SPEAKER_01: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we've not come to fight and to increase our determination or try harder.
SPEAKER_02: We've come instead to bask in all that you've accomplished for us on our behalf and for our pleasure and yet for your glory.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're fighting battles, but you've already won these battles.
SPEAKER_02: So we're here to appropriate the victory of God over everything in our life that wars against the knowledge of God, the enjoyment of God, and the freedom that comes from God.
SPEAKER_02: This is not about religion, this is about a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Holy Spirit, illuminate your scriptures today.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a book full of stories that don't matter, that were made up by men.
SPEAKER_02: No, men spoke as they were carried along by God, by the Holy Spirit, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: So when we crack open the Bible, we are looking at the breathed-out words of God.
SPEAKER_02: These living oracles, as we'll see today, that have power.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, we submit ourselves, even before we read what it says, we say yes to it and help us get our head around it and our heart around it and our hands around it so it can be lived out this week in our lives.
SPEAKER_02: Because other people are watching, the prisoners are listening and they long for the freedom that is ours.
SPEAKER_02: Give us words, God, give us a life that makes them curious and words that helps them to become convinced.
SPEAKER_02: This is our prayer, God.
SPEAKER_02: Make it our experience, we pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you've got a Bible, uh you you can open it up to Acts chapter 7.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't have a Bible, uh that's okay.
SPEAKER_02: Everything I say will come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_02: Uh here.
SPEAKER_02: We are, if you're our guest today, let me tell you what we're doing.
SPEAKER_02: We preach the books of the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: We do New Testament book and then Old Testament book.
SPEAKER_02: We want to have a holistic view of who God is and what God has called us and created us to be about.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_02: The book of Acts is the book of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: It's the Acts of the Apostles that kind of records what happened after Jesus died, rose from the dead, appeared to people.
SPEAKER_02: It picks up the story that God has been telling uh all along at that point.
SPEAKER_02: And so we started in Acts chapter one.
SPEAKER_02: Today we're in Acts chapter seven.
SPEAKER_02: I'll start reading verse 35.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we've there's a guy named Stephen that's been brought on trial.
SPEAKER_02: They accused him.
SPEAKER_02: They said, Hey, you're bad mouthing Moses and the customs of Moses, and you're talking about God and his temple.
SPEAKER_02: And there's this religious police called the Sanhedrin.
SPEAKER_02: They were like, dude, you cannot do that.
SPEAKER_02: And so they brought him before, he's in court, they brought him before, and they said, Hey, uh, is this true what people have said about you?
SPEAKER_02: And they brought up Moses in the temple, and he's like, dude, you bring up Moses, you're bringing Kool-Aid to a gin party, bro.
SPEAKER_02: He goes all the way back to Abraham, he talks about Abraham.
SPEAKER_02: We broke it into three sections.
SPEAKER_02: He talks about Abraham, and then last week he talked about Joseph, and then this week, Stephen gets to in this long dance mixed version of an answer.
SPEAKER_02: He gets to uh Moses.
SPEAKER_02: And so I want to talk to you about gospel capacity.
SPEAKER_02: Gospel capacity.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: The gospel, which is just the good news of Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: That's what gospel means.
SPEAKER_02: Good news.
SPEAKER_02: It makes you capable of things that you by nature are not capable of.
SPEAKER_02: Think of it like this it's like a beach entry pool.
SPEAKER_02: If you know what a beach entry pool is, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't know what it is, it's basically there's no steps.
SPEAKER_02: It's just kind of slanted.
SPEAKER_02: You just kind of start walking, you can stand it, it's up to your ankles, and every step you take, it gets a little deeper and a little deeper and a little deeper.
SPEAKER_02: If you keep walking, you get out there where you can't touch, it's over your head.
SPEAKER_02: You got to float by faith or tread water.
SPEAKER_02: This is what the gospel is like.
SPEAKER_02: It's so shallow, it's available to everybody, but it's so deep it can support everybody.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: And so when I talk about gospel capacity, that's what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you, if you're just kind of putting your toes in the pool today, don't feel bad.
SPEAKER_02: We've all been there, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We remember what it was like to come to church and be like, uh, I don't have clothes, I don't fit in.
SPEAKER_02: Do they smell last night on my breath?
SPEAKER_02: But enough about way caller.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, uh just a joke.
SPEAKER_02: Gospel capacity.
SPEAKER_02: Let me start reading.
SPEAKER_02: And this is why when it's a long section of scripture.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna break it into three parts.
SPEAKER_02: I'll read the first part, I'll unpack that, read the second part, unpack that, read the third part, unpack that.
SPEAKER_02: All right, here's what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna read uh verses uh 35 to 43.
SPEAKER_02: Gospel capacity.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen continues, he said, This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge?
SPEAKER_02: This man sent as both this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
SPEAKER_02: This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years.
SPEAKER_02: This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, uh, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.
SPEAKER_02: This is the one who was the who's in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai, as with our fathers, he received living oracles to give to us.
SPEAKER_02: Our fathers refused to obey him, but he threw, but they thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: Mark that in your Bible, in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make for us gods who will go before us.
SPEAKER_02: As well, this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: We do not know what has become of him.
SPEAKER_02: And they made a calf in those days and they offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the work of their hands.
SPEAKER_02: But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets.
SPEAKER_02: Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
SPEAKER_02: You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your God Ripon and the images that you made to worship, and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.
SPEAKER_02: And we'll just pump the brakes right there and unpack this section.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a when I talk about gospel capacity, here's the first thing the gospel makes you capable of doing.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel makes you capable of knowing well.
SPEAKER_02: You say, What do you mean knowing well?
SPEAKER_02: Knowing the gospel well, moving from just, hey, touching the toe and it barely in the pool to just progressing and walking and progressing and walking.
SPEAKER_02: And what helps if you find a church that actually teaches you what the Bible says, instead of using the Bible like a self-help manual and like a life coach and giving you the little tidbits here and there, you're not gonna be helped by that.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna be it's you're gonna be stirred, but not really changed.
SPEAKER_02: And you're gonna have conversations with people at work where you're not prepared because you don't know the gospel that well.
SPEAKER_02: You know a feeling that you like to feel, but you don't know the gospel that well.
SPEAKER_02: And gospel capacity makes us capable of knowing well.
SPEAKER_02: We got to work hard to not allow the gospel to be shrunk down to the size of our experience or our experience with it or our opinion of it.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_02: You have to work hard to not let the gospel get shrunk down to the size of our experience with it for the believer or for the unbeliever, our opinion of it.
SPEAKER_02: What you see here is not only gospel fluency, we talked about a couple weeks ago, but gospel capacity.
SPEAKER_02: Let me point out four or five things in this section about how well he knew the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Now, the Bible is like sand at the beach.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, let me just warn you.
SPEAKER_02: It's easy to read a section like like this and just kind of think, okay, what's that got to do with me?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, the Bible's like sand at the beach, it gets into places you didn't know it was getting into and requires you to do something about it.
SPEAKER_02: And it's gonna happen today.
SPEAKER_02: You read that part we just read, you're like, okay, sounds like a history lesson, bro.
SPEAKER_02: It's about to get up in your business, okay, in a good way.
SPEAKER_02: And it's just gonna say, hey, we got to do something about this.
SPEAKER_02: Let me point to a couple things.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, God came to solve a problem, not to condemn people with problems.
SPEAKER_02: God came to solve a problem, not condemn people with problems.
SPEAKER_02: It's verse 35.
SPEAKER_02: Look at what they said right off the bat.
SPEAKER_02: They said, This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, Who made you ruler and a judge?
SPEAKER_02: See, this is what people expect when it comes to God.
SPEAKER_02: Ruler and judge.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, remember last week I told you God's not the umpire, but he's like the third base coach?
SPEAKER_02: He's not the umpire.
SPEAKER_02: See, I'm I told you I'm addicted to the College World Series.
SPEAKER_02: I watched LSU last night.
SPEAKER_02: Is it just me or do the players on easy, easy rednecks?
SPEAKER_02: Is it just me or do the players on LSU look like they're 40 years old?
SPEAKER_02: They got like man beards and the Mr.
SPEAKER_02: T starter set, the three gold chains.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, dude, you need to check a birth certificate on these guys.
SPEAKER_02: Those guys on the other team, they're like, hey, we're 19.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, LSU, they got tattoos.
SPEAKER_02: I think they got like a trailer park they all live in.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm for LSU, by the way.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because I like hairy men with gold chains.
SPEAKER_02: Uh but remember, I told you last week, God is not like the umpire.
SPEAKER_02: He's not looking to call you out.
SPEAKER_02: He's like a third base coach.
SPEAKER_02: He's cranked in his big windmill arms of grace, going, come on home.
SPEAKER_02: Where did I get this?
SPEAKER_02: Right out of the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: That word right there that says, you know, they they rejected, saying, Who made you ruler and judge?
SPEAKER_02: That word judge, that Greek word's where we get our English word umpire.
SPEAKER_02: Because the mindset of humanity is that God's out to get you, God is out to exclude you.
SPEAKER_02: He's throw you out of the game if you dispute a call, all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to say, God came to solve a problem, not condemn people with problems.
SPEAKER_02: When he came, it was to redeem, not to judge.
SPEAKER_02: Here's why he came knowing that you and I were already guilty.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't leave heaven and come to earth just to inspect and see.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, are you guys breaking any of the rules?
SPEAKER_02: He already knew that.
SPEAKER_02: So if you already know that, why come to condemn?
SPEAKER_02: He comes as redeemer, because look what he says right here.
SPEAKER_02: He changes the word on him.
SPEAKER_02: They said, Who made you ruler and judge?
SPEAKER_02: This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer.
SPEAKER_02: See, they expect judgment and they get redemption because God came to solve a problem, not to condemn people with a problem.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus said it like this in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I didn't come for people that ain't sick.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't come for people that don't need a doctor.
SPEAKER_02: I came for the sick.
SPEAKER_02: It's borne out all through the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the second thing I want you to see in verse 37.
SPEAKER_02: Eventually, prophecy becomes a problem.
SPEAKER_02: Prophecy becomes a problem.
SPEAKER_02: You say, where do you get that?
SPEAKER_02: He says, This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.
SPEAKER_02: This man led them out performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years.
SPEAKER_02: This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.
SPEAKER_02: Hear that part.
SPEAKER_02: This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.
SPEAKER_02: This is the prophetic reference to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Now, when he says it right here, it's already a problem.
SPEAKER_02: When Moses said it, but he's quoting Moses from back in in the book of Exodus, Genesis, Exodus, second book in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_02: And so when I say prophecy becomes a problem for these people in Acts, this has already happened.
SPEAKER_02: Moses spoke it back in Exodus.
SPEAKER_02: It was a prophecy.
SPEAKER_02: Now, here it's not a prophecy, it's a problem.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because it came to be just like Moses said.
SPEAKER_02: This person that God raised up is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And here's why it's a problem.
SPEAKER_02: These people he's talking to had just killed him.
SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden they're like, uh oh, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_02: They thought this was a history lesson.
SPEAKER_02: Abraham, Joseph, they're nodding their head.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we went to Sunday school.
SPEAKER_02: We know all these church answers, and all of a sudden he sharpens the lens and focuses in on them, and it's about to get real uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_02: This was kind of the first sign that, uh oh, this is not quite like we thought it was good.
SPEAKER_02: Well, what you're not talking about history, you're talking about us.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the third thing I want you to see.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel makes you capable of knowing well.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen was an ordinary man, he wasn't a preacher, he wasn't, he didn't pastor a church, he was a deacon, he was a servant in a church, he was the guy making sure that widows got plenty of food to eat.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the third thing I want you to see.
SPEAKER_02: The church has been around a long time.
SPEAKER_02: It's verse 38.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, This is the one after he said that God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers, this is the one who is in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers.
SPEAKER_02: It's that word congregation.
SPEAKER_02: He's the one who is in the congregation.
SPEAKER_02: That word congregation is the Greek word ekklesia.
SPEAKER_02: Ecclesia, which means called out ones, which is that's the Greek word also for church.
SPEAKER_02: And so, what I want you to see today is that the New Testament church has its origins in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_02: And so, way back in Exodus, when you look at Exodus, you see God not only liberating people out of slavery, but calling them to be a part of his church, the called out ones.
SPEAKER_02: This is why we talk about church membership, not because we want to be the moral police, that's not our desire at all.
SPEAKER_02: We just say, hey, we're the called out ones.
SPEAKER_02: We're the people that God called out of slavery, out of addiction, out of bondage, out of darkness, into light.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says it like this: once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just freedom from.
SPEAKER_02: God didn't deliver them from slavery and say, do your best.
SPEAKER_02: God said, Hey, I'm gonna deliver you from slavery and freedom from, but I'm also gonna deliver you from that, and deliver you into this.
SPEAKER_02: Colossians talks about it like this that we've been delivered from the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of his beloved son, whom he loves.
SPEAKER_02: You didn't just get forgiveness, you became a people of God.
SPEAKER_02: This is why the church, this is what the church is all about.
SPEAKER_02: It's not like we're an institution, it's an organism.
SPEAKER_02: And so it's been around a long time.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the fourth thing I want you to see the Bible has power.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible has power.
SPEAKER_02: Now you may hear that and go, Of course you say that, dude.
SPEAKER_02: You're a preacher.
SPEAKER_02: All you guys say that.
SPEAKER_02: Let me show you where I get that from.
SPEAKER_02: Right after uh verse 38, he says this.
SPEAKER_02: Uh he picks up, he says, He received, at the end of verse 38, he received living oracles to give to us.
SPEAKER_02: Our fathers refused to obey him, thrust him aside.
SPEAKER_02: We received living oracles.
SPEAKER_02: You know what he's talking about?
SPEAKER_02: He's talking about Moses getting the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_02: Now, did anybody read the Ten Commandments this week?
SPEAKER_02: Say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Think about it.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is how jazz up they get in the Bible about the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's kind of like, wow, this is a big deal for these people.
SPEAKER_02: When I say the Bible has power, that word living oracles, those two words, it means this having vital power in itself and exerting the same upon the soul.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_02: It means having uh vital power in itself.
SPEAKER_02: You should think, why vital?
SPEAKER_02: We'll get to that in a minute.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, vital power in itself and exerting the same upon the soul.
SPEAKER_02: I read the Bible not for information, but so that just to submit myself to the power that the Bible has over me.
SPEAKER_02: This is how I change, not through effort or determination, but there's power in these living oracles.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't a book written by a bunch of dead guys and uh stories that they made up.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: This has vital power.
SPEAKER_02: Uh now he's again he's talking about the Ten Commandments, but it's not just the Ten Commandments, it's the entire Bible, because the entire Bible is the Ten Commandments lived out.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: Not again, not a bunch of out-of-date words by dead people, living oracles that have the power we need.
SPEAKER_02: And here's why it's vital.
SPEAKER_02: These are the words that he was talking about, the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_02: I brought them this morning, in case you haven't been to the courthouse lately, but never mind, they're not on the wall there anymore.
SPEAKER_02: Remember when you were a kid growing up, the Ten Commandments were everywhere?
SPEAKER_02: I remember I would go to a barbershop.
SPEAKER_02: This is I had hair as a kid.
SPEAKER_02: I would go to the barbershop, and the Ten Commandments were on the wall in the barber shop, and I just thought, man, they're serious about the Bible up in here.
SPEAKER_02: Uh so I I brought the list.
SPEAKER_02: Here's here's the big 10, uh, little top 10 list from David Letterman.
SPEAKER_02: Here you go.
SPEAKER_02: The Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_02: This is what he was talking about, and said, This has vital power.
SPEAKER_02: These are living oracles, not dead religion.
SPEAKER_02: I'll just read them off.
SPEAKER_02: You shall have no other gods before me.
SPEAKER_02: You should not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
SPEAKER_02: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
SPEAKER_02: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
SPEAKER_02: Honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God has given you.
SPEAKER_02: You shall not murder.
SPEAKER_02: Let me stop right there.
SPEAKER_02: Notice it doesn't say you should not kill.
SPEAKER_02: If you've ever been involved in military service, it's not murder.
SPEAKER_02: You said, Yeah, I had to take life in defense of my country.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's a different thing.
SPEAKER_02: It it's you shall not murder, you should not take an innocent life, you should not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
SPEAKER_02: That means lying.
SPEAKER_02: You should not covet your neighbor's house, you should not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is that is your neighbor's.
SPEAKER_02: Now, you may think, oh, that's a pretty unimpressive list of things there, Neil.
SPEAKER_02: Uh just think about it like this: go home tonight.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't think the Bible has power, then watch the news tonight and ask yourself, what kind of world would we live in if everybody in the world lived by these realities?
SPEAKER_02: What would the news report?
SPEAKER_02: There would be nothing.
SPEAKER_02: No school shooting, nothing.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing.
SPEAKER_02: Again, living oracles, vital power.
SPEAKER_02: Here's another thing I want to point out in this little section.
SPEAKER_02: It starts in the heart.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 39.
SPEAKER_02: Look at it there.
SPEAKER_02: It says, Living oracles to give to us.
SPEAKER_02: Our fathers refuse to obey him, they thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turn to Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: Look at me, beloved.
SPEAKER_02: You turn in your heart before anybody notices that you're turning.
SPEAKER_02: It happens in your heart before it happens, shows up in your body or in your behavior.
SPEAKER_02: You turn in your hearts.
SPEAKER_02: And so it's important that we're mindful of our heart posture towards the things of God.
SPEAKER_02: Or if you're married, it's important that you understand your heart posture towards your spouse.
SPEAKER_02: And so tonight, before you go to bed, ladies, ask your husband, what's your heart posture towards me?
SPEAKER_02: And get prepared for okay.
SPEAKER_02: You see, here's the thing, man.
SPEAKER_02: Your wife may give you her body, but without giving you her heart.
SPEAKER_02: And you want to have her heart.
SPEAKER_02: You don't just settle for her body.
SPEAKER_02: Ladies, you're you should insist that you get your man's heart.
SPEAKER_02: Because it happens in the heart.
SPEAKER_02: You can be living with somebody, doing life, paying the bills, crushing it, going great vacations, and you've kind of turned just a little bit your heart from your spouse to protect your heart from what he does to you and doesn't even know it, or what she does to you and doesn't even know it.
SPEAKER_02: Again, it happens in the heart.
SPEAKER_02: He said they turned in their hearts, they turned to Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: This is the place that God delivered them out of.
SPEAKER_02: And they were looking back, saying, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: We kind of want to go back to that because we don't know about this God over here.
SPEAKER_02: They go on to say, Hey, actually, this guy Moses that led us out of the out of out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: We don't know what's happened to him.
SPEAKER_02: Church people always have a short memory.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, Moses is gone for a couple of days getting the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, Oh, we don't know about that guy.
SPEAKER_02: How about you, Aaron?
SPEAKER_02: Get up.
SPEAKER_02: Make us something we can fixate on and look at.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible says this, just just let me point this out, verse 41.
SPEAKER_02: And they made a calf in those days, and they offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the work of their hands.
SPEAKER_02: It's that phrase.
SPEAKER_02: And they were rejoicing in the work of their hands.
SPEAKER_02: Hold on to that.
SPEAKER_02: We'll come back to that in just a little bit.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: It starts in the heart.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the last thing I want to say from this section, okay?
SPEAKER_02: There's a texture to God's being.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 42, but God turned them away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets.
SPEAKER_02: And God, hear it again.
SPEAKER_02: And God turned away.
SPEAKER_02: They turned in their hearts, and God said, Okay, see, if you think, when I say there's texture to God's being, if you just think the only thing God can do when you sin is feel sorry for you and be sad and cry and then forgive you when you ask for it, that's not the God of the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: You need to know the gospel well.
SPEAKER_02: You need to step deeper into the pool of knowledge that is God.
SPEAKER_02: Because God has more responses to sin than, oh, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02: I'm here when you get tired, I'll take you back every time.
SPEAKER_02: He turns away and then he gives them over.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just say it like this whatever you persist in, God will give you over to.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever you persist in, God will give you over to.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're here in this room this morning or you're watching online and you're thinking, hey, I kind of got me a little side hustle going over here.
SPEAKER_02: It's no big deal.
SPEAKER_02: Here's how you know God is giving you over to that.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't bother you anymore.
SPEAKER_02: It used to bother you.
SPEAKER_02: You used to say, hey, maybe we shouldn't, uh, I shouldn't, or I'm gonna stop, or I'm gonna quit, never again, one last time, and now you just shrug like, oh, you know, God's a God of love.
SPEAKER_02: Or are you most people, my God's a God of love?
SPEAKER_02: Your God doesn't have any texture to him, he's not to be feared, and you won't worship him either, because he has no texture to his being.
SPEAKER_02: He's flat, one-dimensional, passive, incapable of just saying, Hello, what do we think we're doing here?
SPEAKER_02: You see, this the gospel, first of all, makes us capable of knowing well.
SPEAKER_02: The second thing the gospel does is it makes you capable of applying well.
SPEAKER_02: It's an exception of scripture starting in verse 44.
SPEAKER_02: It's one thing to know, it's another thing to apply.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_02: It's one thing to know, it's another thing to apply.
SPEAKER_02: Ask yourself this question before you go to bed tonight.
SPEAKER_02: If you applied everything about the Bible that you knew, what would your life look like?
SPEAKER_02: Would there be any drastic difference in you?
SPEAKER_02: Would it be like, oh, I'm all of a sudden I'm accelerated here?
SPEAKER_02: Or it'd be like, nah, no big deal.
SPEAKER_02: Let me read verse 44.
SPEAKER_02: Pick up the story.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.
SPEAKER_02: Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they just dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers.
SPEAKER_02: So it was until the days of David who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
SPEAKER_02: But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
SPEAKER_02: It's talking about the temple.
SPEAKER_02: Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the as the prophet says, Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool.
SPEAKER_02: What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord?
SPEAKER_02: Or what is the place of my rest?
SPEAKER_02: Did not my hands make all these things?
SPEAKER_02: And then Stephen gets personal.
SPEAKER_02: He realizes hey, we're applying this.
SPEAKER_02: As long as you're just talking about it, it's one thing.
SPEAKER_02: Knowledge is is is easy.
SPEAKER_02: Application is offensive.
SPEAKER_02: It's like saying to your girlfriend, hey, you're a Christian.
SPEAKER_02: Not what are you doing dating him?
SPEAKER_02: See, everybody loves gospel knowledge, but gospel application, them's fighting words.
SPEAKER_02: Look what happens.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen says in verse 51, You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in the heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: As your fathers did, so do you.
SPEAKER_02: Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
SPEAKER_02: And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, whom you have betrayed and murdered.
SPEAKER_02: You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel makes you and I capable of applying the gospel well.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, they accused him of sinning against Moses and the temple.
SPEAKER_02: Now he schooled them on Moses, and he now turns to the temple.
SPEAKER_02: And the issue is real simple.
SPEAKER_02: The Sanhedrin, these people that are talking, they had a beautiful building.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen has a beautiful God.
SPEAKER_02: And there was always an indication of God's presence.
SPEAKER_02: And this is what he's saying to them in verse 44 our fathers had the tent of witness.
SPEAKER_02: Tent of witness.
SPEAKER_02: Now, there's people in our church who like to go camping.
SPEAKER_02: If you like to go camping and say amen, we're never going to be friends, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh but anyway, but the tent of witness, you don't have a tent, you put it up and call it the tent of witness.
SPEAKER_02: None of you do that.
SPEAKER_02: You picture it up and go, oh kids, here's our tent of witness.
SPEAKER_02: What is the tent of witness?
SPEAKER_02: What is it witness to?
SPEAKER_02: The tent talking about the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_02: They have a separate tabernacle, and the ark of the covenant would be in there with the ten commandments in it and some other stuff.
SPEAKER_02: And this was a tent of witness, and what it testified to, what it witnessed to was God is present with us.
SPEAKER_02: Now, look at me.
SPEAKER_02: We think in terms of plan, not in terms of presence.
SPEAKER_02: And so when life gets hard and it's like, what's going on?
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_02: Don't think in terms of plan.
SPEAKER_02: Because it's like all of a sudden you'll start making God responsible for things that aren't God's responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: Well, how could a good God let this happen?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, listen, you live in a fallen world full of people of the free will, and they sometimes use it for good and sometimes they use it for evil.
SPEAKER_02: You can't make God responsible for that.
SPEAKER_02: But what you have to learn to do is to train your eye and train your heart to find comfort in God's presence, even when you can't see the plan.
SPEAKER_02: Even when you're looking around and kind of going, I don't know what I'm gonna do here, God.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a little overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_02: I'm tempted to take the steering wheel into my own hands and kind of make some decisions.
SPEAKER_02: You just gotta look around and say, okay, where do we see God present in our life these days?
SPEAKER_02: Because they lost sight of God's presence and they worship the parameters of God's presence and at the expense of God's presence.
SPEAKER_02: The parameters, the temple.
SPEAKER_02: It goes back to what Stephen said uh earlier in verse 41.
SPEAKER_02: He said, You guys are rejoicing in the work of your hands.
SPEAKER_02: This is idolatry language.
SPEAKER_02: And so he continues this over here when he says in verse 51, you stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in your heart and in your ears.
SPEAKER_02: But he's and they knew this.
SPEAKER_02: When they, because again, knowledge is one thing, application is another.
SPEAKER_02: When he says, you stiff-necked people, them's fighting words, because that's the way God talked about people who engage in idolatry.
SPEAKER_02: And God would say, Your idols are just these, the this totem pole you carved out of a tree.
SPEAKER_02: It can't turn its head, it's stiff-necked, it can't turn its head and listen to you.
SPEAKER_02: And now Stephen is saying to these people, hey, you worship the work of your hands, you worship a building, and you think that building can contain God?
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_02: And at this, they lose their mind, they go crazy.
SPEAKER_02: Because what Stephen is basically saying is you guys are worshiping yourselves and what you're capable of doing.
SPEAKER_02: Now, you say, What do you mean they lose their mind?
SPEAKER_02: Look at the last part.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel makes you here's the here's the last part.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel makes you capable of dying well.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 54.
SPEAKER_02: Now, when they heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth at him.
SPEAKER_02: But he, full of the Holy Spirit, now by the way, a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.
SPEAKER_02: A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.
SPEAKER_02: They heard these words, they ground their teeth at him, but he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
SPEAKER_02: But they cried out with a loud voice, and they stopped their ears and rushed together at him.
SPEAKER_02: And when they cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
SPEAKER_02: And they were stoning, as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
SPEAKER_02: And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
SPEAKER_02: See, the gospel makes you capable of dying well.
SPEAKER_02: And here's one thing I want to just you to understand about dying.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I did a funeral uh last week, and there were some people of the Hindu faith there, friends of the family.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I read this passage of scripture.
SPEAKER_02: It's 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 4.
SPEAKER_02: I brought it because I want all of us to understand this.
SPEAKER_02: It says this for while we're still in this tent, talking about the body, we groan, being burdened.
SPEAKER_02: Not that we'd be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
SPEAKER_02: Now, what is he talking about?
SPEAKER_02: It's that part where he says, not that we would be unclothed.
SPEAKER_02: Because a lot of Eastern religions, like Hinduism, they teach that what you do in life is you slowly escape this sinful, bad, dirty body, and you move into a higher state of existence, nirvana for some, different states of enlightenment.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible says nothing can be further from the truth.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Not that we would be unclothed.
SPEAKER_02: It's not like, oh, I'm I'm shedding my humanity and I'm gonna be a divine being.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: He says that you would be further clothed.
SPEAKER_02: Now, why is that a big deal?
SPEAKER_02: If you're here and you like your life, you like living, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Now, every once in a while you get around preachers and we make you feel guilty for love and life.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever noticed that?
SPEAKER_02: It's like, I'm just ready to go to heaven.
SPEAKER_02: I look forward to heaven, but I want to eat fried chicken in the meantime.
SPEAKER_02: I want to pester my grandkids, I want to play golf, I want to enjoy my wife, I want to read good books, I want to get a new truck because the most expensive smell in the world is the smell of a new truck.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: And I still want it anyway.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, what am I saying?
SPEAKER_02: What I'm saying is this is that the only for the believer, let me say it like this: for the believer, dying is not leaving bad and going to good.
SPEAKER_02: It's leaving good and going to great.
SPEAKER_02: Not that you'd be unclothed.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I finally shed my mortality, all my badness.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: See, and so you should enjoy your life even more because life in heaven is going to be infinitely better than what it is here on earth.
SPEAKER_02: And so you shouldn't fear death.
SPEAKER_02: It makes you capable of dying well.
SPEAKER_02: People are gnashing their teeth.
SPEAKER_02: And Stephen looks up and he says, I see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_02: Now, by the way, fun fact this is the only time in the Bible you see Jesus stand up.
SPEAKER_02: Because after the cross, where he said it is finished, the book of Hebrews, Brett alluded to it earlier.
SPEAKER_02: He said he is set down at the right hand of God and sits in, he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.
SPEAKER_02: He is seated.
SPEAKER_02: Jobs done, finished, nothing more to do.
SPEAKER_02: A man like Stephen dies and Jesus stands up.
SPEAKER_02: You ever seen the State of the Union?
SPEAKER_02: The little speech the president gives once a year.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: He goes, Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Speaker, the President of the United States! It doesn't matter if they're a Democrat or Republican, everybody in the room stands up.
SPEAKER_02: You should ask yourself this question Is the life you're living today one that Jesus is gonna stand up for when you die?
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't stand up for everybody.
SPEAKER_02: It's the only time you see it in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: Only time.
SPEAKER_02: Why is that a big deal?
SPEAKER_02: Because the gospel gives you another capacity to die well.
SPEAKER_02: Do not lay on your deathbed and go, I hope I've done enough.
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm gonna choke you out and send you to heaven.
SPEAKER_02: If I'm in the room, I'm gonna say, excuse me, doctor, leave.
SPEAKER_02: Did you not believe the gospel?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: You're not, oh, I'm finally leaving this dreaded body.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: You should be sucking the marrow out of life in this world.
SPEAKER_02: You should be the most joyful, passionate, full of life person, and on your deathbed, you should look around your grandkids and kind of go, So long, suckers.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to a better place and a bigger, better life.
SPEAKER_02: That's why your grandkids don't like to come to church.
SPEAKER_02: They think it's lame.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, we're gonna go get a religious lecture.
SPEAKER_02: I'd rather be beaten with a pipe.
SPEAKER_02: Now, by the way, let me give you one last thing.
SPEAKER_02: I told you here's the last thing.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the the the fourth thing.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel never depends on one person.
SPEAKER_02: It's chapter 8, verse 1.
SPEAKER_02: And Saul approved of his execution.
SPEAKER_02: He's mentioned back there in verse 58.
SPEAKER_02: They cast him out of the city and stoned him.
SPEAKER_02: And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
SPEAKER_02: He was a student, like religious grad school.
SPEAKER_02: Mean person, hated sin.
SPEAKER_02: He went around persecuting Christians.
SPEAKER_02: He's sitting there going, hey guys, take your coats off.
SPEAKER_02: Let me hold your coach.
SPEAKER_02: So you can really wind up and throw that stone.
SPEAKER_02: His name's Saul.
SPEAKER_02: And he approved of his execution.
SPEAKER_02: Now we'll take a break from Acts.
SPEAKER_02: Lee, our teaching pastor, is going to be teaching them in the month of July.
SPEAKER_02: We'll pick back up in August.
SPEAKER_02: And this Saul is going to become a man named Paul.
SPEAKER_02: God is so going to change his life.
SPEAKER_02: So going to change his life that he, this Saul, who later becomes Paul, records 13 books of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: Why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_02: Look at me and I'm done.
SPEAKER_02: I don't care how far you are from God right now, he will find you and unwind you.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel doesn't depend on Stephen.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Stephen died.
SPEAKER_02: He was full of faith in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And I mean he was brilliant and he could have gotten to Harvard and blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: What are we going to do?
SPEAKER_02: And there's a guy in the crowd who's a mean-spirited religious jerk.
SPEAKER_02: And God's going to knock him off a horse, knock him to the ground, blind him for three days, and change his life.
SPEAKER_02: And he so changes his life, he has to get a new name.
SPEAKER_02: Because it doesn't depend on one person.
SPEAKER_02: God always has somebody else that he's going to use.
SPEAKER_02: And it's not just people who have it all together, it's people who are God's enemy and can't stand Christianity like this guy named Saul.
SPEAKER_02: You'll see in August.
SPEAKER_02: God's going to so change his life.
SPEAKER_02: This is the capacity of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: This is why this Saul, who later becomes Paul, records the book of Romans, and in Romans chapter 1, verse 16, he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: For it is the power of God unto salvation to anyone who believes, to the Jew first and then to the Gentile, to the religious person and to the non-religious person.
SPEAKER_02: He is speaking about what he's experienced.
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever experienced that power of the gospel that changes you?
SPEAKER_02: That's the power of the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guests, just relax.
SPEAKER_02: We like to teach the Bible and then give you some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm going to voice a prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Some questions come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_02: You can just take a picture of your phone, talk about them, whatever you want to do.
SPEAKER_02: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_02: God, thank you for the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you that it's thought-provoking, life-altering.
SPEAKER_02: It kind of bends us and twists us and it invites us and allures us.
SPEAKER_02: We want to shave the edges off of it so it's more palatable to the people we want to accept us.
SPEAKER_02: Well, God, we believe that the power, the gospel, has power of its own to change those people's hearts.
SPEAKER_02: So we don't have to do the full court press, we don't have to use guilt or manipulation.
SPEAKER_02: We can just say, hey, live a life that's full of joy, that's full of hope, that's going through hardship and kind of, you know what, I don't know the plan, but I know he's present.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord is near, and that's enough for me.
SPEAKER_02: So, Holy Spirit, brood over us for just a few moments before we get out of here and press in on us what needs to remain.
SPEAKER_02: Let everything else fall to the ground.
SPEAKER_02: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, thank you for the men and women in the Bible, like Stephen, Deborah, strong, confident people that loved God and loved people.
SPEAKER_02: Just let the chips fall where they may.
SPEAKER_02: You may kill Stephen, but you're not gonna kill the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Because God's like, next man up.
SPEAKER_02: And he uses people we would never think of him using.
SPEAKER_02: Because the gospel has that much power to transform anybody.
SPEAKER_02: So nobody in this room is beyond the pale.
SPEAKER_02: No one's done so much that you've given up on them.
SPEAKER_02: Because you're not the umpire, you're the third base coach.
SPEAKER_02: Say, Come on home.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, thank you that you're that way.
SPEAKER_02: Let the fact that you're that way make us be more that way.
SPEAKER_02: This is our prayer.
SPEAKER_02: We pray in Christ's name, and everyone said amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest, uh, I just want to say thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_02: You're always welcome.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: You may be standing on the outside of the pool, like, hey, I ain't putting my feet in that.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and maybe today you just put your toe in.
SPEAKER_02: That's okay.
SPEAKER_02: No one's gonna pressure you, no one's gonna try to guilt you or manipulate you.
SPEAKER_02: We believe that the gospel has capacity, it is capable of making you think things you by nature wouldn't think and do things you by nature wouldn't do.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions about anything you heard today, we'll be available down front.
SPEAKER_02: We'd love to answer those questions, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We have a lot of things going on in life for our church.
SPEAKER_02: We'd like to keep you updated.
SPEAKER_02: One way we do that is through our video announcements.
SPEAKER_02: So let's check those out now.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what's happening at Ground Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.
SPEAKER_00: This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.
SPEAKER_00: Man's breakfast is this Tuesday, June 27th, in the student building.
SPEAKER_00: Come enjoy breakfast, fellowship, and a message from Pastor Neil McClinton.
SPEAKER_00: If breakfast isn't your thing, there's a guy's night out on July 6th.
SPEAKER_00: First you'll feast at Fat Boys Pizza, then head over to Regal Theater to watch the new Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny movie.
SPEAKER_00: You won't want to miss this.
SPEAKER_00: Calling all fourth through sixth graders, join us for a two-day mission weekend that consists of team building and training on Friday night, then game building, gospel sharing fun on Saturday.
SPEAKER_00: We'll end the event by cooling down at the pool.
SPEAKER_00: Food will be provided.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, join us for Serve Houston over the 4th of July week.
SPEAKER_00: We will be serving with Nary's Promise by hosting a backyard Bible study with the children in her neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: Then we'll go out and spend time investing in those kids and their families.
SPEAKER_00: For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you have any 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_02: It's at the very back of our property back here.
SPEAKER_02: The slide says 545 to 7.
SPEAKER_02: I get there at 6 because 545 is not God's will.
SPEAKER_02: But if you want to get there early and drink coffee, or as I like to say, if you work in the oil field, old business, and you get up at 4:30 and tell everybody all about it, show up at 5.45.
SPEAKER_02: Make sure the coffee's ready.
SPEAKER_02: Uh but hey, I'm talking this week about inside out.
SPEAKER_02: Inside versus outside.
SPEAKER_02: We're talking about the role of juxtaposition and spiritual formation.
SPEAKER_02: Inside versus outside.
SPEAKER_02: Next time we'll talk about me versus you.
SPEAKER_02: I prefer me.
SPEAKER_02: Uh anyway.
SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02: Now, before you get out of here, look at me.
SPEAKER_02: Let me have your undivided attention.
SPEAKER_02: I'm fixing to make a big announcement, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I got I sent you an email, told you I got a big announcement coming.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a big announcement.
SPEAKER_02: It's good.
SPEAKER_02: Stop.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody stop my daughter.
SPEAKER_02: Is the announcement good or bad?
SPEAKER_02: She said, it's good.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the announcement.
SPEAKER_02: Our bridge ministry is our fifth and sixth grade ministry.
SPEAKER_02: They have a couple classrooms out here in the warehouse.
SPEAKER_02: That thing is growing and growing and growing.
SPEAKER_02: Our student ministry is growing and growing and growing.
SPEAKER_02: And our plan is to eventually, with this, our children's building was built to knock out that far west wall and expand the children's building.
SPEAKER_02: It's going to be a two-story complex, and the bridge is going to have the loft on the second story.
SPEAKER_02: Construction costs keep going up and up and up.
SPEAKER_02: And we're not going to play that game, as do interest rates.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're going to bite our time and focus on paying down the debt on this building until the market is more favorable.
SPEAKER_02: And so what we're doing is we're going to move the bridge.
SPEAKER_02: It's no longer going to meet out in the in the student ministry warehouse.
SPEAKER_02: The bridge is going to have our old sanctuary on Sunday mornings.
SPEAKER_02: We call it the gathering room.
SPEAKER_02: It's going to be set up in a fun environment for them.
SPEAKER_02: That way they'll have chairs down front.
SPEAKER_02: They can have round discussion tables in the back.
SPEAKER_02: Listen closely.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the other thing we're adding to the bridge.
SPEAKER_02: Right now, the bridge is the fifth and sixth grade.
SPEAKER_02: We are making the fourth grade part of the bridge ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And so what that means, listen carefully, listen carefully.
SPEAKER_02: What that means is if you're currently right now in the fourth grade, then the change is going to happen on July 16th.
SPEAKER_02: July 16th, uh it gives you plenty of time to ask questions and whatever.
SPEAKER_02: The bridge is going to be meeting up here, they'll have their foosball and all their games, their gaming systems in the back of the room so they can have fun.
SPEAKER_02: But on July 16th, if you're in the fourth grade right now, you'll start going to the bridge on July 16th, along with the fifth and sixth graders.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because promotion Sunday is August the 6th.
SPEAKER_02: That gives them three Sundays for Caleb and his team, his volunteers, work out the kinks, because the current third graders on August 6th that become fourth graders.
SPEAKER_02: That's our promotion date.
SPEAKER_02: They'll go to the bridge.
SPEAKER_02: The third grade class has 70 kids on the road.
SPEAKER_02: 30 of them are very active in our church.
SPEAKER_02: And so there could be 60 to 74th, 5th, and 6th graders over in that room right now.
SPEAKER_02: We think that's the best use of that room.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the other part of that, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So what happens now is we create space in the children's building because it's getting full.
SPEAKER_02: We create space in the warehouse for Ian and Annie in the student ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And the bridge has a nice big space that can spread out and occupy that space.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: So on July 16th, that's when it's gonna the change is gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02: I'll send you an email this afternoon.
SPEAKER_02: Uh the change is gonna start.
SPEAKER_02: The bridge will be meeting over here.
SPEAKER_02: If you're currently in the fourth grade, then on July 16th, you go and join the bridge.
SPEAKER_02: And then on August 6th, on the promotion day, that's our current third graders who will go into the fourth grade.
SPEAKER_02: They're gonna start joining the party over in the big room as well.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are clapping, some of you going, I don't know if my fourth grader's ready for that.
SPEAKER_02: Uh look at me.
SPEAKER_02: Here's our experience, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Don't start talking yet.
SPEAKER_02: Here's our experience.
SPEAKER_02: Your fourth graders, about one month into the children's ministry, they're like, this is lame.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not I'm ready to be in the bridge.
SPEAKER_02: They got foosball.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so also here's the last thing.
SPEAKER_02: Because the bridge ministry is going to increase in size significantly, we need more volunteers in there.
SPEAKER_02: So if you have any interest in working with fourth, fifth, or sixth graders, uh, because look at me, they're not little kids.
SPEAKER_02: That's where a lot of formative things happen.
SPEAKER_02: This is why it's its own separate ministry here.
SPEAKER_02: They're not around seventh through 12th graders.
SPEAKER_02: So come come uh July 16th, it'll just be seventh through 12th graders out the warehouse, and the bridge will be over here.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: So by making this decision, the elders believe we create we've given them their space and we create space in two areas that need it the children's building and the student ministry building.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: So, if you got any questions, my wife will be right here.
SPEAKER_02: She'll take all your questions as soon as we're dismissed.
SPEAKER_02: What's she doing, Jack?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to my life, Jack.
SPEAKER_02: That's what she says to all my ideas.
SPEAKER_02: All right, hey, it's a it's a we're a growing church, and we're not gonna be held captive by construction costs and interest rates.
SPEAKER_02: And so a church continues to grow and flourish based on its people's willingness to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_02: This is a pregnant pause.
SPEAKER_02: Let me soak in.
SPEAKER_02: All right?
SPEAKER_02: Hold Way Burgess, all your moms and fourth graders.
SPEAKER_02: He's got all the answers to your questions.
SPEAKER_02: All right?
SPEAKER_02: Would I conclude our service fucking blessings and your feet?
SPEAKER_02: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_02: You have capacity.
SPEAKER_02: Because the gospel has infinite capacity.
SPEAKER_02: So you're never becoming better, bigger, bolder.
SPEAKER_02: Because of the capacity of the gospel to sanctify you, to set you apart, to make you what you could never be in and of your own efforts.
SPEAKER_02: The battle's already been won.
SPEAKER_02: Depart now and live in the victory.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Bless you.