Faith That Shakes The Earth [LIVE] 06/14/2026

Good morning, Grace Way. How are y'all feeling today? Did y'all come ready to worship the Lord? Amen. Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? God keeps promises beyond all we could imagine. The Lord's steadfast love endures forever. His faithfulness to all generations. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Come, let us worship the God who made us and calls us His own. We enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Heavenly Father, we come with thanksgiving and praise, grateful for Your steadfast love and faithfulness. Remind us today that nothing is too wonderful for You. As Your people, we open our hearts to Your presence and invite You to have Your way among us. Come on, let's worship. Good morning, Grace Way. Whether you're doing online, you're with us within the building, come on, let's worship. Welcome to Grace Way, y'all. Come on, let's sing together. I know a name that can silence roaring waves. I know a name that can empty out a grave. I know a name that's the only name that saves and is worthy of praise. 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 your name, I have a key. With dominions over death, He holds the key in His holy nails, God's hands. He is the healer that has crushed the serpent's head. Our resurrection reigns. 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 your name, chains break, dry bones wake. Every time I call your name, the gates of hell shake. Every time I call your name, chains break, dry bones wake. Every time I call your name, the gates of hell shake. Every time I call your name, I have a key. Where all death is now your sting, and where all grace your victory. Where all death is now your sting, and where all grace your victory. Come on, let's sing it out. Where all death is now your sting, and where all grace your victory. Death is come alive, death is come alive, death is come alive in the name of Jesus. Death is come alive, death is come alive, death is come alive in the name of Jesus. Death is come alive, death is come alive, death is come alive in the name of Jesus. 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 man,

change, break, thrive, won't break, every time I call you make the gate of hell shake, every time I call you death, death is come alive, death is come alive, death is come alive in the name of Jesus. Death is come alive, death is come alive, death is come alive in the name of Jesus. Come on and give God a praise this morning, hallelujah, let's keep worshiping, Jeremiah 29 and 11 declares that, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to give you, to prosper you and not to harm you. Come on, let's sing this together, the Lord is my shepherd and he is everything I need, I will not worry, I will not fear the enemy, he said that he loves me, he said that he's with me. I walk through the valley of shadow and death and still I have, he has goodness, he has goodness for me. Come on, sing it out, he has goodness, he has goodness for me, if I know my father, I know my father, good plans. I will have him come and kiss me when I'm spared, come on let's sing this, the Lord is my saviour, so why should I doubt my victor, so why would I question the rod and the staff that come between, he quiets the waters, he quiets the storm inside of me, so what could be better than walking with him when I believe, he has good plans, he has good plans for me. So I will take heart in deserts and gardens, he has good plans, he has good plans for me, if I know my father, I know my father, he has good plans, he has good plans for me. So I will take heart in deserts and gardens, he has good plans, he has good plans for me, if I know my father, I know my father, good plans. You have good plans for me God, you have good plans for me God, come on, plans to give me hope and a future, come on y'all let's clap, hey. Come on, let's sing it out. ♪ So fear well, not by me ♪ ♪ Cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God so surely ♪ ♪ Your goodness, your mercy will follow after me ♪ ♪ So fear well, not by me ♪ ♪ Cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God so surely ♪ ♪ Your goodness, your mercy will follow after me ♪ ♪ So fear well, not by me ♪ ♪ Cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God so surely ♪ ♪ He has good plans, He has good plans for me ♪ ♪ So I will take heart and dance and sing God is ♪ ♪ He has good plans, He has good plans for me ♪ ♪ If I know my Father, I know my Father has good plans ♪ ♪ It's a good plan, it's a good plan to find, no ♪ ♪ I know my Father, I know my Father has good plans ♪

♪ It's a good plan, you have good plans to find no, no ♪ ♪ I know my Father, I know my Father has good plans ♪ ♪ He has good plans for me, so I will take them all ♪ ♪ He has good plans, He has good plans for me, for me ♪ ♪ He has good plans for me, so I will take them all ♪ Y'all give God a shout of praise for a God who has good plans for you no matter where you're at today. No matter how you walked in today, the Lord has good plans for your life. Man, we ought to give God a shout of praise for that. Y'all come on. It is good to see you all here in the house today. It is good to come and worship the Lord with you. If you haven't met you yet, I'm Pastor Jeremy. Would love to meet you at the end of our service. I'll be in guest central with a few of our other leaders. And if you are new here today, we want to welcome you. In the seat back in front of you, there's a QR code. Y'all can clap for our first time friend. We're glad you're here. We've also got a QR code there up on the screens. Look at the screens being back up. Come on. I can see what I look like from behind. It's weird. If you are new, man, hit that QR code. We'd love to tell you what's going on here at Graceway and just get connected with you.

Today is a baptism Sunday. So excited for that. Yeah. It's gonna be incredible just to watch what God has done in the lives of people as they just share with you and say, hey, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ and I'm gonna follow him for the rest of my life. I'm gonna invite our ushers to make their way down. As they do, thank you, Graceway, for your generosity. We wanna continue to keep things in front of you. Obviously, we're gonna be working on the community center just up the hill over the summer. Excited for that. If you wanna get connected to giving to that project, you can just go right on the giving app and you can mark community center for that and those funds go straight to that. It's gonna be a huge blessing to our community to get that gym reworked and get some things going up there. So let's go to the Lord in prayer as we prepare to give. God, thank you. First of all, thank you for a week, Lord, where over 140 Sky Kids got to come and just hear the gospel each and every day, Lord. Thank you for that, God. And God, for a family that might be standing in this room because their kid invited them to church, Lord, I pray that you'd speak to them.

Lord, I pray that you would continue to minister to the hearts of our Sky Kids, Lord. God, that they would experience the same life transformation, God, that you can bring to each and every person in this room. As we prepare to give today, God, thank you, Lord, for the ability. to give, thank you for the blessing that it is to give. And Lord, we ask that you would take what's given, Lord, and bless our church, bless our community. God, bless the mission across the globe. We wanna see people saved, Lord, not only here in Kansas City, but in places that maybe some of us haven't even heard of. And so, Lord, thank you that we can give to those things. God, as we continue to worship today, as we proclaim your goodness, move in our hearts, help us to be different, help us to hear your voice. We wanna bring you the honor, the glory, and the praise. As in Jesus' name we pray. And all God's people said, amen. We're gonna continue to worship and declare what a God. ♪ Who thought I'd find you at the lowest place ♪ ♪ Who thought you'd feel me in the crowd ♪ ♪ Who knew you'd make good my mistakes ♪ ♪ You're nothing like I thought you were, you're bad ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ I've seen you move, what a God, what a God ♪

Well, come on, declare it if you know it. I thought. ♪ I thought you'd show for perfection ♪ ♪ Guess what kind of God is for the lost ♪ ♪ They say it's over for a sinner, but you say ♪ ♪ But you say, no it's not, no it's not ♪ ♪ You say, no it's not, no it's not ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ I've seen your faithfulness, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ It's true who you are, what a God, what a God ♪ All right church, we're gonna celebrate that the Lord is bringing people into new life. So let's watch some baptism. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! We did it! In the highest place, in the highest place In the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I've seen is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love Your love has changed my life Forever satisfied You are my help In the highest place In the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I've seen is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love Your love has changed my life Forever Forever satisfied You are my help If one word is If one word is the only thing you'll speak Then I've heard it all If I feel your heart and never see your hand I still have it all

No treasure No treasure in this life Could ever satisfy You are my help Oh God, You are You are my help Oh God, You are You are my help ♪ All your faithful, all your faithful ♪ ♪ Because if the highest place I reach ♪ ♪ If the highest place I reach is at your feet ♪ ♪ Then I've done it all ♪ ♪ If the best thing that I've seen is your glory ♪ ♪ Then I've seen it all, your love has changed my life ♪ ♪ Forever satisfied, you are mine ♪ ♪ Hey, if one word is, if one word is the only thing you speak ♪ ♪ Then I've heard it all, if I feel your heart and ever see your hand ♪ ♪ I still have it all, your love has changed my life ♪ ♪ Forever satisfied, you are mine ♪ ♪ Hey, oh God you are, you are mine ♪ ♪ Hey, oh God you are, you are mine ♪ ♪ Hey, oh God you are, you are mine ♪ ♪ Hey, oh God you are, you are mine ♪ ♪ Hey, oh God you are, you are mine ♪ ♪ Hey, oh God you are, you are mine ♪ Come on, give God some praise this morning. Appreciate you, appreciate you. Let's pray together, family. Lord, we pray three things today. We ask, Lord, that we could see you today

more clearly than we have before. That we could see you high and lifted up in all your glory. That we would be led to worship and to surrender. Lord, if we could only get a glimpse, if you would be our vision today, then Lord, we know that we would love you more dearly. Lord, we know who you are, but we ask you today to have an experience with you. We ask you today to make our hearts soft and tender, to prepare them for the good word that was written by your Holy Spirit. And so we ask, Lord, to see you more clearly so we can love you more dearly, so we can follow you more nearly. Lord, I pray today that you would compel your people in a vision of you to love you more than anything else and to obey you no matter what you ask. We ask, Lord, today that your Holy Spirit would be speaking, would be present, would be powerful. We pray against the enemies of God in the name of Jesus. We trust, Lord, that your Holy Spirit will move and speak and encourage. That he'll bring the future kingdom right here to Raytown, Missouri. And that's what we want. So be glorified, Lord. We trust you, we believe you, we obey you, and we do it all for your glory and for our good. In Jesus' name, all God's people said. Amen and amen.

Hey, welcome to church. So good to see you. Pass some peace to each other and then grab your seat. All right, fam, how are we? So good to see you, so good to see you. Hey, if you've been here and you're a regular, you know I was out for a couple of weeks. First off, just thank you. Thank you for being the kind of church that lets me get away with my family, get some rest. So we had a good time and happy to be back with you. If I haven't had the chance to meet you, my name's Tim. I'm the lead pastor here at Grace. I'm a pastor here at Grace. I'm a pastor here at Grace. I'm a pastor here at Grace. I'm the lead pastor here at Graceway. Would love to meet you after the service, but until then, church, why don't you say hello and show some love to our first-time visitors? We appreciate you. Hey, if you're watching online, God bless you. Hope things are well. Let us know how we can serve you. And then church, show some love to the brothers at Crossroads and at Ozarks. We love you fellas. So excited. Hey, if you have a Bible, get over to Acts 16 and let me talk to you while you get there. Man, today obviously we got folks getting baptized, so excited to see that. I do just need to say, Tay Lynn, I need you bringing that energy all the time, right?

Yeah. So that's some Grace Way energy. And I love that apparently now we do a little pose before, like, I'm a gangster about to get baptized. All right. Cool. All right, old man. Man, so, so fun seeing what God is doing. I also just know for sure there are folks in the room, you're a Christian, you have never gone public with your faith. And so I just want to encourage you to get baptized today, all right? I know what you're thinking. I'm not ready. Look at me. I'm all put together. Listen, we will put Humpty Dumpty back together again after you get baptized, all right? We got hair dryers. We got swim trunks. We got deodorant. You will look as fly in the leaving as you did in the coming. But if God tells you to do something, you don't tell God to wait. You obey. And man, we would love to see you get baptized. We got another service coming. We'll baptize you in that service. So, if that's you, go to the Next Steps desk. You can do it now. You can do it in between service, but get connected to that and we'll do the next service. Let me also just real quick talk to you about student camp coming up here in just a couple weeks.

We're excited about what God is going to do in our students here. And I'm just going to real simply put in front of you, we don't set the prices for student camp. We don't own a camp. Not yet anyways. But if the prices keep going, I'm thinking about it, right? Here's what I'm trying to say. Student camp is a space that our kids can get away from all the noise. And how many of you know, when you get away from the noise, you start hearing God a little bit more clearly? That's really the point of student camp is just, hey, 16-year-old, 17-year-old, young man, young woman who God loves and has plans for, how about if you just get away for a minute and hear what God might say? But the truth is, for some of our families with multiple kids, especially in a neighborhood like Raytown, there is some cost connected that's just too much. And so here's my ask. Church, let's not let green paper with dead guys on it be a reason a kid can't go to camp, alright? And so what I'm asking, I don't do this very often, but I do it every year around student camp is that you would give to scholarship kids who can't otherwise go. Every cent you give goes directly to a student. Here's what I'm asking, just that you would ask God, God, do you want me to give to student camp? If He says no, don't sweat it. But if He says yes, I need you to do it. Sound good? Alright. Let me pray for us and we'll get to it. Lord, speak to us now. Prepare our hearts.

Let your Holy Spirit be present and powerful. We thank you, we love you. In Jesus' name, amen. So we live in a culture that's known as Western Civilization. And we think that it's normal, but historically and within the context of the world, it isn't. It has been fought for and retained philosophically and militarily. And if you read about Western Civilization, you'll find that most historians agree that there are three battles that propagated and sustained what we call a normal worldview. The first was known as the Battle of Marathon. It was between the Persians and the Greeks. The Greeks were supposed to lose. They won and continued their way of life that gave us the Western worldview. The second is the Battle of Hastings. This was the battle that really allowed England to become what it became. And a lot of you know, if you study culture like I do, that our culture came from, came from the UK and came from Western Europe. The third was known as D-Day. And D-Day was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany and for that worldview. And D-Day really, really stopped the spread of the hate and the fascism that Hitler wanted to put on the entire world. And so you read about these things and you see that armies would cross borders and that history would get altered. But I want to propose to you that there is a battle that doesn't involve soldiers, doesn't involve emperors, that doesn't get talked about in history books. It's not a fight, so to speak. It was just a group of missionaries who stepped off a boat into a Roman colony. called Philippi. And that's what we're going to look at today. So let me help you get your bearings in the book of Acts where we're spending, have been spending this entire year up until this point in the book of Acts.

We will be up into 21 days of prayer here in a few weeks. But Acts 13 and 14, we see a man by the name of Paul. He is called Saul earlier in the book. God saves him in Acts chapter 9. In Acts 13 and 14, we see about his first missionary journey, and we're going to put a graphic up here. Here's Paul's first of three missionary journeys, Acts 13 and 14. You kind of see where he started and where he went. We talked about that over the last couple weeks. Acts 15, in between, he goes back to Jerusalem for what's known as the Jerusalem Council in which the church is saying, man, God seems to be saving a lot of non-Jews. Do you think that that's something that God is doing, that God wants to save everybody? And in Acts 15, they agree, yes, we think that that is what is happening. The gospel is open to the Gentiles, and for all of the non-Jews in the room, we say yes and amen to that. In Acts 15, on the heels of that, Paul and Barnabas get sideways with one another. And they largely get sideways about this guy by the name of John Mark, and so Barnabas takes John Mark, they go to Cyprus. Paul takes Silas, and they embark on his second missionary journey. At the beginning of this, they are joined by a guy whose name is Timothy in Acts 16, one through five. They begin to seek God for where they should go. Paul thinks they should go into Asia, into Bithynia. God says no, that's not the direction you go. That night, or around in those nights, Paul has a vision while he sleeps. It's called the Macedonian call, and it is God directing Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke to do something that had never happened before, to take the gospel into Europe. When you think about our Judeo-Christian values, you can debate what they are, but Christianity is at least one of the ingredients in the Western culture, and you ask yourself, where did that come from?

Acts 16. When Paul goes into Philippi, which is now northeast Greece, and Paul introduces the founding of the gospel in Europe with three conversions, and those three conversions happen to three people who have no connection to one another and who are wildly different. Why? Because Luke is trying to show us that the gospel can save anyone, anywhere, who has done anything with anyone at any time. That the gospel is bigger than we tend to think that it is. And so, these three people that we're going to see in Acts 16 become the foundation, the nucleus for the church that is founded in Philippi. There is a book in your New Testament called the book of Philippians, which is written to this church. Now, a couple of things that are interesting about Philippi. Philippi is founded in 360 BC. Four years later, a guy by the name of Philip of Macedon shows up and attacks that city. Philip was Alexander the Greek's dad. Philip wins and renames the city after himself, Philip Philippi. That's where it comes from. Three hundred years later, in 44 BC, in the wake of the assassination of Julius Caesar, his attackers, Brutus and Cassius, flee to Philippi. And the reason that they go to Philippi is that it was a strategic location. It was on what was known as the Via Ignatia, which was a road that ran east and west through the Roman Empire. It's sort of like our interstate 70. Are you with me? And so they go to this location and they amass an army there trying to lead Rome in a very different direction. A guy by the name of Octavian, two years later, shows up. They fight the battle of Philippi. Octavian wins and Octavian becomes the first true emperor of Rome and takes on the name

Caesar Augustus. So Philippi is interesting because of its location. It's interesting because it's history. But it really functioned like a little Rome. And Luke talks about this a lot in this text. He talks about Roman magistrates and citizenship, talks about Roman legal procedures and how Rome enforced the law. But Philippi was not very Jewish. It was very religious, but not... very Jewish. And we know that because Paul doesn't take up his normal activity of going to a synagogue first because there wasn't one in Philippi. Now, just to be clear, the way that you got a synagogue in a city was you had to have ten Jewish men, just ten. And if there isn't a synagogue in a location, it's because it was an area that there weren't ten Jewish men. There isn't one in Philippi. And so, the Bible tells us in Acts 16 and verse 13, on the Sabbath day, we didn't go to synagogue, we went outside the gate to the riverside. This is Paul and Silas. Are y'all still with me, by the way? I know I've been gone a couple of weeks, but normally in this church, if you're tracking, you say amen. Amen. OK. All right. Let's just, let's get back into the habit. I'm rusty, y'all. I haven't preached in two weeks. So, help your boy out here, all right? So, they go to the riverside and Paul and Silas begin a Bible study with a bunch of women. And one of the ladies who is at the Bible study, in our language, her name is Lydia. And Lydia becomes the first convert to Jesus in the city of Philippi. The Bible tells us that she is from the city of Thyatira, which is about 300 miles to the east of Philippi, that she's a seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of God. My girl, Lydia, when Beyonce writes the song, Single Ladies, she is talking about Lydia, all right? I am not going to do the dance. I am not flexible enough to do it. Don't awe me, all right? If you want to dance, you can stand up and do the dance and we will put you on Instagram instead of me making a fool out of myself, right?

So Lydia, it's interesting. She, if she does have a husband, we don't know about it, but we can assume that she is single and that she runs a business and that she is fantastically wealthy. All of these things were very, very, very unique in this time and place. Her business is actually purple dye, which came from this area, Thyatira. So why is she in Philippi? Probably because she, in our case, either has a plant or an office there or she's getting on that via Ignatius so she can get her products all over the region. The color purple is interesting to us. Like some of you have purple on right now and you bought that shirt at Target and you didn't think anything of it. But in these days, purple was fantastically expensive and the only people who could afford it were royals and the elite of the elite. And so our girl Lydia has made a bunch of money selling purple dye to the muckety-mucks of society. Are you with me? She is single and she owns her own home and the Bible says that she is a worshiper of God, which we tend to think, oh, she's a Christian. No, she's not. She's what we would call spiritual. And I want to say to you that this is something that we continue to struggle with. That, that yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm cool with Jesus among other gods, but Jesus will not be one of the options on the buffet of your faith. If you are a Christian, there is Jesus and there is no one else. If you are a Christian, it is not multiple roads lead to Jesus. No, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And so whenever Lydia is somebody who is attracted to the Jewish faith, it doesn't mean, sort of like Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, that she has been brought back to life. Here's why this is important for you. We tend to think of this in terms of interest and inclination. Oh, I'm inclined to spiritual things. That's not the way the Bible talks about it. The Bible says you're dead in trespasses and sins. You can be interested in whatever you want as a dead person, but Jesus doesn't just elicit information and interest from you. He takes you as a dead person and makes you alive. Yeah. Makes you a new creation. Makes you a thing that you couldn't otherwise be. Makes you a thing that you can't enlighten or information yourself up to. He makes you something altogether otherworldly, which is why it's Jesus or nothing in the Bible. And so the Bible says that the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. I pray this prayer every Sunday morning. I don't want you to come here to any service and go, that was a good service and I liked what that guy said. What I want you to do is say I came

into a room that was in disarray because apparently they're doing improvements to it, and a guy was talking, but I'm fairly certain I was hearing the voice of God. I'm fairly — I don't — I had never heard the voice before, but while that guy was talking there was another voice that was overriding his voice, and I think God was talking to me. I think God was talking to me. If you have that experience, can I tell you, there isn't anybody walking the planet Earth who is rhetorically slick enough to bring that to pass. You are experiencing a miracle. You are experiencing a God who wants a relationship with you, and He's talking to you. I'm not talking to you, I don't know you. Come on, somebody. But God knows you. And if you hear God talking to you about getting baptized or coming to faith or changing your life, I'm just saying, when God talks, you ought to listen. You ought to listen. And so the Bible tells us that she is regenerated, that she gets baptized and her household as well. Everyone who works in her house comes to faith. And the church at Philippi begins in her house. So Lydia is a legit, a significant leader in the early church. And immediately after her conversion, spiritual opposition arises. And Saul, Paul, and Silas, and probably Timothy and probably Luke, Luke starts talking in we language in Acts 16, bump into this slave girl, and Luke says that she has a spirit of divination. A little bit of background here. This spirit of divination, based on the words that Luke uses and the location and the context refer to what's known as the Python myth. And according to Greek mythology, Python was exactly what it sounds like, this massive serpent or dragon who was associated with the sanctuary at Delphi or Delphi. You can say it either way.

One of the most important religious sites in the ancient world. And the god Apollo, according to Greek mythology, comes to Delphi. He kills the Python with his arrows and afterwards establishes his own place of worship and it becomes known as the Oracle of Delphi. If you, if you've studied history, you know this place was really significant in the ancient world. It became one of the most famous prophetic centers in the ancient world. Leaders would come from all over the known world to sit at the feet of the priestesses of Delphi because they believed they could see the future. And so this slave girl is either in the pipeline toward becoming that or she works for a priestess, but she appears to have some type of clairvoyant skills and Luke doesn't call it mental illness. Luke doesn't call it superstition. Luke doesn't call it, doesn't call it coincidence. He calls it what it is, demonic. And Acts maintains a spiritual worldview. You and I don't. We think about the world intangible in flesh and blood and this is why I say to you all the time, you're not a physical being having a spiritual experience on a Sunday morning. No, no, you're a spiritual being having a temporary and fragile physical experience. You're a spiritual being living in a spiritual world and the spirit world isn't a piece of what we do. I think it's actually bigger than this. And so the Scripture tells us that this slave girl connected to the Oracle of Delphi is not sick. She is demonically oppressed and the Scripture tells us that she starts following Paul and Silas around and saying, these men, these men right here are servants of the Most High God. This is interesting because Paul is like, yo, shut up. Why? Because she's right, Paul.

But notice that truth from the wrong source still confuses the Gospel. Can I tell you? Be careful where you get your news from. The Bible says that even the demons believe and tremble. Some of y'all don't even tremble. I watch y'all worship, just — right? Believing, understanding isn't, isn't the point. And so, she says, hey, these, these guys are from the real God. And Paul's like, yo, shut up. And she won't stop. She's following him around the city and she's like yelling at him. And so the Bible says that Paul gets annoyed. Paul's my guy. Paul gets annoyed and he turns around and he says, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. He's not talking to her. He's talking to what's in her. And I find this so interesting because, because he doesn't do any incantation. You with me? He doesn't stand on one leg. He doesn't go find a chicken to cut its throat. He doesn't — he just says a name. In the name of Jesus, you're done. And you know, I said it in the first service, but I'm going to say it in this and the next service. As I was praying, I continually had the impression that there would be people or peoples in our services who are engaged in dark magic or the occult, in witchcraft, in fortune telling, in tarot cards, in voodoo. I don't know what it is, but I want to say some things. I want to talk to you, if that's you, because I know why you might be interested, that you

think it lets you in on some type of information or power that most of us can't have. But I'm here to say to you that it doesn't matter what you are pursuing or what you think it gives you. At the name of Jesus, it's got a bow. And I want you to understand that it doesn't matter how deep or how far you get into it, it is always perpetually, eternally inferior to the name. Now let me be clear, I'm not even talking about the dude, I'm talking about the name. The name of Jesus. And I have watched it with my own two eyes. I have been in demonic spaces, in demonically oppressed spaces, thinking about what should I say? And the Holy Spirit says, come on, say it. Come on, tell him, tell him, say it. So I want to say to you, I want to say to you, that if you are in the room and you are dabbling or you are messing, please hear me. What is on the other side of that is not for you. It aims to steal, to kill, and destroy. And there will come a day where you will be too late to understand that. And today, I'm trying to declare the name of Jesus over you. I'm trying to declare the name of Jesus over this house. And I'm saying, in the name of Jesus, that all of the enemies of God — come on, you ain't welcome here. You got to get up out of here. This is a house of God, and not just any God, a God whose name is Jesus, and at the name of Jesus — whew! Come on, got me sweating up here. Got me sweating. There's no name more powerful than Jesus, and what does the Scripture say? It came out that very hour. Here's the deal, if you're stuck in that stuff, you can be free right now.

Come on, say it. Say it. Come on, say the name of Jesus over your life. You say, you don't know how long I've been in it. I ain't got to know. I know that if you will say the name of Jesus over your life, you can be free. Not tomorrow, not Tuesday, not in a month, right now. That's the name. That's the power of Jesus. Doggone it, I'm using all my time, getting excited. Liberation occurs instantly, and here's what's a trip, we're going to talk about this a little bit more. Economic systems get disrupted. The owners lose profit, and this is a major theme, not only of Acts, but of the Bible, that the gospel threatens exploitative economies and systems. I'm going to talk about that later, and let me just tell you, I'm probably going to make a few of you mad, but I just want to remind you, man, I love you, I'm trying to teach the Bible to you. So her owners get mad, and they elicit a riot, and Paul and Silas get beat by the crowd, and then they get arrested by the magistrate, who strip them down and beat them with rods. Now, we tend to think of a rod just like a big stick. That's not what it was. It was a bunch of sticks that were tied together. Do y'all remember a few years ago, there was a teenager somewhere in Asia who got caned? That's this. And so they get stripped down after getting beat down, and Jewish law said you could only flog, cane, whip somebody 39 lashes or strikes, because they knew that 40 could kill somebody. Can I tell you that Rome didn't have that law? And so if you got beat by a Roman official many, many, many, many, many times, people who had done very, very, very, very little got beat to death in the same way that Paul

and Silas get. So they get beat, stripped, beat again, thrown in prison, and then put in stocks, and stocks, you've seen them on old movies, in the feet, but it's not nicely placed. They're intentionally misaligned, so you got to sit in like an awkward space for hours, days, weeks, months. It intended to make you brutally uncomfortable. I want you to notice the charges that are given to them. The charges are they, Paul and Silas, advocate customs that are not lawful to us Romans. That's the charge. Nothing about Jesus. Nothing about, they're teaching false doctrine. No, the accusation is, is xenophobic. And it's nationalism. That's what it is. This ain't new, y'all. Read your Bible. The issue's not theology, the issue is we have a way of doing it here and you're trying to mess it up. And you know, it's interesting because that demon-possessed slave girl, she knew. And what's interesting is these pagans, they knew what a lot of you Christians don't know. Your gospel's too small. You think that the gospel is a set of beliefs and a prayer you pray to don't go to hell when you die, and I'm here to tell you that the gospel is a kingdom. That the gospel intends to oppose and expose. That the gospel intends to assault the course of this world, and not just so that you can go to heaven. The gospel is bringing the future kingdom of God into the present. And they say, you're trying to mess up our way of life, and guess what? You're doggone right. That's exactly what we're trying to do.

And Scripture says that they're in prison and about midnight, Paul and Silas, watch, are praying and singing. Now let me give you the timeline. Exorcism in the morning. You think you're busy. Exorcism in the morning, beating and imprisonment in the afternoon, which means that they've been in prison for probably about six hours at this point. They've been beaten, humiliated, their wounds are not treated, they're thrown in prison, they are not complaining, strategizing, despairing, questioning. They are singing. I can't get some of y'all to sing in this room. Let alone that room. I can get some of y'all to sing three songs, let alone for six hours. And what does Scripture say? That the prisoners were listening. And as they sing, God introduces a little bass to their song. Because you know, it's all about that bass. It's all about that bass. No treble, no treble, all right? That's funny, I don't care what y'all say. Suddenly there's an earthquake. Treble ain't gonna do that, you need some bass, come on, in your 1998 Honda Civic. And their bonds fall off, and their stocks fall off, and the door flies open. It's amazing what singing will do. I'm just saying, you ought to try it. And assuming that the prisoners had escaped, the jailer prepares to kill himself because if you're a jailer and you lose the prisoners, it's capital punishment, no questions asked. And so he says, instead of these suckers killing me, I'm gonna kill myself. And he pulls his sword out and he puts it to his throat and Paul says, yo, we're all still here, bro.

And the jailer comes to him, and watch, he doesn't ask him why he's still here. He doesn't say, what's up with that earthquake? And that bass, about that bass, no treble. What does he say? How do I get what you got? What must I do to be saved? And Paul says what I'll say to you, it's three things. Number one, you gotta place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith for what? Faith for all of it. Faith to save me, faith to keep me, faith to change me. I gotta place my faith in Jesus, and not just any Jesus, the Lord Jesus. Listen, God's not interested in being on your buffet. God says I'm the king or I'm nothing. Too many Christians running around who pray to prayer and say I'm a Christian, I place my faith in Jesus, but Jesus never became your king. And I'm here to tell you, if Jesus ain't your king, you ain't a Christian. You might be an evangelical, you might be a churchgoer, you might be a whatever you think you are, but you are not a Christian if Jesus is not the king. And in Philippi, you have to understand that there was only one person that God named Lord. His name was Caesar. And so Paul is saying you gotta stop calling Caesar Lord, and you gotta stop calling Caesar You gotta call Jesus Lord. You gotta confess Jesus as your King. And Paul says, God's trying to save you and your household. We just saw it. We just saw people that God has saved going public with their faith. Fathers baptizing daughters and sons. And watch what happens.

Immediately, the jailer is transformed. Immediately he says, I want that and y'all should come over to my house. What? Bro, you just beat us to smithereens and put us in. I know bro, but you gotta try my wife's queso. It's unbelievable. Like what? Come on, man. We're family now, right? And Paul's like, yeah, sure. And the guy who gave him the wounds, washes the wounds. And the guy who starved him, feeds him and Paul baptizes him. And then they all rejoice together. Not just Paul and the jailer. Watch. Paul and the jailer and the jailer's wife and the jailer's kids and the jailer's family. This is what we want. Come on, that God would save men and that the men would lead their wives to Jesus and that the man and the wife will lead the kids to Jesus. And this is the story. This is the story of Acts 16. And I got excited about it and I've spent too much time on it. So let me hurry. But hear me. The gospel creates an impossible community.

Rome was divided on all kinds of levels. Rome was a shame, honor society. So you were a culture and a community and a person of shame or a culture of honor. There were social classes. There were economic classes. There were ethnicity distinguishments. There were citizens and I'm from here, you're not from here, we don't want you here. And if you are here, you got to learn to do it like, have you heard that before? I feel like I've heard that before. This isn't new. That human history is to take something that could have been unified and figure out a way to break it into tribes. But what happens when the gospel gets preached? The distinctions get erased. Come on, the gospel is bigger than you think that it is. People get saved, yes. The oppressed get liberated, yes. But community forms across division. What do I mean by that? I'm talking people, not who attend church together, people who are family, who are white, black, brown, who are Democrats and Republicans, who are city folk and country folk, who are rich folk, who are poor folk, who are Royals fans and Cardinals fans, who use Apple devices

and have hitherto rebelled against God, right? This. And watch, the course of this world is always to say, you're they. And the gospel says, no, in Jesus, we're one. Not even we're we, we're one. And it goes on. The economy gets disrupted. Come on, your gospel's too small. Do you think that the kingdom of God can disrupt the economy of Kansas City? I do. The authorities become uncomfortable and the gospel advances and the world gets turned upside down because the gospel is bigger than you think, Christian, and does more than you think, churchgoer. Your gospel's too small. And the gospel meets us differently because we need different forms of grace. So Lydia, look at her, sophisticated, self-sufficient, wealthy. She don't need no one, she don't need nothing, except there's that thing that she just can't quite scratch. That slave girl. She's in bondage, she's oppressed, she's demonically oppressed. She doesn't need, there's a more trustworthy fulfillment. No, she needs freedom. The jailer, hardened, a killer, literally.

Then despairing, what does he need? He needs hope. And we tend to assume that everybody needs the version of the gospel in the exact same way. And it tends to be the gospel that we got. Can I tell you how I know that the church is falling behind culture? Because the church is still using a version of the gospel that worked in 1963. We're still putting tracks on car windshield when the World Cup comes. It don't work, y'all. We're still saying, come to my Facebook page. We're still saying, there's a cliff, and here's you, and here's — we're not even talking the language of the culture. And so, I need you to see that I'm not talking about watering down the gospel, I'm talking about a biblical understanding of the gospel. That not everybody needs more information. That not everybody needs more emotional support. That not everybody needs more confrontation. Watch, Paul reasons with Lydia. Paul commands a demon out of the slave girl, and Paul comforts the suicidal jailer. All the same gospel, all the same kingdom, different application. Why? Because people need Jesus, and Jesus tends to get at what He knows they need most. And it is the job of a good Christian not to say, well, this is what worked for me, but to say, Holy Spirit, what do you want for them? What do you want for them? Next, the gospel confronts — hang in there with me, all right? The gospel confronts systems, not just individuals.

The slave girl represents one of Acts' strongest critiques of systemic evil. Luke repeatedly emphasizes, gives us great detail that she's not just enslaved physically, she's exploited economically. And she's oppressed spiritually. Her owners see her as a commodity, as a means to profit. And so when she's delivered, the Bible says their hope of gain was gone, verse 19. They don't mourn her suffering, they mourn their loss of money. Why? Because sin is both personal and structural. The gospel saves individuals, and we're grateful. And the gospel, as a kingdom, disrupts the industries of this kingdom that are tied to idolatry. Let me give you some modern implications. Watch. The church cannot proclaim spiritual freedom while ignoring systems that perpetuate bondage. The church can't say, pray this prayer so when you die, you go to heaven, and not talk about human trafficking. And not talk about racial injustice, and not talk about predatory lending, and not talk about exploitive labor practices, and not talk about addictive industries — smoke it, drink it, shoot it, vape it. Not talk about porn, not talk about abuse of vulnerable populations. Why? Because the kingdom advances through transformed people who eventually intend to see the future kingdom of God brought in the present and reshape not your doctrine, your society. And can I tell you, I catch heat when I talk about this, and I get it because you've been trained to understand it the way that you do. So let me retrain you. You're not a physical being having a spiritual experience, you're a spiritual being having a physical experience. And what does that mean?

That when you see the world, you see flesh and blood when you should be seeing principalities and powers. And so, I stand up and I say things, and I get emails, you're being political, and let me just say it like I have a thousand times and I will say it until the day I drop dead. Just because it's politicized doesn't mean it's political. And just because the world doesn't see the principalities and powers undergirding and propping up its systems doesn't mean the church shouldn't. And so when I stand up and I talk about these issues that are being politicized and marketed, especially to the church, ask yourself why? Not in flesh and blood, but with your spiritual eyes. That if the church goes, oh, that's political. Really? No, that's kingdom. And if I can't touch it because it's political, then I don't wage war in the kingdom. And who loses? Come on, pay attention, y'all. Pay attention, y'all. Think spiritually. Turn off the news and read your Bible. So Christianity historically has contributed to hospital movements, even in this city. It was church folk that built those hospitals. Now they're big corporate conglomerations, but back in the day it was church folk going, you know, the gospel is bigger than we think. We need to create a place where people can find physical healing on top of spiritual healing. The church came up with abolition. The church came up with educational institutions. The church came up with orphan care. The church came up with, you know, we ought to put a church in a prison. Come on, Crossroads.

Come on, Ozarks. Come on, Boonville. Come on. Just because you're behind bars doesn't mean you can't be free. And those bars are flesh and blood, but there is a freedom that you can find in Jesus. There ain't a cell in the world that can keep you. We believe that. We believe that. Churches are the ones who have built community centers in transitioning neighborhoods. I'm just saying it's a great idea. We ought to think about it. Why? The gospel. It's bigger than you think. And the gospel is more offensive—are y'all still with me?—to the comfortable religious than to the broken. Watch, Lydia was already religious. She worshiped God. She went to prayer meetings. She sought the truth, but the Bible says that the Lord still had to open her heart. So religious interest is not synonymous with spiritual regeneration, not in the Bible. And this is one of the major themes in the New Testament, that the people closest to religion are often furthest from grace, because they assume they have what they need. Jesus consistently encountered tax collectors who repented, prostitutes who believed, and religious folks who resisted. I want to talk to you today, if you're here and you're like, I'm good, man. I mean, look at me. I got 99 prob—actually, I ain't even got 99 problems, like, I'm good. I don't need anything. Can I tell you, I'm not concerned about your bank account.

I'm not concerned about your house, not concerned about your car, I'm concerned about your soul. And some of you, in all of your abundance, can't see your need. But if you're here today, and you're broken, and you're grieving, and you say, I've got more problems than I can count, and I don't know how to fix any of them, I'm stuck, I'm in bondage, I'm oppressed, well then you're close. Then you're close, because Scripture says that God is near to the brokenhearted. He doesn't say, God is near to the one with the biggest bank account. That's an American idea. He says, I'm near to the brokenhearted, and so if you're here today, and you don't need anything, baby, you're in trouble. But if you're here today, and you say, I don't even know where to start, whoo, you are close. You are close. Lastly, your response to suffering may be somebody else's salvation. So watch, after public humiliation, illegal beating, imprisonment, physical pain, what do Paul and Silas do? They worship. Why? Why? Because worship makes a declaration that my circumstances are not my ultimate reality. Can I tell you I've been doing this long enough? I can see it when you walk in the door. I can see you desperate to get in to sing whatever song we're singing. You don't fuss about the volume, you don't, oh I don't like this song, what was that? None of that, that's not a thing. You just know, I've got to get my eyes on to Jesus. And I can see the person you're standing next to is like, I'm good. Worship is a declaration to God and over you, this thing does not define me, you do, God. And what does the scripture say? That the prisoners are listening to them. My wife and I have a joke, I will confess to you that when I'm out on these streets

driving around, from time to time, y'all make me angry, all right? I don't know how to say it any different. And I will also confess that I may, from time to time, be the guy that when you do something stupid, I won't speed up to get up next to you to tell you you're number one. I won't do that, but I will try to get you to look at me so that I can look at you with the face that says, you're the dumbest person who's ever existed, OK? And when I may or may not have done that, my wife will say to me, babe, you are the lead pastor of Graceway. And that usually does work, but a couple times, I'm like, I don't even care. I don't care. That person is stupid and somebody needs to tell him. And in the sovereignty of God, I am here right now. I'm going to do my part as a good citizen to bring the future kingdom of God onto these streets. Amen? No, don't say amen to that. Don't start saying amen now, alright? Watch. You never know who's watching. Some of you right now, you say, I'm in this season that I feel lost, I feel abandoned. Can I just tell you? This is the spiritual warfare of suffering. It feels isolating. But can I tell you, your kids are still watching. Your coworkers, your neighbors, the folks you come to church with, we're still watching. Not to see if Christians suffer, because we know that Christians suffer. To see how. And to see, is God enough? Is God enough in this valley? Is God enough with this fear?

Is God enough in this climate? With this culture? With your—is God enough? And can I tell you, the way that you suffer either gives or takes credibility from you. Let me, let me land the plane this way. And I always just want to shoot straight with you, on the good and the bad. The Bible, the kingdom, the gospel, intends to mess up your life. I don't know how to say it any different to you. That's what God's, God's trying to mess up your life. So some of you are like Lydia, and you are together. And you value being together, and you are religious, but you know, you know that there's something that you can't quite figure out. You know that there's something missing. You know there's an itch that you just can't scratch, doesn't matter how many dollar bills you try to get back there, you can't get at it. Some of you are like that slave girl, and you know exactly what has a grip on you. You know what it feels like to be squeezed, to be strained, to suffer, and to not have a solution or an antidote. Some of you are like the jailer, and you are at the end of what you can hold. And the Lord who opened Lydia's heart, and the Lord who drove out that spirit, and the Lord who saved the jailer in his darkest moment, he was there and he is here. So I want you to close your eyes as we close. And if you're in the room today, and you're a Christian, I want you to just spend some time and thank God that the gospel is big enough to save you. And then I want you to begin to pray for people in the room who are not Christians. I promise they're here. If you're not a Christian, maybe you're like Lydia, maybe you're like the slave girl, maybe you're like the jailer. Maybe you're something altogether different, but can I tell you, it doesn't matter where you look, you'll never find a name more powerful than Jesus.

And if today you want to give your life to Jesus, I want you to pray this prayer with me. Jesus, thank you for creating me and for loving me. Even when I've ignored you and gone my own way, I know that I need you in my life. I'm sorry for my sins against you and others. I believe you died on the cross for my sins and you rose again. I know that you are God and that I am not. I ask you to forgive me. As much as I know how, I'm ready to change direction by giving you my life. I'm ready to follow you from now on to do what you want me to do. Please come into my life, make me new on the inside, help me to grow so that I can be like you. So everybody, eyes closed, head bowed, if you prayed that prayer with me, would you do me a favor and just raise your hand? Not going to call you up front, not going to embarrass you, but I think that it's important for you, even if it's just for yourself, to clarify and name what God is doing. What's going to happen is somebody from our team is going to come by, they're gonna put a Bible in your hands. Couple things, inside of that Bible is a resource called You Said Yes to help you take some steps in your faith. That booklet has a mark in it that is the gospel of John. And I want you to start reading the gospel of John, just a chapter a day. John was written by Jesus' best friend. I want you to know who Jesus is so that you can learn to love him like so many of us do. Lastly, there's a Connect card. Love for you to fill that out, take it to Next Steps, bring it down to me, bring it to prayer team.

Man, we just wanna celebrate you over here. Over here, crew. We wanna celebrate you, we wanna thank you, we wanna name what God is doing. And fam, why don't we do that right now? Let's celebrate God's saving people in the room today. Church, why don't you stand up? Prayer team, come on down. Growth Track Step Two, next service. Boxes for giving in the back. Raise a hand, let me pray for you. Let me pray for you. Come on, don't dip on me, don't dip on me. Let's pray before we go. Are you ready? Father, we love you. Thank you for saving us, thank you for sending Jesus, thank you for your Holy Spirit, thank you for your kingdom. We love you, we trust you, we put you first in Jesus' name. We put you first in Jesus' name, all God's people said. Amen and amen. I love you, fam. See you next Sunday. you