God Isn’t Finished With You Yet | The Wild Work of God

Well, good morning, everybody.

I'm so glad that you're here.

How's it going?

You guys doing all right?

Um, it's the beginning of a brand new teaching series at West Side.

I always loved these times.

And one of the things that's been happening in our church has led us to this moment that we're in right now.

And this series is called The Wild Work of God, because I've seen it and you probably see it.

And you you may or may not be experiencing God's wild work in your life.

But let me tell you, um, as a pastor, one of the things that if you don't anybody know a pastor besides me, you may know a pastor besides me.

And if you do, you might not know that one of the things that pastors really obsess about is the titles of their sermon series.

Okay, it's like we're like, what should I call it?

You know, and it just like deliberating, like it's gonna be this thing that it really matters, is the title of the sermon series.

And then nobody remembers from week to week, including me, what I even say.

And so um, you know, it's okay, but the sermon series that we're in right now, wild work of God, I have to tell you that I've been watching our church, and I, you know, I'm I'm watching and seeing that this kind of work of God is happening in ways that we can't explain, and that in some ways can't be contained.

It's one of the reasons why as a church we're we're moving, because God's doing more than we can really handle, which is a beautiful thing.

But I was at a friend's church a few weeks ago, Melissa and I went and we visited some of our kind of family friend churches in the area, and one of them is East River Fellowship.

So we went up, which is if you're in the Portland area, it's up 185th, all the way by Westview High School.

And we went up to see some friends up there, and I was I was walking up to the building, and my friend Daniel, Pastor Daniel, was up there, and I I walked up to him and because I was just kind of sensing this really cool feeling that I was walking up and I said, Daniel, I just I had to tell you that this as I'm walking up, the the phrase that comes to mind about what I'm seeing here is the wild work of God.

And I had never said that before that moment, and he he and I just had a good moment connecting around, like it does seem like God is doing stuff that's just previously we haven't experienced that maybe we don't even know quite how to contain or handle that seems, you know, in some ways immeasurable.

And and that we we connected on that because it feels like that's the sort of thing that you read about in the New Testament, right?

That's the sort of thing that if you've been a follower of Jesus, maybe you've had spurts of this in your life or you've had you've heard stories, you know, from overseas or something.

And and we're gonna connect with that very thing today, the wild work of God.

I believe this.

I believe God puts you on this planet to work wildly in your life and wildly through your life.

I believe that the greatest feeling of significance, the greatest knowledge and and reality of significance is when we connect with what God, God's purpose for our lives.

And so we're gonna be digging in for six weeks on this.

I got out of my Jeep this morning.

I parked over at the bank across the street from the church, U.S.

Bank, we've got permission from the bank to have our team park in that parking lot on Sundays because our parking lot always fills up here.

And so I get out of my Jeep and I look down on the ground and there's a spark plug on the ground.

And I for a second I'm like, that didn't come out of my that didn't just come out of my car, did it?

You know, like that wouldn't be good if the spark plug fell out, you know, one of the spark plugs.

And I realized, no, it wasn't from my car, but it made me think even more deeply.

How did somebody lose a spark plug in the parking lot and then drive off?

You know, just a weird thought because cars don't really work without spark plugs.

That's sort of the thing that makes the engine go.

I mean, if you're a mechanical person, you know a lot more than me about this, but it creates a spark that then lights the combustible flame, you know, it starts the thing.

It it provides the power for the engine.

This is the whole thing about a combustion engine.

It needs something called a spark plug that brings the spark to the chamber where the explosion happens that provides the power that moves the car, right?

That's the that's what a mechanical or that's what a combustible engine does.

And so, thank you, Nate.

I've got an expert in the front row that just confirmed that I did not just lie, okay?

Because you know, it's always good to have confirmation from an expert when you're talking about something you really don't know about.

Um what I want to say is I bet some of you feel like you roll rolled up to church this morning and your spark plug fell out.

And you might feel like, yeah, wild work of God.

You know, like just staying alive is like maybe maybe more realistic for me right now.

Maybe you're discouraged, maybe you're down on yourself, maybe you're thinking a lot about your past, maybe your problems just seem insurmountable.

The thought for you of even working through your own problems, let alone helping somebody else, just seems like impossible.

And this is this is what we might be thinking.

Can God use me?

Did I miss my chance?

Have I missed my chance, you know, to connect with that life and that power and that wild work of God that I want in my life?

Have I missed my chance?

Or did I blow it?

Did I have the chance?

Did I start to, and then I messed up and then did I totally lose my opportunity?

And today's message is called God Isn't Finished With You Yet.

God is not finished with you yet.

Last week we had a we had a moment where we got to experience the wild work of God.

It's called the Good Neighbor Project.

Was anybody there at the Good Neighbor Project?

Yeah, it was so much fun.

We left the building, we took our service to the streets, and we made a difference together.

And this is, I think, a glimpse of the wild work of God.

So watch this quick recap video.

Six hundred and fifty meters.

That's what it looks like when it decides to show up for us.

Doing the work that we try to watch.

None of us could finish the world.

All of us finish.

And this was the best one yet.

Amazing time, amazing weekend, and uh, I really believe that we could we could use that as a good way to think about how do we be people who allow God's wild work to shine through our lives.

I mean, of course it begins in our hearts, right?

And then it moves, it moves through us, and we will talk today about how does this happen and how could God capture your heart again and connect you to what he's doing in the world, which is just miraculous stuff, just absolutely miraculous stuff.

Something that I noticed about last weekend, and you might have noticed it too, is there were no helicopters involved.

Anybody see a helicopter last weekend?

I didn't see any helicopters.

No, none of the Good Neighbor Project volunteers descended from a helicopter.

There were no Avengers, we had no superheroes involved.

Um there was nobody even showed, I mean, the only uniform we had was a t-shirt, right?

Um it was it was one thing and one thing only.

It was regular people, just a bunch of regular people.

You know, we got together and we saw something, we saw these needs, and we decided to step into the gap.

And that's the story of God's wild work in the world.

And I think it's what he wants to continue to do.

But most of us think this, most of us think God uses impressive people.

You know what I mean?

Like you look around at the people in your life, you're like, well, I see God using them, and that's because of this and this and this and this, and they got these qualifications, you know.

You think, well, God would use pastors and missionaries and Bible scholars and people who are stronger than me, people that don't lose their temper, you know, people that uh don't worry or don't have any baggage, right?

That's the kind of people that God uses.

And here's the problem with that is that they're there's no such thing as those people, they don't exist.

The only kind of people that exist are regular people.

So God finds regular people and he uses regular people, but he he uses the kind of regular people who have made themselves available, and that's what we're gonna talk about today.

How do you make yourself available to the wild work of God?

What does he want to do in the world and how do you, you, in with your past, with with your present, how do you connect to the wild work of God?

How does he work through you?

He uses the available.

Last week, one of the bright spots, highlights for me, I got to lead something called the prayer walk, which was one of the projects of 40 some projects, one of the projects was a prayer walk.

And we walked through some neighborhoods, and we we went into an apartment complex, and we we would walk up to the door.

There's a group of us walk in, and we started out as a kind of a bigger group, and then the goal was we were gonna have become multiple groups and cover more ground.

So we started out as a big group.

We're knocking on doors and we're asking this question, we're going, hey, we're out in the community encouraging our neighbors today, and we wanted to know if there's anything we could pray, any way we could pray for a miracle in your life today.

And I don't know, if anybody ever done that, you knock on a door and you ask that question.

You're like you, if you've ever done anything like that, you're probably like uh they're gonna slam the door on me, you know.

Um nobody slammed the door.

Some people said, That's nice, but no, thank you.

You know, it's just like kind of politely, like that's okay.

Some people were like a little like, well, I don't, I don't know, not really, I don't really have anything.

And then we got to this one door, and this gentleman opens the door and kind of like through the crack and looking at us, and and we we we popped the question, he said, That'd be kind of nice.

He steps outside and we and we had a chance to circle around him and pray.

And it was it was a cool moment.

And it was fun to watch all of us kind of reacting to that.

You know, it's like, I think this is actually happening.

Is this a dream?

No, this is actually happening.

There's a person in our community that we don't know that said, Yes, you can pray for him.

We're outside praying for him in his apartment complex right now.

So we're praying, and he was very receptive to this, and and I just had a sense that I was supposed to come back over across the street here and get a Bible for him and an invite card for church.

And so I I was looking, I was thinking, well, yeah, but I'm supposed to be leading this project.

And so I found somebody in our group, and it was Edgar.

Edgar's right here.

Edgar is right here with us, and he was like part of the project, and he was he was very confident.

He was, I could tell he was he was digging this, he got it, he wanted to do it.

And so I said, Edgar, I'm going across the street to um get a Bible and an invite card for the gentleman we just prayed with, and I said, You're in charge.

And so um I didn't ask his permission.

I could just read.

He was ready for this moment, and so he goes, Yeah, I'll do it.

And so the group goes with Edgar while and they're gonna continue to do this stuff.

Well, I'm coming over here to get this Bible.

It takes me maybe 10-15 minutes to get the Bible, walk it back over, and I give it to the gentleman and I prayed with them again, and then I'm I'm going to reconnect with the group.

You know what I found?

I found this group was buzzing, they were having fun, they were all engaged, these guys were praying with people, they were like having a fun time.

The the neighbors that they had talked with seemed encouraged and like they they didn't get kicked out of the apartment complex.

You know, it was like it was a good thing.

But the thing that discouraged me a little bit, I'll be honest with you, Edgar, is it seemed like everybody's having a better time without me than with me.

So I guess so I was like, hmm.

Uh that's a funny moment, right?

But anyway, so we were able to do this thing where we multiplied, we covered more ground.

But the cool thing was is that Edgar said, I'm available.

And then God actually multiplied, actually increased the work.

When somebody who said, I'm available, God increased the work.

It got wild.

There were people that were receptive to the to Jesus' love next door, and that was a beautiful thing.

So can we give Edgar a hand for stepping up?

I just really appreciate that so much.

Yeah.

I want you to grab your Bibles and your notes, and we're in Acts chapter one today.

The Wild Work of God is a series through Acts chapters one through six.

And as I mentioned, you know, it's it was kind of birthed, the title was birthed from this conversation with my friend Daniel, but I started looking at the book of Acts.

This is the this is a record of the wild work of God in the New Testament.

If you've got a paper Bible today and you open it up, it says Acts of the Apostles right across the top.

And every time I see that, I'm like, yes, I want to be a part of that.

Like when I read this book of the New Testament, I'm like, I think it's supposed to be like this still.

I think that, I think this is, this isn't just like something that happened in the distant past, dust it off, read about it.

I think this is like, no, this is we're supposed to live like this.

And so I have this craving for that.

I don't know if you do, but you look at this, you're like, wow, does it really have to be over?

And I think the answer is no.

And we're gonna look at this this series, the next six weeks.

Let me read to you Acts chapter one, verses one through five.

It goes like this.

In my first book, I told you Theophilus about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit.

And let me pause right there.

This is the apostle Luke, who was writing down the words that the Holy Spirit was giving him in the moment.

That's called scripture, and he was writing down the message, and he was saying, in my first book, that's the gospel of Luke, because he wrote Luke and he wrote Acts.

And he's taking a break right here, going, Let me catch you up with what's going on.

He's talking to somebody he was discipling named Theophilus.

And he's going, This this is this is what I want you not to get confused, Theophilus.

The first thing was here, now there's something we're gonna talk about.

But I wrote this down what Jesus began to do and teach.

And then it says in verse 3, during the 40 days after he suffered Jesus and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive.

And he talked to them about the kingdom of God.

It says in verse 4, once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift that he promised, as I told you before.

John baptized with water, but in just a few days he says, You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

This is this is Luke saying the Gospel of Luke was the first volume, this is the second volume.

Jesus has has ascended to heaven.

But let me tell you what we're about to experience.

He was, I'm just this is all just to set you up for what's coming.

What is coming is the wild work of God.

It's uncontainable, it's unexplainable, it's unstoppable.

And he's saying, This is how we got here.

Just understand, Theophilus, this is how we got here.

Now let's talk about what's coming.

Let's talk about what God is doing now.

Let's talk about the wild work of God and how you get to be a part of it.

And that's this series.

It says, Jesus appeared, he appeared to the apostles.

That would be a trip, wouldn't it?

He he shows up, you're like, He's he's died, you knew that he got buried, you heard that he rose from the dead, now he appears to you.

You'd be pretty convinced that he had risen from the dead.

And then he proved to them that he was alive.

I mean, he did stuff to say, it's not a go, I'm not a ghost.

Like he was saying, I am alive.

And then it says he talked to them about the kingdom of God and about the Holy Spirit because he was setting them up for their mission.

And that's what we're gonna talk about right now.

Three statements that can change everything for you.

Three statements that can change everything.

From the following verses, from verses six through eleven, there's three things that you hear, and I think they change everything about allowing God to use your life in a way that's so, so, so, so special.

So, number one, the first statement, and you can write this down in your notes if you would, is you will receive power.

This is this is what he tells us, just plain, straight up.

You will receive power, which most of us need, especially if you rolled up to church with no spark plug today.

Right?

You need power, you're missing the spark.

You might think it's not possible, like somebody stole it from you and you can't get it back.

Like you're now you always just have to be that one vehicle that everybody has to push around.

You might feel like that.

But God is going, oh no, no, you will receive power.

And I think that's so, so important.

Verse 6 says this So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?

I mean, Luke just set it up and goes, Oh, the wild work of God's coming and says, So the apostles, they asked you, okay, so Lord, is this the time you're gonna free us from you know the Romans and restore our kingdom, or your kingdom, but our kingdom?

And they were asking kind of a political question in a way.

They were saying, um, we're tired of the Roman oppression.

We're looking back at history at how you know we had it good in the good old days, and we know from scripture that when you're about to restore your kingdom, there's gonna be accelerated work of the Holy Spirit in the world, and we're seeing that, and you just talked about the Holy Spirit, and so is this the time you're gonna do that?

And it's an important question, but it's a little bit of a misguided question because we're gonna learn what he was really wanting them to focus on.

They were they wanted to know when.

When is the breakthrough coming?

Anybody else?

Hello?

There's that verse in scripture says, A day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day.

And you're like, God, I want the one day, not the thousand years, please, right?

Because it's taking too long.

But verse 7, it says this He replied, The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.

Turned to your neighbor and said, Not too, not for you to know.

This is not for you to know.

It's none of your business when God is gonna do the breakthrough.

Isn't that interesting?

None of your business when he's gonna do the breakthrough, um, which is very troublesome for us, right?

Like, I that is the business I care about, right?

But he he redirects them.

He says in verse 8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

He's like, it's not it's not the when, it's the who.

It's not the when, it's the who.

The Holy Spirit is coming.

He's going, you will receive power.

This is the greatest news of all time for somebody whose spark plug has fallen out.

That you all you will receive power, like the kind that won't quit, can't stop, is never gonna be overcome in your life.

Okay, pause for a second and ask yourself the question Has that happened for me?

Have you received power?

Because when Jesus was talking about that, the Holy Spirit had not yet been sent to the believers.

He said, wait in Jerusalem until I send the gift that I told you about the Holy Spirit.

If you keep reading this book word again, you see he did it.

He sent the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has arrived.

He's here.

Where?

In you.

If you're a follower of Jesus, he promised that he was going to give you the gift of the Holy Spirit.

He says, if you believe in me, I'm gonna give you the power to become the children of God.

He's talking about giving you the gift of forgiveness and what's called regeneration, a brand new life, and the presence of his spirit.

So every single person who's ever believed in Jesus has received the Holy Spirit.

A lot of times we're asking the question, do I have the Holy Spirit?

We're asking the question, how much of the Holy Spirit do I have?

Because you look around and you start to compare, you're like, oh, you got a oh, we got a 90%er over there, you know?

And we've got a 64 over there.

And we're kind of like, it's like it's almost like a measuring con.

It's like, who's got the most Holy Spirit?

You know?

And and here's the it's it's the wrong question.

How much of the Holy Spirit do I have?

That's the wrong question.

Here's the right question.

How much of me does the Holy Spirit have?

How much of me does the Holy Spirit have?

Because what he's waiting for to push the wild work of God through your life, what he's waiting for is a hundred percent surrender.

That's what he's waiting for.

For you to come 100% into a place of surrender, because that's the person that he tends to say, now, now I can fill you.

Why would he try to fill you if you're already full of yourself, right?

He fills the empty.

I like how God calls us a vessel.

He says, Paul says, we are like jars of clay.

Which, by the way, he says because that is the least impressive kind of vessel you can describe.

He's like, it's a it's an earthenware vessel made by hand, not always completely symmetrical.

He's like, no, you you're a Very simply a container for the power of God.

You're a container.

And if you bring God a full container, you know what He's going to do to it first?

Dump it out.

Some of us have been on that journey, right?

You're like, oh gosh, the emptying of yourself.

That's like one of the most painful processes.

You know what's less painful?

Do it yourself.

God, I'm coming to you empty.

He goes, you will receive power, but you won't receive it if you're full of yourself.

You will receive power when you realize that 100% of the Holy Spirit is in you and He wants a hundred percent of you.

Those are the people that God uses in powerful ways.

The confidence of the church has never been in our ability.

It's always been in God's power.

So get empty.

Because He will fill you with His Spirit.

Get empty.

Second statement I think changes everything is you will be my witnesses.

You will be my witnesses.

He's going like, here's your job description.

You are to be my witnesses.

And he says it like this He goes, not when you feel ready, not when you've graduated from seminary, but when I say go.

Go.

He's like, when I say go.

And then he says, go.

He's like, you're gonna be my witnesses when my spirit comes upon you.

Again, if you've if you've received the grace of God in your life, and by the way, I'm gonna I'm gonna give you an opportunity if you haven't.

If you don't know where you stand in your relationship with God, around here we call this the Jesus Mountain.

We talk about, hey, the first place you go on your spiritual journey is this connection with Jesus.

If you're not sure, I want to invite you because the last thing I want to do is have people walk away from here, not knowing that they're forgiven by the grace of God, not knowing that they belong in God's family, not knowing that they've received the Spirit of God in their life.

So he said, You're gonna receive this power when my spirit comes upon you.

And in verse 8b, the second part, he said, and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

He said, You will be my witnesses, and then he and then he gives us like this geographical sequence of where this is gonna happen.

And most of us read that and we're like, good, thank God.

I don't live in Jerusalem or anywhere else, so I'm off the hook.

But what he was really saying was, hey, think about this, guys.

I want you to begin at home, and this is gonna be like something that emanates out.

You're gonna you're gonna begin at home in Jerusalem.

That's where they live.

Hey guys, where do you live?

Jerusalem.

Okay, that's where you're gonna start.

You're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem.

And then and then Judea, that's like the region around Jerusalem.

And then Samaria, which would have been sort of like the other side of the tracks.

And then the ends of the earth, which they couldn't even imagine.

I mean, for those people, a lot of them had never traveled, you know, more than a few dozen miles from their birthplace.

So what is the ends of the earth?

They might have heard stories, you know, about some ship that arrived.

They're thinking, the ends of the earth, where is that?

And he's going, there's it's gonna emanate from, but it's got to start at home.

And this is disappointing news for a lot of us because we picture like God coming, like, hey, I got a mission for you, and you're like, good, where is it?

And he's gonna go, like, well, thankfully for you, it's not around anybody that you already know that knows anything about your past.

I'm gonna put you on a jet and we're gonna fly you across the world, and we're gonna put you in a place where nobody's ever heard your name before, and you're gonna start fresh.

And we'd be like, thank God.

But instead, he goes, Oh, oh, it's with your wife.

It's with your husband, it's with your kids, it's with the neighbor across the fence that you yelled at yesterday.

That's you're gonna be my witnesses.

You're gonna start at home.

Because when God's grace starts to make home change, man, that's where the magic happens, right?

I mean, the wildest work of God is in your home.

When you start to demonstrate like these things called the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, you're you're like, and then your spouse looks to you like, have you seen my husband lately?

You know, because you're you're different.

Like, I love that, I love, I love what God is doing.

And you see your kids and and and you're like, wow, this odd behavior of compliance.

What's happening right now?

And and God starts to change us in the place we need it the most, right?

But once that starts to happen, people start to notice.

And and you start to notice, and it's so encouraging.

And if you feel like that change is beyond reason right now, you just need to remember what God has already done.

You just need to remember what he is up to in the world, and his work is so wild and so uncontainable and so unrestrainable.

He says, You're gonna be my witnesses, which by definition means what?

It actually means only one thing.

It's the same thing you think it means, because if you look at a courtroom and you go, well, what's a witness in a courtroom?

It's somebody who stands up and says, Well, here's exactly what happened.

That's it.

A witness is going, I don't know the answer to all the theological questions.

Here's what I know I was blind and now I can see.

Here's what I know.

I was broke, and now God is my provider.

Here's what I know.

Our marriage was on the rocks, and now we love each other again.

Here's what I know.

I I had no purpose in life, and now I'm full of joy and passion again.

That's being a witness where you're saying, I can't tell you everything you should do in your life.

I can tell you what he's done for me.

And that's what Jesus is calling us to be, is to be his witnesses.

There's an interesting difference between what you see in you and what God sees in you.

Because you probably see your past and your failures and your inadequacies and your problems, right?

But he sees something he calls a masterpiece.

He looks at you and he goes, You're my masterpiece, you're my masterpiece.

It's like I talk about sometimes Michelangelo and his sculpting, you know.

He he would see these big blocks of marble, and he'd be working on them, and people would be dismissing his work, like, what are you wasting your time on?

That's just a big block of marble.

It's a big block of stone.

And he would say, Oh, oh no, there's an angel in there, and I'm working to get it out.

That's God's view of you.

He's like, Oh, you you think you're just a big block of stone, you know, causing problems all the time.

Can't do anything.

And he's going, Oh, you're my masterpiece.

Dink, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

And you're like, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.

And he's going, no, I'm working on you.

He said, I've I've prepared in advance all of these good works for you to do, and you're my masterpiece, and I'm bringing you to be.

Yeah, you're a masterpiece in the making, but he sees you as that kind of.

Did you, isn't that, isn't it?

Aren't you glad he sees you complete?

He knows what you're gonna look like when you're finished.

You don't even know what you're gonna look like when you're finished.

It's a mystery.

And it's a miracle.

Something that I want to encourage you to think about is how how exactly would you go about being a witness to your neighbors?

And there's a tool.

It's in your app right now.

It's right at the top of your app.

The Westside app has a tool in it right now called Bless.

Bless is an is a newish tool that helps us to understand how do we be an impact to the people around us?

How do we let the wild work of God flow through us?

Because one way people have done that in the past is like with a megaphone, you know, and just shouting, repent, you know, for the kingdom of God is near, repent, turn or burn, you know, and and these messages that sometimes we think this is like what it means to be a witness.

But what the blessed tool teaches us is that we begin not with the the message, even, we begin with prayer.

So here's a here's a little uh picture.

Bless is this tool.

So you can get it on your phone, and it's mobilizing churches and individuals to pray for and love their neighbors, and then it goes in a little progression.

Here's the next slide, and it spells out the word bless.

This is an app-based program that you can use.

It's available in our app right now.

And B stands for begin with prayer.

So this helps you to say who even lives near me.

You could get to know who they are, you could start to pray for them, begin with prayer.

The L stands for listen.

So you're you're gonna begin with prayer and then you're gonna start listening.

Listening for what?

Listening to who they are, their story.

Get close enough to them to ask, hey, you know, tell me about yourself.

What do you what do you love?

What do you struggle with?

You know, like who are you?

Get to know people.

This is one of the greatest gifts we can give our neighbors.

Get to know them, right?

Just get to know them.

How do you do that?

I don't know.

Maybe have a meal with your neighbors, maybe have an activity with your neighbors, maybe go check your mail.

Maybe don't close your garage door when you get home from work.

You know, people will come over and be like, Did you know you left your garage door open?

Like that happens to us.

Did you know you left your garage door open?

Uh E stands for eat, eat together.

That progression.

What are you doing?

You're starting with prayer, you're starting to listen, you're going, let's eat together.

Some people dismiss this, but do you know how much time in Jesus' ministry was spent around a table?

A lot of it.

A lot of what you read about Jesus, like he was he was eating with sinners.

People that didn't agree with him, people that were unclean, people that his disciples rebuked him for being with.

And he's like, you guys are missing the point.

I'm eating with the people I'm trying to reach.

The S stands for serve.

We got to go do that on a big scale last week.

Serve.

We're demonstrating the goodness of God.

This is witnessing, like, oh, he's changed me, he's shaped me, he's loved me, he's set me free.

I gotta share some of this with you.

And so we're we're demonstrating.

And then the last S stands for share.

Share your story.

Notice there's four things that come before that.

Sometimes we think that in order to be a witness, we just go blab about you know, scripture, or we go blab about what people should do, or we go blab about what he's done in our lives.

We don't get to that until it's the fifth thing.

And this tool can help us to know how do we do this in a way that's winsome, that's Jesus-like?

How did he do it?

How do we be a witness of God's goodness?

Well, we we we earn the right to be heard.

And I think that's a really important thing for us to recognize.

So he said, You're you will be my witnesses.

And God has put you around so many people, he's put you around so many people.

And here's the thing: he wants you to reach them.

These are your people.

This is your assignment.

You have a mission, and it is to be a blessing, to be a witness to the people that God has put in your life.

Starting at home, working your way outward.

So that's that's how he that's how we be witnesses.

The third statement in your notes that I think changes everything is this is he will return from heaven.

He will return from heaven.

We see this in scripture.

He's like, the whole thing doesn't make sense unless you know something really, really important.

I'm coming back.

I'm coming back for you.

I'm coming back to make it all right, I'm coming back to make it brand new, I'm coming back to fulfill all the promises.

In Acts chapter 1, verses 9 through 11, it says this says, After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him.

Acts 1:9–11

As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white robed men suddenly stood among them.

Men of Galilee, they said, Why are you standing here staring into heaven?

Jesus, who's who Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go.

They're trying to take this all in.

You know, they're like, he's giving them these instructions, he's he's telling them that they're gonna receive his spirit, and then he ascends into heaven, and they're just dazed and confused, you know, looking around.

And the angels that were there are like, like, hey, stop staring into heaven.

You got a mission.

Don't forget, he's coming back.

And in the context of your mission, the context of the fact that God's gonna do some wild work in your life, is that the story is not over.

That when he ascended into heaven, that wasn't the end of the story, it's the beginning of the story.

That's the beginning of the wild work of God.

That's the beginning of God's mission in your life.

It's not the end, it's the beginning.

Uh some people think, well, he left, he abandoned the world.

But no, you know what he did?

He took his throne.

He took his throne.

He's seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

He is now ruling from heaven.

And you might be like, well, who's supposed to get all the work done then?

We are.

He's like, you're commissioned.

He's breathed into you life.

If you believed in Jesus, he he breathed life into you.

Do you remember how the Bible describes Adam and Eve coming into being is that God breathed into them the breath of life?

We get the same imagery about how we receive his spirit.

That he breathes life into us.

And he's with us.

He physically ascended, and then he gave everyone his spirit.

All who believe would receive his spirit, and we do.

He's not abandoned the world, he's taken his throne.

The hands that were pierced for us now hold all authority.

I mean, a lot of times we're waiting for God to work in the world.

Meanwhile, he's waiting for us to work in the world.

And the King has given us his spirit, he's entrusted us with his mission, he's interceding for us before the Father.

Did you know that the Bible says that what Jesus is doing right now?

You might be like, well, what's he doing while we're suffering down here?

You know what he's doing?

He's praying for you.

He is the advocate.

He is praying for you right now.

What do you think Jesus?

We don't know.

We aren't told this.

What do you think Jesus' prayers for you sound like right now?

I don't know.

I wonder if it's something like, oh Father, your beloved, perfect child needs money.

Send it.

Oh Father, your beautiful daughter needs encouragement.

Send it.

Oh, oh Father, your son needs purpose again.

Give it.

Bring it.

Show him.

God, those angels, have them today be right next to these beautiful children to keep them from going off a cliff, to keep them on the straight and narrow, to provide for them, to help them, to show them your glory.

I mean, God, Jesus Christ is praying for you right now.

Because you're his mission and you're on his mission.

And you matter more to him than anything else.

So you're the center of his focus today, going, I want you on mission.

I want you full of life.

I want you full of joy.

I want you living out the wild work of God.

Because that's the whole point in all of it.

And one day he's going to return.

The same Jesus who ascended will come again.

He's going to confront evil.

He's going to raise the dead.

He's going to heal creation.

He's going to wipe away every tear.

He's going to make all things new.

And we can't forget that that's the end of the story.

We can't forget that we're partnering with God right now in that progression.

That we get the joy and the thrill of being that conduit.

You know what's fascinating to me about the people that God uses the most?

Is they know one thing for sure.

They know they bring nothing to the game.

They know they bring nothing to the game.

They show up empty.

And God fills.

I mean, he just fills, he just fills, he just fills.

And that's what he wants to do in your life today.

I want to pray with you in just a minute, but first I want to ask you that big question that I ask every week, which is, what's your next move?

What is your next move?

We have this progression of spiritual journey.

We know it happens like this.

We connect with Jesus on that first mountain.

We connect in community with one another.

We realize suddenly I'm not alone.

And I can't even do it alone, anyways.

I need this family.

And sometimes we get stuck there.

We go, I know Jesus and I and I and I know I'm kind of not alone, but I'm still struggling with this mission.

And that's what we're talking about in this series.

How do we be people on mission?

I know how we do it as we say, ah, God is doing his wild work through me.

We do it by showing up empty and letting him fill us up.

I want to say a prayer for those of you who today need him to show up, that you need to be emptied.

And I also want to invite anyone, online or in person, who's ready to say yes to Jesus.

If you've never clarified your relationship with your creator, you don't know if you are forgiven for your past.

You don't know if he's coming back for you.

You don't know if you have his spirit, but you want to.

And he said, if anyone believes in me, I'm going to give them power to become the children of God.

Would you bow your heads with me right now and pray?

Father, we thank you that you are the God who made us.

You made us for a mission.

You made us for a purpose.

You made us to feel alive.

You made us to know you personally.

You made us to receive your spirit.

You made us so that we can know your provision, that we can pray to you and have a relationship with you that's rich and fulfilling, that fills our soul like a bubbling brook.

You made us to be people who get to spill that life out to other people.

You made us to be people who love you and who love the world because you love the world.

And we pray today that you would allow those who came, maybe you came today with sin in your life.

Maybe you're a follower of Jesus.

You came with sin in your life.

You know what God's waiting for is for you to empty that, just to empty yourself, just to let it go, just to release it, just to turn away from it, just to just to be available.

He wants 100% of you.

100%, not 99, not 99.9.

He wants 100% of you.

God, I pray for my brothers and sisters who need to let go of something today.

Thank you that you remind us if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Thank you, God.

I pray for those who are here today and they've not yet opened their heart to you, but they want to, they know it, they feel it right now online and in this room.

If you're here and you've never yet said yes to Jesus, I want to lead you in a prayer.

And I want to ask all those who are already believers to help me by saying this out loud, all of us together, okay?

So you can join in if this is your first time.

Would you all just out loud say these words with me?

Jesus, I give you my life.

Thank you for saving me.

I believe in you.

Your life, your death on the cross, and your resurrection.

Forgive me of my sins.

Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

Lead me and teach me to follow you.

And I ask it in Jesus' name.