51"Giving Glory to God for the Ministry Given to Us" Acts 21:17-20 | Sunday, June 7, 2026

And I'll invite you to take your Bibles

and turn to the book of Acts, chapter

Acts 21 · chapter mention

21.

Acts, chapter 21.

Acts 21 · chapter mention

As I mentioned, today is celebration

Sunday,

a day where we reflect on the greatness

of God as demonstrated through our

ministry here. And we're just going to

continue in our series in the book of

Acts today and just cover three verses

that concern Paul's arrival in

Jerusalem. And I think you'll see how

fitting of a text this is for an

occasion like today as we worship the

Lord today. We'll cover verses 17

through the first phrase of chap of

verse number 20. So let's begin. I'll

read aloud if you'll follow along in

your Bibles. Acts 21:17.

Acts 21:17

And when we were come to Jerusalem, the

brethren received us gladly.

And the day following, Paul went in with

us unto James, and all the elders were

present. And when we had had saluted

them, he declared particularly

what things God had wrought among the

Gentiles by his ministry.

And when they heard it, they glorified

the Lord. They glorified

the Lord. I want to speak to you for a

few moments this morning a message

entitled Giving Glory to God for the

ministry given to us. Let's pray and ask

God to help us understand his word.

Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for

five wonderful years of ministry.

For every life touched, every soul

saved, every person changed.

That is a work that can only be

attributed to you. And we want to give

you glory for it. I pray that you would

help me to do just that through this

message. And I pray that by the end of

it, all of us would be praising your

name. I ask you to give us clarity of

thought and mind, understanding and

willingness to obey and apply the truth

of your word. And it's in Jesus name we

ask. Amen. Thank you for standing in

honor of God's word. You could be

seated.

Anniversaries

are often both a time of celebration and

a time of reflection.

Last Sunday, my wife and I celebrated

our 13th wedding anniversary. It's hard

to believe how quickly time flies. And

every year when we read our cards from

one another, there's often included in

that card a look back at the past, a

celebration of the moment, and a looking

forward to the future. And no doubt

that's what it was like this year as

well. Our anniversary is a time when I

remember fondly as she walked down that

center aisle in her beautiful white gown

and took my hand and became my bride. I

remember that day. I remember the

furious rushes to the hospital for the

very quick deliveries of our first two

children within an hour of arriving at

the hospital. I remember also the

relaxing game of Ticket to Ride that we

played on our phone while we awaited the

delivery of our third child. We learned

some things through those first two.

I can remember the times when we've

enjoyed vacations, the times when we

have enjoyed experiences

traveling for this ministry. God's

allowed us to experience so much. And

every year it comes to our anniversary,

we take time to reflect on the highs and

the lows of life and ministry. And we

thank God for his sustaining grace in

our lives personally and in marriage. We

typically celebrate with a meal or with

some kind of getaway looking forward to

a hopeful future of many years to come.

And in a sense, that's what we're doing

today as a church as well.

We are celebrating 5 years of ministry

here at Boulder Valley Baptist Church. I

want you to think for a moment that five

years ago, this church did not exist.

This room on a Sunday morning was empty.

No songs of praise being sung to Christ.

No souls had been saved. No baptisms, no

disciplehip.

But over the last 5 years, we've seen

God work little by little to build his

church to where it is today. And I don't

think any of us believe that God is

finished building yet. There's plenty

more to be done.

But this isn't just a day where we might

reflect corporately. For many of you,

this is a day where you would reflect

individually about how God led you to

this church. How he worked in specific,

miraculous, or strange ways to bring you

to this place.

You might reflect about where you were

at spiritually when you started coming

compared to where you are at spiritually

today, however many years later it may

be.

Many of you were baptized and discipled

right here. Many of you were saved

through the ministry of this church.

This is a church perhaps where you grew

to share the gospel with somebody else

for the first time in your life. The

first time you ever handed anybody an

invitation was during a ministry

opportunity here at Boulder Valley.

Some of you, I would acknowledge, were

hurt by a past experience

and it was here where you found healing.

We thank God for that. For others, you

were out of church for years, but now

you're growing like never before.

This is a day when we reflect, but it's

also a day when we celebrate as we've

sung God's praise this morning already

of his saving grace to us in Christ.

Tonight, we're having a a taco bar

dinner after Bible study with cake and

ice cream to celebrate what God has done

together. So, uh through this church and

so we are excited to do that. We're

excited to show a slideshow tonight of

just the memories from the first five

years of the ministry here. And so it's

a great day of celebrating what God has

done, but also to look forward to what

God will continue to do through Boulder

Valley Baptist Church.

This morning I want to spend some time

in reflection in a way that draws our

focus to the one who gets all the glory

for it and that is our almighty

unchangeable and faithful God. All the

glory goes to him. Our text serves as

the perfect opportunity to do just that.

If you've been with us in our study of

the book of Acts, you know that Paul has

come to to conclude his third missionary

journey. He's been trying to make it

back to Jerusalem by Pentecost so he can

preach the gospel among the dispersed

Jews that would be reathering for this

particular feast. And what we read in

our text is that at last he makes it. He

comes to Jerusalem along with five

Christian brothers who were from

churches in Macedonia, Aaya, and Asia,

bringing an offering from their churches

to help support the suffering Christians

in Judea. And as you could imagine there

in verse 17, it says, "The brethren

received us gladly."

That means that they welcomed them with

open arms. We're excited to see them.

And it says that in verse 18, the next

day following that Paul and these men

gathered with James the and the elders

of Jerusalem and he declared to them

what God had done among the Gentiles.

And it says that then when they heard

it, they glorified the Lord. Paul is

giving a report of what God has done

through his ministry and everyone gives

glory to God.

Why does God deserve all the glory for

what took place in Paul's ministry and

for whatever may take place going

forward in this church and what has

taken place thus far in this church? The

answer is found in one simple truth from

our text and it starts right here. God

is the one who does the work. God is the

one who does the work. As we look at

verse 19, it says, "And when he had

saluted them, he declared particularly

what things God had wrought among the

Gentiles."

The word translated rot is a word that

means to cause to produce or to

manufacture.

This means that as Paul ministered, he

did not stand before these men to

declare what he had done but what God

had done. Well, let's think about for a

moment what exactly had God done. I

think it starts right here that God

fulfilled his plan to save the nations.

I want you to know today that our

sinfulness

did not catch God by surprise.

Before he ever created the world, he

knew that man, if given a free will

opportunity, could never live up to the

standard of perfection that God

requires. He already knew that. but to

magnify his glory.

He chose before the foundation of the

world to send not an angel, not an

ordinary man, but his son Jesus Christ,

God the Son, to send him through the

womb of a virgin woman by the power of

the Holy Spirit to sacrifice his life on

the cross to atone for all of our sins

to make us one with God once again. That

is what God planned to do. And that is

exactly what God did at the appointed

time and in the appointed place. God

sent Jesus according to his divine will.

And he perfectly fulfilled the law in

ways that we never could. He lived

righteously before God his entire life.

Never sinned one time. And yet he

suffered the most excruciating death

known to mankind as he was scourged,

beaten, and whipped and hung on a cross.

He came at the time when the worst

punishment humans have ever been able to

come up with was well enacted by the

Roman Empire. That is when God choose to

come. Not when death was easy. Not when

suffering was light, but when it was at

its worst. Though he had never done a

wrong thing, he came and experienced the

worst of mankind all for me and for you.

So that if we would trust in Jesus

Christ, our sins would be forgiven. That

we could have the promise of eternal

life and be restored to the perfect

creatures that God created us to be to

live in his presence forever. God

planned it and God executed it perfectly

according to his divine will. That's the

first thing God had done. But then you

know what God did? He then commissioned

and called witnesses of the resurrection

of Jesus Christ. Go to the to go to the

far reaches of the earth to proclaim

God's salvation among every nation. That

was a work of God.

But I want you to see

that Paul declares to them in verse 19

particularly

what things God had wrought among the

Gentiles. Who are the Gentiles? Anybody

that is not of Jewish descent?

All the nations.

But this word particularly,

it means literally one by one or detail

by detail. It means that he gave them a

detailed account. He left nothing out of

what God had done through his recent

missionary journeys. He may have perhaps

told them about how he made his way

through Galatia and Friia and how God

was strengthening the churches there and

establishing them and they were growing

and thriving and expanding Christ's

kingdom in that region.

Perhaps he told them of how he received

the call from the Holy Spirit through a

vision to go into Macedonia. And when he

came to Philippi, God opened Lydia's

heart to understand the gospel of Jesus

Christ.

He told him about how God saved the

entire family of a Philippian jailer who

bound Paul and Silas in stocks and

chains. He told him about how God was

working by his grace to strengthen and

encourage the Thessalonian and the

Berean believers as they endured much

trial and affliction and poverty because

of their faith. Perhaps he told them

about how he went to Athens and Dionius,

one of the men who stood on the court of

Athens

who he was converted from the worship of

the goddess Athena to worship Christ.

Perhaps he told him about when he went

to Corenth. He talked about Chrisus who

is the chief ruler of the synagogue

there and how he converted to Christ.

but then also told him about his

replacement Senise who was the ruler of

the synagogue and he is the one who

dragged Paul into court before the

proconsul there and yet he too

eventually converted to Christ.

He told them perhaps about his

three-year ministry in Ephesus that we

have covered over the last few weeks.

How everyone throughout Asia had heard

the word of God in those three years.

how many churches had been planted. He

told them how God wrought special

miracles by his hands and how the name

of Christ was so magnified that there

was a mass burning of 50,000 pieces of

silver worth of of of magic books and

and spells and all of those things.

Perhaps he told him about the riot

stirred by the craftsmen of the idols

because so many Christians were

converting to Christianity that they

were no longer frequenting the idol

shops and they were no longer

frequenting the temple of Diana and they

were worried that the temple of Diana

would be left in ruins because

Christianity was taking over and

reshaping the city. God had done great

things in Paul's ministry. But what Paul

recognizes

is that while many might look at him and

celebrate the fruit of his ministry and

give him honor for what he had done,

Paul recognizes that every single thing

that he witnessed in his missionary

journeys were the work of God, not his

own.

And I want to say to you today that just

as God had done great things in those

places, God is doing great things in

this place.

Many of you may not know the story of

this church. And so, if you'll bear with

me for a few moments like Paul does in

this text, I would like to declare

particularly in some ways some of the

things that God has done.

Of course, for us, the same thing is

true that God finished his plan of

salvation.

But God also over the course of a decade

did a work of calling our family and

commissioning us to come and start a new

church in Boulder. One that would not

not bounce around the cultural issues

and the moral issues of our day. But one

that would faithfully declare God's

word. One that would faithfully preach

the gospel of Jesus Christ no matter how

much it might offend people. Because

what people don't need is for people to

cuddle them in their sin as they go

toward hell. But they need somebody to

reach into the fire and to pull them out

with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ

and declare that he is the way. He is

the truth and he is the life and not one

soul will come to God except through

Jesus Christ.

God did a work in our life of calling us

here.

God laid on Ivon's heart that led our

worship this morning to come and help us

start in this work after having grown up

in our youth group in Longmont and then

gone to Bible college himself. never

never really called to full-time

ministry, but wanted to help church

planters. And there was no better place

to start than right in his backyard here

in Boulder. God did that. God's led

several interns our way, unpaid to

serve, to teach kids, to lead worship,

to love on you, to pray for you. God has

done that. God did. God provided the

financial support to get this work

started. I don't know if you realize

this or not, but we have had well over

150 churches that have contributed to

this church to get this work started.

That's something God did.

God has provided us with meeting places.

As we first reached out to uh the

Chinese church, they had never rented

out their building to anybody. and they

said, "We looked through your website

and we saw this is the kind of church

that Boulder needs." They said, "We want

to help you." And they provided us a

place to meet for next to nothing, the

cost of everything else here in Boulder.

It's amazing grace of God. In May of

2021, we began door-todoor outreach

nearly every single day. We had churches

come from throughout Colorado, including

Grand Junction, 5 hours away from here.

We had a church come from 14 hours away

in Long View, Texas, to help us do some

evangelism. We had a church from uh from

Clovis, New Mexico that came and helped

us out. And and there are so many that

came to help that I really know that I'm

missing some of them. We have a sending

church in Longmont that has been so

helpful and so supportive to this

ministry. That's something that God did.

Brought partners along the way to help

us.

We put out 10,000 invitations ahead of

our first Bible study on June 6th, 2021.

We met for the first time.

But those early days were challenging.

We only had two firsttime visitors in

the first four months of ministry.

For several months, we met just six or

seven of us. Four of which at that time

was my family. By the way,

it seemed small.

It could be easy to become discouraged.

We began to realize that we need to find

a place not just to meet on Sunday

evenings, but a place to meet on Sunday

mornings. And we were praying and

seeking God. And you know what happened?

As we were going door todo, we came

across the director of this Jewish

synagogue that we've called home for the

last four and a half years. God led us

as we were trying to reach people with

the gospel. He led us to just the right

person at just the right time to secure

just the right place. That was a work of

God. A work of God.

We sent out thousands of mailers at that

time inviting people to join us for our

first openhouse Sunday. And from that

October forward, God began to add to our

church little by little, it would be

eight, and then it would be 10. And then

it would be 12 over the course of

several months and even more than a

year. And I just want to say that I'm so

grateful to God for those of you who

came in those early days when every

single Sunday, sometimes we started 10

minutes late just to see if anybody else

would show up. There were times we felt

like restarting the service because

guests would come in super late and so

all all of those early things. I'm so

appreciative of those who remained

faithful. It would have been easy to

just think because we're not seeing it

with our eyes that God is not doing

anything. But friends, God is working

behind the scenes in ways that we cannot

see with human eyes.

I'm so thankful for those who trusted in

him.

Then we began to see conversions

and baptisms

one by one

in this church. God has saved people

from atheism,

from agnosticism,

from Buddhism, from Hinduism and even

witchcraft. Yes, in a church this size,

those are the people that God has saved

and those are the people that God has

transformed through this ministry.

In the first five years, in fact, we've

seen God save 12 souls and we've seen 16

follow him in baptism. and to uh to the

world outside the walls of this church

and the world outside of the city of

Boulder. That may seem like a very small

thing, but let me just remind you that

we are laboring to establish a church

and one of the most non-religious cities

in all of America where less than 2% of

our population believes in the saving

gospel of Jesus Christ. That's where we

are. And you know what God has done? He

saved 12 more.

16 more have followed him. More have

been discipled.

God has worked in many who hadn't been

to church in decades to bring them to a

renewed commitment to him, a renewed

relationship with him.

God has given many victories over

addictions, to drugs, to alcohol, to

tobacco in ways that no self-effort and

no program has been able to help them

before. God has given them those

victories.

Year by year, the church has grown. And

you might look around and say, "Where

are all those people?"

I don't know all the ways of God, but

here's been the experience in our church

thus far.

People come in their most raw spiritual

condition

from Buddhist and Hindu and and

witchcraft and atheist backgrounds.

and they come and they come and they

hear God's word and they hear the gospel

and they get saved and they get baptized

and then they finish college and it's

time to move on or they have family

struggles and they need to move or it

becomes or it becomes that there was so

much so many snares awaiting them in

this city to their old life that they

just felt like they had to go and start

fresh somewhere else. We've seen that.

We've seen some who just can't afford it

here. Anybody relate to that? Sure.

I can't explain all that God does. What

I'm thankful for is that he put us here

to do that work in people's lives.

I'm so grateful for it. And and we've

seen here's what we've seen is, you

know, I think of as as we continue to

grow that 2024, we grew in one year

really in the matter of six months from

12 people to over 35 people in six

months. And many of those had been saved

and many of those were baptized and many

of those were discipled during that

time. And then and then in the first few

months of 2025 that we went all the way

back down to 18 because of mass

migration of people moving out of the

state. And you know what God has done?

He's continued to work person by person,

soul by soul to continue to grow and

establish his church. And this church is

becoming uh more stable, more grounded,

more rooted. And I want to say that it's

not because of our strategies and it's

not because of our plannings because if

you haven't noticed, we're a pretty

simple church. We come in and we have a

a pretty simple setup comparatively

speaking. We have uh we sing simple

hymns. We teach simple kids church. We

have simple messages from the word of

God. We just do what God called us to do

and we trust God to do the work that he

has promised to do. And that's how God

grows the church.

Although this work may seem like a small

thing to some, God has done big things

in many of your lives and we wouldn't

belittle that for a second.

But this raises another question.

If God does the work,

how does he do it?

How does God choose to accomplish his

work? That brings us to point number

two.

God does the work through people.

He does the work through people. Would

you look at verse 19? It says, "And when

he had saluted them, he declared

particularly what things God had wrought

among the Gentiles." Watch this. by his

ministry.

Paul is careful to give all the credit

to God, but at the same time, he's he's

careful not to discredit the fact that

God uses people. This word ministry is

the word from which we get our word

deacon. It's a word that means service

rendered on behalf of another. You know

what that means? This was not Paul's

ministry. This was not Paul's doing.

This was not Paul's ambition or calling

himself. No. As we saw him speaking to

the Ephesian elders in the previous

chapter, he said he had received this

ministry from the Lord Jesus Christ to

testify among the Gentiles of the gospel

of the grace of God. This was not a

ministry taken by Paul. It was a

ministry given to Paul by Jesus Christ.

He was serving on behalf of his Lord. It

was Christ who saved and called and

commissioned Paul to bear his name among

the Gentiles. God placed this ministry

in Paul's hands and everywhere Paul went

when he fulfilled it, God worked through

him. God worked through him.

God wrought miracles by Paul's hands.

God brought conversions through Paul's

preaching. God led Paul by the spirit to

every place and every city that he went.

Do you realize today that God could have

sent angels to proclaim his gospel? He

could have written it in miraculous

fashion in the sky or in the clouds. He

could have given people personal visions

of himself to accomplish his work. But

for some reason, though we are sinners,

though we are not perfect people, God

chose to include us.

Though we are weak and fall short,

God chooses to do his work through

people like Paul. I want to say to you

today that just as God worked through

Paul, God still works through people

like us today.

And this is not just they're the pastor

and his family. that God works through

all of us. God works through all of you

as well. God works through your daily

consistent presence and witness at your

workplace. God works through your

participation in Boulder love events and

all church outreach as we get the gospel

to every door in Boulder. God is working

through you every single time you teach

that kids class to solidify gospel

truths in the hearts and minds of those

precious children.

God works through your kindness to help

guests feel at home so they can hear the

gospel and grow in their faith.

God works through you as you read

scriptures in church, as you play an

instrument, as you lead worship, as you

control volumes on the sound system, as

you scroll through slides during

worship. God is working even in little

ways through all of that to do his work.

He uses every invitation you pass out at

the restaurant, at the trail, or in the

city bus. God has worked through all of

that to build his church today.

Although we are not perfect, God

graciously chooses to include us. He

does his work through our ministry.

But we must remember that God is the one

who does the work. And therefore, number

three, because God does the work, God

gets the glory. Look at verse 20.

And when they heard it, they glorified

the Lord.

They praised him. They extolled him.

They shined the brightness of his glory

on God for what he had done. See, when

God placed this ministry into Paul's

hands, Paul did not use it to profit

himself. He did not use it to spread his

own fame or to build his own platform.

No, Paul carefully explained that while

he was the one serving in ministry, God

was the one doing the work. And these

men did not praise Paul for his

faithfulness through adversity, though

he was. They did not glorify Paul as

this powerful preacher or gifted

speaker, though certainly Paul was. They

did not They did not give any glory to

Paul. Listen. Though God used Paul's

preaching, though God used Paul's gifts,

though God used Paul's skills in

administration and leadership, the glory

here did not go to Paul. It all went to

God.

Paul was just a tool in the hands of a

mighty God.

He was just a tool.

I'm doing some work on the suspension of

my truck right now.

And you can imagine how it's going. If

you know me,

I've had to get the right tools, the

right sockets, and even when I thought I

got the right tools, they weren't the

right tools. So, I've had to wait to

order more, which is where I'm at right

now. If you go in my garage, here's what

you're going to find.

A pile of tools on the floor.

just sitting doing nothing, waiting for

me to get back to work. But as I walked

through the garage with this message on

my mind, this thought came to mind. All

those tools piled on the floor

do nothing.

They're powerless,

lifeless.

They can't break the torque on a bolt.

They can't loosen any nuts. They can't

spread apart any joints. They just lie

there.

But when the mechanic picks up the tool

and he puts the socket in that breaker

bar and he applies his strength to that

bolt, he's able to break it loose and

the work gets done. See, here's what

Paul was. A powerless tool in the hands

of a powerful God.

God was the one doing the work behind

Paul's ministry. And because God is the

one doing the work, God is the one who

gets the glory. See, when you take your

car to a shop and they do a good job

repairing everything, you don't go on

Google and you don't go on Yelp and

write in that review, "Man, this guy's

tools are awesome. You should see his

lift. You should see his breaker bar.

You should see his torque wrench and his

socket collection. That's not what we

do, is it? We say, "This mechanic did a

great job." Well, hey, listen. When

we're doing the ministry, we are just

powerless tools. But you know what?

We're in the hands of a powerful God.

That there's nothing that we can do in

and of ourselves to save a single soul.

But when God is working through us, his

strength is working on the heart and

transforming the life and opening the

eyes to the gospel of Christ. And it is

God alone who will break them loose from

the chains of sin and the torque of

wickedness. And it's God alone who will

save them and give them eternal life.

And it's just a glory that we get to be

a part of it. But friends, we are

nothing more than tools lifeless on the

ground apart from the strength of our

God.

See, many times

we give honor to men for the

faithfulness of their ministry,

for the spectacular nature of their

preaching, for how dynamic it is, for

their leadership skills and their

administrative skills. And sometimes we

we make the mistake of putting men on a

pedestal.

And I realized that in First Timothy,

the Apostle Paul told Timothy that the

church ought to give honor unto the

elders that rule well, especially those

who labor in the word and in doctrine. I

I believe that that men should be

honored and men should be respected by

the church in that way. But what we need

to be careful of is that we start

treating men like they're more than a

lifeless tool.

that if we start celebrating men,

our hearts are tuned in the wrong

direction.

Rather, what we've got to do is

recognize that we as men are weak,

infallible creatures.

There have been many times in the first

five years of this ministry that I have

felt immensely weak.

times when I have been discouraged by

the lack of results, the lack of

conversions, the lack of baptisms, or

perhaps the lack of growth in

individuals. There are times when I have

been discouraged. There have been times

when I have felt like Moses in the

wilderness with Israel who said, "Oh

God, take my life. Let me not see my

wretchedness."

I've not asked God to kill me yet,

but I have recognized my own

wretchedness,

the vainness of my thoughts as a man, as

though as a man, as though I have any

power to do anything on my own. There

have been plenty of times in my ministry

so far that this is what it's felt like,

like I'm doing nothing and nothing is

being accomplished. And I felt weak and

I've felt like a bad preacher and a bad

pastor and not able to to help God's

people to move forward. Not able to make

a dent in this city. I've just felt like

a lifeless tool. And it may be possible

that some of you in here have felt the

same way in your life as well. How could

God use me? I'm not skilled enough. I'm

not powerful enough. But what God has

reminded me, and what I pray he reminds

you today as well, is you're not just a

lifeless tool on the ground. You're a

you're a powerless tool in the hands of

a powerful God.

The power is not in you. And God's had

to work over in me. The power is not in

me. It's not my planning. It's not my

strategy. It's not my apologetics and my

ability to communicate the gospel. The

gospel is rather simple. And I love how

God puts it that he uses the foolishness

of preaching

to confound the wise.

Think about that.

that by a man merely telling somebody

that they are sinners

and Jesus is God come in the flesh who

died for your sin and rose to life and

lives ever more. And if you trust in him

and believe on his finished work on the

cross, God will forgive all your sin.

God will save all save your soul and

give you eternal life. And through that

simple message alone,

chains break,

torque loosens, hearts are open, and

people are converted to the foolishness

of preaching.

He says, Paul said, "I am not ashamed of

the gospel of Christ, for it is the

power of God onto salvation."

Paul said that the preaching of the

cross is foolishness to them that

perish, but to us which are saved, it is

the power of God. Think about this for a

moment. God became flesh

and died a humili humiliating horrific

death on a cross. The world looks at

that and says, "A crucified king?

That makes no sense."

And yet there is a power of almighty God

behind the tool of the proclamation of

the gospel of Jesus Christ that can

break through in people's lives and

bring them to trust in Jesus Christ.

>> Understand church

the power is not in us.

God is the one who does the work. And

because God does the work, God gets the

glory.

Every soul that has been saved at

Boulder Valley Baptist Church,

every life that has been delivered,

every person baptized,

every person reached has been the power

of God through our ministry.

We ought to give him the glory for it.

So, how does a message like this

help us go forward? Well, today we're

celebrating the work of God. That's why

we sing, Lord, I lift your name on high.

That's why we sing to God be the glory.

Great things He has done. That's why we

say, "May the peoples praise you, oh

God." That's why we sing, "Great is thy

faithfulness."

It's why we we sing all creatures of our

God and King lift up your voice and with

a sing Oh, praise him. Allelujah.

It's why we're going to close a little

differently this morning singing how

great is the greatness of God.

We're celebrating him today. But what

about the path forward? Here's what I

hope it helps you with. Many times we

feel powerless.

And that is a great place to start.

Every effective minister of the gospel,

every effective servant of Christ starts

with remembering the power is not in me.

But

all we have to do is make ourselves

available

to God.

Because though we be powerless tools,

when we make ourselves available to God

and God picks us up and God begins to

work on us and work through us, God can

do great things through our ministry.

But always remember, God gets the glory.

So I just encourage you, church, serve

Christ in humble dependence

upon God.

May we give him praise for what he's

done. If you're here this morning and

you're not a Christian, here's what I

hope you see.

God

through the centuries

has done a powerful work to bring you to

this place today

that you might hear of his son who gave

his life as the final sacrifice for your

sin. And that if you will believe on

him,

you can be saved today.

Salvation is not a work of man. You

cannot be forgiven of your sin by doing

more good works because your sin is

already done.

It's not your moral goodness. It's not

your religious performance because

everything that we could pro possibly

bring to the table is tainted by our

sin. Christ alone finished the work. God

accepted his payment for your sin. And

if you will just cast your faith on him,

call upon his name, God will forgive

your sin right now. God will save your

soul right now. I invite you today to

trust Christ as your savior.

And there would be nothing better today

than to celebrate God saving your soul.

So I invite you to trust in him. Number

one, that you might be saved. And number

two, that we might give further glory to

the God who wields in his hands

powerless instruments to do his work.

And because God does the work, God gets

the glory. Let's pray. Our heavenly

father,

you are the God that does wonders.

You've done wonders in my heart, in my

life, in my family.

I've been privileged to grow up in a

Christian home

because you saved my dad from a life of

alcohol.

And now my kids have never known that

life

because of what you've done.

You've done great things in this church.

You have saved and transformed precious

lives

all for your glory.

And I pray that we as a church

would exalt and magnify your name today.

we could claim no credit whatsoever

for the work that you have done.

And I pray that today you have received

even if just a measure of the glory that

you're worthy of.

I am confident Lord that just as you are

the God who has carried us these first

five years of ministry, you are the God

who will carry us for the next 50 years

of ministry.

And we'll continue to rejoice in what

you do. Christ be praised in his name.

Amen.