The Church of Eleven22 - Saturated 2020 - Thursday: Pastor J.D. Greear

Episode Date: September 10, 2020

Pastor J.D. Greer has been saying, Here I am, Lord, send me for many years. Currently, he serves as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention and has the pastor at the Summit Church in Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina. Since the launch in 1961, the church has sent 1,256 full-time missionaries.

And they currently have 272 that are active in the field right now. The Summit Church also has a goal of planting a thousand churches globally by 2050. And presently, they've planted 62 in North America and 320 churches international. Among the numerous books he's written, in 2011, he wrote Gaining by Music, why the future belongs to churches that said. Really, a kind of a thing to build in the idea that sending is less of a task that you accomplish

and it's more of a culture that you create. The gospel is that when we were outside of God's family, God came to us, and he gave up his life, everything, so that he could purchase us. And those who've been redeemed by the gospel, you're going to look at people outside of their church. And they begin to say, we need to love our community like Jesus has loved us. Not only is Pastor J.D. leading this effort, he actually served as a full-time missionary personally for two years in Southeast Asia in his early 20s. Please welcome.

Pastor J.D. Greer. Thank you guys. Sit down. Sit down. Man, I love this church. And all you guys are joining us online. You guys don't understand. I have been nervous literally all week long

anticipating whatever video that Pastor Joby was going to put out there. Because last time I was here, it was this ridiculous kind of 80s VH1 rip-off video that was simultaneously the most awesome and most humiliating thing that I have ever endured. And so I went home right after that, Joby, and I told our video team. Because he was supposed to be at our church about three weeks ago, but we are doing something

different because of COVID. But I told him, I'm like, when that man shows up here, I want you to bring your A game, and I want you to give him something he will never forget. So we had to do something different because of COVID, but we have not forgotten, okay? And so I'm going to video slap you into 2021 is about what's going to happen. I love your pastor. He is what he said up there. just, I mean, so gracious and kind, but he has become just a very dear friend, and he's one of those

guys that I trust with my soul. I know most of you don't have a chance to know him other than what you see here in a church this large. It's just hard to get to know somebody like that, but to be able to see up close a man whose passion and integrity is, I would even say, exceeded in personal life by what he gives here from the pulpit, is something that is very rare and something that is very moving, and it is a model to me, the way he's. leads his family, the way he leads his friendships, the way that he leads your church. And so I know that you are grateful. He's a unique man for a unique moment. I always say, I may have said this last time I'm here, but I always say if Jeff Foxworthy, C.S. Lewis and Charles Spurgeon had a baby together,

it would be Pastor Jobb. Joby Martin. So I'm very, very, very grateful. Acts 6, if you have your Bible, Acts 6, if you got your Bible, I'd love for you to take it out and turn it on. I know you're super cool down here in Jacksonville, so turn it on and scroll down to Acts Chapter 6. My pastor growing up used to say the sweetest sound he ever heard was the sound of the ruffling of the pages of people opening their Bibles. I will tell you, as a pastor of a church full of millennials, I never, ever get to hear that. I get to see the warm glow of God's word on people's faces, and I'll take it. But Acts 6, whatever you got there. The church that I pastor, North Carolina. It has a lot of similarities to this church. It is, I'd say the median age is pretty young, within about a 20-mile radius of our churches, I guess you call it our central campus, are 120,000 college students at schools like UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University and NC State and North Carolina Central and a whole host of others. And so a lot of those students make their way to our church on the weekend, which I always say means a couple of things about us as a church. Number one, We are dirt, poor as a congregation, relatively speaking, because college students bring a lot of awesome things to a church.

Money is not one of them. I can remember very clearly when college students first started to come to our church about 15 years ago. It was like one weekend. I don't know how they heard about us, but two, a Honda Accord and a Toyota Camry pulled up in our parking lot, parked in the fire lane, and about five college students got out. I guess they liked the service because the next week, 500 of them. their friends showed up. By the way, got out of the same two cars, I think. Filled our sanctuary at that point.

We were church four or five hundred. So within the space of about three weeks, our attendance doubled, and our average weekly giving went down. $13.48 cents. One of my favorite all-time memories as a pastor is in between two of our services. One of our ushers comes into my little backstage area,

and he has an offering bucket, and in it is a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from McDonald's, from a conraddle. college student with a little note on it that said silver and gold, have I none, but such as I have, give eye unto you. So that's our congregation, right? We are dirt poor, but the flip side of that, I always say, is that we have a lot of potential missionaries. We have a lot of people who are asking, what am I supposed to do with my life? You know, especially if you're a college student or a young professional, yours is a very cause-driven generation. And maybe 20, 30 years ago,

people wanted to make a lot of money and that kind of thing. The number of the number of people, one thing that comes back on any kind of survey for millennials when they graduate from college of what they want to do with their life is they want their life to count. And so we got a lot of people asking, how is my life really supposed to count? And so we have put in front of them a vision of going that all of you are called. We tell them that they need to, unless they've heard from God audibly, by the time they graduate or turn 30 years old, whichever one comes first, They need to plan on spending the first two years on one of our church plants around the world. You know, like seriously, like, the burden of justification is on you to tell me why you should not do this.

Give us two years and we'll transform the globe. We call that the Mormonization strategy that we have adopted there at the summit. No, I'm kidding. We don't really call it that. But it's very serious to us that all of us are called. We've bought into this, I would say lie. myth would be a softer way of saying it. In churches like ours, that calling is like this mystical moment that a few of us have in some weird kind of, you know, I always call it the

Cheerios method of being called by God, where you stare at your Cheerios and expect that one day it's going to spell out like be a pastor, be a missionary, be a whatever. I can promise you, I have, I'm called, I have stared at my Cheerios for years, and all they've ever spelled out is oh, over and over and over again. Listen, let me give you a little, here's the truth. The calling to leverage your life for the Great Commission was included in the call to follow Jesus. Matthew 419, Jesus said, follow me,

and I will make you a fissure of men, which means if you are following him, he is making you a fissure of men, which means when you accepted Jesus, you accepted the call to mission. So the question is no longer if you are called, the question is only where and how, you are called. And so we put in front of our students this idea, not just students, by the way,

but young professionals and especially people getting ready for retirement, the same kind of vision, and say, look, of all the different factors that go into where you pursue the next part of your life, why wouldn't the kingdom of God be the largest of those factors? You got to get a job somewhere. Why not get a job in a place where God's doing something awesome? Right? I mean, what we teach them to follow Jesus when it gets down to the nuts and bolts is basically this. right whatever you're good at god made you good at something didn't make you all to be pastor jobes or me's or singers or what he made you good at something now so whatever that is you should do it well to the glory of god but you should also do it somewhere strategic for the mission of god right why wouldn't

the kingdom of god be the largest of the factors in where you choose to pursue your career or where you're choosing to spend some of the freest years of your life known as those early years of retirement. So sending for the last decade or so at our church has been our great joy you saw in the video. And all glory on this goes to God, it's been like a wind that is blown through our church that you could not account for it. Simply about the sermons that I've preached or the leadership I've given. It is a movement of the spirit that 1,200 some have left our church to be full-time missionaries. Currently, we've got 273. The video was an error because we sent one yesterday. 273 that are currently on the field. They've together planted 320 churches and unreached people groups

around the world. It is a wonderful, but a painful, a painful part of our church. I feel like, y'all feel like sometimes like being our church is like trying to hug a parade because about the time I get to know somebody and really want to invest in them and like them, they are leaving and they're going out. But here's why it's joyful. I just saw a study done internally by our church that shows, get this, for every one person we have sent out from our church, For every one, there is 30 new people worshipping in the kingdom of God. Now, that's a pretty awesome return on investment if you ask me, which means that, well, I hate, I hate seeing some of our best and our brightest uproop from our church and leave. It is something that God has multiplied.

Listen, the more I study the book of Acts, the more I've come to the conviction, that Jesus' plan for reaching the world, is not gathering large audiences as awesome as this is around hyper-annointed individuals like Pastor Jobi, as awesome as that is. his plan for reaching the world with the gospel, listen to this, is raising up ordinary people in the power of the spirit and sending them out. And it's hard, listen, our church is very similar to this, okay? Our church is large also. I'm not hating on mega churches and I'm saying anything going wrong here. And I'm saying it's hard for us really in churches like this one to get that because we see such power that comes from this pulpit. And we know stories of our friends that are coming to know Jesus here. But I'm telling you.

you the greater works that Jesus promised, John 1412, were not because Pastor Jobi was going to preach a better sermon than Jesus preached the sermon on the Mount. The greater works that Jesus promised the church were going to come when ordinary people understood the power of the spirit within them and just said, yes, Lord, here am I, send me. So to that end, I want to walk you through the story of an ordinary guy in scripture. If you've grown up in church, you know this story and you never thought of him as an ordinary guy. But I'm going to show you he is an ordinary guy. He's not an apostle. In fact, if that were a trivia question, you might get it wrong. This guy is not an apostle. He's just an ordinary guy, as ordinary as they come. And I want to show you four convictions

that shaped his life that should shape yours. This man's name is Stephen, and his story occurs at a very crucial point in the book of Acts, a pivotal point. I'll show you that. and his life is supposed to be a model for ordinary people in our churches. Acts 6, let me give you the context. Stephen was not an apostle, like I said. He's just an ordinary guy, yet his story is going to mark the turning point in the book of Acts. Up until this moment, you see, as far as we know, the gospel movement had yet to leave

the borders of Jerusalem. Even though Jesus had clearly said, right, Acts 1-8, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come on upon you and you will be my witness. is both in, you know this, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth, Jesus could not have been clear, but here they are, Acts chapter 6, they're all still hanging out in Jerusalem together. Now, to be clear, it's been an exciting ride, you know, that it's been a lot of great small groups and the 3,000 baptisms in a day, and, you know, Peter's Hanky healing people when he walks by and miracles and people getting struck dead in

the offering, and so there was a lot of things that were happening, but bottom line is, Act 6, they're still hanging out as a bunch of small groups in Jerusalem, holding hands and singing kumbaya and talking about how awesome God is. All that's going to change with the story of Stephen. In chapter 6, Stephen gets selected to help deliver food to widows so that the apostles could devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. What you should hear from that is, in one sense, Stephen's job was not that important. He was not elected teacher.

He was not elected group president. He did not write any books. he was not asked to speak at any conferences. He was not considered to be one of the theological leaders in the early church. He was just a table waiter. He was the Meals on Wheels in the early church, and that's basically it. Yet Acts 6-7 tells us that Stephen did his job so well, and his witness was so full of the spirit and so compelling

that it got the attention of many in the community, including many of the Jewish priests, who began to turn in large numbers to faith in Christ. Well, that got the attention of the Sanhedron, which was the ruling Jewish authority, and they, of course, didn't like that. Love this verse, Acts 16. Yet even they, the Sanhedron, the Smartys, they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which this untrained ordinary layman was speaking. In Acts chapter 7, they drag in before the Jewish council where Stephen proceeds to give the longest recorded sermon, and I should add least seeker-friendly sermon in the entire book of Acts. It's basically a detailed history of Israel showing how the Old Testament points to Jesus. And Stephen's basic point in it is, you people killed Jesus, and you killed all the prophets too.

And that's why you killed Jesus because you're just like your parents. Did not go over well. It gets to the end of the sermon, and here's where it comes to its climax, Acts 7.54. Now, when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. Yet he, full of the Holy Spirit, gaged up into heaven. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, behold, I see the heavens open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and they stopped their ears.

They couldn't hear it anymore and they rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and they stoned him. And the witnesses lay down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. Saul is going to play an important role in the future. He's going to change his name to Paul and he's going to become the greatest missionary who ever lived. But at that point he still Saul and he still hates Jesus. Verse 59, as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, received my spirit, and falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he said this, he fell asleep.

Now, watch this. Your Bible ends the chapter right there, doesn't it? They didn't start chapter 8 next? I would very humbly suggest to you that is a terrible place for a chapter break. The chapters, by the way, are not inspired, so I'm not criticized on the Holy Spirit in saying that, right? But we added the chapter breaks, and I don't think that's the right place for a chapter break. Let's show you why. Acts 8.1. And there arose on that day. What day? The day of Stephen's martyrdom. A great persecution against the church in Jerusalem because of Stephen's sermon. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. First time you're hearing those words since Acts 1-8. Well, this is awesome. Except the apostles. They're still hanging out in Jerusalem singing kumbaya. And those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Hey, Church of 1122. There it is. the first time the gospel leaves Jerusalem.

And I want you to let this sink in. Not a single apostle was involved. Luke, the writer of Acts, goes out of his way to point out that even in this, no apostles left actually preaching the word. Stephen's service provoked the trial. Stephen's testimony provoked the riot. And of those who left preaching the word, not a single apostle. was included in that number. I believe Stephen's story is given to us as an example of how Acts

1-8 is supposed to be fulfilled. Can you not see all the textual clues of that? We know that the key verse, any scholar will tell you, the key verse in the book of Acts is Acts 1-8. You'll receive power. The Jerusalem is the outline for the book. And here we have the first time that it's being accomplished. What you're seeing is that it's an ordinary layman, not an apostle who is leading to charge. Stephen is a picture of the so-called ordinary Christian. and what they are supposed to look like and what will happen in the world when they do. So let me give you the first of the four convictions of those who transform the world. Right? And that's not overspeak. He literally transformed the world. Number one,

God wants to use me. These are not profound. You don't have to know any eras tenses of Greek verbs to get these. Okay, these are painfully simple. All right. So if you're expecting something elaborate and awesome and brilliant, that's Matt Carter last night. This is not this. This is very simple. God wants to use me. Historically, ordinary believers have always been the tip of the gospel sphere. If you go back and study it from the New Testament onward, the gospel has always, get this, traveled around the world faster on the wings of business than it has through apostolic effort or planning. Stephen Neal, very famous church historian, wrote a book called The History of the Christian Mission. And in the very first chapter, he says,

the only thing more remarkable than the rapidity of the spread of the gospel in the first century is its anonymity. By the end of the first century, he says, 99 AD, you have three famous great church planting centers in the world, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. He said, what is remarkable, about all three of those is we have no idea who planted the churches in Antioch, Alexandria, or Rome. No

idea at all. Now, Acts 11 actually tells you the story of the founding of the church in Antioch. And here's all it says. You can read it later. Acts 11 says, some brothers who were filled with the spirit came to Antioch and the hand of the Lord was with them. Them. Them is Luke's way of saying. And a bunch of guys whose names, I'm not even going to tell you, because you're never going to hear from them again anyway. They're like, you know, bystander number three in the credits at the end of the book. It's just like, you don't even know this guy's name. Yet these people planted a church that would one day send out the Apostle Paul.

The story of the church, family of the church in Rome, that's kind of an important one, isn't it? Who planted the church in Rome? Don't say Peter. Everybody says Peter, not plant the church in Rome. Peter will one day lead it, but he didn't plan it. Paul wants to plant it. You've read Acts, about halfway through Acts. Paul starts saying, I need to preach the gospel in Rome.

I got to take Rome's capital of the world. I got to get the gospel to Rome. I got to get the gospel to Rome. Got to get to Rome. Got to get to Rome. And what a journey it is. Right? I mean, beatings and shipwrecks and having a snake come out of the fire and latch onto his arm.

He finally drags his tired old body into Rome. In Acts 28 kind of like, you know, the shell of a man to sort of, you can just sort of see him dragging himself in. And Acts 28, 12 says when he gets inside the border of Rome, he's, you know, he's a shell of a man. he is greeted by the brothers. Same group of unnamed people. I mean, different ones, but same kind of people. Another group of them who are like, Paul, man, what took you so long to get here?

It's awesome. We got a church going. Maybe you can come speak at it. You can write us a book. I don't know, that might be helpful for Christians later, but Paul didn't found the church in Rome. He wanted to. The point I'm trying to make is it's always been that way. Ordinary people that know what it means to be a disciple making.

disciple. That's how the gospel spreads around the world. It's not through Jobi's preaching or my preaching. It's not even through our planning. It's just ordinary people that know that their primary calling is to make disciples wherever they go. By the way, I read this in a missions journal recently. I thought it was fascinating. If you add up all the evangelical missionaries, that's what kind of church you would call this, an evangelical church, all evangelical missionaries from every denomination in the world that are working in what we call the 1040 window. Now, Pastor Matt talked to you last night about the 1040 window. It's between the 10th and 40th parallel where most of the unreached people groups live. Total number of missionaries at work in the 1040 window,

that number is 40,000. By the way, praise God for that. We need 10 times that many. 40,000. Get this. Number of United States citizens who this very evening are doing secular jobs, in the 1040 window. You know what that number is? 2 million. 2 million Americans are right now living in the 1040 window on some kind of secular job.

36% of them identify as born again. Now, we both know that's not really true. Now, they just check that box. So let's write off two-thirds of those is not really serious about their faith. And let's just take that down to a third and let's cut that number in half. If we did that and said

that's the amount of people who Jesus is important to them, and they understood, get this, that their primary reason that God placed them where he placed them in the 1040 window was to become a disciple-making disciple, that would take the number of missionaries from 40,000 to 240,000, and it wouldn't cost the church another dime. That is why I am telling you the future of the Great Commission is not in big mission boards or even people like me or people like Jobi. it's in ordinary people who understand that God made them good at something and they're supposed to do it well for the glory of God but also somewhere strategic for the mission of God. By the way, I saw this right happen in my own home. My dad's never been paid for ministry a day in his life. He was a plant manager of a textile factory. He retired a few years ago. The day that my dad retired, his company, a large multinational company, rehired him that afternoon to go for 18 months. He had to be able to, he had.

my mom to go for 18 months over to a country in the middle of the 1040 window to oversee the construction of a plant over there. So my dad for 18 months lives over there rubbing shoulders with Asian businessmen that I could never get close to on a mission trip where I'm handing out water bottles and doing an internet cafe. Leads a couple of them to Christ and is a part of an early church plant there in the middle of the 1040 window. Total cost of the church, zero dollars. In fact, we made money on the deal because he kept tithing while he was over there, so it just worked out better for everybody. Right?

Or I'm thinking about, I'm thinking about Neil, a young man from our church who graduated from one of our universities with a very prestigious sports marketing degree. And instead of climbing the normal corporate ladder, he figured out a way that he could get transferred over to the Middle East where we had a church planning team. And he goes over and starts his own sports marketing firm, and it works. And so now not only is he there on the sports marketing platform, he actually pays for two other members on our team to be over there. I could tell you about Brian, who is a patents lawyer, who graduated with a very prestigious law degree from Duke University,

who is doing patent work in United Arab Emirates, or I could tell you about the Parkers who run a CrossFit gym in North Africa, or about Craig, who is the head of an engineering firm in South Asia, or Kevin, a former firefighter who now builds wells in Central Asia, or Samantha, a woman working in red light districts doing wellness and hygiene training for women. Or Rachel, a counselor, trauma counselor who works with abuse victims in East Asia. Or Cameron who runs a textile manufacturing shop. Or Jessica who teaches missionary kids. The point is, God's got a plan for you.

And many of you are going to look in your hand and realize that God placed in your hand a key. And that key was for the unlocking of the nations. The second conviction is going to go hand in hand with this first one. right the first one is god wants to use me number two the holy spirit fills me the holy spirit fills me what makes stephen remarkable to me is his confidence a confidence that stephen apparently gained not because he went to seminary not because he was class president but because he was aware of the fullness of the spirit within him the most common characteristic repeated about stephen was that he was filled with the spirit what gives ordinary people

such extraordinary confidence and effectiveness is the knowledge of the power of the spirit within them. All believers have the spirit. So it's not the presence of the spirit. What gives you confidence and what gives you effectiveness is the knowledge of the spirit within you. Now, listen, Jesus made such extraordinary promises about the potential of the Holy Spirit and believers that honestly, I feel like they're so staggering. But if you don't watch yourself, you don't really take them seriously. I'll prove it to you. I give you a couple of the ones where I see this most. John 16, 7.

Nevertheless, Jesus said, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. Hang on there. Jesus was not in the habit of telling lies. He didn't have to stop and clarify like, hey, guys, now I'm actually being serious. No, he knows that what he's about to say is that's a little textual clue that whatever he says next is so mind-blowing that if you're not paying attention, it'll go right over your head, which is what happens. it is to your what's that word advantage that I go away for if I don't go away the help or the Holy Spirit won't come to you but if I go see I'll send them to you that's why it's to your advantage that I leave how absurd must that have sounded to the first apostles

how absurd would it sound to you now this is one of those areas where I think Pastor Joby has stolen a point that I like to make. I've stolen about 15 of his, so he totally gets that, okay? But the little thing I always say here, and I'm going to need you to act like you've never heard it, and even to laugh at the appropriate time, even though you're like, I think he just preached that to us just because I don't want my feelings to be heard, and I'm on stage and I'm a guest, and you've got to be nice to me, okay?

But I always say, to our congregation here, I'm like, how awesome would it be to walk around with Jesus Christ for three years? What is that experience like? You come home after a tough day of ministry with a theological question about Calvinism. Jesus answers it. Right? Yeah, your small group, they run out of checks mix. Bam, Jesus multiplies the checks mix

so that there's 12 baskets left over. Right? You know, your dog dies. Bam, Jesus raises your dog back from the dead. Your cat dies. Jesus digs a hole to bury that cat and get rid of it forever. I know.

Pastor Jobi tells it better. I'm sure he does. But don't miss the point. The point is, it would be awesome. for Jesus to be beside you. And Jesus said, if you really understood the potential of the Holy Spirit inside you, if you had to choose between me beside you

and him inside you, you would take him inside you every single time. Is that how you feel about the Holy Spirit? I know you love Pastor Job. I know he preaches some awesome sermons. So imagine if Pastor Jobi got up here and was like, hey, folks, I got to tell you, I'm really sad, but God has called me away

from the church of 1122. Man, you'd be sad. morning and all things he say, no, no, don't cry. Don't cry. I know I'm going to miss you guys too, but I got good news. We already have the next pastorist turned in his application. It's Jesus of Nazareth. At that point, the conversation changes. You're excited. Pastor Jobb preaches awesome sermons, but he's never preached anything as awesome as a sermon on the mount, right? Jesus, if you knew that Jesus was going to come lead the mission here in Jacksonville, you would be over the moon.

Are you as excited that you're walking out of here tonight with the Holy Spirit inside of you as you would be if we made that announcement? Because if not, doesn't it show you how far you are from whatever Jesus was talking about in John 16-7? Is that the kind of expectation you get up every day with, with simply saying, Holy Spirit, I got something in me that is more powerful than if even Jesus was here on earth? Here's another place he said it. Matthew 11. Jesus said, truly, I tell you. of all those born to women, which is everybody, okay, just for the record. But of all those born to women, there's never been any greater preacher than, by the way,

you know who this is? Trivia question. Who was Jesus' favorite preacher? It starts with J. Ram's with On the Baptist. John the Baptist, excellent guess. All right. John the Baptist, Jesus loved him from John the Baptist. He podcasted John the Baptist.

W.W. JTB.D. You know, what would John the Baptist do? That's where the bracelet he wore. He loved John the Baptist. Jesus said, truly I tell you, listen to this, the one who is least in my kingdom is greater than John, the Baptist. First of all, what is least in my kingdom mean? Jesus said it not me.

What would least in my kingdom mean? You know the least about the Bible. You're the least talented. You've got the least spiritual gifts. You're the least impressive person. You walk in a room, nobody even knows you there. Right? Somebody in this room right now, out of all these people listening to me here at one of our campuses or online,

somebody in this audience is the least of the kingdom of heaven among all of you. I'm not being mean, but mathematically, that has to be true, right? Somebody's got to be at the bottom of the pile. Right now you're sitting there in your seat thinking, it might be me. And God in heaven is like, yep, it's you. You're at the bottom of the pile. When Jesus is saying, listen to this, is even if that assessment is true, you have, have more potential in ministry than John the Baptist.

Why? Because you got something John never had. You have first of all, you have a firsthand knowledge of the resurrection. Second of all, you've got the Holy Spirit permanently fused to your soul. And what that means is that from that point forward, it is no longer about your abilities and ministry, but your availability to the Spirit. Because it is not you for Jesus. It is Jesus through you. And what you're seeing with Stephen is an ordinary guy who's just said,

yes Lord here am I sent me and God says watch this I'm going to show off by the way in case you didn't get the point guess what happens at the end of Acts chapter 8 you got the first international mission trip another ordinary guy by the name of Philip obedient to the spirit the spirit moves him out of this great revival that he's in like what's going on here in jacksaville tells him to go stand out in the middle of a dirty dusty crossroads out in the middle of nowhere like somewhere in south georgia you know so he's just standing at her by himself like I don't even know what I'm doing here right and all the sudden the guy comes by in a chariot that we now refer to as the Ethiopian eunuch and the guy happens to be reading from the book of Isaiah and doesn't know what

he's reading so Philip in obedience to the spirit climbs up in the in the in the chariot and he leads him to faith in Christ by the way Eusebius the fourth century church historian tells us that that Ethiopian eunuch after he got baptized went back to sub-Saharan Africa where he was from and not only planted a church but started a church planting movement that is in existence today. One act of obedience by an ordinary person did more to get the gospel to the ends of the earth than all the apostles have been able to accomplish in seven chapters. The Holy Spirit fills you and that gives you incredible, incredible opportunities. I guess the question is, are you listening to the Spirit?

Pastor Matt talked about that a lot last night. The Holy Spirit is going to say to something me, you do this and it's not going to make sense. Every time I talk about this, I think about a girl I went to college with. Her name was Amy. She was one of the shyest girls, painfully shy. And if you're listening to Amy, we love you. But she was really, really shy. She didn't, I mean, she just.

And so I was part of this ministry, and we wanted to do a revival on our campus. And we didn't have any resources. We weren't even an official club. So, you know what you know how to do. I'm sure you did at some point, Joe. We put up flyers, promised free hot dogs, had a worship band. We're going to have somebody, you know, preach the gospel. So we put them up there, and the day I had my little leadership team trying to pull this thing off, the day before the event

happened, I had that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was going to be a total flopping disaster. I don't know how to describe that feeling, but if you failed a lot in life like I had, you know exactly what it feels like right before it happens. And I was like, this is that feeling. I always have, right before I asked, you know, Amy to go to the, different Amy, to go to the prom. I knew she was going to say no, and sure enough she did. I had this thing. feeling. So I knew what was about to happen. And so I'm having, we're trying to pray and spiritualize it and we're talking about it. And all of a sudden, we're in our college dining room cafeteria. I'm talking to the team over here and all of a sudden to my left, I hear this little commotion. And I turn around and

Amy is standing on top of a table in the middle of the dining room of our college cafeteria, stamping her foot on the table. And the whole place went dead quiet and I just looked up at her and I was like, Lord Jesus, please don't want, please don't let her dance. Don't let her dance. And she says, I know this is really strange. She says, strange for you, even stranger for me. She said, but I just needed all of you to know that tomorrow and I, we're going to do this big thing on campus where a friend of ours is going to come and talk about how Jesus changed his life. And she said, I really want all of y'all to be there because Jesus has changed my life. And I just want you to come.

And there's going to be free hot dogs. And she says, thank you. And she sat down. Now, she sat down. I remember looking over at a cup like, did somebody put something in her cup? Like, what had just happened? I looked at her and I was like, Amy, what happened? And she said, I don't know.

She said, I just felt like the Holy Spirit told me to do that. Now, I'm not telling you that if you start listening to the Holy Spirit, he's going to tell you to, in public restaurants, stand on your table. In fact, I would strongly encourage against that, just for the record. But I can tell you that the next night, 700 people showed up and 52 people made first-time professions of faith. It was because of a girl with a very shy personality who just said, yes, Lord. Listen, when you see the rapid expanse of the gospel in the book of Acts, you know what you see? Who's the main character in the Book of Acts?

Unfortunately, your Bible says Acts of the Apostles. It's not the Acts of the Apostles. It's the Acts of the Holy Spirit. He's the main character. He shows up 59 times in the Book of Acts. 59. Get this. 36 of the 59, he is speaking.

Now, here's what's frustrating. I'll be honest with you. I'm sure Pastor Jaby's talking about this. It almost never tells us how he speaks, which is frustrating for me. Acts 13, 2, the Holy Spirit said, separate Barnabas and Saul for the work of ministry I have for them. And I'm like, how do you say it? Everybody had the same feeling, a warm, fuzzy feeling, was there a little, like, you know,

text bubble that popped up over their heads or did you write it? How did it happen? It doesn't tell us. I would actually submit to you, I think that ambiguity is intentional, right? because more havoc has been wreaked in the world following the words God just told me than probably any other phrase, right? So I think there is intentional ambiguity about how the Spirit speaks in the book of Acts so that you will never give what you think the Spirit is saying, the same gravitas you give what he actually is saying in the Bible. I think that's intentional. But while there is ambiguity in how he speaks, there is no ambiguity in whether he is speaking.

And the only way the church begins to move forward is when ordinary people like Stephen and like Amy and like Philip and like you. Just say, yes, Lord. Here I am. Send me. And I don't know how he's going to say it. It'll probably be something like Acts 13 too. And somebody's going to pray over you and they're going to speak a word to you and you're going to have this thing moving in your heart. You're not going to be able to quit thinking about it.

And you're going to say last night I left and I didn't text a 44112 number. and I know I should have because I should at least start the conversation and you're going to recognize that that's God speaking to you. You got to listen. You got to listen. Number three.

Number three. Third conviction, as Jesus was to me, so I will be to others. Verse 59 might be my favorite part of this whole story. Because it gives us a window. Watch this, y'all.

Into Stephen's soul. Showing us what Stephen was thinking about at the very moment of his death. Watch this, verse 59. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord, Jesus received my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice. Lord, do not hold this sin against them. 1122, question.

Where have you heard those two phrases before? Where have you heard those two phrases before? Do they not sound identical what Jesus said on the cross right before he does? God? Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit and Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Friends, it seems that in Stephen's dying moments, Stephen was thinking about what Jesus had prayed for him on the cross. And now Stephen is attempting, watch this, to do for others what Jesus had done for him. Because see, that's what it means to follow Jesus. To look at your life as a sacrifice for others, like Jesus sacrificed himself for you. So ask yourself a question. Where would you be?

Where would you be had Jesus chosen not to die for you? He didn't have to. Where would you be a Jesus chosen not to die for you? Let me give you a twist on that answer. You'd be it exactly the same place that millions of people in the world are without you. Because it's like Martin Luther said, it wouldn't matter if Jesus died a thousand times if nobody ever heard about it. The preaching of the gospel and the hearing of the gospel and the response to the gospel is an essential part of the salvation process. We call the gospel good news, said Carl F.H. Henry, the the the theologian, but the gospel is only good news for somebody if it gets to them in time. Where would you be had Jesus chosen not to die for you? You'd be in exactly the same place.

the 2.8 billion people in the world are without you. Have you wrestled with the implications and the obligations you owe to the gospel? Have you really got your mind around the fact that this very night, there are 2.8 billion people in our world that have little to no access to even hear his name. By the way, do not turn that 2.8 billion into just a statistic. Joseph Stalin, who I typically don't quote during sermons, but Joseph Stalin, he said, get this, listen to this, the death of one is a tragedy. The death of a million is just a statistic. That's a chilling statement coming from him. But you know what he meant by it? When you look into the face of one, you see a reflection of yourself. You see somebody, he wouldn't have said it like this, but you see somebody made in the image of God like you. You see somebody with hurts, wants, needs, relationships, love, just like you. When I talk about 2.8 billion people in the world that have never heard the gospel, you think, oh, that's terrible. It's 2.8 billion people that are made in the image of God like you, who know what it's like to be lonely and afraid like you, who know what it's

like to wonder what's going to happen to them when they die. It's 2.8 billion people that going to hell for them is every bit of tragedy that it would be for you or one of your children. If Jesus sacrificed himself for you so that you didn't have to go into that, why wouldn't you? Say, Lord, help me, help them. Here am I, Lord, send me, use my life as a sacrifice the way that you sacrifice yourself for me. If not, I would even say something really bold here. Do you actually believe the gospel? Charles Spurgeon, Pastor Matt's Pastor Emeritus, he quoted like 10 times last night.

Spurgeon was once asked, can people around the world who have never heard be saved without hearing about Jesus? and Spurgeon said, well, he said, I think it's a really good question. He said, but the more troubling question is, can those of us who know Jesus and know people around the world have never heard about them and are not doing all that we can to get the gospel to them, could we actually be saved? I was sharing Christ one time with a girl named Rhonda. She was from the northeast and growing up in America and Anglo and, you know, just to look like typical, you know, American northeastern girl from Boston.

I started explaining the gospel to her. She'd never heard it, any version of it. It was mind-blowing. And I'm like, you've never heard any of this. She didn't know. And I was like, all right. So I explained it to her. And she listened.

And after a while, she said, you actually believe this. I was like, well, yeah. I didn't even got to the part about him coming on a white horse of the clouds yet. When do you get to that part? She's like, you actually believe this. And I said, yeah? She's like, because you don't act like you believe in. I was like, what do you mean?

I'm sitting here trying to persuade you. She's, no, you act like you're trying to win a debate. And she said to me words, I will never forget. that she said, if I believe what you say you believe, she says, I don't know how I'd make it through the day. She said, I feel like I'd be it on my knees in front of every person I've ever talked to who ever known, and I would be saying, please, and I would be pleased that they had to hear and understand who Jesus is. Do you actually believe this gospel, that you and I are here in this little place called planet Earth, and we've got a really limited amount of time. And like

Matt showed you last night, we're all going to be dead within 100 years. And the only one life to live will soon be passed. Only what's dead. done for Christ will last, and that every person you look at, every person you see in every video montage around the world is a person who has a soul that Jesus died for and that is precious in God's sight. And so, what are you doing with your life? Listen, to those you who are millennials, you're a cause-driven generation, and that's awesome. You want to dig wells and you want to, you know, save the planet from plastic straws. And those are great, okay? But you understand, If you believe the gospel, the greatest cause of all is people hearing about Jesus.

We should be active relieving all kinds of suffering, but like John Piper says, the worst suffering is eternal suffering. And if you believe the gospel and you have a heart of compassion, you've got to give your life so that other people can hear. Number four, last one. Jesus is worth it. Let's return one final time to Acts chapter 7. They began to hurl baseball-sized stones at Stephen. Stephen says, Behold, I see the heavens open and the son of man standing

at the right hand of God. Scholars point out that Jesus' standing here is odd. Because everywhere else we see Jesus at the right hand of God, we see him sitting. It's actually an important theological point. Being seated shows that he has completed

the work of salvation. So the question is, why is he standing at this moment? I think there's only one possible answer. He's standing to receive home his son. Because in that moment, the entire world, it seems, has risen up against Stephen as one and said, Stephen, you are a fool. You are a traitor.

Your life is a waste. It's almost like Jesus can't contain himself. He stands up to his feet. And in the moment that they're hurling rocks at him to take the life out of him, Jesus stands up. and he says, no, well done, good and faithful servant. They call you heretic. I welcome you home. Stephen looks up into heaven, verse 56, with face beaming with angelic brightness.

And he says, in essence, Jesus is worth it. The only way that you and I will develop the courage to go all the way, wherever God has sent you is the conviction that Jesus is worth it. friends listen we love to talk about coming to jesus is bringing peace into our lives fulfillment restoring marriages giving us meaning and purpose and all that's true but at some point listen to this at some point if you're really serious about following jesus obedience to jesus is going to take you a hundred and eighty degrees opposite of the direction that you think you want to go at some point that's going to happen and the only thing that will complete

that kind of obedience is a clear-eyed, full-hearted confidence that Jesus is worth it. I spent the first two years video mentioned this as a missionary in Southeast Asia. And I've been there about three or four months and I got a call from a friend, a Christian friend, who lived about three hours south of me. And he said, hey, I need you to come down to where I am. and he said, I said, why? He said, I can't, you know, I can't tell you. He said, they're listening, and it's true

because they had her phones bug. He said, just meet me at the place. I was like, man, it's 11 o'clock at night. Can I wait until tomorrow? He said, it cannot wait until tomorrow. So I go out, I can go find a bus. I travel three hours down to where he is. It's like middle of the night, middle of the morning.

I find him. He's sitting there with this guy I've never met named Fajjar. Fajar was a 32-year-old Muslim. and my friend said, tell him what you told me. I don't even speak the language that well yet. And so my friend, this Fajar, starts telling me this story. My friend's translating.

He said, well, about a month ago, he said, I had this, I don't know what you would call it. He said, I guess a dream, a vision, maybe. Listen to this. He said, in this dream, you said, I was standing in this field. He said, as far as I could see in front of me, behind me, to the right to the left, he said, there was nothing. I just walked for what days, felt like days.

in this field. He said, I feel like that somehow symbolizes my life because though I'm a very committed Muslim, I just, I just feel lost. He said, after walking for what felt like days, I heard a voice behind me call my name. He said, there was nobody there before. I looked, he said, but I turned around,

and now he said there was a man. I don't know if that's what you call him, but he was a towering figure. He was dressed in a radiant white robe, and his face, spurti Matahari. Like the sun, it just shone. And I couldn't even look at him. He reached inside of his robe and he pulled out a copy of the NGil.

That's their word for gospel. And he said, he reached it out to me and he said, Fajar, this is the only thing that will get you out of this field. He said, I pulled back and I shook my head because I'm a Muslim and that's a Christian document. And I cannot touch that. He said, no, no, he said, and I woke up in a cold sweat and I knew I'd made a terrible mistake. He said, the second night I went to sleep. He said, I had the exact same dream.

He said, again, I walked for what felt like days. And again, he appeared and he called my name and said, Fajar, this is the only thing that will get you out of this field. He said, this time I wanted to take it. He said, I wanted to take it. But I just couldn't work my hands to have the strength in my dream. They just stayed pinned to my side. He said, I woke up and again, I felt like I made a terrible mistake. He said, third night, I didn't even want to go to sleep because I knew what was going to happen. He said, sure enough, I closed my eyes and sleep. I opened it in this field. And there he stands. This time there was no walking around. It was just me and him. And he looked at me, and he said, Fajar, this is the last time I'm going to tell you. This is the only thing that will get you out of this field.

He said, this time I watched my hands. I could see them trembling. I watched, they reached up and I took a copy of this Injil and I pulled it into my chest. He said the next morning I woke up peacefully in my bed. He looks at me and says through my friend, he says, my friend assures me that you are expert at Injil, expert at gospel. He said, can you tell me what my dream means? And you go, I was raised in a really, really conservative Baptist church. Dreams and visions were not part of our repertoire, ministry, gift. training, okay? I'm happy to tell you, but in that moment I knew exactly what to say. I was like,

bro, you were so in luck. Dream interpretation is my spiritual gift. And for the next two to three hours, you all went through. I didn't know what else to do. I started in Genesis, and I just went through and showed him Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Got to Matthew and we came to the story about the cross and he said, and he said, no, you're telling me that this is Jesus. who is God, and he's dying on this cross, and you're saying he's dying for me. And I said, yeah, that's like the whole point. And he said, I never forget,

he got these big old tears in his eyes, and he just looks upward, and he opens his arms, and he says, Allah, Wakabad. God is the greatest. I was like, I think we got some discipleship to do, but I'm going to take that for right now, okay? God is the greatest. We get to the end of my gospel presentation,

and I could tell God was working it as hard, and I was like, Fajar, you, are you ready to trust Christ? And he said, oh, with all my heart. And I was like, and I was like, Joby, I trained as a youth evangelist, I was like, every head bowed, every eye closed. I want you to repeat this prayer after me. And I start leading them through the sinner's prayer, right?

Just sinners' prayer. We get two phrases into it. And I was like, Fajar, stop. I was like, hang on, man. I was like, I mean, you realize this is a big deal. You're not just praying a prayer. You're becoming a follower of Jesus. and the Bible says you need to get baptized, which we will do right after you get done praying this prayer.

And you know that when you get baptized, everything changes. You know, you might get kicked out of your family. You know that you might lose your job. And you and I both know of people in this region that have lost their lives because of that. I'll never forget. He smiles. He goes, oh, of course I knew that. He said, why do you think it took me a month to work up the courage to come and talk to you?

He said, but in that month, I decided I knew that you, I knew that you were going to tell me that the man in my dream was Jesus. And I knew that you Christians believed you said that Jesus, as the son of God, had died on the cross in my place. I knew that. And in that month, I decided that if that really was Jesus, and if Jesus really did what the Christian said that he did, then I would follow him anywhere regardless of what I had to leave behind.

At which point I was like, I think you need to lead me in the sinner's friend. because I feel like I need to get saved right here, right now. Now listen, there's something in the heart of every true believer that when you hear a story like that, listen to this, your heart rises up in you and you say, yes, yes. Fajar, it's going to be rough and it's going to be costly, but he's worth it. He's worth it. He's worth it. Oh, he's worth it. The cost to follow Jesus in places like Southeast Asia is severe.

The cost to get the gospel to places like Southeast Asia is severe. and pardon my bluntness, but it is hypocritical for you to say amen to Fajar and not be willing to do what it takes to get the gospel to him. The only thing that's going to compel you to go all the way is the conviction that Jesus is worth it, regardless of what you've got to leave behind. And whether you put that in the words of the old song, we used to sing, if you grew up going to youth camp, I have decided to follow Jesus, the world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back. Jesus is worth it. What you see on display in Stephen's life is somebody saying, he is worth it regardless of what. what I got to leave behind. Every year at our church, we have college students that God calls to the mission field,

but their parents tell them no, and they've all got to go through this process. I went through it when God first called me. I love my mom and dad. I want to honor my mom and dad, but my mom and dad didn't die for me. And my mom and dad didn't create me in the ultimate sense. And one day when I get to heaven, it's not my mom and dad's throne that I'm going to be gathered around singing their praises. Now, I'm going to be gathered around the throne of the lamb who was slain for me.

and at that his name, every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father, and there's going to be one person on whom all the attention is focused. And you've got to decide now if that's who you're living for, because I'm going to tell you this, your parents are precious, and your dreams are important, and your career's awesome. But none of those things are worth the offering of your life. The only thing, the only thing that's there and present at that last day is going to be the lamb as he stands. to receive you home and you will join with millions of others who will say, worthy are you, O lamb, who was slain. For by your will, I was created, and by your blood I was redeemed. And for your purposes, I existed.

And by your grace, I was sustained. And forever and ever and ever, we will celebrate and build our eternities around the centrality of the Lamb of God that Stephen saw in Acts chapter 7. Is he worth it? Is he worth it? it would tell you there are millions of people who've said absolutely he is and you've got to come to that point that you decide that to how do you respond to this let me give you something very practical right now god's doing something in some of your hearts you're like i'm not even sure where this is

going i don't know what i i got way more questions i want you to pull out your phone right now i want you to take it out i want you to text 4 4112 i want you to say send me this is not a contract nobody's going to shame you, it's just you starting a conversation. It's going to allow them to start a conversation with you. You're a college student. You're like, I'm ready to go two years. There's a thing I'm involved with called go two years. Go2 years.com. Something we started at our church and then took National. If that can be held to you, then certainly do that. But I'd say that for the majority of us, listen, we just need to say, God, here am I, send me. Maybe you'll send me across the street. Maybe you'll send me back to my job. Bob. Maybe you'll tell me to do one of these things overseas. I'm in a very comfortable place, a place I love, ministry that's thriving. Every January, my wife and I do something that John Piper taught us to do. Every year, it's one of the hardest things we do. My wife and I, our four kids, we take a week and I say, Lord, is this the year? Is this the year? Is this the year that you say, your ministry at the summit church is finished?

So I'm a church, my church, my church, I can take care of that church. I want you to go and live among an unreached people group. Every year, we lay it back down and just say, is this the year? Every year that we've done that, thus far, God has said, nope, not yet, not yet. You're where you need to be. Are you willing to say, God, right here, right now, no exclusions. Is this the year? Lord, here am I, send thee, and then at least be willing to start the conversation to find out where God can take that.

that's the invitation. Why don't you bow your heads, wherever you are, campuses, and your homes? I realize if you're at your home, you don't have an altar up here, but we're just going to open this up. Our worship team's going to come. Acts 13-2 was in the midst of a prayer meeting that God began to call people. Why don't we turn this into a tabernacle of prayer? Maybe you just want to come and pray and say, God, here am I, send me?

Maybe God's already putting a group in your heart. Maybe it's a group of athletes that go to the school you go to. or maybe it's Muslims or Buddhist or people in Russia or I don't know what we always say at our church is you put your yes on the table and let God put it on the map. Why don't you do that right now? Father, I pray that in these moments, in these moments, your spirit would move. Eternities, lives would be changed here so that eternities would be changed around the world. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Stand to your feet. If you would, everywhere we are, stand to your feet. Stand to your feet. Our worship team is going to come. I want you to come and I want you to turn this into a tabernacle of prayer and let's pray for each other. Let's pray for each other. If you're uncomfortable with that, you're just right there at your seat, turn around. By the way, if you're like, look, I stumbled in here and I don't know what is going on,

and you're like, you're obviously really excited about something. And I don't know who this Jesus is, but this is crazy talk. You're exactly where you need to be, okay? And I promise you, you come right down here and there'll be some pastor that will grab you, and we would love to tell you why you ought to give your life to Jesus because he is your only hope and your only way of salvation. have that conversation with you okay worship teams you lead us and friend you come and let's pray