00:00:54.960 Good morning. Welcome everyone to
00:00:57.120 Freedom Church.
00:00:59.120 What a great day to be here. I want to
00:01:01.120 welcome everyone watching online as
00:01:03.199 well. I'm Pastor Eric, lead pastor
00:01:05.600 here of Freedom Church. And before we
00:01:08.400 jump into this new series, before we
00:01:10.159 jump into the message, I want to
00:01:11.920 celebrate some things. How many of you
00:01:13.280 like to celebrate some things? How many?
00:01:15.600 Okay, we're going to celebrate this
00:01:17.040 morning. Last weekend, Easter Sunday, if
00:01:19.520 you don't remember, that was actually
00:01:20.720 seven days ago. Felt like a very long
00:01:22.320 time for me. A week ago, we had 480
00:01:26.000 people come to one of our three services
00:01:28.159 we had last weekend. So, we can give God
00:01:30.560 a great big hand. We celebrate that.
00:01:33.280 It's not about the numbers, but man, it
00:01:35.280 is about people knowing Jesus, coming to
00:01:37.439 encounter him, finding freedom as well
00:01:39.600 for their life. Also, it wasn't
00:01:42.240 something that I did. It was the team.
00:01:44.479 It's the people. There's so many
00:01:46.399 people serving on the serve team,
00:01:48.560 leading things, having Bible studies.
00:01:50.399 Like, this isn't just around me. And I
00:01:52.479 want to make sure that Freedom Church
00:01:54.320 doesn't revolve around one person other
00:01:56.159 than Jesus. It doesn't revolve around
00:01:57.920 me, but it's a team effort. And when all
00:02:00.159 of us come together and all of us can
00:02:02.000 serve together, it's so much more
00:02:03.920 enjoyable and it's so much better for
00:02:06.000 all of us when we get to do it together.
00:02:07.840 So, if you want to be a part of the
00:02:09.440 serve team, I'm just going to ask you to
00:02:11.520 come to Next Steps. What that means is
00:02:13.360 we have classes twice a month. Next
00:02:15.840 one's going to happen in about an hour
00:02:17.360 from now around 12:30 to 1:30. We have
00:02:20.480 Next Steps. We want to invite you to
00:02:22.319 come. You can stay today. We ask you
00:02:24.800 to also RSVP if you can't make it today
00:02:26.720 for next Sunday or next month as well.
00:02:29.280 We're going to have some Sundays because
00:02:31.040 Next Steps helps you get involved, helps
00:02:33.519 you see how you can take your next step
00:02:35.360 with Freedom Church and also with your
00:02:37.280 walk with God. But also we're
00:02:38.879 celebrating last Sunday we received
00:02:41.120 an offering to go to Network of Life.
00:02:43.680 Now Network of Life is a
00:02:45.760 Christian organization. They exist
00:02:48.640 to reach single pregnant women,
00:02:51.599 typically doing free ultrasounds. They
00:02:53.680 give resources. They help women know how
00:02:55.920 to walk through their journey. Pre-birth
00:02:58.239 mapping classes. There's classes and
00:03:00.319 resources for dads as well. And I love
00:03:02.720 getting to be a part of Network of
00:03:04.319 Life. But we received an offering to
00:03:06.239 bless them. They are a Christian
00:03:08.319 organization, completely non-profit. They
00:03:10.800 don't receive money from insurance
00:03:12.319 or government. They depend on Christians
00:03:14.400 and donors to bless them and help
00:03:16.480 them. Last week, we received almost
00:03:19.440 $4,000
00:03:20.959 to go to Network of Life. But I want
00:03:23.840 to encourage you if you didn't give or
00:03:25.280 you weren't prepared last Sunday and you
00:03:26.720 still want to give, we're going to give.
00:03:28.239 Anything that comes in marked missions
00:03:30.400 or marked Network of Life, we're going
00:03:32.239 to make sure it gets sent to them so
00:03:34.400 they can keep reaching more women, more
00:03:36.239 families, saving more babies, and
00:03:38.400 really helping our local community.
00:03:40.400 They're right here in Pittsburgh and the
00:03:41.840 surrounding area. Another thing to
00:03:43.599 celebrate because we like celebrating
00:03:45.040 things: Tomorrow evening we're kicking
00:03:47.280 off our Embrace Grace ministry. Now,
00:03:50.159 Embrace Grace, those of you clapping
00:03:52.000 because you know what it is, but for
00:03:52.879 everyone else, Embrace Grace is a
00:03:55.120 ministry that helps single pregnant
00:03:56.959 women specifically. So, usually women
00:03:59.280 come to us through Embrace Grace when
00:04:01.760 they are pregnant unexpectedly or
00:04:03.920 unplanned and they don't have support.
00:04:05.599 They don't have family. They might not
00:04:07.280 be married, might not be with a partner,
00:04:09.439 and they still need help. And my heart
00:04:11.760 is that the church would be a place
00:04:13.519 where especially young single pregnant
00:04:15.439 women would turn to, not run from. That
00:04:18.478 the church would be a place to welcome
00:04:20.238 women, welcome people who maybe, yes,
00:04:22.880 made mistakes, maybe aren't living
00:04:24.400 right. So what? We love them. We welcome
00:04:26.880 them and we help guide them along the
00:04:28.800 way. Instead of the church being a place
00:04:30.560 of fear and condemnation, we should be
00:04:32.720 welcoming those girls into the church
00:04:35.120 especially, as well as everyone else. So
00:04:37.199 Embrace Grace is a support group. It's a
00:04:39.520 ministry where ladies are ministering to
00:04:42.000 these women, helping them understand
00:04:44.080 their identity in Christ. They're
00:04:45.520 helping them with so much more than just
00:04:47.360 how to raise a baby. They're
00:04:49.120 helping support them and be the support
00:04:50.720 that the church, I believe, should be
00:04:52.639 giving these women. So, if you want to
00:04:54.400 get involved, we're kicking one off
00:04:56.080 tomorrow because as ladies come in, as
00:04:57.759 girls come in, we try to start the group
00:04:59.759 as quickly as we can because they're on a timetable, right?
00:05:03.040 They're pregnant. So, they have a time
00:05:04.320 table. We start. We don't wait for the
00:05:05.600 next semester. We say, "Let's try to
00:05:07.280 start them." If you want to get
00:05:08.880 involved, women specifically, you can
00:05:11.199 sign up at the back at the Connection
00:05:12.960 Point. There's a little stand at the back
00:05:14.880 of the room, you can sign up for that.
00:05:16.960 If you're watching online, and you say, "I
00:05:18.080 would love to get involved," email us.
00:05:20.000 Email through the website, say, "I would love
00:05:21.840 to get involved." Even if you can't make
00:05:23.440 it tomorrow, every Monday night the plan is to have
00:05:26.560 a support group for moms. You can
00:05:29.199 help with snacks, you can help watch
00:05:30.880 kids, you can help just support the work
00:05:33.120 that's going to be happening. So, I want
00:05:34.720 to make sure that is available to you.
00:05:36.080 We're going to celebrate all those moms
00:05:37.919 because if those moms go through the
00:05:39.280 curriculum, what happens is we throw
00:05:41.440 those moms a baby shower because again,
00:05:43.759 they don't have support. They don't have
00:05:44.960 anybody to do that. How amazing it is
00:05:47.120 that we as the church could throw a baby
00:05:49.199 shower to support a mom—not just tell
00:05:51.680 her to keep her baby, but we're going to
00:05:53.199 support her and help her along the way.
00:05:55.199 So, we're going to celebrate that
00:05:56.880 getting started off tomorrow night as
00:05:58.720 well. With that, let me pray and
00:06:01.520 then we're going to jump right into the
00:06:03.039 message. Heavenly Father, we thank you,
00:06:05.919 God, for all the things we're
00:06:07.039 celebrating. God, we thank you for
00:06:08.479 the empty tomb, for the resurrected
00:06:10.479 Jesus, God, that we worship a living
00:06:12.720 God. And Father, I pray today, God, that
00:06:15.039 your message, God, this message that I'm
00:06:17.120 speaking, God, would be your words, your
00:06:19.199 Spirit, God, that you'd speak through me
00:06:21.360 to each and every person who can hear my
00:06:23.120 voice, God. And I pray as a result, you
00:06:24.880 receive the praise, the honor, and the
00:06:26.560 glory in Jesus' name. Amen.
00:06:30.720 So starting this new series called The
00:06:33.199 Church Defined. Now today's going to be
00:06:35.280 a little bit different. I'm going to try
00:06:36.240 to give you a little backstory, a little
00:06:38.560 understanding of what happened after
00:06:40.880 Jesus rose from the dead. So last Sunday,
00:06:43.360 again, Jesus rises from the dead. That's
00:06:45.199 what we celebrate. But then you
00:06:47.600 know Easter was really the work on
00:06:50.240 the cross was finished, but Easter—the
00:06:52.000 resurrection—was the starting point, was
00:06:54.240 the start of the rest of the mission
00:06:56.720 that Jesus was on in sending and
00:06:59.199 commissioning really his church. But
00:07:01.520 unfortunately, many people have a
00:07:03.280 misunderstanding of what the church
00:07:05.680 really is. The church is not just the
00:07:08.240 building. We say we go to church, we're
00:07:09.840 in a church building. But the church is
00:07:11.599 so much more than buildings. It's so
00:07:13.520 much more than events. It's so much more
00:07:15.280 than just gathering. It's really the
00:07:17.680 people. You are the church. And I speak
00:07:20.160 on that frequently because I want us to
00:07:22.400 get out of the mindset that church is
00:07:24.319 just something we do. Church is
00:07:26.400 who we are. We are the
00:07:29.039 church. Over the next several weeks, I
00:07:31.039 want to dive deeper into helping us all
00:07:33.919 understand who we are. What is the
00:07:36.319 church? What's the purpose of it? What's
00:07:38.080 the meaning of the church? And maybe
00:07:40.160 reframing some of your perspective,
00:07:42.639 maybe shifting some of your past
00:07:44.720 experiences, bad or good, of what you've
00:07:47.599 experienced in the church because the
00:07:49.520 church really is the hope of the world
00:07:51.599 because Jesus is the hope of the world.
00:07:54.080 Before we get into some of what the
00:07:55.840 church is today, I'm going to focus on
00:07:58.400 what's the why behind the
00:08:00.319 church? What's the power behind the
00:08:02.240 church? And not just the what, but
00:08:04.400 really the who and the why behind
00:08:06.960 the church. And how many of you have
00:08:09.199 been following Artemis 2, the
00:08:10.960 spacecraft that went up into space? Some
00:08:12.879 of you are like, "I have no idea what
00:08:13.840 you're talking about." I just see it
00:08:15.520 pop up every once in a while on the
00:08:16.800 feeds, but a spaceship left Earth,
00:08:19.120 went around Earth, went around the moon,
00:08:21.039 and they came back and they landed
00:08:22.800 safely in the ocean. What was
00:08:24.800 interesting—I was looking up some of
00:08:25.919 the numbers because I thought this has
00:08:27.440 got to be expensive, this has got to be
00:08:28.960 fascinating—they said that
00:08:31.520 Artemis 2, the spacecraft, needed 8.8
00:08:35.120 million pounds of thrust to get
00:08:38.159 off the earth. Now, I don't even have a
00:08:40.799 concept or frame of
00:08:43.039 reference for that much, but 8.8 million
00:08:45.839 pounds of thrust to get it off the
00:08:48.399 planet and out of Earth's gravity. Now,
00:08:50.880 I thought about this. If they didn't
00:08:52.240 have the thrust, if they didn't have
00:08:54.160 that power to get it into space, it
00:08:56.959 would have been a $4.1 billion piece of
00:09:00.560 equipment sitting on Cape Canaveral,
00:09:02.640 right? Without the power, without the
00:09:05.040 force behind it, it's just a very
00:09:07.279 expensive thing that sits there. It
00:09:08.959 looks pretty, looks nice, but it's not
00:09:11.040 going to actually accomplish or do the
00:09:13.360 mission that it was designed and created
00:09:15.440 to do. The church likewise, without
00:09:19.200 the power of the Holy Spirit, without
00:09:20.959 the power of God, it's just a really
00:09:23.040 nice thing to look at. There's many
00:09:24.560 beautiful churches and cathedrals and
00:09:26.399 things all around the globe. Without the
00:09:28.880 Holy Spirit, without the power behind
00:09:31.600 and really through the church, the
00:09:33.360 church is just a really nice thing. It's
00:09:35.440 nice people, nice building, nice things
00:09:37.440 that we do, but without the power, it's
00:09:39.760 never going to accomplish the mission
00:09:42.240 and the vision that it was originally
00:09:44.480 intended to accomplish. So, what we're going
00:09:46.640 to look at today is the power of the
00:09:48.480 Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit and why
00:09:50.399 that's so important to understand who
00:09:52.959 the Holy Spirit is and what's available
00:09:55.200 to us today. So Jesus, you know, last
00:09:58.320 Sunday we celebrated Jesus rising from the
00:10:00.720 dead, and on the first day he rises
00:10:02.880 from the dead, he's actually walking—
00:10:04.560 the Bible says he's walking on the road
00:10:06.160 to Emmaus with two of his followers. They
00:10:08.560 don't know it's Jesus as God covers
00:10:10.880 their eyes, keeps them from knowing who
00:10:12.640 he is, but he's walking with these two
00:10:14.160 guys. It's about a seven-mile walk from
00:10:16.640 Jerusalem to Emmaus. And along the way,
00:10:19.360 he's teaching the Scripture. He's
00:10:21.360 talking to these guys. He's answering
00:10:22.800 their questions. He's revealing so much
00:10:24.959 to them. And they get to Emmaus, they sit
00:10:27.120 down, they have a meal, and then it says
00:10:29.040 as he's breaking bread, their eyes are
00:10:30.880 opened and they see that it's Jesus. And
00:10:33.040 then Jesus vanishes. So these two guys,
00:10:36.079 they run back to Jerusalem. It doesn't
00:10:38.000 say they run; it says they make their
00:10:39.120 way back to Jerusalem. I imagine they
00:10:40.800 ran because they wanted to get back to
00:10:42.640 tell everyone what they just
00:10:44.000 experienced. So this is where we pick up
00:10:45.680 the story. Luke 24:35
00:10:48.720 says, "Then the two from Emmaus told
00:10:51.519 their story of how Jesus had appeared to
00:10:53.519 them as they were walking along the road
00:10:56.640 and how they had recognized him as he
00:10:58.399 was breaking the bread. And just as they
00:11:00.720 were telling about it, Jesus himself was
00:11:03.600 suddenly standing there among them."
00:11:06.079 "Peace be with you," he said. Now, put
00:11:09.279 yourself in their shoes. I love not just
00:11:10.880 reading the words, but put yourself
00:11:12.480 in their shoes. So, you're one of
00:11:14.240 the followers of Jesus. Really, all you
00:11:15.920 know is Jesus died. He was buried and
00:11:18.000 he's supposed to rise, even though they
00:11:19.440 kind of forgot that part. But here's
00:11:20.959 these two guys. They come back and,
00:11:22.320 "Hey, we were just with Jesus. He was on
00:11:24.720 the road with us. He ate with us. We
00:11:27.200 saw him." And as they're telling them
00:11:28.800 this, Jesus just pops up. There's a
00:11:31.920 reason Jesus had to say, "Peace be with
00:11:33.760 you," right? Because they didn't have
00:11:35.200 peace in that moment. They were fearful.
00:11:36.640 It actually says, "But the whole group
00:11:38.880 in verse 37 was startled and
00:11:41.440 frightened." Do you blame them? I mean,
00:11:43.760 come on. Jesus is there and he
00:11:46.000 startles them, but they were thinking
00:11:47.600 they were seeing a ghost. "Why are you
00:11:50.720 frightened?" he asked. I kind of think
00:11:52.320 that's a silly question, Jesus. Like
00:11:54.160 really? You just popped up out of
00:11:55.760 nowhere. You didn't knock. You didn't
00:11:56.959 send a memo, send a text saying you're
00:11:58.480 on your way. You just showed up. "Why are
00:12:00.560 you frightened? Why are your hearts
00:12:02.720 filled with doubt?" And it got me
00:12:05.360 thinking as I read this. I go, man, we
00:12:08.560 sometimes have doubt. Anybody else
00:12:10.959 sometimes have doubt? Maybe some
00:12:12.320 questions. Maybe "God, are you really... do
00:12:14.720 you really see what's going on? Do you
00:12:16.560 see the state of the world? Do you see
00:12:18.480 the gas prices? Do you see the stuff
00:12:20.399 that I'm going through?" And doubt can
00:12:22.639 creep into our hearts at times. But I
00:12:25.040 want to encourage you, it's okay to have
00:12:26.880 doubt. It's okay to have questions. It's
00:12:29.680 okay to not be confident, have it all
00:12:31.680 figured out. Because these are the guys
00:12:33.519 who were closest with Jesus. They had
00:12:36.240 doubt even seeing Jesus in the flesh
00:12:38.880 right before them. But he says to them,
00:12:41.360 "Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You
00:12:44.320 can see that it's really me. Touch me
00:12:47.040 and make sure that I am not a ghost,
00:12:48.959 because ghosts don't have bodies as you
00:12:51.680 see that I do." As he spoke, he showed
00:12:54.079 them his hands and his feet. I love that
00:12:56.639 Jesus was very practical. He was very—he
00:12:59.440 wasn't always mystical. Yeah, he
00:13:01.360 spoke in parables, but many times he was
00:13:03.360 very practical, very logical. Now, in
00:13:06.480 moments of fear and uncertainty and
00:13:09.120 worry, logic is really helpful. Jesus
00:13:12.079 says like, "You think I'm a ghost? Touch
00:13:13.760 me. Ghosts don't have bodies as I do.
00:13:16.639 Touch me and see. I am not a ghost." He
00:13:19.440 helps bring them back from their
00:13:21.279 heightened emotional state and say,
00:13:22.800 "Look, see who I am. I am here as I told
00:13:25.920 you I'd be, rising from the dead." He
00:13:28.240 shows them his hands and feet. And then
00:13:30.000 verse 41: Still they stood there in
00:13:33.760 disbelief,
00:13:35.440 filled with joy and wonder. Now,
00:13:38.480 disbelief, but still joy and wonder.
00:13:41.120 Like, how do you have both? I think some
00:13:43.040 of them were in disbelief, some were in joy
00:13:44.560 and wonder. Maybe some had a little bit
00:13:46.399 of both. Like, I can't believe that he's actually here, that
00:13:51.200 we're literally touching the physical
00:13:52.880 body of Jesus. And I think that joy and
00:13:55.600 wonder is a place that God wants to get
00:13:57.839 all of us to, moving from doubt and
00:14:00.880 disbelief to having joy and wonder—to
00:14:04.560 truly have this unspeakable
00:14:07.760 joy that exists within us. This wonder
00:14:10.480 and awe of who God is because he rose
00:14:13.440 from the dead. That's something that we
00:14:15.199 can't always fully understand. But
00:14:18.000 man, there should be a joy and a wonder
00:14:19.920 about us. That's why we love celebrating,
00:14:21.839 because we are to be the most cheerful,
00:14:24.079 celebratory people on the planet, right?
00:14:26.240 Amen. Thank you.
00:14:28.480 So they physically touch him,
00:14:30.079 and after the resurrection, Jesus
00:14:31.839 spends 40 days with his disciples. It
00:14:34.880 wasn't a one-time thing. It wasn't two times. For 40 days he
00:14:39.760 appears to them. He teaches them. He
00:14:42.480 proves that he is alive. Now imagine the
00:14:45.680 emotion shift. These guys were fearful.
00:14:50.000 They were confused. They thought Jesus
00:14:52.320 was going to overthrow the Roman Empire.
00:14:54.639 They thought he was going to overtake
00:14:56.320 the government. And they were
00:14:58.320 moving from fear to now they see Jesus.
00:15:00.639 They're touching Jesus. This would have
00:15:02.800 changed everything for them, right? It's
00:15:05.440 literally the reason I believe they went
00:15:07.279 to their own deaths, being murdered
00:15:09.600 themselves, because they saw the
00:15:11.680 post-resurrected Jesus. They touched
00:15:13.839 him. Nobody could convince them
00:15:15.920 that Jesus wasn't alive. Nobody could
00:15:18.240 convince them that he was just a
00:15:20.160 hallucination. He walked with them.
00:15:22.320 He talked with them. They ate with him.
00:15:24.399 And that was why they were so ready to
00:15:26.959 go and change the world. But Jesus says
00:15:30.560 something I think quite surprising to
00:15:32.160 them. He tells them to wait. I'd have
00:15:35.199 been like, "No, Jesus, let's go now.
00:15:37.519 Let's take on the world." And he says,
00:15:39.120 "Okay, you guys have to wait though,
00:15:40.959 because before you go, you need something. You need
00:15:45.360 something before you go." And he says in
00:15:47.600 verse 49, "Now I will send the Holy
00:15:51.040 Spirit, just as my Father promised.
00:15:54.160 But stay here in the city until the Holy
00:15:56.720 Spirit comes and fills you with power
00:15:59.680 from heaven." Now they had heard about
00:16:02.880 the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught throughout the
00:16:05.199 Gospels about who the Holy Spirit is.
00:16:07.120 That he is part of the Trinity: the
00:16:08.880 Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All
00:16:11.040 three were together at creation. The Holy Spirit hovered over the
00:16:15.040 waters. The Holy Spirit has always been
00:16:18.079 in existence. He is God. So Jesus taught
00:16:21.120 about the Holy Spirit. We see the Holy Spirit
00:16:22.800 came and descended from heaven on Jesus when
00:16:25.120 he was baptized. So the Holy Spirit's not a
00:16:27.680 brand new concept. But I don't think
00:16:29.759 these guys really understood who was
00:16:32.639 coming—that he is part of God,
00:16:35.199 he is God, and that the Holy Spirit was
00:16:37.120 coming. But Jesus tells them, "Hey, you
00:16:39.199 have to wait." Now I don't know about
00:16:41.440 you, but I'm a little impatient. And
00:16:43.440 especially when God says wait,
00:16:45.440 none of us like to hear that, right? How
00:16:47.440 many of you pray and say, "God, is
00:16:48.720 it this or is it this?" And often I get:
00:16:51.360 "It's neither of those options." "Is it
00:16:53.199 right now or is it tomorrow?" He goes,
00:16:54.720 "It's in like five months from now,
00:16:56.240 maybe. Or it's in years from now."
00:16:58.160 Many times God gives us not a no, but a
00:17:01.440 wait. It's a "not yet." And God always
00:17:04.720 gives us an answer, I believe: a yes, a
00:17:06.319 no, or maybe it's a "not yet." We just
00:17:08.559 have to wait. Jesus gives us these
00:17:10.799 instructions: Wait for the Holy Spirit.
00:17:13.679 Wait until the gift that my Father has
00:17:16.000 promised. He's going to come. I'm going
00:17:17.919 to give you the Holy Spirit. That's
00:17:19.679 where you're going to get filled with
00:17:21.280 power from heaven. So then Jesus ascends
00:17:24.480 into heaven. It says he goes up into the
00:17:26.400 clouds and that's going to be how he
00:17:28.079 comes back. He's going to come back on
00:17:29.360 the clouds. And the disciples were left
00:17:31.440 worshipping him, filled with great joy and
00:17:34.400 praising God. Now, all four of the
00:17:37.200 Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—
00:17:40.080 account for the ascension of Jesus. He
00:17:42.160 goes into heaven. In the New Testament—
00:17:44.000 we have the Old Testament, New Testament—in the New Testament,
00:17:46.400 the first five books of
00:17:48.320 the Bible are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
00:17:51.120 and then the Acts of the Apostles.
00:17:53.440 Apostles are just sent ones. There are
00:17:55.840 the twelve apostles, the ones who walked
00:17:58.080 with Jesus and served with Jesus and
00:18:00.320 performed and helped with all the miracles.
00:18:02.480 The book of Acts, as I refer to it,
00:18:04.720 is often referred to as
00:18:07.039 the Acts of the Apostles or the Acts of
00:18:09.120 the Holy Spirit, because it's what the
00:18:11.200 apostles did and the early church did,
00:18:13.760 empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. So,
00:18:16.960 for shortening it,
00:18:19.039 we just call it the book of Acts.
00:18:21.039 That's what I'm talking about. For 28
00:18:23.280 chapters—we're not going to go through all 28
00:18:25.840 today, but we're going to look at
00:18:27.360 chapters 1 and 2 primarily of
00:18:30.400 what happened in the book of Acts and
00:18:32.880 what happened after Jesus rose from the
00:18:35.039 dead. So, we start in Acts 1:3.
00:18:38.240 It says, "During the 40 days
00:18:40.480 after he suffered and died, he appeared
00:18:42.720 to the apostles from time to time. He
00:18:45.120 proved to them in many ways that he was
00:18:46.960 actually alive, and he talked
00:18:49.679 to them about the kingdom of God." Again,
00:18:52.480 the same story, the same account. What
00:18:55.200 was recorded in the Gospels is recorded
00:18:57.280 in the book of Acts: that Jesus proved
00:19:00.080 for 40 days, walking with them, eating
00:19:02.320 with them, talking about the kingdom of
00:19:04.320 God. In verse 4, it says, "Once when
00:19:07.120 he was eating with them, he commanded
00:19:09.280 them, 'Do not leave Jerusalem until the
00:19:11.919 Father sends you the gift he promised.
00:19:14.160 As I told you before, John baptized with
00:19:17.039 water, but in just a few days, you will
00:19:19.039 be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'" Again,
00:20:22.000 reiterating, "Hey guys, you have to wait."
00:19:25.039 After those 40 days, he left and he
00:19:27.120 said, "Wait for the Holy Spirit to come."
00:19:29.760 He promises it's going to come. He tells
00:19:31.600 them to go into the city and wait. Now,
00:19:35.520 if any of you have little kids and
00:19:37.200 you tell them to wait, what
00:19:38.960 do they not want to do? They don't want
00:19:40.720 to wait, right? Same thing for us.
00:19:43.679 Sometimes God tells us to wait. It's
00:19:46.400 what's best for us. There's something
00:19:48.000 better coming. Be patient. Maybe that's
00:19:50.240 for somebody here. You're feeling a
00:19:51.520 little impatient with life or with a job
00:19:53.600 or with circumstances. Be patient. The
00:19:56.320 best is yet to come. I believe God still has something good for you. Verse
00:20:00.320 6, though, says when the apostles
00:20:01.679 were with Jesus—this is what the writer
00:20:04.240 Luke, who wrote this, says—the apostles
00:20:06.000 were with Jesus, they kept asking him,
00:20:08.559 "Lord, has the time come for you to free
00:20:11.120 Israel and restore our kingdom?" What
00:20:14.720 they were really asking is, "Hey Jesus, is
00:20:17.280 it now time to overthrow Rome?" Again,
00:20:20.480 the Jewish people were under Roman
00:20:22.799 Empire occupancy. They were
00:20:25.039 basically indentured servants. They were
00:20:27.039 under the occupation of the Roman Empire
00:20:30.320 in a lot of ways—heavily taxing them,
00:20:32.720 telling them what to do, putting curfews
00:20:34.480 on, all these things. So they go to
00:20:36.400 Jesus and say, "Jesus, so now's the time
00:20:38.799 to come?" They thought it was before he
00:20:40.400 was crucified. Now that he rose from the
00:20:42.400 dead, they're really ready to take on
00:20:44.000 the Roman Empire because Jesus is
00:20:46.400 invincible. So we got the guy who's
00:20:48.640 going to win. Let's go take down the
00:20:51.039 government now. And many times I find
00:20:54.480 that Christians today get so focused,
00:20:57.200 just like the apostles were, on taking
00:20:59.440 down the government or being involved in
00:21:01.679 politics more than the kingdom of God.
00:21:05.360 Now I believe we should all vote. I
00:21:07.280 believe as Christians we should be
00:21:08.559 influencing. We should be involved. We
00:21:10.640 should be educated about our government,
00:21:12.640 about the laws—the federal, state, and
00:21:14.480 local laws. We should be involved in
00:21:16.320 school boards and local governments. We
00:21:18.559 should be involved. We should care about
00:21:20.320 that. But we shouldn't care about it
00:21:22.320 more than the kingdom of God, because
00:21:25.280 ultimately our hope is not in the
00:21:27.440 government. Our hope is not in the
00:21:30.000 president or a senator or any political
00:21:32.640 party. Our peace does not come from
00:21:35.280 things of the natural world and what
00:21:36.960 this world has to offer. Our hope,
00:21:39.440 our peace, and our power all come from
00:21:42.159 Jesus Christ through the power of the
00:21:43.840 Holy Spirit. So yes, be involved in
00:21:46.960 politics and government, but not at the
00:21:49.679 expense of sacrificing something that
00:21:52.080 could be done for the kingdom of God. I
00:21:54.320 get invited to political things
00:21:56.320 consistently, and I say, "You know what? I
00:21:58.559 may agree with certain people's
00:22:00.080 politics, but I want to put the church
00:22:02.080 first and foremost. Building the kingdom
00:22:04.159 of God is my number one priority." It's
00:22:06.400 the calling on my life
00:22:09.039 that I won't... I don't want to sacrifice
00:22:10.799 the work of the kingdom to be involved
00:22:12.720 in politics if that's what that would
00:22:14.480 mean. But yes, I believe we should care
00:22:16.640 about our government and care about
00:22:18.080 what's happening in our schools and our
00:22:20.240 world, but make sure we're focused more
00:22:22.320 on the kingdom of God. So the power
00:22:25.120 that's available to us isn't just things
00:22:27.440 in the natural, but it's spiritual. And
00:22:30.000 Jesus says in Acts 1:8 what
00:22:32.799 they're going to receive if they wait:
00:22:34.880 "You will receive power when the Holy
00:22:37.360 Spirit comes upon you. You will be my
00:22:39.520 witnesses, telling people about me
00:22:41.360 everywhere—in Jerusalem," which is the
00:22:43.440 town they were in, the city they were
00:22:44.720 in, "throughout Judea," that surrounding
00:22:46.960 area, "in Samaria," the neighboring area,
00:22:49.760 "and to the ends of the earth." That
00:22:53.120 power is going to come on these ordinary,
00:22:55.919 normal people to be bold, powerful
00:22:58.799 witnesses for Jesus, telling people
00:23:02.320 everywhere—not just at church, not just
00:23:05.360 in a Bible study, but everywhere we go,
00:23:08.480 we are to be able to share and testify of
00:23:11.760 what God is doing and who he is.
00:23:14.480 Really, that word "witnesses" implies
00:23:16.400 martyrdom. It's like you're going
00:23:18.080 to lay down your life for the cause of
00:23:20.000 Christ. You're going to share something
00:23:22.480 bigger than yourself. And the
00:23:25.360 church is built on the power of the Holy
00:23:28.240 Spirit. This power that comes from
00:23:30.320 the Holy Spirit is available to all
00:23:32.480 of us. It's not for hype. It's not just
00:23:35.440 to be zealous. It's for power. It's for
00:23:38.159 mission. It's to be a witness to other
00:23:40.720 people, to testify, to live our lives
00:23:43.280 filled with the Spirit of God to tell
00:23:45.520 others about him. Now, I know
00:23:47.360 in Christianity the things that create
00:23:49.440 the most guilt or condemnation are: we
00:23:51.679 don't pray enough, we don't read our
00:23:53.360 Bible enough, and we don't witness to
00:23:55.120 enough people, right? But it's not to
00:23:57.120 make you feel bad. It's to realize
00:23:59.120 there's a reason that can be
00:24:01.120 difficult—because it doesn't... it's not
00:24:03.200 in our natural state to go read our Bible, to pray, and
00:24:07.520 to tell people about Jesus. Yet, I would
00:24:09.679 challenge you that we do those things in
00:24:11.360 so many other ways. We tell people about
00:24:13.600 a great restaurant we went to. We tell
00:24:15.360 people about an experience we had. But
00:24:17.840 yet when it comes to Jesus, it's like,
00:24:19.600 "Ah, I got to be careful. I don't want to
00:24:21.039 offend anybody." Tell them the good
00:24:23.279 news, the best news possible! But I know
00:24:26.559 it's not something we do
00:24:28.559 naturally. We need the power of the
00:24:30.559 Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to
00:24:32.720 empower us to go and share with people,
00:24:36.559 because the reality is the mission is
00:24:38.720 too big for human strength. The mission
00:24:41.600 is too big for a strategy meeting,
00:24:44.159 for us to put our minds together and
00:24:46.159 come up with the best way. It really is
00:24:48.480 the power of the Holy Spirit that guides
00:24:50.480 the church. The church defined—it really
00:24:53.279 was birthed in the power
00:24:55.440 of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't run
00:24:57.520 on personality, effort, or talent, but
00:25:00.159 the power of the Holy Spirit. And we at
00:25:02.720 Freedom Church, I believe we have great
00:25:04.240 music. I believe we have pretty good
00:25:06.320 speaking. I believe we have great
00:25:08.559 programs and great kids' ministry, and
00:25:10.880 teams serving, and all these things are
00:25:12.480 working really well, but without the
00:25:14.400 Holy Spirit, it's lifeless. If we ever
00:25:17.679 start thinking that we
00:25:19.760 don't need the Holy Spirit, I believe
00:25:21.360 that's going to be the end of our
00:25:22.480 church. But it's the power of the Holy
00:25:24.799 Spirit through the worship time, through
00:25:26.799 the music, through the speaking, through
00:25:28.799 the people serving, through the kids'
00:25:30.640 mission, through when we go outside
00:25:32.480 the walls and serve in the
00:25:34.159 community. It's the power of the Holy
00:25:36.000 Spirit in us that actually provides life,
00:25:38.320 that provides transformation for people
00:25:40.720 as well. So the church is born through
00:25:43.840 the Holy Spirit. We see this in Acts
00:25:45.279 chapter 2, the very next chapter, verse
00:25:47.679 one. He says, "On the day of Pentecost all
00:25:50.960 the believers were meeting together in
00:25:53.120 one place." Now Pentecost just means 50.
00:25:55.760 So it's 50 days after the resurrection,
00:25:58.640 after Jesus rises from the dead. He
00:26:00.080 walked for 40 days, so he tells them to
00:26:02.320 wait and it's 10 more days. They had to
00:26:04.559 wait just a week and a half. It's
00:26:06.320 not that long, but they had to wait for
00:26:08.000 the Holy Spirit to come. So on
00:26:09.679 Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes because all
00:26:12.240 of the believers were meeting together
00:26:14.640 in one place.
00:26:17.039 There's something to be said about when
00:26:18.559 people gather together. There's something that is so intangible
00:26:24.080 when people gather together for a meal,
00:26:26.320 when we gather together for church. And
00:26:28.559 yes, online is great and we love
00:26:30.400 being able to have that for people
00:26:32.159 traveling and out of town or homesick.
00:26:34.480 But really, when we gather together in
00:26:36.240 the room, something happens that you
00:26:38.400 can't get by watching online. You can't
00:26:40.080 get it by watching YouTube. You can't get it
00:26:42.159 by some digital means. You have to
00:26:44.159 be in the room to really experience what
00:26:46.880 happens when we're all together—
00:26:48.320 corporately worshiping, corporately
00:26:50.320 praying. Corporately, I say, is all together, not individually, but
00:26:54.480 together. We see this as a pattern:
00:26:56.880 when all the believers were meeting
00:26:58.320 together in one place, suddenly there
00:27:01.120 was a sound from heaven like the roaring
00:27:03.440 of a mighty windstorm. It filled the
00:27:06.000 house where they were sitting. In verse
00:27:08.159 3: "Then what looked like flames or
00:27:10.880 tongues of fire appeared and settled on
00:27:13.440 each of them. Everyone present was
00:27:15.760 filled with the Holy Spirit and began
00:27:18.080 speaking in other languages as the Holy
00:27:21.120 Spirit gave them this ability." So this
00:27:24.880 amazing thing happens. All the believers
00:27:27.039 are gathered in one place and this big
00:27:29.600 noise, this mighty rushing windstorm
00:27:31.760 comes in, and flames or tongues
00:27:34.080 of fire appear above each person and
00:27:36.559 they begin speaking in other languages.
00:27:39.200 And I know many people go right away,
00:27:40.880 "Oh, that's weird." I'm going to
00:27:43.039 be the first to admit to you, that's weird.
00:27:45.200 That's not normal. That's not something
00:27:47.279 that happens on an everyday level—that
00:27:48.799 you see a flame above people's heads and
00:27:51.440 that the Holy Spirit gives them this
00:27:53.520 supernatural ability. That is weird and
00:27:55.840 it's okay to acknowledge the reality of
00:27:58.320 what we're reading. But what happens is
00:28:00.159 that as they're gathered together, this
00:28:01.919 rushing wind, tongues of fire come, they
00:28:03.520 begin speaking in other languages, and
00:28:05.600 what actually happened was the ordinary
00:28:07.440 people who were gathered there became bold witnesses. In verse 5, it
00:28:12.080 says, "At that time there were devout
00:28:14.320 Jews from every nation living in
00:28:16.799 Jerusalem." So all the Jews came
00:28:19.039 to Jerusalem. All the Jewish
00:28:21.120 people came to Jerusalem for
00:28:22.399 Passover. They were still there. Many of
00:28:24.640 them were still around all over it.
00:28:26.720 Jerusalem was like... it's a super
00:28:28.559 touristy spot now, but even back then,
00:28:30.640 many of the people would come. It was a
00:28:31.919 place for commerce, for trading, to go
00:28:34.080 to the temple. All these devout Jews
00:28:36.159 were there for the celebration of
00:28:38.000 Pentecost. And they all spoke in
00:28:40.480 different native languages.
00:28:44.240 It said when they heard this loud noise,
00:28:46.559 everyone came running and they were
00:28:48.640 bewildered to hear their own languages
00:28:51.120 being spoken by the believers. So by
00:28:54.240 these very few Jewish people that were
00:28:56.799 all from one area—as we see in verse 7,
00:28:59.120 it says they were completely amazed. "How
00:29:02.720 can this be?" they exclaimed. "These
00:29:05.039 people are all from Galilee." So Galilee
00:29:07.600 is just one small area. All these
00:29:09.919 believers of Jesus, followers of
00:29:11.600 Jesus, were primarily all from Galilee.
00:29:13.600 They're all speaking these native
00:29:15.120 languages from all different places. And
00:29:17.679 the people hearing this—they're
00:29:19.600 bewildered. They're amazed. They're
00:29:22.159 like, "How can these guys... they're
00:29:23.600 Galileans. They're fishermen.
00:29:25.360 They're not like language guys, you
00:29:27.600 know, people that speak seven languages.
00:29:29.360 I can barely get
00:29:31.039 English down. I don't need to worry
00:29:32.399 about another language." But these
00:29:33.840 people speaking these multiple
00:29:35.200 languages—that's not what was
00:29:36.640 happening here naturally. These guys weren't
00:29:38.000 educated in multiple languages; it was
00:29:40.799 the power of the Holy Spirit who gave
00:29:42.640 them the ability to speak in these
00:29:44.880 languages. And what they were saying was
00:29:46.320 testifying about Jesus. They
00:29:48.559 were sharing the Gospel. They were
00:29:50.240 telling them what had happened in their
00:29:52.480 own language. And God used that to wow
00:29:55.520 these people in wonder and joy and
00:29:58.000 amazement and say, "Look at what's
00:30:00.399 happening. There must be something to
00:30:02.080 this." And yet, even when these people
00:30:04.320 were full of bewilderment and
00:30:07.039 amazement, there were people right
00:30:09.039 after this that started to try to
00:30:10.480 explain it all away. They tried to say,
00:30:12.720 "No, no," in the next couple verses, which
00:30:14.320 are not on the screen, but they tried to
00:30:15.520 explain it away, saying, "These guys are
00:30:17.200 just drunk. Don't listen to them.
00:30:19.120 They're not making sense. They're just
00:30:20.399 babbling. Don't listen to them." And all
00:30:22.720 too unfortunately, people today, churches
00:30:25.760 today, try to explain away the
00:30:28.320 miraculous things of God. They try to
00:30:30.480 say that that doesn't exist or they try
00:30:32.000 to justify it in some other way. You know,
00:30:34.240 I've seen so many personal things in my
00:30:36.880 life of physical healing, of demonic
00:30:39.679 deliverance, of supernatural things, it
00:30:42.720 would be illogical for me to believe
00:30:45.440 that that doesn't happen today—that the
00:30:47.919 power of the Holy Spirit is not
00:30:49.360 available to us today. You know why I
00:30:51.840 believe that? Not just from my
00:30:53.120 experience, but I read the Scripture.
00:30:55.760 Why would it stop? Why would the Holy Spirit
00:30:58.080 be what Jesus said is available to
00:31:00.720 give to you, but then not actually
00:31:03.279 keep functioning, or just for a short
00:31:05.279 period of time? I see the Holy Spirit
00:31:07.360 moving all throughout the world in
00:31:10.159 believers who have faith, who truly step
00:31:12.480 out in faith and are bold in their
00:31:14.080 witnessing. Yet, I also see a lot of
00:31:16.480 people who counterfeit the Holy Spirit.
00:31:18.640 Satan is a counterfeiter of God.
00:31:20.720 Satan will counterfeit things and make
00:31:22.799 things seem like it's God, but it's
00:31:24.559 really not. And unfortunately, it's
00:31:27.279 confused a lot of people where they see
00:31:29.279 the counterfeit. It seems like God. It
00:31:31.760 looks like God. It sounds like God. It
00:31:33.600 might even be in a Christian church, but
00:31:35.360 it's not God. And it turns people away
00:31:37.679 completely from the reality of who the
00:31:40.000 Holy Spirit is—that he is available. He
00:31:42.720 is the one who empowers us, who fills
00:31:45.440 us, who gives us the ability to
00:31:48.159 accomplish the mission that the church
00:31:50.399 was designed and created to accomplish.
00:31:53.360 So the church is not a container for
00:31:56.320 Christians. We're not supposed to just
00:31:58.159 gather together. We're to gather so that
00:32:00.000 we can be trained and equipped, filled
00:32:01.760 with the Spirit, and then sent out. The
00:32:04.399 church is Christians—it's us people
00:32:06.880 being empowered by the Holy Spirit. That is
00:32:10.480 what the church is. Not just the
00:32:12.159 building, not just where we gather, but
00:32:14.159 all of us together empowered by the Holy
00:32:16.720 Spirit.
00:32:18.320 So Peter gets up—that same Peter who
00:32:20.960 last week, as we mentioned, denied
00:32:22.559 Jesus three times. Then Jesus restores
00:32:25.120 Peter. That's the Peter at this point,
00:32:27.200 empowered by the Holy Spirit. He stands
00:32:29.440 up and he starts giving this beautiful
00:32:31.760 sermon. He's explaining to them what
00:32:33.840 happened and who Jesus was—that Jesus
00:32:35.679 from Nazareth, that guy, yeah, that
00:32:37.519 guy that you guys had killed, which he
00:32:39.440 kind of throws in there, by the
00:32:40.559 way. He says, "That's the guy. He was
00:32:42.320 the Messiah. He rose from the dead. We
00:32:44.320 were with him." And he's explaining, and
00:32:46.399 then he quotes this passage from
00:32:48.720 Joel. So about 500 or so years before
00:32:51.679 this time period, he quotes from Joel in
00:32:54.480 verse 17. He says, "'In the last days,'
00:32:57.440 God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit upon
00:33:00.480 all people. Your sons and daughters will
00:33:02.960 prophesy. Your young men will see
00:33:04.960 visions. Your old men will dream
00:33:06.880 dreams.'" So if you see visions or
00:33:08.640 dreams, that tells you how old you are.
00:33:10.559 Just throwing that out. "In those days I
00:33:13.039 will pour out my Spirit even on my
00:33:15.760 servants, men and women alike, and they
00:33:18.799 will prophesy. I will cause wonders in
00:33:21.440 the heavens above, signs on the earth
00:33:23.600 below, blood and fire, and clouds of
00:33:26.080 smoke. The sun will become dark, the
00:33:28.320 moon will turn blood red before that
00:33:30.880 great and glorious day of the Lord
00:33:33.679 arrives." Now, we read this, and what was
00:33:37.279 happening was there was something going
00:33:38.880 on that didn't make sense. These guys
00:33:41.200 are speaking—the disciples, the
00:33:42.960 followers of Jesus, are speaking in
00:33:44.960 unknown languages. There's no way they
00:33:46.640 would know this. Some people tried to
00:33:48.640 explain it away: "They're drunk. They're
00:33:50.080 babbling." But Peter says, "No, no, this
00:33:52.080 is found in Scripture. This is God. This
00:33:54.720 is the Holy Spirit doing this work." And
00:33:57.200 then he expounds on all these other
00:33:59.440 things that, let's be honest, are
00:34:01.120 weird: the signs and the wonders and the
00:34:03.600 fire and the clouds of smoke and blood
00:34:05.679 moons and all these things. It's like
00:34:07.440 that stuff sounds weird. And it's okay
00:34:10.399 to say it is when we look at our lives
00:34:13.199 as they normally are. But you know what? I
00:34:15.359 think the Holy Spirit can be weird, but
00:34:18.320 when we actually read in the Bible, it's
00:34:20.000 weird. But what if—let me ask you this:
00:34:22.399 What if Jesus actually was the Son of
00:34:25.839 God? He was God in the flesh. What if
00:34:28.639 Jesus actually died for our sins?
00:34:31.839 What if Jesus actually rose from the
00:34:33.599 dead? What if he actually did? What if
00:34:35.679 he walked for 40 days? What if
00:34:37.760 everything he said was true?
00:34:40.719 What if he ascends to heaven, sends the
00:34:43.440 Holy Spirit? What if all the things we
00:34:46.159 read in the Bible we actually believe
00:34:48.000 to be true? What if it were true and yet
00:34:51.679 the only thing that happens is we go to
00:34:53.280 church once or twice a month? Maybe we
00:34:55.520 go to Bible study. We try to be a good
00:34:57.599 person. I think that's weird. I think
00:35:00.960 it's weird to realize that I was once
00:35:02.720 dead, and the one who saved me, who gave
00:35:05.280 me eternal life—I'm going to give him
00:35:07.200 an hour or two a week and that's it.
00:35:10.160 Instead, my entire life should be
00:35:12.320 changed and transformed because of what
00:35:14.480 he's done for me. I think it's weird
00:35:16.720 that we don't devote our lives to him
00:35:18.640 even more. Yes, the things of the Bible
00:35:21.280 are weird, but I think it's more weird
00:35:23.440 that if the disciples saw Jesus
00:35:25.839 resurrect from the dead and they just
00:35:27.520 went about their day, and they just went
00:35:29.359 to synagogue and they just had nice
00:35:31.280 kumbaya dinners. I think that would be
00:35:33.920 weird rather than seeing the
00:35:35.760 resurrection power of Jesus—that same
00:35:37.839 Spirit that raised him from the dead
00:35:39.760 that's still available to us. It would
00:35:42.000 be weird not to have our lives
00:35:43.680 completely changed and transformed for
00:35:46.320 his kingdom. And that's what I want for
00:35:49.200 all of us to realize. Maybe you're not
00:35:51.760 going to quit your job and go into
00:35:53.040 full-time ministry. Maybe you're
00:35:54.800 supposed to! I believe some of you...
00:35:56.640 that's what happened to me. God spoke to
00:35:58.640 me, called me. It took me years to get
00:36:00.560 there. I said, "I'm going to give up my
00:36:02.240 full-time work because I believe there's
00:36:03.680 nothing greater for me to do in my life
00:36:06.079 than to give my life for the cause of
00:36:07.760 Christ, to build his church, to serve
00:36:09.440 him with my entire being." And I still
00:36:11.839 have more to do. I still want to give
00:36:13.760 more of my life. I'm not there. I
00:36:15.839 haven't arrived. I really wrestle with
00:36:17.839 God. I really believe this: Why do I
00:36:19.920 hold back? Why do I have these areas of
00:36:22.000 doubt still? Why do I not fully
00:36:24.000 surrender every aspect of my life and be
00:36:27.440 radical for you? Like, let's get weird
00:36:30.000 for Jesus! And I say in the nicest way:
00:36:33.680 It's the same power, it's the same
00:36:35.599 boldness, it's the same mission that we
00:36:37.760 are going to see people saved from
00:36:40.560 themselves, from their past, and walk
00:36:42.640 into new life. Verse 21: "Everyone
00:36:46.800 who calls on the name of the Lord will
00:36:49.200 be saved." It's the same thing that Peter
00:36:51.920 was reading 500 years before that he
00:36:54.240 read at Pentecost. It still applies
00:36:56.800 today that everyone who calls on the
00:36:59.280 name of the Lord will be saved. It's
00:37:02.960 Jesus who saves them. It's not us. We
00:37:05.839 can't save anybody. Yet Jesus said he's
00:37:09.119 going to build his church. It's through
00:37:10.960 the church that is the hope of the
00:37:12.960 world. As Jared mentioned earlier, we
00:37:14.880 were Plan A. Plan A for the world. There
00:37:17.440 is no Plan B. Jesus is building his
00:37:20.079 church. He's using us—people who are
00:37:22.480 willing to surrender their lives to
00:37:24.400 Jesus to reach people for him, to be
00:37:28.160 empowered, to be bold, to be passionate
00:37:30.800 for the truth. Jesus didn't die for the
00:37:34.000 buildings. He didn't die for the
00:37:36.079 programs, as good as they are and as
00:37:38.000 necessary as they can be. Jesus died for
00:37:40.640 people. He died for you. He died for
00:37:44.320 your family. He died for the people you
00:37:46.480 work with, whether you love them or hate
00:37:48.000 them or not. Jesus died for them, too.
00:37:50.640 The availability of salvation to those
00:37:52.880 people... You know, the world says it's
00:37:55.440 weird that we would be passionate for
00:37:57.359 Jesus, right? It is... it's not normal to
00:38:01.760 have peace in the midst of all the chaos
00:38:04.400 of the world. It's not normal to have
00:38:07.040 joy with difficult circumstances. It's
00:38:10.400 not normal to not grieve like most
00:38:12.960 people grieve who don't have hope,
00:38:14.800 because we have hope. It's okay to be
00:38:17.040 weird. It's okay to stand out from the
00:38:19.359 rest of the world, because that's how we
00:38:21.440 make an impact on other people's lives.
00:38:24.000 When someone says to you, "Why are you
00:38:26.079 so happy? Don't you see what's going on
00:38:28.400 in the world? Don't you watch the news?
00:38:30.720 Don't you see what's happening in Iran?
00:38:32.480 Don't you see the price of gas? Don't
00:38:34.079 you see the price of eggs? Don't you
00:38:35.839 see?" People's lives right now are
00:38:38.079 in such chaos and confusion and fear and
00:38:41.839 anxiety. We had a conversation—my wife
00:38:44.640 did recently with a young couple about,
00:38:46.400 "Hey, are you guys going to get married?
00:38:47.599 Are you going to have kids?" And they
00:38:49.040 said, "We can't have kids in this world.
00:38:51.839 The state of things... how can we... how can
00:38:54.320 we bring a child into this world?" And
00:38:57.119 it hit me like: Wow, there's so many
00:38:59.200 people that are living that life of
00:39:01.440 fear, of anxiety, of worrying about the
00:39:05.040 "what-ifs" and all the things that are
00:39:06.720 going on around us, rather than having
00:39:09.119 the power of the Holy Spirit available
00:39:10.800 to them that brings you peace, that
00:39:13.119 brings you joy, that brings you hope,
00:39:15.440 brings you faith.
00:39:17.680 And I say this not to cut anyone down,
00:39:20.720 but I say: I want what's best for you. I
00:39:22.400 want you to experience more. So, I
00:39:24.880 invite you, if you're able to stand to
00:39:26.400 your feet... if you could stand to your
00:39:27.520 feet, I want to pray that we would all
00:39:29.760 receive more joy, more peace, more hope,
00:39:33.280 more faith...
00:39:35.440 and it comes from more of the Holy
00:39:36.960 Spirit.
00:39:38.480 But before I pray for that, you know,
00:39:40.880 Peter, he continued his sermon and
00:39:43.280 teaching them and talking about Jesus.
00:39:44.960 And the people responded to them. They
00:39:47.280 said, "Well, what must we do? What must
00:39:50.079 we do to be saved?" And Peter replied,
00:39:52.320 "Each of you must repent of your sins
00:39:55.359 and turn to God. Be baptized in the name
00:39:58.160 of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
00:40:00.000 your sins. Then you will receive the
00:40:02.880 gift of the Holy Spirit." Maybe you
00:40:06.079 celebrated Easter, but you haven't
00:40:08.320 surrendered your life to Jesus yet.
00:40:11.119 Maybe you're trying to live your life in
00:40:12.960 your own strength, your own power,
00:40:15.280 instead of surrendering your life to the
00:40:17.119 one who can give you the power to really
00:40:20.000 do everything that he has put in
00:40:21.760 his purpose and his plan for you. If
00:40:24.480 you're feeling anxious, lost, fearful,
00:40:28.000 sad in any way, I believe God wants to
00:40:30.480 bring healing to you. I believe God
00:40:31.839 wants to set you free. I believe God
00:40:33.760 wants to show you your purpose and how
00:40:36.079 you have meaning and how you can impact
00:40:38.240 other people's lives around you as well.
00:40:40.640 So, I'm just going to invite everyone
00:40:42.160 to pray in this moment. Just close your
00:40:44.800 eyes, bow your head. Everyone watching
00:40:46.560 online, you can join in as well. I just
00:40:49.359 want to offer this moment as, as Peter
00:40:51.359 said, repent of your sins and turn to
00:40:54.320 God. It's not just about stop sinning.
00:40:58.800 It's about turning to God.
00:41:02.400 If you're here today, listening
00:41:04.880 to my voice, I ask you to turn from
00:41:08.000 your sin, to repent from it. And it's
00:41:10.079 something we all have to do
00:41:11.760 consistently. It's not a one-and-done
00:41:13.520 thing. It's a consistent thing... we
00:41:16.079 continue to sin, we continue to not be
00:41:17.680 perfect. We repent from our sins and we
00:41:20.319 turn to God. We turn to the one who can
00:41:23.119 set us free. We turn to the one who can
00:41:25.200 heal us, who can forgive us, who can
00:41:27.599 empower us so that we do not continue to
00:41:31.119 go on sinning.
00:41:33.200 So I offer this moment right now. If
00:41:35.200 you're here today and you say, "I want
00:41:36.400 to turn from my sin. I want to repent
00:41:38.480 for my sin and turn to God"—
00:41:42.560 He can forgive you of your sins. He can
00:41:45.359 make you brand new. That same
00:41:48.480 resurrection power that lived with Jesus
00:41:50.800 is available to you to make you new, to
00:41:53.520 make you born again as a new person.
00:41:57.839 So if that's you today, I want to pray.
00:42:00.880 I just want you to open your heart up to
00:42:02.400 God and invite his Holy Spirit. Heavenly
00:42:05.440 Father, I pray for every person here,
00:42:07.359 God, for every single one of us that we
00:42:09.119 know we all need to confess our sin to
00:42:10.880 you, to repent from our sins, and to
00:42:13.200 turn to you, God. That we can all... we all
00:42:15.760 desire more of you, more of your peace,
00:42:18.560 more of your joy, more hope. God,
00:42:21.040 increase our faith to believe, to move
00:42:23.280 from doubt and disbelief to joy and
00:42:26.400 wonder. God, I pray for anybody here,
00:42:28.800 God, that... you're moving in their
00:42:30.960 hearts right now. God, I believe there's
00:42:32.880 some here that know they need to
00:42:34.480 make that decision to surrender their
00:42:36.800 life to you, to stop playing church, to
00:42:39.280 stop going through the motions, but to
00:42:41.280 truly give their life to you
00:42:44.560 this very day, Father. That you would save them,
00:42:47.599 God. That you'd fill them with your
00:42:48.880 Spirit, God, that they would live from
00:42:50.800 this day forward lighter, freer, with
00:42:53.760 more joy, more peace, more hope. In
00:42:57.040 Jesus' name I pray. Amen. And I'm going
00:43:00.480 to offer to pray for everyone here just
00:43:03.200 as a sign of inviting God. You know, if
00:43:05.119 I were to give you something, you'd open
00:43:06.880 your hands to receive it. So, if you are
00:43:09.119 open, just open your hands just to
00:43:10.720 receive more of God. God, if you want
00:43:12.640 more of God, I just want to pray a
00:43:13.680 blessing on you and for the Holy Spirit to
00:43:15.680 be afresh on you. So, Heavenly Father, I
00:43:17.680 pray, God, that your Spirit right now
00:43:19.920 would come and dwell on each and every
00:43:21.520 one of us, God, as we open our hands as
00:43:23.920 a physical sign of our hearts and our
00:43:26.000 spirit, God, that's open to you. We want
00:43:28.000 more of you, God. We can't go through
00:43:31.680 life in our own strength anymore, God.
00:43:33.359 We want to know our purpose,
00:43:35.599 to know our value, to know what you have
00:43:38.160 called us to do. God, I pray you'd speak
00:43:40.960 to each and every person here today,
00:43:42.880 God, specific things they can do to be
00:43:44.880 a bold witness, God, to be filled with
00:43:47.200 your Spirit, to operate in power, God,
00:43:50.319 to believe for miracles to still happen,
00:43:52.880 God, that they would have faith to pray
00:43:55.040 and believe that you still answer
00:43:57.040 prayers. You still heal the sick. You
00:44:00.079 still provide for each and
00:44:02.480 every one of us, God. That you would
00:44:03.839 release your Spirit to empower us,
00:44:07.200 that we are your church—redeemed, forgiven,
00:44:10.960 empowered, and set free. God, may we
00:44:13.680 take the power of the resurrection to
00:44:16.000 this world that desperately needs it.
00:44:18.000 And God, I pray for that joy, that
00:44:20.160 wonder, that amazement to just rise and
00:44:23.040 increase in each and every one of us. It
00:44:25.200 will be so attractive to other people
00:44:27.280 who need you so desperately. Father, I
00:44:29.599 pray your Spirit would be upon us and
00:44:30.960 fill us afresh. In Jesus' name I pray.
00:44:33.760 Amen. Amen. Let's give God a great
00:44:36.560 big hand, celebrating the Holy Spirit. You
00:44:39.839 can be seated. Jared's going to come on
00:44:41.599 up. A few announcements and close us out.
00:44:45.359 Amen. Amen. It's so great to be with you
00:44:47.200 guys here this morning and really
00:44:49.119 celebrate and receive the empowerment of
00:44:51.760 the Holy Spirit. And you know, I
00:44:54.000 believe there are four different kinds
00:44:55.119 of people in the room right now. We're
00:44:56.480 going to go through some things that
00:44:57.839 apply directly to you. Perhaps it's your
00:45:00.240 very first time here with us this
00:45:01.920 morning, or maybe you're new here. We
00:45:03.599 just want to say welcome and thank you
00:45:05.040 so very much for choosing to spend a
00:45:07.040 part of your Sunday with us here and
00:45:08.880 worship God this morning. We'd be so, so
00:45:11.599 happy and excited just to get to know
00:45:13.119 you a little bit, hear your story, also
00:45:15.440 help you get a little bit more connected
00:45:16.960 to what God is doing in and through
00:45:18.960 Freedom Church. I encourage you to take
00:45:20.480 out your cell phone, scan the tap card
00:45:22.800 on the seatback in front of you, or scan
00:45:24.960 the QR code—excuse me, QR code—to fill
00:45:28.240 out a connection card. And whenever you
00:45:30.400 do that, we want to give you a gift on
00:45:31.839 your way out today as well, and get to
00:45:33.680 know you. On the way out there to the
00:45:35.359 left at the Connection Point, there's a
00:45:37.200 gift we want to put into your hands just
00:45:39.119 as our way of saying thank you. We'd
00:45:40.640 love to get to know you more. And second
00:45:42.880 group of people: Perhaps you're here
00:45:44.480 this morning and you say, "You know what,
00:45:46.079 I know that I'm called to be united with
00:45:48.720 God's people here at Freedom Church. I
00:45:50.319 want to learn more about what next steps
00:45:52.240 I can take in my relationship with
00:45:54.400 Jesus." We actually have a class that's
00:45:56.560 happening immediately at dismissal out
00:45:58.800 the hallway to the left. Pastor Eric
00:46:00.160 will be back there. We'd love to get to
00:46:02.000 know you and help you also discover...
00:46:04.079 man, God's gifted you! God's own Spirit
00:46:06.880 has empowered you and gifted you in unique
00:46:08.800 ways to make an impact in the world
00:46:10.640 around you. I encourage you to do that.
00:46:12.560 Or if you can't stay today, it is
00:46:14.560 happening as well next Sunday after the
00:46:16.560 11 a.m. service. Scan the QR code, get
00:46:19.040 signed up. There is food and childcare
00:46:20.720 provided. We'd love to plug in a little
00:46:22.800 bit more here at Freedom Church. How
00:46:24.720 many ladies do we have in here? Third
00:46:25.760 group. I said four groups. Third group:
00:46:27.520 Where are the ladies at?
00:46:29.839 Hands up. Hands up. We're doing good.
00:46:31.280 We're doing good. Awesome. Ladies, we
00:46:33.040 have a wonderful opportunity coming up
00:46:34.400 for you guys really just to connect with
00:46:36.319 one another. How many ladies need
00:46:38.000 ladies' time? I know my wife does. She
00:46:39.440 loves to get out, and the less time she
00:46:41.040 gets to spend with me, the better! Just
00:46:42.319 kidding, she loves me. But we have
00:46:44.240 a good time. And ladies, we know that
00:46:45.520 it's so, so important for you to get to
00:46:47.359 know one another, to develop genuine
00:46:49.520 relationships and community with
00:46:51.599 like-minded believers. There is a coffee
00:46:53.599 Saturday morning coming up for you May 9th from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.
00:46:59.280 There will be yogurt parfaits. We do
00:47:01.599 ask that you get signed up just so we
00:47:03.200 know how much coffee and food to provide
00:47:05.200 for you. It'll be a great time to hang
00:47:06.560 out. And gentlemen, this is a great
00:47:08.240 opportunity for us to love and serve our
00:47:10.000 wives. Maybe watch the kids, right?
00:47:12.240 Yeah, some ladies are like, "Yeah, amen!
00:47:13.839 That would be great to get some time away
00:47:15.359 and connect with ladies here at Freedom
00:47:16.880 Church." Last but certainly not least,
00:47:18.720 fourth group, we have child dedications
00:47:20.880 coming up here. It'll be Sunday, May
00:47:22.800 17th. For those of us... it's a wonderful
00:47:25.280 declaration that we are going to raise
00:47:27.599 our children to know and honor the Lord
00:47:30.319 with their lives. And us as a church
00:47:32.160 family get to celebrate, unite our
00:47:34.400 hearts with these folks who are making
00:47:36.240 that declaration to raise their kids to
00:47:38.400 know Jesus. It's a wonderful time to
00:47:40.240 celebrate. If you're here and you have
00:47:42.319 kids with you that have never been
00:47:43.680 dedicated to the Lord, I encourage you
00:47:45.520 to scan the QR code, get signed up. We
00:47:47.839 can help you take your next step in your
00:47:49.920 relationship with God and in raising
00:47:51.599 your kids in the Lord. That's about it,
00:47:54.079 everybody. If you could please stand to
00:47:55.440 your feet. I'm going to pray and dismiss
00:47:57.440 afterwards. Lord, I thank you so much.
00:47:59.359 What an honor and a privilege it is, God,
00:48:02.079 to be united with your Spirit. We thank
00:48:04.079 you, Jesus. You didn't leave us alone.
00:48:06.079 Even though you left, you promised to
00:48:07.680 send us your Holy Spirit. And Holy
00:48:10.000 Spirit, I pray just that we would be
00:48:11.760 aware of your presence. As we sang this
00:48:13.760 morning, this week, that we'd be aware of
00:48:16.240 the peace and the joy and the power
00:48:17.839 that's at our disposal. That we would
00:48:20.319 accurately represent the love and the
00:48:22.640 truth of Jesus to our co-workers, to our
00:48:24.880 families, our friends, our neighbors.
00:48:26.559 And Father, as a result, more and more
00:48:28.400 people would know just how great you are,
00:48:30.400 and how great your love and your power
00:48:32.400 is. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:48:35.359 You're dismissed. Have a great and
00:48:36.800 awesome week, everybody!