"That's Just the Beginning" with Ps Jessy Kelly // 12 April 2026

(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) How good is God, amen?

Massive welcome to everyone this morning, also a

massive welcome to everybody who is tuning in

online from across the country, including our Mangatapiri

Whangarei family.

Everybody, why don't we turn around to the

camera, say welcome, come on, welcome.

You know this morning, just in worship, I

was reminded of a story.

This isn't the message yet, okay, but I

was reminded of a story in Luke 24

where Jesus had risen from the dead.

We celebrated that last week, right?

But there's this little gap in time where

people are disillusioned, discouraged.

Maybe they hadn't encountered the risen Jesus yet,

and they're thinking, what is going on?

And we find two who are on the

road to Emmaus.

And long story short, Jesus turns up, hangs

out with them, He's talking with them, He's

encouraging them.

Then there's this moment where their eyes are

opened to Jesus.

And He disappears from their sight.

But listen to this, verse 32, they asked

each other, were not our hearts burning within

us while He talked to us on the

road and opened the scriptures to us?

And this morning as we were praying, I

think there's a theme this morning about God

bringing His fire.

Even in the car this morning as I

was driving here, I was just listening to

this worship song that was send your fire

Lord.

Now, we're going to go to the scriptures.

I'm going to share what I feel God's

been stirring on my heart, but I just

want to set some expectation here that I

believe that what God wants to do is

He wants to send His fire and it's

not a selfish thing.

I love those moments more than anybody where

you're in His presence and your heart just

burns.

But it's more than that.

It's to burn, to be a witness, it's

to burn with His fuel.

And so whether you're watching online right now,

whether you're in the room, let's take a

moment.

Let's take a moment.

God, we ask that as you speak, Lord,

as we open up the scriptures, Lord, would

our hearts begin to burn like those two

felt when they spent time with you.

God, as we stand here in your presence

this morning, Lord, whether it's in this room,

whether it's in your dining room, your lounge,

even if it's whilst you're commuting on a

Wednesday morning, wherever you are, as this message

hits you, Lord, would our hearts begin to

burn as your presence is with us, Lord.

Lord, would you set a fire in our

hearts.

So that I can't contain, that I can't

control.

I want more of you, God.

I want more of you, God.

Instead of fighting under my sword, that I

can't contain, that I can't control.

I want more of you, God.

I want more of you, God.

Set a fire down in my soul, that

I can't contain, that I can't control.

Cause I want more of you, God.

Cause I want more of you, God.

Instead of fighting under my sword, that I

can't contain, that I can't control.

I want more of you, God.

I want more of you, God.

Set a fire down in my soul, that

I can't contain, that I can't control.

I want more of you, God.

I want more of you, God.

It burns for you,

and my heart, it

burns, it burns for you, Lord.

It burns for you,

and my heart, it

burns, it burns for you, Lord.

Lord, would you begin to stir it up

in our hearts this morning?

Lord, would you send your fire?

God, would you cause it to burn?

It's an eternal flame, Lord.

God, when it's fueled by your Spirit, it

doesn't go out.

God, we are hungry for more of you.

Lord, we love the mountaintop experiences, but God,

I thank you that there is a fire

that burns, whether we're in the valley low

or on the mountain high.

God, would you set us ablaze with you

this morning?

God, would you begin to stir it up

as we open up your Word?

Would you speak to us?

Would you open up our ears to hear,

our hearts to receive?

God, we are hungry for more.

Come on, church, why don't you tell them

in your own words that you're hungry for

more?

I can't be hungry enough for you.

You've got to do it yourself.

You've got to go, God, here I am.

Here I am.

Lord, I need you.

I need you more than the air that

I breathe.

Come on, wherever you are online this morning,

you've got to tell Him yourself.

Come on, we're turning this into a prayer

meeting this morning, where it's you and it's

Him, and you're speaking to Him, and you're

crying out to Him.

Come on, church, stir it up.

Even if it's just the words, here I

am, God.

Even if it's just the words, set me

on fire, God.

Even if it's just the words, Lord, would

you speak to me?

Even if it's just the words, Lord, it's

been tough.

I feel far, but here I am.

Lord, speak this morning.

Lord, stir it up, stir it up, stir

it up.

Would you stir it up?

God, would you speak to us?

In Jesus' name, and everybody said, amen.

All right, as you take a seat this

morning, why don't you say to the person

next to you, get ready.

It's just the beginning.

This morning, the word that I feel God

stirring up within me, we're going to title,

it's just the beginning.

It's just the beginning.

Who enjoyed last week's service?

Come on, I loved, we had so many

great moments there.

I loved, as David brought communion, and he

talked about tete leste, anyone remember what that

means?

It is finished, paid in full.

And what I love about Resurrection Sunday is

that is our moment to celebrate the fact

that it is finished, paid in full.

But this week, I've been reflecting on the

fact that there's a little bit of a

tension there.

I'm just going to start, just a little

bit of water.

There's a little bit of a tension there

because I believe, and this is the word

I think God wants to stir us up

with this morning, that we think about salvation,

we think about the fact that it is

finished, we think about the fact that it's

paid in full, and we view salvation like

it's a finish line, okay?

Like it's a finish line that we cross,

and we throw our hands in the air,

and we go, thank you, Jesus, yes!

When salvation is actually the starting line.

So I love, last week has to be

one of my, it's my favourite Sunday of

the year, okay?

Resurrection Sunday, but I want to challenge us

this morning, it's just the beginning.

When we cross the line into salvation and

our hands go in the air, it's actually

the starting line, it's not the finishing line.

And I don't know about you, but I

think the way that we think about testimonies,

that sort of thing, kind of reaffirms it,

right?

We love a great testimony where someone talks

about the bumps and the turns, how God

had brought them out of a destructive lifestyle,

out of addictions, all of those things, and

then we celebrate the moment of salvation.

But can I challenge us this morning, that's

just the beginning.

That's just the beginning.

So this morning, we're going to talk about

what it is to be saved by grace.

Everyone say, saved by grace.

What it is to be shaped for more.

And what it is to be sent with

purpose.

Sent with purpose.

Come on.

So if you're taking notes this morning, we're

going to open up Ephesians.

I love the book of Ephesians.

It has to be one of my favourite

books in the Bible.

There's a lot here.

We could spend weeks on this, but we've

got moments, all right?

We're going straight to chapter two, verses one,

if you're taking notes.

I want to encourage you, be a note

taker.

When I was a teenager, I was encouraged,

pull out a notebook every week, write down

what you're hearing, re-look at it, and

I promise you, it will change your life.

What does that look like now?

I have a notes folder on my phone.

I pull out my phone.

I'm writing notes.

I promise you, it will change your life.

So we're going to Ephesians two, verses one.

Listen to this.

As for you, everyone say you.

Not just the person next to you, you.

Did you know we were all dead?

Has anyone experienced that before?

We were all dead.

In fact, we might have thought we were

making all of our own decisions, but there

is a spirit that is working in those

who are disobedient, and there is a kingdom

of darkness.

But listen to this.

All of us also lived among them at

one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful

nature, following its desires, following its thoughts.

Like the rest, we were, by nature, the

objects of wrath.

But listen to this.

Everyone say but.

Everyone say rich, not stingy.

Even when we were dead in transgressions.

It is by grace you are saved.

I love this.

We have been saved by grace.

We were dead, then we've been made alive.

That brought us to the what?

The starting line is just the beginning.

Saved from addiction, just the beginning.

Saved from being discouraged, lost, you name it.

Just the beginning.

We've been made alive in Christ.

I love verse six.

And God raised us up with Christ and

seated us with Him in the heavenly realms

in Christ Jesus, in order that in the

coming ages, He might show the incomparable riches

of His grace expressed in His kindness to

us in Christ Jesus.

So we are not only saved, we're not

only set free, we're not only come to

the starting line, but as we begin this

journey in Christ, we've been raised up with

Him.

So last week we celebrated Jesus risen from

the dead.

What happened next?

He ascended, He is seated, He is ruling

and He's reigning.

And as we've sung about this morning, He

is coming again.

And what is true of that is also

true for us right now that we have

been raised up with Christ.

So because we're in Christ, we also have

access to the same freedom, the same shared

victory as we begin what lays ahead.

Church, we haven't reached the finishing line yet.

We're just getting started.

It's just the beginning.

Then Paul summarises it really easy if we

didn't get it.

Verse eight.

For it is by grace you have been

saved through faith.

This is not from ourselves, it's the gift

of God.

Not by works so that no one can

boast.

Every single one of us could not earn

it.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Aren't you glad that there is a free

gift of grace this morning?

Just the beginning.

And here's the challenge.

God doesn't just save you, just doesn't forgive

your sins, past, present, future.

He is working in you because He wants

to send you, okay?

So everyone say, shaped for more.

Next verse.

Verse 10.

For we are God's workmanship created in Christ

Jesus.

So there's a moment when we're dead.

Jesus meets us where we are.

We are forgiven.

We are set free.

We are paid in full, debts wiped.

We begin the journey but then He begins

to work on us, begins to work in

us.

He begins to shape us.

We are His workmanship.

Now Paul, he is in a city, he's

writing to a city, sorry, called Ephesus, all

right?

He'd spent three years there himself and I

believe he would have been inspired by what

he saw around him, okay?

So when he was in Ephesus, he would

work as a tent maker and then he

would go and he would teach.

And within this city, they had one of

the seven wonders of the world.

People would have seen this, the Temple of

Artemis and they would have been like, this

is amazing.

Look at the workmanship.

Look at the statues, the sculptures, this place.

They also had the Library of Celsus which

was one of the largest libraries in ancient

time filled with scrolls, filled with works of

literary art, okay?

They would have been inspired.

He would have been inspired to write that

we ourselves are actually the workmanship of God.

We are the workmanship of God.

Here's something I know about art.

There's a process, there's editing.

Any writers out here?

Anyone?

There's editing.

You don't just kind of throw out a

first draft and there you are.

There's work done there.

Like sculptures, there's chipping away at the marble.

It starts off with a big block, right?

And then they chip away and chip away

and it's incredible what gets revealed with a

master craftsman working on a block of marble.

And Church, I want to inspire you this

morning with this thought.

We have the master creator working on us.

So we might get saved and you might

go, you know what, I'm far from somebody

that God could use.

Rest in the knowledge that the master craftsman

is working on you.

He's editing away, he's chipping away.

We are his workmanship.

None of us are some knockoff, none of

us are some secondary level artwork and some

others are like, you know, that's the piece

that God's going to throw in his gallery.

We all make it into God's gallery, okay?

We are his workmanship.

So I want you to not be discouraged

in this moment.

Revelation tells us that he is the alpha

and the omega.

He is the beginning, the end.

He knows the end from the beginning.

Can you trust him that as you begin

the journey that he knows what he's doing

when he's working in you?

Hebrews tells us that he is the author

and perfecter of our faith.

Can you trust him this morning that as

we begin to talk about what it looks

like to go and to be sent that

he knows what he's doing when he's editing

your life and working on you?

I love Paul's prayer.

We find it in chapter three because he

doesn't pray that the Ephesians are taken out

of their challenges or any of those change

for them.

But listen to this, he says, I pray

that out of his glorious riches, everyone say

his glorious riches, this is not out of

what we have, this is out of God,

that he may strengthen you with power through

his spirit and your inner being.

Do you know that why God is working

on you, why he's shaping you, his heart

is that you would be filled with the

power of his spirit.

This starting line in this journey that we

go off on is not something that we

are called to do in our own strength,

it is to be fueled by his spirit.

And why does he pray that we'd be

strengthened with the power through his spirit and

inner being?

Verse 17, so that Christ may dwell in

your hearts through faith.

And I love this.

And I pray that you being rooted and

established in love, how good are those words?

Our theme at the moment is called planted,

being rooted.

As he's working on us, he is causing

our roots to go so deep.

So there's strength there, but we're also drawing

in strength and sustenance, just like deep roots.

But also established, that's like a word that

makes me think of like a foundation for

a big building.

Come on, who's feeling deeply rooted and established?

Anybody out there?

Well, my prayer is we all feel that

at the end.

Listen, he's praying that we'd be like this,

that we may have power together.

Everyone say together.

With all of the saints to grasp how

wide and long and high and deep is

the love of Christ.

And to know this love that surpasses knowledge

that you may be filled.

Everyone say filled.

To the measure of all of the fullness

of God.

So when I hear that end bit, trust

me, okay, I'm going to take you on

a little journey and you'll see where we're

heading with this.

When I think about the love of God,

I think about it in the sense of

how wide that God's love impacts every part

of our life, okay?

Not just Sunday, not just our walk with

him, but my relationship with my wife, my

relationship with my kids, my work, my friends.

It's the width of my life, okay?

The love of God being the length, how

long is the length of my life?

I feel absolutely blessed that I've known God

for many, many years.

He's been with me through it all, the

length.

Anyone else thankful for that, that there's length?

It's not just, remember, it's not just getting

to a finish line, it's the starting line.

He wants to be with you.

The heights, anyone had like total highs in

your life where you're celebrating, like things are

going well in your business, in your family,

like child being born, whatever that looks like.

But not just that, the depths.

There are moments in our life where, like

I think of when my mum died, that

is a depth moment.

But God's love can reach even there.

So, I myself can experience and understand that

God wants to love and be involved in

every area of my life, in the length

of my life, in the high moments.

You know, I think of when I got

healed of asthma, that was a high moment,

thank you, Jesus.

The depth moments, the struggles, the things, like

as I said, like even my mum dying,

that's a deep moment where you go, God,

I need you in this moment.

I can understand God's love in that, but

listen to this, together with all of the

saints.

I know when I speak with some of

you, you guys have been through some really

tough things in your life that I have

never experienced.

That shows me how wide, even wider than

my own understanding, the love of God can

go.

I remember chatting to, and I was reminded,

we had Pam's party last night, great celebrating,

Pam.

80, what a good number.

But I still remember talking with Pam's late

husband, Owen, one day, and he was telling

me, Jesse, trust me, God is faithful, time

after time after time.

I remember him telling me story after story

after story after story, and what's beautiful about

that is because he was so much older

than me, he was demonstrating to me that

the love of God goes even further than

I understand in length.

Man, when I celebrate with somebody who is

just on a mountain high, it just shows

me how often God just wants to meet

you in those high moments.

When I meet with people who have been

to the utter depths that makes maybe the

things I've gone through seem like nothing, it

shows me how far, how deep the love

of God goes.

Why is it important that Paul prays that

together we would understand that?

It's so that we would know and understand

so that we would be filled to the

measure of all of the fullness of God.

I understand that God can break any addiction.

I understand that God can heal any disease.

I understand that God can do infinitely more

than we can hope or imagine as we

share with each other the love of God.

I understand that it doesn't matter what depths

or how far or how long my life

as God is gonna always be faithful.

God is always gonna be faithful.

Why is that important?

Because we are to be sent with purpose.

And we wanna be sent being filled with

all the fullness of God because we're not

just God's workmanship.

It goes on to say not just created

in Christ Jesus but to do the good

works which God has prepared in advance for

us to do.

For every single one of us, God has

got things lined up on this race.

Remember, we don't just get saved.

We're not just going, cool, it's a finishing

line.

It's a starting line.

It's not just running in our own strength.

God is building within us because we're sent

with purpose these things for us to do.

And it's important to note we're not just

saved by but we're saved for.

Most of the time these things are gonna

not look like a platform, okay?

It's not gonna look like Sunday on a

stage.

It's not gonna look like social media and

putting out a post.

It's gonna look like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,

Friday, Saturday.

It's gonna look like conversations in your workplaces.

It's gonna look like conversations around the dinner

table.

It's gonna look like moments out in the

street the good things which God has prepared

in advance for us to do.

What I love about Paul is, as we

read in Acts 19, where it talks about

his time in Ephesus, he was working and

he was ministering.

So I wanna challenge this morning.

You might be thinking, well, my race really

starts when I go into full-time ministry.

Guess what?

We are all in full-time ministry.

Sure, some people are called within the church

and to equip and those sort of things,

but we are all called to do the

good works which God has prepared.

Like Paul, it often looks like in the

workplace as well as those moments when we

meet together.

So I wanna bust the myth this morning

that's saying, that thought that it might be

vocation versus calling.

I'm waiting until the church is paying me

to, I'm in ministry.

No, there's no, we have work and we

have calling.

It's all one thing.

It's all one thing.

Case in point, I remember when I was

19, I used to work at Hellenstein's, okay?

Do I think I was called to work

at Hellenstein's?

Was that my calling?

No.

But it got me money.

I remember one day being in Hellenstein's and

my manager was sick as, okay?

And she said, I'm gonna have to hang

out out the back for a bit.

I'm just not feeling well.

And there's a few of us on the

floor.

And I had a moment of inspiration where

I feel like the Holy Spirit was stirring

and I said to the person I was

working with out there, hey, do you mind

if I just go out the back for

a sec and just check on my manager?

And they're like, sure.

Because that's the good thing to do, right?

Don't just leave the floor empty.

So I went out the back and I

was like, how are you going?

And she said, I've just got a whole

lot of pain.

She was actually laying on the ground.

I'm just gonna lay here for a bit,

see how it goes.

And I was 19.

I just said to her, hey, can I

pray for you?

I believe in the power of prayer.

Can I pray for you?

She said, yes.

Can I tell you this?

I've only had two people in my life

ever say no.

Often in our heads, we're like, oh my

gosh, how do we think this is gonna

go?

I've only ever had two people in my

life say no.

One was a Jehovah Witness.

I've even had an atheist say yes, okay?