A Reaction of Power

Well, good morning, 121. Will you stand and worship with us this morning? Good morning. I call you healing. You can mend any broken heart. I call you faithful Father. You finish everything you start. My soul was made to respond. I know you're by a thousand names. And you deserve every single one. You've given me a million ways to be amazed at what you've done. And I am lost in wonder at all you do. I know you're by a thousand names. And I sing them back to you. We'll sing them all back. Your love is boundless. You're not what I could dream. Your grace is patient. You've never given up on me. I call you bondage breaker. Because you're handing out the prison keys. My soul was made to be free. I know, I know, I know. I know you're by a thousand names. And you deserve every single one. You've given me a million ways to be amazed at what you've done. And I am lost in wonder at all you do. I know you're by a thousand names. And I sing them back, gonna sing them back to you. Sing them all back, sing them all back.

You are of ages. You're the great I am. You're my king forever. You're beginning and the end. You are Lord and servant. You're the son of man. You're the light of Judah. You're the risen lamb. You're the second Adam. Here to lead us home. You are always glowing now. Filled in flesh and bone. You are ocean and water. You will make a way. You are depth, deep, feet of you. You are risen from the dead. You are full of mercy. You are rich in love. You are Jesus, Messiah, the watching God. I know you're by a thousand names. And you deserve every single one. You've given me so many ways. I'm amazed, I'm amazed. I know you're by a thousand names. And you deserve every single one. You've given me a million ways. To be amazed at what you've done. I am lost in wonder at all you do. I know you're by a thousand names. And I'll sing them back.

Gonna sing them back to you. Sing them over, let's sing them over. Amen, amen, we give God praise this morning. It is good to be in the house of the Lord and worship Him together, whether you're here in person, if you're online, if you're watching from your prison cell. Just a beautiful morning, worship the Lord this morning. Y'all can have a seat as we get to celebrate baptisms. Celebrate the work of Jesus Christ in our lives and what baptism means. ♪♪ ♪ Sat on the hill of Calvary ♪ ♪ My Savior bled for me ♪ ♪ My Jesus set me free ♪ ♪ Look at the wounds that gave my life ♪ ♪ Grace flowing from inside ♪ ♪ No greater sacrifice ♪ ♪ What He's done, what He's done ♪ ♪ All the glory and the honor to the Son ♪ ♪ My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven ♪ ♪ And I praise God for what He's done ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Sing for the freedom He has won ♪ ♪ Even death is dead and gone ♪ ♪ His life is overcome, thank You Jesus ♪ ♪ And speak, say the name above all names ♪ ♪ Over every broken place, He is risen from the dead ♪ ♪ And we'll sing what He's done, what He's done, what He's done ♪ ♪ All the glory and the honor to the Son ♪

♪ My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven ♪ ♪ And I praise God for what He's done ♪ ♪ Thank You Jesus ♪ ♪ And now on the throne of majesty ♪ ♪ The Father's will complete ♪ ♪ He reigns in victory, hallelujah, we sing ♪ ♪ And sing hallelujah to the King ♪ ♪ He is worthy to receive all the worship we pray ♪ ♪ And we'll sing what He's done, what He's done, what He's done ♪ ♪ All the glory and the honor to the Son ♪ ♪ My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven ♪ ♪ And I praise God for what He's done, what He's done, what He's done ♪ ♪ What He's done, what He's done, what He's done, what He's done ♪ ♪ All the glory and the honor to the Son ♪ ♪ My sins are forgiven, my future is heaven ♪ ♪ And I praise God for what He's done, what He's done, what He's done ♪ ♪ I praise God for what He's done, what He's done, what He's done, what He's done ♪ ♪ Oh, for what He's done, thank You we're healed ♪ Amen, let's give the Lord praise this morning. ♪ I love You, Lord, all Your mercy never fails me ♪ ♪ And all my days I've been held in Your hands ♪ ♪ From the moment that I wake up until I lay my head ♪ ♪ I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ And all my life You have been faithful ♪ ♪ And all my life You have been faithful ♪ ♪ I feel so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able to breathe ♪ ♪ Oh, I sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Your voice, you have led me through the fire ♪ ♪ And in darkest nights, you were close like a brother ♪

♪ I've known you as a father, I've known you as a friend ♪ ♪ And I have lived in the goodness of God ♪ ♪ And I have lived in the goodness of God ♪ ♪ And all my life, you have been faithful ♪ ♪ And all my life, you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able to breathe ♪ ♪ Oh, I sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down, surrendered now ♪ ♪ I give you everything ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness, your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ With my life laid down, surrendered now ♪ ♪ I give you everything ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running after, it's running after me ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ Oh I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ I'm gonna sing to you Lord ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ And all my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ With every breath that I am able ♪ ♪ Oh I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Oh I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ Oh I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God ♪ Amen, as we sing songs this morning,

we sing about the names of God, the names of Jesus because of the things he's done. We celebrate baptisms, we sing about what he has done on the cross on our behalf. We sing about the goodness of God, and all these songs are to lead us, our minds and our hearts into a place of gratitude. There's a great quote this week, it says, gratitude turns everything we have into enough. And I wanna say that again because it's so powerful and so simple. It's that when our hearts and our minds move to a place of gratitude, it turns everything we have into enough. And that is a beautiful promise this morning because we're all walking in with something different. We're all walking in, some people are walking in with joy or celebration, goodness. Some people are walking in feeling like a failure or shame or pain or mourning. But the beautiful thing about the gratitude is when we walk in with those things, we're walking into the same thing. No matter what we walked in with, we're all here in the same thing, and that is the presence of the living God. The God who sits above all things, who is great, who is worthy, he is holy, and he is greatly to be praised. And that is enough for us this morning.

That is enough for us to show up and say, God, does this make you happy? Despite what we've done, despite who we are, you are good. And that's enough for us just to raise a hallelujah this morning to say, God, I open up my arms to you because that is all I have this morning. No matter how good I think I am, no matter how bad I think I've been, there is a God of the universe that looks down and says, I see you, I know you, I love you, and I am for you. And that is enough for us to say hallelujah this morning. So I wanna encourage you as we sing this next song, and we talk about raising our hands, when we do this, this is not a performance, this is not some kind of manipulation into worship, this is an outward expression of what's going on inside. We say, God, here I am, my arms are open, I have nothing to hide, everything I have, my shame, everything is good in me, everything's bad in me, this is for you. So I wanna encourage you, if this is something you've struggled with for a long time, you're like me, you just constantly held onto the seat back in front of you, it's time to let go. It's time to say, God is enough, but don't force it. If you don't feel that, don't do that, don't do anything that God is not calling you to do.

But if God is telling you to raise your arms to surrender to him, I just implore you, I beg you this morning to give to him what is his, not rob him of his glory and his praise that he deserves, because he is good and he is worth it, and we'll praise him this morning out of a heart of gratitude. ♪ Ohelujah, ohelujah ♪ ♪ All my words fall short ♪ ♪ I've done nothing new ♪ ♪ How could I express ♪ ♪ All my gratitude? ♪ ♪ I could sing these songs as I often do ♪ ♪ But every song has to end and you never do ♪ ♪ So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again ♪ ♪ Cause all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ And I know it's not much, but nothing else is big for a king ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I've got water and salt, I've got just what you need ♪ ♪ With my arms stretched wide, I will worship you ♪ ♪ So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again ♪ ♪ Cause all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ And I know it's not much, but nothing else is big for a king ♪ ♪ Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ So get ready to sing this next part. We're not asking ourselves when we sing, come on my soul, don't get shunned, you got a lion inside of your lungs. We're not asking ourselves to dig into something deeper within ourselves or some kind of inner strength.

It's not a Tony Robbins seminar or anything like that. We're asking the spirit that God has put inside of us to erupt in a way that we can't explain, in a way that doesn't make sense, in a way that we don't know how to, no matter how good things are, no matter how bad things are, we're asking the lion that God has put inside of us with the lion, the spirit, just to erupt in praise this morning. So we sing that this morning, not out of a strength of our own, but with strength out of God that we can't control. So that's our prayer this morning. We sing this as a prayer, that God would get us erupt in this place, Father. God, would you cause the spirit inside of us, God, just to erupt in praise, to resist evil, Father, to bring glory and honor to your name, God, to lift your name high, because you deserve it. ♪ So come on my soul, don't you get tired ♪ Lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of us, Lord Get up and praise the Lord So come on my soul Oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of us, Lord Get up and praise the Lord So come on my soul Oh don't you get shy on me

Lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of us, Lord Get up and praise the Lord So come on my soul Oh don't you get shy on me Lift up your song Cause you've got a lion inside of us, Lord Get up and praise the Lord Praise the Lord You are holy You are worthy You are greatly to be praised You are holy You are worthy You are greatly to be praised You are holy You are worthy You are greatly to be praised You are holy You are worthy You are greatly to be praised You are holy You are worthy You are greatly to be praised So I fold my hands Praise You again and again Cause all that I have is You All that I have is You And I know it's not much It's not much

I call You Jesus I call You, I call You healer Risen and reigning in power Something comes out of the grave Every time I call You Jesus I call You, I call You Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave Every time I call You Jesus I call You, I call You healer Risen and reigning in power Something comes out of the grave Every time I call You Jesus I call You, I call You Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave Every once in a while I call You Jesus I call You, I call You healer Risen and reigning in power Something comes out of the grave Every time I call You Jesus I call You, I call You Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave Every time I call You Something comes out of the grave of the great. Every time I call your name. Every time I call your name. This Bible and the precious name of Jesus. Every time I call your name. God, thank you, Father, God, and thank you for your name. God, thank you that you are good. You're holy, God, you're worthy. Thank you for the privilege it is just to gather

and praise you this morning, God. Father, we love you. We ask that you are just glorified this morning above all things. We love you, Father, and ask all this in the name of Christ. Amen. Amen. Okay, good morning, 121 Community Church. It's good to be back. Good to be home with you guys. And you say, back? When were you ever here? A long time ago. Many years ago, I got the opportunity to work here. First job ever at a church. First job out of college. I still have the voicemail from my last year of college when Ross, Pastor Ross, called me. Many of you probably have some Ross voice messages in your phone as well. But when he called me and invited me to come join the staff here at 121, and I have so much respect for Pastor Ross and for Lisa and the Sawyers family, that I was so excited to show up here and get an opportunity. And this church means so much to me and my family. My wife grew up in this church. My wife, Riley, and I live in Washington, D.C., like Kevin said. I work at a church called Passion City Church. And we are expecting our first baby this June. Yes. You know, I'm sad. I'm a Texan, so I'm sad not to have him in Texas. But Nation's Capitol, I mean, that's a good close second if you're going to be born somewhere. So we're excited for that and the change in our family. This church means so much to us. First time I ever preached was right up here. Ross, when I was 23, invited me to preach on a Sunday up here. And I remember that Saturday night, I went and grabbed, like a single 23-year-old, went and grabbed an In-N-Out shake and came up here and just on this stage just practiced for probably until 3 a.m. and then went and slept a few hours and came back up because I just wanted to nail it for you guys. Did not do that last night. I am now older. I sleep. I prepare better. So I'm ready to go. But really, really excited to be with you guys. Y'all mean a lot to me and my family and wish Ross and Lisa were here, but that would kind of defeat the purpose of me being here. But maybe another time we'll cross paths. We'll be in First Thessalonians this morning. So if you have a copy of your Bible, just open it up to First Thessalonians. That's towards the back of your Bible. Small book. Might have to flip around to find it. We're going to be in chapter 1. Like Kevin said, Zach was up here last week. I've never met Zach, but I have multiple mentors who have met Zach and have hyped him up to me. So I hope to meet Zach one day. But I did get

to tune into a little bit of his message last week. Did a great job setting up the series. And now we're going to get into the book of First Thessalonians and run out the next couple months through this. So we're going to kick off in verse 1. We'll just read a few verses. Paul says this in verse 1, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. And you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. Let me pray for us and we'll jump in. Heavenly Father, thank you for an opportunity to meet this morning. Open up your word and hear from you. God, I pray that would happen, that you would speak. You would move me out of the way, put your word at the center, and we would hear from you. God, I pray we'd be the kind of church your word calls us to be today. Help us move towards that by the power of your spirit. Church, if you would, I just wanna invite you to pray for yourself. So just say, God, would you speak to me? Maybe tell him something you're in need of this morning. And then if you would, would you pray for me, that God would use me? Heavenly Father, we love you. We're just so grateful for the opportunity this morning. Would you use this time, Jesus' name, amen. Well, growing up, I had the best older sister. She still is the best. She's actually here this morning with her four little kids running around. But the reason she is the best is because she would let me hang out with her friends.

She was a senior in high school when I was a freshman, so that's the age difference between us. And she would, as a freshman, it was so cool to get to hang out with the senior guys when they are all over at the house. Or her and her friends would take me and my friends to go get into trouble around the city doing silly things and stuff like that. And when I would walk through the halls in high school, I would know the senior dudes and the senior girls. And that just made me, as a freshman guy, seem so cool and feel so cool. So I owed a lot to my sister. I was not cool as a freshman. Very long, swoopy hair, it was like the Bieber days. This is tough, challenging. But my sister made me feel cool. And she was one of those people that always invited her friends over to our house. So our house was kind of like the hub for people, in and out, always hanging out. I would come home from football practice and one of her friends would be taking a nap on our couch and no one else in my family is home. And I'm like, what, how'd you get in? But that was just kind of how our house ran. So lots of times it was harmless. Board games, card games, catchphrase, just letting me play, shoot hoops in the backyard. But a few times the cops did get called

because of things they did, not me. And it was fun because if they got into trouble, I got to be there. But then I would run away as the freshman and pretend I'm little and didn't have to face the officer. So really good training for life right there. But I remember one particular time they wanted to create something called a works bomb. A works bomb, which I will not give you the instructions on how to do it because I think there's probably some teenagers in the room. But you take two items, mix them together in a liter soda plastic bottle, shake it up and then throw it. And then hopefully the mixture works and the reaction is boom, power. Now, disclaimer, I grew up in Midland, Texas. So the kind of place you can make a bomb and get away with it, it's not a big deal. So just so you know that, don't do that here. But we had this big field across the street from our house. So they ran out there, they took these two things, put them in the deal, shook them up and threw it. The thing with the works bomb is you don't know when it's gonna go off, it's just chemical reaction. So you shake it, shake it, shake it, chunk it, and it's like, it could go off right away, it could go off in the air, or you run off and you sit there, nothing happens. And you nudge your buddy, like,

I think you should go grab it and shake it. He's like, no, I think you're better at it, you should do it. And it's like, who's gonna go up there and like test, like, should we throw it again? So, but you knew when the works bomb worked because the two items were mixed together and a powerful reaction would occur. Loud bang, stuff flying everywhere, right? You knew because of a visible power that a real reaction had occurred. I share that with you, not because I wanna encourage you to get into amateur bomb making, but because in 1 Thessalonians, we see what happens when the word of God and the human heart get mixed together, shaken up, and thrown into Thessalonica. That when it happens, and when it really happens, when God's word really takes root in the heart of his people, we see a reaction of power in Thessalonica and in the church. You saw it in verse four, when Paul says, we know that you are chosen by God. We know you're chosen by God. How does Paul know that? He says, because the gospel came to you, not only in word, it did come in word, but it also came in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction or certain assurance that when the gospel of Jesus Christ

met the hearts of the Thessalonians, got shaken together and thrown back into their city, what resulted was power in the Holy Spirit. So when the word of God. and the human heart meet together and are properly mixed, there should be a powerful reaction in your life and in the lives of those around you. And that reaction is evidence that the church or the people of God have truly received the gospel. Jonathan Edwards was a preacher in the 1700s in Connecticut, so colonial America. And he lived during the great awakening. So these massive revivals that swept the colonies. And the question of the day for him was, how do you know if a move of God is real or not? How do you know if a revival is legitimate? Like, if people are speaking in tongues and crawling around and barking like dogs, which happened, he's like, is that evidence that God's moving in their life? Or is that just like craziness? Like, how do you know? And his answer will surprise you because he doesn't go, yeah, that's weird. That's clearly not God. He goes, I don't know. Maybe, could be, could not be. Could be, could not be, but it's not a clear and certain sign. So he was seeking out clear and certain signs. How do you know and have full assurance

that God has moved in your heart, that you really have received the gospel, that your salvation is true and real, and that your church is full of the Holy Spirit and this revival was real? How do you know? And he said this in his work, Religious Affections, asking this question. He said, Jesus Christ nowhere says that you shall know the tree by its leaves or flowers, or you shall know men by their talk, or you shall know them by the manner and air of their speaking, or by the emphasis and pathos of expression, or by their speaking feelingly, or by making a very great show by abundance of talk, or by many tears and affectionate expressions, or even by the affections you feel in your heart towards them. But Jesus Christ says, you will know by their fruits. You will know them by what they produce in the world. Jesus himself talks about the gospel like a seed that's sown into the hearts of people. And when the soil of your heart is good, it will receive the seed and it will grow into a tree that bears fruit. The fruit of the Spirit will be born out of your life a hundredfold. So here in verse four, Paul says, we know God has chosen you.

We're sure of it. How, Paul? How are you sure that God chose the Thessalonians? Because the word came in power and the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. And you go, that's great. But how do I know if I have the Holy Spirit? How do I know if my church's power is from God or from ourselves? How do I know if that worship was from God or just good technology? That preaching was of God or just a good communicator? How do I know if something's power is from the Holy Spirit or not? I get this in my preaching sometimes. I've preached a few times a year at our church in DC. And after the gathering, I'll go stand in the lobby and I've had people come up to me and go, oh my gosh, like God totally used your sermon. He was moving in my life. Here's what I'm processing. Here's what you've said. The Holy Spirit is using you. God is using your sermon. I'm like, that's awesome. That makes me so happy. That's what I want. And then that same sermon, I've had people come up to me and say, you know, I don't think you know God.

Oh, it's like that was not the Holy Spirit. You missed it on these three things. And in that moment, how do I know? Is my preaching full of the Holy Spirit and the power of God or is it not? Who do I believe? Who gets to decide? How do I know? I look on our staff up at church because I have received a two-star and a three-star review on Google for our church on the weeks that they've let me preach. And I'm just like, I'm so sorry, guys. Like I'm the only one that's gotten these twos and threes because they're just like, I don't think he knows God, right? So Ross, dangerous game, inviting me here. Hopefully I get you some fives. Hopefully this is a five-star day. How do you know whether you're legit or not? How do you know whether your experience with God is legitimate or not? When we go to youth camp and on the last night when the worship's playing and we're all crying, is that the word of God and the Holy Spirit in our hearts moving us towards him and salvation? Or is that a mixture of the lack of sleep and a lot of sugar? Which one is it? How do you know whether it's legitimate?

Some say it's just a feeling, it's an energy. I just recognize the power of it in the room. Other people are the opposite, that it's like flashing lights, loud music, it's all just manipulation. That intonation in your preaching voice, it's just manipulation of my feelings and my emotions. You know how I know that a church has the power of the Holy Spirit? eugenical preaching of the word, hymns, tradition, liturgies, good things. But if your church does a topical sermon series, then you better run. That is not a church of the Holy Spirit. How do you know which ones are right, the mind or the heart, the emotions or the intellect? How do you discern whether your church has that works bomb powerful reaction of the Holy Spirit? Paul says he knows the Thessalonians are chosen by God because he saw the visible reaction of the gospel in their lives. And he saw it in three ways. And he tells us in verse three, the three things he saw in the lives of the Thessalonian church that confirmed their calling in the gospel. The first thing is their work of faith. The second is their labor of love. And the third is their steadfastness of hope. So that's gonna be a three-point sermon.

That's where we're headed. Work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope. What you will see in the life of a community and what you will see in the life of an individual when the gospel truly takes root in their heart is first, you will see a faith that works. A faith that works. Faith is belief in something unseen that changes your behavior. Belief in an unseen thing that changes your behavior. Hebrews 11 one says faith is the conviction of things not seen. To have a faith that works is to change your behavior based on your unseen belief. The best way to illustrate this is the best way to illustrate everything, which is by Lord of the Rings. So you know the story. Darkness is covered over Middle Earth. Dark Lord Sauron is in search of the one great ring. So a fellowship is formed of hobbits and men, dwarves and elves and even a wizard in order to take the ring and journey across Middle Earth towards destruction and darkness in order to destroy the ring. But you know that early in the story, the fellowship breaks apart. They get broken up and Frodo, the ring bearer and his buddy Sam get separated from Aragorn and his crew. So now the two little hobbits have to journey on their own

towards Mordor, face death and destruction and darkness on their own in order to destroy the ring. And Aragorn and his guys decide we're gonna go and rescue people and fight orcs and win battles. And eventually it leads to the very last book where Aragorn and his team defend the great city of Gondor against the orcs and the other terrible things. They win the battle, but then they have a decision to make. Do we hunker down in the safety of Gondor and just try to wait out Sauron? Or do we do the unthinkable? And do we rally up and do we charge the gates of Mordor in order to draw the eye of Sauron away from Frodo and Sam so that his attention is on us so that Frodo can destroy the ring and sneak through enemy territory. And he chooses in that moment, because of his unseen belief, he doesn't know whether Frodo and Sam are alive. When they get separated, they don't know what happens to the two parties. He does not know whether Frodo decided to take the ring for himself, my precious, and turn on everybody. He doesn't know the result, but he has a belief that darkness will not win and light will overcome. He has a belief that Frodo and Sam will complete their mission, but it's unseen. But he has such a conviction

that he risks his very life on it. He changes his behavior to ride against darkness and to sacrifice his life for the sake of destroying the ring. So you may not be facing orcs and dark lords, I hope, but we do face a very present and real darkness in the world. And faith is knowing a conviction that the gospel of Jesus Christ, when it takes root in my heart, is a light that shines in my heart. And I, with that light, rather than hunkering down and protecting myself from the darkness, can charge the darkness to the very gates of hell and say, I know with confidence that light will win and my God will see me through death. He will see me through darkness. That is faith. I will change my behaviors in the present because of my belief in the God I cannot see, but I know with certainty holds my life because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When the gospel takes root in your life, it will produce in you a faith that works. And a church that is full of the Holy Spirit is a church that has a working faith. A couple weeks ago, I preached at our church in D.C., and a couple older married, this was the three-star sermon, if you're wondering, and a couple married older folks from Texas in their 60s

were visiting D.C. for work, and they. came to our church, and they were so excited because our church is, we've got quite a few people, and we're 70% under 30, so very young. Very representative of DC. I don't know if you know this, DC's being run by 20-year-olds, so look out. But it was a very young church, lots of energy, and these people came up to me after the sermon, and they were so fired up, and they're like, this church is alive, this church has the power of the Holy Spirit, this church is energized, so I'm like, you're a five-star reviewer, right? So it was so exciting, but it was so fun for me because I got to tell them, we have good preachers, but I was like, it's not the preaching that makes our church have power. And we have great worship leaders, but it's not our worship leaders that make the church have power. But I got to tell them, yeah, you know why this church is so alive? Because we have amazing people that are working out their faith, that show up, hundreds of them show up at 7 a.m. to set up the church, to get it going, to get it ready, we meet in the middle of D.C., very, it's like the party street in D.C., so Saturday nights get a little rough.

So Sunday mornings, we have tons of our door holders, which are what we call our volunteers, that show up, put on little rubber gloves, and walk the streets of D.C. and pick up trash so that when you come, you don't have to see the leftovers from Saturday night. We have guys who are like army rangers who will greet you at the door, seat you, hold open back doors, and you would never know, they're just dudes. You'd just be like, this is just a random guy, but he showed up early, he left late to lift things, move things, and greet you, and he's working a very legitimate job in D.C. One of my best friends works in global intelligence. It's one of those jobs where you can't bring your phone into work, and it's very hard to like, pastor him and process his job with him because he just can't tell me things. So I'm just like, I trust, it's hard. Like, it's kind of all there is. But this dude, really smart dude, he will take his valuable vacation days every single year, and he will take off from his very important job in order to go to camp in the summers and sit down with middle school boys who can't even spell the word intelligence in order to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. He has a faith that works, a faith that works. Faith is not meant to be a theory or an idea,

but a movement. It's made visible by our work. So the question, does 121 have the Holy Spirit? Does 121 have faith that works? A few years ago, I went to seminary up in Boston, and while I was in school, I did an internship with an organization, an anti-trafficking organization. And my buddy who brought me on was like, hey, I want you to start by reading these three books. The first book he gave me was this book called Just Church by Jim Martin, who worked for IJM, which I think y'all are familiar with. And he said, hey, I saw on your resume you worked for 121 Community Church. And I was like, oh yeah, sure. How do you know about them? We're in New England, what do you know? And he said, man, in this book, Jim, in Just Church, which is like justice, just church, he mentions 121 Community Church. And I was like, no, there's gotta be a different one. He's like, no, Grapevine, Texas. I was like, what does he say? And he uses this church as an example of how to become what he calls a risk-taking, justice-seeking, disciple-making church. 121 Community Church is the reputation. Yeah, you can celebrate that, that's awesome. The work that y'all are doing. We know that you are chosen by God.

How? Because when the word came, it came in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the visible evidence of that was your faith at work through ministries like IJM and so many others. But it's not enough for us to just rely on past laurels. Just as a tree continues to bear fruit year in and year out, we must also continue to put our faith to work, day in, day out, year in, year out. We must keep moving. You must continue to trust God with your life. Continue to trust him with your money. Continue to trust him with your career. Continue to trust him with your family. Faith is not a one-time thing. It is a daily working out of your belief. We need churches of power. So we need churches full of people who are working out their faith. And you can be confident that the gospel is working in your heart when you see faith begin to work in your life. And then secondly, when we see a love that labors for others. That word labor here in 1 Thessalonians, it's defined as a physical beating. It's not just like hard work. It's a physical beating and the weariness that comes from being beaten up.

Isn't that a crazy definition? A love that exerts itself. and tires oneself out to the point where it's like, you just got in a fight and you need to like recover for a month. That kind of love. This same word is used in 2 Timothy 2.6 to describe the hardworking farmer. This is, think of the sweat dripping calloused hand farmer. That kind of love. This is Psalm 6 says, I am labored with my moaning every night. I flood my bed with tears. I drench my couch with my weeping. That kind of love. The kind of love that leaves you so tired because you're crying over the injustice in the world. 2 Samuel 23.10 says, this is my favorite one. Uses this word labor when he says, a man rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was labored and his hand clung to the sword. That so much energy was exerted in this battle that his hand was cramped to the sword and he couldn't let go of it. That kind of love. Love that sweats, love that bleeds. That kind of love. Calloused love, muscle cramping love. Not an idea, not lovey-dovey, not a feeling,

not a I love God, I love my neighbor. No, no, no. A love that labors, breaks a sweat for those around you, bleeds for those around you, is willing to take a hit for those around you. How do you know that Wesley loves Buttercup? Princess Bride. How do you know? Because the whole movie, you watch him pursue her, you watch him fight for her, you watch him go to a battle of the wits for her, you watch him take on rodents of unusual size for her, you watch him bleed for Buttercup and at the end, you know Wesley loves Buttercup. Why? Because his love sweats, his love bleeds, his love pursues. In our church at Passion DC, we do something called Love DC. Every year, we go and do these serve projects in DC. And last year, we did 47 projects over the course of three days, 470 volunteers and over 1,500 hours of service. And we do it because we know so many people move to urban cities for their own benefit. I'll move to DC so that I can get a good job, meet the right people, have fun, see the Capitol, do cool concerts and cool restaurants. And then in a couple of years, I'll move back to my hometown

with all my Rolodex of connections and the next big job and pay cut. So many people move to cities for that reason. But we know that when the city sees us sweat on their behalf, they'll know we're for real. They'll know we actually love them. That if they can see us in their community sweating for them, they'll know love. If you want people to know God's love, they need to see you labor in love on their behalf. And the goal in the city for us is to not be consumers of the city, but neighbors to the city. And it should be the same in the suburbs. That it's not just, you're not just here to just use the schools, because like, oh, I moved here because the schools are good. It's like, that's great, schools are good. But does the school know that you labor for them? It's not just safe neighborhoods, but do your neighbors know there's a Christian in your neighborhood because of the way you sweat, bleed, and labor on their behalf? Like, do your classmates know there's a Christian in their class or a Christian on their team because of the way you love them? Not just with, yeah, I love you, I'm a Christian, but no, they've seen me sweat on their behalf.

They've seen me cry on their behalf. They've seen me bleed on their behalf. You want the city to know the love of God. They will know God's love when they see you labor on their behalf. I love the work 121 has done in this community. Whenever I pulled up this morning, I saw these like soccer goals and this patio deck over to the side, and Kevin was walking in. And I was like, what is all that? He's like, oh, that's ours, it opens up soon. And I was like, man, what is it? Like, what are y'all doing? He goes, man, we want to reach our neighborhood. We wanna serve our local, local community so we're building this as a way to do it. I have been in Texas in the summer. I know it's hot to go play soccer with a bunch of kids. You're gonna sweat. That is gonna be a labor of love, right? You're gonna cramp. That's gonna be a labor of love. I love the way 121 is trying to engage the community, not just saying they want to, but putting blood and sweat and tears into the effort. How do you get a love like this? How do you become the kind of person that would labor on behalf of others who don't benefit you,

who don't add any prestige to your name or influence in your life? How do you become that kind of person? You do it by experiencing that same kind of love first. One of my favorite books is the book Les Mis. It's a very big book. There's an abridged version, I recommend that. I was dumb, so I got the unabridged, because I didn't know. You've probably seen the musical Les Mis, or like the movie, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway. Very fun songs, very fun. The book is awesome, favorite book of all time. And I spent a lot of chapters just reading about the sewers in Paris, so I don't really recommend that. But in the unabridged version, there's a chapter about this blind man. And it's kind of random, like it doesn't fit into the rest of the story. But as I was reading it, Victor Hugo, the author, talks about how the happiest man in all of France is this old, dying, blind man who lives in the upstairs of his sister's house. And he can't bathe himself, he can't change his clothes, he can't feed himself, he can't work. He's near the end of life, and he's blind, and he just sits up there all day long, and he says, that's the happiest man in all of France. And when I was reading it, I was like, that is not how I would define happiness.

If I'm like, I wanna live a happy life one day, I do not wanna be old, blind, and living in my sister's upstairs. It's like, that's not how I would define it. I was like, what is he talking about? And then he says this beautiful line. He says, the supreme happiness of life, the ultimate happiness, the greatest happiness you can achieve. He says, the supreme happiness of life is the conviction that you are loved. Loved for yourself, no, loved in spite of yourself. And he just begins to describe how every single day when this old man who cannot contribute to the house, does not bring in an income. If anything, he's a nuisance. If anything, he's a bother. But every single day when he hears his sister's footsteps walk up the stairs, he knows I am loved. Loved because of what I contribute? No, loved in spite of what I contribute. I'm loved just for who I am because his sister comes up, feeds him, clothes him, bathes him, takes care of him. In the same way, when you hear the nails being hammered in to Jesus's hands on the cross, you can know I am loved. Loved for what I contribute? Loved for what I bring to the table? No, loved in spite of myself.

Loved in spite of my shortcomings. Loved in spite of my shames. Loved in spite of my embarrassments. I'm loved by a God who would bleed for me, sweat for me and cry for me because I bring something to the table? No, because he loves me. When you know a love like that, you will be motivated to share that same love of God with your neighbor. People who don't add any value to your life, people who are a nuisance, like who's that neighbor that you're like, oh, I wish they'd move, right? Who's that person on your team that you're like, if they would just go to play a different sport? Love that person, bleed for that person, sweat for that person. That is love that labors. When a church community receives the gospel in power, you will see a faith that works, you will see a love that labors. And lastly, you will see a hope that endures, a hope that endures. If our faith is something that's rooted in the past life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, hope is something that is rooted in the future coming of Jesus Christ. That hope is saying, in my present uncertainty, I am willing to lean into the future,

and usually I fall on this, I won't, because it's on wheels, I don't wanna roll away, but I will lean into the future in hope that my future certainty will uphold me in my present uncertainty. That is hope, the willingness and the chaos of your present to find support in your future. And saying, if faith is, I will change my present because of my belief in what Jesus did in the past, hope is saying, I will change my present behaviors because of what I believe will come in the future. I will lean into the future knowing that my God will support me in the present. And it's not just any hope. It's not just wishful thinking. It's a hope that endures. That word endure, that word steadfastness, it's the Greek word hupomone. So can y'all say hupomone? Thank you, yeah. Students, I do that with my students, not because there's anything interesting about the word. I just find it to be kind of a compelling, fun word, and it helps you memorize it. So hupomone, it's the ability to remain under the weight. Think about like lifting weights, and they keep adding more to the side, and you have to stay underneath it for as long as you can. It's the ability to experience hardship and stay in it, to suffer and not run from it, hupomone.

I use the illustration of a wall sit to describe this to our teenagers. You've ever done a wall sit? You know, you have to sit back on the wall, and you have to hupomone, because after a while, For a while, what happens, your legs start shaking and everyone's like, hey, one more second, go one more second, and all you wanna do is just drop. All you wanna do is just relieve yourself from the pressure and the hardship you're feeling in your legs. But what's the goal? Stay under, endure the pain, why? Because those gains are coming. If I can stay under the hardship, if I can hupomone, then I'll experience the strength that will come from it. And in the same way in your life, oftentimes when we experience difficulties, we think it means God has deserted us. But it's not that God has deserted you when you experience difficulties, it's that God wants to strengthen you. God is with you in the suffering. He hasn't disappeared from your story. He's strengthening your story. He's inviting you to hupomone. And just like a coach who eventually will blow the whistle for you to stand up and shake out your legs and rest a little bit, God will blow the whistle.

He will not give you more than you're able to handle. He wants to strengthen you in your hardships and your suffering. And the goal of a hope that endures is the ability to say, I'm gonna sit in it. I'm not gonna escape it. I'm not gonna run for comfort. I'm not gonna run out of it. I'm not gonna stop one rep short. I'm gonna stay under this suffering until I experience the full amount of it because I know it's doing something in me. And a future hope allows me. It's the athlete that says, I know if I stay in this wall sit, there's a future strength that will come. It's the hope of what I can be as an athlete that makes me stay in the suffering. For the Christian, it's the same. It's the hope of what God's gonna write in your story. It's the hope of what's gonna come when the kingdom arrives that allows you to sit in your suffering and your hardship. Romans 5 says it this way. We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, hupomone. And hupomone produces character. Character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. When we see a faith that works,

a love that labors and a hope that endures, we know the power of the Holy Spirit is active in that community. And that's what this city needs to see. He needs to see the people, they need to see the people of God laboring in love, working out their faith and enduring hardships, not just running for comfort, not just protecting themselves, but willing to sit in the suffering because of the hope they have in heaven. Paul takes these three words, faith, love, and hope, that tend to be pretty ethereal and floaty. Like what is faith, what is hope, what is love? Wishful thinking. He takes these three words and he colors them in and he gives them legs and he gives them movement. And he says, no, no, no, they're not just ideas, but they're actions, they're something you produce, a work of faith, a labor of love, and an endurance of hope is something we produce in the world. We need churches with power. So we need churches of power like 121 to plant churches of power. And to do that, we need participation. This is the last thing we see in these few short verses, is partnership between the Thessalonians and Paul in order to produce the power of the Holy Spirit in more cities.

So when I was here at 121, I became really good friends with a guy named Tyler Moffat. Some of y'all may know Tyler. He was the youth pastor years ago when I was here. And we ended up becoming roommates and really close friends, just through like working together and doing ministry together. And there was this moment when we were like forming our friendship. We wouldn't talk about it like that. You know, we were just hanging out or whatever. But we would go to In-N-Out after like youth events and church things. And we were trying to be healthy. We were like on Whole30, but we would start over every five days because the church gave too many donuts and pizza. But so we would get these In-N-Out burgers that were wrapped in lettuce and French fries without salt, which is just such a bad idea. It's like, I look back on that. I'm like, life's too short to not eat salt and buns. Like, I don't know what we're doing. But at the time, that's what we were about. So we go to In-N-Out and I order my lettuce wrapped burger and my unsalted French fries. And I go sit down and unbeknownst to me, Tyler walks up and he orders the same thing. And the sweet girl on the other side says, oh my gosh, are y'all best friends?

And he goes, I don't know. I don't know, we never talked about it. I guess I'll go ask him. And he comes and sits down. I'm sitting there like whatever. He sits down and he goes, hey man, are we best friends? And I was like, I think we are. I think we are best friends. And we defined our friendship in that moment. You know this in your circles, but in ministry, oftentimes it's really easy with other young guys to compare and compete rather than encourage and empower. It can feel like their opportunities are the ones. is you miss, their gain is your lack. And you probably feel that in your workplace, with your peers. Really easy to compare and compete with those around you rather than encourage and empower them. But we decided, man, why compare and compete when we can encourage and empower? And even now in our two different places, when we see each other preach, we'll listen to it and send little messages to each other to encourage each other. And we realize if we go together, if we partner together, we can go further faster than if we're just trying to tear each other down. And we need the same thing in our churches. Like if you're really working out your faith,

and if you're really sweating and bleeding and crying in love for your city and your neighbor and your God, and you're really enduring in your hope for Jesus, you will not have time to compare and compete with other churches in your city. There just, there's no time for that. I'm putting all my effort into faith, hope, and love. I don't have the energy left to go compare and compete with somebody else. So I'm gonna faith, hope, love, work, labor, endure for my city, for my God, for the people around me in my neighborhood, in my school. And then I'm gonna encourage and empower those who are doing also. And that's what we realized together. And we need churches like this. And in Thessalonians, Paul says, we know, he said, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, know that the Thessalonians are chosen by God. How? Because their visible faith, hope, and love that they've seen gives them a confidence in their calling. They say, we know you're called by God. It's a clear calling that y'all have. And then they say, and you know how we behaved when we were around you. That he's saying, we know y'all are legit. And you know we're legit. Because when we were with you, our character confirmed our calling.

And they said, then why compete? Let's partner. And the rest of 1 Thessalonians is Paul encouraging and empowering the Thessalonian people to move the gospel into their city and to support gospel movement into other cities around the Roman Empire at the time. Saying, we know you're legit. You know we're legit. Let's partner. Why compete? Let's empower. And church planting is about partnering with men and women who have a clear calling and who have a trustworthy character and saying, why compete? Why try to be better than? Let's empower. Let's encourage. So that we can see faith in Jesus Christ, hope in his kingdom, and the love of God spread to those around us and those around the world. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you. For the gift of the gospel. When we were dead in our sins, far from you, like a blind man who couldn't care for himself, you loved us. You came for us. You made us into something we can never be. God, we thank you for the opportunity

to not just say we love people, but show it through our sweat and our tears. We thank you for the Holy Spirit who empowers and energizes us in order to endure hardships that are no joke. God, we thank you for the hope of the gospel. Church, as y'all do, we're just gonna give y'all a moment to just reflect. So take a minute in your own heart and just reflect on the message, reflect on where you're at. Maybe think about those words, faith, hope, love. Oh, Jesus, we love you. Thank you for this church that has been a blessing to my family and to so many other families. I pray you'd continue to bless them so that they can be a blessing to others. Continue to bring people to this church who love you, are filled with your spirit, that you empower and send out to serve and care for a needy world. Multiply the things they do in a way that only you can. Multiply their efforts in a way that only you can. Jesus, we love you. Thank you for calling us to something more. It's in your name we pray, amen. All right, well, hey, thank you guys for letting me be here with you this morning. It's been a lot of fun for me. If you need prayer, you can come up to the front.

The prayer team will be here. And the rest of y'all, they will see you next week. Not I, but everyone else will, so. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.