Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Welcome to Westgate Chapel. We're so glad you're here. Won't you stand and worship with us?
You call out into darkness you reached.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Out.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: To save us you conquered the grave you crossed the divine Lost in our sin you made us alive how could we ever hold it inside? We can't hold back we're gonna lift you higher, higher Hearts burning bright like a fire fire voice make it louder louder Never going to stop the singing Oo never going to stop the singing.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: Take me.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: No longer bound in chains you rescue me and call me by.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Name.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: You conquer the grave you cross the divine Lost in our sin, you made us alive how can we ever hold it inside? We can't hold back we're gonna lift you higher, higher Hearts burning bright like the fire fire.
Voices unite make it louder, louder never stop the singing O never going to stop higher, higher hearts burning bright like a fire fire Voices unite make it louder, louder Never going to stop the.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Singing.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Never going to stop the Every tribe, every tongue, every heart will sing Every knee we will bow to the risen king. Lift him up, lift him up never gonna stop lift singing ooh, never gonna stop Every child, every tongue, every heart will sing Every knee we will bow to the risen king. Lift him up, lift him up Never gonna stop the singing Higher, higher hearts burning bright like the fire fire.
Voices unite make it louder, louder Never going to stop the singing Ooh, never going to stop higher, higher, harsh burning bright like a fire fire.
Voices unite make it louder, louder Never going to, never going to stop the singing.
All right.
[00:03:54] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:03:55] Speaker D: You can go ahead and have a seat.
Psalm 103 this morning reads, praise the Lord, my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name. And so we sing and we sing the song we're never going to stop singing.
And why? Because verse 11 says, for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. Praise the Lord.
My name is Adam Juss. I get to serve here on staff as executive pastor and get to welcome you as we worship together here at Westgate Chapel where we seek to engage with each other to worship the Lord and to reach our neighbors in the nations.
So welcome for those of you that are worshiping with us online this morning, welcome to you as well. We are going to be continuing in our sermon series this morning called Life Together. And if you on the way in picked up one of our sermon notes you can do that and follow along with the message a little later on. It has some information for us. Also in the pew rack in front of you we have our connect cards.
They look like this and they have the word connect on top of it.
Anytime you can fill out that connect card, seek ways with you. Check the boxes on how you want to get involved. Share with us a prayer request. Also, if you are newer to Westgate Chapel, once you fill this out, this kind of triggers everything that we will reach out to you.
And so once you are ready to engage with our church family here, fill that out. Put that in the offering bucket. Later on in our service this morning I wanted to highlight a few upcoming events.
One is for our women's ministry this past weekend or currently right now our women have been spending the weekend at our Deeper Life retreat. And there they are. That's the group shot. Yesterday I did have to clarify they weren't all wearing scrubs. I thought what is Toledo going to do if all of our medical professionals are at a retreat?
I think that's the theme shirt or sweatshirt that they had this weekend. But they having a great time and they want to invite invite you if you missed this to the next women's event coming up I believe November 9th. It's called gratitude and Grace. It'll be here at Westgate Chapel. November 6th is the correct date.
Feel free to find more information about that on our website and or in the app. And if you're a lady here and wanting to get involved, wanting to get more connected with our women's ministry, please come to the Gratitude and Grace event.
Also in a few weeks and a few Fridays we are going to have a night of worship as we yes.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Woo.
[00:06:44] Speaker D: And we're gonna have a night of worship led by our worship team. They do a great job bringing in different creative aspects and elements and ways that we worship God together as we still seek to live and do life together. So that's coming up on a few Fridays, November 21st and I have an exciting time this morning getting to introduce you to 24 new members that are we've welcomed into our members. I'd like to invite them to come on up as well as any elders or staff that want to join us up on the stage this morning as they make their way up.
If you are interested in membership or want to know why we have membership, membership here at Westgate Chapel is a way that we as a church acknowledge the member as a person that's faithfully following Jesus Christ and a member of is also saying to the church, hey, you are a faithful gospel believing and preaching church. And we want to commit to being a part of this church body, being involved, using our gifts, serving, being a part of it, and being a part of God's community here in this intentional and specific way.
We have a big group 24. The whole list is in that insert inside our worship, our sermon notes. I think we're all up here as well.
So part of one of the requirements is being a part of our Westgate 101 class. And in the Westgate 101 class, people get to learn more about the history, our mission, not only here at Westgate Chapel, but also within our Christian missionary denomination as well as we talk through what membership is, why being a part of a church is important, what member expectations are. And everyone's favorite class was the one on our statement of faith. And just going over all of our why we believe what we believe and how do we live that out here at Westgate. So I wanted to go ahead and give them a chance just to share their names. And we'll pass the mic. You guys, you trickled down. Move forward a little bit. Come on, way up here.
Come on, keep coming.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: Here we go.
[00:08:58] Speaker D: All the way up here.
[00:09:00] Speaker C: Here we go.
[00:09:00] Speaker D: We'll start back here with Jared Yoshino.
[00:09:04] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:09:04] Speaker D: My name is Jared Yoshino. This is my daughter Nora. My wife Abby and baby son Graham and Oliver are at home. Oliver has a fever right now, so she got stuck at home, but she would love to be here.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: I'm Morgan Ringer. This is our youngest son Theodore.
[00:09:25] Speaker D: I'm Alex Ringer.
[00:09:27] Speaker C: I'm Jenna Kurfis.
I'm Katie Simmons.
I'm Caleb Simmons.
[00:09:33] Speaker D: This is Delta, Daphne, Stafford, Goldie, Cliff and flora.
[00:09:43] Speaker C: I'm Penny McCartney.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: I'm Lisa McCartney, Zach Hadid.
[00:09:49] Speaker C: And this is my wife Laura Hadid.
Philip is my name.
[00:09:54] Speaker D: This is my wife Anita and Phoebe.
I'm Austin Hobson.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: I'm Sarah Hobson.
[00:10:05] Speaker C: I am Alicia Cook.
I'm Gary Harmon. This is my wife Kelly.
I'm Chris Stammer.
I am Mike Cummereau. And my wife Mandy is at the ladies retreat, but she wanted to be here.
[00:10:21] Speaker D: We also have a couple others that can't be here this morning.
Hui Hong, who's also at the women's retreat. And also Chuck and Jan Winke are down in of front Florida for this Sunday. You know, someplace warmer.
But let's welcome them.
[00:10:49] Speaker C: Suffering for Jesus in Florida. Well, I just want to say thank you so much for each of you as you take this step into membership. I know that many of you are already getting involved in a number of different ways, serving in different ways within the church, and we are excited that you've just chosen to identify Westgate as your church home. And our deepest desire is that you would find deep community with others and continue to grow deeper in your relationship with the Lord as you come into membership. We just have membership commitment for you and I'm going to read that and if you're in agreement with it at the end, you can say I will. And here it is.
Will you promise to commit yourself to serve Christ faithfully as a member of this church family?
Will you commit yourself to Westgate's vision of being a Jesus centered community that is known for intentionally sharing God's love with our neighbors and the nations?
Will you personally seek to grow in your relationship with the Lord by daily studying God's word, seeking him in prayer and striving to abstain from acting upon sinful desires and by deep depending upon the Holy Spirit for all that you need?
Will you commit to actively engage with other members of this church family through regular church attendance and by pursuing close knit biblical community where you are growing alongside of others?
Will you commit to generously stewarding your God given time, spiritual giftedness and financial resources for the purpose of honoring and serving the Lord in our church, in our local community and in his worldwide mission to reach the lost?
Will you take personal responsibility for the spiritual health and the unity of our church family?
And will you submit yourself to the elders of this church whom God has given authority to serve as overseers and shepherds?
If you will commit yourselves to these things, please respond by saying, I will.
Awesome. Let's pray together.
Father, again, we thank you for this church that you've given to us, Father. You've given us a place where we can come and gather together, be encouraged, encouraged to be challenged to grow deeper in our faith in you. And Father, I want to thank you for each of these individuals this morning that are coming into membership. Lord, I thank you for their desire to connect into this body, but even more, Father, for their desire to continue growing deeper in their faith in you, but also, Father, to use the giftedness that you are giving to them and to serve you. I pray, Father, that in the days, weeks and months to come, Father, that you would continue to take them to deeper places of surrender, to a deeper dependence upon your Holy Spirit. And that, Father, you would use them to reach the people that you have placed every day in their circles to Reach them with the good news of your son, Jesus Christ. And I pray, God, that your Holy Spirit would bring about in each one of them all of the giftedness that you have for them to serve this body, but also father your mission and purposes in this world. And so, God, we give you thanks and we give you praise and we give you all the glory.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, again, would you congratulate them and welcome them into our membership this morning? And our elders behind you would like to welcome you as you enter into membership and church, family as they do that. Would you please stand, turn, find somebody you haven't said hello to yet this morning and welcome them to our service.
Good to be together. Amen.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: You believe God is working, working for something good, right?
Amen.
When I'm in the roughest water, I won't go under. I won't go.
[00:14:56] Speaker C: In.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: What I meant over my head.
I know that you won't let me down.
And when I'm broken and down to nothing.
I know that you are always up to something good.
And I know that you are always up to something good.
You'll make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing your love wouldn't do.
I know that you are always up to something good.
Yes, even through the deepest valley you go before me you are here before. I know you'll never leave me. Your love surrounds me. I won't fear.
And when I'm broken and down to nothing.
Sing it out. Oh, I know that you are always up to something good.
Yes, I know that you are always up to something good. Well, yes, you make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing your love won't endure.
I know that you are always up to something good.
Do you believe that?
All through the darkest night you are on my side?
You are, you're always faithful. Through my fear and doubt. You will lead me out.
You are always able.
Through the darkest night you are on my side.
You are always faithful. Through my fear and doubt you will lead me out.
I know you are always able.
You're faithful, God, yes, you are.
I know that you are always up to something good.
Oh, I know that you are always up to something good.
Oh, you make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing that I want you to.
I know that you are always up to something good.
Yes, you will. You'll make a way whatever it takes. There's nothing.
I know that you are always up to something good.
You believe that? Lift up a shout of praise. Yeah.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Sam.
All the saints and angels, bow before all the elders. Pass.
The crowds will fall. For the love of God, you are worthy of it all.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: You are worthy of it all.
For from you are sa.
Angels.
[00:20:14] Speaker B: Bow before your throne.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: Of God.
You worthy of it all, you are worthy of it all.
For from you are all things.
Until you are all things, you deserve glory.
You are worthy of it all.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: All.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: You are worthy of it all.
For from you are all things.
Until you are all things, you deserve glory.
Ram.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: Day and night, night and day, Sense your eyes.
Day and night, night and day.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: And.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Night, night and day.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Incense ar.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: Day and night, night and day arise.
[00:22:22] Speaker A: Day and night, night and day, night, day and night, night and day and night, night and day.
You worthy of it all.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: Oh yes, you are.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: You are worth you.
[00:23:03] Speaker B: Jesus.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: From you are all me.
And to you are all me.
You deserve the glory.
You worthy of it all.
You're worthy, God, you worthy of it all, all.
For from you are all things.
And to you are all things, you deserve the glory.
Sa.
I.
[00:24:49] Speaker C: You may be seated.
Pray with me. God, you are worthy of it all. Church. Amen.
He's worthy of it all. God, you are worthy of everything. For you created all things. You are all powerful over all things.
You have all authority and dominion. And you love us in the intimately in spite of our sin, in spite of our flaws, God, you are so worthy, you're worthy of all of our lives, of our surrender of our hearts.
And so, Father, as we gather together this morning, our desire is to worship not just with singing of songs, but that those songs, God, and those words would be a reflection of what is happening inside of us. That God, we just love you and we desire to worship you because of who you are, because of your faithfulness to us.
And so, God, I just pray that today as we gather and we worship, that you would remove things that might cause us, Father, to be distracted, to not be able to pour out our hearts to you, God, I pray that you would remove any obstacles that would keep us from hearing from you. You this morning.
And Father, our prayer is that your Holy Spirit would have the freedom to move in this room and in our individual hearts and lives.
Because, God, our deepest desire is to glorify and honor you, not just with our lips, but with our hearts and the way that we are living out our lives every single moment of every single day.
Father, thank you. You're worthy of our worship, Father, as we come to our time of taking up our offerings and our tithes. You are worthy, God, of this offering.
And Father, we Thank you. Because you've proven your faithfulness in the way that you provide for us every single day.
And from that God, we give back to you, asking that you would take it and use it to bring more people to know your son, Jesus Christ, and so be glorified and receive worship as we give back to you. We love you, God. We'll pray this together in the name of Jesus. Amen.
We're going to take our morning offering. If you're here on the center aisles, you can grab the offering buckets and we'll just pass those out to the sides. Our ushers will come and help in the balcony. They're up in the corners and will kind of come to the middle.
Let's just worship the Lord together for a moment here with taking of our offering.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: Sam.
There we go.
[00:27:55] Speaker C: As we get started this morning, if we again haven't had the opportunity to meet, my name is Rob Zimmerman, lead pastor here at Westgate. And hopefully as you walked in this morning, you were able to grab some sermon notes that you can use to follow along. I would encourage you to pull those out. If you've got your Bibles, you can pull those out as well. We're going to be jumping around a little bit this morning, but if you want to get a head start, we're going to start in the book of. Of Acts, chapter one. And so I just encourage you to turn there. And as you're doing that, I've got just a couple quick announcements for you.
One is to let you know that we are going to be having next Sunday a meeting of our church membership that is gonna take place after the second service. This is an annual meeting that we have. I promise it's a very short meeting, typically about five to 10 minutes in length. But one of the things we need to do is elect two people to our nominating committee. As we are moving towards the new year, we're going to be having new officers come in to the church as elders and deacons. And the nominating committee is the group that gets together prayerfully, considers different members in the church for those roles, and then puts together a slate that would be voted on at our annual meeting in January. And so we need to have two members of our church elected to that committee by the body. So just a reminder that that meeting will happen next Sunday immediately following the second service. A short meeting. And I would encourage you to just talk to people.
We really look for people to serve on this committee that are kind of broadly connected in different circles. We always want to develop New leadership. And I always encourage you before you nominate somebody, please talk to them first. First make sure that they're good with that because they will, they will nominate you the next time. So. All right, with that being said, three other quick things. Can you believe we're moving into the Christmas season, people? It is upon us and one of the things that we love about that is our church decorating day. We're going to be having a large church decorating day that is happening on Tuesday, December 2nd from 9am to 8pm now, you don't have to come for the whole thing unless you, unless you love Christmas that much, but it is great.
Over the last couple years we have done this for individuals or groups of friends or families or even life groups will come and serve that day and help kind of turn and flip our church for Christmas. And so we just want to invite you to come and be a part of that. If you would like to participate, we just ask you to register for it so we know that you're coming. You can do that by going to westgatechapel.org events and you can see the event there and register or you can find it on your, your Westgate Church app. The second thing is as Christmas is coming, we also are going to be having again this year our church Christmas choir that we're very excited about again this year. Rehearsals are going to be taking place on Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00pm beginning on November 13th. And we would love for you to participate and be a part of that. And so if you are interested, please be sure again you can go to westgatechapel.org events or look at the church app and you can register there or you can just show up and be a part two that night. But please register if you can and let us know that you're coming. And last thing is that we are going to be having our kids singing on our Christmas kickoff service that is December 7th. They're going to be practicing all this month and next in their classroom. So during kids ministry. But we wanted to make sure you knew so you can invite all the aunts, uncles, friends, grandparents to come and to join us for our family Christmas celebration on Sunday, December 7th. And so again, we got a lot of great things that are happening and then my friends, 2026 is right around the corner. It's coming quick. I know. Shash. Thank you, Claire. It's too fast, isn't it? Anybody feel that way?
This year has gone really quick. Well, with that being said, we're gonna dive right into our message because I have so much material. We could be here till 2026, but we've been in a series together that's entitled Life Together the Church. And when we started this series last week, I explained that the idea behind the series is this, is that in our culture today there is so much that you gets distorted about the purpose of the church and why it exists, especially from a biblical perspective, and also how we're supposed to live out our lives collectively together as the church. And this series is really focused on having an understanding and returning to the heart of what God has always intended for his church to be. Our aim is to rediscover God's heart and and God's plan for our lives individually, but especially together as his people.
And last week when we began, we started by talking about the fact that the Christian life is not meant to be lived in isolation, but that God has designed his people to flourish, to flourish in this world, to flourish spiritually in him through doing life together.
It is an essential aspect of our growth in Him. And this morning, as we continue in this series, we're going to spend this morning talking about the Holy Spirit because this week I want you to understand that the Christian life is a life that was never meant to be lived in our own self effort, but one that is meant to be lived as individuals, but also collectively together as the church.
Independence upon the Holy Spirit. But here's the deal.
Even as we say that and it flows so easily off of our lips, it is often not the experience of many people and many Christians in our world today, but especially within the church, you see dependence upon the Holy Spirit. We hear that the Holy Spirit has power and that he moves in our lives and in the life of the church. But oftentimes it seems as though that power is absent. I picked up a book this last week that I haven't read for a number of years, a really fantastic book written by Francis Chan entitled Forgotten God. And he wrote this book to revisit what he believed was the tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit in the Church.
One of the stories that he tells in this book is he talks or illustrations I should say that he uses, is an illustration of what would happen if you took a person, put them on a remote island with no contact with anybody, and you gave them a Bible to read for a couple of years where all they did was just go through the Bible and learn not only about what the Christian life was about, but especially about the Holy Spirit and his power. And what he surmised is this is that if you were to take that person and drop them into one of our modern churches today, likely they would look around and go, where did the power go?
Because what we read in Scripture about the power of the Holy Spirit oftentimes seems absent, even in our churches.
This is what he had to say.
He said, if we read and believed these accounts in Scripture that show the power of God's Spirit, we would expect a great deal of the Holy Spirit.
He would not be a mostly forgotten member of the Godhead whom we occasionally, occasionally give a nod of recognition to, which is what he has become. In many American churches.
We would expect our new life with the Holy Spirit to look radically different from our old life without Him.
Yet this is not the way it is for most people.
We don't live this way. For some reason, many people don't think they need the Holy Spirit. We don't expect the Holy Spirit to act. Or if we do, our. Our expectations are often misguided or even self serving.
Given our talent, set experience and education, many of us are fairly capable of living rather successfully according to the world standards, without any strength from the Holy Spirit.
Even our church growth can happen without Him. I mean, let's be honest. If you combine a charismatic speaker, a talented worship band, some hip hop creative events, you can tell how old this book is by the way, the word hip. Some hip creative events. People will attend your church.
Yet this does not mean that the Holy Spirit of God is actively working and moving the lives of the people that are coming.
It simply means that you have created a space that is appealing enough to draw people in for an hour or two on Sunday.
It certainly does not mean that people walk out the doors, move to worship and in awe of God.
People are more likely to describe the quality of music or the appeal of the sermon rather than the one who is the reason people gather for church in the first place.
He says. This is the question that I just can't get around.
If it's true that the Spirit of God dwells within us and that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, then shouldn't there be a huge difference between the person who has the spirit of God living inside of him or her and the person who does not?
As I think about these words that he spoke and what we see often in the church today, I am keenly reminded that God developed His church, each of us as individuals and collectively, together to experience this life, the Christian life, through the empowerment of His Holy Spirit.
And I want you to see what the Bible this morning has to say about this. If you have your notes, you can follow along with me.
One of the key things that we see is this. The empowerment of the Holy Spirit transcends human experience and ability.
It transcends human experience and ability.
In other words, it's not just common experience. There's something that is unique about the power of the Holy Spirit. Let me give you an example. I went golfing a few weeks ago with my son Garrett. I hadn't golfed in a number of years. It was really fun to be able to go out and to spend some time together.
I really, because I hadn't golfed in a long time, went to Bedford Hills. It was a great, beautiful sunny day, still warm outside.
I had low expectations. I figured it was going to be a horrible day, so I was just going to play the game and love it. But there was something seriously different that happened this day.
My drives were straight and they were long.
They didn't curve to the right like they normally did. My iron iron play was on point, hitting greens.
I rarely had more than a two putt. Like literally, it was un otherworldly to me. And then there was my son Garrett, a little bit frustrated with this play and the fact that I was beating him.
And then he looks at me and he says these words.
It's just because you have that old man swing.
What does that mean, Garrett?
I think he was referring to my drive swing, which I don't go all the way back, only partway. And I'm like, well, old man swing maybe, but it went further than your ball and straighter. So, but here's the deal. I'm usually not that great of a golfer, but that day it felt like I had the spiritual gift of golfing for at least one day.
Or maybe not, because I did only shoot a 90. Okay, now if I told you though, that I had a spiritual encounter with God and that the Holy Spirit had empowered, entered my body and empowered me to play the game of golf at a high level that day you would expect so much more than a 90.
You would expect 400 yard drives, hole in ones on every single par three. And I would be breaking every single course record. Because we're talking about divine power, people.
And here's the deal. Because if the Holy Spirit is involved, then there should be a huge difference between what I or any human can do in their own strength and what he can accomplish.
And I want you to see that truth this morning. The empowerment of the Holy Spirit transcends human experience and ability. It is More than just what we accomplish in our own strength and our own power. And I want to you you to see this in Scripture letter A, if you're following along in your notes. Jesus promised his disciples that he would give them something that they did not have.
In Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus has died on the cross. He has risen from the grave. He is preparing to ascend back into heaven. He's kind of given the final instructions, if you will, to his apostles, to the disciples.
And as he's giving these instructions, he says these words, words he says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, literally. You are going to take the gospel everywhere and you are going to do this through the power that is given to you through the Holy Spirit. Now, when I read this, you might be tempted to think that after having spent three and a half years, years with Jesus, the disciples have sat under his tutelage. They have saturated in his teachings. They've witnessed his character and the personified love of God and grace and mercy that they saw and learned from.
They learned by watching his example closely. They had undergone much correction and redirection by the rabbi. You would think that Jesus, after three and a half years of this constant mentorship of his disciples, that he could look at them and say, all right, you guys are now pros. You've got this down, so go do it. But that wasn't the case.
Rather, he looks at them and says, there is something that you don't have that you desperately need in my absence. And what is that thing is that there was power that they needed. And it's a power that they did not possess on their own.
And that power would come only from the Holy Spirit.
Letter B. What we see is that this word power in the Greek dynamon carries the notion of authority, influence, strength and ability.
It's the same exact Greek word that is used to speak of Jesus miracles all throughout the New Testament. It is a divine power that only comes from God. Now here's the deal. When we think of power, oftentimes we think of it in terms of strength or physical strength. We think, we look at someone, we say, that person is powerful, they're strong. We might think of the world's strongest man competition, where we see these people with hulking muscles doing things that kind of bend and break our minds, that they could be that powerful and strong. But here's the deal. We're not talking about Human strength. We're talking about horses, Holy Spirit power that's beyond even the strongest human being that has ever walked this earth.
We're talking about it in terms of physical strength and ability. I think of the disciples, I think of the apostles as the early church started. And as they went and they spread the good news of the Gospel, they experienced all forms of harsh persecution.
Many times seeking to people, seeking to stone them, throw them into jail to take. Take their lives. Not only was it physically strenuous, but if you could only imagine the mental toll that it would take on the disciples as people were out to get them because of their love for Jesus. And yet through the power of the Holy Spirit, they had power and strength and ability to move beyond those difficulties in a way that could only become because of the Spirit that lived within them. But it wasn't just about strength and ability.
God gave them authority with this power as well. He gave them the authority to have the power to heal people in their sickness, to cast out demons in the spiritual realm. They had authority over that realm. They had authority as they taught. You think of Peter as he gets up, as we'll see in Acts chapter two, and preaches this phenomenal sermon where 3,000 people come to faith. There was authority that they had been given.
And it came not because of who they were or how hard they studied under Jesus, but because of the power of the Spirit. But they were also given influence.
Influence with the Gentiles in that broken relationship between Jew and Gentiles. Gentiles came to faith in Jesus. They were given influence. You think of Peter and John in Philippians, where they were thrown into jail. And even there, after they are, there's this great earthquake that happens as they're worshiping. And the jail breaks open and the jailer comes running back and he's fearful that they've left. They were given influence in his life for the jailer and his family to come to faith in Jesus. You think of Paul and you think of Silas before the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter four, and the influence that they were given. You think of the end of the Book of Acts, where the apostles are consistently given influence with governors and kings of great nations. All of this came because of the power, divine power, that had been given to them.
And what does the passage tell us? It tells us that the Holy Spirit's power would enable the apostles to be witnesses.
Witnesses.
What does this mean? What does it mean that they would be witnesses?
Number one? It means that their lives, their own personal transformation and following Jesus Christ would be part of their witness.
It was witnesses. They were witnesses in terms of their own transformation as followers of Jesus. Think of Peter. Peter went from being an impulsive man who always was sticking his foot in his mouth with the things that he said. Seemed like a rather impulsive man. Went from being impulsive to giving one of the most beautiful and eloquent sharing of the Gospel.
You think of a person like Paul, who was, when his name was Saul, was a killer of Christians looking at every opportunity to stomp out the truth of the Gospel.
And yet his life was transformed by Jesus, where he went from killer of Christians to evangelist to the Gentiles, and one day, ultimately a martyr who would give his life for the people, for Christ, even though he was trying to kill Christ's people.
The personal transformation of these people's lives would bear witness to the power of God. And I want to ask you this question this morning. Do you allow people to see how God has in the past and is in the present in the process of transforming your life? One of the most powerful testimonies and witnesses that we have is how God has changed and transformed our hearts and lives. And so often we keep that to ourselves rather than trusting that God, through His Holy Spirit who transformed our hearts, could possibly use that to transform the life of another person.
Not only is it the transformation, but also this idea of being witnesses number two had to do with the holy and righteous living that they would live out. There was a more moral transformation that would take place in their lives as followers of Jesus Christ.
Because of their allegiance to Christ and not to self, the Holy Spirit would literally transform them into new creations. And the problem is this, in our world today is that we live in a world where many Christians don't look much different than the world that surrounds us.
When the Bible speaks of how we're supposed to love other people or how we're supposed to forgive other people, he could give a whole litany of things. So often we look more like the world and less like Christ.
And it begs us to ask this question. If we have been given the Holy Spirit's power to be witnesses, are we allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our lives and how we live in such a way that it is a testimony to only work that God could do in the life of an individual?
Thirdly, we see that this part of being a witness and the power that would come from the Spirit has to do with the supernatural power that he would give to the disciples and the apostles for ministry, the influence and authority they had would come strictly from the Holy Spirit. They would powerfully testify to the goodness of God in giving testimony to Jesus death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead to pay the penalty for our sins.
[00:48:58] Speaker A: Sin.
[00:48:59] Speaker C: And it begs you to ask yourself the question. Me to ask myself the question.
Are we trusting God to give us what we need in order to share His Son with other people?
Are we looking for opportunities to have spiritual conversations with other people, trusting that God will use us, especially use our weaknesses, in order to bring glory to himself?
You see, the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples for this purpose that they would be empowered to be witnesses. But here's the beauty of this. It wasn't just for the apostles. It's also for us. Letter D. The gift of the Holy Spirit was also for all who would believe.
Get this. Peter preaches at Pentecost. He gives this magnificent sermon of the Gospel. And you see all. All of his authority and his influence on display.
And it says these words about the people that were listening. In Acts, chapter 2, verse 37, it says when they heard this, what Peter was saying, this gospel message says that they were cut to the heart.
And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sin. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off.
Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, save yourself from the this crooked generation.
So those who received his word were baptized. And there were added that day about 3,000 souls.
Now, as I read this passage, we need to understand that not only was this promise given to the apostles before Jesus in Acts 1:8 was to ascend back up into heaven for them to go out and to do so in power.
But here we see Peter telling all of the people that this promise is also for you.
This promise is for you.
But what does the Bible say about this promise of the Holy Spirit? What is our experience meant to be of the power of the Spirit in our lives? I want us to take a look at a couple theological ideas as well with us this morning.
So next, the first thing that we see is this, is that when the Holy Spirit is given to us, the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation.
When God gives us His Spirit, he is the guarantee of our salvation. And letter A in your notes Every true follower of Jesus, the Bible teaches, receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation.
So when you come to faith in Jesus and make that decision to surrender your heart and your life to him, the Bible says that the Spirit of the God comes and lives in you. We see that in Acts chapter two, when Peter says, after giving the message, look, hey, the Spirit of God is for you. Place your faith in him. The Spirit will come in. We see Paul talking about this in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 through 14. He says these words, he says in him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in him, you were sealed with the prophets Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. You see, we receive the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is the seal, if you will, of our decision to follow Christ and of our salvation.
And here's the deal. A seal. In biblical times, you'll see a picture of a seal on the screen. Kings would take, in biblical times, hotline wax or clay and a signet ring to put their impression into it, often sealing shut a letter that they had written or important documents.
And the seal carried the authority and validity of the king.
Anyone who would view this seal knew that the king had authorized whatever letter or document they were looking at. But also they would know that it had incredible value to him.
The mark indicated the validity of the king's work.
Whatever had his seal, it was his and carried significant value.
So when we say that the Holy Spirit and when we are taught in scripture that the Holy Spirit is the seal of our salvation, what that means is that the Holy Spirit who lives in you is the confirmation and guarantee of your salvation.
And his presence signifies that we are the kings, that we are Christ's and that we have incredible value to God.
Every true follower of Jesus receives the fullness of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. But also I want to make sure we understand something else. The Bible says, letter B, that we are called upon to be filled with the Holy spirit. Now Ephesians 5:18 makes really clear. It says, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.
The most common misconception when we talk about being filled with the Spirit is this, is that people will say we need to acquire something more that we don't already have. Let me give you an illustration. If I say that this glass of water is half, half full, you might say, I need more. I need to Put more water into this glass because it is not filled.
Many Christians today in our culture see their experience of the Holy Spirit as a glass half full.
They have this idea that they've got that somehow they need more of the Holy Spirit, as though God has held something back, as though he hasn't given a full measure, measure of the Spirit to us. And so you'll hear people say phrases. You hear this in the church. You hear it in worship songs, things like, I need more of you, Holy Spirit, or fill me up, Holy Spirit. As though God has held something back or the Spirit has taken a vacation from us. I blame a lot of really bad teaching in the church. Sometimes worship songs with bad, bad theology that teaches this idea that the idea of being filled with the Spirit is that we don't have all of him with us. You see, what the Bible actually teaches is when the Spirit of God comes and resides within you, you have him all letter C. To be filled with the Spirit means this. Number one, to surrender one's life to God's power, presence and plans for your life.
Now, here's the cool thing. Last time I checked, this happens at the moment of salvation. When we come to Jesus Christ, we surrender our life to God's power, presence and plans. Where the Bible teaches me in this moment that when I choose to surrender my life to Him, I receive all of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the glass is not half empty. It is full to the brim. I am completely full with the very Spirit of God. All of his power is at disposal in my life to be filled. That happens when I surrender my life to Christ. But also number two, as I allow him to shape my character, guide my actions, and use my life for his glory.
This is what we call in the Christian life sanctification. It's a really big theological word that very simply means to be made holy. And what we read in Scripture is that sanctification is a lifelong process of becoming more and more like Jesus. In other words, we receive the fullness of the Spirit, but there is a work that he is doing in our lives to transform us to become more like Christ.
How is it that we don't experience the fullness of the Spirit in our life? Is it because he hasn't been given to us? No, what the Bible says is it happens because we quench his work in our lives, be that because of our sin, our rejection of God, our distancing of ourself from Him. When we make a choice to move away from God, we don't experience his work in our lives.
But as we allow him to shape our lives, we experience the fullness of his power because he fully lives and resides within us and is there to transform us. And this is where we begin to understand what it means when we learn that as individuals and as the church, that we are to be empowered by the spirit of God. The Holy Spirit. Next note. Empowers followers of Jesus to live holy lives and he produces spiritual fruit as evidence of that transformation.
I want to give you just a key thought this morning as we move through this section together to keep in mind God is not interested in you trying to be a better version of yourself.
Let me give you an example. I was reading an article yesterday, just as I was scrolling through some different news stuff, and there's a famous podcaster by the name of Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan had done one of his podcasts with a Christian and they were talking about Christian things, and they were talking about a lot of things that are going on in our culture today. And he said, you know, with a lot of the things that are going on, there are tons and tons of people that are going back to church, like they're recognizing, like, how bad things are and having this need and this feeling, feeling that they need something more. And his statement was interesting to me. He said, you know, I really love that I've started going back to church myself. And he said, the reason is because I just recognize so many people are going to church so that they can make a better version of themselves for this world.
I went, ooh, that is not very good theologically.
And the reason is because a lot of people in this world think that you go to church and you do the whole thing so that you can make yourself into a better version of yourself.
Hear this.
God is not interested in you trying to make a better version of yourself. He wants, he wants to transform you into his new creation.
Your participation in this with the Holy Spirit is to identify and acknowledge your broken.
To plead with the Lord to take the blinders of sin off of your eyes and to daily go before him in humbleness of heart, asking the God who loves you to make you new, to transform the broken areas of your life. Free me, Lord, from the hatred that resides in my heart.
Free me from my unforgiveness.
Free me, Lord, from my addiction, from my sharp tongue, from my self centered way of living. Free me, God, from my pride. Whatever it is that dishonors you, Lord, I give it to you. And I ask you to make me new through the power of your Holy Spirit, because that is the reason that the Spirit has been given to us. He is the one that transforms our lives and produces spiritual fruit. And Paul explains this beautiful beautifully in Galatians chapter five that I want us to take a look at. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there. But what he tells us is this letter A Our fallen human nature fights against the Spirit's transformation of our lives.
In Galatians 5, verses 16 through 17, the apostle Paul says it this way. He says, I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desire flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.
For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do.
Paul talks about the flesh and how it's at war with the Spirit and that it keeps us from our transformation. That word flesh, which is sarx in the Greek, refers often to the physical body, in particular to muscle, to skin and other tissue that would cover over our skeleton as well. It refers to general humanness. It was the same exact word that Jesus used when he was with his disciples after his resurrection. And he presents himself and says, see my hands and my feet touch, and see a spirit does not have flesh.
But Paul and many of the New Testament writers also use this word to describe the state of the unsaved and man's unredeemed self. Paul often used this term to describe what remains of what he would call the old man after a person has come to faith in Jesus. In other words, it refers to the most natural responses of our unredeemed humanness, the part of a believer that awaits future redemption at the time of Christ's return.
The flesh represents Christians propensity to turn from God and to turn to sin.
And what Paul wants us to realize as we read through Galatians 5, letter B is this. Is it the flesh? When we turn to the flesh and not the Spirit, it always leads us towards lawlessness and legalism.
No matter how many times we turn our hearts and our lives towards sin, we go towards lawlessness, sin against God, God and continued rejection of him. Listen to how Paul describes this in verses 19 and 21 of Galatians 5. He says, now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. You see, when we give ourselves over to the way of the flesh, to the way of sin, it always leads to more brokenness and separation in our relationship with God.
But remember, what we have here is not just a list of what bad people do, because sometimes we read that and go, oh yeah, that's those people. No, this is what all sin makes all of us of us do to move towards lawlessness.
But you see, the flesh not only leads us to lawlessness, it can also lead us to legalism, even in our relationship with God, where what we end up doing is trying to earn God's favor and try to be good enough and pleasing enough for Him. And Paul ties the flesh to our striving in human effort to somehow earn right standing with God.
But again, it always leads to brokenness.
But letter C, the Holy Spirit's power, when you turn to it, always produces freedom from sin and spiritual fruit in your life.
Galatians 5, 22 and 23.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
Against such things, Paul says, there is no law.
Here's one of the things that maybe you realize even as I read through this list is that those fruits are not natural to our old, fleshly, unredeemed selves. No matter how hard we try to master these fruits, they always seem just out of reach. It only takes getting cut off on the road or somebody treating you in a way that is disrespectful, or your kids not doing what you asked them to do for you to recognize that the fruit of the Spirit is not always your first reaction.
But that is why they're called the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of Rob or insert your name, because they're not natural to us. But it's the power of the Holy Spirit, who God has intended to empower our lives, that is the One who gives us freedom from sin and from our bondage to trying to produce fruit on our own. And he always produces it in us as we surrender our hearts and our lives to Him. This work of the Spirit, letter D is an essential part of your empowerment to be a witness, as God has called us through the power of His Spirit to be a witness. And I should correct that and say it's not an essential part. It is the essential part that if we are going to be the witnesses that God has designed for us to be, then we must live this life in his power, allowing him to transform us.
But not only is his empowerment about changing our hearts and transforming our lives.
But it is also the Holy Spirit also empowers followers of Jesus with supernatural gifting to serve the body of Christ and to reach those who are far from God with the great news of the Gospel.
As I think about this truth that the Holy Spirit not only empowers life change within us, but as we participate with God and His mission to take the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, he gives us specific powering and giftedness that is not natural to our human experience. And I want you to hear that there are three passages I listed there. For time's sake, I'm not going to read through each of them, but you can go through and read them later. Inside each of those verses, though, what you'll see is a listing of various different spiritual gifts that the whole Holy Spirit empowers us with. Things like knowledge and wisdom, gifts of faith, of healing, of miracles, of prophecy, of discernment, gifts of tongues and interpretations of tongues, of teaching, of helping, of administration.
It lists things like gifts of serving and exhortation and generosity and leadership and mercy. All of these lists. And I want to ask a question this morning just so we can set it up and answer it in these three passages of Scripture where we get these listings. Are these gifts Letter A conclusive? The answer to that is no.
The purpose in the writing that Paul does in each of these passages is not to give us this huge, long, conclusive list of these are the only gifts, but to give us a picture of how the very Spirit of God can take and empower us, us and empower our lives to do something beyond our human effort. In other words, spiritual gifting is not just, hey, I'm a good athlete. Spiritual gifting is not just, hey, I'm a good teacher, because certainly I could do teaching anywhere in any setting.
You see, when we receive a spiritual gift from God, an empowerment of the Spirit is always to accomplish the very purposes of God.
And he can do that in many ways, different ways. The lists aren't conclusive. But Letter B, I also should mention, have any of these gifts ceased? And as a church and a denomination, we believe the clear answer in Scripture to that is no. Whether prophecy or miracles or tongues or interpretation of tongues or healing, I do not believe that there is one single place in Scripture that truly lends us to this place of believing that these gifts have ceased. I know that there is much discussion that happens about that in our culture and people that feel uneasy with what we call the sign Gifts. But let me tell you what stands out to me the most in all of these passages is when it tells us very clearly that the Holy Spirit is the one who gives these gifts according to how he determines.
In other words, no matter what situation I find myself in at any moment that God has ordained for me to work on his behalf, he is going to empower me with exactly what I need as he chooses. If that is true, and I believe it is, then no, no gift has ceased, because God will give us everything, everything we need for whatever it is that he calls us to.
Letter C. Are spiritual gifts permanent or temporary? And I believe the answer to that question is both.
Sometimes we get this idea because of the way that the church for years has designed our understanding of spiritual gifts. They say, take this spiritual gift inventory test, fill out these hundred questions, total up all your numbers at the bottom, and your top three answers are your spiritual gifts. And I'm not a huge fan of that line of thinking personally. But here's the deal. What I do know and what I see in Scripture and what I've experienced even in my own walk with God, is this truth. Sometimes God gives us gifts and spiritual empowerments of the Holy Spirit that we have for a lifetime.
And he has chosen a very specific way and a specific ministry for us to walk in.
But at the same time, he also empowers us for anything and everything that he calls us to at any moment, especially in our greatest weaknesses.
I say that because one of the things that has often been misconstrued in the American church is this idea. If it ain't my gift, I don't have to do it. And here's the deal.
If God calls you, he will empower you for everything he calls you to do. Amen.
He will give you everything you need, because the spirit of the living God, who is all powerful over all things, resides within you.
The question we should be asking then, is God not what gift have you given me? So I stay in my little bubble, God, what have you called me to do? In my own experience, when I became a lead pastor, I felt so insufficient for the calling.
There were moments of deep insecurity because I knew my weaknesses.
And yet I have watched as the Lord through the Holy Spirit has even shaped me differently in places that I was incredibly weak and that he is the one that has done it. And I think the most important part of that is remember remembering that in this process, the purpose of spiritual gifts, Letter D is for the common good. According to 1st Corinthians 12:7 but also for the purposes of God's glory.
See, giftedness is not about, hey, look at me. When the Spirit empowers us, look at what I did or what we did collectively as a church, it's always about Him.
Because the truth is without him we couldn't do the things that he calls us to do.
We can't change people's hearts and lives.
Only he can do that.
And so far be it from us that we would ever rob God of His glory. And we must remember that the purpose of his gifting is, is for the common good as we care for and love each other as the Church, but also as we walk outside these walls and we share the good news of His Son with others.
So I ask you this question as we close.
What holds back the outpouring of God's power in his church?
What is it?
Why is it that we can read the Bible and we can see his power moving, but a lot of times that's not our experience in our individual lives or even collectively as the church.
Well, I'm going to give you three things. One, what holds us back is the neglecting is neglecting the surrender of our lives to God.
Neglecting the surrender of our lives to God. We get ourselves entangled in so many other things in this world and it's easy to make God and our relationship with him just an attachment to our lives. And I'm going to tell you what happens. I know this from my own experience and my own failures as a Christian that when Jesus becomes the attachment to our lives. Do you know why the Spirit of God is not powerfully moving in us or through us?
It's because we're not paying attention to him and we're neglected the surrender of our hearts and our lives every single day to Him. What's the answer then?
The answer is that there needs to be an internal heart change that takes place within us.
What you need is not more self help instruction or a five step program on how to please God and get the Spirit to work in your life. This answer is really simple.
You need more information, intimacy with God.
You need to move to that place every single day. Not just at church on Sunday, but every single day where you get on your knees before the Lord and say, God, I love you, I praise you, you're in control of all things. But I am insufficient to bring you glory in my own life, in this broken body and in this broken world. And I need you and Holy Spirit. I need you.
I need you to transform my weaknesses.
I need you to transform my brokenness.
And I need you to empower me to do the things that you are calling me to do so that God and God alone would receive glory.
Church, family do you want to see the Spirit of God move powerfully in your life?
Do you want to overcome the sin that has plagued you days by day?
Do you want to experience his power in the places where you feel weak?
Do you want to see him move in this building in ways that go beyond our comprehension?
Then daily surrender yourself to him and fall more intimately in love with him and depend on him and ask him to change you, I pray promise you that he will as you surrender your heart to Him.
What holds us back? Neglecting the surrender of our lives to God? Number two, seeking our own glory over God's glory when we use our giftings. If we are looking to get glory and for people to see us, I promise that it will hold back what God wants to do because he will not allow his glory to be robbed.
And finally, number three, when we depend on our strength over the strength of the Holy Spirit, we literally quench the work that he wants to do in us and also through us.
It's 12:02. You guys are looking at your clocks.
I meant it when I could do months on this topic and maybe I will in the future.
But here's the reason that I think it's so important for us to kind of drink from the fire hydrant together this morning. I've given you a ton of information.
But if there's one thing, two things that you catch. One, I want you to understand the importance of the role of the Holy Spirit in your life. The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force that God has given him to you to empower you, to empower you to live for Christ and to go out and to do great things in the name of God.
He's given him to you. I want you to know Him.
But even more church, if we want to experience his power, we must go to a place of surrender.
Daily saying, spirit of God, I need you and I want you to move and surrendering our hearts. And I promise you, I believe this with all my heart. I believe it in my own life that when we come to that place of surrender that God will do far more than we could ever ask or imagine.
God, I just pray this morning your Holy Spirit would move across this room.
I don't mean in an emotional sense.
I don't mean, Father, that we would experience some crazy miraculous thing.
I ask God that your spirit would move in the quietness of this room and that your voice in the quietness would be so loud in our hearts calling us and drawing us to you that we would come to a place of repentance, of sin and of trust in you and yielding and surrendering all that we are. Because our desire is to see you move. But Holy Spirit, it can only happen when we come to a place of humility before you and we stop quenching and we just let go.
So Spirit of God, do that work in your people today.
I plead with you in Jesus name. Amen.
[01:19:10] Speaker B: Spirit of the living God Spirit of the living God we only want to hear your voice hanging on every word Spirit of the living God Spirit of the living God Spirit of the living God we only want to hear your voice hanging on every word Spirit of.
[01:20:09] Speaker A: The living God Spirit of the living.
[01:20:13] Speaker B: God we want to know you more and more we're hanging on everywhere CU.
[01:20:22] Speaker A: When you speak, when you move when you do what only you can do it changes us Changes what we see what we see when you come in.
[01:20:38] Speaker B: The room when you do what only.
[01:20:41] Speaker A: You can do it changes us it changes what we see.
[01:21:13] Speaker B: Into all you are Everything else can wait Spirit of the living God Spirit of the living God Come now and breathe upon our hearts Come now and have your way Cuz when you speak and when you.
[01:21:35] Speaker A: Move when you do what only you can do it changes us it changes what we see and what we see when you come in the room when you do what only you can do it changes us it changes what we see and what we see when you.
[01:22:15] Speaker B: Move you move all fe when you move you move us to te.
[01:22:28] Speaker A: When.
[01:22:29] Speaker B: You move you move all our fears when you move you move us to.
[01:22:40] Speaker A: Tears when you fall we fall on our knees and when you fall we fall at your feet fe.
[01:22:57] Speaker B: And when.
[01:22:58] Speaker A: You fall we fall on me and when you fall we fall at your feet Cuz when you speak, when you move when you do what only you.
[01:23:19] Speaker B: Can do it changes us it changes.
[01:23:23] Speaker A: What we see what we see when you come in the room when you do what only you can do Changes us It changes what we see what we see.
[01:23:56] Speaker B: Spirit of the living God Spirit of the living God we only want to hear your voice we're hanging on every word.
[01:24:22] Speaker C: God is good as we continue in our series together next week we're going to talk about what it looks like to celebrate as the church and we are going to celebrate in a big way next week. We have got to my knowledge at this point, 24 people who are going to be baptized next Sunday, professing their faith in Jesus Christ and what he has done in each of their lives. And so it's our privilege to celebrate that together as a church family. I just want to say if you have never been baptized and you know that's a step you want to take, or maybe this morning you're like, I've never given my life to Christ, but now is the time, do so today. Come today and we would love to baptize you next week. And so I just want to encourage if you've never been baptized and you want to take that step of professing your love for and faith in Jesus Christ, come talk to me. Drop a connection card with a note in one of our bins in the back and we will get in touch with you as we would love to celebrate the work that God is doing in your life along with everybody else. As we close our service this morning, our prayer team is going to be here at the front and they would love that opportunity to pray with you. So whether you say, today I want to surrender my heart to Jesus for the first time, or maybe there is something that you have been wrestling with that you just need someone to talk to and to pray with or maybe prayer for healing, these people would love to just love on you and minister to you today. So I'd invite you to come. As our service closes. Let me pray for us. God, thank you so much for giving us this place where we can follow you.
But Father, as we learn, may you transform our hearts and as you transform our hearts through the power of your spirit, would you move us to action that we would go out and share the good news of your son with others.
Give us many opportunities this week and help us Father to live each moment of every single day relying and depending on your Holy Spirit who lives within us and empowers us for everything that we need. As we follow you, we give you thanks and we love you. We pray this together in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you. We'll see you next Sunday.
