You may not have realized that the church actually has a birthday, but we do. It is Pentecost. And this is the Sunday called Pentecost Sunday that in the church calendar we remember the Holy Spirit coming in Jerusalem and us being commissioned to go and make disciples in the power of the Spirit. So that's what we're going to be celebrating today as we end our mini series on the personal work of the Holy Spirit with a focus on mission, as is appropriate for this particular Sunday.
Now, Romans, chapter 15. We're gonna begin reading in verse 18. As Paul the apostle looks back at all about the last 20 plus years that he has spent in ministry, and his conclusion about how he has been able to accomplish those years in ministry is important and critical for us today. Romans 1518. This is God's word, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. To bring the Gentiles to obedience, meaning salvation by word, indeed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the spirit of God. So that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the Gospel of Christ, verse 20. And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation. But as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. This is God's word.
And lord, I pray that your spirit would be with us today to open our eyes, to open our ears that we might grasp what is eternally true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Well, it is swim season again. My kids just got in the pool for the first time yesterday, and it reminded me of one particular summer where one of my boys forgot that he could swim. And if you've ever. That's ever happened, he was a parent. I've not met anyone else that's happened to you. If you have had this happen to you, come talk to me after the message. But here's what happened with one of my boys. He learned to swim the previous summer. He went from real hesitant to actually beginning to strike out and be able to go swim through deep water, and he was doing great. And then we stopped swimming. We went through the whole year, and it was the first day back in the pool, and he was hesitant. He was fearful. He was doing, you know, the thing kids do where they cling to the side of the pool, on the wall or to the step, and he's kind of swimming back and forth between the steps, and we're like, buddy, what are you doing? And he's like, oh, you know, I don't know. And finally we realized he's hesitant. He forgot that he could swim. He doesn't want to strike out. And so finally, his mom and I kind of got him and said, hey, buddy, buddy, listen, you can swim. And he was like, uh huh, right? You learned to swim. We were there. You were there, right? You did this before. So here's what I need you to do, buddy. I need you to. You're on the wall. I need you to push off from the wall and swim to the other side. And he was like, uh huh. And they're like, no, no, no. You can do this. You have done this before. And eventually, with some encouragement, he did push off from the wall and swim across to the other side. And from that moment on, it was like a switch flipped, and he was like, oh, yeah, I can swim. And so he was fine after that. He just forgot.
And that, I think, is often what happens to us as christians in the area of mission. When we think of God's mission, when we think of sharing the gospel with people, when we think of taking gospel risks, when we think of planting churches or sending mission workers out to the ends of the earth. I think what happens often in the church is we forget as a church, as the church, that we can swim, we end up clinging kind of to the sides of the pool, going like, ooh, sharing the gospel seems scary. Planting a church seems too difficult. Going across the world to tell people about Jesus seems too intimidating. And we forget, no, the church has been swimming for the last 2000 years, in fact, longer. So God, here's the main point I wanna get across today. It's simple. God's people have God's power for God's purposes. I only have one point, and that is it. And what we're gonna do at the end is actually take some time for missional prayer together about some specific priorities we have. But that's the point. God's people have God's power for God's purposes. That's true of us at cross of grace. Cross of grace church has God's power for God's purposes. And then you now insert your name in your mind like, Ricky has God's power for God's purposes.
We're gonna see this in the Old Testament, in Jesus and in the New Testament. So first, the spirit's power in the Old Testament because it's important for us to remember the Holy Spirit doesn't suddenly show up at the beginning of acts like, oh, where was that the whole time? No. God threads the reality of the spirit all the way from Genesis one through the Old Testament. And one of the things that we consistently see in the Old Testament is the Holy Spirit comes upon those called to accomplish God's purposes. So when God calls someone to accomplish his purposes, he gives them the power to fulfill those purposes. For example, he fills Moses. And then he from Moses fills the 70 elders in Israel that govern the nation. And numbers eleven. You see this? God says, I will come down and talk with you there, and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you. So God empowered Moses, and then God empowers these leaders because he's called them to do something to lead this people into the promised land.
6 · The exposition continues through the book of Judges, showing that the Spirit's empowerment extended beyond Moses to Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson for the purpose of rescuing God's people
And then once they arrive in the promised land, it's not as though the Holy Spirit's like, okay, you guys got there, you're good. No. Often in the book of judges, we hear this repeated refrain that they were filled with the spirit to rescue God's people, to save God's people, to accomplish God's purposes. This is true from the very first judge, Othniel. In judges chapter three, verse ten, it says, the spirit of the Lord was upon him, Othniel, and he judged Israel and he went out to war. And the Lord gave kings in his hand. And this is true of the judges that follow. It's true. It's said to be true of Gideon. God filled Gideon with the spirit. Or Jephthah. He filled Jephthah with the spirit. Or Samson. Remember the mighty deed Samson does. And you're like, man, he must have been really strong. No, they actually wonder in judges, where does his strength come from? Meaning he had some kind of a build that was like, yeah, I'm not seeing it. This is the guy that killed 30 people. How did he do it? Because he was filled with the spirit.
7 · The Old Testament exposition culminates with David, showing that even Israel's greatest king accomplished everything through the power of the Spirit, beginning when Samuel anointed him
And indeed, we see this with David himself. David, the greatest king, the military leader of Israel. How was it that he beat Goliath? How was it that he conquered kings? Well, the beginning of his journey in first Samuel, 1613, it says this. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. So everything David did, we must remember he did filled with the power of the spirit.
8 · The pastor qualifies the Old Testament pattern, showing that Spirit-filling extended beyond famous leaders to ordinary craftsmen and revealing Moses's longing for all God's people to be filled with the Spirit
Here's the point. God gives his people his power for his purposes, that is, through the entire Old Testament. And in fact, you might be thinking, well, but that's just the Davids. That's just the big, powerful leaders. No, we see glimpses and glimmers of a longing and a foretaste that one day this would be spread through all God's people. For example, the first people filled with the spirit in exodus explicitly are actually the craftsmen who build the tabernacle. Just these guys. It says of them, they were filled with the spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, and with knowledge and with all craftsmanship, meaning they're called by God to accomplish his purposes and build this tabernacle. And so God gives his spirit for that purpose. In fact, when the spirit of God that was on Moses is passed on to the 70 ruling and helping with Moses, Moses cries out, oh, man, would that all God's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit them. So these leaders were filled with the spirit. But there's also this undercurrent of longing and glimpses. You see, Saul and some of his people begin to prophesy at one point, there's these glimpses of the spirit of God being poured out not just on the big leader, but through all God's people.
9 · Direct application to the congregation that though they are not Old Testament heroes, they possess the same Holy Spirit and should therefore have higher expectations than natural resources would suggest
Now, here's the point. You're not Moses, you're not David, you're not Gideon, you're not Samson, but Christian. If you are in Christ, you have the same holy spirit that was on them. Look, you might approach your day and you're thinking, man, I don't think my expectations for life are low. My expectations for our church and what we're gonna accomplish, they're low because I'm looking at what I have and my resources, or us and our resources, and I'm looking at and going, projecting into the future and going, yeah, it's not gonna amount to much except for this, that the spirit of God empowers his people for his purposes.
10 · Transition to Jesus showing that the Old Testament prophesied the Messiah would be filled with the Spirit, with Isaiah 42:1 as the primary evidence
You see that in the Old Testament. But then you see that specifically with Jesus. Right. The whole Old Testament looks forward to Jesus, the messiah, the savior king. And we often forget that one of the notable qualities or features of this messiah is that he would be full of the power of the spirit. You see this throughout the book of Isaiah. But let's look at Isaiah 42 one. You don't have to turn there. I'll read it. Behold my servant, whom I uphold my chosen and whom my soul delights. What's true of him? I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring forth justice to the nations. So we often forget that the messiah was meant to be filled powerfully with the spirit of God.
11 · Isaiah 61 is expounded to show that the Spirit-filled Messiah would bring supernatural transformation—binding broken hearts, freeing captives, opening prisons—things only possible through the Spirit's power
Or Isaiah 61, the spirit of the Lord God. This is the servant speaking in the future. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has appointed me to, to bring good news. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Look, those are supernatural things. How do you bind up a broken heart? Right? There's no surgery in the world that's gonna do that. But the spirit is gonna do that. How do you bring liberty to the captives? It's not gonna be done in the natural. It's gonna be supernaturally through the spirit. How are those who are bound and imprisoned spiritually going to ever be freed? Only through the supernatural power of the spirit. That's what the Messiah will bring with him.
12 · Joel 2 is introduced to show that the Messiah would inaugurate an era when the Spirit would be poured out on all God's people—fulfilling Moses's longing and making universal what was rare in the Old Testament
And in addition to that, the Messiah will inaugurate a new era for God's people, one in which what was rare in the Old Testament would be normative and beautifully normal in the New Testament era. You see this in Joel, chapter two. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. And to describe it, he says, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions, even on the male and female servants in those days. I will pour out my spirit. That's what Moses longed for in numbers, he's going to be done in and through the Messiah coming and inaugurating in the sense the kingdom of heaven and the messianic age.
13 · The pastor demonstrates that the New Testament opens with a 'Holy Spirit explosion'—multiple ordinary people being filled with the Spirit around Jesus' birth, signaling the arrival of the prophesied Spirit-filled Messiah and the Joel 2 era
Now, as if to signal, okay, here he is. Here he is. Here he is. When we open the pages of the New Testament, what do we find? We find a holy spirit explosion. You may not have realized this, but it's an interesting exercise just to open the book of Luke and to underline all of the references to the Holy Spirit in the first chapters, in chapters one to five, because here's what you're gonna find. You're gonna find that Zechariah, John the Baptist's father, boom, he's filled with the spirit. Elizabeth, boom, she's filled with the spirit. John, filled with the spirit from the womb. How is Jesus conceived? Jesus conception is spoken of in Luke 135, as the Holy Spirit will come upon you, Mary. Or in Matthew 118, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. So it's almost like all these pointers going, yep, this is him. This is him. The messiah. The spirit filled savior king has come. And all of a sudden the overflow is that these normal people, like Simeon, like Zechariah, are being filled with the spirit. That's Joel two. That is Isaiah 42.
14 · Jesus' baptism is presented as the unmistakable fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy—the Spirit descending on Him in bodily form as a visible, irrefutable sign that He is the Spirit-filled Messiah
And this is what we see throughout. In fact, everything jesus does in the gospels, he does in and through the power of the Holy Spirit. It inaugurates the beginning of his ministry, very specifically in Luke chapter three, where it says, now, when all the people were baptized and when Jesus had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were open and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. It does not get clearer now. The sign is flashing neon lights saying, this is him. It is he from Isaiah, the messiah, the savior king, the spirit filled one. In case it wasn't clear enough, I'm going to have a dove come and literally land on his head and be like, are you getting this is what the Lord is saying.
15 · Jesus' wilderness temptation and first sermon (quoting Isaiah 61) are shown as definitive proof that His entire ministry was conducted in and through the power of the Holy Spirit
And then in Luke four, it says this. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit in the wilderness for 40 days. So he's full of the spirit. He endures temptation. And then when he emerges from that temptation to begin his ministry, what text does he preach as his first sermon, we find this in Luke chapter four, but more importantly, we find it in Isaiah 61. He unrolls the scroll and proclaims, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, right? That is the beginning of Jesus ministry. So we're meant to read everything that Jesus does in the gospels, he does in and with the power of the Holy Spirit.
16 · Direct application correcting the false assumption that Jesus had a unique Spirit unavailable to the church, emphasizing that the same Spirit on Christ is poured out on the church
Now, why am I belaboring this? Because, Christian, you're not Jesus, but you have the same holy spirit. I think too often we're like, man, the stuff that Jesus does, all those amazing things, they're just. That's just Jesus, you know? And to be sure, there are unique things that the son of God himself does in his earthly ministry. But we are meant to be encouraged by the connections between Luke and acts that the same spirit, spirit on Christ is the spirit poured out on the church. It's not a different spirit. It's not as though Jesus gets the varsity spirit and the church gets the junior varsity spirit. Jesus has the a team spirit. We have the b team spirit. No, the same spirit.
17 · Brief transition connecting the theological foundation to Jesus' commission of the church
And that's exactly what you see when Jesus commissions the church.
18 · Theological exposition of the cross's necessity—Jesus died for sin, restoring our relationship with God and making possible the new creation God works in us
And in John chapter 20, there's this profoundly powerful text where Jesus has just died on the cross. He's died on the cross in the place of God's people, which is critical and important, because what really broke our relationship to God was our sin, our turning away from God. And we've covered this in the earlier messages in this mini series, but. But our profound brokenness flows from our sinfulness. And so not only do we need someone to deal with our sin, which is what Jesus does on the cross, we also need someone to give us a new heart, as Ezekiel 37 says. And so Jesus makes that possible by dying for our sins, restoring our relationship with God. And then God begins to create in us a new creation, which is profound and powerful.
19 · John 20:21-22 is expounded to show that peace, mission, and Spirit-empowerment are inseparably linked—you cannot separate forgiveness from commission, and commission always comes with Spirit-power to fulfill it
And so Jesus has just accomplished this work, which is beautiful and amazing, and he comes and stands among his disciples miraculously. And John 20, verse 21, this is what Jesus says, peace be with you. Which I think is just beautiful because it means the first. I mean, remember, these are the guys that abandoned Jesus, that ran away. Peter denied him. What's the first word that Jesus speaks to them? Peace be with you. He's gone to the cross to die for their sins. Their relationship is restored. Peace be with you. And then this, as the Father has sent me, even so, I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit. Now there's this powerful moment where Jesus comes and proclaims peace because of the cross. But that peace from the cross is immediately tied into mission to go tell other people about the cross and about Jesus. And that mission is immediately then tied into the power Jesus gives to fulfill that mission. You can't pick these pieces apart from each other. You can't just say, well, awesome, I'd like the forgiveness, but I don't want to have to do the mission. I'm grateful for Jesus mission to me, but I'm good. You guys go ahead. No, if you've been saved by Christ, you're commissioned to proclaim Christ. But here's the good news. If you're commissioned to proclaim Christ, the spirit is given to empower you to do what God has called you to do. These elements are impossible to pull apart.
20 · Acts 1:8 is introduced as a second witness to the inseparable link between Spirit-power and mission—the commission to witness to the ends of the earth is given in the same breath as the promise of power
Now you see this again very clearly in acts chapter one, where Jesus is about to ascend, and he commissions the church yet again. And notice how the mission and the power are linked. Acts one eight. Jesus says this, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
21 · Direct theological claim that one cannot separate Spirit-power from mission—the Greek grammar of Acts 1:8 itself proves they are inseparable
Now notice, you can't just say, great, I would love the power. I'm not as big on mission stuff, though, you know, I would just love to experience the spirit and have that wonderful closeness with the Lord. But I'm good on having a go and share the gospel with people I don't know or build churches or plant churches. I think I'm just good with the comma. No, you can't. You can't. There's no actually comma in Greek. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses. They're linked. You can't pull them apart.
22 · Transition establishing the interpretive lens for reading Acts—every action of the church should be understood as occurring under the umbrella of Spirit-empowerment
So here's then what occurs. Everything in the Book of Acts, just like everything in the gospel of Luke, was under that umbrella. Jesus, filled with the spirit, did this, said this. You see that in acts, everything that the church does in the Book of Acts, when this person does this or that person does that, or this church is planted or that miracle occurs, all of it is under the umbrella. The church, empowered by the spirit, did this. That's what we should read in the book of acts.
23 · Acts 4:8 is cited as an example of the pattern that whenever someone in Acts fulfills their purpose, God gives power for that purpose through the Spirit
You find this throughout, for example, in acts four eight, where a miracle occurs through the power of the spirit. And Peter stands up to address the crowd, and it says this. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, do you see what's going on? Peter stands up to fulfill his purpose, and the Lord gives him power for that purpose.
24 · Additional examples from Acts showing that Philip and Paul also acted under Spirit-empowerment, with a note that this pattern of Spirit-power for God's purposes appears throughout the New Testament epistles
You see this again? You see this with Philip. The spirit tells Philip to go. You see Paul, the beginning of his ministry. You might think, well, Paul, he kind of came later. No, it says in acts 917, Paul is filled with the Holy Spirit. So everything Paul does is under the power of the spirit. And you see this. This is just the way that the New Testament written. That power that accompanies the purposes of God is referred to throughout the New Testament, but specifically the filling of the spirit. And his gifts are in places like one Thessalonians or second Timothy or Hebrews and first Corinthians, which we will return to next week over and over.
25 · Transition redirecting attention back to the primary text in Romans 15
But I want you to go back to romans 15 because I want to show you just a couple things here.
26 · Exposition of Romans 15:18-21 showing Paul's attribution of his entire two-decade ministry to Christ's work through him by the Spirit, fulfilling Jesus' commission in Acts 1:8
Romans 15. Paul has been at this ministry for a couple decades. He is at the end of his second missionary journey, likely. He's planted a bunch of churches, he's evangelized a bunch of people. God has used him in profound and powerful ways to do miraculous things. And yet, as he looks back on his ministry, this is his summary, this is his view. Romans 1518. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ, remember, the spirit filled messiah has accomplished through me to bring the gentiles to obedience, meaning salvation. And here's how he's done it, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the spirit of God. So that from Jerusalem and all the way around Illyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ. Right. You should be hearing echoes of Jesus first sermon. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me to proclaim good news to all. And Jesus commissioning the church, you will receive power, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Paul is basically saying, yep, after being at this for 20 years, that's exactly what's happened. Anything that I've done, quote unquote, hasn't been me. Jesus, the spirit filled Messiah, has done it through his spirit as the gospel has gone forward in the power of the spirit.
27 · Restatement of the sermon's main thesis after the Romans 15 exposition
God's power was given to God's people for God's purposes.
28 · Application addressing the false distance many feel from Acts, arguing that since the gospel has not yet reached every nation, the Spirit's power continues unchanged in the church today
Now, look, sometimes I think there's, there's this distance we can have from the New Testament, from the book of acts where we're going. Yeah, well, I see this amazing thing that happened in acts, but I wish I could have seen that. Seems pretty cool. Or Paul doing these amazing things, or rapid church planting going on, and we began to go like, well, but that was then. That was then. We don't have Paul. You know, we don't have the apostle Peter, so we're just kind of muddling along, doing the best we can, you know, just, you know, it's like, well, that, that was great then no church. What we're meant to see is that God gives his people his power for his purposes. And what is that purpose? That the gospel go to the ends of the earth. Has the gospel gone to every people, every tribe, every nation yet not yet. Therefore his power continues. Therefore he will not remove his hand. Therefore the spirit in the book of acts is the same spirit that is in the church today.
29 · Theological claim that the same Spirit who was on Jesus continues in the church because the messianic age He inaugurated continues
Church, it is not a different spirit. Jesus, the spirit filled savior king, has inaugurated the messianic age. And in that age, the spirit of God comes to God's people.
30 · Brief re-exposition of Joel 2 emphasizing the universality of Spirit-empowerment across all categories of people
Look, you see this powerfully in Joel, chapter two where it says that the spirit of God will be poured out on all flesh, meaning all of God's people, young and old, rich and poor, powerful and impowerful, right? All of them empowered by the spirit of God.
31 · Return to the swimming illustration as direct application—the church needs to remember it has the capacity (Spirit-power) to do what God calls it to do
So that's my point. That's my one point. All I want you to do today, church, is remember you can swim.
32 · Polemic against anxiety about the church's future, arguing that 2000 years of church history demonstrates the consistent pattern of Spirit-empowerment—the only truly precedented thing
I think too many of us cling to the side of the pool thinking we don't know how to swim. The church doesn't know how to swim. What's going to happen? This is what happens. Like every year I see people wringing their hands over the state of the church in America or in the world, right? Oh no. What's going to happen? What's going to happen? This new unprecedented thing. Everything's unprecedented, right? Every headline is an unprecedented this, an unprecedented that. You know what else is precedented? You know what pattern we have for the last 2000 years of church history? God's people have God's power for God's purposes. You see that the last 2000 years of God preserving his church has been done through the agency and means of the Holy Spirit, which remains with us today.
33 · Historical illustration of Christianity's geographic mobility across 2000 years as evidence of the Spirit's ongoing power, contrasted with geographically static religions
Look, you want to know how powerful the Holy Spirit is? Just one example. The Holy Spirit means that Christianity is the only religion in the world that continues to move its geographic center century after century, right? The other religions in the world, they start in a place and they stay centered in a place. Mecca is still the seat of one religion, right? China is still the seat of another religion, right? There are indian religions. They're still locally kind of placed in that area. You know what keeps moving around and can never be pinned down? Christianity. It goes from Jerusalem to Greece to Rome to Spain to Europe and now is moving into the global south in surprising and powerful ways in Africa and China and India. Right? This is the spirit's work continuing today.
34 · Claim that the church today participates in the same living history as Acts and church history because the same Spirit remains present
We are not bystanders reading the history of the church as if it's some dead textbook. This is a living history of which we still are part, because the same spirit is here today.
35 · Application defining the church's proper posture as 'humble boldness' based on possessing the same Spirit who was on biblical heroes
Therefore, church. Amen. You could clap if you want to. That's great. Yeah. Therefore, the posture of the church today should be not hesitance, not fear, but rather, a humble boldness should define the church of Jesus Christ. A humble boldness should define each of our lives as we remember. You know what? The same spirit that was on Samson, Moses and David and John the baptizer and Paul and Peter, that same spirit of Jesus Christ is on all of us who are in Christ. This is beauty.
36 · Claim that boldness is not optional because the Great Commission is genuinely great—requiring disciples in every people group across all time until Christ returns
Now, this humble boldness is not optional for the church either, right? There must be a boldness. Look, the commission that Jesus gives his church is not a mild commission. There's a reason it's called the great commission. Right? It's not just like a. Oh, well, you know, this seems doable. Okay, you know what? Our mission is to make disciples in every tribe, language, people, continent, every age, every century, every city, until Jesus returns, until every tribe, tongue, and language has heard the message of the gospel. That is insane, and we will not accomplish it sitting timidly, clinging to the side of the pool.
37 · Theological claim defining humble boldness—boldness from remembering God's past faithfulness, humility from recognizing all accomplishment is Christ's work through the Spirit, not ours
Therefore, there should be a boldness. But church, what? A boldness should be created in us as we remember what Jesus has already done in his ministry, what the Lord has done in the book of acts, and what he has done over the last centuries. There should be a boldness, but also a humility, right? There never should be in any age of the church, this sort of bravado, this sort of machismo of like, yeah, we got this. Like, I just. I get so concerned every time somebody goes, oh, now we figured out church planting. If you bind my new book. Now I've figured out disciple making. Like, I think we're good. I think we have the manual. We've had it for a while. We can teach it faithfully. We're going to use it faithfully. But there should be a profound humility whenever we see the Lord do something, it's never an excuse to go, yep, look at us. Yep, we did that. Yep, we have this person. Yep. We have this leader. Look what we did. No, well, Paul, look, Paul accomplished far more than any of us ever will. And he says, I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished by the power of the spirit. So that boldness and humility should be present
38 · Transition to a review of Cross of Grace's ten-year history as evidence for humble boldness
and just for a minute. Church. I want us to review our history, because I think reviewing even our own history over, we could do the last 40 years. I just want to do the last ten years. We should create in us a boldness and a profound humility. Okay. Many of you were not here ten years ago, so I want to tell you about it. Many of you were here ten years ago, and so I want to remind you of this.
39 · Recounting of Cross of Grace's ten-year history as historical illustration—quadrupling in size, regular conversions, building repairs, restored marriages, changed lives—all attributed to the Lord's work
These are some of the things the Lord has done in the church over the last ten years. We have, over the last ten years, quadrupled or more in size, to say nothing of the hundreds of military and government workers and students that have come through. And if we could just keep everyone in one place forever, we would have a megachurch. But that's not what the Lord's done. He's scattered people all over the country and all over the world. Seems like that's his design. See acts one eight. And after some years in our church, when we went through a season of never or rarely ever seeing a new profession of faith in Christ, we are regularly seeing people come to know Jesus in every alpha. There have been people who come to know Jesus in ministry, even in baptism testimonies. There have been people that walked in dead and walked out alive to church. That has become beautifully normal for our church. May it ever be so. On a practical level, the Lord has enabled us to hire staff to fix our building, which seemed impossible if you were there, like, 15 years ago, we had, like, a half million dollars of repairs. And no, we did not have half a million dollars. And somehow we not only did all the repairs, but we actually have money in the bank. It didn't take on deck. I don't know how that happened. The Lord does. And that's to say nothing of over the years, just recently, marriages that have been restored or families that have been healed, or new marriages that have been celebrated or children that have been dedicated or baptisms that have been celebrated or lives that God has changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
40 · Theological reflection on Cross of Grace's history producing both humility (we had no master plan) and boldness (the same Spirit who did this could do more)
Look, that is what the Lord has done just in the last ten years. And when we see it, it should create in us a humility, because, look, I was there ten years ago. None of us had, like, a master plan. Like, okay, now we know what to do. No, we had no idea what to do other than preach the word and make disciples and try to get together and tell people about Jesus. That was the extent of the plan. And the Lord has done glorious things. There should be a profound humility anytime we see something like that. Anytime we see something like McKelligan Canyon filled with people who don't know Jesus, hearing about Jesus, that's the Holy Spirit. That's not us. But it should also give you a boldness, a boldness knowing. Look, do you see what God has done? It's the same spirit as in the book of acts. Who knows what he could do next? Not like, oh, what we're going to do next? No. Who knows what the Lord could do next? Who knows what the spirit empowered church could do next?
41 · Transition to concrete application—announcing church planting vision as the appropriate response to humble boldness on Pentecost Sunday
We should move forward with a humble boldness, with the power of the spirit. And it feels appropriate then today on Pentecost Sunday, that we lay out a prayerful vision of where we believe God's calling us to go next.
42 · Concrete announcement of church planting vision in two areas of El Paso (Horizon and Northwest/Far East) as a faith step, asking for prayer
Look, we have for some years been convinced that we need more gospel preaching, spirit filled churches in El Paso. And the need is only increasing as the years have worn on. And so we are going to today in faith, lay out two areas. We want to ask for your prayer and we're going to begin to take steps toward church planting in these two areas, asking the Lord to do what we can't do. So here are the two areas we want to pray for and invest in, and those areas are horizon and the far east.
43 · Concrete plan for Horizon church plant—starting with a 'community group with a dream' led by Sal Valenzuela, launching late summer with cookouts
So first, Horizon, we believe that God would have us explore establishing a gospel presence and pray that it become a church in horizon and the far east. We have a few people in that area already. We really want to invest prayer and time and resources into it. If you're from like the west side or central and you haven't been out to horizon in like the last decade, there's a city there now of people, right? Thousands of people. And that area is simply too far for us to effectively serve from this location in central El Paso. So here's going to be our first step. Our first step is we're going to start a community group, but a community group with a dream. A community group with a dream that God perhaps could one day establish a church there. We hope to see it grow and we're so grateful for Sal Valenzuela and his family. Sal is a longtime resident in horizon and he's going to be willing to, he's willing to lead that community group with a dream. And it's going to start late summer. And this summer, over the summer, he's going to have some cookouts and hopefully get ready to launch the group as we get toward the end of the summer. So please, we want to be praying for that. We're going to pray in just a minute. We want to be praying for that.
44 · Concrete plan for Northwest El Paso church plant—more complex because of existing members in the area
Second area is the northwest. We also believe God would have us explore establishing a local church in the northwest of El Paso, out in the Trans Mountain, Artcraft, you know, whatever area. Look, when I was growing up in El Paso, like, the northwest didn't even exist. There was just the west side, the east side, and the northeast, and then central. Like, that was it. And now you've got all these other areas, and I'm like, I don't know, what is northwest? It's apparently an area where like, 100,000 people live. And this is a totally different animal, even from horizon, because we actually have a lot of people out there. Maybe you live out there. We have many, several groups, many leaders, many faithful servants. And that actually makes planting in the northwest more complicated because we have to figure out how to establish a new church there without hurting our existing church. But here's what we see as pastors. We see God is at work in that area. God is drawing people from that area, despite the fact that it's on the other side of the mountain, which doesn't make any sense. Why are you people driving here? It's like you have to drive through a mountain to get here, and yet the Lord is doing something, and we want to join what the Lord is doing. So our first step there is we're going to begin putting staff hours into working this problem out. We're going to start looking at options and plans and ways of doing doing this. And so Alex Shawfit is going to take point at getting this data, looking at options, meeting with people, asking questions, and hopefully help us be able to come up with a plan.
45 · Pastoral qualification of the church planting vision—holding everything with an open hand, no pressure on individuals, no fixed timetable, following the Lord's leading
Now, I say this, but we hold everything church with an open hand, right? We don't want to put pressure on anyone too early that they've got to be the church planner, or they've got to do the thing, or they've got to be there for ten years. We want to be releasing. We want to see what the Lord does. We're grateful for Sal and Alec and others that are going to be jumping in, but we don't want to put all the expectations on them up front. And we don't want to have a specific timetable. That's our timetable, not the Lord's timetable. We want to go as fast or slow as the Lord leads. And this could be, one of these could happen within a year, and one of these could happen three years from now. And we don't know. We're just going to take this step and see what the Lord does.
46 · Transition to concluding prayer, introducing Spurgeon quotation and the people who will lead prayer
Now, as we're about to end and close with prayer, I'm going to read one quote from Spurgeon. I'm going to have Sal, who's going to lead a prayer for the horizon. I want you to come join me. My dad is going to come join me, and Steve is going to come join me and let me read this. And then we'll all stand and pray together.
47 · Spurgeon quotation serves as doxological conclusion, lifting the church's eyes to the Spirit's omnipotence as defense and calling the church to trust and labor with conviction in that power
This is spurgeon on this text to his church. But it reads like it's to me. The power of the Holy Spirit is your bulwark church. And all his omnipotence defends you. Can your enemies overcome omnipotent omnipotence? Can they wrestle with deity and hurl him to the ground? For the power of the spirit is our power. The power of the spirit is our might. If this is the power of the spirit, why should you doubt anything? O church? You who remember what your God has done for you, especially, never distrust the power of the spirit. You have seen the wilderness blossom like caramel. You have seen seen the desert blossom like the rose. Trust him then, for the future. Go out and labor with this conviction that the power of the Holy Ghost is able to do anything. Go to your missionary enterprise. Go to your preaching with the conviction that the power of the spirit is our great help. Amen.