Go And Tell

Well, welcome back if you joined us last week for Easter. Welcome if it's your first time here. My name is Nathan Brown, and I am one of the pastors at The Crossing. I'm usually down at the Fenton campus. Hello to everyone joining us at Fenton. Love celebrating Easter with y'all last week. And also, maybe you know this, we are one church with many locations, and right now we're being joined by Mid Rivers and Grants Trail and our online communities. So we're all together now, and we're doing this. And I can't think back to last weekend about Easter without thinking about the message that our lead pastor, Greg, brought us. And he didn't just bring it once or twice, he brought it seven times. So can we just thank him right now for preaching seven times? And you might see me up here and think, well, Greg is just, he's off today. Good for him. That's not exactly true. He's teaching at a friend's conference this weekend. So I guess seven times wasn't enough. But Greg, if you're watching this, we just love you. We appreciate you so much. And I'm still thinking, and it's funny because there's still some candle wax on this table, but I'm still thinking about that moment whenever the candle was lit and we were reminded

that the darkest moment in human history, the death of Jesus, it was overcome by light three days later when Jesus rose from the dead. And now light cuts through darkness every single time. And because Jesus is alive, we can have peace. We can have hope. This life with God that we were all created for, it's available to us now because Jesus is alive. And we ended last week's service with Jesus's words in Matthew 28. Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And this is really good, right? Because Jesus is good. He's not reckless with his power. He's good, so it's good that he has all authority. And then Jesus finishes by saying, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. So to sum up the Easter message, Jesus is alive. Jesus has all power, all authority, and he is with us always. Which leads me to a question today. If Jesus says he's gonna be with us always, where is he today? If you answer, I don't know, I love that answer. It's honest, I don't know. If you've grown up in church, you might say, well, he's in heaven. And I have a follow-up question. How'd he get there?

Today we're talking about the moment in the story called the ascension. The ascension. And I've spent a lot of life growing up in church. I mean, my grandpa was a Methodist pastor, so we went there as a kid. And then middle and high school, we were at a non-denominational church. And then I went to an evangelical free Bible college and a Southern Baptist seminary. So you can call me a church mutt. But in all of that time, guess what? I've heard very little about the ascension. I've heard so little about this part of the story, but maybe you grew up in a tradition where you've heard of the ascension. Maybe you've celebrated Ascension Thursday. In the Catholic Church, it's celebrated 40 days after Easter. Certain traditions, they walk through the events of Jesus's life through the calendar year. So from Advent to Christmas to Lent, Easter, the ascension, Pentecost. But if you didn't grow up going to church or in that tradition, you don't know much about the ascension, well, welcome to The Crossing. And if after what we read today, you're a little unsure what to do with it, because it's a wild story. I'll tell you, I'll be the first one to tell you.

What we're about to read is wild, but it's not irrelevant. It is so not irrelevant. By learning about the ascension, we will learn where Jesus is, but more than that, like the purpose for our life today. And here's what I know. We all need purpose, don't we? Will you pray with me? Jesus, I love that you have created each of us, you have like hardwired in us this need for meaning, this need for purpose. So Jesus, I pray for all of us as we learn from your word today, would we learn where you are? But also Jesus, would you come so close and remind us the purpose we have for living? And I pray this in your name, amen. Amen. So, where is Jesus? For 40 days after his death and resurrection, Jesus would meet with his disciples, he'd meet with other people, and he would give them many convincing proofs that he was alive. We don't know what all of them are, we know what some of them are. He showed his disciples his nail-scarred hands so that they could physically feel, wow, and be reminded this is the same Jesus

that was just on the cross a few days earlier. His disciples would hug Jesus and feel his body and know that they are not dealing with some ghost or an idea of a man they once knew. And then just a funny but I think interesting detail that the scriptures give us is that Jesus ate with his disciples. You know, dead people don't need to eat. So all of this for these 40 days, he is proving to these people that he is alive, that he is the same Jesus, and that he is not finished. He's been restoring them, rebuilding their faith, preparing them for this moment. We find them on the Mount of Olives. And in this teaching series that we're in, Peak Experiences, we're tracking through the scriptures and recognizing that God meets with people on top of mountains and hills. And so today's Peak Experience is on the Mount of Olives. This is so on purpose, like this is not by accident that they find themselves here. Jesus has led his disciples to the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is where Jesus once prayed over the city of Jerusalem. This is where he famously prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Mount of Olives is where Jesus was betrayed by Judas, arrested, and then led off to be executed on the cross. And it is from this place on the Mount of Olives that Jesus' disciples scattered.

They began hiding in fear, denying they ever knew Jesus. And here they find themselves some 40 days later with Jesus. And they're asking him, Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom? Jesus replied, well, the Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they're not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere, here in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth. And after saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. Men of Galilee, they said, why are you standing here staring into heaven? I think I'd be doing the same thing, honestly. Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go. Now you know why I said this is a wild story. Jesus just, like, is taken up into heaven, and then there's some angelic beings that scare the heck out of the disciples. There's a lot going on here, and if you're here, and you're like,

I was here last week, and I heard about a guy who was dead, and then once alive, and then here, the same guy is just transported into heaven, this is a lot to take in. It is, it is a lot to take in. The first people who saw this, the disciples, they were trying to just process what they just saw. And instead of reading this text from, like, a distance or being overly critical, like, let's just put ourselves in their shoes. Let's put ourselves in the disciples' shoes for just a moment. Three years ago, a man named Jesus approached you and said, come follow me. Leave everything you know, your job, your friends, everything familiar, leave it all and come follow me. And so you start following this man named Jesus, and over the span of three years, you've seen him teach, but teach in a way that you've never heard anyone teach before. He's got this wisdom, this insight that is almost, like, otherworldly. He knows things. You've seen him do miraculous things. You've seen him heal people, people who were once blind can now see. You've seen him bring a man from death to life, and slowly, over three years, and after doing life with Jesus,

you become convinced. I think he is who he says he is. I think he's God. And then just as you're becoming kind of convinced that Jesus is God, he's taken from you, he's sent to the cross, he's executed on the cross, and now you're just like, shoot. I just wasted three years of my life. I'm the biggest idiot of them all. I believed this man, and now I have to go back to my old friends, and I have to go back to my old job, and I'm doubting everything. And then, Jesus? You were just dead. I'm not fully convinced it's you, Jesus. And for 40 days, Jesus convinces you. He is alive and he is God. All right, Jesus, I'm in, I'm fully convinced. You are God, you were dead, you are now alive. Now let's get, you're gonna do what you came to earth to do, right? Like you're gonna restore the kingdom of Israel. You're gonna get stuff done in this world. It's you, right? It's you. And then Jesus is like, no, it's you, goodbye. I don't know if you've ever seen this scene take place. It's in a play, but it's really hard to replicate. There's usually like invisible strings or a jet pack. But they're asking Jesus, it's you, right?

You're going to free Israel and restore our kingdom. And now the disciples were getting closer to understanding who Jesus is, but they were still a little off. They believed rightly that Jesus is king, but they just had the wrong expectations. The right king, but the wrong expectations. The disciples wanted Jesus to be like a military or political figure that comes in and kicks Rome out. They wanted freedom from Rome. And Jesus came to give them freedom, but not from Rome, from sin. From anything that gets in the way between you and a relationship with God, Jesus came to give you freedom from that. And then Jesus came to restore a kingdom, but it wasn't Israel's kingdom. It wasn't their kingdom. It was the kingdom of God. This was Jesus's mission all along, to bring the kingdom of God to earth. The kingdom of God is, it's amazing. I mean, Jesus taught so much about it. And it's almost like a reversal of what we think a kingdom should look like. In the kingdom of God, the least are the greatest. The servants are the greatest. Outsiders are welcomed in. The merciful will receive mercy. You pray for your enemies.

You love those who persecute you. The kingdom of God is what the world would look like if Jesus were king. And so they asked him, it's you, right? And then Jesus says, no, you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere. This is the assignment. This is the purpose that Jesus gave to his disciples. And if you are a follower of Jesus, this is the same purpose for your life. I love the idea and the imagery of a baton being handed off. This has been handed to us to be Jesus's witness. And a witness is a person who has seen something and then tells somebody about it. You don't need to believe in God to understand what a witness is. A witness simply says, this is what I've seen. This is what I've experienced. And this is what I believe to be true. And now I'm telling you about it. And we all already kind of do it. So the pressure's off to have to learn something new because we all witness about things that we love, right? We love to talk about the things that we love. We enjoy to tell other people about things so that they can enjoy it as well. So if you're wanting the best toasted ravioli in St. Louis, you gotta go to Charlie Gito's on the Hill, am I right? Okay, okay, if you want the best toasted ravioli, you have to go to Mama's on the Hill.

Okay, okay, if you, this is a new place. I don't know if you've been, but Toasted STL. Have any of you been to Toasted STL? Okay, so good. If you want good toasted ravioli, just go to the Hill. Like that's what it is. That's the bottom line. What am I doing? I am witnessing to you all about the St. Louis delicacy that is T-Ravs. But we do it more than just with restaurants. We do it about what we're watching on TV. How many of you are watching The Masters? Like right now, right now, you have it on your lap. No, I'm just kidding. You recommend, I mean, Yellowstone? Oh my gosh, have you guys watched Yellowstone or Landman? You gotta watch that. The Chosen? I'll go there. The Chosen is so good. Parks and Rec, Zootopia 2. We talk about what we're watching because we love it. We want other people to love it too. And I feel it, I feel it in the room. You wanna start telling people about what you're watching on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, whatever. I'm gonna give you that opportunity. Go ahead, lean over to some people around you. What's your favorite TV show or movie

that you'd love to recommend? Go ahead and do that. Go ahead. So, I know you all are very interested in what these pastors down here are watching on. So, Ben, you're watching The Pit, The Yes, and Paradise. And then Kimberly, you're watching Law and Order. Always. Dave, you're watching Survivor. No surprises there. Randall, The Office. Love it. Now, now let me ask you this. Ben, are you an expert in like emergency room procedures? No. You are a doctor though. Not that kind of doctor. And then Kimberly, are you an expert in like true crime documentaries? You could not, you could solve their crimes, but not any. Yeah. So, I'm just curious, if you recommended Landman, are you a West Texas like oil boom expert? Probably not. But no one's trained you how to do this. You just naturally do it. You naturally talk about the things that you love because you want other people to love them as much as you do. And Jesus is now just inviting us to do that with what matters most in life. If you're a follower of Jesus, he wants you to tell other people about him. And I'm curious, when you think about when you started your relationship with

Jesus, what was that like? Where were you? Who told you about Jesus? I'm sure after you had your questions answered, like whatever you needed to do before saying yes and trusting Jesus, you eventually got to the place of recognizing Jesus is just too good to say no to. It all boils down to he's just too good to say no to. And then now to take it a step further, he's too good to keep to yourself. This is why we are asked to be his witnesses. And as you start to think about this purpose that is now on your life as a follower of Jesus, what starts to happen inside of you? What emotions are boiling up? If I'm supposed to tell other people about Jesus, what happens inside of you? I'll tell you what happens inside of me. And it changes like several times a day. So it's okay. But on one side of things, like I'm really excited that Jesus is inviting me to make a real difference in this world, to be on the front lines of what God is doing. I now get to partner with him and potentially change other people's lives for eternity. That's exciting. I can't think of anything more exciting than that. And then sometimes I'm a little confused. I'm confused because like me and you were great and all, but like Jesus is plan A for humanity. I don't know if we're that good. Jesus, do you know what you're doing by asking me and us? Surely there's other people better at it. And then I'll just be honest. Sometimes I get really afraid.

I get afraid of being known as the Jesus follower in the friend group that eventually I'll be uninvited or carved out. I'm afraid that I will say the wrong thing. It's actually a guarantee that sometimes I will say the wrong thing. I will not know the answer to most questions and I'm afraid. And then somewhere in there, I'm just like, Jesus, this is all... I'm honored that you would ask us to be a part of this mission, but it almost seems too big, almost impossible. And if you're feeling any of those emotions, you're not crazy. You're not alone. I feel them, but also I think the disciples felt it. In real time, they probably went through all of those emotions and more. Jesus knew this and he knows us. And that's why just a few verses earlier in verses four and five, Jesus said, He told his disciples, do not leave Jerusalem, I'm not afraid of being known as the Jesus follower in the friend group that eventually I'll be uninvited or carved out or carved out. but wait for the gift my father promised, which you've heard me speak about. I'm afraid that you would ask us to be a part of this mission, but it almost For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. I think it's interesting, funny maybe even, that Jesus is like giving them this huge, God-sized, almost impossible mission, but then he's like, wait, wait. Don't get ahead of yourselves. Don't start this thing, because you're not ready yet. And I don't know about you, but I jump the gun a lot. I start things before I'm actually ready to start them.

I have a two-year-old son, he just had a birthday party, and it was so fun. But now, our house is just filled with toys. And toy companies, don't get me started. Every child's toy requires some form of adult suffering first. You can't convince me otherwise. Like these toy companies, they could build the toys and then send them to you, but no, it's on us to build all of these toys. And so I'm 40 minutes into building a toy, and I'm realizing there's leftover screws. That's not a good thing, guys, to have leftover screws and then like a part that you don't know where it fits in. And 40 minutes into this thing, I'm realizing I messed up about 35 minutes ago. And I'm not building a toy anymore, I'm undoing a bad decision. 35 minutes ago, I threw the instructions away. I looked at the picture on the box, and I, how hard could it be? I got this. And you all know, it's just dangerous how much a little confidence can get us in trouble. It's dangerous to not look at the instructions. And Jesus, in just the most loving, compassionate way, is telling his disciples and telling us, listen to the instructions. Pay attention to what I'm saying. I'm gonna save you some heartache.

Wait for the Holy Spirit, because when the Holy Spirit comes, you will receive the power necessary to live this life of purpose. So the Holy Spirit comes in, not as a side note, but as absolutely essential. Who is the Holy Spirit? He is a person, he is not a force, or a strong emotion, or a spiritual vibe. He is God himself. He is a member of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. He is so unbelievably personal and active. He is God's presence living inside of you if you trust in Jesus. The Spirit gives you courage when you're afraid, he gives you words when you don't know what to say, and he gives you the strength when you're weak. And this is not the first time that the disciples had heard about the Holy Spirit. See, Jesus had been giving them breadcrumb clues about his ascension, but also the Holy Spirit coming. Much earlier in the story, in John 16, Jesus told his friends, it's best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Advocate, or the Holy Spirit, won't come. If I do go away, then I'll send him to you. I'm curious if the disciples are remembering these words of Jesus now

as they're seeing him disappear into the clouds. And remember, they don't know the Holy Spirit like we know him now, they had no concept of him. So they're just like, how could it be better, Jesus, that now you're leaving? Now I can't walk with you, now I can't ask you questions, I can't live life with you, you're gone. How is the Holy Spirit better than you? And so to put ourselves kind of back in the disciples' shoes let's imagine for a moment that Jesus were physically alive walking the earth today. Today, 2026, Jesus is walking the earth, and he's making his tour across America, and he's in like Cheyenne, Wyoming. I don't know, he's in Cheyenne, Wyoming. And do you wanna see Jesus? You have questions, you need proof. Maybe you just need a little bit of hope. Maybe you just, you wanna say thank you. Whatever it is, you wanna see Jesus. What now do you have to do in order to see Jesus? Start driving, or buy a plane ticket. And then when you get to Wyoming, I'd imagine you have to like take a number and wait in a long line. And once you get to Jesus, you get your three to five minutes with him, and then you're done. And I don't know about you, I'd like more than five minutes with Jesus.

I have more questions than five minutes worth. And I get hope maybe one day, but then a few days later, I'll need some reassurance. And all of that, you know, if Jesus were physically alive, I would have to road trip to Jesus. And that's not what I need. I need a relationship with Jesus. Jesus knows this. And that is why he's saying, it's better that I go so that the Holy Spirit can live with you. Now, the presence of God is with you everywhere you are, everywhere you are, in your classroom, in your car, in your decision-making, in the highest of highs of life, in your joy, but also in your grief and your sadness. The presence of Jesus is with you everywhere if you trust him. This is why having the spirit is better. God is not watching from a distance. He is closer than close, living inside of you. This is why Jesus says, it's better that I go. And then he went. And as a side note, just throwing this in for free, heaven is not right beyond the clouds. The astronauts on Artemis did not pass through heaven on the way to the moon. But there is a lot of really significant symbolism here that made sense to the disciples. When Jesus chose to go through the clouds, because think of it, he could have gone any other way, like he could have just disappeared,

but he chose to ascend through the clouds. He did that for the sake of the disciples. Because the disciples, when they saw him going through the clouds, they recognized he's now going to heaven and he's taking his seat as king. So they see him disappear through the clouds and they're like, I guess he's in heaven now and Jesus is king. The book of Hebrews says that after Jesus ascended, he took his seat at the right hand of God. That's also really significant. That right hand seat, the king would assign it to a person. It was a place of honor and authority and rule. And so when the disciples saw Jesus leaving, they knew he wasn't disappearing, he was just being enthroned. So how did Jesus earn the right to sit in this seat? Well, he was God, first and foremost. I think that got him pretty far, but he had to live a perfect, sinless life. He had to go to the cross. He had to be the sacrifice for our sins. He had to die. He had to raise back to life. And now that the disciples are seeing him ascend into heaven, they knew God was giving Jesus his stamp of approval on his life, his death, and his resurrection. And God the Father is now saying, son, come sit at my right hand

because you have all authority, all power, all rule. You are king. And do you know what else Jesus is doing in heaven? He's reigning as a king, but he's doing something else. In Romans chapter eight, we read that Jesus is interceding for us. He's thinking about us right now. This king Jesus, with all power, all authority, is speaking your name in heaven. How much does he love us anyway? This purpose for our life, this mission that he has entrusted, it is backed by a reigning king who loves you, and it is powered by the very presence of God living inside of you. These are the guarantees that his mission will not fail. So let's pull this out of the clouds and into our Tuesday mornings, so to speak. Let's make this very practical. If you're a note taker, go ahead and write or type this down. Take a step. Take a step. When Jesus says, you will be my witnesses, remember who he's talking to. He's not talking to a group of Christian professionals inside of a church building. He's talking to ordinary men who just days earlier doubted Jesus and then hid in fear. These were ordinary men, and yet Jesus still chose them, just as he chooses us today.

We probably don't need another sermon, another Bible study, another whatever to start witnessing for Jesus. Start where you are. Your life, your neighborhood, your job, your family, where you are is where the mission takes place. Your life is the context for this mission. So start where you are and take the step. Take the step and be his witness. Simply tell somebody, this is what I've seen. This is what God's doing in my life. He's too good to keep to myself, so that's why I'm telling you about him. I believe in Jesus. let him do the rest. You don't have to have the right combination of words or a winning argument, you simply witness. And when you take this step, when you begin witnessing to other people about Jesus, your faith is going to take off. I guarantee it, because you're no longer spectating at this point. You're participating in the mission of God. Instead of saying, I go to church, you now get to say, I'm on mission with Jesus. It's going to be a game changer for your faith. There are other steps to take though. Our goal as a church is to be a place for everyone, regardless of where you stand with Jesus or where you're at on your faith journey,

for you to explore truth, experience grace, and express love. That's this church's way of joining God's mission. We believe that there is such thing as truth, truth about God, truth about ourselves, and we should explore it. We can ask our big and small questions because God cares about them, and so do we. So we explore truth, and eventually we realize that our faith is not just an intellectual exercise. It has to make its way to our heart, that we can all experience God's grace personally. And when we do that, we can't help but express His love boldly to the world around us. So maybe for some of you, your step is to explore. You have questions about the faith. You're interested. That's exactly why we have Explorations. And it's still not too late. Maybe you thought it was too late when Ben said something about it. It's still not too late. Sign up for Explorations. It's open to all adults, and get this, high school students too, because we recognize, you students, you have significant questions about life and faith. Come to Explorations. Make our admins go absolutely bonkers with how many of you sign up the day before it starts.

We'd love that. They'd love that. For others, maybe your step is more public. You're interested in being a witness for Jesus. I can't think of a more public way to witness with your life than being baptized. Baptism is you publicly declaring, Jesus saved me, and now I am with Him. If you're interested in having that conversation or taking that step with us this summer, come on, let's start that conversation today. All of us, we have a next step we can take, and I wanna throw up a little slide with a lot of next steps on them. Keep coming to church, invite a friend, join a class, sign up to serve, go to Youth Crossing. What is it for you? I trust that right now, maybe the Holy Spirit is making one of these jump out to you. I wanna invite you also to take out your phone, take a picture of this, and before your head hits the pillow tonight, just choose to do one, because it can be overwhelming to look at all of this and say, I need to do all that? No, you don't, but I wanna encourage you to do at least one. Oftentimes, I think we have this unrealistic expectation of what it looks like to follow Jesus. It's these huge, dramatic leaps of faith. That's not what it looks like most of the time.

It looks like one step, one step of obedience, and then another small step, and it is a small, obedient step in the same direction. That's how you make progress on your faith with Jesus. Maybe something else happens to you whenever you see all of these next steps. You think that's all great, and then another voice enters the chat, and that voice says, you're not enough. You're not smart enough, you've not been in the church long enough, whatever it is, you're not enough. And I'll just say, that's only half true. The enemy likes to step in and make you think that that's all true, but it's only half true. The truth is, you're not enough. To be Jesus' witness, to take any of these steps, you're not enough. That's why Jesus says to wait for the Holy Spirit, to depend on the Spirit. If you're taking notes, write that down, depend on the Spirit. Before the disciples moved, or spoke, or did anything, they waited for the Spirit, because the mission of God was never meant to be done on human strength alone. This is why we need to depend on the Holy Spirit. Every step we take needs to be followed up by depending on the Spirit. Step, depend, step, depend. And here is the tension that I feel. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Holy Spirit, but more often

than I like to admit, my life looks like he doesn't exist. I'll walk into an important conversation and then realize I never prayed before this. I'll feel inclined to send somebody an encouraging text, like they've just been on my mind. I feel like I should reach out, say, hey, I'm thinking of you, or send a verse or something. And then I start thinking, well, what if that catches them off guard? What if they don't actually need this text message? It's gonna be weird. So then I don't do it. Or if I'm around somebody and I know they don't know Jesus, and there's an opportunity to invite them to church or say, hey, can I pray for you? Or just start witnessing about Jesus. My heart will start to go faster. And I'm like, I think I need to say something here. I think I need to do something. And then I talk myself out of it because it's like, I'm gonna say something wrong. They're gonna ask me a question that I don't know the answer to. They're gonna say no to my invitation to come to church. It's not worth being uninvited. So I don't do anything. I find myself only speaking when I'm really confident. I find myself only taking a step whenever I know what the outcome is.

And I only obey God if it fits within my comfort zone. And that is called self-dependence. So for some of us, we don't need to do more. We need to depend more. Depend more on the Spirit. And I love that life with Jesus, we're able to depend on Him. Because so many of us, we know what it feels like to walk through this life, like it all depends on us. Our strength, our knowledge, our capacity, whatever it is, it all depends on us, and it's exhausting. Thankfully, we have the Spirit to depend on. And when you realize that you're not alone, you will change. The Spirit living inside of you will change you. And I think together, we will change, and we might just see the world change, too. There's a theologian named Clark Pinnock, he says, more than churches full of people, God wants, and the world needs, people full of the Spirit. I don't think we need bigger churches, guys. We don't need more rooms filled with people, we need people filled with the Spirit. That's why I would love to invite you, come back next week, learn about how the Spirit entered into the story with just a few men, and literally, the world has never looked the same since. So come back next week and learn about that. And the last question, I think, becomes, well, when do I start?

Sweet, they haven't showed you the answer yet. You may expect me to say, like, in three weeks, or when you know enough, but the answer is now. The time is now. The disciples asked, Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel? They're trying to figure out a timeline, aren't we? We want that kind of security and stability that comes with timelines. So we'll say to Jesus, Jesus, I'll do whatever you want me to do, just show me every step of the way first, and then I'll figure out if I actually wanna do what you want me to do. We want the timeline, and Jesus responds, as he often still does to them, that's not for you to know. You don't need to see the full timeline. I'm gonna give you the next right step, and I want you to take it. And then the angels show up, and probably scare the heck out of everyone, and they say, why are you standing here, staring into heaven? What are you still doing here, guys? Go. And I think that question echoes in our ears today. What am I doing here? Whether you believe in God or not, what am I doing here? All of us will ask that question, typically whenever life gets kind of quiet.

Maybe it's as we're going to sleep, a drive to or from work, and we just kind of come to this place of like, is this it? Is this all that my life amounts to, is waking up, eating, working, going to school, or sleeping, like, what's the purpose of my life? Does my life actually matter? And one of the most compelling things about Jesus, in my opinion, is that he doesn't leave it up to us to guess, or find that out. See, by Jesus giving us this mission, he's given us so much purpose and meaning. Your life is not random, your life is not an accident. You are here on this earth to know Jesus, and make him known. This is your purpose, and not someday, today, right now, in the life you're already living with the people you already know. And let me just tell you about this life with Jesus. Some of us, we think that life just becomes less enjoyable whenever we sign up to follow Jesus. And that's not true at all. It's more exciting. It's more purpose-filled. It's more, it's like the life you were created for. It's just like, oh yes, this is what I've been longing for all along. That is what life with Jesus looks like. When you witness for Jesus, it's like seeing your best friend

who you've been witnessing to come to know Jesus. And you're just humbled to know that your words or your invitation or the way you lived your life made an eternal difference. Life with Jesus looks like you're in a conversation and you're running out of words. And so you just kind of breath pray, Holy Spirit, please take over. And then you kind of black out and you don't remember what you say after that. And then the person you're talking to says, hey, remember when you said that? And you're like, I said that? The Holy Spirit gives you words when you run out of words. Life with Jesus looks like praying for people, like really praying for people. And then seeing God move in, in such a powerful and close way that you are convinced and the person you're praying for is so convinced that God is alive and he is not finished with you or this world. Life with Jesus is worth it. Life with Jesus is so filled with purpose. It's gonna stretch you. It's a guarantee that he is going to take you outside of your comfort zone. And can I just say something very directly to those of you here who aren't quite sure what to do with Jesus if you're not following him yet? Jesus loves you.

You have a king in heaven who loves you. This is the good news of Jesus, that he loves you so much that he came to this world and lived a perfect life. Life you and I could never come close to living. He was sinless and yet he was still sentenced to die on the cross. He died for us. We should have been the ones on that cross because we are sinful people. We deserve death. And Jesus says, no, I love them too much. I'm gonna pay for their sin debt in full. He died as the perfect sacrifice and then he rose from the dead, defeating death and offering you now forgiveness of your sins in a relationship with God that starts the moment you say yes to Jesus and lasts forever into eternity. And we're talking about all these next steps. I just wanna humbly ask, is that your next step? Maybe you know everything that you need to know. You're just kind of at this point and you're at a crossroads. Is your next step to say yes to Jesus? And if it is, please tell somebody. Come talk to a pastor, tell someone in your row. Just say yes, I'm ready to follow Jesus and it would be our honor to continue that conversation with you.

Can I ask all of you now to stand? At all of our rooms, will you stand? What step are you sensing God asking you to take? My hunch is you didn't need that screen of next steps. You already know, you're at this crossroads. God's saying, are you gonna listen to me and take that step? Or if not, you're gonna continue to feel flat in your spiritual walk. Take your next step and my last question is this and I'm taking cue from the angels. What are you still doing here? What are you still doing here? Because the mission has been given, we have the spirit of God living inside of us and we have a life full of meaning waiting for us. So what are we still doing here? Love you all.