Is the Church a Tool or the Goal? A Review of ‘Here, Now, and Forever’

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:08:14] Welcome. We're so glad y'all are here to worship with us this Sunday. Thank y'all for working with us. Our overflow is closed for this morning, but we all get to gather in one place.
[00:08:23] So if you are new here, please fill out one of the Connect cards in front of you on the pew, and feel free to grab a welcome bag.
[00:08:29] I have a special little announcement this morning. Each month on Wednesday nights, our Music and Mission kids work on mission projects to serve our church and community.
[00:08:38] This month, our kids made church-wide valentines just for you all.
[00:08:41] They crushed their goal by making 400 valentines.
[00:08:47] They could not do it without you.
[00:08:48] Your giving helps make these projects possible.
[00:08:51] And it reminds me, it reminds them that there are many missionaries and they're never too small to serve.
[00:08:56] So today, our valentines are a way of saying thank you.
[00:08:59] Each one has a small pocket cross on it, something you can keep with you, hold it, squeeze it, and be reminded that Jesus' love is the greatest love.
[00:09:06] extra valentines will be in the back if we if we by chance miss you during the song here in a second bear with us because we have a lot of kiddos who are gonna be passing things out so if we do miss
[00:09:16] you please feel free to grab one on your way out in the back and also if we have extras please grab some to give out this week to someone to remind them of the greatest love of all which is Jesus
[00:09:25] and happy valentine's day and all of our FBCM kiddos could meet us in the back leaders as well our mission leaders um we're gonna i said like i said we're gonna do this as we sing our first
[00:09:36] worship song so if y'all can head to the back i'm gonna give them just a couple seconds to kind of get situated and any even if you're not with us on wednesday nights we would love the help for you
[00:09:45] to pass out valentine's today so um head on to the back and again parents it's never too late to sign up for music and missions feel free to reach out to me um how do i sign up and i'll be sure to get
[00:09:55] you plugged in all right happy valentine's day y'all well good morning first baptist how is

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:10:08] everybody this morning there's no screen behind me the screen's up there but the computer will not connect to our projector this morning so we're going old-school hymn books and you have a lyric sheet for our opening song I hope
[00:10:28] that you grabbed one as you came in burns if anybody didn't have to pick up a lyric sheet burns is here in the middle that can give you one this morning I decided it would be great for us to read a couple verses from Psalm
[00:10:45] 34 together. I think that's why the screen quit working, because you didn't want to stand up and read Scripture with me. So I'm going to read it to you. This is Psalm 34. David writes these words, I will bless the Lord at all times. His
[00:11:00] praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.
[00:11:15] I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. David wrote those words when he was in deep trouble. He was pretending to be insane to escape from his enemies and yet he had
[00:11:33] the forethought to stop in the midst and magnify the Lord. He didn't say, I will bless the Lord when times are great or when I feel like it. I will bless the Lord at all times.
[00:11:50] What a great lesson for us as we open worship this morning, because that's exactly what we're here to do, to bless the Lord. So if you're able, I invite you to stand as we open in song this
[00:12:01] morning. Let's magnify the Lord together, not as people coming before Him that are perfect, but those who have sought Him and have been answered, those who look to Him and found our

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:12:13] faces shining with His light. Let's worship in song. Let us pray. Father, we come before You

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:17:08] this morning with hearts that long to magnify Your name. As the psalmist declared, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. So now we gather to do just that,
[00:17:22] to lift up your name together, to boast in your goodness, to let the humble hear and be glad.
[00:17:29] Lord, we gather here this morning to sing praises to your name, for you are not a distant God, unconcerned with our struggles, but one who draws near to the brokenhearted, who saves those crushed in spirit. We have tasted and seen that you are good, not through theological theory alone,
[00:17:49] Lord, but through lived experience, through answered prayers, through your faithfulness in the dark valleys. So teach us today, Father, what it means to fear you rightly, not with cowering terror, but with reverent awe that shapes how we live.
[00:18:06] Show us how to keep our tongues from evil, our lips from speaking deceit, how to turn from evil and do good, how to seek peace and pursue it with all our hearts. We thank you that your eyes are on the righteous, that your ears are
[00:18:24] attentive to our cry. Lord, meet us now in your word. Speak to us by your Spirit and And may we leave this place as those who've encountered the living God.
[00:18:37] In Christ's name we pray, and all who agree say, Amen.
[00:18:42] This is hymn number 17.

[00:18:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[00:18:59] Skip right on to number 18.

[00:20:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:20:34] God has given me a platform, and Mike, we can now pray for Kayla Wilson's wrist.
[00:23:18] Mike, now, did you hear me?
[00:23:20] So good morning, church family. We're glad you're here today.
[00:23:23] We've got some exciting announcements coming up so I wanted to walk you through a few of these announcements. We're gonna start with our youth. So tonight our student ministry is hosting a make-your-own-pizza and trivia night
[00:23:37] beginning at 530. We'll have worship, Bible study, and games. You don't want to miss it and probably don't bring Google so you don't cheat. Our youth ministry is exploding and because of that we have several trips coming up. We've got beach
[00:23:52] camp and mission trips which we're gonna need your help on those one way you can support our students is by signing up for the pancake jamboree on Saturday February 21st from 7 to 11 a.m. and for just $10 you can enjoy all you can eat
[00:24:10] pancakes breakfast meat and drinks you can purchase tickets by scanning the QR code on your messenger during Wednesday night dinner at 5 or by seeing us after service today, but I don't know who us is. Who's us? Somebody in the back
[00:24:28] will help you. I also want to, I guess, I also want to highlight a few important things happening this week. The Joy Club, just older youth, will meet Tuesday, February 17th at 1130 at the Fellowship Hall for a luncheon. They're
[00:24:42] gonna enjoy a delicious meal provided by Chef Shane and a wonderful program will follow. Please call the church office to sign up, you don't want to miss it. And as As a reminder, Wednesday night has started back, the meal begins at 5, followed by activities
[00:24:57] for the whole family.
[00:24:58] Children's music and missions start at 6, the youth group will meet.
[00:25:03] There's also four different fantastic adult Bible studies.
[00:25:07] This semester we're offering the 12 Women of the Bible, Baptist Teaching, Financial Peace University, and End of Time Study offered at 4 and 6.
[00:25:18] Make sure you sign up for one of these studies.
[00:25:21] finally we're in the middle of the canned food drive and today is about the last day you can bring your donation so we're really at the end of the canned food drive you can place them in the
[00:25:29] drop-off boxes at the entrance this is a simple but powerful way for us to serve families in need right here in our community all right finally i want to talk to you about something that's very
[00:25:38] close to my heart it's not just a slogan it's not just a fundraising idea it's a kingdom vision it's called here now and forever and right now is where i'm going to go a little bit off script
[00:25:48] don't hate me Seth, but Friday night I was up here going to Savannah Oyster Co.
[00:25:53] taking my sweet boyfriend on a Valentine's date because I'm nice. And I noticed we could not get parking anywhere up here. There was not a place to park. So we came and parked in the church parking lot. I said, I'm a member,
[00:26:06] you're a guest, we can park here. I'm sure it's fine. But we couldn't find anywhere to park. And then I was driving in today and there was plenty of places to park.
[00:26:15] So it made me think if we just start giving whatever that giving looks like and I will pray about that But start giving to what this looks like for our community that you couldn't get a seat at Savannah
[00:26:26] I had reservations and we still had to wait you couldn't get a seat at Rio. You couldn't get a seat uptown But there's there's still plenty of seats here. So an overflow will always be available
[00:26:36] So I want to put that scene in your head before I read this Over the last couple of weeks. You've seen the phrase stories, seen the videos. Maybe you've wondered, what exactly is this? Here's what it is. We believe
[00:26:49] with everything in us that God has really positioned First Baptist Church to make a massive impact right here, right now, for generations that will come long after we're gone. But this is more than us. It's more than a budget. This is really about eternity. As the psalmist said in Psalm 78,
[00:27:07] that one generation is to tell the next about the mighty works of God. And we also know we're one generation away from the scripture and our testimonies being extinct. It only takes one.
[00:27:21] That means today becomes someone else's point tomorrow. And the faithfulness we show now will become the foundation for someone else who stands up later. And church, as we can see in the world around us, God is already moving. He's showing us the truth about people. He's also
[00:27:40] showing us people that are being saved. We're seeing baptisms. We're seeing our children's places, children's spaces just fill up. We're really seeing it in our student ministry, and we're seeing new families walk in every day. God is trusting us with this influence, and whatever
[00:27:56] God entrusted church, he calls that church to greater obedience. It's a simple reality. We're going to reach more people, start more ministries, and send more missionaries, care for more needs, and we're going to create more. We must create more capacity for kingdom work. Right now,
[00:28:14] we're carrying nearly $300,000 of debt from the sanctuary reconstruction, and we're grateful for this space. I grew up in this space. We're grateful. I'm saved right down there. We are grateful for what God has done for us here. Lives are being changed in this room, but every dollar we send
[00:28:33] toward debt is a dollar not going towards mission, ministry, evangelism, and the next person who needs Jesus. Unfortunately, debt limits mission. Freedom fuels ministry. Imagine what could happen if those dollars were unleashed for the kingdom. Imagine more outreach, more discipleship, more
[00:28:51] opportunities, more impact. In Ephesians 3.20, the Bible said God is able to do exceedingly abundant above what we ask or think. Think about that. He can really do it all.
[00:29:04] And church, I think we have not yet seen what God can fully unleash with First Baptist. Here, now, and forever is about putting ourselves in a place of obedience so the kingdom can move forward. The first phase of this
[00:29:19] campaign is simple and clear. We want to be debt-free, and we'll call Dave Ramsey and he will ring the bell for us it'll be great no but we can't relax after that we can't coast but but we can run harder at them after the mission God
[00:29:34] has given us this is about the family this is about the family that wasn't hasn't walked in yet the teenager that needs hope so here now is what we're asking we're asking you to pray we're asking you to seek the Lord and we're
[00:29:47] asking you to sacrifice some of you have been faithful toddlers for years and we thank you. And now we're asking you to ask God if he would have more for you in this season.
[00:29:57] Some of you have never started giving, and this is a moment of obedience, not out of guilt, not out of pressure, but out of worship, because generosity is worship. We can participate by earmarking your gifts for here, now, and forever. 100% of that will go to debt reduction. And I
[00:30:13] believe with my heart, when we step forward in faith, God will meet us in power. One day, years from now, someone's going to walk into the church and meet Jesus, and they will have no idea
[00:30:24] that it was a sacrifice of people in this room that made space for them. But heaven will, and what it means to live here now and forever. So starting today, starting right now, we are asking
[00:30:35] you to give abundantly, consistently, and sacrificially, because every dollar we are not paying towards debt dollar is something we can use to advance the kingdom. This is the moment I want all of us to look at yourselves deeply and say, would you decide in your heart right now?
[00:30:55] You don't have to decide a number. You don't have to just say, yes, Lord, whatever that looks like for you. Yes, Lord, use me, use my resources, use the resources I don't even know that are coming,
[00:31:06] use my obedience, use my sacrifice, use me to reach people I may never see, never meet, and never personally pray for. Use me now so that an eternal difference can be made, later. Church now is when we can build a legacy. Long before someone is baptized, long before a
[00:31:26] family finds hope, God moves in with the hearts of his people to give. And when we say yes, heaven does more than we can ever imagine. So today as we begin this journey, I'm asking you
[00:31:39] to start simply with surrender, start with availability, and start with a willing heart.
[00:31:46] Yes, Lord, goes a long way. So let's pray. Father God, I come to you as someone who is generous at heart, but also scared to death to go outside of my budget.
[00:32:03] Lord, I want to be a generous giver, while I also don't want to be in debt. And I know there's so many other people in this room who feel the exact same way. They have their budget, they know what
[00:32:18] they're going to get every week, and they know what they have to pay to live. But I also know, Lord, that to you, money truly does grow on trees. Resources grow on trees. Things grow
[00:32:30] for you, Lord. And I just ask that you bring resources to people that are scared right now of how they're going to make it to tomorrow. Bring resources to people that are so wealthy they don't know where to give and bring them here. Let us know that this isn't about money.
[00:32:49] This is about people. This is about hearts. And Father God, I pray over each of us today that we walk out of here full of excitement about filling the streets with Jesus, filling the streets with what it actually means to love other people with a godly heart.
[00:33:10] and father just help us to be your good servants your good soldiers your good sheep

[00:33:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:33:18] and to trust in you in your name we pray amen okay first of all i just need to tell you how great it is to hear this congregation sing the way you just sang those those opening songs
[00:33:42] what a worshipful and powerful experience to unite our voices together the second thing is I left a couple lines out of the bulletin. I also forgot to bring up April's stand that I told her I would bring up, and so since I left those lines
[00:33:56] out of the bulletin, I made sure I put them on the slide that's not there this morning. So I would just like to bring to your attention a couple of things. I'm so thankful for our musicians, our regular Bethany Howard and Lila Denny playing
[00:34:12] piano and keyboard, Rick Dunlap on guitar, and Steven Jennings at the drumset, but a guest musician on saxophone this morning, Mr. James Hammond, we thank him for being here. And also we've been working hard to get the live stream audio adjusted and
[00:34:30] right and you can't see him but at the soundboard David Peabody Spears is here this morning. He came down Wednesday, professional audio man helping us dial in exactly what we need for the room and for the live stream. Now this next song
[00:34:47] that we were about to sing had a part for you that was on the screen, and so we're just going to remain seated. Just listen carefully to these words that the choir is going to sing, and I'm going to ask you at the end to join us on the

[00:35:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:35:00] words, come on and praise the Lord. He's worthy of all our praise. Well at this

[00:42:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:42:33] time we're going to dismiss for Children's Church, and if you are visiting with us today, they're going to be downstairs with Rita Marie and her staff easiest way for you to gather them up up the ramp behind the piano turn
[00:42:50] right down the steps turn right if you need the elevator up the ramp keep going turn left and go down the hallway the elevator will be on your left as you came in hopefully you grabbed a prayer sheet there in the back we encourage you
[00:43:10] to please let us know if you or someone in your family is in need of prayer we We would love to make it a part of our service.
[00:43:18] And at this time, let's go to the Lord in prayer.
[00:43:23] Father, we come before you now in simple dependence, asking for what we cannot manufacture ourselves, the presence and the power of your Holy Spirit among us.
[00:43:37] We need you, Lord.
[00:43:38] We desperately need your Spirit to move in this place to do what only you can do.
[00:43:45] Lord, some of us are carrying burdens this morning that are too heavy, grief that won't lift, pain that won't ease, fears that won't quiet down. There are broken relationships we can't fix, circumstances we can't control, wounds that won't seem to heal. Lord, we're learning what it means
[00:44:11] to bless you, not just when life makes sense, but even when it doesn't. Not just in the sunshine, But right in the middle of the storm and honestly father some days that's hard Some days we're just hanging on so we ask come Holy Spirit move among us with healing power
[00:44:34] You know every wounded heart in this room every name every story every private battle You know the ones who are here physically but spent emotionally You know the marriages under strain, the children who've wandered, the diagnosis
[00:44:51] that terrify us, the loneliness that aches in the quiet moments. Lord, touch us with your comfort. Remind us that you are near to the brokenhearted, that you bind up our wounds with tender care, that you collect every tear we've cried, and none
[00:45:10] of our pain escapes your notice. Lord, this morning we lift up to you some individuals who are anticipating surgeries coming up for Rick Hardesty, for Joey Isaacs, for Eddie Stubbins.
[00:45:26] Be with them, Lord, as they prepare their doctors and their teams. May your guiding hand be upon them all. Lord, we lift up Don Blake and Carol Gravely and Connie Parnell as they continue to
[00:45:41] recovery or go through treatment. We lift up Reverend Mark Pitts as he continues in care of hospice. Lord, we ask that you would heal what needs healing, bodies, minds, memories, relationships.
[00:46:00] Comfort what needs comforting. Strengthen what's weak and wavering. Restore what's been broken by sin or by suffering or by time. Father, even as we ask you to minister to us, we offer ourselves back to you. We come as living sacrifices, imperfect, yes, broken
[00:46:23] in places, but yours. Lord, please take our worship this morning, flawed as it is, take our voices, our attention, our hearts. We lay them before you as an offering.
[00:46:34] Let our praise be acceptable to you. Let our gathered presence here be a fragrant sacrifice of thanksgiving. And Lord, help us to bless you, truly bless you, even from the hard places, to worship you not because everything is fixed, but
[00:46:52] because you are faithful, because you are good, because you are with us. Teach us that our very act of showing up, of lifting our hands and voices when we'd rather hide, of choosing to trust You when we can't see the way forward, that
[00:47:09] this itself is an offering that pleases You. We are Yours, Lord. Our pain is Yours.
[00:47:17] Our praise is Yours. Our very lives are Yours. Meet us here, Spirit of God. We wait upon You. We're open and desperate for You. These things we pray in Jesus'

[00:47:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:47:32] name, and may all God's people say amen. Thank you guys so much for being here. I want to just share with you two quick observations. One, first of all, awesome job choir, amazing. Thank you for
[00:47:51] leading us in worship, and I just love seeing all those kids run out every Sunday as they go into Children's Church, and the staff, the volunteers down there do such a great job. They're so excited
[00:48:03] to hear them. You know, no one has ever ran into a sanctuary to hear me preach, but they will run down to the children's area. The second observation I wanted to tell you, as I was preparing for today,
[00:48:16] I actually told my wife last night, I said, you know, I'm kind of nervous about tomorrow. I feel like the sermon's a little complicated, but the good news is I can at least have all my scripture
[00:48:25] up on the screen, and hopefully everyone will be able to see it. I'm serious about that, and sure enough, we don't have a screen today. So what I need you to do, because there's a lot of scripture
[00:48:34] I want to share with you, and I really do need you to see it for this to make sense. I need you to go ahead right now and get your Bibles out, okay? Go ahead and have them prepared. If you don't have a
[00:48:44] Bible, there's a pew Bible. I've actually marked some of these scriptures so I can try to share with you what page we're going to be on when we get there. But what I want to do quickly is just
[00:48:53] talk to you about this here, now, and forever. By the way, Arden, thank you so much for explaining part of that to us. When we say here, now, and forever, I know what you're wondering. Is that a
[00:49:03] campaign that we're starting? Is it an initiative that we're starting? Is it a sermon series that we're starting? And the answer to all of that is yes. Okay, so for the next couple weeks, we're
[00:49:14] going to be in a sermon series plus this campaign called Here, Now, and Forever. And essentially, here's what it is. We wholeheartedly believe that God wants to use First Baptist Church to radically impact Morrisville. That's it. Y'all, that's not secret information or revelation.
[00:49:31] I get really nervous when I hear preachers say, the Lord wants me to tell you. No, no, listen, that's in the word of God that he wants to use his church to advance the kingdom. It's that simple.
[00:49:45] So when we say here, okay, here, that means your community, your neighborhood, that means your school, your workplace, your family. This isn't somewhere else. This isn't something that's distant or abstract. It's here. When we say now, when we say now, we're talking about right now.
[00:50:10] We're not talking about in the future. We're not talking about a year from now. Right now, there's an urgency to this. Charles Spurgeon once said, if people are going to go to hell, then let them go to hell by jumping over our dead bodies. If people are going to go to hell,
[00:50:25] then let them go with our arms wrapped around their knees. Let not let one person go being unwarned or unprayed for. There is an urgency. Eternity hangs in the balance. And right now, we believe that God wants to radically change lives. Amen. When we say forever, that means that
[00:50:44] we want to be a part of something that is bigger than us. We want to be a part of something that's going to outlast us so here, now, and forever. And we believe that God wants to use First Baptist
[00:50:57] not for the sake of First Baptist, not to make much of this church, nor to make the name of First Baptist great. One of the most quoted, and I also think one of the most misunderstood Psalms
[00:51:12] is Psalms 23. Do you know that Psalm? Can I quote it to you real quick? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want he maketh me lie down by the way I memorized this in King James he maketh me lie
[00:51:23] down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters he leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me thou prepares the
[00:51:36] table before me in the presence of my enemies thou anoints my head with oil surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
[00:51:44] endeavor. Have you heard that before? Well, thank you, Alan. I'm telling you all, the enemy does not want us to function well this morning. The Lord is my shepherd. You know what that means? He takes
[00:52:02] care of me. He's the one who provides for me. I shall not want. That just simply means that I'm totally, that's a lot better, isn't it? That just means that I'm totally content with him. I don't
[00:52:14] need anything else. Now I can move around, feel better. I'm content with him. He makes me lie down in green pastures. Y'all, that's where the best food is. That means he's provider for me.
[00:52:24] He leads me beside the still waters because life is chaotic and it's dramatic and it's painful, but with him, there's a peace and a joy and a stillness. He leads me in the path of righteousness
[00:52:35] for his namesake. And that's the key phrase right there, for his namesake. Why is he a good shepherd?
[00:52:43] Why does he lay me down in the green pastures? Why does he provide? Why does he give me this calmness because I'm great, because I'm worthy, because I've got it all together? No, because he
[00:52:53] has it all together, and it's not to make my name great. It's for his name's sake. That's why I will fear no evil. That's why I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever, for his name's sake.
[00:53:06] Here, now, and forever is not about God making the name of First Baptist great. It's about making the name of Jesus famous. It's not to make much of this church. It is to make much of the kingdom
[00:53:26] of God. Amen. Can I talk to you just a little bit about the kingdom? If you have sermon notes, you can attempt to fill these out if you want to in your bulletin. When it comes to the kingdom,
[00:53:37] you know, that phrase, the kingdom of God is given to us over 100 times in the New Testament and 16 books of the New Testament. The Lord only has to mention something one time for it to be
[00:53:51] important, right? The fact that he mentions it over a hundred times means we ought to lean into it. Jesus preached more about the kingdom of God than he did anything else. It was his most
[00:54:01] numerous topic. 80% of all the parables he talked about was focused on the kingdom of God, helping us understand what the kingdom of God is like. Matter of fact, in Matthew chapter six, if you
[00:54:11] to write this reference down in matthew chapter 6 jesus simply says this verse 33 but seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you seek first the kingdom will you just say kingdom on the count of three one two three kingdom
[00:54:30] kingdom you seek it not your relationships not your business not your health aspirations not your financial financial aspirations but seek first the kingdom of god and all these things will be added what things you want peace you want joy you want to lay down in the green fields
[00:54:47] you want to be beside the still waters these things will be added to you when you seek the kingdom first so if you want to in your bulletin maybe you could write this down number one the
[00:54:55] kingdom matters most the kingdom matters most number two the kingdom comes first it is of top priority it matters most and it's of top priority something else you need to know is that the kingdom's the only thing that is going to last one day your career is going to fall apart one day
[00:55:14] your body is going to fall apart one day your family will disappear one day this church will disappear but the kingdom of god will endure amen it will last forever revelation if you want to
[00:55:25] write this down revelation chapter 5 verse 9 listen to this and they sing a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood
[00:55:38] you were ransomed, you ransomed people for God from every tribe, every language, every people and nation. Have you heard that before? If you've ever been in a Southern Baptist church, you've heard that verse read before. If you've ever been at missions conference, you've heard that read.
[00:55:53] That one day in heaven, all peoples, nations, languages, tribes are going to be together.
[00:55:58] they're going to say, worthy is the Lamb. Now, that's Revelation 5.9. Let me read to you the next verse that we don't read a lot, Revelation 5.10. It goes like this, and you have made them
[00:56:12] a kingdom and a priest of our God, and they shall reign on the earth. There's that word, kingdom, because the only thing that's going to last forever is the kingdom of God. You with me
[00:56:27] so far this morning? We just finished last Sunday our series in the book of Acts, and I really enjoy that. If you haven't been here for an entire year, we went chapter by chapter, verse by verse in the
[00:56:40] book of Acts. Now, I've read through the book of Acts before. I've preached sermons from it before.
[00:56:44] This was the first time, however, I went from cover to cover, and there were some discoveries that I made. I would have told you before we started that series that the book of Acts, Actually, I did tell you this, that the book of Acts is about God birthing, working, and purposing
[00:56:59] and expanding his local church. That's what I told you. I've decided, though, since we finished this series, that that's not entirely what the book's about. It's not exactly what all the book's about. Let me show you this. The book of Acts opens, if you have your Bibles, go to Acts chapter
[00:57:16] 1. Acts chapter 1, and as you turn there, let me just give you the context of this. Jesus has defeated death on the cross. He's resurrected from the grave. And for the next 40 days,
[00:57:28] he's going to be teaching his disciples. And after 40 days, he's going to appear to them and then ultimately ascend into heaven. The book of Acts opens up in the midst of that, contextually, as Jesus is just resurrected and is now teaching his disciples. So look at this.
[00:57:47] Acts chapter 1 starting in verse 3 it says this he presented himself alive he Jesus presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God the 40
[00:58:11] days that Jesus was teaching his disciples whether that was 11 guys or 500 guys in those 40 days there's one thing he's teaching about what is it the kingdom of god before jesus appeared to them and says all authority in heaven has been given to me therefore
[00:58:29] go make disciples of all the nations baptizing them named the father son the holy spirit teaching them to observe all that i've commanded you and lo i am with you always before he says to them
[00:58:38] when the holy spirit comes upon you you shall receive power and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem judea samaria to the ends of the earth before he said any of that before he ascended
[00:58:46] into heaven. He's teaching them about the kingdom of God. It's almost as if in those 40 days, Jesus is saying, if you don't remember anything else I shared with you, get this, the kingdom of
[00:58:58] God. That's how Acts opens up. Now, still in your Bibles, go to the very end of the book of Acts.
[00:59:06] At the very end, we talked about this last Sunday, the apostle Paul is now on house arrest. He's waiting to be put under trial for that ferocious dictator Nero. And the Bible says that while Paul
[00:59:21] was in Rome under house arrest, Acts chapter 28, the last two verses, verses 30 and 31, it says this, he, Paul, lived there two whole years at his own expense. He welcomed all who came in,
[00:59:36] proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, without hindrance. Paul, the last two years, he was on planet earth. He was on house arrest. He was inviting people in and for two years straight, anyone who was an earshot away, he'd say, come in
[00:59:59] here and let me tell you about the kingdom. Book of Acts starts with Jesus teaching about the kingdom. The book of Acts ends with the apostle Paul teaching about the kingdom.
[01:00:18] And in the middle of these two bookends, in the middle of these two declarations of the kingdom, then you have God birthing, using, and expanding the local church. Why? Because the design for the church is to bring people in and introduce them to the king, disciple them in kingdom living,
[01:00:43] and then send them out for kingdom advancement. Acts is bookend with the kingdom, and in the middle is the local church. You want to know why? Because the local church is not the ultimate goal.
[01:00:57] The kingdom is. The church, if you want to write this down, number one, the church is the tool.
[01:01:05] the local the local church is the tool that god uses to expand his kingdom is this making sense number two what does he use this tool for well he created it to advance the kingdom of god
[01:01:20] you agree with that if you say amen you better be careful there's as a consequential statement you don't let me tell you why because tools are not meant to be on put on display and tools are
[01:01:34] not meant to be protected and tools are not meant to be admired. Tools are meant to be used. Can you imagine someone buying a hammer, taking it home, putting it in a display case, shining a light on
[01:01:47] it and inviting all of his buddies to come over and look at his hammer? Y'all, guys make fun of other guys who don't, you know, who have clean tools. Tools are meant to be used and the church
[01:01:59] is meant to be used. Why? To make the name of the church great? No, but to advance the kingdom of God. Let me show you this real quick, since you've got your Bibles with you. Just two examples
[01:02:11] real quick, because I'm running out of time. Go to Acts chapter 11. Contextually, let me share with you what's going on here. There's been persecution that's breaking out after Stephen has been killed. The people are running, they're leaving Jerusalem, and they get to a city in
[01:02:28] Antioch. Listen to this, Acts chapter 11, starting in verse 19, it says, now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word of God to no one except Jews. Verse 20, but there was some of them, we
[01:02:47] don't even know their names, some of them, unnamed men, but who just wanted to be bold about Jesus.
[01:02:53] some of them men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists, also that means the Greeks, preaching the word Jesus, and the hand of the Lord was upon them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. In Acts 11, they go to Antioch,
[01:03:14] it says they're bowed about their faith, a great number of people believed, and the hand of the Lord was upon them. I'm telling you, you go to any biblical seminary in America right now, Now, you ask any student who wants to be used by God,
[01:03:27] what do you want to accomplish?
[01:03:28] They're going to point to that verse and say, that's the dream.
[01:03:31] I want to go to an unreached people group.
[01:03:33] I want to go to a hard to reach place.
[01:03:35] I want to preach boldly.
[01:03:36] I want a great number of people to come to God.
[01:03:39] And I want the hand of the Lord to be upon me.
[01:03:42] That's what they want.
[01:03:45] The church in Antioch is started, and the church is planted.
[01:03:52] But that's not exactly where the story stops at.
[01:03:55] I don't know if you've ever planted a church before. I planted a church one time before it was an international mission field. We got to be a part of a church plant in Kentucky. It was one
[01:04:04] of the hardest things I ever had to do. And I used to get so stressed out just about if anyone was going to show up. I used to think more about how to get people there on Sunday than I was what I
[01:04:13] was actually going to say on Sunday. I would tell Wendy this. I would say, you know, if we just had a consistent crowd, boy, my life would be so much easier. If we just had a place we could meet in,
[01:04:24] it would be so much easier because we started meeting in a shelter house at a local park which was good until it got 20 degrees outside and then we found this abandoned restaurant but it needed
[01:04:35] to be remodeled and and if we could just get this remodeling done if i could just get some musicians and have a praise team all my life would be easy if i could just get some sunny school teachers
[01:04:44] and volunteers then my life would be easy well you know what happened eventually we found a place eventually we had a consistent crowd a large crowd eventually we got a praise team and we had sunny school teachers and we had volunteers and we looked like a real church and that's when
[01:04:59] i found out that the real work began what i thought was the finish line was really just the starting line when this church is planted in antioch it is easy for us to throw our hands up
[01:05:16] and say, mission complete. The church is here. It exists. But why don't you flip over two chapters, chapter 13. This is about a year after the church is planted. Look at this, starting in verse one.
[01:05:30] Now there was an Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius, a Cyrene, Manion, a lifelong friend of Herod, the Tektar, and Saul. Five teachers. That's big. You got five pastors. By the way, that's Greek names, Hebrew names, and African names. So this is a
[01:05:46] multi-ethnic, multilingual congregation. Verse two, while they were worshiping, they've got a praise team. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the word to which I've called them to. Then after fasting and praying,
[01:06:03] they laid their hands on them and they sent them off. You got a building, you got a worship service you got a praise team you got leadership and it looks like this is going fantastic and then
[01:06:15] all of a sudden a year later in the middle of the worship service the holy spirit says stop more is needed send out paul and barnabas why can i let you in on something god did not plant a
[01:06:37] church in Antioch just so Antioch would have a church. God planted a church in Antioch so the world would be reached, but because the world was not moving to Antioch, God sent Antioch to the
[01:06:58] nations. Why? Because the purpose of a local church is not just to take care of a local church, but to advance the kingdom of god you with me let me give you one more example and i promise i'll be
[01:07:18] quick and when paul leaves eventually he goes on a mission trip now he's with silas and timothy and luke they go to macedonia to the leading city to a place called philippi when they get in
[01:07:33] philippi the first person they meet is an older asian wealthy woman by the name of lydia lydia and her whole house gives their hearts to God. This is Acts chapter 16, by the way. After that,
[01:07:45] there's a young slave Greek girl who's demon possessed. She gets healed. Well, because the magistrates are very upset about this, they arrest Paul and Silas. They beat them, and then they throw them in prison to essentially die. However, at midnight, there's an earthquake. You know this
[01:08:01] story? There's an earthquake. All the doors fling open. The jailer who's about to kill himself, because that would be easier than to go through the torture the Romans would give you if you lose prisoners. As the jailer is about to take his own life, Paul screams out and says, stop.
[01:08:17] We're still here. Go to Acts 16. Look at this, verse 29. And the jailer called for the lights and he rushed in and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them
[01:08:29] out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all who were
[01:08:41] in his house. Now this jailer and his whole house give their hearts to Christ. And right then, right there is the beginning, the planting of a local church in Philippi. It starts with three families, Lydia's family, this Greek slave girl, and the Roman jailer. Now that's not where the
[01:09:02] story, this church stops. Because 10 years after that church is planted, 10 years afterwards, the apostle Paul has now been put in prison. We talked about this last week. Paul was falsely accused in Jerusalem. He was imprisoned in Jerusalem, then sent to Caesarea, where he
[01:09:20] spent two years there, and then ultimately in Rome. It's within those two years in Caesarea, Paul is writing the majority of the books that are in the New Testament. It's in those two years that he's still speaking to the governor Felix and other people still doing ministry even
[01:09:38] though he's in prison well that local church in Philippi heard that the apostle Paul is in prison so what happened is they got everyone together they took up a love offering and they sent a
[01:09:52] god by the name of Ephrodites to see Paul in prison and they give Paul money for food for medicine and for supplies as he continues to do ministry even in prison.
[01:10:05] Paul is so overwhelmed by the generosity of that local church that started ten years ago with a wealthy Asian woman named Lydia, a slave girl who is demon possessed, and a blue-collared Roman jailer. He's so impressed ten years later
[01:10:22] at the church's generosity that Paul wrote them a thank-you letter. And we have the thank you letter. You know what we call it? The book of Philippians. Let me read to you quickly because I've ran out of time what Paul says. By the way, you don't have to turn anywhere
[01:10:39] else. We're going to be in Philippians from here on out, okay? Philippians chapter 1. Here's how Paul opens this up in verse 3. He says, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always and
[01:10:51] every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership.
[01:10:56] or might say because of your sharing underline that for a second in the gospel from the first day until now 10 years ago when this church was planted you decided you were going to be a part
[01:11:11] of ministry why don't you jump real quick to the very last part of philippians chapter 4 look at this verse 14 look how he ends it starting at verse 14 yet it was kind of you to share my trouble
[01:11:23] and you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership, there's that word again, with me and giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I
[01:11:42] seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Ephroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And here's the verse that everybody knows. Listen to
[01:12:00] this, verse 19. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. You know what Paul's saying
[01:12:13] here you didn't turn inward when this church was planted 10 years ago you people didn't say well let's just take care of this local church and let's just make sure we keep the lights on in
[01:12:26] philippi no from the very beginning paul says you entered into ministry with me and you became generous and you advanced the kingdom how did you advance the kingdom by generosity because generosity, Roman numeral number three in your bulletin, generosity fuels kingdom advancement.
[01:12:48] Four things this church did, I want to give you quickly. Number one, participation in the mission.
[01:12:56] Did you see how many times Paul said, you partnered with me? The Greek word there is koinonia. If you've ever been in a Baptist church, you've heard that word, right? Koinonia means fellowship or to share, but that goes way beyond a pound cake, a casserole, or a greeting card.
[01:13:10] y'all that means that you saw my ministry is your ministry even though you were in Philippi you believe that the souls in Caesarea and the souls in Rome and the souls in Jerusalem mattered and that you had a part to play in that look what he says in verse 14 yet it was kind of you to share
[01:13:31] my trouble verse 15 and you Philippians yourselves know that from the very beginning of the gospel when I left Macedonia, no church entered into, there it is, koinonia, partnership with me, because you saw this as your own. Here's the second thing real quick. Not only does generosity
[01:13:49] allow participation in the mission, but number two, it propels the gospel further. Lives were changed far beyond Philippi. Why? Because you sent a team to Rome because you planted a church in No, because you were generous and it brought the gospel to Rome and to Caesarea and Jerusalem.
[01:14:13] Would you make note of this? Letter A, their giving went beyond them. Generosity, when a church becomes generous and says it's no longer just about us, but it's about advancing the kingdom, you're going to reach people who would never walk in these doors. Amen. Number three, it produced
[01:14:30] eternal fruit. Why don't you just quickly go back and look at verse 17. Look what Paul says here.
[01:14:35] not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
[01:14:42] Paul says, when you give, when you give, lives are going to be changed. And you didn't preach the sermon and you didn't kneel down and say the sinner's prayer with that person.
[01:14:52] And you didn't feed that person and you didn't clothe that person, but heaven credits you as if you did, because now you get to be a part of it because you're taking ownership. You got skin
[01:15:05] and the game. Listen to this. Number four, this wasn't just something you briefly did. It was a practice as a lifestyle. This practice as a lifestyle. You don't have to write these down.
[01:15:17] You can if you want to, but let me tell you four characteristics that they're giving.
[01:15:21] It was consistent, sufficient, abundant, and sacrificial. Y'all, it's interesting. This is the one church we actually know that economical layout more than any other church. Who's in that church, Lydia, she's rich. She's affluent. You've also got a poor slave girl, and you've got a blue
[01:15:42] class, blue collar, middle class Roman jailer, and everybody's given. Everybody's given. Why?
[01:15:49] Because they believe that generosity actually fuels the advancement of the kingdom of God.
[01:15:56] Listen to what Paul says in verse 18, I received full payment and more. I am well supplied. I wasn't in need of anything. Listen, this church understood something that we have a hard time understanding.
[01:16:09] Can I just be honest with you? Most churches, when they're trying to judge success, you know how they judge that? How many people do we have come in here? I mean, at First Baptist, we even
[01:16:19] put it on the back of the bulletin. We keep track of how many people walk in these doors and sit in a padded pew. You know what we don't keep track of? How many people leave here to go be a missionary
[01:16:34] to their community, to their workplace, to their school, and to their family.
[01:16:40] Brothers and sisters, we got to start measuring differently. Let me tell you what we need to start measuring. If you want to write this down, we need to start measuring not our seating capacity, but our sending capacity. Number two, our serving capacity. And number three,
[01:16:53] our sacrificing capacity. And that's what Philippi measured. How many people was in that local church in Philippi? I don't know. The only thing I know about them is they advanced the gospel because this was a group of people who was generous. I want to ask Bethany. She'll start
[01:17:10] wrapping us up. Listen to what Paul says in verse 19. He says, and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in Christ Jesus. That's the promise. That's the promise. Now,
[01:17:28] those of you who know anything about Greek, you know that this is a promise that God makes. This is what we call a direct statement, if you will. But you know what is something that I think is
[01:17:44] interesting? Verse 19 comes after what? Verse 18. Just hang with me for two more seconds, okay?
[01:17:51] Verse 19 comes after what? Verse 18. Can I share with you what verse 18 says? Look at this.
[01:17:57] i have received full payment and more i am well supplied having received from atheriditis the gifts you sent a fragrant offering a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to god and then comes to promise verse 19 and my god will supply every need of yours according to his riches
[01:18:23] in Christ Jesus. Y'all, that's a conditional promise. Will God supply all of your needs?
[01:18:35] But you've got to have verse 18. You've got to trust with what you already have, Philippi.
[01:18:41] You've got to go ahead and say, Lord, I trust you, and I'm going to go ahead and be given.
[01:18:45] Listen, when you go ahead and give, God says, I want to take care of you, but you've got to trust me first. Listen, let's finish this out real quick.
[01:18:54] Here's the promise. Number one, God provides. What does he provide? Write this down.
[01:18:58] God provides a every need. What do you need? What do you need? You need more stuff. This isn't a prosperity message. You need more stuff. No, you need more peace. You need more joy. You need more
[01:19:12] contentment. You need a shepherd who lays you down in green pastures. You need to walk beside the still waters. How does that happen? When you say that my life is no longer about me, it's no longer
[01:19:24] just taking care of the people that I've seen. But I want to be generous because I believe that God is wanting to advance not just this place, but the kingdom of God. You know what else it
[01:19:36] brings you? It brings you real freedom where you don't start hoarding on to everything that you have, where you realize that one day everything else will disappear, but not the kingdom of God.
[01:19:47] And here's the last thing it does is it got it. God receives glory, gives God glory. That's how Paul finishes this. Look at this. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches
[01:19:58] and glory in Christ Jesus. The God alone will be the glory and the glory alone. Here's what I want to ask you for here now forever. We owe close to $300,000 in debt. And I want to ask you to pay
[01:20:22] off this debt and to pay it off in the next six weeks. Before Easter hits, let's pay off the debt.
[01:20:32] And I know what you're thinking. Why do I care if the church's debt is paid off?
[01:20:37] I've got my own mortgage. I've got my own car payments. I got my own stuff going on.
[01:20:43] And by the way, didn't you just preach a message about the kingdom of God and how the local church isn't important? And now all of a sudden you're asking us to pay off debt. Why would you do that?
[01:20:51] let me tell you why this is important. Let me tell you why you need to care. Simply put, every dollar that we are spending on debt is a dollar we are not spending advancing the kingdom of God. You
[01:21:06] hear me? Every penny that we are putting toward this debt is a penny we're not using. We're not using to advance the kingdom. Listen, y'all, I've been so proud of First Baptist. You know, over last
[01:21:21] year, we've taken in tons of members. We've actually taken in more members this past year than any other year in the last 20 years. We've had more baptisms this past year than we have in
[01:21:31] a long time. Y'all, you have given and you've already been generous. And I don't know if you know this, but even in our budget, like the ministry, the amount that we're giving to our ministry, the amount that we're giving to our mission has constantly begun to grow. But can
[01:21:47] I tell you something that we want to do? We want to be a church that beyond local ministry, a church beyond local outreach, which we're spending a ton on. We want to be the church that 10% of everything
[01:22:02] that comes in, we want to send it into missions. 10% everything. We're not there yet. We're close, but we're not there yet. But listen, if this debt wasn't here, you know what can happen?
[01:22:16] all of a sudden we become a church that everything that comes in now 10 goes into missions now we become a church that instead of paying on dad we get to put more ministry back in the community
[01:22:27] we get to put more resources back into our kids more resources back into our youth like sunday you're going to see two young men walk through the waters of baptism i gotta tell you one quick
[01:22:41] story. By the way, I know I'm going late. It's raining. You have nowhere to be, okay?
[01:22:47] No football game or anything like that. Today, just today, would you give me like five extra minutes, okay? Listen, two of these guys, they play soccer. I want to tell you more of their story next Sunday. This summer, they wanted to reach more of their teammates, and so they started
[01:23:03] a Bible study just for some guys. Now, that continued to grow so much so that even now before school, they're meeting at 6 a.m. at Chick-fil-A. That's happening here in your church.
[01:23:16] Then out Sunday night, walking the youth, a young girl who's coming to our church, whose parents do not go to church. You know, the majority of kids we have come in, their families don't come. So this girl's coming, our parents don't come or anything like that.
[01:23:32] She told Chuck, I want to be baptized. And not only do I want to be baptized, I want to be baptized at Caswell because I want all my friends to see me walk through the waters
[01:23:42] of baptism. Now, what's really cool about that is obviously this girl wants to be baptized in front of all of her friends. The only problem is not all of her friends are going to be there
[01:23:51] because we have more youth who want to go to Caswell than we can take to Caswell.
[01:23:58] We're at a point right now we need to start taking two trips. You know the problem with taken two trips, guess what it cost? Money. And guess what we're spending money on? Debt. So let's
[01:24:11] pay off the debt so we can take all that money, not to get more debt, but to take more mission trips so more kids can be baptized. Amen. Some of you are in here and you do not tithe.
[01:24:26] You don't tithe. You do not trust Jesus. Listen, you trust Jesus for salvation. You say you trust him with hell? Do you trust him with heaven that you won't go to hell? But you don't trust him with
[01:24:42] your checkbook. See, you trust him with your kids, with your grandkids, but you don't trust him when he says, I will supply every need. You don't really believe him in that. Listen, I want to
[01:24:56] share more with you in the weeks to come, but we don't tithe so we can get more. We don't tithe because the God we serve is a needy God. He's not. All the silver and gold is mine, declares the
[01:25:06] Lord, Haggai 2.2. I want a thousand cattle and a thousand hills and a thousand caddies and a thousand car lots. Amen? He's got it all. He's not needy. We give. We give because we need deeper
[01:25:20] dependence on him. And some of you have never trusted him to do that. Dr. David Jeremiah, some of you have heard him before. He shared a story how one time he was talking about tithing
[01:25:30] in his church, and this young couple came up afterwards and said, Pastor, we want to do that.
[01:25:35] We just don't know if we can. And Dr. Dave Jeremiah said this, okay, why don't you go ahead and write a check out of 10%? By the way, that's what I tie this 10%. You know why we do 10%? One,
[01:25:47] two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. That's open hands. I'm reminding now everything I have belongs to God. Everything I've received comes from him, right? So you go ahead, you figure out what 10% is, you write a check and you give me that check and you just pretend like you've
[01:26:06] already cashed it. You pretend like you've turned it in, but instead I'm going to put that in my desk drawer. And in a couple of weeks, if you, you know, it looks like you're don't have what
[01:26:17] you think you'll have. Things are tough. You call me and I'll just rip it up, but you pretend like it's not there. And in a few weeks, let's see if the Lord provides. And if it looks good, you give
[01:26:28] me the thumbs up and I'll go ahead and turn that into the church. He said, does that sound okay with you? They's like, pastor, that sounds great. He said, do you trust me? You trust me that I'll
[01:26:38] just keep it in my desk drawer? They's like, oh yeah. And then he pointed his finger at him and said, shame on you. You're willing to trust a man, a pastor, an imperfect man, but you're not
[01:26:54] willing to trust your perfect heavenly father. Today's the day some of you need to start trusting your perfect heavenly father and you need to say lord listen i i know i got to re-budget i know i
[01:27:07] got to figure this out but i'm going to go ahead and put my guests on the table i want to some of you've already been convicted about this let this be affirmation for i'm going to go ahead and trust
[01:27:17] you not just with my time not just with my family not just with my salvation i want to trust you with every part of my life now some of you in here some of you you give and you've been giving you've
[01:27:29] been tithing here's what i ask you to do would you give 15 would you give 20 with all the extra that you give would you earmark that to here now and forever let's knock this debt out in six weeks can
[01:27:46] you imagine on easter sunday coming back in here and starting off easter sunday is we're going to see many people give their hearts to jesus christ to start off that having more resources to give
[01:27:59] toward ministry why because we want first baptist to be great why because we want to make much of this church no sir because we want to make much of the kingdom of god i want to ask you prayerfully
[01:28:14] consider that now some of you in here this seems really strange why would you write a check and trust god with this when you've never even trusted him with your heart and for you today listen
[01:28:27] you don't need to write a check you need to fall on your knees you say lord the reason i've been struggling with this is because i've never trusted you with not just my finances i've never trusted
[01:28:38] you with my heart no this altar is going to be open today is the day of salvation you see one of the reasons we want to give is because well we know we can never out give god because he's
[01:28:49] already given us everything his son jesus christ so i want to ask you right now would you just stand right where you're at thank you for letting me go over time just a little bit this morning
[01:28:59] i want to ask you to do a couple things if you're in here this morning and you're willing to say lord lord i want to have a heart of obedience lord i want to be like that church in philippi
[01:29:12] i want to be a person that's obsessed with the advancement of the kingdom and i don't know exactly how much and i don't know exactly how i'm going to do it but i trust you
[01:29:21] and today i'm putting my yes on the table as for me and my house we will serve the lord today i want to start giving today i'm going to start giving more if that's you this altar is
[01:29:35] going to be open i want to ask you if nothing else to come up here put your yes on the table and say lord by your help and by your grace i'm going to have the courage to do this now if you're
[01:29:49] here and you never trusted jesus as your lord and savior i want to ask you to come today and do something a lot more profound than committing to write a check would you come and die i don't
[01:30:05] want to be one of those pastors that sugarcoats this it's not come and be a better person it's not come and be a 2.0 version of yourself come and die to yourself come and die to your aspirations
[01:30:18] come and die to your dreams and say, Jesus, I need saving and I need to be brought to life in, through, and for you. This altar is going to be open. I'd love to pray with you. Lord,
[01:30:30] we thank you for who you are. Father, you are worthy. You are worth it. You are here.
[01:30:42] Would you use this church? Would you use these beautiful people? There's been so many lives that's already been changed.
[01:30:51] But Father, we believe you're just getting started.
[01:30:55] Father, we want to be a part of this.
[01:30:58] So would you give us bonus and courage in this moment?
[01:31:01] And if there's someone in here who has never tasted and has seen just how good you are, oh Lord, let today be the day of salvation.
[01:31:08] We pray this in your holy and most exalted name.
[01:31:12] Amen.

[01:31:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:31:14] I invite you to open in your hymn book to 547.

[01:31:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]
[01:31:18] seven. Lord Jesus, we ask today, Father, I ask today that you give us the courage

[01:36:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:36:50] that we be a church that measures by sending capacity, serving capacity, and sacrificing capacity, not just a church that measures success by seeding capacity. So, Lord, as we leave here, as we are sent out, oh, Lord, let us be bold about the name of Jesus. You have more rotting
[01:37:15] on Mooresville than we do. You have more riding on our families. You have more at stake with the people we work with, the students we go to school with than we do. Outcome is your responsibility.
[01:37:28] Obedience is our responsibility. So, Lord Jesus, help us be obedient for the advancement of the gospel. Father, as we leave here, bless us, keep us, make your face shine upon us, and give us traveling mercies till we meet again. We pray all of this in your holy and most exalted name,
[01:37:43] And all those who agreed said, Amen.
[01:37:46] You are dismissed.