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What I'd like to do is turn to God's Word. We started or kicked off a series on the Book of Acts last week. And it's awesome because the Book of Acts is really the book of Luke, part two. It's written by Luke. It picks up after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. And we're now moving forward. And it's incredibly exciting for me to see how God used ordinary people, fishermen, normal people, tax collectors, people just like you and me to help spread the gospel, the good news, and to advance the kingdom of God. It's humbling, it is inspiring, it's encouraging, and it's incredibly equipping. And you're going to see today some real blessing in terms of what God has provided with you. So what I'd like to do is read these couple of verses to you and then walk back through them. And I want to put them in a context I hope that will bless you. So picking up in verse 6, it says, So when they had come together, this is the followers of Christ, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, It's not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And when he had said these things as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. Hard to imagine. It's good to try to imagine being there. This is Jesus with his most intimate followers. He's just spent 40 days with them. He's been raised from the dead, spent 40 days teaching them, spending time with them, encouraging them, giving them confidence that he is God. He is alive. He's opened up scripture to them, basically informing them about the entire Old Testament, how it points to him. Grounding them, educating them, equipping them, inspiring them. And he's about to leave them. And what you're reading here are literally his last words before he was raised up into heaven. And you can imagine in a human level how important last words are. If you're on your deathbed or a loved one is on their deathbed, and the last words are speaking to you, maybe conveying their love for you or an encouragement to you, pointing you to Christ, last words matter incredibly. All of Jesus' words matter incredibly, but these are his last words, and we want to listen up to them. And I love the humility, I love the rawness and realness of the Word of God because it doesn't sugarcoat things. You know, the greatest heroes were pretty messed up people in some cases with their sin and attitudes and actions. But here we're seeing people that walked with Jesus for three years. This rabbi, the Messiah, God Himself, has strapped them in as his followers, this incredible privilege and opportunity, and he's been teaching them and correcting their thinking and preparing them for life, to come to life, to live that life with him and for him. And then they saw him crucified. Mind-blowing, like what just happened. But raised from the dead, and now spending 40 days assuring them that he is God and that this is the way to true life through him, in him and through him. And where's their focus with all this teaching and all this encouragement of him all through the time? Self-focused. When are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? There is this a political focus. And you look at those guys and think, how screwed up can they be? With the living God Himself, and they still don't get it. So all through Scripture, in the Old Testament, all through the New Testaments, and if you ever want to list to them, just text me and I'll send it to you. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, share this news with all nations, with all people groups. Get out there and share it. And what do they do? They hang on to it for themselves. And you look like, man, what idiots. And then I look in the mirror and go, you too. You too sometimes. We hear the gospel, we respond to the gospel, we come to a saving faith in Jesus, and what do we do with it? Way too often? And I don't mean this as guilt or condemnation, but trying to be real about it. I got it. I'm good to go. And I get on with my life. And I don't want to put my risk, myself at risk sharing the gospel with other people. I don't want to damage relationships. I don't want to strain relationships. I don't want to put my life at risk in some place. And this is convicting to me. It's humbling to me, but it's inspiring to me to watch how he's looking through it. What Jesus did is he put them and sent them on a mission. You ever been on a mission? Sent on a mission? Most people look and go, uh, we live on mission all the time. Nancy sends me to Hannaford.

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Tells me what to get, where to get it. I mean, I can't really think for myself, so she gives me great instructions. What to do, where to go, how to do it. It's a mission. I can laugh about it, but that's really what a mission is. You know that we work hard to keep politics at a cross point. We want you engaged in your relationship with God. We want you out in the community. We want you engaged in elections. We want you engaged in the community, leading people to God and voting in a way that is honorable to God and is wise in your eyes. But we keep the politics out of here, so what I'm about to share has nothing to do with politics. If you've watched anything on the news recently, you've seen two basic things. I mean, Artemis went up, Artemis came back. The moon launch, right? And we also watched an incredible mission to save one person. Right? Two people, actually. One first was the pilot, the second was his crewman. Two billion dollars were spent. Hundreds of people put their lives at risk to go save one person stuck in the middle of Iraq. Two billion dollars with the B. The expense of that, the cost of that, the lives that were put at risk because of the commitment to save the one, well man, that's just that's awe-inspiring. And I don't look at that critically, I look at that with awe. The willingness to sacrifice for one. Then I think back a week to what we just remembered, how one came to save all. The greatest rescue mission this world will ever see. That was a mission. And what does he do on the backside of that? He turns around and sends you on the same mission. And he sends me on the same mission. I want you to take a look at what the scripture says in verse 8. God has provided you incredibly with different things to live this mission out. But one of the most significant things he did is he gave you purpose for life. Purpose for life. You matter. You, that person that you get to see every morning in the mirror, matter. You matter eternally. You matter to God, you matter to the people in this world. But the fact is, most of us don't remember how much we matter. We tend to live our lives. We're New Yorkers, we're busy. We have jobs to do, we have things to do. We fill our lives consciously and subconsciously with purpose. We all do because we're humans and we need to have some sense of purpose as we move through life. Different stages of life, different purposes. I've got to go to school. I've got to graduate. I got to get a job. I've got to get a promotion. I need to earn more money. I'm going to get married. I'm going to be a parent. We find purpose in all these different levels of life. We find purpose in all sorts of other areas of life, don't we? I mean, I'm I'm a basket case. I find purpose mowing a lawn, right? I see something getting done. It feels good. And I come back like a week later and think, what was that all about? I get to do it again. We find purpose doing exercise, right? Some people get consumed. We're gonna be fit, we're gonna exercise, and these are not bad things. We find purpose gardening, we find purpose as parents and grandparents, we find purpose in all these different aspects of life. We find purpose in doing good. That's good. It's just not best. There is an eternal purpose, the most valuable purpose of all, that God has given and offered to each one of you. To become his child and to live your life with him and for him, and to share that life with other people so that they can come to the life that he offers as well. God has called you to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ. You are ministers of the gospel. You literally are called to be missionaries. You are sent out into this world. You have purpose. Your life matters. And I say it a lot because I mean it and I believe it to my core. Each and every one of you are in a better place than anybody else in the entire world to lead certain people closer to Jesus. It doesn't mean you'll be the one to share the gospel that they'll be with when they pray to God, but you can lead them closer and closer to Him. You matter. Your life has eternal value and eternal purpose, and God has given it to you. And this is not meant to be a duty, this is a privilege, it is a gift from God. It's not legalism. Hopefully, what we're doing is we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, that we're doing this driven by love. The recognition that Jesus is who he is, he did what he said he did, and it matters, and it matters so much that I get to receive that gift of forgiveness in life, and now I want to go share that with other people. Driven by love of God and a love for people. It comes from the inside out in a beautiful way. So this morning I want to encourage you to not just to recognize that purpose that God has given you, but to embrace it. To embrace it and to invest yourself in the purpose that He's given you. To engage the people in your life, to partner up with other people. It matters, and you matter. A bunch of people, in fact, I think 140 people within this church went on a journey about eight weeks ago to begin memorizing the ten basic verses that you could use to help somebody come to the understanding of our separation from God, what God has done about it, and how they can respond to it. Ten little verses. Memorize them, own them, understand them so that you're equipped to be able to share directly from God's word, in God's words, or from your words, paraphrasing it so that people can understand it. You matter, you make a difference. That apologetics conference coming up the week after this, the week after next. You're gonna look at that and think, I don't have the time to do that. And you may not, because of the way we're using our time. I want to encourage you, with no pressure, but to look and explore ways that you can redeem the time that you have. Carve it out. Put something on hold. Don't show up for something that you really want it to go to because this matters more. There's a sacrifice involved. I don't want to make light of that, or I don't want to make too much of it. Try to redeem the time to use it for the things that matter most. Because the purpose God has given you impacts the eternal destiny of other people. Think about that. You being a witness for Jesus Christ can literally impact where they spend eternity. With God, as a child of his, in his presence in heaven, or separated from God and all the attributes of God in hell. No love, no peace, no joy, and no hope of that ever changing. And you get to make a difference potentially in how somebody spends that eternity. You matter. Your purpose that God has given you matters incredibly. He gave you the power to carry it out. Take a look at what it says. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. This is not only the power of God, it is the person of God, it is the Holy Spirit living within you. My guess is all of you drove here today because we're Americans. Actually, we have one person that lives next door. He tends to walk over, not drive over. Imagine if God had a new car, gave you a brand new car, you name it. Gorgeous car, nice engine, you love it. Filled with gas. Or in a couple people's cases, batteries are charged up. And you get in your car to come to church, and it's in neutral. So you gotta push. Do you ever push a car uphill? That's a little bit less doable. Did you ever push a car any distance? No, that's just no fun. What happens when you do that? When you expend that effort in your own strength to move forward. You get tired, you get worn out, you put your body at risk from bad backs to anything else giving out. You get discouraged, you run out of gasp mentally, physically, and what do we do? We stop. And do you want to do it again? No, I don't want to go through that again. So don't ever attempt to push the car again. And there the car sits. You and I are that car way too often. We have this, we're new creations. We are created, rebirthed by God Himself, and there we are, fully equipped with everything we need. Batteries charged, the Spirit of God is within you, and He's within me, and we sit there in neutral as we go through life, having tried or even fearing trying, moving forward, pushing that car ourselves. We tend to live life in our strength, not God's strength. And it's exhausting, it's frightening, it's discouraging, it's inhibiting. That's not what God has for you. He has given you everything you need. Everything you need. Philippians 4 13, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. And to make sure that you don't think you're doing this in your own strength in John 15, 5, I am the vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he can do all things. But apart from me, you can do nothing. There is nothing that you and I do in our own strength that really matters to God. And I'm a poster child for that. That's why we have that little saying here at Cross Point that I repeat a lot. It's for you, but it's primarily for me to remind myself in his strength and for his glory. In his strength and for his glory. And to develop the discipline of the awareness of Christ in us, the Spirit of God in us, as we go about the things he's called us to do. He's given me and he's given you everything we need. And all we're called to do is to trust and obey. And we all have the ability to choose to do that. And then what God will do is he'll work through whatever we choose to do. You can mang what you're sharing at some level. God will work through it. What he won't work through is what you don't do. So get in the game. There is a world around us that needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are God's plan A. You, not the church institution, you, the people of the church, and there is no plan B. It isn't happening any other way. You don't share, they don't hear, and they live separated from God for eternity. Your purpose and the opportunity God has given you matters incredibly. So I would encourage you to get it into gear as you head out into life. I hope you walk out that door today differently than you walked in. I hope you walk out committed to sharing who Jesus is and what he's done in your life. So God has given you purpose, he's given you power, and he didn't leave you hanging there. He also told you where to go with it. And we see that at the tail end of this. It's actually a framework for the book of Acts. You're gonna see this carried out as you move through the book of Acts. It's a framework for this church, and I want to explain that. You're gonna be my witnesses, where? In Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Let me explain what that is. Jerusalem is where they lived. That was home base for them. That's where he was. In fact, he was on in Bethany at that point, two miles outside of town, Mount of Olives. He's saying, right here, share. Be my witnesses right here where you are. And that's what he wants you to do. Hey, I want to share some encouraging news for you, some outstanding news. You ready for this? Kingston, New York is the number one city in all of New York State. We have reached the top of the list. And we are the number 12 city in the entire United States of America. That excite you. Oh, for what? Yeah. Little details? We are the number one city in all of New York and the number 12 city in all the United States of America in terms of being the least evangelical city. Ouch. My heart thumps at that. They survey every 10 years, and based on the results of this last survey, I think it is 2.67%. So let's call this, somebody invert that. They have rejected it or they've bought into a gospel with a twist. Yes, yes, Jesus, but I gotta be baptized, I gotta, you know, all these different rituals and rules that they gotta follow. It's a twisted gospel, or it's no gospel at all. You live in one of the greatest mission fields in the world. You live in the greatest mission field in the state, and one of the greatest ones in the country, and you are indigenous missionaries. You. You know the people, you know the language, you know the culture, and hopefully you know the gospel. And God has called you to go share that with other people. To get off our backsides, to get in the game, to put ourselves at risk, to have the love, to have the courage, to care enough to be able to share, to invest yourself in learning more, to prepare yourself, but just to go tell what you know. That's all a witness does. Witnesses don't train to be witnesses for the most part, they're just called to share what they know and what they have observed. So who is Jesus? And if you can't answer that, work at it. He is God. He is our Lord, he is our savior. What has Jesus done for you? What difference has he made in your life? Anything? Tell people that your life is different. Tell them that you've come to life. Tell them how Jesus is changing your life, how you're growing, how your thinking, your attitudes, your actions, your values, how you're growing. Hopefully, into the person he's called you to be. It matters. And all he wants you to do is to be faithful in sharing him with other people. We do that here in our area. We do it in Judea regionally, and in doing that here as a church, what we do is we partner with other churches. There's about 30 churches that we sort of call sister churches. We're all independent churches, but we voluntarily cooperate in something called the Hudson Baptist Association, from north of Lake George all the way down to Monticello and Putnam County. We partner together. That's what Kingdom Builders is. It's these 30 churches coming together to equip the people of the churches. We do that once a year. We give to help start new churches. We are all about church planning here. That's not all we're about, but we're all about that. We're all about it because new churches are one of the most effective ways of reaching people for Christ in our culture. We never, ever, ever, ever, ever want to live for Cross Point. We want to live for the kingdom of God and for people. So we're all about encouraging you to go. Get out of here if you feel sad to help start another church and be a part of it. With our blessing and with our support. We give financially to do that. We have sent people out from here to pastor other churches. We have sent people out from here to help populate other churches. We want to be an externally focused church. And I actually believe that the people of this church grow farther faster living like that on mission than we will living for ourselves. You want to look around you at the desert of healthy churches in our area. There's museums out there. There's churches that are living along on life support. In almost every case, it's because they've twisted the gospel and missed what God has called them to do, andor they're living for themselves. They're focusing on their survival. And my heart aches for them. And we do what we can sometimes to send people to help pastor those churches. We've sent people out to help strengthen those churches. Sometimes it helps, but quite frankly, it's easier to give birth than it is to raise the dead. That's one of the reasons that we're all about helping to start new churches. So Pastor Ty is up in Sorgerty starting a church. We've helped start churches in Tilson, Monticello, Poughkeepsie, New Milford, Connecticut. I'm excited about that. And we have a new one coming up. Actually, we're partnering with a church up in Glenville, New York, that we'll see later today. And I didn't mention this at 8:30, but our son Daniel is moving back up from North Carolina to plant a church, hopefully right outside of Albany. We want to get behind that. We want to sacrifice what we need to sacrifice to get behind these people that are doing that. Because it matters. It's the best way we can spend our money. It's one of the best focuses we have for prayer. It's the best way we can spend our time to get our feet on the ground, to get out there and support these people. We're called to witness in Samaria. Well, those are the spiritual half-breeds. They used to be pure Jews, but during the Exodus, they sort of intermingled and mixed up their faith and they screwed up a bunch of different things. There's a big separation. Jesus said, Go get them. Go get them. Go share this. Lead them back to me. Lead them to life. Spiritual half-breeds, my goodness, they're all around us. People that believe in a sub fuzzy view of God or Jesus, plus rituals, plus traditions, plus their good works, or different faiths, our entire country is permeated with that. So we partner with the North American Mission Board. We give to that financially. We serve with them on mission to help these other churches that are starting. We've done it in Maryland and Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut. We want to get behind that. So we partner. Here we serve, we serve regionally, we serve across the United States and North America, and we also partner with the International Mission Board to witness around the world. You'll see it on the back side of your bulletin every week. Our second core value here at Cross Point. Our first is love, to love God and to love people. The second one is outreach. We want to be reaching out to people and helping them know Christ and grow into the people that He's calling us to be.