Paul and his team are making their way to Jerusalem, and they get a lot of help along the way. There was a mission to fulfill and everyone played a part in getting the job done. In this message, we consider what it would look like today for the Church to live on mission together, as we see in the Book of Acts.
Transcription (automatically-generated):
It in a room like this is filled with people all different ages, young and old. How do you know where that line is? Where you cross from young to old? Right. Is it subjective?
I know I'm on the old side. I have back pain recurring all the time. You probably can't see from there, but I got more and more white. This speckled, this orange beard of mine. But that's very subjective.
You don't need to have white hair to be old. You don't have to have back pain to be old. I was thinking this week, what's one thing that you could use as a divider to see? Okay, I'm young or old. Who here has ever used a catalog?
Not a digital catalog. And if you don't know what a catalog is, congratulations, you are on the young side.
If you don't know what a catalog is, think of all those unwanted ads that you see on YouTube or on social media for products. Collect all those together and put them in a really thick magazine. A really thick one. That's a catalog. And back in the day, you'd flip through a catalog, probably from Sears if you remember, you remember Diane and it's full of all kinds of products, home improvement, home decor, tools, toys.
But you'd flip through the catalog and you'd see things that you don't want. But then something that would be aroused in you would he stimulated to want certain things because of what you saw in the catalog. Now the Book of Acts, believe it or not, is like a catalog. It's like a spiritual catalog for Christians because it shows us things that we can have, shows us things that we should want. I don't know about you, but I've been reading through acts as we've been going through this series.
I come across scene after scene after scene and I read that and I'm like saying to myself, I want that in my life. I know it was a unique one-off moment in history, but when I read about what happened in Acts 1, where 120 believers are together in the same room praying and praying and praying and then the Holy Spirit falls upon them and fills them and then they go and change the world, I want that. I want to experience that in my life. We read in acts chapter two, Peter, stand up and preach the gospel to thousands of people. And 3000 people got saved in one day and all of them got baptized.
Like, I don't even have to be the one preaching. I just want to be in a room like that. I want to be in a place like that that sees preaching go out. And not dozens, hundreds, thousands of people get saved. I want to see that.
I want that in my life. I want to experience the biblical fellowship that we read about in the end of Acts 2, said, every day, believers devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers, and to the fellowship. And then it said, because of that tight-knit, loving community that existed in Jerusalem, it said, the Lord added to their number every single day those who were being saved. I want to see that.
I want that in my life. I want to see miracles happen, not just for miracle's sake, because of what it does to glorify Jesus and to give an open door for his gospel to keep going forth with power. Do you think ears will be attentive to the gospel when you see people get healed? I want to see that. I want to experience that in my life.
I want the kind of prayer meetings that we read about in Acts 4, where believers are together in the face of persecution. And they're not praying for persecution to stop. They're praying for more boldness in their lives to increase so that they won't shirk away from preaching the gospel in the face of persecution. And then the Lord answers that prayer in that prayer meeting, and they go out and preach the gospel. I read that in the catalog of acts.
I don't want to just move on, and I want that.
We read in the book of Acts, the fiercest enemies of the gospel get saved by the gospel. Paul, before he became the apostle, Paul was killing and murdering and imprisoning christians. And then Jesus met him on the road to Damascus. He gets saved, and now he's the chief proponent for Christianity. Don't you want to see that?
And then we get to Acts 21, our verse for tonight. Acts 21, verses one to 14, is a picture of what Christians should want to experience for themselves, because Acts 21:1-14, is a picture of believers living on mission for God. Every Christian should want this. Now, in this passage of scripture, the author, Luke, documents a mission team making their way to Jerusalem. It's a fair-sized team traveling together.
Sometimes when I'm reading through acts, I forget that it's not just the Paul show. He's not the only one there in most of the scenes that we read about. But sometimes I make the mistake of thinking he's the only one there because he plays such a prominent role in church history. But there's a whole mission team here in Acts 21 traveling with Paul. They are the we that you read over and over and over in this text.
We went here, we did this, we did that. So who's all a part of this? We. There are at least nine people at least a part of this mission team. There's Paul, Luke's there.
Luke's physically present for a lot of the events that he writes about in the Book of Acts. He's there as an eyewitness for much of it. And then in Acts 20:4 we're given a list of the other seven team members and the places they're from. And I put that on your outline for you guys, like Sopater and Aristarchus and Secundus and Gaius, Timothy, Ticicus, and Trophimus. All these guys are on the team as well.
And there could be more people than this on the team. But these nine we know were a part of this team for sure. Now, Luke records certain details of this trip for us, but he only records the basic facts of the trip, mostly travel itinerary stuff. We left this town and went to that town. We stayed there this many days.
So and so were there. This person said this, that person did that. Then we went to the next town, and so on. Now, last week, Jeff did an amazing job walking us through this text and explaining all the details that Luke shares with us. What I want to do tonight in this message, as we make a second pass over this exact same text, is I want us to try and imagine what the journey would have been like for everyone involved.
I want us to imagine what they would have experienced in the moments that weren't recorded for us. This is going to take a little bit of reading between the lines. Please hear me. I'm not suggesting for 1 second that we can say with certainty exactly what happened where the Bible doesn't explicitly say. But I do think we can make some good educated guesses about some things this mission team experienced together.
And although there isn't a commentary on how every waking moment was spent by this traveling team, I think we're able to read between the lines of what they would have experienced on this trip. And the things that we can deduce from this account should make those of us who are followers of Jesus want to experience the same kind of things in our lives as our brothers and sisters in Acts 21 got to experience in theirs. For example, think about the dynamics that would have existed between everyone who was on this team. The eight men that accompanied Paul on this voyage were with him 24/7 for the majority of the trip, there were the odd times where Paul was by himself, like when he was meeting with the Ephesian elders at the end of Acts 20. But for the most part, everyone on the team was together.
That means that Paul and the team were all together for the big, memorable moments of the journey that are recorded for us. But they were also together for all the downtime that took place in between the events that Luke wrote down. They were all there together in verse is and six, when the whole church at Tyre knelt with them on the beach and prayed for them as they left town. They were all there in verses ten and eleven when Agabus came down from Judea and prophesied concerning the things that were to happen to Paul. They were all there together in verse twelve when everyone pleaded with Paul not to go to Jerusalem, and they were all there to hear his response.
The whole team was all together for those moments. But here's the thing. They were also together for all the things that weren't recorded for us in the scriptures, things that would have happened. They would have eaten meals together. They would have found ways to pass the time together as they spent countless hours traveling by boat on the open sea.
They would have prayed together. They would have solved problems together. I'm sure they would have laughed together and cried together. They were with each other for a substantial amount of time. Brothers in Christ, doing life together, living on mission together, accomplishing God's will together.
And I bet it was sweet. Some of the best times of my life happened during the unrecorded parts of my day. They pop up during the unplanned moments that happen while I'm in the process of trying to do God's will alongside my brothers and sisters in Christ. One of the things that I get to give myself to as one of the elders here at Gospel City Church is I get to take members of the church through discipleship training, called the multiplication pipeline, or pipeline for short. It's a three-year course where I have the privilege of training disciples of Jesus here in Gospel City how to live their lives sold out on mission for Jesus.
In this training, memorize scripture, complete homework assignments during the week, and then once a week, we all meet together to process all the things that we're learning. It's in these moments when we're together that we have some of the best times. We have serious discussions, to be sure, but there are also times when we are all laughing uncontrollably at something that just comes up in the course of our discussions. This happens often through the course of just doing life together as part of the family of God. We have fun.
At the same time, we're trying to discern God's will so that we can live in it. And because I often get to enjoy experiences like this, I almost never schedule planned events in my calendar that are purely recreational. I said almost never. I have very little need for extracurricular events in my life because my life is so full trying to obey Christ, surrounded by my brothers and sisters who are trying to do the same thing. Now, Luke records some notable events in our passage that their mission team got to experience.
But it's safe to say that there also would have been countless things they experienced through the course of their mission that Luke didn't write down. I have no doubt they experienced them. And when I imagine how full their lives must have been as they gave themselves to living on mission for God together, I thank God for the similar things I get to experience in my life today, and it makes me want so much more of it, and not just for me, but for all of God's people. Now, the dynamics that existed between those on the mission team itself aren't the only dynamics that we should consider as we look at this text. There were several stops along the way where the mission team was able to interact with a number of different believers who weren't traveling with the team full-time.
The other believers that are mentioned in this text also got to be a part of what God was doing through this mission team, albeit in a different capacity. And this tells us that God doesn't call every Christian to be a full-time missionary who travels to the ends of the earth, but he does call every Christian to contribute to the mission somehow, in some way, even if they never leave their city to do it. This is what we see in our text. There were nine individuals on the mission team whose names we know, and there were countless unnamed individuals who got the chance to participate in what God was doing through this team. Paul was the only one who interacted with the Ephesian elders back in Miletus at the end of chapter 20.
But in verse one of chapter 21, Luke says that we, our whole mission team, had to tear ourselves away from these elders in order to continue the journey. Think about that. The relational tie was so strong between the traveling missionaries and the Ephesian elders that they had to be ripped apart from each other so that the mission could go on. The impact these two groups had on each other was that strong that they had to be torn apart. Could I ask you something?
Have you ever experienced anything like that before? Have you ever experienced a relationship with a group of believers like this, a relationship where both parties have so much affection for one another that their hearts are spiritually superglued together so that you need to be torn apart from each other in order for God's mission to be accomplished. If you do know familial love like this in the body of Christ, then you know how sweet it is. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, then I need to tell you that this kind of loving relationship with God's people is possible today. This kind of loving relationship is available if you're interested.
We need to see this kind of love when we look through the spiritual catalog that is Acts 21 and all of Acts. In just a little bit, I'll show you how we can position ourselves to experience these kinds of relationships in our own life. But after the team left Miletus, they arrived entire, and they sought out the disciples who were there. And it says they stayed there for seven days. And during this time, the Holy Spirit ministered to Paul through them.
And by the end of the seven days, when the team was about to leave, the whole church of Tyre came out to see them off. Men, women, children, and the mission team all knelt down together on the beach to pray. And then the team set off on the next leg of their journey. What kind of impact do you think the mission team had on the believer's entire? And what kind of impact do you think the church entire had on the mission team?
Monumental impact was experienced both ways. Everyone was impacted, and this kind of affection was stirred up for one another in only seven days. Can you imagine what the Bible studies entire were like in the days that followed? Hey, do you guys remember when that mission team was here? Do you guys remember what Paul taught us?
Do you guys remember how the Holy Spirit spoke through us to Paul? I wonder how they're doing. I wonder where they are right now. Let's pray for them. The encounter that was shared in Tyre would have been so uplifting to have experienced it firsthand, and it would have continued to bless them even after the team had left, as they reflected on the numerous memories they shared together.
After the team left Tyre, they spent time with fellow believers in Ptolemais for a day, making their way to Caesarea, where they met with Philip and stayed with him and his family. And it was in Caesarea where Agabus came down from Judea to prophesy concerning Paul. So the mission team would have had incredible interpersonal connections and experiences just within the team itself. But they also got to experience rich relationships with countless brothers and sisters in Christ at various stops along their way to Jerusalem. The mission team would have been blessed by all of these interactions, and all those individuals from places like Tyre, Ptolemais, Caesarea would have been deeply blessed by the interactions they got to share with their traveling band of brothers.
This tells us that you don't have to be on a mission team to go on a mission or go on a mission trip to be a part of the mission God is doing around the world. You can potentially participate and never leave Port Coquitlam.
I said at the beginning of our time that the Book of Acts is like a catalog for Christians because it shows us things that we can have in our lives. And the first 14 verses in Acts 21 shows us a picture of believers living on mission for God together.
Is this something that you personally want for yourself? Do you want to have the experience of contributing to the work God is doing in our world, and do you want to experience it in a meaningful way with your brothers and sisters in Christ? I hope the answer is yes. I hope it is, because what's the alternative? Sadly, I think a lot of us are living the alternative, and a lot of us are frustrated by the alternative, which is this.
We've been lulled into living comfortable, Christianized versions of the exact same lives as those who don't know Christ live. The only difference a lot of the time is Christians swear less than our unbelieving neighbors do and Christians read the Bible more than they do. But at the end of the day, our lives terminate on us just like their lives terminate upon them. Meaning individually or collectively as a church, we give ourselves to things that don't end up impacting anyone else in our lives beyond ourselves. We meet on Sunday night for church.
We meet on Wednesday night for home group. Some of us meet on Monday night for pipeline. But are our neighbors being impacted by all the churchy things we give ourselves to? Are our coworkers being exposed to the gospel more frequently because of all the churchy things we do? Do the things we do as a church translate to impacting the people around us for the kingdom of God, or do the things we do just impact us?
So I hope that when we talk about living on mission for Jesus alongside and with our brothers and sisters in Christ, that something is stirred up within you. I hope a little bit of holy discontent is stirred up among us. I hope we want to experience more of the Christian life than what we currently do. And if this describes you, if what I'm saying resonates with you. Please know this.
You're not alone, not by a long shot. There are others who want the same thing, who want to experience what God is doing in this world. And if we come to the realization that we want it, then we have to ask more questions. Questions like, how can we position ourselves so that we can be a part of similar experiences today? And what's the difference between our lives as Christians and the lives of the believers we read about in Acts 21?
We need to know what's different between us because there are some things that are the same between us. It's just that the things that we have in common with them apparently aren't impacting our lives the same way that they impacted theirs. For example, they are Christians. We are Christians. They have the Holy Spirit.
We have the Holy Spirit. They love Jesus. We love Jesus. They love the church. We love the church.
They are experiencing and living on mission together for God in awesome ways. And as a whole, we are not. So what are we missing from our passage? I can observe three things that were present in their lives that made their living on mission together possible. Three things that we need in our life if we're going to enjoy the same experiences today.
Here's the first one. It's the first. Fill in on your outline. God's people need to have a clear mission. God's people need to have a clear mission.
We need to have a mission before we can give ourselves to do anything that impacts the mission. How could we give ourselves to something that we don't even know exists or that we don't know anything about? How could we join God in doing his will if he hasn't revealed what his will is? This means we need a clear missional direction from God before we can participate in it. When I say that we need a mission, I'm talking about something above and beyond what every single believer should be giving themselves to all the time.
We don't need to receive a clear mission from God in order for us to love God and love our neighbor. Jesus tells us to do that in Matthew chapter 22. We don't need to receive a clear mission from God in order for us to love one another like love Christians in the church. Jesus. Jesus told us plainly to do that in John chapter 13.
We don't need to receive a clear mission from God in order for us collectively to preach the gospel, baptize new believers, and teach them to obey Jesus. Jesus tells us to do that in Matthew 28. So it's not like we're completely in the dark about what Jesus wants us to do. We've been given a lot of clarity that can shape the way that we live our lives. But beyond those clear directives that should shape the way every believer lives, the body of Christ needs a clear, focused mission where our collective energy, gifts, talents, and resources can all be funneled towards.
We need something that we can rally around that everyone can contribute to. The mission team had this in Acts 21. They had a clear mission that shaped how they served the Lord. Their mission, go to Jerusalem. And their purpose for going was twofold.
Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ, and Paul was compelled by Christ to go to Jerusalem. So that's reason number one for the trip. God said, go. And when you live for God, that's all you need to hear. But on top of that, it's more than likely that this team was bringing relief funds to the church in Jerusalem that was suffering because of a famine.
Some commentators believe that Paul and Luke's travel companions, listed in Acts 20:4, represented the fruit of Paul's labor in the various areas of his work. And in 1 Corinthians 16:3-4, which is on your outline, Paul intended that local representatives of the churches he had founded should bring the money collected for the poor Christians in Jerusalem, perhaps in his company. It's reasonable to infer that those mentioned in Acts 20, verse four, except perhaps Timothy, were on this trip to do this very task. So their mission was clear. It was to get Paul to Jerusalem and get the money that was raised by the surrounding local churches to the brothers and sisters in the church in Jerusalem who needed it.
They had a mission, and we can see how everyone in the text rallied around getting this mission accomplished. The nine-man mission team was focused on getting this mission accomplished, and at all the places they stopped along the way, they received support that helped them on their way to getting the job done. We need this in the church today. We don't need the exact same mission that they had. We don't need to send relief funds with a nine-person team to Jerusalem.
But we do need a clear directive from the Lord Jesus on what he wants us to do in his name and how he wants us to minister the gospel here, Port Coquitlam, and or beyond the borders of the Tri-Cities. We need that. Okay. I have to admit that this right here would be the perfect spot in the message to unveil a new gospel initiative for Gospel City that I could call all of us to participate in. It would be the perfect time to share that with you.
If I had one to share, but I don't. I'm not sure what this mission is yet. And we're not going to just make something up so that we have one. I believe God will show us what he wants us to do. And just so you know, I'm not passively waiting for him to show us what this specific mission is.
I'm actively seeking him to know what his will is concerning this and concerning our church. What does Jesus want to do with Gospel City church? What does he want us to leverage our time, energy, money, and various skills toward? How does he want us to impact our city for his name's sake? Once this can be discerned, then it can be articulated.
And once it's clearly articulated, then we will have an opportunity to join God in what he is wanting to do with us. So stay tuned over the days and weeks to come, because whatever is going to be, I can promise you this, if it's from God, it's going to be awesome. And so the first thing we need to have in place, though, before we live on mission for God, is a mission from God. But that's just the first thing we need. It's not the only thing.
Go ahead and write this down and then we'll talk about it. God's people need to have margin in their lives. God's people need to have margin in their lives. If we don't have this. Speaking of margin, I don't think we'll be able to participate in the mission God gives us.
We won't be able to because we're too busy. A thought struck me as I was meditating on Acts 21 this week. Those in Acts 21 didn't have any less responsibilities than we do today. They probably had more. They didn't have Costco back then.
They had to grow their own produce, raise their own livestock. They had to work each day in order to get paid at the end of each day so that they could eat food each day. They were busy people, but even though they had difficult and busy lives, they were able to respond to the opportunity to participate with the mission team. When that time came, the Ephesian elders had time to travel from Ephesus to meet Paul at Miletus. The church at Tyre had time to meet the needs of the mission team when they arrived, and they had time to fellowship with them over the week that they were there.
The brothers and sisters in Ptolemais had time to greet the mission team and show them hospitality and practical ways. Philip had time to put the team up at his place. When they were in Caesarea, Agabus had time to leave Judea and come down to Caesarea to minister to Paul. All the different people we meet in Acts 21 had enough margin in their life that allowed them to play a role in the mission team getting to Jerusalem. And they had this time, even though they would have all had very, very busy lives to lead.
Would we be able to respond the same way with how most of us live our lives? How would we be able to respond if we got the news that a mission team with the apostle Paul was coming through our town and was going to be here for a week and that they could use our help with the way that most of our lives are currently set up? Would we be able to experience any part of the mission God was accomplishing through them the same way that those who lived in Ephesus, Tyre, Ptolemais, and Caesarea did? I'm not sure we'd be able to help even if we wanted to, because our lives are too full. I'm not even sure what our lives are so filled up with.
To be honest, I was trying to think of what it could be. All I know is this. I often hear from people, many of you, that our lives are so busy and we're so tired all of the time. I'm sure we're busy and tired for various reasons, some good and some not so good. Sometimes we can have seasons in our life that are a little slower-paced.
Praise God for those. And sometimes we are in seasons where we are slammed 24/7 with seemingly zero margin in any of our days. I'm aware that we can oscillate between both of these kinds of seasons in our life. But I have the sense that for most of us, for most of the time, if we're being honest, we don't have the margin in our life that we need. We have to address that if we want to experience real, meaningful, purposeful life in Christ.
Because if we don't create margin in our life that would enable us to respond to God's invitation to join him in what he's doing, we'll miss out on joining him because we're too busy or too tired to do it. I'm opening up a big can of worms with this point here, and I don't have the time to presume all the what-ifs and what-about questions that may be filling your head right now. But I can give you some simple and practical pointers. Take a look at your calendar, assuming that you're using one, and identify those things that have to stay there. Things like work, school, chores.
Don't call your work tomorrow and tell them you quit because a pastor told you to create more margin in your life. After you identify what needs to stay on the calendar, then you can see what things can go. Sometimes there are even good things that aren't necessary things. Please hear me. I'm not telling you to quit anything.
I'm asking you to be thoughtful about how you schedule your time and for you to be thoughtful about how you are currently spending your time and prayerfully consider the best way you can steward the time God has given you. Be cautious of saying yes to every new thing that you can add to your calendar. Get in the habit of leaving margin in your life on purpose, with the intent of being free when the time comes to use that time to do whatever God gives you an opportunity to do because we want to be able to join the mission the same way those in Acts chapter 21 were able to do.
This brings us to a third thing we need if we're going to be a part of the mission God is accomplishing among us. Go ahead and write this down. God's people must have a mutual passion for following Jesus. A mutual passion for following Jesus.
Now this one is more of an intangible. I don't know how to create this in myself or in us as a group of people, but we all need it if we're going to experience the kinds of things that we read about in the Book of Acts. Because we can have a clear mission, we can create enough margin. But with both of those things in place, it's still possible to miss out on what God wants to do in us and through us. If we don't really want it that bad, if we don't have a passion for Christ.
You can receive a clear directive from Jesus and you can have newly created margin in your life that would allow you to participate in his mission. But if you don't really care that much about doing God's will in your life, you will use the newfound margin in your life to take a nap or to do something less awesome than partnering with God to do his will. In this world, mission and margin are not enough by themselves. We need a mutual passion for Jesus, passion that unites all of us to see his will done in us and through us. Everyone in Acts 21, regardless of the level of their personal involvement or role in the mission, all gave themselves to being a part of the mission wherever they had the opportunity to do so.
Some were on the mission team itself. Others played part-time roles in the various ports where the team traveled. All had different roles, but all said yes to what they could do, when they could do it. Think about this. When they said yes to the opportunity presented to them, they had to say no to something else.
The Ephesian elders couldn't stay in Ephesus and meet Paul in Miletus. They had to say no to one of them. They had to choose what they were going to say yes to. Philip couldn't have a quiet, empty house in Caesarea and show hospitality to a nine-person mission team at the same time. He had to choose what he was going to say yes to.
When you and I say yes to join God in what he's doing, that means we have to say no to something else. What you are most passionate about will influence what you say yes to and what you say no to in your life. Everyone who played a role in the events of Acts 21 all shared the same passion. It was a mutual passion amongst them. Their shared passion was Jesus.
And what he is doing right now, that's what they gave themselves to. Are we on the same page as a church when it comes to this? Have we predetermined in our minds that we are going to give ourselves to do whatever God reveals to us by way of his word and his spirit, no matter what any of our individual roles may look like? Have we all put our whole lives up on the table and said to God, Lord, you have my life. It's not much, but you can do whatever you want with me, with my time, my energy, my money, my gifts, and my talents.
It's all yours, God, I'm ready to play any role you want me to. I'm ready to. Verse is any capacity. All I want is to have the privilege of being a part of what you are doing. I want to experience something that really matters.
I want to be a part of something that has eternal significance.
I get excited when I talk about these things because I know that our little church is full of people who want to experience this. The size of our church is not a limiting factor to what we can do in Jesus's name. Jesus has already shown us that he can change the world with a small group of people that are passionate about seeing his will done in their life. And I believe that Jesus is leading us into a new and exciting territory in this regard. So buckle up and get ready, because the time will come when he gives us a specific mission to accomplish.
And when he does, will we have the margin in our life to be free to join him in that. Because when those two things align, mission and margin, then we will have an opportunity for our mutual passion for Jesus to be poured out in and through Gospel City church. It happened in Acts 21, and I believe it can happen here today too. Amen. Amen.
Let's pray. And as I do that, as we pray, I'm going to invite the worship team to come and get ready. You, you, Father, I love. Not I love we, we as a church, we love your word. And I pray, Lord, that it would be a spiritual catalog for us in a way that as we flip through the pages of acts and we see the way that your people lived right from the get-go, what the church experienced, that it would create in us a hunger and a desire and a passion to experience similar things in our lives.
We pray, Lord, that you'd stir us out of any complacency if we've fallen into it, any kind of rut that we might be in just being satisfied with the status quo of our lives, barely moving the needle for kingdom purposes if we need it. Lord, please with your Holy Spirit fall upon all of us and convict us and lead us to repentance. If we don't care about your mission in this world, I pray that you change our hearts so that we do care about it. What's more important than that about your business? Make us a people.
Make us a church. That's like twelve-year-old Jesus who said I have to be about my father's business.
I pray, Lord, for anyone here who's joining us as a guest, as a visitor, who might be scratching their head saying, like, why would a group of people want to live like this? Live with this kind of fervor and tenacity and passion and being all in for Jesus. What kind of people would want to do that? Lord, I pray that you would open the eyes of their heart and show them what kind of people, it's the kind of people that was dead and lost in our sins. Every single one of us on a fast track to hell, separated from God forever and ever and ever.
And it's that kind of people who were met by the grace of God that Jesus Christ opened the eyes of our hearts and revealed to us what he did on the cross for us. That the Son of God came and lived for us and then gave himself up to hang on a wooden cross where he took upon himself the sins of the entire world. Ours included sins that would have sent us to hell forever. But he paid for them. And after paying for them in full.
He was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead, conquering death. And then that risen Christ chasing us down, applying that forgiveness to our life and causing us to be born again to a living hope. Why do we want to live on passion for Jesus? How could we live in any other way after what he has done for us? Resuscitate us, Jesus.
Make us alive unto you. Not to pay you back. Heaven forbid. It's blasphemous. We can never pay you back.
But because of the love that you've poured into our hearts, this is the only natural, it's the only supernatural response, that we'd lay everything down at your feet and say, Jesus, do whatever you want with us. We're yours. We're yours.
Do that. We pray in Gospel city church. Lord Jesus, lead us to that kind of life. We pray, help us hear, help us know, help us surrender, and help us do it together. For your glory and for our deepest joy and satisfaction, we pray these things in your name, Jesus.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.