You made everybody else clap for everyone else, so we should clap for Steve. Ah, it's so good. Well, if you're new here, my name is Ricky. I'm one of the pastors here at the church, and I want to invite you to open your Bibles to Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15.
I don't always wear t-shirts when I preach on Sunday. I saw an older saint that was their first Sunday visiting, and I could just tell they were like, "What's this guy doing?" So I don't always wear t-shirts, but I do when we have a new shirt available that I think is really cool. So, hope you guys will join me in repping the church out in the city this week. We're in Romans because I think by God's grace, we're going to pause at the end of the summer. So we've just done the book of Acts.
We spent 2 weeks in Ecclesiastes. And in September, we're going to be working— beginning to work through 1 Corinthians. But today, we want to take one Sunday, as we often do every year, and kind of lay out a vision for where we're going. This Sunday is a little unique in that we're not laying out a vision for like the fall or for next year. We're hopefully laying out a vision for much, much longer than that.
And I really, this is my prayer. My prayer is that at the end of this, every single person in the church would feel like there is a handle on this vision for them, because this is impossible unless all of us want to be part of what God is doing in this particular way.
So, before we even read the text, I'm just feeling my need for the Lord's help. So, if you join me in a word of prayer before we open the text this morning.
Lord, we pray as you taught us to pray. We see our Father who is in heaven, and Lord, our prayer request is, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Lord, we pray that this would be a moment as we sit under your Word that we would lay down our will, we would lay down our kingdom, and we would take up your kingdom. We would seek your will. And, Lord, I pray, I pray that you would help give us spiritual sight to see what we cannot see on our own. In the Lord's name we pray.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, in Romans chapter 15, we're going to begin reading in verse 14. We're going to drop into a section in which Paul is finishing his letter to the Romans, but as he finishes this letter, he is going to give us a window behind the scenes, as it were, as to why he has been doing what we've seen him do in the book of Acts. And so we're going to pick it up in verse 14. This is God's Word.
I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, at the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience 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 to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ. 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 had never been told of him will see, those who have never heard will understand.
This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. "But now, since I am no longer— since I no longer have any room for work in these regions and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you once I have enjoyed your company for a while." This is God's Word.
And what I want to outline from this passage very briefly before we begin to walk through kind of our Vision Sunday is the simple biblical principle that underlies this kind of travel report from Paul. And the simple truth is this, it's a simple but life-changing truth, and it is simply this, that gospel people are to be an ambitious people. Gospel people are to be an ambitious people.
So, unfortunately, sometimes as Christians, we can drift into being non-ambitious gospel people, or we want to be, non-ambitious gospel people like, man, I love it. I love what the Lord's done for me. I love that I'm not going to hell. I love that I have an eternity with him. Now I'm just gonna, I'm gonna wrap myself in as many pillows as possible, build a big pillow fort and wait for Jesus to come back because out there it is freaky.
It's scary. And I get the news and it's even worse than I imagined. And so you're just, you're shrinking back. And Paul, his example is the opposite. He is ambitious because he is full of the gospel.
This gospel has essentially led him to become an ambitious person. So let's look at this just for a moment, because in the book of Acts, we saw Paul jump from town to town to town, to city to city to city. And sometimes we didn't— it may have felt to you like Paul is just waking up every day and moving into another city. Like, hey, you know what? You know what sounds nice this time of year?
Pisidian Antioch. Let's go down to Pisidian. So he's not like a New Testament snowbird where it's like, "Oh, it's getting too hot over here. I'm going to migrate down to where it's warmer." And they're like, "Oh, now it's getting too warm. I'm going to migrate up to where it's—" You know, that's not what he's doing.
He's not vacationing. In fact, he has a strategy, and he references this strategy at several points where he speaks of how he has gone— the language he uses is, that he's gone all the way around from Jerusalem to Illyricum, meaning if you could— it's almost that he's drawing a half circle around the Mediterranean of places he has begun to plant churches. And then he's saying essentially, "My plan has worked and I want to go to a new place after this." And so you think, "Well, what is his plan?" Well, here's his plan that we can infer from this text. He's strategic. He knows that the gospel is a powerful thing.
And so when he brings it to a city, he shares the gospel, but he doesn't just share the gospel and leave. He shares the gospel, and as the gospel changes people's lives, a local church is formed. And Paul begins to structure and work with the disciples there. And it seems as though he sets in place elders or leadership for the church after a period of time, and then he goes on to the next town. And strategically, he's not just going to every town.
He's going to the major population centers in these regions strategically. What he's— I've heard one missiologist describe Paul is establishing the gospel upstream from the culture by going to these population centers, going to where everybody comes into town to sell their goods, or everybody comes into town for a big festival. He's planting the gospel there that that church, once established, will begin to ripple out and reach the surrounding region. It's very strategic, very thoughtful.
6 · Ricky emphasizes that Paul's ambition is not passive planning but active, costly zeal
So Paul has a strategy, but this is an ambitious strategy. When he says that he basically makes it his ambition to preach the gospel, that word ambition means zeal. It means striving. He has a fire shut up in his bones, as it were. He is undaunted by persecution, undaunted by opposition. He has been attacked, he's been beaten up, he's run for his life.
In city after city. Some cities it goes great and it's a restful, wonderful time. Other cities he gets pelted by stones until they think he's dead. This is Paul's journey, and he is undaunted going from city to city to region to region because this zeal has consumed him.
7 · Ricky uses Teddy Roosevelt's 'Man in the Arena' speech to illustrate the nature of costly ambition
Now, one of my favorite examples of zeal that's outside of Scripture comes in a particular speech by Teddy Roosevelt. Now, I'm not endorsing the presidential platform of Teddy Roosevelt. I don't even know what it was. It was ride a horse and wear cool spectacles. That was his— that's what I know about his platform. He was— but I do know he was an outdoorsman.
He was a military man. And he has a famous speech where he pushes on our human tendency to shrink back and sometimes even to shrink back and then criticize people who are trying to do stuff. And sometimes Christians could do Both of these things. We can either shrink back or we could say, like, "Well, I don't like the way that they're doing that. They're preaching the gospel, but I don't like that way." You know, and just basically live safe, comfortable lives.
And Roosevelt says this. I can't do it in the Roosevelt voice. You just have to imagine his voice better than mine. He's got this big booming barrel chest voice that I can't replicate. But he says this in a particular speech.
On ambition. It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. Like, I love that. And I think Paul, in some sense, would have, in light of Romans 15, heard that speech and said, "Amen." I mean, Paul was a man through his entire ministry who stayed in the arena.
As people criticized him, as people are like, "Well, I don't like the way Paul's doing it." You get a lot of that from the Corinthians. They're like, "We don't like this and that." He's like, "Listen, I'm in the arena, though. I'm striving and straining." And sometimes he goes into a city and is kicked out. Sometimes he goes into the city and revival breaks out. He never knows, but he keeps going to city after city after city because he says he has made it his ambition, the fire in his soul, to stay in the arena to proclaim the gospel in area after area until he's either dead or Jesus returns.
That is his ambition.
8 · Ricky transitions from illustration to theological claim, identifying the first foundation of gospel ambition: God's calling
We are to be an ambitious people in the mold of Paul, in the mold of the gospel. And specifically, we see two foundations for a Christian ambition, a gospel ambition. And the first is this: God's calling of us is what allows us to be an ambitious people. Verse 15, Paul references the grace given to him by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel.
9 · Ricky unpacks Paul's conversion narrative as the paradigm for gospel calling
Of God. Now Paul is referencing the grace given him, which is to be a minister of the gospel. Man, there is a whole backstory loaded into that simple phrase. I mean, if you're familiar with the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts, when we meet him, he is approving the persecution of Christians. He has a particular road of life mapped out, and it is to make a name for himself in the Jewish community by persecuting Christians and stamping out this sect of Christ followers.
And he has his arms full with paperwork allowing him, giving him authorization to go to town after town and jail and hurt and beat up and threaten Christians until it's stamped out. And yet on the road, what happens? Jesus himself appears in front of him. And what you could say is Jesus knocks Paul off the road his life had been going down. He says, "No, no, no, you're no longer going to do that.
You're going to follow me now. You're not going to oppose me, you're going to follow me." And he knocks, in love, he knocks all of Paul's life ambitions out. Paul references this in his letters. He was ambitious, he was zealous for all of these things that made him look good. God smashes that to the ground and gives him the gift of gospel ministry.
So now he has a new road and his hands are full of this gift, which is gospel ministry. And that's why Paul is doing what he's doing.
10 · Ricky applies Paul's calling universally: every Christian receives the grace gift of gospel ministry
And let me be clear, not all of us— none of us, not all of us, none of us are the Apostle Paul. I almost said, "Not all of us are the Apostle Paul." But if you think you are, we really do need to talk to you after the service. We may not all be the Apostle Paul. We are not the Apostle Paul, but we all can say with him that the grace of God has come to us and has given us a calling to be ministers of the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, right? That is true for every single Christian. And so, in a sense, all of us should have this Pauline moment where we might have a path our life is going to go down, and in love, Jesus looks at that path and says, "That actually leads to death. That actually leads to no satisfaction." That— the writer of Ecclesiastes says all of that is dust and air.
So I'm going to take you off that path in love. And all the things that our arms are full of, that we're like, "I'm going to do this and that. This is my ambition. That's my ambition." He says, "No, no, no. Again, Ecclesiastes.
It's all dust and air. Don't try to live for those things. I'm going to give you something better to live for." You're going to be given the grace gift of being a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Right? All of us have that experience.
That's what sets us on the road to ambitious gospel ministry.
11 · Ricky unpacks Romans 15:18-19, highlighting Paul's insistence that Christ accomplished everything through him
And then on the road, we are met with God's power. So look at verse 18. Look at the way he says this: "For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God. Now, humanly speaking, you could look at Paul and say, man, he's accomplished so much.
He's got churches all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum. He's got all these plants going, man. He is an impressive guy. Look at what he was able to do. But Paul would say, no, no, no, you're missing the point.
I am a partially disabled Jewish scholar who has terrible eyesight, so bad that other people have to write my letters for me. That's my inventory of skills. But Christ through me, through the power of the Spirit, has accomplished all of this. So it wasn't Paul the apostle in his raw gifting, he's going to set out and do all these great things. It's rather Paul plus the power of God equals what has happened.
12 · Ricky contrasts human tendency to limit ambition to personal abilities with Paul's pattern of expanding ambition to match God's abilities
And that is so important because so often we define our ambitions based on our inventory of abilities and skills or our own personal power. So what we do is we say, okay, great, God, you know, I'm now part of this mission. And so I'm gonna inventory my skills. What do I have to work with? Like in my case, it's not much.
It's, I do have a trophy. For best supporting actor in 5th grade that I have kept with me, I think, to this day. And I did score 2 goals in my career in the AYSO soccer league here in El Paso, 2 total. You're like, was that in a year? No, that was in like 10 years.
So not a great inventory of skills, and that's often what we do. We say, okay, well, what's my inventory of skills? So I'm gonna set my ambition based on my skills. Not too many abilities, low ambition. No, no, no, that's not at all what Paul the apostle does.
He does not shrink his ambitions to his ability. He expands his ambition to God's ability. And in a similar way, we do not shrink our ambitions to our own abilities. We rather expand our ambitions to God's ability, knowing that it is his power by which we do the work.
13 · Ricky illustrates the power of long-term gospel ambition through Hudson Taylor's life
Now, let me give you one example of this in sort of real life outside of Paul's example, the example of Hudson Taylor. I commend the study of Hudson Taylor to you. It's inspiring. It's challenging. It's encouraging.
In February of 1905, one particular article notes, Hudson Taylor sailed for China for the last time. After a tour of some of the mission stations, he died June 3 at Changsha, Hunan, at the age of 73. He was buried in Zhengjiang by the side of his first wife and his 4 children who had died in China. His wife, Jenny, his recent wife, had died in Switzerland just the year before. The cemetery was destroyed as part of the Cultural Revolution, and today industrial buildings stand.
Over the site. So, you might say, "Okay, well, look at Hudson Taylor's example. He lost 4 children. He was married twice. Both of his wives died.
He mobilized the Christian world to mission in China, but his grave isn't even marked anymore." But at the time of his death, the China Inland Mission was an international body with 825 missionaries living in all 18 provinces of China, with more than 300 mission stations and more than 500 local Chinese helpers and 25,000 Christian converts.
2015 was the 150th anniversary of the mission that Hudson Taylor founded. And so, just comparing that date to 1900, in 1900 there were 100,000 Christians in China. So, imagine the gospel through that work, through that work of 25,000 Christian converts was part of that work of 100,000. He was responsible for almost a quarter. Of all of the converts in China, but today or even recently, 2015, there are probably around 150 million Christians in China.
Hudson Taylor said famously, "We may fail. We do fail continually." but he never fails. A great example of what gospel ambition and a plan coupled with the power of God can do over time.
14 · Ricky transitions from biblical exposition and illustration to the specific vision for Cross of Grace, signaling that what follows is an application of Romans 15 to the local church
So, in light of that, I want to prayerfully offer with the elders a vision for our church. And I'm so glad you've come today because I have a wonderful plan for your life. Or perhaps more accurately, the Lord, I believe, has a wonderful plan for your life.
15 · Ricky identifies three universal human longings—wholeness, community, and purpose—and claims that only the gospel truly satisfies them
Now, I want to start with this, with the reality that every single person is looking for life in our world today, including you, including the people out there that don't know Christ. Everybody is looking for wholeness and restoration. Everybody knows something in their soul is broken, and they look for how to fix it in a variety of ways. Everybody longs for community. And everybody also wants to have a purpose for their life. And maybe for one of you, you're all about purpose, and, you know, one of you is all about wholeness, and one of you is all— you know, different people gravitate different ways. But those are the 3 deep needs in the heart of every single human being. But we as Christians know what we're truly looking for is found in the gospel. It's not found out there. It's not found in money. It's not found in income. It's not found in sex. It's not found in experience. Found in the gospel, because through the gospel, through the message of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, we are restored to wholeness in our relationship with God, which is what we were made for. We are restored to the family of God with God as our Father and given a family in the church. And then we are restored to a purpose of being part of God's purposes in the world today. That's what we see.
16 · Ricky presents four reasons the local church is God's answer to the world's needs: exponential growth (mustard seed), glimpses of restoration (Acts 2-4), exclusive possession of the gospel, and Christ's promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against it
What is that purpose? How do we make a difference in the world around us? Maybe we even want to make a difference in the world around us, but the world often seems too broken to fix. I mean, take any issue— homelessness, food insecurity, AIDS, you know, education— any one of those needs, you can spend your entire life on that. And it would be a good, worthy thing to do, but it feels like, okay, how do we even move the needle? Or things just seem too big to affect. Maybe you're like, "Man, I'm in. I'm still just one person though. I'm going to go to Africa and I'm going to do everything I can." Well, great, you're one person. That's billions of people. So what do we do?
Well, this is where the Lord introduces us to the local church. Now, if you can't see all the letters, don't worry. We're going to put the slides up after the meeting. But the local church is God's answer to that question, "What is my purpose? How do I become part of the purposes of God in my generation?" How can I make a difference in the world today? Well, 4 reasons the local church answers those questions. First, the local church is small at first, but its growth is exponential over time. Jesus uses the illustration of the mustard seed. A mustard seed is this tiny seed in the garden. You plant it and it seems like, okay, that's nothing, but it ends up becoming one of the largest plants in the garden. The garden, so too does the church, right? In the first century where Paul is planting these churches, they don't seem impressive. They're just these small gatherings. And yet, when— by the time he's planted a number, when Paul arrives in a particular city, they say, "Hey, look, the men who have turned the world upside down have come here also." You're like, "That's impossible." That's gospel growth through the church.
Second, in the local church, we begin to see answers, true glimpses of final answers where people long for wholeness and restoration, right? You see this in the book of Acts, in Acts 2 and 3 and 4, where the local church— you have all this poverty and need around, and the local church is where you begin to see those needs met. All these alienated, broken relationships, where they're beginning to be put back together through the ministry of the church, right? You see all these needs, and they're beginning to be met through the ordinary ministry of the local church. Church.
Third reason this is the purpose for which we were made: the gospel is the only ultimate true path, as we just said, to wholeness, to family, and to purpose. And that gospel message is given to the church, right? There is— look, this is what we know as a church. Jesus tells us there is no other name given among heaven by which we can be saved or which we must be saved. It's not in the name of power. It's not in the name of a better income. It's not in the name of that perfect relationship. We know that none of those things will ultimately satisfy. We know that the gospel is the only ultimate answer for what ails the heart of every human being. And that gospel has been given to the church as the vehicle to carry it forward.
Fourth, the church is the only thing backed by the promise of Jesus that not even the gates of hell will be able to triumph against it. None. The church has outlasted the Roman Empire, which in the first century seemed impossible to defeat. The church has outlasted century after century of despot and ruler and king who tried to destroy it and overcome it. The church has outlasted every big corporation that's risen. The church has outlasted every revolution, industrial and otherwise. The church has continued on generation after generation, place after place, continent after continent, nation after nation. And it's not because the church is led by a bunch of geniuses. If you think that, you really need to take a look at the disciples in the Gospels. These are not the sharpest tacks in the drawer. These guys are like, "Can we call fire down on them?" "No, no, you can't." "We're going to run away now." You're just like, "What are you doing?" No, no, the reason the church has endured century after century is not our genius, it is the power of Christ through us, because it is backed by the promise of Jesus Christ. That's why I believe with all my heart, with all of my heart, I believe that the local church is the answer we so long for and that our world so longs for.
17 · Ricky diagnoses three reasons churches fail to fulfill their mission: distraction from the core mission, doctrinal drift, and lack of ambition
But then why don't we see this always working? Maybe you say, "Okay, great. I love this idea. Maybe I even see some of that in Acts, but why don't we see local churches just turning the world upside down today?" Well, many are distracted. Many have gotten off mission. They're wrapped up in social causes or political causes or they're chasing comfort or convenience. And so, you begin to grow inward. Or second, many churches are shaky in their beliefs. They're beginning to lose the gospel. I mean, I don't want to name names, but it is remarkable Look at the track record of denominations, mainline denominations that have abandoned the core truths of the gospel, and then look at their effect and population numbers. They are in absolute freefall. Because when you lose the truth of the gospel, you lose the power of God.
And then many churches are just unambitious. I think for too many of us, myself included, we are happy to shrink our local ambitions to what we can comfortably do without too much disruption to our lives. And our lack of ambition leads us to gravitate toward comfort rather than zeal.
18 · Ricky unveils the vision: Cross of Grace Church aims to last 100 years and plant 100 churches
So, what do we do? What— this is what I want to prayerfully offer to us as a church, what we as elders want to prayerfully put before you. This is our prayer: we want to last for another 100 years, and we want in that time to plant 100 churches. And we believe that this is doable, though ambitious.
19 · Ricky explains the exponential math behind the 100-church vision using the mustard seed principle
And here's how. You might be thinking, okay, 100 churches in 100 years. I'm not great at math, but that seems like it might be 1 church a week. Now, look, I was a creative writing major, and even I am, like, doing the math, and I'm like, wait a second, that's a church every year. That's impossible. And so yeah, don't worry, we're not going to just randomly select, like, this year, this seating section, you're going to Las Vegas. And you're like, what, me? You know, that's not our plan. It's not what we're doing. But inspired by Jesus' parable of the mustard seed, I began to think this way. What if our church plants one church every 10 years? And what if that church joins us in planting another church every 10 years. Now, I will— I'm not gonna lie, for the first 30 years, it's not super exciting. You know, year 10, now we have 2 churches. You're like, this is going great, on our way to 100. Year 20, now we have 4 churches. Like, still okay, you know. And then maybe we're now at year 30, I'm starting to get old, the rest of my hair is gone, my beard is white. And we've got 8 churches, and you're starting to think, okay, this— remember 30 years ago we had that vision? Doesn't seem to be going great. But think about this. Maybe by God's grace some of our kids pick this up.
In year 40, we have 16 churches. In year 50, we have 32 churches. And then we have 64, and then we have 128, and then we keep going. And if we just planted a church every 10 years and that church planted a church every 10 years, in 100 years we would have over 1,000 churches.
We tend to overestimate what we can do in the short term but underestimate what we can do by long obedience in the same direction with gospel ambition.
20 · Ricky explains the biblical rationale for the 100-church, 100-year vision: Jesus commands us to reach the ends of the earth, local churches are the most effective evangelistic vehicle, and we are called to multi-generational thinking until Christ returns
So, here's what we know. Not every church plant is going to work. Maybe not every church is going to plant another church. Here is what we're proposing. We make it our ambitious goal to plant a church at least every 5 years as Cross of Grace. At least every 5 years. And over time, see the seeds planted begin to be larger and larger. Now, why think 100 years in the future? Well, many of us, myself included, can only see a year at most in front of us, maybe a week, maybe a decade, but 100 years? Well, here's how Jesus, I think, calls us to think. Jesus calls us to proclaim his death until he returns. He actually gives us that direction in communion, meaning every time you take communion, he says, "Do this, proclaim this until I get back." So that means we're not just thinking next week or next year or next 10 years, we're thinking until he returns. And if the Lord tarries, We continue. And then Psalm 78, I encourage you to read that this week. Psalm 78 is a fascinating Psalm because in it, it's a song for the gathered people of God. And the song is about telling the coming generation the deeds of his Lord, the deeds of the Lord that they might, this next generation might arise and set their hope in God. But in Psalm 78, he actually is talking about our fathers gave us the gospel and we give it to our kids that way their kids, a generation yet unseen, may know the Lord. Meaning it's a 4-generation psalm. So I'm thinking not just my kids, Ford and Kona and Anson, I'm thinking their kids and their kids, right? That's the way the Lord would call us to think. So 100 years in the future. And then why 100 churches? I mean, why do we, you know, why can't we just build one good big church that we all love? Well, here's why theologically. First, Jesus calls us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. So he says, "I want you to be my witnesses in Judea," meaning like the region right around you. So think El Paso County, West Texas, Judea, "and Samaria," which is the territory next to you that you hate, which in this illustration is New Mexico. It is New Mexico. Did somebody cheer that? I don't know. Oh, it's because you love New Mexico. Oh, that's right, Mary. So, you think, okay, West Texas, New Mexico, and then the implication is ripples out until when? When do we stop? Until we hit North America? No, to the ends of the earth. Right? That is what Jesus has called us to do. It's not— listen, I wouldn't— the great commission is not the great suggestion. Like, if you get around to the ends of the earth, that'd be great. It's a command. It's laying a claim on our lives. Jesus says, "You will be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth." So we take the gospel, we multiply churches as part of this mission, partially because local churches have proven again and again in every study the most evangelistically effective way to reach people with the gospel. Bar none. Great rallies, Billy Grahams, radio ministries, all that stuff, great, maybe helpful, let's keep doing it, but the thing in every study that reaches the most people is local churches that plant churches that plant churches.
And the Lord will do this. The Lord will do this. Revelation 7, we get a glimpse of the end of time where people from every tribe, tongue, language, and nation and nation are gathered crying out, "Salvation belongs to the Lord and to the Lamb." Right? This will happen. So it's not as though God is like, "Oh guys, can you please, can you get out there? Try to get out there. I'm trying to do this, but I can't do it. Can you just get out there?" No, he is doing it. He will do it with or without us, but he invites us into it because he loves us. And so he says, I've called you to do this. I will do it through you. Now you take up the work. Be ambitious for the sake of the gospel.
21 · Ricky provides practical reasons for the 100-church vision: El Paso's nearly one million people, declining church numbers, projected global population growth, and the reality that even aggressive planting would reach only a small percentage without multiplication
So why 100 churches? Then practically as well, in El Paso, this is the reality. We have a million, nearly a million people in El Paso. And with aging congregations and pastors, the number of churches is expected to decrease, not increase in El Paso. The number of churches has decreased over the last 10 to 20 years. And as I've talked to pastors around the city, the anticipation is it will continue to decrease. And so here's the reality. We could plant a megachurch every 5 years in El Paso, and still, if population is flat, assuming, like, El Paso doesn't even grow, we plant a megachurch every 5 years, we will have reached 2% of this city. Meaning that there are millions of people around this church that do not know Jesus. And then the world population, man, I don't know if you know this, but like more people are getting born every day, especially in the global south. And the world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion people by 2050 or 11 billion by 2100.
So then we continue to plant churches who plant churches.
22 · Ricky makes the case for El Paso's strategic importance: its size (equivalent to first-century Rome or eight Jerusalems), its role as a transit hub, and UTEP's 23,000 students
Now, why El Paso? Very briefly, I mentioned this a little bit. One of those things is our size. We just have a lot of people here. Often we don't remember that. We think of El Paso, "We're just a small town." No, no, no. The city of Jerusalem in the first century AD was 50,000 to 100,000 people. So we are 8 Jerusalems big, right? Lower Valley is a Jerusalem. Central is a Jerusalem. Far West is a Jerusalem. Far East is 2 Jerusalems or whatever, you know. This is— Socorro's another Jerusalem. These are— These are all around us. We are a city of cities according to the parameters of the New Testament. And in the first century, Rome itself was probably about a million people. So we have our own Rome or 8 Jerusalems to reach here. And I think we have incredible strategic value. This is El Paso del Norte, right? This is where churches— this is where people rather go, you know, grow up, often are sent out to other places. People come through for a period of time and maybe you're here for a year. Maybe you're here for 5 years. Maybe you planned to be here for a year and now you've been here for, like, 12, like John, who's helping lead worship today. Whatever your plan for your life is, I don't know what the Lord's plan for your life is, but I do know this: many come through this city, and by reaching them, we have an opportunity to reach the world. 23,000 students at the University of Texas at El Paso, the Harvard of the borderland, the greatest university in the world. 23,000 people.
I would venture to say most of them who don't know Jesus.
I love this city, and I believe the Lord would tell us if we love this city, the best thing we can do for this city is to build a church that reaches the city, not just for next year and the year after, but for the next 100, so that more and more people come to know in this city the name of Jesus Christ, and so that people from this city go to the ends of the earth. On this earth.
23 · Ricky pauses to honor the founding generation of Cross of Grace, acknowledging that the current vision is only possible because of their 40 years of faithfulness
That's, I believe, what we should make our prayer. Now, very briefly, I just want to make a note that in light of our history, none of this is like, hey, well, let's erase the last 40 years of history. We are incredibly grateful for our founding generation who has gotten us to year 40. Like, that is remarkable. You know how many churches in El Paso have come and gone in the last 40 years? Spoiler: a lot. But our founding generation built well. They built a gospel culture that has endured for 4 decades. I didn't get to do this in the first service, but can I just say this? If you've been going to the church for more than 20 years, would you just raise your hand? 20 years.
Thank you. Thank you.
Nothing that we are doing today would be possible without your faithfulness, not just for a day and a week and a year, but for decades. So can we thank this founding generation, church?
24 · Ricky argues that the 100-church vision is achievable by pointing to the historical track record of the church: starting with 40 disciples in Acts, exponential growth across 2,000 years, and the fact that most churches were planted by ordinary Christians, not famous leaders
And look, if we've already gone 40 years, 100 doesn't seem that hard, right? It's like, man, I already hiked 4 miles, 10 miles is great. I can do this. So here's why I believe we can do this with God's help. First, just, I'm going to, I've said some of this, look at the first century, right? Look at what the Lord did with just a handful of disciples, or more accurately, 40 of them in an upper room at the beginning of Acts 1 to the ends of the earth at the end of Acts. Look at the history of the church in the last 2,000 years. Look at the gospel going from a few thousand to millions on millions to hundreds of millions in China. Right? Look at the track record of the Lord working through the local church. And note that almost all of the churches that have ever been planted in world history were not planted by big, famous pastoral names. Right? They were planted by ordinary, no-name Christians just like in the church in Antioch. You might think, "Well, we don't have the Apostle Paul." The Lord hasn't needed him for 2,000 years. We're doing fine. Faithful, ordinary Christians.
25 · Ricky anticipates objections and feelings of disconnection or overwhelm, setting up the answer: gospel culture is how ordinary Christians participate in the 100-year vision
So how are we going to do this? Well, maybe you hear— get to this section, you're like, OK, I kind of like this, but I feel overwhelmed because that still feels really big. 100 years. I don't know if you calculated this, Ricky, but I'm going to be dead. Everybody in the room is going to be dead. OK? You're in good company. You're not going to be any more or less dead than the rest of us. So this is great. Join. Maybe you feel disconnected, and you're like, OK, well, I like this, but what do I do? How does this relate to what I do day to day? What about the kids ministry class my kids in? Or maybe it feels unattainable and you think, well, this is only for pastors. I hope you guys have a good time doing whatever that is. How do we do this?
26 · Ricky argues that culture, not strategy, is the key to achieving the 100-church, 100-year vision
Here's the answer I want to put before us with culture, with gospel culture. The answer is building a church culture that will be passed down for 100 years and out to whatever other churches the Lord allows us to plant in the future. If you read business literature, they will often do studies of similar companies. Like, why did this company make it but not this company? Why did this company that sold shoes and this company who sold shoes, what was the difference? And sometimes it's maybe a marketing strategy, sometimes maybe it's a particular strategy, but over time, especially over decades, the businesses that triumph, always the answer is not strategy but culture. Meaning, out of all the changes in the weird fast food industry in the last 30 years, the weird, the crazy, It's my pleasure Chick-fil-A culture has somehow endured. And it may last until Jesus comes back because those people, I don't know if it's the chicken or what, but they're all happy and they're all saying it's my pleasure and they have a strong culture, right? That's what happens in business after business and place after place. The culture is what triumphs. And so this is the reality. If we bank on strategy as a church to get us to 100 years or 100 churches, well, we can't plan 100 years in the future. I don't know what it's gonna be. My grandfather immigrated to the United States in kind of right before the Great Depression, that was real different than 2023. So I don't know what 100 years in the future is gonna be. Then the other problem is we can't export this around the world. You can't say, here's how you do church, here's our strategy. JP in India is gonna be like, what do I do with that? What do I do with that? Now take the college graduates. He's like, what? What are you talking about, right? And make sure everybody takes their car. Nobody has a car here, right? 5 people have a car. That's, it's not gonna work. And it can't be the responsibility of a whole group of people. It's just a few people that have the map, tell everybody else what to do. But the reason so many gravitate to strategy is it can be decreed and demanded. You, we could just say, this is what we're doing. But this is why I think culture is better. First, culture will last and can last for 100 years. How do I know that? There's a group of people in this room with the same culture that they started with 40 years ago. Which is gospel culture. Now, it looks different. The carpet's different. We don't have as many banners in the auditorium. Our sound system's different. Same values, though. It can last 100 years. Second, it can be exported. I was talking to Vince recently, and as he was talking with people in Prague, and one of the things they told him is, as he's described our church and kind of what he's experienced, they're like, "That's the kind of church that would go really well here in Prague." You're like, "That doesn't make any sense. Why would a church culture from El Paso work really well in Prague?" It can if it's a gospel culture. Third, this can be the responsibility of everyone. And in fact, it has to be because it can't be demanded. It has to be cultivated and nurtured.
27 · Ricky provides concrete steps for how to pursue the vision: think 5 years out (plant a church), 1 year out (train leaders and transfer weight to younger generation), and 1 week out (faithfully do ordinary gospel work)
So, how do we start? Here's what I want to hit before we break because we're going to talk more about this next week as well, but this is— I want to just get this out in front of you. How do we start? Well, think 5 years out. We will, by God's grace, have planted a church in 5 years. That's the thing. That's where we're going. So if you're like, I just hope these are my friends forever and I get to keep my seat forever, uh, maybe not. This is what we aim to do by God's grace. And then think 1 year out. So specifically this year, we're going to focus on training leaders and creating a conscious, intentional gospel culture in our church that is passed on down through the generations and passed out around the world. And then think one week out.
You might think, well, what I do week to week doesn't seem like it's part of that culture. No, it is exactly the plan. Todd was really helpful when we were talking about this as a pastoral team. He said, okay, there's actually two ways to think about this. One is, hey, here's a vision for 100 years. Let's do things to get there. But he said the other way to think about it is this: if you just do the things the New Testament tells you to do as a local church, look at it backwards, this is what gets produced over 100 years. Meaning this: if we just show up and love Jesus and doggedly stick to one another as a family and invite people to Alpha and serve and disciple our kids and do all the normal everyday stuff of life that you think, is this doing anything? The answer from the New Testament is yes, it's doing something. That's how we've taken over the world. That's how the church has endured for 2,000 years. So if you're like, "Well, it doesn't seem like we're doing a whole lot. All I'm doing is trying to disciple my kids and invite a friend to Alpha and serve donuts and love Jesus and cry and pray with people. I'm not doing a whole lot." That is the thing that reaches the world. So week to week to week, we keep doing it this year. Intentionally, we have a couple goals. One, we want to, over the next year or so, help transfer the weight from our founding generation to the third generation. So when I became a pastor at the church about 13 years ago, the founding generation had most of the weight in the church. If— I don't mean like, you know what I mean. Most of the— they were the— I just realized that sounded real bad, and I was looking at somebody and they were like, really? Like, that seems offensive. That's not what I'm saying. You know what? You know what I'm trying to say. You've put up with me long enough. And so you've got the founding generation. They're bearing the most weight is the way to say it, right? They're bearing the most of the church ministry weight. So they're the small group leaders. They're doing everything. And the millennial guys, they're like, hey, I don't know what we're doing. But, you know, they're giving us some rope and learning to grow us. But now I think that's beginning to change. And if you look at our small group leaders, our deacon slate that we're going to nominate in September, Many, many of them are under 40. I think almost all of them are under 40. But that means it's not like, okay, God, mission accomplished, we're done. No, no, no. Now here's what we got to do. Take the founding generation, that weight-bearing part of the founding generation, and say, all right, kids, you're up. I'm just 18. Yep, you're hired. You know, like, I don't want to be hired. Doesn't matter, you're hired anyway. You're like, "Well, they can keep the responsibility." No, you're going to have the responsibility now, but they are going to coach you and help you and encourage you for as long as the Lord gives them. That's what we want to do. And then we also want to prepare for our first plant, which we are working on. We'll share more about in the future.
28 · Ricky concludes the expositional section by returning to Acts 28, showing that Paul's ambition remained undimmed even when his plans were disrupted by imprisonment
All right, here's a reality: we cannot do any of this without the Lord's help, but with the Lord's help, we can do more than we think. Than you think. Hudson Taylor once said famously, "Depend upon it, God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies." So I want you to look at two things really briefly. We didn't have the first service do this and I regretted it. So I want you to look at two passages as we end and then we're going to sing. Two things, Acts 28, look at Acts 28. So Paul, we see Paul's ambition, we saw it, see it laid out. He's like, "I want to go to Spain, I want to go to a new area, I want to go to visit you in Rome." Here's my plan, here's my ambition. Doesn't quite work out that way. At the end of Acts, he ends up imprisoned, but he does get a free ride to Rome.
And in Rome, he continues to preach the gospel. And look at Acts 28:30. This is the ending of the book of Acts. He lived there 2 whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Now, here's what I want you to note about Paul. His ambition was every people, every tribe, every tongue. I want to come to Rome. I want to go through you. And God had a slightly different plan for him, and the Lord may have a slightly different plan for us. But Paul, it did not stop Paul from being ambitious for saying, listen, here is what I hope to do —with the power of God. And I may be in Rome and I may be in chains, but I'm still preaching the gospel in the heart of the Roman Empire.
29 · Ricky moves from Paul's apparent failure in Acts 28 to the eschatological fulfillment in Revelation 7:9-10, showing that Paul's ambition was not wasted—it was part of God's plan to gather every nation
And now I want you to look at the very end of the Bible. Look at Revelation 7 with me, if you would.
Because it may have seemed like Paul— well, Paul didn't quite fulfill his mission. Paul didn't quite do what he hoped to do. All he was able to do was build the church in Rome and be faithful until he was beheaded. But through His work, look at where the Lord takes us. Revelation 7:9, "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number." From every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God, 'who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.' Paul the Apostle, his ambition was for this day. He was zealous for this day. He stayed in the arena until the end of his life with this day in view, that down through the generations and out through the continents, the gospel of Jesus Christ would continue to save and heal and restore and give hope and gather the people of God for all eternity.
30 · Ricky concludes the sermon by restating the main thesis: gospel people are to be ambitious people, matching their ambition to God's ability rather than their own, and remaining faithful until Christ returns
So, here is my prayer for us, church, that we, like the Apostle Paul, would be a gospel people who are an ambitious people, that we would make it our ambition to match our plan not to our abilities but to the Lord's ability. With that day in view until he returns, may we be faithful. Amen.
31 · Ricky closes with a pastoral prayer for gospel ambition, revival in El Paso, global gospel expansion through the church, and faithfulness to the gospel for 100 years until Christ returns
Would you stand and let's pray. Lord, we end the way we began praying, Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, we pray that— we pray that whatever is not from you in this, you would blow away, and whatever is from you, you would sink deep into our hearts. Lord, I pray that more and more Cross of Grace Church would be marked by ambition, a gospel ambition, that we are ambitious to build a church that welcomes the lost and the weak and the broken, that we'd be ambitious to pass the gospel on to the next generation, that we would be ambitious to fill the seats at Alpha in our church with folks who do not yet know the life-giving message of Jesus Christ. And that we would then be ambitious to see the El Paso del Norte region filled with believers of Jesus Christ. We pray for revival here, Lord. We pray that you would do what only the Holy Spirit could do. You stretch out your hands, stretch out your hands and save and heal and draw. And we pray that through our church, the gospel of Jesus Christ would go to New Mexico and Texas and Mexico and South America and Latin America and India. Into Asia and Europe. Lord, may there be, whether it's 100 or 1,000 more churches as a result of Cross of Grace's ministry, may in 100 years whoever is standing in this pulpit be singing, be leading us in the same thing, the gospel of Jesus Christ. May those leading singing be singing the same thing, the gospel of Jesus Christ. May what's taught in our kids' ministry be the same thing, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And may it be so until you return. Amen.