank this you're right. I'd be doing great. Yeah

You can say there's some kind of sweetness and it's something like that

But what I love about it is that I was talking about what is true and the thing is

Pontius Pilate as Jesus he goes what is true and Pontius love it just like I'm not that he said

What is truth like I want to know it was my what is truth?

Whatever I'm out of here. And so what I want to courage us with is that when we talk about truth truth is

You know, I've been thinking about this for a while now like I've had a lot of truth in my life

I went to church on my way. I've heard the gospel through the Word of God through to church, but it didn't save me

You know, I've heard I like we're talking about money power happiness. I

Lived a very sheltered life. I played video games all my life. I watched TV. I mean, I thought I was rolling

I mean there was nothing that I always said smile on my face

Always I'm still smiling. I'm like so tired today exhausted

But God's not exhausted in the Holy Spirit is not exhausted in me, but it's like I was just dead on the inside

So what I want to encourage you guys and all of us is that what is true?

Jesus is the truth

I'll pass that later for you. Okay, but anyway, so what is truth is Jesus?

The reason is I'm saying that is because you can know the word you can know the Bible

You can know a bunch of religions

You can know all that stuff

But none of that stuff can actually save you if it wasn't for Jesus if it wasn't for his which we've been saying

I love it to that DVR his death burial resurrection if it wasn't for that

We don't have a Bible. It wasn't that we don't have a church if it wasn't for God

We don't have a moment in time where we actually are going home or homes come into us. We have nothing

Literally, this is what truth is there are truths out there, but they don't have because to me

I always say truth stands the test of time. This is 2024

2,000 years ago a thousand years ago 200 years ago 100 years ago

No matter what if it wasn't for Jesus dying on that cross if it wasn't for Jesus being buried like I'm dead

I'm not coming back and then

Resurrection. Oh, yeah, I am coming back. You can't stop me if you wanted to I

Chose to die for every person the reason I share that is because of this is I want to encourage people because you know

I'm not saying we can't preach or be bold

We should be that's part of us because we're supposed to be a light. We're supposed to be a hope

We're supposed to be a truth. I just mean we do that every single minute, but that's the idea

We're supposed to get outside of ourselves

We're supposed to give people a chance to share Jesus if it wasn't for that man that was seven year old man

It was some I saw vacuum cleaner. I was going to hell with the vacuum cleaner. I was dying with the vacuum cleaner

I was dying with a smile on my face. I'm really going to die someday and I'm going to hell

That's the craziest part

I think about every single day and that's a mural man would have been like well, you know

Yeah, he doesn't need to hear it

You know or he doesn't want to hear this or maybe I should just let someone else do it

No that man knew that God was saying hey that man comes in here

You're going to share Jesus with him and if it wasn't I won't be here today

I thank God for every person that stands up for what is true and that truth is

First there's tons of other truths. There's great truths out there, but that truth is Jesus

Something to think about is that whatever you identify with when you're drinking when you think this is candy or this is water

Test the spirits test to yourself. Is this true because the thing is when you test with Jesus, you're always going to find the truth

Alright, let's pray to him. Do I have a young person who'd like to pray for us?

So we're going to be tithing offerings a little more to them and then they can go to class

Volunteers

All right

So

You are my hiding place

You always feel my heart with songs

Songs of deliverance whenever I am a free

I will trust in you

I will trust in you

Let the weak say

I am strong in the strength of the Lord

You are my hiding place

You always feel my heart with songs

Songs of deliverance whenever I am a free

I will trust in you

I will trust in you

Let the weak say

I was laying in my bed and sleeping fitfully. I was having the equivalent of a nightmare

I know what a nightmare is. Most of my nightmares I'm just going to say to tell you transparently involve either multiple tornadoes

Striking the location where I am right right then and there or being chased

But I haven't had any nightmares in a really long time. I don't really have bad dreams per se

I know that I have a bad day

And I learned when I was a child that you can affect your dreams and I've been able to affect my dreams

So that when things are going wrong in my dreams, I can change what's going wrong in my dreams. Okay and so

This particular dream just this last week. I was sleeping in my bed and kind of fitfully tossing and turning

I knew I was only lightly sleeping and in my dream I was attending a funeral

It was a cold gray rainy day

Funerals usually feel like a cold rainy day even when they're not a cold rainy day

You know, I mean even in the sunshine you feel kind of dreary and down

At the loss of a loved one or a friend or seeing others who've lost a loved one or a friend

And so in my dream I was approaching the funeral and there are people all gathered around

They're all dressed in black or gray

Dark colors and it was raining lightly and they all had their black umbrellas up

Some people were just standing in the rain without umbrellas

And there was a minister there and he was preaching over the hole in the ground

Which was covered over with those cloths and the bars were there and the casket was there

And I remember having the distinct opinion or the distinct feeling as I was approaching the grave

That it was too late, that I was too late

That was what made this a nightmare that I was urgently coming in a hurry and I was too late

And I asked myself, am I late for the funeral? Is it because I'm missing most of the funeral or whatever?

And I asked myself, was I supposed to be officiating over the funeral?

Like I was supposed to be, no there's a guy there who's leading, he was clearly the first one

And I was trying to figure out why I was too late

And I felt kind of left out because they had gone on with the sermon or the speaking engagement at the funeral without me

And I had missed most of the message

And that was what was causing me to feel panic in my dreams

And that's not really a nightmare but my heart was racing

I know I was breathing unevenly, I was not sleeping well

I was tossing and turning on my bed, I felt like I was in pain

It was definitely a nightmare

I want you to bear that in mind then as we grab our Bibles and go and read 11 verses

That will touch our hearts and strengthen us for the road ahead if we allow it

Maybe a little hooter holler or amen as we say, Acts chapter 1

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And we're in the house but only just barely

Thank you for those who participated in that little object lesson

In case you don't know why, we get excited because we get excited about a lot of other things

We get excited about football, when football goals are scored by our big team

We get excited about Christmas presents when we get just the gift that we wanted or were able to give

Just the gift that we wanted to give

We get excited about our car getting fixed or narrowly avoiding a car accident

When you encounter the Word of God, there is a marker, a moment in time

In which this is what it says and this will change your life

And so that's why we do that little object lesson to remind ourselves that from here on out this is God's Word

Whether I get it right or not, God will get it right today

So it's Acts chapter 1, we read last week the end of Acts, the ascension text

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And we talked a little bit about how that text was paired with this one

And so now we're going to read the other half

We're looking at the beginning of Acts and this is the moment in time at which Jesus is about to leave the disciples

To the work that he has ordained for them

And it says, Acts chapter 1 verse 1

Acts 1:1

The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach

Until the day when he was taken up after he had by the Holy Spirit given order to the apostles whom he had chosen

So he's saying, I already gave you the book of Luke basically

Now I'm going to give you some more about what came next basically and they go together

And he said, notice he said that the Holy Spirit had given them orders to the apostles

Whom Jesus had chosen or God had chosen, God the Father or the Holy Spirit chosen

The capital H there means it's God

To these he also presented himself alive, that's Jesus, and after his suffering by many convincing proofs

Appearing to them over a period of 40 days and teaching, speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God

We're studying the kingdom of God on Tuesday nights right now

We finished lesson one already and we've got three more going on the next three weeks

And this last week's lesson was about the king and how we know that Jesus is the king

We say, who's the king? And we all said kind of like, well God, God is the king

God is the king of everything, God is on the throne so he must be the king

The Bible very clearly teaches that the king is Jesus

And we went through, in fact, very briefly went through the whole Old Testament

And looked at various points at which it points out very clearly that Jesus was the prophecy king who would come

Jesus is the king, okay? And that we saw that clearly on Tuesday night

And now this week we're getting into the kingdom and then the coming of the kingdom

And then we'll mop it up in three weeks

Jesus had presented himself alive to them after his suffering

If you have a King James Bible there, it says after his passion

And by the way, that is pretty much the only point in the New Testament where it talks about passion

And the passion of Jesus was his sacrifice, his crucifixion, and the terrible week that he went through leading up to that

So you have passion in Christ, yay for you, but that's not really biblical

Okay? And your Bible doesn't say you should have passion for Jesus or passion in Jesus, right?

Because that word really isn't used

For these he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs

Appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God

And gathering them together, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised

Which he said, you heard of from me, for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now

And so he's predicting the coming of the Holy Spirit on and in, if you will, and among, and we get that that happens, right?

So the Holy Spirit is not only in believers, but among believers and on believers, etc.

He's more than just residing in us

And this has been predicted since John the Baptist was ministering, so before Jesus came on the scene publicly

John was predicting that someone would come and that the end outcome of that would be that the Holy Spirit would baptize, immerse people

This is not baptism like what we do in the tank

He's talking about the Holy Spirit being on you and that happens now for us at the moment that we get saved

Okay, and so the Holy Spirit would come on them because he had not done so yet, verse 6

And so when they had come together, they were asking him saying, Lord, is it at this time you're restoring the kingdom to Israel?

We're going to talk a little bit about that particular verse on Tuesday

So I'm not going to drill down on it too hard right now, but the bottom line is they were asking him, is it now?

Is it happening right now that the kingdom of Israel would be restored?

He said to them, it's not for you to know the times or epics which the Father has given by his own authority

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you

And I'm going to stop there, even though that's not the verse, right?

I'm going to stop there because there's something that just happened right there, a really cool literary thing

And you don't necessarily see it in the English, but you can see it if you look for it

You see two words that we recognize as power in that verse

Okay, so the first one is authority, it's translated as authority

It's a Greek word that means power, but it's a certain kind of power

It's a power that is reserved for only a select person or individuals

And so that's why it's here translated authority

So we say the police have authority, some of us say the police have power

I submit to you that police have no more power than a normal human has

But they do have authority bestowed upon them by society, by the government, by their job, by their training, by their badge, etc.

And so they can do things or even make somebody do things, they can put handcuffs on somebody, take them to jail

That you or I might not be recognized as being able to do

Technically in our society you can do a citizen's arrest, right?

And so you can arrest somebody, you better be sure what you're doing, because otherwise it's kidnapping, right?

But you can arrest somebody and declare this is a citizen's arrest and I'm putting you in jail, just the same as a police officer does

But police officers are specifically authorized to do that

That is a power that is generally speaking reserved for them

But when you think about it broadly, we have that power too, right?

So that's what it means, this word for power that is referring to God in His own authority

It means a power that God has kept for Himself

A power that God has reserved for Him that you don't get to have, that I don't get to have

So that power was what again?

The power that He's talking about was the power to know times or epics

So you don't get to know exactly when Jesus is going to come back again

You don't get to know exactly how things are going to go in the future

You don't get to know exactly what God is doing at any given moment in time

You are not God's schedule keeper, right?

I'm not God's schedule keeper, we don't get to know those things

God has reserved that power for Himself

But the beauty of it is while God has reserved that power for Himself

There is a power that God has not reserved for Himself

And it says that we will get that or that the believers would get that

He says, you shall receive power, it's a different word for power

When the Holy Spirit has come upon you

And this power is the dunamis power, which is where we get our word dynamite

Dunamis is a Latin word and it translates into the Greek very well

And then it goes into the English, right?

And so dunamis is explosive power, it's a power to get something done

It's a power to change things, it's a power to make things happen, right?

And God would give that power then to the believers

Jesus was promising it would come

And when the Holy Spirit would come upon them

They would have that kind of power

Now they don't get the kind of power that God has reserved for Himself

But they get the kind of power that the Holy Spirit comes and brings

And it's power to do something

Then it says what the power to do something is for

So let's go back to the beginning of 8, it says

But you shall receive power, that's that dunamis power

When the Holy Spirit has come upon you

And it says, and you shall be my witnesses

Both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria

And even to the remotest parts of the earth

So the power that God would send to stir things up

The power to make things happen

You could say the power to blow things up

That kind of power would be for this purpose

So that they could be His witnesses

And that word witnesses there in the Greek is the word martyr

Which is where we get the word martyr from

So He's basically saying you can be my martyrs

You can be my witnesses

You can be the one that takes the truth about me

And about what God has done in you to the ends of the earth

That's the kind of power that the Holy Spirit brings

Here's the problem

People have confused the kind of power that the Holy Spirit brings

The Holy Spirit does not bring you power to pay your bills

He does not bring you power to give you a pretty place to live or a safe place to live

He doesn't bring you power to make your relationships right

Now we can prayer and ask God for that power on a situational basis

But if you're not given the Holy Spirit gift of healing for example

You pray for somebody to heal

God will hear and if you're a Christian especially

And you ask the name of Christ the word says you will have what you ask for

If you pray and believe that you have it, you'll have what you ask for

But the Holy Spirit brings the Holy Spirit gift of healing to people who have the Holy Spirit gift of healing

And who determines that?

Well, it's the Holy Spirit

He determines who gets what kind of gifts

And so you could then say that in individual people that this power for him it might be for healing

The Holy Spirit comes in him

He has the power to heal

For him it might be for preaching or for teaching or whatever

But what we can say we all get that goes to all Christians is the power to be his witness

And the word witness comes from Martyr which is martyr

In other words, you can put yourself out there

You can blow up the world

You can affect things in Jesus's direction if you will the way he wants you to

If you're willing to he gives you that power by the appearance of the Holy Spirit

And you're supposed to do that as they were supposed to do that

Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the earth

So the first thing I want you to see there is that that covers where you are

It covers where you could be and it covers the furthest reach that you could ever reach

But it doesn't mean you have to physically go there in our day

Because sometimes you can send a missionary

Sometimes you can do Facebook

Our podcast reach 17 countries things like that

So we're reaching the ends of the earth with the gospel

Even right now as we're preaching this word here in little old East Aledo, right?

There's not that many people in this room

But the total number of people that are compared to the world

But the total number of people that will be affected by what we do is huge more than we can ever know

And you all go out and talk in your places where you work where you live

Where you go to school all those kinds of things

And so what we hear here is supposed to affect far out there

And it does perhaps not as far as it should because we've missed that

That's what the power was given for

That's the dunamis power

We want our problems fixed

But the truth is the power that's in the gospel same word by the way for salvation first to the Jew

And then to the Gentile that we are not ashamed of that power is for a purpose

And when they receive that power they too will become witnesses

It's a domino effect just as the gospel

Gospel apostles if you will receive this power for the Holy Spirit gospel spreading for that purpose

It spread and it spread and it spread and eventually reached me and I received Christ

And when I received the power it's for this purpose to spread the gospel

That the gospel would get out to the ends of the earth

First where I am then where I might go and to the remotest parts of the earth

Second thing you want to see and note in there is that they were being told maybe for the very first time ever that this was a big job

This was a really big job

They're still asking about whether the kingdom is now going to be restored to Israel

And Jesus says you don't get to know that

That's power reserved for God

But let me tell you what you can do

You can take this truth the truth that I am bestowing in you

You can be witnesses to it to me and to what God has done in you

And you can take it across the whole world

It will spread to every living soul

And that's going to take a while

This might have been the first very clear understanding

That Jesus was probably not going to return again for the second coming in their lifetime

Because he was saying your job is bigger than you can do

You're going to spread this to the whole world

Then verse 9 says and after that

After he had said these things

He was lifted up while they were looking on

And a cloud received him out of their sight

And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was departing

Behold two men in white clothing stood beside them

And they also said men of Galilee

Why do you stand looking into the sky?

This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven

Will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven

Which is very interesting when you think about it

Because what he just said was

Why are you standing there watching up into heaven as Jesus left?

Because he's going to come back the same way that he left

It sounds like they gave them the reason for why they were standing up there watching into heaven

And at the same time ask him why are they watching up into heaven?

They're saying why are you looking up there?

He's going to come back the same way that he left

And because he's going to come back the same way he left

That's why I'm looking up there

But hidden in the language is an inference that that time will come

And when it comes it will be obvious

His leaving up into heaven is obvious

And when it comes it will be obvious and it will come future tense

He will come future tense

See when we say in English he will come

It should be a minute, an hour, a year, or millennia

Right? Thousands of years

They're saying in the Greek

It's going to be out in the future that he's going to come

And when he comes you'll know it and you won't be caught off guard

You won't be surprised, right?

And like we say, well he'll come as a thief in the night

It says elsewhere

But he's saying here you don't have to stay and watch for him

Because he's given you a task to do

And when the power comes on you

You're still busy doing that task

That you can get wrapped up in the spreading of the gospel

And miss the coming of Jesus

But fear not, you will not miss it

Because he will come like he left

Very obviously, right?

It'll be obvious

Alright, that's our text for the day

If you don't know it

Elsewhere Matthew wrote down a little bit more detail

About the message that they would send

And I'll give you that in a second

Three things from the text

The first one

The title of the sermon is left out

Now I want you to just think for a second

In this story

Who's left out?

In the story, who's left out?

So as I arrived at that funeral in my dream

And I was kind of freaking out

My heart was racing, sweating

It was a bad dream

I asked myself

The feeling of someone being left out was immense

And that's what was terrifying me so bad in the dream

And I asked myself

Is it me?

Was I being left out?

And they were proceeding with the funeral

Mourning the loss of the dead person

Right, that's what funerals are about

Maybe celebrating their life

If it's done well, it's also celebrating their life

And I was thinking to myself

Are they leaving me out?

Is that who's left out?

Is that who's left out?

Or was it the person in the grave?

Was it the person in the grave?

Do I have some knowledge of understanding

That that person is going to hell

And so I'm thinking they were left out

They're being left out of heaven

Is that who was left out?

Or as I arrived there

I remember in my dream as I looked at them

That the people were bereft

They were mourning terribly

Like really weeping, really upset

And it was somebody that they very much must have loved

That was in that casket and they were really beat up

And I was asking myself, are they left out?

And I submit to you

That any one of those three things

Could possibly be true

I could have been upset because I was left out

Except that I know where I'm going when I die

I know what my purpose is

And so however it goes

I know that Jesus has got me

Holy Spirit living in me

And so right away my recognition that I am a father

Lord Jesus and I'm okay

Right away that fear subsided

I'm good

So then I thought maybe it's a person in the grave

But you know how I feel about that, right?

So a person dies

Like if I do a funeral, I don't say

This person's gone to hell, don't you go with them

Or this person's gone to heaven

We should all go with them

That's not how I do a funeral

Because that's not my job

Is it your job to determine who went to heaven or hell?

I submit to you they could leave this earth screaming

Thinking they were going to hell

Mad at God, angry at what happened

Because they've not walked with him

They've not lived the way they should have lived

They would have been weeping and gnashing teeth

Whatever they could do all of that

And arrive a moment later in heaven perfectly placated and pacified

Because they accepted Christ at some time

And what they've been doing is not living out their faith

And they actually did get saved

And God did do it

But then they walked away from the Lord

Became what they said they would never be

Refused to follow Him the way they said

And so they feel unsaved

And in feeling unsaved

They leave this earth that way

Only to arrive and at the same time

There could be somebody laying in a hospital bed

Who thinks they're saved and they're so peaceful

And everything's okay

They're blessed

They're protected by some evil spirit

Or whatever's comforting them right up to the moment of their death

And they go straight to hell

So we can't know

We can't know who's saved and who's not saved

You can know

You can know whether you're saved or not

The Bible says the Holy Spirit testifies with your spirit

So you should know sitting here today

You should know that you're saved if you are

There shouldn't be any question

You should be able to go, okay God

I'm turning to you

Am I saved? And you should have a comforting

In your heart, you should know that you're saved

Holy Spirit comforting you, He's present

Now if you've been walking in sin

You may need to repent to be able to hear

You may need to turn to the Lord to be able to

Have that sensation to know

That it's true, I was talking to Ariana this week

She's nine years old

She said the Monday after I got baptized

She said I got baptized on Sunday

She said the Monday after I got baptized I prayed for the Lord

And I said, God, I've been baptized now

And I told everybody, everybody's watching

Everybody that's out there

And I've told all my friends, I've told everybody

That I want to live for you and I'm just telling you now

This is what she said to me, she said

I want to live for you

Like I said I would

I want to be for you in everything

And she said she had such a peace

And a comfort and a joy

She's never experienced that any other time in her life

Now this is

I'm giving you almost her verbatim words

Almost exact words of what she said

She said I had such a comfort and a peace and a joy

Like I've never had, she said and I know I could not do that for myself

So now when I'm struggling

Or hurt or whatever, I know I can't fix it

But I know

He can

And she said so

If you know

That God has done something for you

That nobody else could do

Then how could you ever

Not believe

And we talked about that, I said well that's really good

Because

People have to learn how to process things that have happened in their life

And once you've processed it and you've put a label on it

And you know what it is, you know that that came from God

Now 20 years from now

If somebody makes a really good argument to you

To get you to stop believing in God

And you might start thinking, aww, they've got good reasons

But you have that moment

You know that God did something in that moment

So you'll never go back

This is what Jesus is talking about

Jesus is talking about people

Having that moment

He's saying you're going to have a moment where the Holy Spirit

Power comes on you

When the Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence in you

That you're going to say, it doesn't matter what people say

It doesn't matter how people would try to lead me

It doesn't matter how people try to talk me out

Of believing what I believe, because I know who he is

I have met him personally

And I am totally and completely

In his hands and I want it to be that way

Because he can do what I cannot do

That's what Jesus was talking about

And essentially he's talking about initiating

The church as we have it today

So you're a follower of Jesus Christ

You have that today

You should be able to, if you've repented, turn to the Lord

And you may have made some mistakes or things

But it says he is willing to cleanse you

And purify you

Of all unrighteousness

He's willing to pull you back to him

So you confess to him, you say, okay God, I got through a priest

I'm not talking about getting on your knees

I'm going to do something fancy

I'm going to get down before God in your mind

Or in your heart, a contrite heart is what God is looking for

But the bottom line is

There's no special formula

Just you come into God through Jesus Christ

He cleanses you of all unrighteousness

And you're good to go

And then you should have a feeling, a sensation

Not an emotion, but a sensation, an experience

Of the living God, because the Holy Spirit

Is taking up residence in you

If you can say, I've never had that

I'm going to say to you, you're probably not saved

Because that's what the Bible says happens

And that's what Jesus said would happen

And I understand

There's a great deal of danger in this

Because there's a sensationalist

Sensationalist Christianity

So, for example, one of my

Favorite readers, a man named

McKinney, books I like to read

A pastor named McKinney

And he talks about how in his day

You couldn't be saved

People would say, you're not saved

If you have not had a sensation, had an amazing event

The Puritans believe that a man

Literally could not be saved

Unless something amazing happened

And people would say, you've been saved?

Yeah, I've been saved

What happened? Well, I was struck by lightning

And I saw God

And that moment, I knew I was living for the Lord from then on

You might be familiar with the story of Sergeant York

That's how it happened to him

He was riding out to kill the man who stole his property

While he was off serving his country

And he didn't want to go to war, and God sent him to war anyway

And there's a very specific story

True story about Sergeant York

He went out to kill the guy that stole his property

While he was gone, stole it out from underneath of him

And he's got his gun, and lightning strikes him

And he winds up crawling from where he got struck by lightning

Into the church, and they gather around him in prayer

And they sing songs and hymns over him

And he becomes a real Christian

And then

And I got the order of events, then he gets called off to war

There you go, then he gets called off to war

And then

He doesn't want to kill anybody

He wants to declare himself a pacifist

But his church is not big enough to protect him

So he winds up going to war

The point is this

Some people think you have to have a big sensation to get saved

I don't really see it in the Bible

You don't have to be struck by lightning, barely survive a car wreck, get shot in the head

The pastor doesn't have to preach, and you just break down in tears

And you fall, you're melting in a puddle on the floor

So you have that moment that you're getting saved

But you do have to have an experience of the Holy Spirit

You do have to have a coming of God

You do have to have a coming of God into your life

You do have to have a line at which you cross the line

And say, I'm living for the Lord from now on

And they call that being born again

And if you're not born again, you're not saved

No matter how holy you are or what you know

So that brings us back around to

Who was left out

I submit to you that it could have been me

And I realized it wasn't me

Because, at least in the nightmare that I was having

Because I was saved, I was okay

And it could have been the person in the grave

But I was saved

And it could have been the person in the grave

But I couldn't know that, I didn't even know who was in the casket

So I wasn't terrified to think that they were left out

But then I looked at the mourners

And how they were mourning, how bereft they were

No joy, no peace

No patience, no kindness

No gentleness, they're all standing there in the freezing rain

Mourning the lost person

And as I looked at their faces, and they were twisted

They looked angry

They looked upset

And I realized, it could be them

Maybe they were left out

And then I started to write this sermon

And I realized, I didn't understand what it meant to be left out

And I realized, I didn't understand what it meant to be left out

The gospel is about

The gospel is about

Jesus Christ dying on the cross for sins

And then going to heaven, and He's there making the intercession for us

Even right now, right?

So who's left out?

People who don't know Jesus are left out

People who don't know Jesus are left out

But it's hard to decide who that is for sure

But what's happened is, God has left us out

But what's happened is, God has left us out

And it's not a bad thing

It's actually a good thing

He's not called us home yet

He's not sent us to be with Him for an eternity

Yet

We are here now, left out on display

Left out to be seen

Left out to be spoken

You look at the word martyr

I'm going to say to you that every time I see the word martyr, it has a negative connotation

I did not want to be a martyr

Anybody here want to be a martyr?

Want to be killed for your faith?

Shot in the head, burnt at the stake, crucified?

You want your nails pulled until you tell them

Who shared Jesus with you

Like they do in the Middle East when they pick up a Christian

In Afghanistan or whatever

Pull their fingernails one at a time

Until they tell them who told them about Jesus

Until they tell them who told them about Jesus

It's bad

It's bad

And so then, they don't tell them

Most of the time I'm told

And then they kill them and leave them in the street

So everyone else knows, don't go to Jesus

Because you go to Jesus, this is what's happened to you

And you go to that person, I don't want to be a martyr

I submit to you

That according to the way I read this verse

We're all martyrs

Every single one of us, this is what it said

But you shall receive power

And the Holy Spirit has come upon you

And you shall be my witnesses

Both in Jerusalem and in Al-Judea and Samaria

And even to the end, the remotest parts of the earth

And the word witnesses there is

Marturro, it's martyrs

All of us

If you don't want to be a martyr for Jesus

If you don't want to give up you

Your preferences, your old man, your old self

The things that you were into

If you don't want to give that up and be a follower of Jesus

You don't want to be a Christian

Because the old you dies and the new you comes

All old things pass away

And all things are made new

That's what it means to be a Christian

We're all martyrs, he died for us

And if one died for us, we all die

That's called martyrdom, we all die

What are you witnessing to?

You're witnessing to the fact that you were somebody

And you're not the same somebody anymore

Now you're living for Jesus

That's what you're witnessing to and you take that to the end of the earth

And when somebody's sick they need to know about Jesus

And when somebody's hurt they need to know about Jesus

When their emotions are in a turmoil

They need to know about Jesus

When their bills aren't paid

They need to know about Jesus

Did Holy Spirit power come so we pay our bills

Solve our emotional issues

Deal with our relationship stuff, no

But if that person's in the midst of trials

And difficulties or whatever

And they're not taking Jesus

Whatever happens that comes out of that

Even if it all gets better, it's not actually better

You get a medicine to deal with your depression

You take it, you feel better, you go to hell

Not because of the medicine, not because of the depression

But because you don't know Jesus

We should be taking Jesus

Everywhere and the Holy Spirit

Power is for that purpose

We are left out

On display

Now I've thought about that

Nightmare a number of times since I had it

And I thought about how

They have a funeral meal

A lot of times after funerals

And people was breaking up

After the funeral

And I've envisioned in my mind

Talking to all of those people

Who were at that funeral

And telling them, yes, it's terrible that your loved one is dying

And the truth is, if your loved one has died

And did not know Jesus, they're going to hell

And they're not going to be in heaven

And that's terrible

But don't you go with them

And say, I can't take, whatever, I can't say anything about the person

I can't do anything about that

But you're still alive

There's still a chance

Yesterday I witnessed to an atheist

He's still an atheist as far as I know

He hasn't told me otherwise

But the bottom line is I was able to tell him about the truth

That he will eventually stand before God

And answer for what he does in this lifetime

And he's got to get ready for that

Similar to the message

The gospel message of the Grand Prix

The bottom line is

We've got to tell

I submit to you, if the power has come so that we tell

Wait for this now

If the power has come so that we can tell

So that we can be martyrs, so that we can be martyros

So we can be witnessing to the truth about Jesus

And we're not witnessing to the truth about Jesus

Let me say this again

If the power has come for that purpose

And we're not witnessing to the truth about Jesus

Then we have no power

That another man doesn't have

That another woman doesn't have

You don't have it

So if you don't have the power of the Holy Spirit

To witness

And that's why he came

If you don't have the power of the Holy Spirit

To die to sin, to die to your old self and live for Jesus

If you don't have the power of the Holy Spirit for that

Then you don't have the power

Which is a problem

Because if you don't have the power

You probably don't have the Holy Spirit

And if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you're not saved

And you're going to answer to God one day

Both for your unwillingness

To follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior

And for your dismissal

Or your refusal

Of God's presence in you

God wants to reign you

But there's no place on earth that God wants to reign

That the enemy doesn't also want to reign

Right?

And he can mock or pretend

To be the power of God

So we got to get it straight

We got to realize that the power of God that was given to us

Was so that we could be witnesses

That is what it was given for

Do you have the Holy Spirit gift of service?

Great! If your service

Serves and does things, makes you feel good

You feel more fulfilled

Whatever, that's all great

But it wasn't given for that purpose, it was given for the witness

So that people can know about the saving power of God

So people can know about the sacrifice of Jesus

The DVR of Jesus

The death, burial, resurrection

The people can know that they too

Can have Holy Spirit gifts

You can't get saved to get a Holy Spirit gift

But you can get saved to get saved

And you'll get a Holy Spirit gift

But if you tell them

You need to get a Holy Spirit gift

And that happens by the way, there's a very large denomination

That says if you can't speak tongues, you ain't saved

And that's not true

But they affiliate it with the coming of the Spirit as a sign

And you could reasonably say

That if a person can speak tongues

And you could identify that that's what they were doing

And you knew for sure that they were speaking

The Holy Spirit gift of tongues

Then you could say they're saved

And the problem with that is, could the enemy make a person speak in a language that you don't understand?

Sure he could

And so you can't identify a person being saved

Just because they're speaking a language you don't understand

Because it might not be the Holy Spirit that's doing it

We can't know who's saved and who's not saved

But this we can know

The power that was given was power that was given to those who were left out

That's us, left out here

Outside the Kingdom as ambassadors

Still serving the Lord, left out of going home

Yet was given to us

To be witnesses

That's why we were given the power

That's why the left out people were put on display

That's why the left out people were

Filling with the Holy Spirit

So that we can share the Gospel with anybody we possibly can

You're going to say, why doesn't Jesus just do it?

Why doesn't God just do it?

Well, the truth is

He does

The Holy Spirit takes up residence in us

And it's His purpose

To share the Gospel with everybody in the world

Jesus wanted to share the Gospel with everybody in the world

The truth about salvation with everybody in the world

And essentially He did

Because now everybody that accepts Him

Receives the Holy Spirit of God

That's how it works

And not only that

According to Jesus' words

The Holy Spirit is already providing conviction

To people who have not yet believed

So you haven't believed yet, you're already being convicted

And that's why we know right from wrong

Primarily because, and I understand

Men have a conscience

And we can see the effects of our actions

But the primary reason that unsaved people know what's right and what's wrong

Is because of the Holy Spirit

Providing them with conviction

You say, well I'm saved, I know that

Because the Holy Spirit convicts me when I willingly sin against God

The Holy Spirit convicts unsaved people

All the time

All men

So we'll convict all men of their sins

And we'll teach you all the things that I've taught you

Jesus says

And that leads us then to what is the witness

If we were given the power

Because we were left out

And we were given the power to witness

So people can see

Then what is the message

That we are supposed to be delivering

What is it that we are about as witnesses

And it may be a little more

Complex than this because it is about leaving behind your old self

But very simply put

Matthew said it this way, Jesus came up and spoke to them

Saying, all authority has been given to me

In heaven and on earth

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations

Baptizing them in the name of the Father

And the Son and the Holy Spirit

Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you

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

Everybody, every Christian

Christian, we were talking about this

Yesterday as well as we were walking

Ariana, so we got on the

Topic of what the Jehovah's Witness

Believed happens to people after they die

And

I looked up on phone

To make sure I was 100% sure, I thought I knew

But I wasn't sure, I didn't want to say it without knowing

For 100% sure, and basically they believe in the

Cessation of the Spirit, that after you die

You cease to exist

Except for 144,000

People, which they believe

Is the number that they get that out of a verse in Revelation

Who will be going

To heaven

So they're it, all time

Everybody that's ever lived, 144,000

People, any much

They better not be right

And they're not right, because that's not

What the Bible says

But they selectively choose certain scriptures to make

Up their way of believing

And that's what happens in most false religions

And yes, I'm saying Jehovah's Witness

Are a false religion, in fact I'll call it a cult

If you want me to, because that's what it is

Now that being said

Jesus is here saying

Go ye therefore and make disciples

What's a disciple? Someone who learns

From the master and teaches others what they have learned

Of all the nations

People of all races, from all countries

All cultures, all backgrounds, etc

Baptizing them, that's immersion

Immersing them in the name of the Father

The Son and the Holy Spirit

Then teaching them to observe

All that I commanded you, in other words

Everything I told you to do, what did he tell them to do?

Well, what have we been just saying?

Receive Holy Spirit power

Be left out, receive Holy Spirit power

To deliver a witness

To all people in the world

How are you or I or any Christians

Ever going to deliver a witness to all people in the world?

Well, it's accomplished through multiplication

One little church in East Toledo gets started

And suddenly the podcast

Is going to 17 countries all around the world

How wonderful that is, now it's not a ton of people

In those 17 countries, but it's getting out there

Some guy in Guam

Listen to our podcast, hears about Jesus

Starts talking to his family, his friends

Whatever, he goes to a little church there, they start a podcast

It's going to 17 countries, whatever

It multiplies and magnifies

As God sees fit, but I'm telling you right now

I know this with absolute certainty

That the Gospel is getting out into the world

The only question is

As it's getting out into the ends of the earth

Why is it not getting to Judea and

Samaria? Why are we not

Delivering it to the lands where we live?

Why are you not talking to people that you know

About the things that you know?

And the answer is because it doesn't go very well

As RJ was sharing the inspirational moment

Percentage wise, you might have to share the Gospel

Cleanly, simply put

With 10 people to get 1 or 2 people to believe you

Right?

Now there's a lot of reasons why that could be

But I want you to notice this

One thing, does it say

That we receive the Holy Spirit

Power, boom! Holy Spirit

Power

So that we can go and get people saved

No, it says so we can go

And take the Gospel, starting here

Going there, and eventually everywhere

You're supposed to deliver it

Now the Gospel is not the Gospel without a question

To respond, but you're supposed to deliver it

In every opportunity that you have

Everywhere that you go

Last week we talked about

Talking about God, so I conducted an

Experiment starting Monday morning, everybody

That I ran into, every single person I said

Something like, God is good, God is blessing

Me, God is a just in time deliverer

God wants what's best

For you, God has compassion, I was coming right off

The list of things that people proposed at the end of

Services, we said good things about God, what you could say

And I started doing it, you know what happened?

Everybody that I talked to

Was fairly easily sorted

Fairly easily divided into, yeah

I want to talk about that, let's talk about that some more

Or yeah, whatever, you're talking about God, I want nothing

To do with that

So it made it really easy for me

And so then, the people that were over here, we'll talk about that more

I started talking about Jesus with them

Talking about God with them, taking a little bit more

And as I did that, some of them

Were already professing to be saved

They're like, they're already

Professing to be saved, right?

And so, I didn't have to try to win them

To Christ, but I did try to clarify that they were

Actually saved, right? I think you should go to Revelation

320

I think you should talk about the Holy Spirit presence, have they had a

Born again moment, that kind of thing, and I did try to do that

And then the other half of the group

I talked to them about how to be saved

Crazy thing is

Miss Chris, who works the phones for the

Life station, she has a lot of health concerns, whatever

She started doing the same thing, and on Wednesday

She led a man to Christ by using

That method, just started talking about God

And he was in a very bad spot

And he's like, lost his job, lost his

Finance, lost his place to live

His life is falling apart, his health is a mess

His Medicare doesn't pay for medicines that he needs

His life is a mess

She started talking to him about God, he was open to it

62 years old, never been to church

Nobody ever shared the gospel with him, and she led him to Christ

And he prayed to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior

I spoke with him Friday

Afternoon, and he is still

Professing Jesus and trying to figure out what it's going to mean

And he said, I guarantee you one thing for sure

I will be in your church at some point in time

He lives a little further away

And he wants to walk to wherever he goes to church

So he can be there consistently, and he doesn't want us to come pick him up

That's what he says

So the point is this, you start by talking about

God, talking about what you know

That's where the Holy Spirit power is

If you want to get in the house and the door is locked, what do you do?

You get out the key

If you want to get in the house and the door is locked, what do you do?

You get out the key

So you get out the key, and it lets you unlock the door

And then you open the door and you go in

And you're left out to receive

The Holy Spirit power, to witness

About what God has done

If you're not doing that

You're not tapping into the one guaranteed power

That we were given

The other power, knowing what God's up to

The other power, knowing who will get saved and who doesn't

The other power, understanding the epics and the times

And when Jesus is going to come again

That was reserved for God himself

We don't get that

So you don't want to share Jesus with somebody because you're afraid they won't accept it

You don't get that power

That was received for God

A reserved for God

Only God has that power, only he will know

Whether somebody is going to respond or not

So you do what you do

You exercise the power that you were given

Share your witness

You don't have to talk about anything

But what you already know

You don't have to go to school to learn

You don't have to take a witness course to learn

You don't have to purchase tracks

All you have to do, all you're required to do as a Christian

Is talk about what you already know

And everything you already know is good

The Psalmist wrote it this way

I'm flipping to Psalm 19

If anybody has followed along in their Bibles

And we're in our conclusion now

The heavens are telling of the glory of God

And their expanse is declaring the work of his hands

Interesting isn't it

That they're witnessing

Day to day pours forth speech

And night to night reveals knowledge

There is no speech nor are there words

Their voice is not heard

Their line has gone out through all the earth

And their utterance is to the end of the world

In them he has placed a tent for the sun

Which is a bridegroom coming out of his chamber

It rejoices as a strong man to run its course

See the sun has a certain job

And the sun does its job

And here in poetic language

The sun is glad to rejoice

In doing its job

Are you satisfied with the job that God has given you

Its rising is from one end of the heavens

And its circuit to the other

And of them and there is nothing

Hidden from its heat

Now verse 7 says this

The law of the Lord is perfect

Restoring the soul

The testimony of the Lord is sure

Making wise the simple

The precepts of the Lord are right

Rejoicing the heart

The command of the Lord is pure

Enlightening the eyes

The fear of the Lord is clean

Enduring forever

The judgments of the Lord are true

The

If you allow God to keep you away from the hidden faults

To acquit you of the hidden faults

To keep you back from presumptuous sins

Where you think you know a presumptuous sin

Where you think you know

Thinking somebody is not going to get saved

Thinking somebody is not going to want to hear

Thinking it's not going to do any good to witness for Jesus

That's a presumptuous sin

But if God keeps you back from that

Let them not rule over me

Then I shall be blameless

And I shall be acquitted of great transgression

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable in thy sight O Lord

My rock and my redeemer

I ask you why is the first half of Psalm 19

About the sun doing what the sun

The sun in the sky doing what the sun in the sky

Was made to do and how joyous it is

And the second half of Psalm 19

Is about the word of God, the message of God

Delivering the word of God

What it means to live the word of God

And what happens when you do

I'll tell you why

Because human beings have a tendency

Since the fall to not do

What they were made to do

At the moment you're born again

That tendency is supposed to go away

It is defeated once and for all

The old you die, the new you come

Born again

You're now a member of the kingdom of God

And there is business in the kingdom of God

And it is about witnessing for Jesus

We were left out on display

We were left out on display

We were inhabited by God's Holy Spirit

Who wants nothing more than a right relationship with men

And the power of God's Holy Spirit

Is to witness for God

If you fix your problems

Come up with good advice

Pay all your bills, overcome your health concerns

Fix all your relationships, etc

You will have done nothing more

Than what anyone else might have done

But if you will witness for Jesus

And make your life a witness for Jesus

You will have done the thing that God has reserved

For you

And you will have done the things that God has reserved

For you

And you will have done the things that God has reserved

For you

And then you can say

I was left out on display

But I will not be left out on the day

You're not going to be coming late

To the judgment seat of Christ

The judgment seat of Christ

That sends men to hell and others to heaven

You're not going to be coming late to that day

You're going to arrive early

You're going to arrive at the very first moment

And if you're a follower of Lord Jesus Christ

And you're saved

And you spent your life living in the power of the Holy Spirit

Which is to witness to others

Then when you get there

You'll already know why you're coming

You'll be coming to be found innocent of your sins

And translated into an eternal kingdom

Forever and ever

But the power

To do that

Is wrapped up in being a witness

For Jesus

So if a week goes by

You'll be able to see

So if a week goes by

And your life would not be a testimony

For the Lord

And your words would not be a testimony for the Lord

You begin to feel like

You have no power

That's not really true

You're left out, filled with power

But you begin to feel like you have none

People tell me, well I can't talk

I don't know what to say

I can't change

I can't win this fight

You have already done all of that

You have already done all of that

If you've accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

You're just waiting to realize it

Witness to everyone

You say, well I've already witnessed

To all my family and all my friends

Every single person you encounter

All you gotta do is say, God is good

All you gotta do is say, God has a message for you

You can literally go

To a perfect stranger

And say, do you have a minute? Yes I do

Okay, let me tell you

God has sent me personally

With a message for you, will you hear it?

No, I don't want to talk about God

Okay, go on to the next person

Excuse me, do you have a moment? Yes I do

God has sent me personally

With a message for you, will you hear it?

I will, here's the message

And you can share the gospel

In the simplest forms

Ways you know how, your own personal experience

And say, have you had an experience like that?

Have you personally come to Christ?

Have you been born again? No I've not

But it is interesting to me

I'll tell you basically what the bible says about that

We all have sin

All short of the glory of God

The wages of that sin is death

But the gift of eternal life is available

Through Jesus Christ, God's son

All you have to do is accept that gift

And begin to live for Him as Lord and Savior

Call out upon Him, call, He says whoever calls upon Him

Will not be

Dismayed

He's not going to turn away from you

Will you do that? Yes I will

You just saved a soul

The tenth time or the thirtieth time? I don't know

But this much I know

Therein lies the power

Now if you do it only to receive the power

Then you're greedy

You're arrogant, because that's not why we do it

We are left out on display

Filled with His power

To be His witnesses

And only a man or a woman

Would ever think

In all of creation, only a man or a woman

Would ever think to fail

To be what they are

A dog is a dog and it will act like a dog

The sun is a sun, it will act like a sun

The stars are stars, they will act like stars

But only men and women

Only people, even children

You ever noticed what children act like?

They all act like

Children

Once they start getting old enough

And they have the ability to deny themselves

They deny doing what they're supposed to be doing

And they know it

At some level they know it

At some level they know it

I don't want to be left out

But the truth is

I've been left out on display

For all to see and point to Jesus

And I would ask you to join me in doing that

And yes, your heart may race

And your mouth may fill with cotton

And your palms may sweat

Because it's really important

It's souls

But if you manage to save one

And they manage to save one

The chain continues

But if you manage to save two

And each one of them manages to save two

And each one of them manages to save two

In a whole lifetime

If you could just save two

And somebody else

Those two save two

And those two save two

And the gospel spreads to the end of the earth

But devout Christians who love the Lord

Are not witnessing

And we need to repent

And turn to God

Because we're living without power

And it's ridiculous

There's no reason to do that

I ask the praise team to come forward now

And they're going to lead us in our closing hymn

And we're not praying for power

We're just praying

Lord make us what we're supposed to be

Lord you redeemed us

You brought us back

Now let us live like not back people

Lord you live in us

Now let us live like vessels of the Lord

Lord you empower us

To do witness

Old self gone

New self come

Verbally and physically living out

The gospel

Let's do that

Because that's what we were recreated for

What man was created for originally

And then what we were reborn to do

Take a witness, take a lesson from the son

The son does what the son does

Will you stand with me

Sing this song

And if the Lord is speaking your heart

Sometimes it's singing you to make public

What God wants me to do

X and I want to do it

If it's about witnessing

You just need to repent and you can get it right where you are

You say I haven't done it

I haven't shared the truth of what God has done in my life

With anybody ever or recently

And you just repent and turn to the Lord

And say I'll do it

As we sing this song

Just as I am

And let thou want me

But that thy Lord

Was shed for me

And let thou make me

Come to be a lamb

Of God I come

Just as I am

And waiting not

To rid my soul

Of wonder come

To thee whose back

And hands each spot around

Of God I come

We're going to stop singing at this time. I just want to share one last thing with you.

I have a couple of real quick announcements to kind of get your mind focusing on what's ahead.

And then we'll pray together and we'll be through.

So first thing I just want to share with you is

Okay so you're sick and you're praying for healing

And there's a thought in your head that like you know

God allowed

And I know that's a tough word when you think about how good God is

And he allowed you to be sick

And we think about how the word says that nothing can separate us from the love of the Lord

And how he can turn that out for our good

If we love him or call him according to our purpose and turn it out for our good

So you're kind of like well I don't know

I mean obviously God doesn't want the sickness to be the end of me

If I'm going to have a public ministry still on earth

He doesn't want this to be the end of me

But I'm not half a cent sure that he wants to do a miracle to heal me

Because he allowed it

So there's some wonder there

Is this the right thing?

Or what if it's my relationship or a significant other or my place to live or my finance

We pray and we think well we know we want to pray according to the will of the Lord

We want to pray what God wants

And we say Lord your will not our will be done

And so that just like Jesus

Jesus prayed not to have to go to the cross

But he knew he had to go to the cross so he went to the cross

So if God could put Jesus through the cross

Maybe God could put me through this right

And so sometimes you wonder when you pray for God to intervene

Whether or not it is the will of the Lord to miraculously intervene and solve the problem

That's a question that can arise

When it comes to witnessing

That question is done away with

Because the Holy Spirit is sent in power

So that you can be his witness

Even unto the ends of the earth

So if you're ever doubtful about whether you can share

Ever doubtful about whether somebody can listen or not

Or ever doubtful about whether your efforts are being fruitful

I've shared with ten people and everybody

Three of them got mad at me and three of them just said they didn't want to hear it

And the other three listened but still they could sing

And this is the tenth person I'm trying to share

And you're wondering

You can pray and just say Lord

Let my witness be fruitful

Your power to do what it is that I'm supposed to be doing

That's what I'm asking for

And guess what?

The Bible promises it

It's there, the Holy Spirit power is there to make it

Now you may not get to see it

Why? Because the times, the ethics, the technologies are reserved for God

So you can lead somebody to Christ and you're rejoicing

Yay I let somebody to Jesus

I'm so excited today

And they're not even saved

Because they're professing but they're not really

They're just doing it for another reason

Right? But it's okay

So celebrate the sharing

Not depending on celebration

Your celebration on the outcome

That's what I'm saying

And watch the power of God be unveiled in our lives

To do what it was we were created to do

Celebrate the sharing

I think we should celebrate more of it

Our Facebook live feed affects so many people

That our podcast is reaching all over the world and like that

It's not thousands of people in countries all over the world

But there are dozens of people in countries all over the world

That listen to our podcast and the LifeStation podcast

And a little less than 1500 right now

Because the list is not full

People receiving our encouragement calls

We have people reaching out to LifeStation today

This week saying it was so awesome

We get those encouragement calls

And they're praising God for that because it's having an effect on their lives

We should be celebrating it, it's the sharing

Not necessarily the receiving

Yes, should we receive? Yeah we're rejoicing with angels in heaven

When somebody is professing to be saved

But you can receive power

Because the word says you can receive power

Because Jesus himself spoke these words

My power will come upon you

And you shall be my witnesses

He spoke those words

And we have this quote and it's a promise

And you can guarantee Jesus never said a thing that wasn't true

And so as we go out

You may debate sometimes when you're praying

I'm praying for my cousin to be healed

I don't know for sure if God's going to do that

I'm praying for Tony, Danny's uncle to be healed

I don't know for sure if God's going to do that

Because we don't know what's best

And we pray, Lord we really want what's best

But here we know what's best

Witness for God

That's always best

And God always wants it

Without exception

You say, but I can share the gospel with somebody

And they might kill me

Yeah, as I look at the history books that has happened

It's not an unheard of thing

But when somebody dies, the martyrs come into the kingdom of God first

You want to be sure to be in the kingdom of God?

Go as a martyr, go as a witness

And go into the kingdom of God

And let somebody, God forbid, kill you

While you're sharing the gospel

Instantly into the presence of Jesus

That's not so bad

Otherwise we're all going to get taken out by cancer

Or car accidents, or old age, or whatever

Some day anyway

So better we do what we were created for

And recreated for

And receive that power of God that He has left us out to receive

Than that we

Keep praying for all our problems

In our life to be fixed

While we're not doing what we were made for

Right? Thanks for listening

Alright, we're going to close in prayer at this time

Do want to let you know

Coming up, right around the corner, it's pretty fast

Faster than you might think

Because time and the clock just kick, kick, kick, kick, kick these days

But our anniversary

Is in the month of May

And so we will have our anniversary celebrations right around the corner

Right?

And we're still going to be mopping up this week

Some things from the Grand Prix and stuff like that

That we need to do, but we got to get ready

For our anniversary celebration

It's coming right around the corner, and we're talking about that during a team meeting today

And making final plans for our celebration

But you can plan

For a celebration around the

Third week of May, celebrate the anniversary of the church

That's coming fast

VVS over the summer

We always do VVS of some kind of

We structure it a couple different ways

A couple times where that's coming, right?

Talk about softball, alright?

So we have played softball for four years as a church

Since COVID hit

But we have a green light

And we are able to do it

We just need teams to play

And so we have three other churches that have said that they want to play

And if they manage to pull together

The team, and we pull together a team

And we'll have softball on Monday nights

Starting in June

And some practices between now and then

And practice during the season some

And so it's going to make for a busy summer

And listen

Busy is not the point

If we put stuff on our schedule and it is not God honoring

We have to say that's not for us

Alright?

So we all have to be on board with that

And all of us checking and all of us working together

And figuring out what is the right thing for our time

Okay? Let's pray together

And there is a gap

Between now and the team we are going against

And I have to do

A little bit of transportation and organization

And get the pantry ready to go, that kind of thing

And then we'll have some room for those who want to be

I don't know, team leaders definitely

Anybody else wants to say to see what's going on

We're all going to get in touch with you

Bob and Heaven, we do recognize

First of all

That you chose by your sovereign will

To set some people out

Set us apart

Make us different

Call us

To the Kingdom of God

And the word church

In the Bible at almost every single time

Is Ecclesia, and that's the called out

Assembly of believers

Which implies we are set out

We are out here

Kind of on the right edge

When our life is peaceful and calm

And everything is going fine

Our schedule all managed, our health is all good

Our finances are all good

And nobody is getting saved

Then we are exercising our abilities

As a human for the wrong purpose

We recognize that we were left out

To be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit

And His desire

Above all things is to see

Men saved

To see men hearing the Gospel

Which ultimately results in the power

Of salvation is in the Gospel

Ultimately results in men getting saved

Who are willing

That there should be a man living in Toledo

62 years old and never heard the Gospel

Never heard about God

Never darkened the doors of the church

That is a travesty of justice

I imagine it offends you mightily

We are not responsible for every single person

But each of us is responsible for some

And if everybody in the church everywhere

Would take everybody that they are responsible

For and share the Gospel

We have reached the ends of the earth

This week

And so Lord we just ask you

To forgive us where we failed you

We know that that forgiveness is available

Through Jesus

He paid the price

And we are so grateful

Thank you for forgiving us

For setting us up in a position

Where people may look in our general direction

And we could be that light that we are supposed to be