Witness The Work | Josh Patterson

My name is Josh Patterson, and uh I'm I'm honored to be here.

Chris, were you worried about me right then?

I didn't follow you up.

I was back there and I was worshiping and deeply encouraged, and then that bumper video started, and I thought I'm supposed to be up there right now.

And Chris probably thought the same thing and wondered where I was.

Uh, but here I am.

And uh I want to say this it truly is an honor to be here.

Um, it's no small thing uh for a church to invite somebody to come in and to preach at their church.

And so, Chris, thank you.

I'm honored you're a dear friend.

I've known, as he said, I've known him since college.

And um, my wife went to Baylor, she couldn't get into AM, so she went to she went to Baylor, and uh I'm kidding.

It's just I've had to say it.

I've been introduced by her family as Josh the Aggie uh for 20-something years.

And so um, but I've known I've known them since college, and uh they are faithful, they love the Lord, and they they have been dear friends to Natalie and me for a long, long time.

Uh we went, as he said, we went to seminary together and and did all of that.

When I met Chris, I don't think he owned a pair of jeans.

Uh he only had khakis.

He tucked in all of his shirts, uh, he even tucked in his uh athletic shirts into his shorts.

And and I rolled up this morning and I get out, and Chris is wearing sneakers and like these, these, I don't even know what kind of pants those are.

And I was like, all right, I see you.

This is great.

This is great.

Uh so it's a gift, it's a gift.

It uh four or five years ago when he was prayerfully considering coming here, we had a lot of conversations, and um, I prayed for your church, and I prayed for the Cuba family and and asked the Lord to bring about his will for both, for your church and for his family, and to see all that has transpired.

It truly is amazing.

It truly is amazing.

I pray that your hearts, church family, are encouraged uh by the move of the Spirit, and that's that's what we're gonna be talking about.

You're in a series about the Spirit.

I get I get the gift and the opportunity to preach out of John 16.

So I'll be in John 16 this morning.

So why don't you turn there?

And as you're making your way there, I uh I want to tell you a story.

This summer, my family and I, uh we've got four kids, but the two oldest, Lily and Luke, and then my wife and I, Natalie, got to go to Egypt.

And this was a really incredible gospel adventure.

Uh we go to Egypt to put on basketball clinics for Sudanese refugees.

There was a big displaced group of Sudanese people out of Khartoum, Sudan, and they moved up to Cairo, Egypt, uh, not based on good circumstances at all.

And so for us to be with them, to put on some basketball clinics and to love these kids was a real gift.

And we got to do that, and we got to spend some time with some Egyptian orphans.

We got to go to the pyramids, we did the Red Sea.

Uh it was it was truly incredible.

At the back end of the trip, uh, we hopped a flight from Cairo and flew to Sharmel Shek.

And Sharmel Shek is on the Red Sea, and we we get to our place, we hop on a bus, and we drive at 8:30 at night and get to Mount Sinai about 1 in the morning.

And we get to Sinai, we hike up Sinai throughout the night, and we get to the peak.

And the sun had not uh rose at that point, and we get there, it's cold, it's it's a desert climate, it's quiet, uh, and we are very reflective.

Uh we have a time of worship, we have a time of of devotion, then we uh we watch the sunrise over Sinai, and I was thinking, this is this is unbelievable.

It's like I wanted to be, I wanted to be in the moment, I wanted to capture that and feel that and sense that.

And I'm looking, I'm like, my kids are here.

They get to, not all of them, but half of them, and that's great.

And so we get to see this and experience this.

I'm like, Moses was here.

This is where he did things.

He came up here, he gets the Ten Commandments, he meets with the Lord, he looks over this area where they had wandered for a long, long time.

I mean, it it just was epic.

And I had this thought, man, Lord, um, I just wonder if my kind of my doubts would dissipate had I been in that moment.

If I had gotten to see the pillar of fire by night or the cloud by day, or if I'd seen the Red Sea part, if I if I had gotten to witness these things, if I had seen that bush burn but not be consumed, what then?

Um would my faith be a little bit stronger?

Would I I'd be a little bit more committed?

Would I be a little bit more all in?

You know, I just had some of those questions, and and maybe the Old Testament is too far back for you to go to feel that way.

I wonder if you've thought it about Jesus.

It's like if I had just had the chance to feel those scarred hands, if I had just seen it, um, then then maybe, if I had seen him kind of feed the 5,000 or raise Lazarus from the dead or change the water into wine, whatever it might be, then fill in the blank.

And what's crazy is Jesus takes that argument and those questions and he dismantles it before it really ever gets off the ground.

And he's gonna say, it's actually better for you that I'm gone.

And uh, what a startling statement.

He's gonna say, it's to your advantage that I'm not here.

It's like, what does that mean?

Like, what does it mean that it's to my advantage for you to not be here with me?

So, John he writes his gospel and he says at the very end of the gospel, hey, I had one point, one purpose, one aim, one goal, one objective in writing this gospel account, and it is this that you would see and believe that Jesus Christ is the savior.

Like this whole gospel is about this point that you would see and believe that Jesus is the savior.

He starts off in chapter one and he gives this incredible epilogue.

And in chapter one, he says, Jesus is the Lagos, he is the Word, and the Word has become flesh, and He's dwelt among you, and it's this beautiful, poetic, incredible theological treatise on Jesus becoming or being the Word, and the Word coming to be with us.

And then he moves and he talks, uh, really, the the rest of John is built around these seven signs.

And each one of the signs is a sign that points to Jesus being the Messiah.

And then he has these seven I am statements.

So you have the seven signs, the seven I am statements, and then once he gets through those, you have this upper room discourse in chapters 13 through 17.

And then you finish this upper room discourse, which is really where Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure.

He said, I'm I'm gonna go, and I need to tell you some things as I prepare to leave.

And then he's crucified, then he's risen, and then the book ends.

And you have these seven incredible signs.

You're familiar with them.

Let me read them to you quickly.

Water to wine in John chapter 2, healing the official son in John 4, healing an invalid at the pool of Bethesda in John 5, feeding the 5,000 in John 6.

John 2 · chapter mention

He walks on water in John 6, heals a blind man in John 9, raises Lazarus from the dead in John 11.

Then he gives these really powerful I am statements.

He says this in John 6.

I am the bread of life.

I am the light of the world in chapter 8.

I'm the gate for the sheep, chapter 10.

I am the good shepherd, John 10.

I'm the resurrection and the life, chapter 11.

I am the way, the truth, and the life, chapter 14.

I am the true vine, in chapter 15.

And so what I want you to capture here is when we get to chapter 16, this is an intimate conversation with Jesus and his disciples.

It's just basically the last few hours before he makes his way to the cross.

There's probably a sense of urgency in Jesus, not a hurriedness, but a but he feels the weight of what's coming.

And these conversations, we're cutting through the fluff, we're into the significant here.

And he says, I want you to know I'm I'm going to go away.

Now, these men, they have given up a lot.

They've changed the course of their lives to follow him, and to hear the words, I'm going away, had to have been startling.

It's like, wait a second.

I mean, I left all of this for you.

I have committed to walk with you, and it you're telling me now that it ends and you're not gonna be with us.

And he says, it's actually to your advantage.

It is better.

I'm leading you into a better day.

So join me in John 16.

I'll start in verse 5 and I'll read through verse 15.

But now I'm going to him who sent me.

And none of you ask me, where are you going?

But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it's to your advantage that I go away.

For if I don't go away, the helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you, and when he comes, he'll convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin because they don't believe in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer, concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

I still have many things to say to you, but you can't bear them now.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

All that the Father has is mine, therefore I said, What he will take is mine, and he will declare it to you.

If I could give you one sentence, one point, one hope, one aim for this message, it would be this that you would see that the helper.

What does he do?

The helper he comes to convict in hope, to guide in truth and to glory in Jesus.

This helper, he comes to convict in hope, to guide in truth and to glory in Jesus.

Jesus in John 14 introduces a new term, a term that is only used here in the book of John and in 1 John, where he says, I'm sending you a helper, another helper.

He picks up it later in the same conversation in John 16, but I'm giving you a helper.

This word is the Greek word paraclete.

It's two words that have come together to communicate this.

The idea of paraclete is the idea of advocacy, encourager, supporter, comforter who comes alongside with.

And so what the Spirit does is the Spirit comes alongside with these things.

And when Jesus combines this word and when he uses this word, I want you to feel the intimacy that Jesus is describing the helper with.

There is a proximal, intimate relationship that Jesus is saying, this is better.

JD Greer says it like this the spirit inside you is better than the spirit than Jesus beside you.

Check that.

The spirit inside you is better than Jesus beside you.

Why?

Because he is with you with these things.

And what he brings with his withness is support, advocacy, encouragement, help, comfort.

And there's power in that.

I mean, surely you and you have received the text message that is encouraging.

You've got the phone call that has meant a lot to you.

Maybe somebody wrote you a letter and that means a ton.

But is it not different with the ministry of presence when somebody shows up for you?

They are there with you.

They are by the bedside.

They are in the muck and the mire with you.

They are in the pit with you.

They are encouraging you on with you in it.

They have locked arms with you.

And Jesus says, This is what the Spirit does.

This is who he is.

So this helper, he comes.

And he comes to be near you.

Even more specifically, he comes to dwell in you.

So now the paradigm begins to shift, and Jesus says, it's to your advantage.

So as the Spirit is near me, in me, with me, what does he do?

Well, Jesus says that he comes to convict the world in hope.

So one thing that the Spirit does, one work of the Spirit is the Spirit comes to press conviction.

It's not just that the Spirit comes to bring content.

Check this.

He brings more than content delivery, he delivers conviction.

The Spirit is not primarily about information transfer.

The Spirit is primarily about transformation.

It's different.

So for those of us who open the Bible and we read the Bible and study the Bible to gain more content, that's great.

But the work of the Spirit is to take that content and bring the black and white to color.

To take the 1D to 3D, to take that which is flat and bring it to life.

This is the work of the Spirit.

He presses on hearts, he convicts and he changes and he transforms.

Think about your own life.

Again, think about the story of your own salvation.

My guess is you knew Jesus' resume for a long, long time.

It wasn't that, oh my goodness, I didn't realize that he was born in Bethlehem.

I didn't realize that he was born of a Virgin Mary and then he lived a perfect sinless uh life and died a death on the cross that I deserve to die.

It's like my guess is you knew that and you had heard that, and then there was a time when you heard it with new ears.

That's the work of the Spirit.

That's what he does.

That's what he does.

He says he opens hearts, he transforms lives, he presses with truth.

He is not primarily about information transfer, he's about the transformation.

When were you transformed?

When did the Spirit transform your life?

Think about it.

Go there.

Just right now in your own heart.

Consider it.

So for my wife, who I love, who is amazing, she was a six-year-old little girl, raised in a family of faith, where the gospel reality was ever present in the air.

And there was just a moment when her little heart yielded to the Spirit.

And she told her parents, hey, I think I want to become a Christian.

And she gave her life to the Lord Jesus as a six-year-old girl.

Praise his name.

That's what the Spirit does.

But he also shows up in grimier situations as well.

I think about my own life.

I wasn't raised in that kind of home.

I was raised in a very broken, dysfunctional home.

I found myself all involved with drugs and alcohol and rehab and all the like.

I got sent to a military school when I was in 11th grade and then kicked out of it.

That takes effort, y'all.

That takes effort.

When I was 19 years old, I was put in the hospital on a fight gone bad, and uh I woke up that next morning in the hospital, my jaws wired shut.

I'm in a bad way.

I was so angry and frustrated about how my life had transpired, most of which was my own doing.

And I remember saying to my dad, I don't think I can go on like this.

And about 10 days later, I had a friend invite me to a Bible study.

I went, I had nothing else to do.

My face was this big, swollen from the surgery, jaws wired shut.

I sit in the back of a guy's house.

A guy that had opened his home to high school students and welcomed us in.

Not a professional pastor, not a professional minister, a lay guy in the church who just opened his home to students.

And I sat in the back and he preached a gospel.

Not a gospel that I hadn't heard, but I heard it for the first time.

Heard it for the first time.

He changed my life.

He transformed my life.

I think about Psalm 40.

He picked me up out of the muck and the mire and set my feet upon a rock, put a new song in my mouth, a song, a hymn of praise.

This is the work of the Spirit.

He convicts in hope.

He presses in hope.

He moves towards hearts and he changes them.

He transforms them.

He redeems them, he renews them.

He brings people from death to life.

Real people from death to life.

He transforms.

I think about Psalm 103, and the whole title of this series is forgotten.

And in Psalm 103, David says this over and over and over again.

Do not forget, do not forget, do not forget, do not forget, do not forget the work of God in your life.

So, church, do not forget the work of the Spirit to draw you to the hope of Jesus, to bring your parched soul to the fountain, to bring water to your dry and weary life.

This is what he did.

And check this.

This is what he's doing.

He didn't finish it with you.

He is continuing to do it even as we gather this morning.

So my hope, my prayer is I drove up yesterday from Dallas.

Lord, would you move?

Would you move in the hearts of United City?

Would you move in the hearts of young and old?

Would you move in the hearts of the next generation?

Would you capture their lives?

It's a hope, it's a prayer, and I trust that he is indeed moving.

How?

I don't know.

But it's what he does.

It's what he does.

And he's not just doing it here in this gathered church.

He's doing it all across this great city.

He is.

There are other pulpits that are preaching and declaring the gospel message this morning.

And there will be men, women, and children and students who will give their lives to the Savior for the first time because the spirit is at work.

Now catch this.

Beyond just here, in pulpits all across this land, it's happening.

We've got a team right now in Mumbai, India.

Mumbai, India has 27 million people.

Check it, 27 million people.

And the spirit is moving in the urban core and in the slums.

There's a team there that's preaching and proclaiming this message.

And this may freak you out, but it's still true.

There are men and women right now who are asleep in countries that are closed to missionaries and the gospel.

And yet the spirit knows no closure of border.

And the spirit will show up tonight in dreams.

And he will reveal to men and women, young and old, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And there will be people who wake up in just a few hours and will not know what to do with what they now know.

But now they know that Jesus is the Savior, and they will look to live and to glorify Him for the rest of their days at great cost and penalty with their lives.

It's what the Spirit's doing.

It's absolutely incredible.

He is pressing, he is moving in profound and powerful ways.

But he's not just moving and convicting in the sense of bringing people to faith, although he's doing that.

So if your heart is yielded to Jesus, the Spirit will relentlessly and graciously, with kindness and persistence, be after your heart.

Just will.

And my heart along with yours.

He is after my heart to mold me and to shape me into the image of Jesus.

And it's not in some weird, kind of a strange, conforming, controlling kind of way, but it's a shaping and an invitational way saying this come into life.

I am offering you actual, real, sustaining, flourishing life.

And that life is not found anywhere else but in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And what the Spirit is doing is taking the work of Jesus and applying it to your life.

He is transforming you with your time and your talents and your treasures into the image of Jesus Christ so that you might live the abundant life that Jesus has purchased and promised for you.

He convicts and hope.

Several years ago, I was speaking at an event in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

And it was a student, it was a Christian school, and it was a student event.

It was like their spiritual life week.

And I would say the week was great.

It was fine.

I feel like I preached faithfully.

And you know, it's like preached and then I was done.

I get there the next day and I preached and I was done.

And here we are, the last day.

And I preached and I was done.

And it was over.

And it was fine.

It was great.

And I walked off and I sat right over there.

And the principal or headmaster or whoever it was gets up and he says, Thank you so much, Josh, for being here.

That's really neat.

Great.

And then, all right, students, we're we're gonna be off on our way.

And he's dismissing.

And as I sat over there, the spirit convicted my heart and pressed on me and said, as best I could discern, you need to get back up there and you need to share a story.

And I was like, You have got to be kidding me.

I've been here for four days.

Where's the story been?

You know, it uh it's over.

The event is over.

It's like we're le it's it's done.

It's inconvenient.

Now's not the right time, but I couldn't shake it.

He is pressing me with conviction.

It's like I don't do this a lot in this sense, like get back up at the end, but I couldn't shake it.

And so I I kind of awkwardly, sheepishly stand up, and I was like, uh, excuse me, sir, I know I'm interrupting you in this whole thing.

Can I say, I just want to say something.

Sure, I guess, yeah.

So I I shared a story, like a two-minute story about forgiveness.

And as I was sharing the story, the Spirit of God fell on the students in profound ways.

I've preached a lot of sermons.

This hasn't happened a ton, not in the way that it happened here.

And it was like resonance took hold, and it moved from resonance to repentance to intercession to worship, and the next 45 minutes of uncontrolled whatever was happening, movement of God in and among these high school students.

And I just sat right over there and watched.

Watched.

Church, you never know how the Lord's gonna use you.

You never know how taking that step of faith as he presses you and conforms you into the image of his son, what he might be inviting you to see.

What you might be able to bear witness to.

It wasn't that the story was like the final key in this magic lock that unlocked it.

That's not what it was.

It was, hey, do you want to see me do something?

Take this step.

Take this step.

And it may be that you take the step, and that's all it is.

It may be that you just obediently follow me, and that's enough.

And it might be that you get to see me do something really profound and powerful.

Well, that was years ago, but three weeks ago.

Here I find myself in a meeting with a guy.

We're talking about his life and the direction of his life, and it's a great meeting.

And I sense the spirit pressing on me.

What does the spirit do?

He convicts, he presses on his people out of gracious, invitational, kind love, and he presses me to ask a question.

I think, oh Lord, that feels that feels interesting.

And I asked him.

And it was in that moment that that guy broke.

Again, it has nothing to do with the question.

It wasn't the power of the words, it was the spirit who saying, Do you want to see this?

Do you want to bear witness to this moment?

And when I asked the question, this brother broke.

And for the next hour and a half, he wept his way and repented and moved towards Jesus, and he has said it was transformational.

What does the spirit do?

He transforms.

That's what the spirit does.

He transforms.

But he also guides in truth.

So Jesus moves on and he talks about this helper.

This helper who comes alongside with encouragement, support, aid, comfort.

That he convicts in hope, but he also guides in truth.

Check out verse 13.

When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

So he gives another name to the spirit here.

He says, the spirit is the spirit of truth.

It is both a function of what he does and the essence of who he is.

It is a function of what he does and the essence of who he is.

He will lead you and guide you into all truth.

And we live in a world, we live in a culture, we live in a climate where it feels like truth is up for grabs.

You got your truth, I got my truth, and we're square just as long as we don't kind of cross around what truth really is.

But truth isn't up for grabs.

Truth is firmly, squarely solidified in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

He said, I am the way, check this, the truth, and the life.

And so what the Spirit does is the Spirit leads you and guides you into the truth of Jesus Christ.

He is moving you towards truth.

And so a question you might ask yourself, how do I know if I'm being led by the Spirit?

Well, as I look around my life, as I sense what's going on in my heart, am I being led in truth?

Am I being led to live a life that conforms into the image of Jesus Christ?

Am I being led towards the Savior?

Does my life look a little bit more like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?

If so, then there's a good chance that the Spirit is involved.

If not, then he's not.

Earlier this summer, I told you it was an epic summer.

I did Egypt, then I did a backpacking trip in the backcountry of Colorado.

For some of you, that sounds awful.

Um, and I in some ways it was tough.

Uh, this is my third time to go with this particular organization, and and what we did is there were 11 of us that we packed our bags, 50-pound packs, had a group drop us off, and I have no idea where.

And we had two guides.

And the way that the trip was set up is you don't know where you're going.

You don't have a watch, you don't have a phone, you don't have a tablet, you don't have a computer, you don't have a Kindle, you don't have anything that has an on-off switch or requires a battery outside of your flashlight or your headlamp.

And the way that they set up the trip is they remove you from knowing anything about the trip.

Now, it may sound worse, right?

Like, why would you do this?

And that's a fair question.

I didn't know it when I went on the first trip.

That's probably the right answer.

The way that my life has played out is I have just been in leadership positions for most of my life.

I've had to make decisions and some of them hard decisions, some easier decisions.

I made some good ones and some bad ones and all the lessons of that.

And I can say this about leadership.

There are times when it just gets weary.

Just gets weary.

And the good gift of this particular week is I don't have to lead anything.

I get to be led.

I get to be led.

So I don't know what we're having for lunch.

I don't know where we're setting up camp.

I don't know what time it is.

Is it a good time to go to bed?

I don't know.

I don't have any clue.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring.

But you know who does?

The two guides that are with me.

And the two guides who are with me happen to be trustworthy guides.

And I can say this about my own life and how I feel about leaders.

I love being led by trustworthy guides.

It's a gift.

It's not something I feel like I have to assume their authority.

I will gladly be led by good leaders.

And here's what I know is true about this church.

You have good leaders leading this church.

I have known Chris Kuba for a long, long, long time.

I've known his wife the same amount of time.

They are good, godly people who love the Lord Jesus and have surrendered their lives to him.

That's a gift.

It's a gift to be led by that.

But what Jesus is saying here about the Spirit who is inside you, he is your trustworthy guide.

He is leading you.

And here's what you can be assured of, church family.

That the steps you're taking as you follow him, not only are they trustworthy steps, they are true steps.

He is leading you into truth.

That's a gift.

It's a gift you can open up and relinquish control.

You can be led by him.

And then finally, Jesus says this that he glories in Jesus.

He delights in declaring the goodness of Christ.

Verse 14, he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and he will declare it to you.

What does Jesus do?

Or what does the Spirit do?

Over and over and over and over again, without ever tiring, he keeps pointing to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

He glories in the Son.

He says, look at him, come to him, be with him, look at him, come to him.

He delights in declaring Jesus Christ.

And what it means for you and I to be led by the Spirit, this good guide, is that you and I, as more and more of our hearts are surrendered to him, we too delight in declaring Jesus Christ.

It brings us joy, whether it's tucking in a little one at home or having a conversation in a cubicle, in a locker room or on a road trip, that our hearts long to declare Jesus.

Why?

Because he has convicted us in hope.

He has transformed us.

Has he not been good to you, church?

Has he not provided?

Has he not healed?

Has he not comforted?

Has he not been near?

Has he not led you?

Has he not been with you every step of the way?

Well, he has.

And because he has, how then can we be silent about that?

So he says, declare it.

Declare it.

Got a little fired up there.

Take it.

Here's what I want to say to you just kind of as I close.

I'm gonna cough one more time.

I hear you.

This matters.

What we're talking about this morning matters.

We're talking about people's lives.

We're talking about your life.

We're talking about your church.

We're talking about things like hope.

Do you know anybody that needs less hope?

Do you know anybody that needs less hope?

I don't.

Do you know anybody who needs less encouragement?

I don't.

Church family, you have a message, the hope of glory in you.

Just dream with me some gospel dreams for your city.

Like what if?

What if we were a people whose hearts were yielded to him?

Students.

Like you just caught fire, you trusted me, you know what?

I am going to walk with him, trusting that my best life is found in Christ.

Like what if?

What if we were declaring the hope of Jesus Christ, trusting the work of the Spirit, feeling the press of the Spirit on our hearts and moving towards him to be transformed and to be an agent of transformation?

You know the vast majority of y'all in here, you're not pastors.

That's great.

That is wonderful, wonderful news.

But you're all ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

According to 2 Corinthians 5, you are all ambassadors of Jesus Christ.

You have been given a charge.

And what an ambassador does is he or she represents the homeland.

And Jesus says, You are going out representing me, and my spirit goes before you and is in you.

So what if?

What if the Lord moved on Wednesday, September 27th, and see you at the poll?

What if?

Like what if lives were totally transformed and changed?

Like I went to that guy's house on that night in 1996, not expecting my life to be flipped upside down in the best kind of way.

But it did.

I wonder what happened in those students' hearts on that day in Virginia Beach.

I know what happened in that guy's heart three weeks ago that I talked about.

And so I'm confident there's some of y'all that came in this morning.

And you came in on the arm of a friend, the invitation of a neighbor, perhaps.

And it wasn't that you heard something new, but maybe you heard it for the first time in a new way.

Maybe the Spirit is pressing on your heart even now.

It's like you knew Jesus' resume.

You you knew what he had done, what his business had been back then.

But the invitation is that you would come to him now.

He didn't see it coming, and here we are.

And your heart rate might be up a little bit.

Think, oh Lord, what is happening to me?

It could be the press of the Spirit on your life graciously inviting you into life, into hope, into forgiveness.

And I know this.

I know there are some of you in here, you have a story, and you think there is no way.

There is no way.

I heard about your wife when she was six.

Isn't that great?

That's not my story.

It's not mine either.

And I know Jesus is busy reaching into the muck and the mire and taking folks who think there is no way.

And he says, Oh, actually, you.

You right now, dirty, filthy, whatever, whatever walls you put up, he says, My blood is thicker.

I have cleansed you and I have died on your behalf.

Would you come home?

Grace upon grace upon grace.

For others this morning, this is about taking a step of obedience.

Like you have given your life to Christ, but maybe you haven't taken a step of obedience either to follow Him in baptism or perhaps to join this church family.

I remember I came to faith at 19, and I it was two years later when a friend of mine asked me a question because the Spirit prompted him.

And he said, How long will you keep delaying obedience before the Lord?

What are you talking about?

It's like, have you been baptized?

No, that's what I'm talking about.

It's like you're right.

You're right.

And so for some of you, as we celebrated this morning, how incredible is it to watch those and to join in that with a family of faith.

For some of you, that is your step this morning.

For others, it's to join this church.

You've been kicking the tires, checking this place out for maybe this is your first weekend, or you've been here several weekends, and you think, you know what?

This is it.

This is a place I want to be.

Here's what I know is true about this church.

You will hear the hope of the gospel week in and week out.

It is a church that is mobilizing hope for the sake of this city, for the sake of the next generation, for the sake of these schools, for the sake of Jesus' name.

Join this place.

Be here.

Belong to this people, link arms with them.

And for others, man, you came and beat up.

You're tired, you're weary, you're struggling.

And it could be because you're locked up in some kind of sin that you're ashamed of.

You have doubts that are crippling you, loss that is suffocating you.

You need prayer.

That's the reality of the gift of the church as we get to come alongside one another and bear one another's burdens.

And so there'll be men and women who are up here who would, it would be their joy to pray with you and for you.

And I'll close with this.

On Wednesday afternoon, I went to visit a church member whose body was riddled with cancer, 63-year-old giant, godly man.

He actually did my premarital counseling 20 years ago.

It was his sister's house that I sat in the back of and came to faith in.

And I sat there with him and I said, Gary, is there is there a passage?

Is there something that has brought you a lot of hope in these last days for you?

And with labored breath, he said, John 16.

I said, You're kidding.

I'm preaching John 16 this weekend.

That's pretty much all he could get out.

And Gary went to be with the Lord on Friday morning, and his wife sent me a video recording of him explaining to his niece in his last days why it was better for Jesus to go so that the Spirit could be in us.

And here he was, convicted in hope, leading his niece in truth, declaring the glory of Jesus to his dying day.

So would you pray with me, Father in heaven?

With great hope we preach this message.

With great belief, we stand and sing.

With great eagerness, we gather as a church family.

And I thank you that if we had the time and the space, there are men and women all across the sanctuary that could stand up and testify of the work you've done in their lives.

How you have redeemed them, set them free, opened their eyes, brought them from death to life, cleansed them, renewed them, given them hope.

Others could stand and testify how you've provided, how you've comforted, how you have been near.

Never a day when you weren't present with them.

And so I pray that you would move in hearts now.

And that this church would be a welcoming place to receive those who come to Christ for the first time.

Move forward in baptism, move to take a step towards this church family, or just to receive the comfort and the intercession of prayer.

And so, Lord, we trust you're moving.

We love you.

We pray all this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Wow, what an amazing message we got to hear this morning.

I hope the Lord showed himself to you in a fresh, new way.

Hey, if you made a decision today to follow Jesus or a decision for Christ, we would love to process that with you.

And so text the word next to 55498, and someone from our team will be more than happy to reach out and process that with you.

If you missed the message or you missed a note or two and you want to go back, don't worry.

We've got the option for that as well.

It's gonna be available on Spotify as well as Apple Music.

This has been an amazing morning.

We love you guys so much, and we hope to see you next week.

Bye-bye.