When the Project Becomes the Point: A Review of ‘Sunday Sermon’

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you for watching!

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
Hi, I'm Dan Ahlberger and this is my wife Lindsey and we wanted to talk about our time at Peninsula.
[00:14:36] So we've been coming here for about five years.
[00:14:40] I remember it as we came just pre-COVID and then COVID and then all the things and then I kind of was okay with doing church at home and watching it online and sitting in bed and we didn't have to leave and you know breakfast was long and slow and it was great.
[00:14:57] Lindsay actually likes people and convinced me that it was good to come to the church.

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
We came to Peninsula mostly because of the youth and the children's program.
[00:15:10] We had friends that were here and they just could not say enough amazing things about the program.
[00:15:15] So we decided to check it out and after a few weeks we both realized this was it.
[00:15:20] This was our home that we had been missing for so long.

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
and at the time we didn't have a youth group kid but we knew we were going to and so we wanted to make sure that we were you know kind of setting them up to be in this amazing youth group that we heard lots about from friends and neighbors so we got plugged in pretty quickly to kind of everything you were doing preschool and elementary and we were ready with the youth and i was working with the youth and teaching adult sunday school we felt more like this is a home church than we had in a really long time
[00:15:52] and as the kids are involved in all ages of ministries here it's just been really good to make connections with people some of us more than others and that's okay but it feels like this is the church that we call home

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
I think for our kids, the Awanis program, the youth group, the children's ministry has been huge.
[00:16:14] They've come home learning Bible verses.
[00:16:17] Just having adults pouring into them that aren't us, sometimes that they listen to better than us, has been really, really awesome.
[00:16:24] And knowing that they're all grounded in Christ and follow the same values that we have is awesome.
[00:16:30] And I think having Daniel preaching straight from the Word every week, just what the Bible says, what Scripture says, without watering it down, without trying to conform to culture of today's society, I think has been such a nice thing.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
I think for me, I get to teach with the youth group.
[00:16:49] This year I have the 10th grade boys over teach Sunday morning connect group and that forces me to be in the text.
[00:16:56] And so I feel like I grow more because I have to be able to share it to somebody else.

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Obviously we're considering expanding and that's super exciting and as somebody that has worked both in preschool and children's ministry and youth and have been displaced from the video venue, I'm super excited about the expanded space that we're going to have.
[00:17:17] We had, I think Katrina said, over 50 kindergarteners move up from preschool to elementary school and it has been awesome and chaotic.
[00:17:27] To say the least, trying to fit us all into different spaces, so I'm really excited about going back to having dedicated ministry space for the different things.
[00:17:36] But I just love the church's heart for not only reaching our community and our church, but their heart for supporting other churches, for planting new churches, for sending missionaries, and that.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
Yeah, the church is saturated and that's good.
[00:17:54] The building's being used seven days a week and all the spaces are being used.
[00:17:58] Looking for this big new space to be able to all be in together again, you know, kind of all as a corporate worship, but also the ministries and events that happen during the week in the evenings or the preschool and just being able to give more space to more people.
[00:18:11] But just the more we get to be a beacon in the community, the better.
[00:18:16] And I think this new venue is going to be just another kind of bright light in Mooresville.

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
We're the authors and we love our church.

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Good morning.
[00:20:03] Would you all stand together as we enter into worship?

[00:20:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
I want to dance like David I want to think like Paul I want to sing like Silas tearing down the prison walls I want to face that fire It won't burn me though God's got my back Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego I want to walk like Moses Right through the waves One day I'll see that promised land no longer slaves Though the fear is talking
[00:20:54] No one can take out my faith I'm gonna praise, I'm gonna praise I praise the mountain moving body raised with great good dreams Gonna praise, I'm gonna praise I praise the heaven seated undefeated highest of names That's who I praise
[00:21:18] Hey, that's who I praise, that's who I praise I wanna give like Mary, I wanna break my vase I wanna sleep like Daniel, Aelian, and the lion's gaze I'm gonna get that promise, just like Jericho Yeah, I know what I'll make it for, I'm gonna praise
[00:21:43] I'm gonna praise I praise the heaven-moving, body-raising, breaker of chains Gonna praise I'm gonna praise I praise the heaven-seated, undefeated, highest of kings That's who I praise Hey!
[00:22:03] I praise the God who's proven He can do impossible things That's who I praise Hey!
[00:22:11] That's who I praise, that's who I praise He is the Lion of Judah He is the Lamb and the Slave The only one who's worthy, worthy, worthy of all of the names That's who I praise He is the risen Messiah
[00:22:37] He is the Ancient of Days The only one who's worthy, worthy, worthy of all of His names That's who I praise, I'm gonna praise
[00:22:52] I praise the mountain-moving, body-raising, breaker of chains Gonna praise, I'm gonna praise I praise the heaven-seated, undefeated, highest of names That's who I praise I praise the God who's proven He can do impossible things That's who I praise
[00:23:20] That's who I praise, that's who I praise
[00:23:34] I wanna love like Jesus, that kind of grace I wanna live like I've got no more precious time to waste I'm gonna give Him glory with all my face Cause there's no greater, stronger, higher name And that too I praise

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Amen.
[00:23:59] Well, good morning church.
[00:24:00] So good to see you here today.
[00:24:02] We're continuing in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 18, where we see disciples made and disciples sent out.
[00:24:09] And that's who we want to be and that's who we are.
[00:24:11] As we worship here together today, I'm so excited to be a part of a significant day for Peninsula Baptists.
[00:24:18] This is our Commitment Sunday for the Pathway Project.
[00:24:21] You'll hear more about that in a few moments.
[00:24:23] I want you to be able to worship and praise our Savior, the Jesus who takes things that seem impossible and makes a way for them.
[00:24:32] And so appropriate song that we're going to be singing together here in just a moment that when you seem weary and it seems like all is lost, Jesus actually can take those things and turn them into something beautiful.
[00:24:44] and that's the Jesus we praise as we sing and as we worship through his word in Acts chapter 18.
[00:24:50] Let me lead us in a time of prayer as we continue to worship.
[00:24:53] Father we thank you so much for your grace and mercy that meets and greets us every morning that we wake up.
[00:25:00] Father you are a God that never sleeps and you never slumber and you hold us at night but you hold us during the day and we know that we can lean into you and walk with you that you've got us.
[00:25:10] And you take the chaos and you make it make sense
[00:25:13] We're in Jesus' name we pray.
[00:25:25] Amen.

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Are you past the point of view?
[00:25:38] Is your burden weighing heavy?
[00:25:41] Is it all too much to carry?
[00:25:45] Let me tell you about my Jesus Do you feel that empty fear?
[00:25:50] Cause shame's on all that's dear And you're desperate for some here Let me tell you about my Jesus

[00:26:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
He makes a way where there ain't no way Rises up from an empty grave Ain't no sinner that He can't save Let me tell you about my Jesus His love is strong and His grace is free And the good news is I know that He Can do for you what He's done for me Let me tell you about my Jesus

[00:26:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Let my Jesus change your life Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Let me tell you about my Jesus And all the wrong turns that you will

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
Let me tell you about my Jesus He makes a way where there ain't no way Rises up from an empty grave Ain't no sinner that He can't save Let me tell you about my Jesus His love is strong and His grace is sweet

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
And the good news is I know that He can do for you what He's done for me Let me tell you about my Jesus Let my Jesus change your life Hallelujah

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Who would take my cross to Calvary?
[00:27:57] Pay the price for all my guilty?
[00:28:00] Who would care that much about me?

[00:28:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
Let me tell you about my Jesus, oh He makes a way where there ain't no way Rises up from an empty grave Ain't no sinner that He can't save Let me tell you about my Jesus

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Let me tell you about my Jesus and let my Jesus change your life Hallelujah, Hallelujah
[00:28:59] Hallelujah, and let my Jesus change your life

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
What love could remember the wrongs we have done Omniscient, all-knowing, He counts not their sum Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more
[00:29:50] His mercy is more Stronger than darkness New every morn Our sins they are many His mercy is more
[00:30:19] What patience would wait as we constantly roam What Father so tender is calling us home He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor Our sins they are many, His mercy is more Praise the Lord
[00:30:47] His mercy is more Stronger than darkness New every morn Our sins they are many His mercy is more
[00:31:29] What riches of kindness He's lavished on us His blood was the payment, His life was the cost We stood neath a debt we could never afford Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more
[00:32:00] His mercy is Lord.
[00:32:03] His mercy is Lord.
[00:32:10] Stronger than darkness, to everyone our sins.
[00:32:16] There are many His mercies.
[00:32:20] Come on, sing it.
[00:32:20] Praise the Lord.
[00:32:25] His mercy is Lord.
[00:32:32] Our sins they are many His mercy is more Our sins they are many His mercy is more

[00:33:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Praise the Lord.
[00:33:14] Amen.
[00:33:18] Yeah.
[00:33:18] Would y'all be seated?

[00:34:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Well, good morning.
[00:34:02] Happy fall.
[00:34:04] I'm reminded so much of fall.
[00:34:06] Yesterday I got this wild hair, thought I would go out and take care of all the leaves in my yard, and woke up this morning, didn't even look like I touched it.
[00:34:16] I literally, I have this riding mower that has a vacuum thing on it, and yesterday after I got all the leaves up, the yard looked amazing, and I turned and looked back and they were falling.
[00:34:27] And so just for fun, just so you know me, I'm kind of a goofball.
[00:34:32] Just for fun, for about 10 minutes, I just rode around the yard and picked up the leaves that were falling.
[00:34:38] I was like, oh, and I was just like, you know, so now I've got all these tire marks that go like this all over my back lawn and everything.
[00:34:44] But, yeah, it didn't look like it.
[00:34:47] But anyway, I guess I'm a little bit ahead of the game.
[00:34:49] It won't be as thick as when I finally do clean them up.
[00:34:53] But anyway, it's good.
[00:34:54] Anybody else do your own leaves?
[00:34:56] Anybody else?
[00:34:57] All right, so you know the pain.
[00:34:59] Here's a pain.
[00:35:01] Here's a pain that you can do.
[00:35:02] You have your leaf blower, and you're blowing the leaves, and you're doing good, and you have this nice row of leaves just walking out.
[00:35:08] and they're kind of rolling over you know what I'm talking about if you blow leaves and then this big gust of wind comes and you know it's never moving in the direction that you're blowing the leaves it's always the opposite direction I'm thinking what in the world why am I always blowing the leaves upstream it seems like so anyway
[00:35:29] It's just fun, just part of fall and enjoying it, being outside.
[00:35:32] The weather was amazing to be outside.
[00:35:35] And the whole time I was out there, I was praying about today.
[00:35:40] Well, in between chasing leaves.
[00:35:41] I was praying about today and it being a significant day for the life and the history of our church.
[00:35:48] Because for two years, we have been asking you to pray, wait, and see.
[00:35:56] Pray, wait, and see.
[00:35:58] And we've been doing different things for two years, seeking how to saturate the facility, seeking how to strengthen our discipleship programming so that disciples are being made that can go out and make more disciples.
[00:36:10] We've been praying through God leading us in that.
[00:36:13] But today, we're actually being called to make a move.
[00:36:17] And that's what we're going to talk a little bit about today.
[00:36:19] And again, I know some people don't believe me, but it's just God's grace of where we end up in Scripture on important days, important things going on.
[00:36:28] And where we are today in Scripture is just another one of those things that God called us to.
[00:36:35] So if you'll look at Acts 18, we're going to go there in just a moment, we're talking about the empowered generosity, cultivating leaders for tomorrow.
[00:36:43] That's what this is about.
[00:36:46] Today is Commitment Sunday for the Pathway Project and at the end of the time we are going to ask everyone to come forward and to place a card on the table in front of me.
[00:36:57] Now if you're a first-time guest, you get to experience just watching us take a significant step here.
[00:37:04] We're not asking everyone to move forward.
[00:37:06] If you're a guest or you're early here at Peninsula, you don't even know what the Pathway Project is.
[00:37:12] You get to watch us take a step of faith today and so I'm glad that you're here to be able to watch that.
[00:37:18] But today, for our Commitment Sunday, we're actually saying, Lord, here am I.
[00:37:23] Use me, use my family for something significant so that we can impact the generations to come to make disciples who make disciples.
[00:37:33] And as only God can orchestrate, the passage this morning is not about money.
[00:37:39] We know that this is a financial commitment you're making.
[00:37:41] It's not about buildings.
[00:37:44] It's about people.
[00:37:47] And I'm sure the staff have heard me say many times, I believe people first, product second.
[00:37:56] We're about people.
[00:37:59] It's about the way the gospel moves forward when God's people commit to what they're being called to, to invest in one another, to strengthen one another, to build one another up, to raise up the next generation of leaders.
[00:38:12] And so I'm excited about this text.
[00:38:16] This is what the Pathway Project is about.
[00:38:18] It's a commitment to invest in tomorrow's disciples, tomorrow's leaders, tomorrow's missionaries, tomorrow's attendees, tomorrow's worshipers.
[00:38:30] That's what we're doing today is we're making that statement.
[00:38:34] So I want to look at verses 18 through 28, just 10 verses today.
[00:38:40] We'll take it in chunks and I'll stop at the chunks and we will talk about them for just a moment.
[00:38:45] But I want to talk about
[00:38:47] Paul's purposeful passage.
[00:38:50] That's preacher-fied right there.
[00:38:53] It all starts with P's and everything.
[00:38:55] You know, you ask a pastor, hey, how long did you spend on this sermon?
[00:38:58] And they say, oh, preparation, probably about 25, 30 hours.
[00:39:02] And you find out when you hear the sermon that probably 20 of those hours was trying to figure out all the words that start with the same letters.
[00:39:08] I don't labor it out that much, but a lot of the commentaries actually said this about this.
[00:39:12] And it's not talking about the passage of Scripture that we're reading.
[00:39:15] It's actually talking about his trip.
[00:39:18] Now obviously I could have said Paul's purposeful trip or Paul's purposeful journey, but that didn't start with a P. So we're going with Paul's purposeful passage.
[00:39:28] And I want to read these particular verses starting at verse 18 in chapter 18.
[00:39:34] After this, Paul stayed many days longer, and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.
[00:39:44] Now remember, Priscilla and Aquila, they heard, they were working in the church, and now they're going on mission with Paul.
[00:39:51] Which is cool.
[00:39:51] I appreciate Pastor Brad last week bringing the message and talking about Priscilla and Aquila.
[00:39:56] They were either young and didn't necessarily have to worry about kids or they were older because the kids weren't mentioned.
[00:40:04] But they had the ability to just pick up and go and so we see that happening here.
[00:40:09] At Sincrea,
[00:40:10] He had cut his hair for he was under a vow.
[00:40:14] This is talking about Paul.
[00:40:15] And they came to Ephesus and he left them there and he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
[00:40:22] This was just his normal thing.
[00:40:23] He went in and he was Jewish of upbringing and he went in and just reasoned with them trying to say, hey this scripture text that we've been reading, what we now know as the Old Testament, has come true.
[00:40:36] And he's trying to reason with them and tell them that.
[00:40:38] Verse 20, When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.
[00:40:44] But on taking leave of them, he said, I will return to you if God wills.
[00:40:50] That's a big statement there because Paul was following the leadership of the Spirit and he set sail from Ephesus.
[00:40:59] Now I know that when we first read through these few verses here, it can feel like a travelogue.
[00:41:04] That it's just kind of like, oh, here's what Paul did.
[00:41:06] Here was his comings and his goings.
[00:41:09] But it's more than that.
[00:41:10] There's actually some things that's revealed here that's really somewhat powerful.
[00:41:14] Paul never moved aimlessly.
[00:41:18] He moved with purpose.
[00:41:20] He moved with reason.
[00:41:21] He followed what God was doing for him.
[00:41:24] His journey is not random.
[00:41:27] It's intentional.
[00:41:28] You look back at it in verse 18, his vow, which I'm going to talk about in just a second, was intentional.
[00:41:35] His leaving in verse 18 was intentional.
[00:41:38] His return to Antioch in verse 22 was intentional under God's leadership.
[00:41:43] And even his stop in Ephesus in verse 19 all reflect gospel strategy.
[00:41:50] That's what we're to be about today is gospel strategy.
[00:41:53] Not just being an observer of things church, but actually being an active participant in things church.
[00:42:01] When Jesus was ascending into heaven, he said, go therefore and make disciples.
[00:42:05] He was calling us into being participants into what he was wanting to do for the gospel of who he was to spread throughout the world.
[00:42:15] Paul is a man who lived with the future in mind.
[00:42:22] I can think of several things that Paul must have had at the forefront of who he was.
[00:42:25] He was always thinking about who needs strengthening, where the gospel needs to go, who must be raised up, and how his life, talking about himself, how his life can be spent for kingdom impact.
[00:42:40] This is just kind of Paul's way of understanding his calling and this is the heart of the Pathway Project.
[00:42:48] We're not doing something random.
[00:42:51] We're not just kind of saying, oh, I wish we could.
[00:42:53] We're following God's call.
[00:42:55] We're doing something purposeful, something future-focused.
[00:43:01] Paul's travels remind us the gospel advances through people who commit to a long-term vision.
[00:43:11] That's being an active participant, jumping in.
[00:43:15] This is the heart of the Pathway Project, and on this Commitment Sunday, that's what we're doing, saying yes to the future of what God has called us to.
[00:43:24] A future that we may never fully see the impact of.
[00:43:30] When Peninsula started a little over 40 years ago, a good many of those folks who sacrificed at that time to plant this church here are no longer living.
[00:43:40] They're in heaven.
[00:43:41] So on this side of heaven they didn't get to see us sitting here today taking another step of faith to move forward.
[00:43:49] I find it interesting too here that we read that Paul is making a vow.
[00:43:55] Especially on Commitment Sunday.
[00:43:58] Paul's haircut wasn't superstition.
[00:44:02] It wasn't something that he kind of fell off the rails with.
[00:44:05] It's kind of had like a Nazarene type of feel to it.
[00:44:10] But you remember, Paul is coming out of a hard season in Corinth that was followed by God's promise, remain here, be bold, and no one will touch you.
[00:44:21] Remember that promise that he was given?
[00:44:22] Could you imagine?
[00:44:24] You know, like what Pastor Brad said last week, you go into a town, he's like, I know the drill here.
[00:44:30] I come in, I challenge the synagogue, I share with the Gentiles, and I get beaten.
[00:44:36] He knew the way things were going to go, but God said, no, no, no, you remain here and you be bold and you will not be touched.
[00:44:43] Do you know how freeing that had to feel to Paul?
[00:44:46] And so now he's doing this, following it with a vow.
[00:44:50] It was a blessing for him to be protected by God.
[00:44:53] And so Paul made a voluntary vow of thanksgiving and renewal.
[00:45:02] Cutting his hair marked the end of that vow.
[00:45:04] That wasn't legalism.
[00:45:06] It was actually worship.
[00:45:08] It was a way for Paul to be able to say, Lord, my life is yours for the next season you're leading me into.
[00:45:16] That's what this commitment we're asking of each of us is.
[00:45:23] Lord, we commit to you the next season of Peninsula Baptist Church.
[00:45:29] We are going to give to that.
[00:45:32] So today is the same in some ways, although we're not cutting any hair.
[00:45:37] Does anybody need a haircut?
[00:45:38] Just kind of curious.
[00:45:40] We could get the razor.
[00:45:41] I remember when I was in youth ministry, there was this big thing, which I never participated in.
[00:45:46] Perhaps too vain to, I don't know, but there are always these challenges when I first entered into the youth ministry.
[00:45:51] If we can get 100 teenagers here this week, the youth pastor will shave his head bald.
[00:45:56] I was like, yeah, no thanks.
[00:46:00] If we get 100 teenagers here at this next event I've got planned, I'm going to pull my hair out.
[00:46:07] Had fun as a youth pastor.
[00:46:11] Brings us to the next section, verses 22 and 23, Purposeful Path to Strengthen.
[00:46:16] Now I could have said to power.
[00:46:18] I know you're disappointed because it doesn't start with a P. But strengthen actually is what we're talking about here.
[00:46:23] So I had to stick with the S. Sorry for those of you who are...
[00:46:27] You can turn it to power if you want to, but strengthen works better.
[00:46:30] Let's look at these verses.
[00:46:32] When he had landed in Caesarea, now Caesarea, I learned when we were in Israel and we went and visited this area called Caesarea, had this amazing man-made, back in Caesar's day, a man-made pier that went out.
[00:46:46] They actually brought volcanic ash from Egypt and made wooden blocks and mixed it in and put it in the water and it turned to concrete.
[00:46:56] What an engineering feat, and they made this big, just look at pictures of Corinth today.
[00:47:01] Also learned that a lot of people there don't call this, they call it Caesarea, which I thought was interesting.
[00:47:08] It kind of goes along with it because Caesar was the one that kind of brought this all about.
[00:47:11] But anyway, that's a side note.
[00:47:13] When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church.
[00:47:18] and then went down to Antioch.
[00:47:20] After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples."
[00:47:32] It was purposeful what he was doing.
[00:47:34] And Paul lands there.
[00:47:35] It's the major port city of his time, the capital.
[00:47:41] of Roman Empire.
[00:47:43] And from there he goes to Jerusalem, which is up from the Mediterranean Sea.
[00:47:49] And then he goes back to Antioch.
[00:47:50] Antioch was, remember, his sending church.
[00:47:54] And Caesarea was kind of Paul's doorway back into the heart of his mission and God's call to him.
[00:48:01] What would it be like for Peninsula to be that place?
[00:48:06] That people call their home church that they were sent out from to go on mission.
[00:48:12] I'm so excited because my oldest daughter who serves in France is coming home for Thanksgiving.
[00:48:19] It's awesome.
[00:48:20] It's going to be good to have her back here and she'll be here.
[00:48:23] She calls this her sending church.
[00:48:27] She calls us her sending people.
[00:48:30] She's coming back to not only bring encouragement of what God's been doing in her life there, but to get encouraged as well, to be a part.
[00:48:38] This kind of reminds me of this as Paul comes back and returns to his sending church in Antioch.
[00:48:44] But then he immediately goes out.
[00:48:47] My daughter's only going to be here for 10 days, so I know that those 10 days are going to go by really fast.
[00:48:52] But he begins to revisit churches that he planted.
[00:48:55] He encourages the disciples and strengthens the believers.
[00:48:59] This is a picture of ongoing discipleship and investment in the people that were planted there.
[00:49:05] Strengthening is kind of a form of generosity.
[00:49:09] In fact, we've been talking about generosity and all forms of generosity since we've been in the book of Acts.
[00:49:14] Because remember, we're landing one day on that where Paul says, remember Jesus said that it is greater to give than to receive?
[00:49:23] There's all forms of generosity.
[00:49:25] Here we see generosity of Paul.
[00:49:27] His time, his encouragement, his teaching, correction, presence, and spiritual formation.
[00:49:34] Those are all forms of generosity that engages us in people's growth.
[00:49:40] It's pouring into others with consistency.
[00:49:45] And Paul didn't move on from people.
[00:49:48] He actually invested in them.
[00:49:49] He returned and he equipped them to endure.
[00:49:53] This is why our commitment today matters.
[00:49:56] We're not just committing to a project today.
[00:49:59] We're committing to strengthening future disciples, making a place for people to be a part of what we're doing.
[00:50:07] Yes, we are looking to build spaces, but those spaces are where children will be taught God's Word.
[00:50:14] It's environments where students will encounter Christ.
[00:50:18] It's expanding room for worship that will form the future missionaries and leaders that we send out.
[00:50:25] This is a strengthening work that we're called to, just like Paul.
[00:50:33] But now I want to get to kind of the center of the message, the point of what's being said here.
[00:50:42] Priscilla and Aquila, altruism.
[00:50:47] Selfless concern for others.
[00:50:50] This is what we're talking about here.
[00:50:51] Look at what happens here.
[00:50:53] Verse 24, Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.
[00:51:00] He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.
[00:51:06] He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in the Spirit.
[00:51:11] Look at all these adjectives that are being thrown in his direction.
[00:51:14] He spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
[00:51:20] He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
[00:51:32] What's going on here?
[00:51:34] Well, he was an excellent teacher.
[00:51:35] This is kind of the centerpiece of what we're talking about, what Commitment Sunday circles around.
[00:51:41] It's the heartbeat of what God is saying.
[00:51:44] There's three powerful truths that come out of this particular text.
[00:51:48] A.
[00:51:49] God brings gifted people into the church, gifted on so many different levels.
[00:51:55] Gifted in being able to be used to move the kingdom forward.
[00:52:00] Apollos, look at this, was eloquent, knowledgeable, passionate, bold, and he was accurate in everything he taught up to a point.
[00:52:16] So they say he was accurate in what he was teaching, but it was incomplete because he only knew up through John the Baptist.
[00:52:27] He only knew up to that point.
[00:52:28] He didn't know the rest of it.
[00:52:31] So he needed discipleship, not discouragement, which brings us to B. Priscilla and Aquila didn't criticize him and say, well, you, you got it all wrong.
[00:52:42] They didn't try to wag their finger.
[00:52:44] They actually discipled him.
[00:52:47] They were generous and they took him aside privately, humbly, and relationally.
[00:52:58] They gave him time, knowledge, correction, encouragement, spiritual investment, and personal presence.
[00:53:08] They just walked with him in it.
[00:53:09] They didn't host a class.
[00:53:11] They didn't create a program.
[00:53:13] They didn't go to Paul and tattle on him.
[00:53:15] They just went to him and said, we need to disciple.
[00:53:18] They opened their lives.
[00:53:22] They were active participants in the discipleship process.
[00:53:25] This is the kind of generosity that forms leaders.
[00:53:28] This is the kind of generosity that the Pathway Project calls us to embrace.
[00:53:34] Not just financial generosity but the generosity of investing in people.
[00:53:40] Every future leader who stands on a future platform.
[00:53:45] Every missionary we send, every child that will grow into a follower of Jesus, every marriage that will be restored, every disciple that will be multiplied because of our efforts, all of it come through the generosity of people who open their lives like Priscilla and Aquila.
[00:54:09] Which brings us to the third point, C. Investing in one Apollos opens the door for multitudes.
[00:54:19] They didn't know who Apollos would become.
[00:54:24] They just knew he needed a little shaping.
[00:54:28] He needed the rest of the story.
[00:54:31] They invested in one person that we see recorded here.
[00:54:36] But God multiplied that investment beyond their sight.
[00:54:42] And there is the message for today.
[00:54:45] You never know what God will do through the person or the commitment that you make.
[00:54:55] Every pathway commitment card represents future people we will disciple, future stories we will celebrate,
[00:55:07] Future Apolicises, is that how you say it?
[00:55:11] Apolici?
[00:55:12] I don't know, that's one.
[00:55:13] Apolicy?
[00:55:13] I don't know.
[00:55:14] Future Apolicises?
[00:55:17] God will raise up.
[00:55:19] Future leaders who will carry the gospel further than we could ever imagine.
[00:55:26] That is generosity for tomorrow.
[00:55:30] And that's what this is about.
[00:55:34] So let's finish this particular segment of Scripture out in verses 27 and 28.
[00:55:39] Apollos amplified advocacy.
[00:55:42] There we go, three A's.
[00:55:44] Can I get applause for that?
[00:55:45] I'm just kidding.
[00:55:46] See what I did there, applause?
[00:55:48] All right, sometimes my brain clicks on it, sometimes it doesn't, but that's okay.
[00:55:54] Public support.
[00:55:57] This is Apollos who was excellent in his teaching,
[00:56:02] He was discipled and learned the full story and then he boldly stepped out into public and started using that excellent teaching to win others.
[00:56:15] This is what it says, And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.
[00:56:24] When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
[00:56:38] What a powerful testimony of what's happening here and what we see rolled out in front of us in this particular text.
[00:56:46] He was amplifying the public support.
[00:56:52] Why?
[00:56:52] Because it moved in a direction.
[00:56:55] You can see the flow as you read through this text.
[00:56:58] Paul lived purposefully.
[00:57:01] He wasn't random in where he was going.
[00:57:03] Paul strengthened the believers.
[00:57:06] Priscilla and Aquila invested in him and God empowered him.
[00:57:12] That's the flow of what we see happening here.
[00:57:16] That's what moves us forward in thinking about the next generation.
[00:57:20] That's the ripple effect of generosity in leadership development.
[00:57:25] This is what Commitment Sunday is about for us, church.
[00:57:29] When we give, when we serve, when we build, when we disciple, we participate in the raising up of the next generation of leaders.
[00:57:41] What will be said about
[00:57:43] Peninsula of 2025, 40 plus years from now.
[00:57:48] A people of faith that stepped out with boldness to make things available for people to be reached for the gospel in Mooresville and North Carolina and to the nations.
[00:58:03] This passage is a portrait of the church working together to develop its leaders.
[00:58:11] You've got Paul who was the mentor.
[00:58:15] You've got Priscilla and Aquila that were the disciples.
[00:58:19] You've got the church in Ephesus which was the community of people that surrounded Apollos.
[00:58:25] And you've got Apollos who was the emerging leader that was sent out.
[00:58:32] Everyone played a role.
[00:58:37] Everyone invests.
[00:58:40] At their level of investment.
[00:58:43] Everyone contributed and everyone committed.
[00:58:47] This is the vision of the Pathway Project.
[00:58:51] 100% participation at the level that you feel God calling you to participate in.
[00:59:02] We are committing today to expand our capacity to raise leaders,
[00:59:09] Strengthen families.
[00:59:12] Shape the next generation.
[00:59:15] Equip disciples who will multiply and unleash Apollos' into the world.
[00:59:27] This is gospel generosity.
[00:59:30] This is kingdom impact that we get to participate in.
[00:59:35] This is an investment for tomorrow.
[00:59:41] We won't all preach like Apollos.
[00:59:46] We won't all travel like Paul.
[00:59:51] We will all have the opportunity to disciple like Priscilla and Aquila.
[00:59:59] But at the end of the day, all of us can participate in what God is doing.
[01:00:05] Today is not about equal gifts by any means.
[01:00:09] It's about a willingness to hear God and to step into sacrifice.
[01:00:15] Equal faith.
[01:00:17] Equal commitment to the mission of Christ that He has placed before us as a church.
[01:00:23] And just like in Acts 18, God will take what you offer and multiply it far beyond what you can see.
[01:00:35] And so today, we're asking all of us to step forward.
[01:00:43] To step forward purposefully like Paul, faithfully like Priscilla and Aquila, boldly like Apollos, and generously as the people of God.
[01:01:01] Let's declare with our commitments that we believe in the future of the church, we believe in the next generation, we believe in the leaders God is raising up, and we believe in the mission of Jesus.
[01:01:19] I had an opportunity last night to celebrate with a young man who just recently, a part of our church body, who just recently graduated with his Masters of Divinity, and he asked a group to come over and to pray with him as he has been sent out.
[01:01:33] He grew up in this church.
[01:01:36] He will be working full-time in ministry in the days to come.
[01:01:40] And I was just excited to see that picture of someone who was raised up in this midst
[01:01:47] But willing to go out and to step out in faith.
[01:01:51] Maybe you're not called into full-time vocational ministry, but you are called to make disciples who make disciples.
[01:01:58] That is an active engagement that Christ wants us to be engaged in.
[01:02:04] So the pathway project is building, for sure.
[01:02:07] But it is equipping through the discipleship pathway.
[01:02:12] And it is sending people into the nations.
[01:02:19] May our generosity today empower disciples for tomorrow.
[01:02:27] Let's pray together.
[01:02:30] Father, we thank You for this Word that challenges us.
[01:02:36] We see the plan that You pulled
[01:02:38] And today Father we have an opportunity
[01:03:05] After a couple years of praying and waiting and seeing what you're calling us to, to actually step out and move today.
[01:03:18] More than anything, Father, my heart is not about numbers.
[01:03:26] My heart is that you're glorified, that you're praised, that you're honored.
[01:03:35] and that tomorrow's disciples that you call will have a place to call their sending church.
[01:03:45] In Jesus' name we pray.
[01:03:48] Amen.
[01:03:50] A couple weeks ago, we had an opportunity.
[01:03:52] We invited the church to come to what we were calling an early commitment event.
[01:03:57] It was on a Friday night.
[01:03:58] It was held in this room.
[01:03:59] We redecorated it, and we set this very same table with the pathway bricks on it up at the front, and we asked those that were there to make an early commitment to kind of demonstrate just a faith in what God is calling us to.
[01:04:15] We had 65 commitment cards turned in from
[01:04:18] Numerous people, 65 families represented there, and significantly that probably the majority of the people were expanding their giving.
[01:04:32] It was encouraging.
[01:04:33] It was validating to what I've been feeling God was calling us to anyway.
[01:04:40] To step forward in faith and to watch Him move here in a mighty way.
[01:04:45] So here's what I want to do.
[01:04:47] We have placed commitment cards on the chair in front of you.
[01:04:51] If you are at the early commitment event and you've already turned in a card, we want to ask you to walk with us and turn in another card.
[01:05:00] Just write on there, early commitment, and place that here with us because this is a unifying body move for us to demonstrate our faith and where God is taking us.
[01:05:11] If you're a first-time guest, just watch what's going on.
[01:05:14] and enjoy seeing history being made at Peninsula, I kind of feel like.
[01:05:20] I'm confident in where God is taking us.
[01:05:22] I want to give you about three minutes to just where you are.
[01:05:25] Pray through and take time to fill out your card.
[01:05:28] Let me just place a couple pictures on the screen so I can walk you through how I look at it and how I view it.
[01:05:38] The first is the top portion of the card.
[01:05:41] and it looks like this and this is what my wife and I did we actually looked on this chart and we saw what our routine annual tithe and generosity was and where we fell on that chart and then we looked to the line above
[01:06:03] We look to the line above.
[01:06:05] By the way, I failed to mention, if you didn't get a card, our deacons and ushers are ready to serve a card for you if you need one.
[01:06:11] I know we only put one on every other seat, so if you need one, they can get one in your hands.
[01:06:15] Just slip your hands up.
[01:06:17] But we look to the line above.
[01:06:21] It was a challenge for us, but we want to be a part of what God is doing here to see it move forward.
[01:06:28] And then on the lower portion of it, the way we filled it out is we just wrote on the very top line what we were currently giving in a year.
[01:06:38] For some that may be zero, and we understand that.
[01:06:42] You may not have ever given anything to Peninsula, and we get that.
[01:06:46] On our early commitment night, some wrote zero in that line.
[01:06:51] We had five families that had never given to Peninsula before commit in a significant way to the Pathway Project.
[01:06:58] Then the second line is just you're multiplying that for two years.
[01:07:01] This is a two-year commitment we're asking you to consider.
[01:07:06] And then on the third line, you're thinking about, well, how can I expand that?
[01:07:09] What would it look like if I added this much more per month to my giving?
[01:07:15] And then any resources that you may be able to promise to this.
[01:07:20] And then you're writing your two-year commitment down on the grade box.
[01:07:25] It's very important that you put your name and your email address there because before we announce that we know what the total commitment for the next two years is, we're going to reach out to you via email to make sure we're reading your card correctly.
[01:07:42] And I promise we won't say anything like, didn't you mean to add another zero?
[01:07:47] We won't say that.
[01:07:49] Listen church, we really do want you to give what God is telling you to give.
[01:07:54] And I'll be so bold to say that if you think God is telling you to give nothing to this, you better not give anything.
[01:08:01] We want you to respond to what God is calling you to because He's in charge of this ship.
[01:08:07] He's moving us forward and that's what we want you to be able to do.
[01:08:10] So for about three minutes, give you a time to pray.
[01:08:13] Fill out the card and after that I will come up and lead us in a prayer and then after that prayer we will ask you to come forward and to give your card and this is what we're going to do I'll ask you to stand and we can all stand in this room and we want you to exit out of your sections this way so you'll exit out this way this particular section over here you're going to exit out this way and go to the back of the room and move to the center aisle
[01:08:43] If you come down this way, it's going to bottleneck.
[01:08:46] Now, this is going to be clunky.
[01:08:49] And we are going to get in each other's way.
[01:08:52] And that's okay.
[01:08:53] It's by design.
[01:08:54] We've even asked the video venue to join us.
[01:08:57] So they're going to be making their way down the hallway to come in here and to place their cards here.
[01:09:02] And then after you place your card, we want you to move all the way across to the far wall, go to the back, and then come back to your seat.
[01:09:11] Hopefully it'll move like a big circle in this room.
[01:09:14] Remain standing, pray for those who are still giving, and then we will close the time out with a song and scripture, and we'll be dismissed at that time.
[01:09:25] Alright, take about three minutes to pray, fill out your card if you need.
[01:09:29] and then I'll come back up and lead us in a time of prayer in just three minutes.

[01:11:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
Let's pray together.

[01:11:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Father, we thank you for your grace and your mercy.
[01:11:47] We thank you for not just spinning the world into action and backing off, but you created the world, you created us, and you call us to walk with you through new things.
[01:11:59] You bring purpose, you bring meaning to a chaotic world.
[01:12:03] We thank you for this time that you've called us to.
[01:12:10] So as we give our gifts, be glorified and honored so that the world, our community around us will see your majesty.
[01:12:26] In Jesus' name we pray.
[01:12:29] Amen.
[01:12:30] You can all stand please.

[01:12:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Let us pray.

[01:12:59] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.

[01:13:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
The video venue is filing through and they're almost finished.
[01:13:24] This section over here wants to go ahead and start moving toward the back and following behind them.

[01:13:30] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[01:13:57] In Jesus' name, amen.
[01:14:33] Let us pray.
[01:14:59] Let us pray.
[01:15:04] Now,
[01:15:37] In Jesus' name, amen.
[01:16:00] Let us pray.
[01:16:30] Let us pray.
[01:16:57] Let us pray.
[01:16:58] In Jesus' name, amen.

[01:17:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
This section right here can move.
[01:17:41] Come out this way, go to the back, circle around.

[01:17:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
In Jesus' name, Amen.

[01:18:23] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you for watching!

[01:18:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
And now this section here.

[01:19:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Let us pray.

[01:19:42] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.

[01:19:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
The final section.
[01:19:54] If you go out toward the wall and you don't have to circle all the way around the room, you can come back to this aisle.

[01:20:29] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In Jesus' name, amen.

[01:21:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
What a special time.
[01:21:26] As we continue to worship, let's worship through song.

[01:21:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Sometimes you gotta dance through the darkness Sing through the fire Praise when it don't make sense Sometimes you gotta stare down the giant Worship when the lion's dead
[01:22:03] Sometimes you've gotta shout it from the mountain Louder in the valley Trusting that He's gonna get you there Sometimes you've gotta wail and wonder Wait for the answer Worship with your hands in the air I'll praise Him anywhere Praise, give Him praise, give Him praise In the highest place Give Him praise, give Him praise In the highest place
[01:22:35] Yes, He is worthy of all that we'll bring
[01:22:43] Sometimes you've got to praise in the prison, cry out to heaven, shout to the Lord, sweet wife.
[01:22:57] Sometimes you've got to stand on your shackles, brave in the battle, worship with your hands held high.
[01:23:01] I'll praise you anywhere.
[01:23:02] Praise, giving praise, giving praise in the highest.
[01:23:07] Praise, giving praise, giving praise in the highest.
[01:23:16] Come on church, sing out with me on this bridge.
[01:23:47] Faithful all my life Blessings day and night Countless reasons why I'll praise you anywhere Every promise kept Goodness every step Each and every breath I'll praise you anywhere Faithful all my life
[01:24:07] Blessings day and night, promise reasons why, I'll praise you anywhere.
[01:24:15] Every promise kept, goodness every step, each and every breath, I'll praise you anywhere.
[01:24:22] Praise, giving praise, giving praise in the highest.
[01:24:28] Praise, giving praise, giving praise in the highest.
[01:24:34] The glory you see is worthy of all of the praise I'll praise you anyway Oh mountains, oh valleys, I know that you're with me I'll praise you anyway

[01:25:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Amen.
[01:25:10] Thank you, church.
[01:25:11] It was special to see the movement of the body coming by here.
[01:25:15] It just kind of demonstrates us moving forward to be able to reach our community and our world for Christ.
[01:25:21] So thank you for that.
[01:25:22] We are greatly appreciative of that.
[01:25:23] And as always, we want to end on God's Word.
[01:25:26] There's no better way to go out of the room than with God's Word.
[01:25:29] And this is where it's calling us to, Acts chapter 20, verse 32.
[01:25:33] And you read with me.
[01:25:35] And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
[01:25:48] We are sent.

[01:43:09] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thank you for watching!

[01:44:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
Hi, I'm Dan Ahlberger and this is my wife Lindsey and we wanted to talk about our time at Peninsula.
[01:44:36] So we've been coming here for about five years.
[01:44:38] I remember it as we came just pre-COVID and then COVID and then all the things and then I kind of was okay with doing church at home and watching it online and sitting in bed and we didn't have to leave and you know breakfast was long and slow and it was great.
[01:44:57] Lindsay actually likes people and convinced me that it was good to come to the church.

[01:45:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
We came to Peninsula mostly because of the youth and the children's program.
[01:45:10] We had friends that were here and they just could not say enough amazing things about the program.
[01:45:15] So we decided to check it out and after a few weeks we both realized this was it.
[01:45:20] This was our home that we had been missing for so long.

[01:45:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
and at the time we didn't have a youth group kid but we knew we were going to and so we wanted to make sure that we were you know kind of setting them up to be in this amazing youth group that we heard lots about from friends and neighbors so we got plugged in pretty quickly to kind of everything you were doing preschool and elementary and we were ready with the youth and I was working with the youth and teaching adult Sunday school we felt more like this is a home church than we had in a really long time
[01:45:52] And as the kids are involved in all ages of ministries here, it's just been really good to make connections with people, some of us more than others, and that's okay.
[01:46:04] But it feels like this is the church that we call home.

[01:46:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
I think for our kids, the Awanis program, the youth group, the children's ministry has been huge.
[01:46:14] They've come home learning Bible verses.
[01:46:17] Just having adults pouring into them that aren't us, sometimes that they listen to better than us, has been really, really awesome.
[01:46:24] And knowing that they're all grounded in Christ and follow the same values that we have is awesome.
[01:46:30] And I think having Daniel preaching straight from the Word every week, you know, just what the Bible says, what Scripture says, without watering it down, without, you know, trying to conform to culture of today's society, I think has been such a nice thing.

[01:46:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
I think for me, I get to teach with the youth group.
[01:46:49] This year I have the 10th grade boys, or teach a Sunday morning connect group, and that forces me to be in the text.
[01:46:56] And so I feel like I grow more because I have to be able to share it to somebody else.

[01:47:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]:
Obviously we're considering expanding and that's super exciting and as somebody that has worked both in preschool and children's ministry and youth and have been displaced from the video venue, I'm super excited about the expanded space that we're going to have.
[01:47:17] We had, I think Katrina said, over 50 kindergarteners move up from preschool to elementary school and it has been awesome and chaotic.
[01:47:27] to say the least trying to fit us all into different spaces so I'm I'm really excited about going back to having dedicated ministry space for the different things but I just love the heart the church's heart for not only reaching our community and our church but their heart for supporting other churches for planting new churches for sending missionaries and that

[01:47:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]:
The church is saturated and that's good.
[01:47:53] The building's being used seven days a week and all the spaces are being used.
[01:47:58] Looking for this big new space to be able to all be in together again, you know, kind of all as a corporate worship, but also the ministries and events that happen during the week in the evenings or the preschool and just being able to give more space to more people.
[01:48:11] But just the more we get to be a beacon in the community, the better.
[01:48:16] And I think this new venue is going to be just another kind of bright light in Mooresville.

[01:48:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
We're the Auburners and we love our church!

[01:50:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Good morning, Peninsula.
[01:50:04] We're glad to see you.
[01:50:05] Would y'all stand this morning as we enter into worship?

[01:50:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
I wanna dance like David, I wanna fit like Paul I wanna sing like Silas tearing down the prison walls I wanna face that fire, it won't burn me though God's got my back, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
[01:50:43] I want to walk like Moses right through the waves one day I'll see that promised land no longer slaves though the fear is talking no I can't take out my faith
[01:50:58] I'm gonna praise, I'm gonna praise I praise the mountain moving body raising maker of change Gonna praise, I'm gonna praise I praise the heaven-seated undefeated highest in name That's who I praise, hey That's who I praise, that's who I praise
[01:51:26] I want to give like Mary I want to break my face I want to sleep like Daniel even in the lion's cave I'm gonna get that promise just like Jericho Yeah I know what will make it fall I'm gonna pray
[01:51:43] I'm gonna praise I'll praise the mountain moving body raising breaker of chains I'm gonna praise I'm gonna praise I'll praise the heaven seated undefeated highest in name That's who I'll praise I'll praise the God who's proven He can do impossible things That's who I'll praise
[01:52:11] That's who I praise, that's who I praise He is the Lion of Judah He is the Lamb who was slain The only one who's worthy, worthy, worthy of all of the names That's who I praise He is the Risen Messiah
[01:52:37] He is the Ancient of Days The only one who's worthy, worthy, worthy of all of the names That's who I praise So I'm gonna praise I praise the Master
[01:52:56] I'm gonna praise, I'm gonna praise I praise the heaven-seated, undefeated, highest in names That's who I praise I praise the God who's good when He can do impossible things That's who I praise That's who I praise That's who I praise
[01:53:34] I wanna love like Jesus, that kind of grace I wanna live like I've got no more precious time to waste I'm gonna give Him glory with all my thanks Cause there's no greater, stronger, higher name And that's who I praise Good morning.

[01:53:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
It is a beautiful day to be here together.
[01:54:02] So glad you've come here to worship with us.
[01:54:04] Good singing out.
[01:54:05] We've got a couple more to sing together.
[01:54:07] Today we're in Acts chapter 18 starting at verse 18 where we're talking about the plan and the pathway to make disciples to send them out.
[01:54:15] We'll see that very clearly in the text today.
[01:54:17] I'm very excited about that.
[01:54:20] Well, can I tell you about my Jesus?
[01:54:23] He is an amazing Savior and when things seem upside down and chaotic, that is the Jesus we serve and we want to have opportunity to be able to praise Him through song today.
[01:54:34] Let me lead us in a time of prayer as we continue in our worship.
[01:54:38] And then we sing about that Jesus that turns the upside down upright and makes our lives move forward.
[01:54:44] Let's pray together.
[01:54:45] Father, we thank you so much for greeting us here today.
[01:54:48] You're a God that never sleeps, never slumbers, and when we're awake, you're aware of it.
[01:54:53] And so today as we're awake before you, everything that we say, everything that we do, and from our hearts, be glorified and honored.
[01:55:00] Take our worship, be a part of our worship, and let us feel your presence.
[01:55:05] In Jesus' name we pray.
[01:55:07] Amen.

[01:55:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Are you past the point of healing?
[01:55:17] Is your burden weighing heavy?
[01:55:20] Is it all too much to carry?
[01:55:24] Let me tell you about my Jesus Do you feel that empty feeling?
[01:55:30] The shame's on all its ceiling And you're desperate for some healing Let me tell you about my Jesus

[01:55:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
Let me tell you about my Jesus His love is strong and His grace is sweet And the goodness is I know that He Can do for you what He's done for me Let me tell you about my Jesus Let my Jesus change your life Hallelujah

[01:56:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Hallelujah, Amen, Amen Who can wipe away the tears And broken dreams and wasted years And tell the past to disappear Who can tell you about my Jesus And all the wrong terms that you would Go and undo if you could Who can work it out for your good

[01:56:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
Let me tell you about my Jesus His love is strong and His grace is true And within me He sees I know that He Can do for you what is not for me Let me tell you about my Jesus And let my Jesus change your life

[01:57:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Hallelujah!
[01:57:30] Amen!

[01:57:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Amen!
[01:57:33] Amen!
[01:57:33] Who could take my cross to Calvary?
[01:57:36] Pay the price for all my guilt?
[01:57:39] Who would care that much about me?
[01:57:42] What would I say about my Jesus?

[01:57:48] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Oh!

[01:57:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
He makes a way where there ain't no way Rises up from an empty grave Ain't no sinner that He can't save Let me tell you about my Jesus His love is strong and grace is free

[01:58:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Let me tell you about my Jesus and let my Jesus change your life Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen
[01:58:38] Hallelujah, remember Jesus changed your life

[01:59:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]:
We remember no wrongs we have done Omniscient all knowing He counts not their sum Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore Our sins they are many His mercy is more
[01:59:25] Praise the Lord, His mercy is more Stronger than darkness, new heaven born Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more
[02:00:04] What Father so tender is calling us home He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor Our sins they are many His mercy is more Praise the Lord His mercy is more
[02:00:35] Stronger than darkness who ever mourned our sins There are many, His mercy is more
[02:01:08] What riches of kindness He lavished on us His blood was the payment, His life was the cost We stood neath a debt we could never afford Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more
[02:01:39] His mercy is Lord Stronger than darkness, new every morn I've sinned, there are many His mercy is full, praise the Lord
[02:02:11] Thank you, Jesus.

[02:02:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Would y'all be seated?

[02:03:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Well, good morning, church.
[02:03:40] Happy fall, maybe I should say to you.
[02:03:43] Anybody do your own leaves in your yard?
[02:03:46] Anybody?
[02:03:46] Oh, many of us.
[02:03:47] I did leaves yesterday.
[02:03:49] Worked really hard to make sure it was taken care of.
[02:03:52] Got it this morning.
[02:03:53] Looked like I didn't touch it.
[02:03:55] I don't know why I got the harebrained idea to do this so early.
[02:03:58] I forget that leaves fall all the way almost up to mid-December.
[02:04:02] But I had a good time cleaning them up.
[02:04:04] But I got to say, there was a part of it that I got a little bit goofy.
[02:04:08] If you know me, I'm a little bit goofy.
[02:04:09] And I had my yard looking really good, and I had this small little riding mower that has a vacuum system on it.
[02:04:15] And I was riding around my yard and I got finished and it looked really good and I looked back and I saw leaves still falling on it.
[02:04:22] So for about 10 minutes I rode around and vacuumed up the leaves that were falling.
[02:04:26] And I was like...
[02:04:29] Here comes one and I was trying to like...
[02:04:31] It can only be on the ground for like two seconds, you know.
[02:04:33] And so there's all these tire marks in my back lawn now that look like this.
[02:04:39] Kind of a mess.
[02:04:42] Then leaf blowers.
[02:04:43] How many of you use leaf blowers?
[02:04:45] I was using my leaf blower and kind of blowing it out.
[02:04:48] I've got some woods out behind my house and I was blowing it out that way and kind of moving it out.
[02:04:53] You know what I don't understand is every time I use the leaf blower, almost every time, it's into the wind.
[02:05:04] Can I get a testimony?
[02:05:04] Anybody know what I'm talking about?
[02:05:06] You've got this nice pile of leaves, you're blowing them up and they're moving good and all of a sudden a gust of wind comes in and it just engulfs you in leaves and blows behind you and you're like, really?
[02:05:15] I don't know.
[02:05:16] So I think I'm going to start blowing them into my neighbor's yard because he's always downwind.
[02:05:22] You think that'll be a good testimony?
[02:05:24] Here's some leaves.
[02:05:25] God loves you.
[02:05:27] I don't know.
[02:05:28] Don't want to do that.
[02:05:28] But the whole time I was doing the leaves, I was praying for today.
[02:05:33] Thinking about today.
[02:05:34] Today is significant.
[02:05:35] It is Commitment Sunday for our Pathway Project.
[02:05:39] For the past two years we have asked the church to pray and wait and see.
[02:05:45] Let's pray.
[02:05:46] Where does God want us to go?
[02:05:48] What does He want us to do?
[02:05:48] How does He want us to move our programming?
[02:05:50] How does He want us to switch around to make more expansion for people to be discipled to grow?
[02:05:56] We have spent the last two years praying in that and some things have been going on behind the scenes.
[02:06:01] We've been meeting with a strategy team and talking through where to go next.
[02:06:06] And now here we are because today God is asking us to move.
[02:06:14] He's asking us to step out.
[02:06:17] And I think it's appropriate where we are in the scripture text today as we go through what we're talking about in Acts chapter 18.
[02:06:24] You'll see that the flow of what it's talking about matches what we're doing with the Pathway Project.
[02:06:30] Expand, Equip, and Send is what the Pathway Project is about.
[02:06:34] We are looking to expand our facilities and our discipleship strategy.
[02:06:40] We are looking to equip better so that we can make disciples who make disciples.
[02:06:45] We want people who are believers in Christ to not just be observers of the faith but to be active participants in what it takes to make disciples.
[02:06:57] We want to equip to be able to do that, to make a stronger way and then we want to send and we want to send well.
[02:07:04] And so the Pathway Project actually expands our capacity to be able to do that even better.
[02:07:09] And so I'm excited about the commitment time today.
[02:07:13] The first service came through and they have placed their cards here.
[02:07:17] And at the end of this service, we'll ask everyone in here to do the same.
[02:07:20] Now, if you're a first-time guest, we're not asking you.
[02:07:23] We want you to just watch what God is doing at Peninsula.
[02:07:28] But we're going to ask you to move forward.
[02:07:29] We've been praying, we've been waiting, and now's the day to step out.
[02:07:34] And that's what the Commitment Sunday is about, and we will get there in just a few moments.
[02:07:39] But if you will, turn to Acts chapter 18.
[02:07:41] We want to kind of talk through this because of the Commitment Sunday.
[02:07:48] We're going to see that God is asking us to be open to how He wants to use us.
[02:07:57] This is about how the gospel moves forward at Peninsula.
[02:08:01] That 40 years from now, people will look back and know that this generation took a bold step of faith.
[02:08:10] But here's the thing, here's how God works.
[02:08:12] You think, oh, it's Commitment Sunday, we're turning in a commitment card, so we're going to hear this Baptist preacher hit really hard on money.
[02:08:21] And that's not where God has us in Scripture.
[02:08:24] He has us in Scripture.
[02:08:26] It's not about buildings.
[02:08:27] It's not about finances.
[02:08:29] It's about people.
[02:08:31] And that's really what the Pathway Project is about.
[02:08:33] It's about people.
[02:08:35] The staff have heard me say it before, and they'll hear me say it again.
[02:08:40] People first, product second.
[02:08:43] We're in ministry.
[02:08:45] We put people first, and we know that this whole commitment thing can be a little bit awkward depending on where you are in your journey of faith, where you understand about what generosity is financially.
[02:08:56] Wherever you are, it can be a bit awkward.
[02:08:58] It can be a little bit kind of a discomfort
[02:09:02] We're not going to be talking about that.
[02:09:03] We're going to talk about what this commitment is going to do to expand the kingdom, not just expand what we're doing here.
[02:09:11] The Pathway Project is a commitment to invest in tomorrow's disciples, tomorrow's worshipers, tomorrow's missionaries, tomorrow's leaders that we send out into the world.
[02:09:24] And that's what this Pathway Project is about.
[02:09:27] So we're going to look at Acts 18 verses 18 through 28.
[02:09:31] Just 10 verses.
[02:09:32] I'll read a few and we'll take them in chunks and we'll talk through them.
[02:09:36] First is Acts 18, 18 is where we are.
[02:09:41] And this particular section I'm calling Paul's Purposeful Passage.
[02:09:45] Isn't that a good preacher phrase?
[02:09:48] All starts with P's.
[02:09:50] I talk to some pastors sometimes, and I'm like, Hey, how long did it take you to prepare that message?
[02:09:54] And they say, Oh, I probably spent about 25, 30 hours on studying, homework, and everything.
[02:10:00] And then you go hear them preach, and you think, Oh, you spent 10 of that trying to figure out words that start with the same letter.
[02:10:06] This was in a lot of the commentary, so this is not my own work here, this is the commentary that actually had this, Paul's purposeful passage, and it's not talking about the passage of text, it's talking about his journeys.
[02:10:17] Now, they could have said Paul's purposeful journeys, but that didn't start with a P, so that doesn't work.
[02:10:23] It had to start with a P, so that's why we got, I just think it's funny, sorry.
[02:10:28] Alright, let's get back into the word.
[02:10:30] How's that sound?
[02:10:32] Starting in verse 18.
[02:10:33] After this, Paul stayed many days longer, and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.
[02:10:42] Now I'm going to pause there for just a moment and say, remember what Pastor Brad said last week when he was talking about how
[02:10:48] They were either younger and didn't have children or older and didn't have children, but they were able to pick up and go.
[02:10:54] That's what we're looking at here in the Pathway Project.
[02:10:58] Which, by the way, thanks for sharing last week, brother.
[02:11:00] It was really good work.
[02:11:02] Thank you.
[02:11:02] And so that's what we're talking about with the Pathway Project.
[02:11:05] That's us in our sphere of influence of our workplace, our job, whatever it is.
[02:11:14] We're being sent every week to go out into the world and have opportunity to share the gospel.
[02:11:19] And that's what we see happening here.
[02:11:20] Priscilla and Aquila, they were able to just pick up and go.
[02:11:22] And so now they're traveling with Paul, which is cool.
[02:11:28] He had cut his hair for he was under a vow.
[02:11:31] This is talking about Paul.
[02:11:33] And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there.
[02:11:36] But he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
[02:11:40] When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.
[02:11:44] But on taking leave of them he said, catch this, I will return to you if God wills, and he set sail from Ephesus.
[02:11:53] That whole thing of I will return to you if God wills demonstrates Paul's desire to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
[02:12:03] That's honestly what we're asking you to do in the Pathway Project is to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life.
[02:12:10] But this section we just read is more than just a travel log.
[02:12:16] It's not just like, Paul went here, Paul went there, Paul went this, he did this.
[02:12:21] It's more than that.
[02:12:21] It actually brings out some powerful truths.
[02:12:25] And it's this.
[02:12:27] Paul never moved around aimlessly.
[02:12:33] He had intention everywhere he went with purpose and reason.
[02:12:37] His journey was not random, it was intentional.
[02:12:41] In verse 18 we see the vow, which I'm going to briefly touch on in just a second.
[02:12:46] In verse 18 we also see he's leaving, he's returning to Antioch.
[02:12:51] In verse 22 and verse 19 he is in Ephesus.
[02:12:55] They all reflect gospel strategy.
[02:13:00] If you ever attend a church and you can't clearly see their gospel strategy, you need to ask some questions.
[02:13:08] Some churches call it mission strategy, some call it discipleship strategy, but they need to have a strategy to move the needle for the kingdom, for the gospel.
[02:13:19] You need to know what that is, and hopefully it's clear here for you guys.
[02:13:24] Paul is a man who lives with the future in mind we're seeing here.
[02:13:29] He's always thinking ahead.
[02:13:30] He's thinking of who needs strengthening, where the gospel needs to go, who must be raised up, and how his life, Paul is asking, how his life can be spent for kingdom impact.
[02:13:45] We don't ask that enough as followers of Christ.
[02:13:48] How can our lives be spent for the kingdom?
[02:13:53] Part of it is our Western mindset because we believe in, we're creatures of comfort.
[02:13:59] And anything that makes us uncomfortable, we kind of want to go, eh, I'm not going to mess with that.
[02:14:03] That's uncomfortable.
[02:14:05] But when it comes to kingdom calling and kingdom demands, how are we willing to spend our energy, our time, our lives making an impact into eternity?
[02:14:17] And this is the heart of the Pathway Project.
[02:14:20] We're not doing something random here.
[02:14:23] We're doing something purposeful, something future-focused, something that looks ahead, something that knows where we are, listening to where God's calling us to be, to be able to reach into the future.
[02:14:37] Paul travels reminds us the gospel advances through people who commit to a long-term vision.
[02:14:48] I don't know why I said long term that way.
[02:14:50] I felt my tongue kind of go long.
[02:14:52] Maybe I was trying to elongate that word.
[02:14:57] Long term.
[02:14:57] You guys can laugh at me or with me either way.
[02:14:59] That was funny.
[02:15:01] But people that believe in the vision and they buy into it, that's how the gospel moves forward.
[02:15:08] If we remain static in who we are as a people, we as a people don't get to experience seeing the future of the gospel moving forward.
[02:15:16] And God's called us to this moment in time to make a commitment to say, yes, we believe that we're going to be able to help make the gospel move forward.
[02:15:23] We're going to help expand, we're going to help equip, and we're going to send well.
[02:15:29] And that's what we're doing through the Pathway Project.
[02:15:32] Saying yes to a future that we may never fully see.
[02:15:37] There are people
[02:15:39] Who helped plant this church a little over 40 years ago who were already in heaven.
[02:15:45] On this side of heaven, they did not get to see us sitting here on 2025 making such a big, significant, God-sized commitment.
[02:15:55] Forty plus years from now, I'll be 9900 if I'm still here.
[02:16:04] Forty years from now, I won't get to hear what that generation says about the commitment that's being made today.
[02:16:11] This is eternal significance of moving forward.
[02:16:14] I find it interesting also that we read that Paul is in the midst of making a vow.
[02:16:20] Could have potentially been like a Nazarene, Nazarite vow.
[02:16:25] But him cutting his hair was not a superstitious ritual, it was him putting motion to his steps of what he was living.
[02:16:34] Remember, Paul had, he kind of knew, as Pastor Brad pointed out last week, he knew the script, right?
[02:16:41] I go into a town, I speak to the people in the synagogue, they don't like me, they kick me out, I speak to the Gentiles, some of them believe, some of them don't, and then they beat me.
[02:16:50] That was kind of his routine.
[02:16:52] He knew what was going to happen.
[02:16:54] But at this particular time, God said, no, you stay here and you share and no one will touch you.
[02:17:00] You know how freeing that had to be to Paul?
[02:17:02] And so now he's coming out of that season in his life of full protection and he's making a vow, a renewed thanksgiving to his Heavenly Father.
[02:17:13] Thanking him for the blessings that he's experienced and renewing his dedication to what's ahead.
[02:17:20] That's what that vow was about, and it's a stepping out.
[02:17:23] Us moving here today is acknowledging God has blessed us in the past, He is blessing us now, and we're renewing our dedication to the blessing He'll bring in the future.
[02:17:36] So this vow that Paul makes kind of falls right in line, if I may take those liberties, to a commitment to where we place a card on the table to say, we trust you, God.
[02:17:48] We walk with you.
[02:17:49] We understand where you're taking us.
[02:17:53] This wasn't legalism of Paul taking a vow.
[02:17:55] It was worship.
[02:17:57] It was a way of saying, Lord, thank you, and I'm with you, and let's move forward.
[02:18:06] So that takes us to the second section, verses 22 and 23.
[02:18:10] and Reconciliation.
[02:18:14] Verse 22.
[02:18:37] When he had landed in Caesarea, and this is how they say it.
[02:18:42] Many of them say it.
[02:18:43] When I was in Israel, I learned it.
[02:18:44] They call it Caesarea.
[02:18:46] I've always said Caesarea, but they call it Caesarea because Caesar was behind a lot of the building of this area.
[02:18:52] It's a unique thing.
[02:18:53] Go look at pictures of it.
[02:18:54] It's amazing.
[02:18:55] Man-made dock back in those days.
[02:18:58] It's crazy.
[02:18:59] It was a neat place for Paul to be able to be a part of.
[02:19:02] So it says, when he landed in Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church.
[02:19:06] And then went down to Antioch.
[02:19:08] After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
[02:19:20] So Paul is landing back in the major port on the Mediterranean coast, kind of known as the Roman capital of Judea.
[02:19:30] And from there he goes up to Jerusalem, because it is uphill from there, and then over to Antioch.
[02:19:37] And he brings a report about the mission and he's encouraged.
[02:19:41] Caesarea was Paul's doorway back into the heart of the mission that he'd originally been called into.
[02:19:47] It was a check-in.
[02:19:49] He's coming in, he's revisiting the people.
[02:19:53] Like next weekend, when my daughter, who has been abroad for two years, gets to come home for Thanksgiving.
[02:20:02] She'll be here.
[02:20:02] She's coming not only to bring encouragement, to say, let me tell you what God's been doing while I've been on the field, but also to be encouraged so that she can be loved on and be with family and remember where she's come from, remember her calling and to be able to go back out with boldness.
[02:20:21] And you see that Paul returns to his sending church at Antioch, but then he immediately goes back out.
[02:20:27] My daughter's going to be here for 10 days.
[02:20:28] That's going to go by like that.
[02:20:30] So we're going to try to take advantage of every moment.
[02:20:33] I know you're trying to sleep, honey, but can you wake up?
[02:20:35] Okay, we won't quite do that to her.
[02:20:37] But anyway, Paul was going back out.
[02:20:40] He was revisiting the churches that he planted.
[02:20:43] He was encouraging the disciples, and he was strengthening the believers.
[02:20:47] And this is a picture of ongoing discipleship investment.
[02:20:52] A commitment like this, although financial, is more than just a financial commitment and financial investment.
[02:20:57] It is a spiritual investment.
[02:21:01] Strengthening through generosity.
[02:21:04] It's giving of time, encouragement, teaching, correction, presence, and spiritual formation for those who are walking and growing in the Lord.
[02:21:14] It's pouring into others consistently.
[02:21:18] Being there for the people and with the people.
[02:21:20] People didn't see Paul as someone who moved on from them.
[02:21:25] In other words, Paul didn't move on from people.
[02:21:27] He came back to them.
[02:21:29] He invested in them.
[02:21:32] This is why your commitment today matters.
[02:21:35] You're committing to strengthen the future disciples of Peninsula.
[02:21:42] We're building spaces where children will be taught God's Word.
[02:21:47] We are creating environments where students will encounter Christ.
[02:21:52] We are expanding room for worship where future missionaries and future leaders will be formed and grow and be a part of the body.
[02:22:03] This is strengthening work that we're doing here today, just like Paul's.
[02:22:09] But then we get to what I would say is kind of the center of the message, the bigger portion of the message that I want to lean on today.
[02:22:17] Verses 24 through 26, Priscilla and Aquila's altruism or selfless concern.
[02:22:26] It says in verse 24, Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.
[02:22:34] He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.
[02:22:41] He had been instructed in the way of the Lord.
[02:22:45] and being fervent in spirit.
[02:22:47] Look at these adjectives that are being thrown out about this guy.
[02:22:50] He spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.
[02:23:01] He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
[02:23:11] It's funny how that word that we translate, the word accurate there, how that kind of flows, because it says he was teaching accurately, but then they taught him how to teach more accurately.
[02:23:22] You're like, can you use that same word?
[02:23:24] And here's what's happening.
[02:23:25] He was teaching the accurate word up to the point that he knew.
[02:23:30] But he didn't know the full story.
[02:23:33] He had not learned about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
[02:23:37] And they pulled him to the side.
[02:23:40] This is kind of the centerpiece of what we're talking about today.
[02:23:42] It's the heartbeat of where I believe God wants us to resonate as we're on Commitment Sunday.
[02:23:47] These verses reveal three powerful truths that I want to pull out.
[02:23:52] Number one, or A rather, God brings gifted people into the church.
[02:23:57] Look to the person on your left and say, you're one of those gifted people.
[02:24:04] Look back at the person on your right and say, thank you, I know.
[02:24:12] Apollos was eloquent, knowledgeable, I'm looking through this list, passionate, bold, and accurate in what he taught.
[02:24:24] Apparently an excellent teacher, but he was incomplete, and he needed discipleship, not discouragement.
[02:24:30] So Apollos was a part of the church, he just wasn't all the way discipled yet.
[02:24:35] But he was a gifted person that God was going to use in the future, which brings us to B. Priscilla and Aquila didn't criticize him, they discipled him.
[02:24:45] They had the option to go run to Paul and say, this Apollos guy, he is like, he just doesn't get it.
[02:24:52] No, they didn't do that.
[02:24:53] They went straight to Him.
[02:24:55] They were generous in their way they approached Him.
[02:24:58] They took Him aside privately, humbly, and relationally.
[02:25:03] That's key.
[02:25:05] They gave Him time, knowledge, correction, encouragement, spiritual investment, and personal presence.
[02:25:13] They didn't write Him a note and say, hey, you're missing part of it.
[02:25:16] They actually pulled Him to the side and engaged and talked to Him.
[02:25:20] They didn't host a class.
[02:25:22] They didn't create a program.
[02:25:25] They opened their lives.
[02:25:28] This is the kind of generosity that forms leaders.
[02:25:31] This kind of generosity that the Pathway Project is calling us to embrace.
[02:25:36] Not just financial generosity, but a generosity that is investing in people.
[02:25:42] Every future leader who will stand on a platform in the future.
[02:25:46] Every missionary that we will send.
[02:25:49] Every child who will grow up to follow Christ.
[02:25:53] Every marriage that will be restored.
[02:25:56] Every disciple that will multiply.
[02:25:59] All of it will come through the generosity of people who open their lives like Priscilla and Aquila.
[02:26:08] Which brings us to C. Investing in one Apollos opens the door for multitudes.
[02:26:17] They didn't know who Apollos would become.
[02:26:21] They just knew he needed shaping.
[02:26:24] He needed the rest of the story.
[02:26:26] And they invested in one person.
[02:26:30] Probably more, but what we see recorded here is they invested in one person.
[02:26:34] But God multiplied that investment far beyond their sight.
[02:26:39] And here is the message for us today.
[02:26:40] You never know what God will do through the person that you impact today.
[02:26:48] Every pathway commitment card that we turn in, it's a future people we will disciple.
[02:26:57] It's a future story that we will celebrate.
[02:27:02] It's a future Apollos that God will raise up.
[02:27:06] It's a future leader that will carry the gospel further than we ever could.
[02:27:13] That is generosity for tomorrow.
[02:27:17] Which brings us to number four.
[02:27:20] Apollos amplified advocacy.
[02:27:24] That's a good one.
[02:27:25] Good three solid A's.
[02:27:28] Public support.
[02:27:29] How do I see this?
[02:27:30] How do I walk through this?
[02:27:31] Let's read the Scripture, the last two verses of the text for today, verses 27 and 28.
[02:27:37] And when he wished to cross to Achaia, what's going on here?
[02:27:43] Apollos, working with his people in his church, he finds out the rest of the story.
[02:27:50] And to me it's as if Apollos says, I cannot sit on this.
[02:27:54] I got to go.
[02:27:55] I got to tell people that the story even gets better.
[02:27:59] And he had to go.
[02:28:00] So when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.
[02:28:07] When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed.
[02:28:13] That's an interesting poll on that.
[02:28:15] Maybe one day theologically we'll go look at that.
[02:28:17] Verse 28, For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
[02:28:27] Apollos became an advocate
[02:28:30] that moved publicly the gospel because of the gospel strategy process that had happened ahead of him.
[02:28:41] Let's walk back through it.
[02:28:42] Paul lived purposefully.
[02:28:46] Paul strengthened the believers.
[02:28:49] Priscilla and Aquila invested in him and God empowered him.
[02:28:55] That's the repeating flow that we want to see happen in our church body.
[02:29:02] Living purposefully, live biblical truth, build solid homes, and impact our community and world for Christ.
[02:29:09] So living purposefully, strengthening the believers, leaning into our discipleship pathway, that three plus one, where we have about a hundred of our members who are participating in the discipleship pathway.
[02:29:22] If you haven't heard of it, you don't know what it is, ask questions.
[02:29:26] Priscilla and Aquila, who had themselves been discipled and knew the truth, then invested in Apollos, who was then empowered by God.
[02:29:37] That circle.
[02:29:40] That's what this Pathway Project is pointing to.
[02:29:43] It's not just about brick and mortar.
[02:29:46] It's about people.
[02:29:47] It's about ministry.
[02:29:50] This ripple effect.
[02:29:52] of Generosity and Leadership Development that we're seeing here.
[02:29:55] It's what this Commitment Sunday is about.
[02:29:57] When we give, when we serve, when we build, when we disciple, we participate in the raising up of the next generation of leaders.
[02:30:09] Just like Apollos or Apollosises.
[02:30:14] How do you make a plural Apollos?
[02:30:17] Apollosises.
[02:30:19] Apolloses.
[02:30:20] No, okay.
[02:30:21] We'll move on.
[02:30:23] Here's the thought.
[02:30:24] This passage is a portrait of the church working together to develop leaders.
[02:30:36] Paul, the mentor, Priscilla and Aquila, the disciples, the church in Ephesus was the community, and then Apollos, the emerging leader.
[02:30:49] And everyone played a role.
[02:30:54] Everyone invested, everyone contributed, and everyone commits.
[02:31:01] That's our number one goal for the Pathway Project, is 100% participation.
[02:31:08] We want everyone engaging in it, everyone being a part of it, so that as we move forward one year from now, two years from now, 15 years from now, we can say we were a part of that moment in helping things move forward.
[02:31:24] We are committing today to expand our capacity to raise more leaders, to strengthen families, and to shape the next generation.
[02:31:33] Equip disciples who will multiply other disciples and unleash the Apollos' into the world.
[02:31:42] Maybe I need to rewrite some of these sentences.
[02:31:47] This is gospel generosity.
[02:31:50] This is kingdom impact.
[02:31:53] This is an investment for tomorrow.
[02:31:59] And here's the thing.
[02:32:00] We won't all preach like Apollos.
[02:32:04] We won't all travel like Paul.
[02:32:09] We will all have the opportunity to disciple like Priscilla and Aquila, but all can participate in what God is doing.
[02:32:21] This is about everyone getting on board, everyone participating, not being an observer, but an active participant in disciple-making.
[02:32:32] It's not even about equal sacrifice.
[02:32:34] It's about equal faith.
[02:32:35] It's about equal commitment to the mission of Jesus.
[02:32:44] And just like in Acts 18, God will take what we offer today and multiply it far beyond what we can see.
[02:32:51] So today, what are we being asked to do, church?
[02:32:56] We're being asked to step forward purposefully like Paul, faithfully like Priscilla and Aquila, boldly like Apollos, and generously as the people of God.
[02:33:17] That's what this is about.
[02:33:20] It says these things when we do this.
[02:33:22] We believe in the future of the church and not just peninsula but the church kingdom.
[02:33:28] We believe in the future of the church.
[02:33:30] We believe in the next generation, although if you watch the news you might lose some of that, but we have hope for the next generation.
[02:33:38] There are a lot of next generation strong believers in the faith who are fighting a good fight for the kingdom.
[02:33:45] We believe in that generation.
[02:33:47] We believe in the leaders that will be raised up in our midst and we believe in what God is doing to move the mission of Christ forward.
[02:33:58] That's what this is and so we're asked to move forward in this and I hope and pray that our generosity today will make a mental note for all those in the future that say today we took a stand for future disciples.
[02:34:17] Let's pray.
[02:34:18] Father, we thank you for your word, for your grace, and for your mercy.
[02:34:26] We pray that you would speak to our hearts today as we move into this portion of time of commitment to understanding the blessings we've had in the past, the blessings we have now, and a renewed commitment to move forward with you.
[02:34:43] Of course, in Jesus' name we pray.
[02:34:47] Amen.
[02:34:49] We had placed in your seats when you came in a Pathway Project card.
[02:34:53] We want to make sure that everyone that wants one has one.
[02:34:56] Maybe you're sitting in a place where someone took your card.
[02:35:00] And we want to make sure you have one.
[02:35:01] So if you need one, our ushers are here to hand these out.
[02:35:04] Just raise your hand.
[02:35:05] They will place one in your hand for you to be able to fill it out and be a part of it.
[02:35:10] Just a few weeks ago, I'm going to go over the card in just a moment so you can kind of understand it.
[02:35:14] But just a few weeks ago, we had an early commitment night.
[02:35:17] We invited the church to come and make an early commitment.
[02:35:20] Just to kind of show us a picture of what was to come and what God was doing, we had 65 commitment cards turned in on that night.
[02:35:28] We had five families who had never given to the church before make a commitment to the Pathway Project because God was working on their heart.
[02:35:38] We want you to understand that that's what about, but we were able to capture just a few of the testimonies from that night, and I want to be able to show that on a video for here in just a moment.
[02:35:48] Take a listen to a few families that spoke about the event that we had a couple weeks ago.

[02:35:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_08]:
What inspires me about the Pathway Project is just really seeing the growth that the church is experiencing and just that we're able to open the doors to more people in the community.

[02:36:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_09]:
We enjoy the church and we want to grow with the church and be able to expand more and invest more into the church in basically any way that we can.
[02:36:15] Any chance that we can be here at the church, we want to be here and it felt intimate tonight and we wanted to be a part of that.

[02:36:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
What inspires me about the Pathway Project is the absolute commitment and devotion that I see from the leaders in this church in their conversations and their talking about it.
[02:36:33] I see all of these people on Sunday and throughout the week and it's just a great community and you can really feel God moving in this community.

[02:36:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Growth, just to see God moving in Mooresville and the surrounding areas and even farther than that.
[02:36:48] Just to see what God's going to do with this church, and just all praise and glory to Him for this.

[02:36:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]:
I'm excited about it.
[02:36:59] What inspires me about the Pathway Project is that we are no longer going to be in two separate rooms.
[02:37:03] We're going to be in one room together, once again worshiping as one body of believers, serving Jesus together, and that's what I'm excited about.

[02:37:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Just to see the commitment.
[02:37:15] For the whole congregation, just people coming together and just really loving on each other, seeing their love for the church, love for the community and just the passion that everyone has for growth and it's just really inspiring and it makes commitment so much easier for myself.

[02:37:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
What a special night that we had.
[02:37:39] And now we have a special service today to be a part of as well.
[02:37:43] I want to walk through the card just a little bit and tell you how I filled it out.
[02:37:46] No, I'm not going to tell you the numbers that I put on it, but I will tell you how I filled it out and where we are.
[02:37:52] And this first top part of the card
[02:37:56] is a way that we can reach the $12 million goal.
[02:38:00] This doesn't have to go this way.
[02:38:02] This is just showing that it is doable within our congregation, what God's called us to.
[02:38:07] It is a large goal for us, but it's a God-sized goal.
[02:38:11] And whenever God puts a goal out there, it's usually God's eyes.
[02:38:16] And so He's called us to this.
[02:38:18] My wife and I looked at this, and we looked at the chart, and we found where our annual giving was.
[02:38:25] What we gave annually.
[02:38:26] And we found that number, and then we challenged ourselves to look at the line above it.
[02:38:32] And we had to change some plans that we had for this upcoming year, this upcoming two years.
[02:38:37] But every time we prayed about it, it came back to do we want to do the things materially that we wanted to do or do we want to be a part of something that God's going to do
[02:38:47] So we actually committed to the line above our annual giving.
[02:38:51] We know from the early commitment that some people jumped two lines.
[02:38:56] And then we went down to this particular second card here just to show you kind of how to fill it out.
[02:39:00] And I'm going to give you a moment here in just a second to be able to fill it out.
[02:39:05] You just write what your annual giving is on that first line.
[02:39:10] And then you multiply that times two.
[02:39:11] And that's what you would give if you changed nothing.
[02:39:14] That's what you would give over the next two years.
[02:39:17] The challenge for the call is to how would you expand that giving?
[02:39:22] What would be something that you could do to expand it?
[02:39:25] And then you write that down, what it would be over the next two years.
[02:39:28] It might be another $100 a month.
[02:39:31] It might be another $200 a month.
[02:39:33] I don't know what it is.
[02:39:34] I'm not trying to put zeros on it for you because I want you to listen to what God's telling you to do.
[02:39:39] And then any resources that you know that you could immediately just turn it into a gift for the church.
[02:39:44] and then you put your total commitment of what the next two years would be as you add those together.
[02:39:50] It is important that you put your name and your email address on there so that we can communicate with you and say we think we read the card this way.
[02:40:00] I promise we will not send an email that says, Hey, you sure you didn't want to add another zero on there?
[02:40:06] We will not do that to you.
[02:40:07] Because really, I know that financial commitment can be a little bit awkward.
[02:40:12] It can feel a little bit out of place.
[02:40:15] And we are not a church that ever talks about giving, hardly ever.
[02:40:20] Unless we get to it in Scripture and it talks about it, we never hammer on it.
[02:40:23] But God has us here.
[02:40:25] and He wants us to make a commitment today and so I want to give you about three minutes to maybe whisper prayer or whisper talk with one another to talk about the card to give you an opportunity to fill it out at the end of that three minutes I will come back up to place my card on the table and then I will lead us in a prayer and after that prayer we would ask you to move forward and I'll give you some instructions at that time on that
[02:40:50] Keeping in mind that I've asked the video venue to join us in this room after I say the prayer in just a moment.
[02:40:58] So take about three minutes to look at the card, pray about it, think about it and fill it out and I'll be back in about three minutes.

[02:42:00] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[02:42:24] Let us pray.
[02:42:24] Let us pray.

[02:42:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
In Jesus' name we pray.

[02:43:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
I want to pray in just a moment.
[02:43:22] Before I pray, I just want to kind of give a few little instructions.
[02:43:26] What will happen is we want everyone to exit out of your section this way and come forward
[02:43:34] and then move all the way across past the table and go down that wall back there.
[02:43:38] We have left space at the back for the video venue to remain in here, remain standing with us to sing the final song and to read scripture together as we commit with one another.
[02:43:49] and we will allow the video venue people to and after I pray in just a moment to come forward first and then I'll release each section one at a time and you'll walk through this is going to be clunky it's going to be tight and we're going to bump into each other but that's okay as we're making this commitment together let's pray
[02:44:08] Father, we thank you so much for your grace and mercy that you give to us to allow us to be a part of your work.
[02:44:15] And your work calls us, calls us not just with time but commitments to say that we have faith in you.
[02:44:22] So take our commitment today and multiply it beyond what we could ever imagine in gospel work, kingdom building, leadership development, missionary sending,
[02:44:34] Let's all stand, please.
[02:45:08] This far section right over here can go ahead and exit out this way and come on around the back section right over here.
[02:46:08] This next section right here can go ahead and step out to the center aisle.

[02:46:40] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In Jesus' name, amen.
[02:47:21] Thank you for watching!
[02:48:12] Let us pray.
[02:48:40] Let us pray.

[02:48:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]:
this section here and feel free to move the center aisle to come back to where you're seated you don't have to circle the whole room you can exit to your right my left and then you can come back to the center aisle to come back to your seat
[02:49:32] Finally this section if you'll move to your right and come out and then you can use the center aisle to get back as well.

[02:50:06] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[02:50:28] Let us pray.

[02:50:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Thank you church for that.
[02:50:50] What a picture.
[02:50:51] We were called to pray and we prayed.
[02:50:55] We were called to wait and we waited.
[02:50:59] Today we were called to move and we moved.
[02:51:04] To God be the glory.
[02:51:05] Let's all stand as we close out our time in worship through song.

[02:51:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Sometimes you've gotta dance through the darkness Sing through the fire Praise when it don't make sense Sometimes you've gotta stare down the giant
[02:51:40] Sometimes you've gotta shout it from the mountain Louder in the valley Trusting that He's gonna get you there Sometimes you've gotta welcome honor Wait for the answer Worship with your hands in the air I'll praise you anywhere Praise, giving praise, giving praise In the highest praise Giving praise, giving praise
[02:52:12] He is worthy of all of the praise Sometimes you've got to praise in the prison Cry out to heaven Shout it till your doors swing wide Sometimes you've got to stand on the shackles Grave in the battle Worship with your heads held high I'll praise you anywhere
[02:52:40] Give Him praise, give Him praise in the highest praise Give Him praise, give Him praise in the highest He is worthy, is He, is who's worthy of all of the praise Give Him praise, give Him praise in the highest praise Give Him praise, give Him praise in the highest
[02:53:07] All right church, come on and sing out on this part.

[02:53:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]:
Here we go.

[02:53:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Faithful all my life, blessings day and night Countless reasons why I'll praise you anywhere Every promise kept, goodness every step Each and every breath I'll praise you anywhere Faithful all my life, blessings day and night Countless reasons why I'll praise you anywhere Every promise kept, goodness every step
[02:53:53] Every step, each and every breath, I'll praise you anywhere Praise, give Him praise, give Him praise in the highest Praise, give Him praise, give Him praise in the highest He is worthy, it seems, is worthy of all of the priests I'll praise you anywhere Praise, give Him praise, give Him praise in the highest
[02:54:32] Amen.

[02:54:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]:
Thank you, church.
[02:54:46] Good praising.
[02:54:48] We are always going to stand on the Word and be a part of the Word.
[02:54:53] And I think there's no better way to end this time of celebration and commitment by going out on the word.
[02:54:58] So will you join me as we read Acts chapter 20 verse 32 together out loud before we go out.
[02:55:06] It says this, And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
[02:55:20] We are sent.