SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: We're together.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we mean those words.
SPEAKER_01: That's why people for centuries have sang those words.
SPEAKER_01: It's a great thing about hymns.
SPEAKER_01: They're not trendy and they're timeless because they're packed dense with theological truth, richness, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Soul gravy awaits those who sing hymns.
SPEAKER_01: Not that courses aren't good, we we sing those as well.
SPEAKER_01: But when we say, hey, you're the high king of heaven, whatever befall, which means whatever happens to us, we're not gonna let it affect the way we see you, know you, and relate to you.
SPEAKER_01: When we don't get our way, we're not gonna spit the bit and go, this Jesus thing isn't working for me.
SPEAKER_01: You don't work for us.
SPEAKER_01: We serve you because God has made you both Lord and Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so we've not come today to make you Lord of anything.
SPEAKER_01: We're not adding to your status or your nature.
SPEAKER_01: We are submitting ourselves to those two realities for our betterment and yet for your glory.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit, illuminate the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: We don't need a religious lesson today, we need the life that Jesus died for to come off the page and get in our head and in our heart.
SPEAKER_01: The rest will sort itself out.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, let's engage our minds now.
SPEAKER_01: Let's think to the glory of God, let's feel to the glory of God, and let's be to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: This is our desire, God.
SPEAKER_01: Make it our experience, we pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat if you've got a Bible.
SPEAKER_01: I invite you to take it and open it up to Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest today, let me tell you what we're doing.
SPEAKER_01: We preach through books of the Bible and not a religious lecture, not to bore you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, there's not gonna be a quiz or anything, but uh uh we're preaching through the books of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: We're in Acts.
SPEAKER_01: Acts is basically, it's called the book of Acts because it's the Acts of the Apostles, the kind of the first followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is what they did, this is how they changed the world.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, what happens here in the book of Acts is the reason you're sitting in this building right now.
SPEAKER_01: You may not think that or put that together, but this all started with Jesus, who got 12 people called his disciples to hang out with him.
SPEAKER_01: They were not perfect people.
SPEAKER_01: One of them was a money-grubbing ratfink who sold him out for 30 pieces of silver.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and and they're like the they're like the New England patriots.
SPEAKER_01: They're like next man up.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they cast lots, they got another disciple to join them.
SPEAKER_01: And Acts is where God gives the Holy Spirit, the church is born, and then the church begins to spread.
SPEAKER_01: And so Acts chapter two, what's happening, so and we get the context.
SPEAKER_01: We've already preached a couple sermons for this.
SPEAKER_01: This guy named Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Remember Peter?
SPEAKER_01: Peter's one of those guys that he over-promised and under-delivered.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, I'll never deny you, I'll never do anything.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is like, easy, check yourself before you wreck yourself, Skippy.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and he just flat out and said, I don't know him, man.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and then the rooster crow.
SPEAKER_01: This Peter, why do I point that out?
SPEAKER_01: Because you may have had a moment where you weren't as consistent as you needed to be.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: God didn't give up on you.
SPEAKER_01: God didn't say, Well, that's your one chance.
SPEAKER_01: Christianity is not like walking on a high line wire over the Grand Canyon where one misstep and you fall to your death.
SPEAKER_01: That's why when he rose from the dead, he said, Go tell my disciples.
SPEAKER_01: And what's the next two words?
SPEAKER_01: And Peter.
SPEAKER_01: God has a specific word for people who knew better but did it anyway.
SPEAKER_01: So this Peter, who totally, totally blew it, God restores him.
SPEAKER_01: And he preaches one of the greatest sermons in the history of the world.
SPEAKER_01: And we're in the we're in the last part of it.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: I'll start reading in verse 22.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to talk to you about this: how to talk about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: How to talk about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's my concern.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just put my cards on the table right up front.
SPEAKER_01: The way that the church in America has historically taught people to talk about Jesus, it's not very engaging.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's not very helpful.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost controlling and manipulative.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like, let me take over the conversation and then take it somewhere you didn't want it to be.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so it was really disconcerting for me when I first became a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Like they would say, this is what you do.
SPEAKER_01: And you ask this question, if they say this, then you say this.
SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, are we just trapping people in a conversation they don't want to have?
SPEAKER_01: Or can we talk about Jesus in compelling ways?
SPEAKER_01: One of the things you'll notice in the book of Acts, they talked about Jesus in a way that was very alluring, that was very like, oh my gosh, that's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: Please tell me more.
SPEAKER_01: And people responded in ways we haven't seen since then.
SPEAKER_01: I think we've gotten better at having systems and mechanisms, but we've not gotten better about talking about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to just read and let's think about how to talk about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 2, verse 22.
SPEAKER_01: Peter says this, men of Israel, hear these words.
SPEAKER_01: We have a new sanctuary, a dynamic children's ministry, and a thriving student ministry.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way we talk about Jesus nowadays.
SPEAKER_01: We talk about the church.
SPEAKER_01: Look what they said.
SPEAKER_01: Men of Israel, hear these words.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus of Nazareth, first and foremost, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
SPEAKER_01: This Jesus, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
SPEAKER_01: God raised him up, loosing the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
SPEAKER_01: For David says, Concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced, my flesh uh also will dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your holy one see corruption.
SPEAKER_01: You have made known to me the path of life, you will make uh me full of gladness with your presence.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why is that in there?
SPEAKER_01: Because Peter's quoting the Old Testament, because a lot of people are kind of like, is David talking about himself?
SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of people, King David is great.
SPEAKER_01: And what Peter's saying to these people is, hey, David wasn't talking about himself, David was pointing forward to the Messiah who was to come.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This is why he says, and he's like, Hey, let me explain to you how wrong you guys got it.
SPEAKER_01: Because you you understand you need to understand the historicity of Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: And if you get the history wrong, then the present can't be right.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: If you get the history wrong, the present cannot be right.
SPEAKER_01: And so Peter is checking them up here and clarifying.
SPEAKER_01: That's why he says in verse 29, he says, Hey, brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
SPEAKER_01: Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would uh set one of his descendants on the throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
SPEAKER_01: This Jesus God raised up, and and that we all are and of that we are all witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
SPEAKER_01: For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself said, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
SPEAKER_01: He handles the historical part.
SPEAKER_01: And then it gets real personal.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do?
SPEAKER_01: And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.
SPEAKER_01: With many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.
SPEAKER_01: So those who received his word were baptized, and they were added that day, about 3,000 souls.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever been to a church service where 3,000 people became Christians on that Sunday morning?
SPEAKER_01: You see, we've gotten better at systems and processes and how to manage and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: But we've not gotten better at talking about Jesus because this is the best way.
SPEAKER_01: It starts with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And notice they don't say, hey, by the way, God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what I was taught when I first became a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: I went to a little training for continuous witness training, CWT, and you go out there with a memorized spiel, and you tell people God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember thinking, what if people's life is really stinking?
SPEAKER_01: Are we supposed to convince them that's God's wonderful plan for their life?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, hey, by the way, it starts with human guilt.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, hey, your life is like it is because you've sinned and you've transgressed the law of God.
SPEAKER_01: Believe it or not, that makes more sense to people than your memorized spiel.
SPEAKER_01: They're kind of like, oh, yeah, that explains my marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01: So, how do you talk about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Three things.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, engagingly.
SPEAKER_01: Engagingly.
SPEAKER_01: They start with Jesus, but notice this phrase in verse 22.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
SPEAKER_01: It's that little word attested, I want to draw your attention to.
SPEAKER_01: It means to demonstrate or prove.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever wondered why doesn't God do more miracles, I hear this all the time from unbelievers, friends of mine, and people I meet, they're like, hey, I'm not very religious.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not, I'm I'm kind of spiritual, but I would believe in God.
SPEAKER_01: This is a quote from a man.
SPEAKER_01: I would believe in God if God got on TV and proved a miracle to me so I could believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Here's the problem with that.
SPEAKER_01: Be careful that your concept of God doesn't require you to have faith in God.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: You got to engage people.
SPEAKER_01: You can't just say the same thing to everybody.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Well, don't you think it'd be better if God got on TV and did a miracle?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Hey, God's already proven, He's already attested, God has already testified to the reality of Jesus by all the signs and wonders and miracles that he did in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Yeah, but if you got on TV, I would believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: So you wouldn't have to have faith.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that, hey, blessed are those who don't see and yet they believe.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're going to insist on believing, you want an experience, you don't want faith.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Well, what's the difference?
SPEAKER_01: I said, They're a world of difference.
SPEAKER_01: A world of difference.
SPEAKER_01: You believe in the Grand Canyon.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I've seen pictures.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever been there?
SPEAKER_01: Well, no.
SPEAKER_01: How do you know it's real?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I've seen pictures.
SPEAKER_01: There's so many pictures in the Bible of who God really is.
SPEAKER_01: You have more faith in a postcard than you have in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, You're kind of a smart aleck.
SPEAKER_01: Is that what you say that every time you start losing the discussion?
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying you have to engage people.
SPEAKER_01: This is what they say.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, he's attested.
SPEAKER_01: And so basically, the Father doesn't need to prove Jesus to us.
SPEAKER_01: You should ask yourself, hey, what would God need to do in your life for you to believe in Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: And here's the other thing I want to point your attention to, verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: He says, This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: God raised him up, loosened the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
SPEAKER_01: There's this big theological truth that I want to point to, and I want to do it in a very accessible way.
SPEAKER_01: It's called divine sovereignty.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.
SPEAKER_01: Divine sovereignty.
SPEAKER_01: Sovereignty is a big word that basically means God is in control, God is in charge.
SPEAKER_01: And so in this one passage, verse 23, we have divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: And it's all through the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And basically, this means that Christ died under God's authority in his timing and according to his plan, the definite plan of God.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, don't miss this, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Israel, these people, they are responsible.
SPEAKER_01: They're guilty.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're a thinking person, you should be like, now wait a minute, if this is God's plan, why am I responsible for God's plan?
SPEAKER_01: And so divine uh sovereignty and human responsibility, just because God knows, it doesn't mean we're not morally responsible.
SPEAKER_01: Just because God knows, and I'll bear this out in just a minute, just stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're gonna come across a lot of circumstances and situations in life where, hey, is God sovereign?
SPEAKER_01: God's really in control.
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh, well, why didn't he stop this from happening?
SPEAKER_01: Because he gives us a free will, and we are morally accountable.
SPEAKER_01: Even if God knows, it doesn't make us less accountable for our actions.
SPEAKER_01: He said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: Don't turn there, but just a couple chapters later, Acts chapter 4, verse 27.
SPEAKER_01: Because this is what sustained the early church.
SPEAKER_01: They believed that God was sovereign, and yet we are responsible for our behavior and our life in this world.
SPEAKER_01: Acts 4, verse 27 demonstrates this truth again.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For truly in this city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and then the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
SPEAKER_01: Hello.
SPEAKER_01: These people conspired.
SPEAKER_01: They thought, oh, we're getting rid of Jesus, Herod and Pontius Pilate and all these people.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says they did whatever your hand and your plan had already determined, had predestined to take place.
SPEAKER_01: Now look, just stay with me just for a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: You still with me?
SPEAKER_01: Say yes.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some of you may be like, huh, this is like a chemistry pop quiz.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's not.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, because if you're not careful, if you don't understand divine sovereignty and human responsibility, you'll just you'll spit the bit and go, ah, that's just too much for me.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's not.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: To lean too far in either direction is dangerous because one produces anxiety and the other produces neglect.
SPEAKER_01: To lean too far in either direction, one produces anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, if you lean too far into human responsibility?
SPEAKER_01: Like I had a friend that she would go to the mall and she would walk around and she would say, Yeah, I want to get this is a quote.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I was gonna get these earrings, but I didn't get a word from the Lord about it, so I'm just gonna walk around until the Lord confirms whether I should buy these earrings.
SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, I think you're putting you're you're reading too much into this.
SPEAKER_01: Do you like the earrings?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Do you have the money to buy the earrings?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, buy the earrings.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think God cares if you buy earrings or not.
SPEAKER_01: See, if you lean too far into human responsibility, you will have a crippling anxiety because you're like, you you you overanalyze everything.
SPEAKER_01: It's just like, oh my gosh, do I cross the street here or over there?
SPEAKER_01: But if you lean too far into divine sovereignty, it produces neglect because you're it's got, well, if God already knows, why do anything?
SPEAKER_01: I hear that all the time from people.
SPEAKER_01: And what you what you really want to be delivered from is the divine tension of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, and nothing's going to relieve that.
SPEAKER_01: But what helps keep what helps us process these things and hold them in balance is prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just bring it down to where we live.
SPEAKER_01: You say, What do you mean, prayer?
SPEAKER_01: Because prayer depends on balancing both principles.
SPEAKER_01: Allow me to explain.
SPEAKER_01: If God is not sovereign, there's no point in praying because he is unable to answer anything you say.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_01: If God is not sovereign in control, you should ask yourself, do my prayers, do my prayers express, do they demonstrate?
SPEAKER_01: Are your prayers in keeping with God's capacity?
SPEAKER_01: Are you like, well, I'm just kind of doing this because you're supposed to do this?
SPEAKER_01: Because if God's not sovereign, there's no point in praying because he is unable to do anything about what you're asking.
SPEAKER_01: It makes you feel better, but it has no real outcome, no real effect on the outcome of life.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, you know what I pray?
SPEAKER_01: I believe and I want my prayers to reflect.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I want them to be in keeping with God's capacity.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I said to God this morning, drinking my coffee at about 7.10 this morning?
SPEAKER_01: I said, God, would you open up the windows of heaven and pouring a blessing upon us where we pay off our sanctuary and we expand the children's building all in one smooth move?
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you were sitting in that room with me, you'd be like, Are you drunk?
SPEAKER_01: That's a lot of.
SPEAKER_01: If God's sovereign, it's a lot of what?
SPEAKER_01: It's just a lot of faith.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, here's a fun fact.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you remember the actor, what's his name?
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jimmy Stewart.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the guy like a folk guy that talked like this?
SPEAKER_01: You know, Jimmy Stewart had on his collection of movie memorabilia, and he dedicated it.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, excuse me, he left it when he died.
SPEAKER_01: He he he he he bestowed it to a college that that he none of his kids went to, he never went to, he had no connection with them whatsoever.
SPEAKER_01: And everybody asked him, I said, Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why did you say he said that before he died?
SPEAKER_01: They said, Why'd you do that?
SPEAKER_01: You know what his revenge was?
SPEAKER_01: Because they asked.
SPEAKER_01: You know what the college was?
SPEAKER_01: Brigham Young University.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, fun fact, Jimmy Stewart was a very devout Presbyterian.
SPEAKER_01: He's not even Mormon.
SPEAKER_01: He just shrugged with his folks in cracker barrel cells.
SPEAKER_01: They said, Why'd you do that?
SPEAKER_01: This is worth hundreds, probably millions of dollars.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Because they asked.
SPEAKER_01: You ever wonder if you're gonna get to heaven and God's just gonna shrug and go, why didn't you ask?
SPEAKER_01: Why didn't you ask?
SPEAKER_01: What are you afraid of?
SPEAKER_01: You see, prayer balances this out.
SPEAKER_01: If God's not sovereign, there's no point in praying, because he's unable to answer most prayers, but flip it over.
SPEAKER_01: If he is, what's too much to ask?
SPEAKER_01: If he really is in control of everything, and the other side, if men don't have any responsibility, there's no point in praying because nothing you ask or do will matter anyway, because we're not responsible.
SPEAKER_01: I would just ask, and by the way, I've been I I've had these conversations many times with people, and I just asked the same question.
SPEAKER_01: If no one is responsible, then how do you explain the existence of heaven and hell?
SPEAKER_01: They're the ultimate expression of man's responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: And so, how do you talk about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Number one, engagingly, number two, historically.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, pop quiz is over, let's come back.
SPEAKER_01: You done?
SPEAKER_01: You know, like that was a lot.
SPEAKER_01: No, see, because people that you work with, this is how they think.
SPEAKER_01: They may not say, could you explain to me the relationship between between divine sovereignty and human uh uh uh uh uh responsibility?
SPEAKER_01: Uh no, but they'll say, Hey, if God is blank, then why blank?
SPEAKER_01: All right, here's the here's the most common expression of people's misunderstanding of that.
SPEAKER_01: If God knows everything, then why pray?
SPEAKER_01: Well, if if God if if you believe in the election, then why even share the gospel?
SPEAKER_01: Why even preach?
SPEAKER_01: That all falls under the category of divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: And the thing that keeps them in this deliberate tension is prayer.
SPEAKER_01: So, how they talk about Jesus in there?
SPEAKER_01: They talked about Jesus in a way that was engaging.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, they talked about Jesus historically.
SPEAKER_01: It's verse 23 to verse 25.
SPEAKER_01: Historically, this is where they get into the conversation about hey, is David talking about himself or is he looking forward and prefiguring, saying, hey, it's not about me, it's about the Messiah who is to come.
SPEAKER_01: But let me say this: before Christianity is personal, it's historical, which means a lot happened before you were born, and it would serve you well to know about it.
SPEAKER_01: Because one of the things you see in the book of Acts is how fluent Christians were with the history of God's dealings with his people.
SPEAKER_01: Don't turn there, but in Acts chapter 7, this guy named Stephen gets in trouble because he's talking, and the religious people of the day are just getting it handed to them, and they're so frustrated.
SPEAKER_01: And he gets they that they basically bring him before the officials and they charge him.
SPEAKER_01: And the people ask him one question.
SPEAKER_01: They said, Are these things true?
SPEAKER_01: And and this is how you you know the person understands the historicity of the Christian faith.
SPEAKER_01: They just said, Hey, basically, we think you you're breaking the law because you're talking about Jesus and faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We have Caesar as our king and our Lord.
SPEAKER_01: People would say, Caesar is Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so the statement, Jesus is Lord, is a political statement, not a religious statement.
SPEAKER_01: They're saying we have another ruler, we have another king.
SPEAKER_01: And they were like, dude, are you spreading this nonsense?
SPEAKER_01: And he didn't even defend himself.
SPEAKER_01: Check me, get home today and check me on this.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 7.
SPEAKER_01: Are these things true?
SPEAKER_01: The next 50 verses he summarizes all the way from Genesis to the present day.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because people want to know, is this just a thing y'all thought of, or is there some background to this?
SPEAKER_01: Is there some history to this Christianity thing?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, probably one of the best examples, and again, don't turn there, is in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of it has these warnings for Christians who don't know their history.
SPEAKER_01: Uh now, this was brought to bear on me as a seminary student back in 1991.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you were not born in 1991, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Listen up.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I was in an accountability group uh with a professor in seminary, his name was Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Fish.
SPEAKER_01: Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Fish was 63, and I remember thinking then I was just a punk, 20-something, I was like, man, that guy's old, he could die any minute now.
SPEAKER_01: 63 is now midlife, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh and so we're sitting there, me and five, four other preachers, five young preacher boys, and one of the guys was engaged, and Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Fish said, Hey, friend, how are y'all doing physically?
SPEAKER_01: And the air left the room.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, well, young Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Fish, and I'm just enjoying it.
SPEAKER_01: And Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Fish just reached over and put his hand on his leg and said, Hey, friend, we love you.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to fake it in here.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh, and he said, Oh, I remember his wife's name was Jeannie.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I remember when I first met Jeannie.
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't hold a thought in my head.
SPEAKER_01: All I want to do is think about her and be with her.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, please stop, please stop, please stop.
SPEAKER_01: Please stop.
SPEAKER_01: And then the old man dropped this on us.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Hey, what do you understand about how God has dealt with his people in the past that is helping you today?
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, But he said it again.
SPEAKER_01: He said, What do you understand about how God has dealt with his people in the past that is helping you today?
SPEAKER_01: And he looked at us and said, Hey, you brothers, help your brother.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I got nothing.
SPEAKER_01: I sipped my coffee.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna let y'all take this one.
SPEAKER_01: I know, but I don't want to say anything.
SPEAKER_01: And then the 63-year-old man opened the Bible to 1 Corinthians, because he was like, Well, you know, Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Fish, it's 1991, times have changed, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: Sound like your kids?
SPEAKER_01: It's the 21st century, times have changed.
SPEAKER_01: It's 2023.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they have TikTok back then.
SPEAKER_01: He out of his mouth, he said, Well, you know, it's 1991.
SPEAKER_01: And I just said, What's that got to do with it?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, times are changing, and we're getting married in a couple months, and yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh, dude, you're just hanging yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Fish, he wasn't hate, he wasn't a hater, he wasn't harsh.
SPEAKER_01: He just turned over and said, friend, let me help you from God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And the old man read these words from 1 Corinthians 10, starting verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is just in the context of, well, it's 1991, you know, things are different, we're getting married.
SPEAKER_01: Rationalization and justification because you don't know your history.
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to live as a prisoner to the moment.
SPEAKER_01: The old man opened up 1 Corinthians 10 and read these words.
SPEAKER_01: Now, these things, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did, nor uh do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
SPEAKER_01: He we must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day.
SPEAKER_01: We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
SPEAKER_01: Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, let anyone who th who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
SPEAKER_01: No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
SPEAKER_01: And then the old man closed his Bible and looked at us and said, Hey boys, make sure you don't give yourselves permission.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible never does, just because it's 1991.
SPEAKER_01: You ever been in the in the presence of somebody that's so wise and knows the Bible so well, you're just like and it was just an awkward silence.
SPEAKER_01: No one said anything, and we all just kind of sat there and it's like and he said, Boys, there's plenty of examples for you all to conduct yourselves in the right way.
SPEAKER_01: Stop making excuses and you be an example.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray for you.
SPEAKER_01: And then he stood up.
SPEAKER_01: We're in a little circle.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's no bigger than, I mean, we're almost knee to knee.
SPEAKER_01: He stood up and walked over and grabbed that one-old boy by the ears and just put his hands on him and started praying over him.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, that's too close to hugging.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Historically, historically, I would ask you the same question that he asked us that day.
SPEAKER_01: What do you understand about how God has dealt with his people in the past that is shaping how you live today?
SPEAKER_01: And here's the last thing accessibly.
SPEAKER_01: How they talk about Jesus accessibly.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: You can't talk about Jesus pie in the sky.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, when you die, it's gonna be all better.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta have it right down here.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: After Peter says a few things up again, then they talk about, hey, David's not talking about historical part.
SPEAKER_01: David's not talking about David.
SPEAKER_01: David's looking forward and saying, hey, this is Jesus the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: This is the response, verse 36.
SPEAKER_01: Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart.
SPEAKER_01: And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do?
SPEAKER_01: And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what I mean excessively, ask yourself a simple question.
SPEAKER_01: Why were they cut to the heart?
SPEAKER_01: When's the last time you heard something and you were cut to the heart?
SPEAKER_01: You were like, I am all out of excuses, I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01: That's why verse 36 is one of the most important sentences in this question.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in this section, he says, Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Here's one of the ways that the Bible doesn't talk about Jesus, that we talk about Jesus, which is not good, it's not biblical, and it sounds like this would you like to make Jesus the Lord of your life?
SPEAKER_01: God has already made Jesus Lord in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You're not going to make him anything.
SPEAKER_01: You're not adding to his stature or his nature.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me be clear.
SPEAKER_01: This did not involve a change in his nature, but a change in his status and standing.
SPEAKER_01: And he says to these people, this Jesus that you killed, God has made him both Lord and Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that a big deal?
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Well, when he says Jesus is the Christ, that's that's the Messiah, the promised one.
SPEAKER_01: This is true of him.
SPEAKER_01: And that's great.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, that's easy.
SPEAKER_01: Most people would say that.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I believe Jesus is the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I believe in God.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I can I can talk to God in a deer stand just like I can in church.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go to church.
SPEAKER_01: What you're really saying is you believe that Jesus is the Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But here's your personal problem: God has made him both Lord and Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so the second thing is Jesus is Lord.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: He has authority over all of my life.
SPEAKER_01: That's not true of him, that's true of me.
SPEAKER_01: See, you can get all the things right about Jesus and say that's true of Jesus, but if he's not Lord of your life, it's not true of you.
SPEAKER_01: That has no bearing on your life.
SPEAKER_01: So when someone cuts you off in traffic, is Jesus Lord?
SPEAKER_01: When you get paid, is Jesus Lord?
SPEAKER_01: When one of the women you work with, or one of the men you work with makes an inappropriate statement to you, is Jesus Lord?
SPEAKER_01: You see, people all the time say, Oh, Jesus, I believe Jesus is Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's entirely possible for you to confess your belief that Jesus is Christ without ever confessing that Jesus is Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Or you can confess, oh, Jesus is Lord and never live like it.
SPEAKER_01: People do it all the time, and they did it in the Bible so much so that in Luke chapter 6 by verse 46, Jesus himself says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, think about it.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is like, I don't need you.
SPEAKER_01: You're not adding anything to my stature, you're not affecting my nature by saying, Well, I'm gonna make Jesus Lord.
SPEAKER_01: No, you're not making anything, you don't have that power.
SPEAKER_01: He has been made Lord in Christ, and you will submit to that.
SPEAKER_01: All right, you're not a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: This is love, not hate.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make you a Christian to say, I believe in God.
SPEAKER_01: What makes you a Christian is that you submit and you surrender to the Lordship of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so you ask us today.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: You I I surrendered to Jesus as Lord a long time ago.
SPEAKER_01: And there's still areas of my life that like to get out from under the lordship of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And I have to bring that and go, nope, nope, nope.
SPEAKER_01: That goes under the lordship of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is Lord, because I want to act like Jesus is Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I believe.
SPEAKER_01: Well, act like what you believe.
SPEAKER_01: You say you believe.
SPEAKER_01: And you submit and surrender everything in your life to Him.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 38, it gets better.
SPEAKER_01: After He drops this on them, and he said, Hey, what shall we do?
SPEAKER_01: Have you noticed nobody asked that question lately?
SPEAKER_01: No one you work with has been so convicted that they're just like, hey man, what do I do?
SPEAKER_01: I can't sleep at night.
SPEAKER_01: I have this dread, this sense of separation from God and personal guilt responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: It is making me crazy.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm like five drinks in every night just to take the edge off and get to sleep.
SPEAKER_01: Can you please help me?
SPEAKER_01: What do I do?
SPEAKER_01: And Peter says, Yeah, I'll tell you what to do.
SPEAKER_01: He says two things, or really one thing, but there's two phrases.
SPEAKER_01: He says, verse 38, repent and be baptized.
SPEAKER_01: Repent.
SPEAKER_01: It means you're walking this way and you turn and you walk a different direction.
SPEAKER_01: You don't say different things, you live differently.
SPEAKER_01: Repent and be baptized.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Two things you need to grasp, and we'll be done this morning.
SPEAKER_01: You still with me say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: He says, What do you need to do in verse 38?
SPEAKER_01: He says, You repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, and then he says this, uh, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Understand this.
SPEAKER_01: Two things you need to grasp in this verse.
SPEAKER_01: For the forgiveness of your sins, that's God dealing with your past.
SPEAKER_01: You receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, that's God making provision for your future.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is for the guilt of your past.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, Well, I get that, but receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, what is that?
SPEAKER_01: Provision for the future.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever heard somebody say this?
SPEAKER_01: Man, I could never live like the Bible talks about.
SPEAKER_01: I hear it all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I talk to people, they're like, Yeah, man, that's great, you're a preacher thing, but I could never live like the Bible talks about.
SPEAKER_01: I do not say, yes, you can.
SPEAKER_01: Just pray this prayer and God will hear your heart.
SPEAKER_01: No, I say to them, you're exactly right.
SPEAKER_01: Apart from the Holy Spirit living inside of you, there's no way you could keep the law.
SPEAKER_01: There's no way you could do what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what else?
SPEAKER_01: Apart from the Holy Spirit living inside of me, I couldn't do it either.
SPEAKER_01: But because He does live inside of me, because when I did come to faith, I received the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: I now have a capacity I didn't have before, and I have a responsibility that I didn't have before either.
SPEAKER_01: And neither one of them, I find pleasure in both of them.
SPEAKER_01: Because the capacity of the Holy Spirit makes the responsibility of being a child of God.
SPEAKER_01: It ain't heavy, it's a light burden.
SPEAKER_01: And so when he says, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, because God deals with your past.
SPEAKER_01: Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: This is provision for the future.
SPEAKER_01: And then Peter closes this probably the greatest sermon in the history of humanity.
SPEAKER_01: And he says in verse 39, look at it.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For the promise is for you.
SPEAKER_01: What's the promise?
SPEAKER_01: The promise is not forgiveness, the promise is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: God says, Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: God says, I promise you that when you come to me and you submit and surrender to my Lordship, I put my spirit inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: I take out your heart of stone, I give you a heart of flesh, I put my spirit in you, and I move you to follow my decrees.
SPEAKER_01: It ain't hard.
SPEAKER_01: It's not hard for me to love my wife and nobody else.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy.
SPEAKER_01: It's not hard.
SPEAKER_01: It's just not.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody said to me the other day, hey, when something bad happens, do you like think, hey, if I didn't tithe this month, I'd have more money.
SPEAKER_01: Nope, nope, nope.
SPEAKER_01: I've experienced so much of the blessing of God from obedience when it comes to tithing that I'm never gonna take that back.
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Are you serious?
SPEAKER_01: I said, No, I don't believe it because my salvation wasn't conditional, my obedience is not conditional.
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me check the market and see what it's doing.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what the market's doing.
SPEAKER_01: I got my retirement saving in the mail the other day.
SPEAKER_01: It said, keep working.
SPEAKER_01: How about working until you're 80?
SPEAKER_01: So I've got an elder meeting next month.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna ask the elder, hey, can I stick around until I'm 80?
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's bad out there.
SPEAKER_01: But but but look at this, and we'll be done.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Hey, for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: That means if you're sitting in this room right now, you're like, dude, I can't stand you.
SPEAKER_01: I disagree with everything you said.
SPEAKER_01: Would you hurry up and shut up so I can leave?
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: The promise is for you too.
SPEAKER_01: The same God who revealed himself to me, forgave me, put his spirit inside of me so I could do what the Bible commands me to do, he'll do the same thing for you.
SPEAKER_01: The promise is for you.
SPEAKER_01: And all those, hear this phrase, uh everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that God doesn't call you to do something but to be somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you go, you're like, oh, my you don't know my kids.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care if your kids are so far off the reservation he can't find his way back.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: You should be looking at your kid and say, hey, the promise is for you.
SPEAKER_01: And don't look at him with crying, like, no, the promise is for you.
SPEAKER_01: Stop smoking marijuana and dating Jezebel.
SPEAKER_01: The promise is for you.
SPEAKER_01: No, just look at him and smile and go, hey son, the promise is for you.
SPEAKER_01: And when you get tired of being a knucklehead, the promise is still gonna be there.
SPEAKER_01: And if you miss out, you will have wasted your life.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not gonna waste mine trying to convert you because God is gonna call you.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm praying, God, you He just turns up the volume on his voice and lets you hear, let you hear him calling you in from the fields of sin.
SPEAKER_01: Your son walks out of your house that day, kind of like, what happened?
SPEAKER_01: My mom talked to me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a little crooked on the inside after that.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Don't don't relate to your children like it all depends on them.
SPEAKER_01: Because they'll produce cocky, arrogant, insolent, stiff-necked kids.
SPEAKER_01: Talk to your kids like it all depends on God.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm praying God calls you because if he doesn't, if he doesn't, you damn son.
SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden, your son loses his little cockiness.
SPEAKER_01: And that's not trying to win an argument, that's trying to talk about Jesus, like they talked about Jesus in the Bible historically, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Uh excessively and engagingly.
SPEAKER_01: The promise.
SPEAKER_01: Again, he says it's for you, it's for your children.
SPEAKER_01: What would change in your parenting if you really believe that the promise was for your children?
SPEAKER_01: And for all those who are far off.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're far off today, the promise is for you as well.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're new to our church, just relax.
SPEAKER_01: We like to teach the Bible and to give you some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: So I'll voice a prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Some questions come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: We have community groups tonight.
SPEAKER_01: We're meeting homes all over the city, and we we kind of help each other think about these things, and we kind of kick it around.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and we help each other get our head and our heart around it.
SPEAKER_01: So let me pray.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you that the promise is real.
SPEAKER_01: The promise isn't just forgiveness, the promise is the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: You give us the capacity to do what the Bible commands us to do.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, we want to be still now and think about these things.
SPEAKER_01: So brood over us now, God, reveal yourself to people.
SPEAKER_01: Father, thank you that the Bible's so relevant because it's true.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to talk about you in ways that are like they talked about you in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: We want to stop begging people to make a decision they don't have the capacity to make because they're dead in their trespasses and sins.
SPEAKER_01: Learned a lot of little systems we need to unlearn, God.
SPEAKER_01: We just need to just get it down to the raw, authentic, talking about Jesus in a way that confronts and at the end it comforts.
SPEAKER_01: We start with comfort, we just prop up people's arrogant lostness.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, God, you would turn up the volume on your voice and people you're calling in this room today.
SPEAKER_01: Make their heart restless until they settle it with you.
SPEAKER_01: This is love.
SPEAKER_01: So this is our prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We pray it in Christ's name, and everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being here today.
SPEAKER_01: If you're our guest, you're always welcome.
SPEAKER_01: If you have any questions about anything you heard uh today, some of us will be available down front.
SPEAKER_01: We would love to help you understand what you heard or pray with you if we can pray with you.
SPEAKER_01: If today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity when it comes to giving, you can take care of that.
SPEAKER_01: The wooden boxes by the doors on your way out, or you can give online as a lot of people do, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of things going on in the life of our church want you to know about.
SPEAKER_01: And so we we make you aware of that by way of our video announcements.
SPEAKER_01: So let's check those out now.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Park Way Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_02: If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.
SPEAKER_02: This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.
SPEAKER_04: Hi, my name is Krista Hood, and I'm the children's pastor here at Grand Park Way Baptist.
SPEAKER_04: And my name is Nancy Mullins, and I am the preschool pastor.
SPEAKER_04: We have a couple of quick scenarios that we want you to imagine.
SPEAKER_04: The first scenario is a family who gets home after a long day.
SPEAKER_04: They order their favorite pizza, they sit down starving and eager to enjoy their dinner, and open up the pizza box only to find this.
SPEAKER_04: Bummer! Half of the pizza is gone.
SPEAKER_04: The pizza guy must have been hungry too.
SPEAKER_04: The night is ruined.
SPEAKER_03: Now, imagine that you're getting ready for an important job interview.
SPEAKER_03: When you go to take your favorite sweater out of the dryer, this is what you find.
SPEAKER_03: Bummer! You left it in there a little bit too long.
SPEAKER_03: The sweater is shrunk and the job interview is ruined.
SPEAKER_04: Now, how does this relate to kids' ministry?
SPEAKER_04: Well, every Sunday when your children come to church, there are over 70 kidmen volunteers ready to play with them, laugh with them, love on them, listen to them, and point them to Jesus as they teach them God's word and pray for them.
SPEAKER_04: Yay! The team is complete! All is well.
SPEAKER_03: However, our faithful kidmen volunteers deserve a break.
SPEAKER_03: So every summer, starting in June, many of our volunteers will be taking the summer off.
SPEAKER_03: This means that when your family comes to church that first Sunday in June, this is what the children's ministry team will look like.
SPEAKER_03: If you thought that getting half a pizza on a Friday night was bad or pulling a shrunken sweater from the dryer was terrible, a shrunken kids ministry is tragic.
SPEAKER_04: But it doesn't have to be that way.
SPEAKER_04: You can change the way this story ends.
SPEAKER_04: You can help us unshrink kids ministry by giving three or four or even more Sundays this summer to serving the children in our church.
SPEAKER_04: Even if you say, I don't know if I feel comfortable being in a classroom with kids, we have many other ways that you can help out in kids' ministry.
SPEAKER_03: So if you think you can help us out a couple of Sundays this summer, please go ahead and pull out your phone and email kids at grandparkway.org to let us know.
SPEAKER_03: Or you can stop by our guest check-in desk in the lobby of the kids building right after the service to fill out a volunteer interest form.
SPEAKER_04: Thank you guys for considering how you can help us entrink kids ministry this summer.
SPEAKER_02: The varsity is Wednesday, April 19th.
SPEAKER_02: The deadline to register is April 17th.
SPEAKER_02: You can secure your spot by visiting our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Our hymn sing will be on April 30th from 6 to 7 p.m.
SPEAKER_02: in the student building.
SPEAKER_02: Join us as we sing the hymns of the faith.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone is welcome, so bring a praying.
SPEAKER_02: When Jesus commanded his disciples to share the gospel, he instructed that it be local, regional, and to the world.
SPEAKER_02: When you give your tithes and offerings, this is what it helps do.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a list of our mission partners.
SPEAKER_02: For more information, head to grandparkwear.org.
SPEAKER_02: If you have questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: When I was preaching earlier when I said, you know, even as a Christian, sometimes certain things in our life get out from under the Lordship.
SPEAKER_01: Did that make sense to you?
SPEAKER_01: Say amen.
SPEAKER_01: I'll confess one of mine that I saw a picture of that half that half half the pizza missing.
SPEAKER_01: Injustice appeals to the orphan in me.
SPEAKER_01: And the orphan in me is ruthless redneck.
SPEAKER_01: I saw that half-empty pizza out there.
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you, what about I'm going to dominoes and choking somebody?
SPEAKER_01: You're going to give me a whole pizza, you're going to give me some gas money for coming back down here.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I experience injustice, and that doesn't mean I fly off the handle.
SPEAKER_01: I don't.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just, I can feel it in me like, oh, these people think they can violate you.
SPEAKER_01: You got to let them know.
SPEAKER_01: And that then I got to go, oh no, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Whoosha.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: Just it just there's all area, there's area of all our lies.
SPEAKER_01: It's like to creep out here and just got and you have to make that, you have to keep that under the lordship of Jesus, okay?
SPEAKER_01: That makes sense?
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, the the the kids' ministry, the kids' chosen building, you got the doors, you hang all right, and you can go right there and fill out that volunteer form.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Last thing I want to say hi.
SPEAKER_01: I want to say hi to a friend of mine.
SPEAKER_01: I have a friend named Christoph that is fighting the good fight.
SPEAKER_01: Uh got a lot of medical issues going on.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to say to you, Christoph, keep punching, buddy.
SPEAKER_01: You got this, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We'd like to include our service with a smoking blessing, so stand on your feet.
SPEAKER_01: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_01: Your God so trusts you that he gave you a mind and a mouth.
SPEAKER_01: And you can use both of those to talk about him ways that are engaging, that are compelling, and deeply consequential.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to worry about what to say, because in that moment the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say.
SPEAKER_01: And you will be better for having said them, and the people you say them to will be better for having heard them.
SPEAKER_01: So depart now and speak Jesus in the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you.