It Grows With Boldness | A Church God Can Trust

Good morning, Reach KC, are y'all ready to worship today? Uh, hello? Are y'all ready? Let's stand together, let's worship this morning. Come rest on us. Come rest on us. Come rest on us... Come now, spirit when you're moving make my heart go. When it's in the moving you're here it will know you are moving. I'm here it will know you are doing. Come, come spirit when you're moving make my heart go. When you're in the moving you're here it will know you are moving. I'm here it will know you are moving. Come now when you're moving it will make my heart go. When you're in the moving you're here it will know you are moving. I'm here it will know you are moving. When you're in the moving it will make my heart go. Come rest on us you're all we want, you're all we want. Holy spirit come rest on us you're all we want, you're all we want. Holy spirit come rest on us you're all we want, you're all we want. Come down spirit when you move you make my heart pound when you move. You're here and I know you are with me, I'm here and I know you feel me. Come down spirit when you move you make my heart pound when you move. You're here and I know you are with me, I'm here and I know you feel me. Oh. Fly away and come and do it again, open up the gates of heaven on this land. Come rest on us, come rest on us 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 on my mistakes?

You're nothing like I thought you were, you're better What a God, what a God Oh, what a God, what a God What a God, what a God I thought you'd show up for perfection Cause what kind of God looks for the lost? They say it's over for a sinner But what you said, no it's not, no it's not I thought, I thought you'd show up for perfection Cause what kind of God looks for the lost? They say it's over for a sinner But what you said, no it's not, no it's not But you say, no it's not, no it's not What a God, what a God Oh, what a God, what a God What a God, what a God If the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I see is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has changed my life Forever satisfied You are my everything If the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I see is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has saved my life Forever satisfied You are my everything

If the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the best thing that I see is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has saved my life Forever satisfied You are my everything If one word is the only thing you see Then I've done it all If I feel your heart and never see your hand I still have it all No treasure of this life could ever satisfy You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything What a God, what a God What a God, what a God What a God, what a God Let it go, let it go, let it go If the highest place I reach is at your feet Then I've done it all If the first thing that I've seen is your glory Then I've seen it all Your love has saved my life Forever satisfied You are my everything 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 saved my life Forever satisfied You are my everything If one word is the only thing you say Then I've heard it all If I feel your heart and never see your head I still have it all No treasure of this life Forever satisfied You are my everything If one word is the only thing you say Then I've heard it all If I feel your heart and never see your head I still have it all No treasure of this life Forever satisfied You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything Yes you are You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything You are my everything

All my roots are shown I got nothing new How could I express All my gratitude I could see the stars As I often do But every song I sing And you never do So I throw up my hands And praise you again and again Cause all that I have Is a hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much Not nothing else big for a king Except for a heart singing Hallelujah Hallelujah I've got one response I've got just one move With my arms stretched wide, I will worship you. So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again. Because all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. And I know it's not much, but I'm nothing else but for a king, except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Come on, my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me. Lift up your song. Because you've got a light inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord.

Come on, my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me. Lift up your song. Because you've got a light inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Come on, my soul, oh, don't you get shy on me. Lift up your song. Because you've got a light inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Oh, yeah, praise the Lord. Oh, yeah, praise the Lord. Woo, woo, you. So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again. Because all that I have is the hallelujah, hallelujah. And I know it's not much, not nothing else before a king, except for a high singing hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Woo, woo, you. So come now, sing. Oh, don't you get tired of your song. Because you've got a lion inside those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Come on. Come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me. Lift up your song. Because you've got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Oh, come on. Come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me.

Lift up your song. Because you've got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. So I fold my hands and praise you again and again. Come on, church. And all that I have is a hallelujah. Hallelujah, and I know it's not much, I have nothing else before you, except for a heart singing Hallelujah, Hallelujah God, you can have all of us, you can have the secret chambers of our hearts, you can have the intricacies of our mind, you can have the inconsistencies in our life God, may you change us today, may we walk away from this room completely altered today God, radically imprinted by your footprint on our heart this morning God So Lord, we give you praise, we give you glory, and God, we give you all the honor that you deserve in this room, in Jesus name, come on, let's give a shout of praise to the Lord this morning, can we do that? Come on, I want to give a shout of praise to the Lord, can we do that? Oh man, that was weak, but it's alright, we're gonna keep on, there we go! Yeah! Woo! Hey man, how many of us came ready to have church this morning? Anybody? Hey man, I am just so glad that you are here, I literally almost got up this morning on the stage and tried to make a joke that my wife decided not to do ministry anymore, or she left me or something like that But I know everybody would know I was lying, so I decided not to go that route, but we will have some exciting news and some pictures next week, but my wife has had our son this week, and so we are excited We are excited, and so she didn't leave me, she just left me for another guy named champion I just want to remind us of something that honestly is a very simple principle in our lives that I think is so easy to overlook, and it's what feels small in our hands can become very significant when it's placed in God's hands Whether it's our finances, whether it's our families, whether it's our relationships, but one of my favorite examples of this is the little boy in John 6 And there are thousands of hungry people, and Jesus asked the disciples how they are going to feed them, and immediately they start calculating what they have and what they don't have And Andrew says this, he says, there's a young boy with a few five barley loaves and two fish, but what good is that with this huge crowd? Like what is that possibly going to do? And I love this question because I think we've all felt that way honestly when it comes to our lives Like what good is what I have compared to what is needed? Right, I think we ask that question a lot, like what is what I have good in comparison to all of this? We need, the need was for thousands of people and the little boy just had a lunch, all he had was a little lunchable, a little ham and cheese lunchable And yet Jesus didn't ask the boy to provide enough for everybody, he simply gave Jesus what he had He gave it to the disciples and I believe that that's where generosity begins because sometimes we can look at everything that God has called us to do as a church or even as a people And the people that he wants us to reach, the things that he wants us to do, and I think that sometimes we can say what difference does what I have to give really going to make? Like what is it that, and I think that that's the wrong question because the question isn't, is what I have enough?

The question is, am I willing to put what I have into the hands of Jesus? Because he, when it is put in his hands, he doesn't know what to do don't do addition. He does multiplication. It's like compound interest. It's stuff that just doesn't naturally make sense. And here's what I don't want us to miss is the miracle didn't happen while the little boy was holding it. The miracle happened when he released it. The miracle happened when the disciples released it. When they started actually handing it out. And every time we give, every time we do something, every time we sacrificially respond to what God puts on our hearts, we're literally saying, Jesus, I trust you with what I placed in your hands. And I'm believing that you will multiply it and that cities will become known of you because of this. People's lives will be radically changed. And so today don't underestimate what God can do through your generosity. One, one example of that is every single week for the last six weeks, I think I've got up here and I've talked about build 900 and every week it has just continued to prosper and things are happening. We had somebody offer us to match a hundred thousand dollars. We need about $250,000 to get into our new facility and, and be able to start having services there. And somebody said they wanted to match a hundred thousand. And in the last six weeks, we have now raised $81,000 in that. And so like, and to be honest, only about 40 of that was big checks. And so like what God wants to do is, is multiplied through each one of our giving. Some of us has given 20 bucks. Some of us has given 200 bucks. Some of us has given a more, and that's okay because God is doing with what we place in his hands, what God always does. And so let's be faithful today and continuing to just believe that God is going to multiply the harvest and just do what God does. And so if I could get some ushers to come forward, I would challenge you when, when we give to build 900 give above and beyond, I would not ask for you to commit your time to that. Just give honor God with the first part and then give above and beyond to, to something like that. And just believe that when I give sacrificially that God is going to make a difference. Amen. Father, we just thank you. Lord, we believe that you are the King of Kings and that you are the Lord of Lords. And that when I surrender my life to you, I surrender everything. And so God, I believe that as I give you everything that I have, that you will take it and you will multiply it and you will develop it into something that I can't even grasp with my mind because that's just the way that you

work. And so God, as we meet with you today, Lord, we believe that your spirit is here and God, I believe that you are making a difference in this community, in our lives and in this church with every gift that is given Lord, bless the gift and bless the giver in Jesus name. Amen. Hey Reach KC, it's Tim from Reach Homes. I'd like to welcome you home and just remind you that here at Reach KC, we're reaching the one far from God and helping them become passionate followers of Jesus Christ. Every week we've had people surrendering their life to the Lord. And here at the end of the month, we have an opportunity to celebrate with them in water baptisms. If you're interested in water baptisms, scan the QR code on the screen and register yourself. As silver begins to wind down, we need another opportunity for you to treat yourself. Men's and women's retreat is coming up here very soon. Women's will be September 17th through the 19th and men's retreat, September 24th through the 26th. Scan the QR code. All of the details will be on the events tab in the church center app. As we prepare for today's message and continue to dig into the church on the move. Let's take the time to remove all distractions. And there was something that happens when we take notes. I can't quite remember what it was, but I'll bet pastor Adam will tell us. Yes, I will. Come on somebody. We know. How many of us know what happens when we take notes? You get a better seat in heaven. Come on somebody. Okay. It'll ring better next time. I'm nervous. It's all right. It's okay. It's all right. Well, Hey, I just want to welcome everybody home and, and just let you know that, Hey, we We believe in you. We believe that God is looking for unlikely people from overlooked places to do extraordinary things. And if you have walked in here, maybe you stumbled in here today and you just feel like you have just barely got here. Well, guess what? You are in the right place because God is pursuing you. And I believe that you will have an encounter with him today in Jesus' name. And so I am just excited to be here. We are in a series that is titled It Grows with Boldness. We've been going through this theme that we'll be in basically for the year that is called The Church on the Move. And we're looking at the book of Acts and just going through it passage by passage, verse by verse, and just kind of breaking it down. And today, I have titled my message A Church God Can Trust. A Church God Can Trust. When everything seems to be going well, people honestly can afford to be a little more selective about what impresses them. Right? Like, you notice the appearance of the building. People notice how

comfortable the waiting room is and what the amenities have. They notice whether the staff is friendly or whether the parking is convenient. But when someone you love cannot breathe, guess what? None of that matters anymore. When the ambulance arrives, you are not asking, well, how modern is the hospital? Is this a newer hospital? No, no. You are asking, how can they help my loved one? How can they help the one that I love? Can I trust the people that are inside of this place? Is there somebody there who knows what they are actually doing? Because pain changes what you are looking for. See, when someone is bleeding, when someone is broken, when someone is barely holding on, they are not looking for something impressive. They are looking for somewhere trustworthy. And there are standards that a hospital must maintain before it can be trusted with hurting people. See, the operating room must remain clean because contamination can destroy what the surgeon is trying to save. There are things that have to be done. See, the medical staff must live with integrity because people are placing their lives in their hands. And the doors must always remain open because hurting people do not always arrive at convenient times. That is why I believe that God has called us to have a church the way that we have. It is because people are hurting. And I believe that this is the picture that Luke gives us of the church in Acts 5. He had just dealt with Ananias and Sapphira and dealt with the contamination inside of the church. And he was protecting the purity of what he was establishing and what he was building. And the passage says, the surrounding communities recognized the integrity of the believers and held them in high regard. And then the hurting started coming. They started coming from Jerusalem and they started coming from surrounding communities and they carried the sick into the streets on beds and on mats because they believed something was happening among these people that could possibly change their lives. See, the early church didn't become a showroom for religious people. It became a spiritual emergency room for broken people. And I believe that that is what God has called Reach KC to become. There are people throughout this city that are spiritually bleeding. Families are breaking. Addictions are destroying lives. And people are tormented and discouraged and depressed and barely hanging on. And they are not just looking for another church that merely appears impressive. Somewhere beneath all of their pain they are asking, is there somewhere that I can bring what's broken in my life? Is there still a place where I can encounter the real power of Jesus that could change me? And that is at what's at stake in this passage. God was forming a church that he could trust with

his very presence. A church that he could trust with even his reputation. A church that he could trust with the hurting people that he wanted to send them. And so today, if you are taking notes, I want to show us three things that happen when a church becomes a place that God can trust with his presence. Three things that happen when we Happened when a church becomes a place that God can trust with his presence and the first one is this is reverence welcomes his presence Reverence Welcomes his presence some of us may not even know what reverence means and I'm gonna explain it a little bit throughout this point But in Acts 5 Verses 11 and 12 it says that great fear This is right after Ananias and Sapphira had hit the floor and we're not talking about an old hip-hop song. They hit the floor for real Amen But after that great fear gripped the entire church and Everyone else who had heard about what happened it didn't just instill fear in the church It instilled fear in every person who had heard about what happened and you know it spread like a wildfire and the apostles were performing many miracles or miraculous signs and wonders among the people and All the believers were meeting regularly at the temple in the area known as Solomon's colonnade But no one else dared to join them even though all of the people had high Regard for them Now I want us to notice the order that Luke gives this because he first he says that great fear gripped the church But then he says that great power moved through the church and See, I think that we often want the signs and wonders of verse 12 without the holy fear of verse 11 See We want the power of God to move but we do not always want the presence of God to confront us But see Luke in this passage will not allow the two to be separated the death of Ananias and Sapphira Literally had sent shockwaves through the entire

Congregation and the surrounding people God literally dealt severely with their hypocrisy Because see the church was still in its formative days it was still beginning to take off It was still happening in the credibility of the Apostles was being established and the purity of the church was being Protected but noticed what happened next see the public judgment didn't split the church Contrary to someone being accountable publicly nowadays You try to hold somebody accountable nowadays and all the sudden 50 people leave your church See is what didn't happen is it didn't stop a move of God See it didn't it didn't cause the believers to all of the sudden abandon the mission and walk away from the Lord because they didn't Agree with the church's leaderships decision. No, it made them walk more carefully before the Lord See the fear that gripped them was not a fear that caused them to run from God It was a holy reverence that caused them to stop treating God casually See the fear of the Lord doesn't make you afraid to approach God it makes you afraid to live as though God does not matter See, I wonder if part of what is missing in the modern-day church is not better music It's not better lighting I'm all for all that stuff, but it's not stronger preaching or more creative programming Maybe what's missing is an actual genuine fear of the Lord See we have learned how to build an atmosphere You can go to a church conference and attend it and walk away with three to five great tips of how to build a healthy Church atmosphere, but hear me on this only God can release his presence See we have learned how to produce Emotional moments and I'm guilty of this and and I was convicted as writing this because we can learn how to produce Emotional moments, but only God can produce supernatural transformation see there is a difference between being Emotionally moved in a service even at reach KC and actually being spiritually changed See when the fear of the Lord disappears sin becomes easier to excuse in our lives See compromise becomes easier to justify Conviction becomes easier to ignore and eventually the people of God begin looking no different than the world that is around them This is why the fire Bible warns that that without a proper fear of God his people will begin conforming to the ungodly ways of the world and sees Experiencing the power and benefits of the Holy Spirit That doesn't that doesn't mean

and that we earn God's presence through our perfect behavior, it means that we cannot continually resist his conviction while expecting to carry the weight of his presence. See, grace gives us access to God, but reverence teaches us how to carry what grace has given us. See, think about it. Ananias and Sapphira did not wake up one morning planning to become examples of divine judgment. They didn't wake up and say, oh, you know what? Today, I'm gonna completely defy God and I'm gonna go and lie to the Holy Spirit and lie to everybody else. No, somewhere along the way, they allowed their thinking to become distorted. And see, Satan convinced them that appearance mattered more than authenticity. He convinced them that if they could deceive the people of God without answering to the God who actually sees everything. And sadly, I believe that the same deception still operates today. It tells us, hey, as long as nobody fights out, it isn't hurting anybody. Come on, your sin is not gonna carry over into the other people's lives. As long as you still come to church, everything will be fine.

Come on, I attend church every Sunday. Like, I don't have to worry about that. Like, my church attendance shouldn't matter. And as long as people respect you, your private life don't really matter as much as you think it does. You're good. As long as you look surrendered, you don't actually have to be surrendered. But God is not interested in the image that we protect church. The image that we project. He's not as interested. He is interested in the condition of our hearts. That is why we need the protection of biblical community. We need some people that can hold us accountable. We need the continual renewing of our mind through God's word and to remain full of the Holy Spirit. Isolation only gives deception for room to grow. But see, accountability brings that deception into light. See, the believers recognized that God was holy. They recognized that his presence was real and his church could not be treated casually in that reverence. It created an atmosphere of honor. But as I was thinking about this passage and looking at how the honor and the people was held in high regard and that miracles was happened, it literally stood in direct contrast in my mind

to what happened with Jesus when he returned to Nazareth. See, the people were so familiar with him and they said that he's just a carpenter. He's just the son of Mary and Joseph. Like, who is this? They could not actually see beyond what they thought they knew about him. See, Mark tells us in Mark six that because of their unbelief that Jesus performed only a few miracles. See, and the issue was not that Jesus had lost his power. The issue was that familiarity had destroyed their honor. See, in Acts five, the people approached the things of God with holy reverence and miraculous signs followed. In Nazareth, the people approached Jesus with dishonor and unbelief and his work among them was restricted. We must be very careful that the church does not become so familiar that we stop recognizing what's holy. This is not just another Sunday. This is sacred to what the Lord is doing through something. See, worship is not merely just another song that we lift our hands and sing in. This is not merely just another sermon that I have developed to preach. This is an opportunity for every single one of us to even bring somebody with us and stand in the presence of what the Lord is doing

and stand in the presence of a living God. There are moments in ministry where I have even had to remind ourselves that we are building and what we are building at Reach KC does not belong to us. This is not my church. This is not my people. This is not my platform. This is not, this all belongs to Jesus and the realization, that realization changes the way that you carry it. It changes how you prepare. It changes how you lead. It changes the direction and the decisions that you make when no one is watching you. See, because when you recognize that something belongs to God, you stop handling. it casually. We did not fight as a church and church leadership. We did not fight for the culture of this ministry merely to have a crowded building. We fought for a place where broken people could encounter the presence of a real God and we fought for an atmosphere where the addicted could find freedom and families could be restored and unlikely people could discover that Jesus still changes people. But if we want to carry that kind of presence we must also carry a genuine reverence for the one whose presence that it is because listen we cannot ask God to trust us with greater power while treating his presence with lesser honor. See perhaps before God does something powerful through us he wants to do something purifying within us. See maybe the prayer today is not merely God would you send us your power maybe the the prayer must also be God would you search my heart. Would you expose what is false in me and remove what dishonors you in my life and teach me to carry your presence

with reverence God. Teach me to actually walk in alignment with who you have called me to be because when the fear of the Lord returns to the house the people of God stop playing with his presence. They become ready to carry his power. See we will never never carry the weight of God's power until we learn to honor the weight of God's presence. See you cannot continue to carry casually what God has called covenantial. Something that was signed in blood we dismiss. Something that was signed with a life and I would like to believe and hope that if I was to lay my life down even for my family that my family would take that seriously and they would live for what I lived for and be willing to die for what I died for. But yet we treat that thing that is covenantial so casually as if it doesn't mean anything but listen we will never carry the weight of God's power until we learn to honor the weight of God's presence. And the second thing is this integrity you know that that I word integrity strengthens our witness. Integrity strengthens our witness. Acts 5 verses 12 and 13 again the apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people and all the believers were meeting regularly at Solomon's colonnade but no one else dared to join them even though all the people had high regard for them. See there is a tension in this text that we cannot overlook and it's no one else dared to join them but then Luke says and all the people had high regard for them. See the people were hesitant to just associate casually with the church yet it says that they deeply respected the church. They weren't necessarily ready to become one of them. They're like oh man I don't want that smoke. But they couldn't deny that something real was happening among them either. See the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira had one it had made one thing unmistakably clear and that is you could not join this church merely just to build your reputation. You could not this was not a social club that was joined for status this wasn't an organization where you could just pretend to be surrendered and gain a platform and possibly get a microphone this was a spirit-filled community in which the presence of God was real and a place where holiness

really mattered and hypocrisy actually carried consequences. See the church was not popular because it had lowered the standard it was respected because it lived by one. appears to be drawn a distinction between people who casually associated themselves with the church and people who genuinely surrendered themselves to the Lord. Because there is a difference. But see, after what happened to Ananias and Sapphira nobody was just rushing to attach themselves to this movement for the wrong reasons. Think about it. Like, heck to the nah. Bro, I'm still hanging on to this over here. I'm not, no way, Jose. Because when the fear of the Lord entered the church casual Christianity became uncomfortable. See, you could still come as you were but you could not pretend to be something you were not. See, and that is still the kind of church that I believe we must become. Everybody should be welcome. The broken should be welcome. The addicted should be welcome. The doubting should be welcome. The overlooked should be welcome. But while everyone is welcome hypocrisy should never be comfortable. See, we're not asking people to clean themselves up before coming to Jesus.

We're declaring that when people genuinely come to Jesus He will begin transforming their lives. That's just a part of it. And that's the part that convicted me earlier because I think of the amount of of salvations that we we tally up on our numbers and our numerical systems that we have as a church and I think about it and I look back over the year year and a half and there's probably a thousand people that have given their life to Jesus. But we remain a church of about four to five hundred people. How is that possible? How is it possible because if we were declaring that we genuinely had a relationship with Jesus that we genuinely encountered Jesus then He would begin transforming our lives and Jesus receives us yes, exactly as we are but He loves us so much that He doesn't want to leave us there. See, the early church's convictions separated them from the culture around them. They began to live differently. They began to love differently. They began to handle money differently. They treated people differently

and they carried a different standard of integrity that people may not have understood everything that the believers taught. In fact, they may not have even agreed with everything that the apostles preached. But they could see the consistency between the church's message and the church's life. See, the world may disagree with our convictions but it should never be able to dismiss our character. See, that's where we've got it so backwards. Sometimes we believe that the only way to reach people is to make Christianity look less demanding. To actually soften the difficult truths. To avoid uncomfortable subjects and to make sure that nobody feels confronted or offended. No, you got the wrong one. I'm not for sale. See, Acts 5 shows us something different. The holiness of the church did not destroy its witness. It actually gave weight to it.

See, the people recognize, man, these believers actually live what they say they believe and that kind of integrity is difficult to argue with. People can debate your theology. Oh, well, you believe once saved, always saved. Oh, well, you believe that you can just, if you don't speak in tongues, you don't go to heaven. Oh, well, you believe this and we can argue that. They can criticize our worship. They can even misunderstand our convictions but it becomes very difficult to dismiss the gospel when they see broken marriages being restored. It becomes very difficult to dismiss the gospel when they see addictions being broken and enemies being forgiven and people walking in newness of life and when they see generous people caring for the hurting and unlikely people being completely transformed and everything is happening and they're just like, man, something has to be See, a changed life gives credibility to the message that Jesus still changes people.

Amen! Amen! But see, Ananias and Sapphira were concerned with how they appeared publicly while ignoring who they were privately. And that's the danger. See, their failure reminds us that public influence can never be sustained without private integrity. God! Help us! See, eventually what is happening beneath the surface will affect what God desires to do through our lives. We cannot preach Surrender publicly while resisting God privately We cannot lead others toward freedom while saying why secretly protecting our bondage that we are Holding on to in the secret areas of our heart thinking that nobody sees but sir and and daughter of God What you do in private will manifest itself in public It says that the things that are done in darkness will be brought to the light see we cannot ask people to trust our witness when our actions when our actions continually contradict our words and Then you wonder why nobody around you is getting saved Because the people They're seeing the witness. They're seeing the Jesus that we serve They're seeing the Jesus that impacted our life and maybe the Jesus that impacted our life is not the Jesus that hung on the cross

Maybe The Jesus that represents our life is the one that we have fabricated and made in a golden calf out of Maybe because we haven't actually Surrendered our hearts and our spirits in our lives to Jesus and said that God you can have my life now see that doesn't mean That we have to be perfect before God can use us see if perfection was required. I'd be off the list ASAP Why you a man in me dog? No, I'm just kidding He's like I know him But but seriously it doesn't mean that because if perfection was required none of us would make the cut Integrity is not pretending to have no struggles integrity is refusing to hide behind a false image See integrity is not the absence of weakness integrity is the absence of pretending Quit faking the funk bro. This ain't treatment. You ain't gotta fake it till you make it Sadly we often associate influence with platforms and positions See but platform ministry is not what buys credibility Church see credibility is built through consistency It's built when you keep your word even when it costs you something It's built when you treat people with honor who can do nothing for you or who has slandered you and hurt you and stabbed you in the back and Treated you like they was never a friend even though you treated them like they were always a friend and and has done so see It's built when you make the same decision privately that you would make if everybody was watching you See it's built when your family recognizes the same person at home that they see at church on Sunday That is what integrity actually look like See that is what actually Enhances our witness see that integrity actually helps develop our Witness it strengthens our witness because they begin to see man. There is something about that person That is just man. It's consistent like I don't know what it is But man, like I just something there is see your gift May get people's attention You can be

talented But your integrity Determines whether your witness actually carries weight See this is especially important in my mind to a ministry like Reach KC because we are literally preaching that Jesus restores broken lives and We are telling people that addiction does not have to write the final chapter of your life Church And we are telling men and women that their past does not disqualify them from God's purpose And we are telling this city that unlikely people can come from overlooked places and become living evidence of the grace of God But that message must be visible in the way that we live See people are not listening to what we just preach on Sunday. They are watching how we treat people on Monday They're they're watching how we handle our money They're watching how we respond when we are offended by people They're watching whether we actually keep our word and our people of our word They're watching whether those who talk about grace are actually willing to extend grace See some of us know what it's like for people to look at our past and question whether our transformation was real See there were people who may not have even believed the first time that you said Jesus changed my life But they couldn't argue for every with a life that continued to change see one faithful day became one faithful week one faithful week became one faithful year and eventually consistency gave credibility to your testimony see sometimes the loudest way sometimes the loudest way to tell people Jesus changed you is to keep living a changed lifestyle how can we say we're changed how can we say we're saved when our life don't reflect that we've been saved from anything when our lives look exactly like those that are of the world and those that are are still living in that lifestyle and we just blend in with them and like a chameleon and we just do what we need to do see the people surrounding the early church they had seen religion before they had seen the religious titles they had heard the big public prayers and people praying all loud and and doing all this stuff that's the most and doing all that that's why all that flashy stuff don't catch my attention I

don't care how loud you pray I don't care in what language you pray I don't care where you pray and how you pray none of that stuff see they had watched people perform acts of righteousness just to be noticed but in this church they saw something different see they saw ordinary people whose lives had been radically transformed by an extraordinary Savior our generation church is not impressed by religious performance people have seen way too much hypocrisy you see it all around the world they have watched too many gifted people fail because their private character couldn't sustain their public influence and what people are hungry for is something real something real they're looking for a church that doesn't just merely speak about Jesus but reflects and radiates him before some people believe the gospel that we preach they need to see the gospel that we live not because our integrity saves anyone only Jesus can do that but because our integrity helps people see that the Jesus we proclaim is actually real see the city does not need another church that merely knows how to draw a crowd it needs a church that it can trust he's a church whose generosity is authentic not a people who give and then leave the church and complain that they ever give not a church that does one thing but see a church whose leaders are actually accountable and hold integrity see a church whose people keep their word even when it costs them something a church who welcomes broken people without becoming comfortable with broken patterns see a church that does not merely talk about restoration but actually embodies it see because when our private lives agree with our public message our witness carries weight people begin to ask what is different about that person which leads me to the third thing God's presence draws hurting people God's presence draws hurting people Acts 5 14 through 16 and it says yet more and more see the people they was I heck to deny but they had high regard for him and yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord crowds of both men and women and as a result of the Apostles work sick people were brought into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter's shadow might fall across some of them as he went by crowds came from the villages

around Jerusalem bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits and they were all healed see verse 13 says that no one dared to associate casually with believers but verse 14 says yet more and more people were brought to the Lord it's amazing because this isn't actually a contradiction like most would think it's a distinction why because casual association decreased while genuine conversions actually increased see people were no longer joining the church because it was popular or socially impressive they understood that following Jesus was serious and contrary to popular belief preaching holiness in the church didn't prevent it from growing it actually purified the kind of growth taking place see when the church becomes serious about God people become serious about serenity to God. See the measure of a healthy church isn't merely how many people come through its doors but how many people are genuinely being brought to Jesus and changing their lives. See Luke says the sick were brought out into the streets on bed and mats and I don't think that we should move past this too quickly because these people did not all arrive on their own strength. See some people were too weak to walk, some people were too sick to even move, and some were completely dependent upon someone else to carry them and for every person hurting lying on a mat somebody had to pick up a corner. Somebody believed enough to actually interrupt their schedule, somebody cared enough to carry the weight, somebody had enough faith to say hey you may not be able to get there by yourself but I'm not going to let you miss what God is doing in the house today. And we love to talk about the miracles in this passage but before there was a miracle guess what there was a carrier and some people will never reach the place of transformation unless somebody else is willing to help carry them there. That's why I believe that's what I think ministry actually looks like. Sometimes carrying people means picking them up for church. Sometimes carrying people means answering the phone when they're falling apart and you just feel like checking out. Hello. Sometimes it means walking with them through their recovery even though you know it's been to be

messy. Sometimes it means helping them find employment, repair a broken relationship, sit with them through their grief, or continue to believe in them even when they've stopped believing in themselves. We cannot heal anyone personally but we can carry them to the Jesus who can. We cannot break the power of addiction over their life but we can carry people to the one who can. We cannot restore a shattered life that has lost with our own strength but we can pick up a corner of the mat and help bring them into the presence of the ultimate restorer. See the people brought the sick outside and placed them where Peter would pass. This was desperate faith. They were willing to be seen. They were willing to admit that something was wrong and and they were willing to be to bring their private pain into a public place because their desire for healing had become greater than their fear of embarrassment. And that honestly is often where transformation begins. See as long as we're protecting our image, as long as protecting our image matters more than receiving help, we will keep hiding the very thing that Jesus is trying to heal. See some people never find freedom because they are determined to make sure nobody discovers that they are hurting. They lie on the mat privately while pretending to stand strong publicly. But these people didn't hide the beds. They didn't conceal their mats. They brought their needs into the street. Healing often begins when desperation becomes greater than our dignity. When we allow ourselves, see there comes a point when you have to stop worrying about what people think about you. A mat was was evidence of weakness, yes, but it also becomes the place where their faith was expressed. See the thing that revealed their condition actually positioned them for an encounter with God. See what exposes your need doesn't have to become a symbol of shame and become the place where God displays his grace in your life. See what began in the upper room could no longer be contained to just one location. News traveled through the city that hurting people were encountering the power of God and crowds began coming from the surrounding communities. That's what revival does. It refuses to remain behind church walls and it reaches neighborhoods and enters homes and restores families. It confronts darkness.

It draws people who had previously believed that there was no hope for them in their life. The church didn't have some clever advertisement to convince people that something was popping at the new location. Changing lives were carrying the testimony into the surrounding towns. When God genuinely changes people inside the house, the testimony will travel beyond the house. And that is my prayer for reach. That's my prayer for reach. Not merely that people would just know our name but that the city would know his power. And that the word would spread through Kansas City, that hey, there is a place where broken people are loved. There is a place where broken people can be encountered. There is a place where addicts are finding freedom. There is a place where returning citizens are discovering purpose in their life. There is a place where families are being reconciled and restored. There is a place where nobody else believed in them, where people that nobody else believed in are becoming living evidence that Jesus is still alive. See, we're not trying to build a monument that people can admire. See, we're building a rescue shop where hurting people can meet Jesus. See, the church must never become so polished that hurting people feel like they need to hide their pain before entering the doors. Bring your mat. Bring your scars. Man, bring your addiction. There's not many Sundays I don't smell some loud in somebody's pocket.

And everybody that laughed just agreed. I wonder if sometimes new people that walk into the church think that that's what we do. Like before service, they had some kind of smoke fest. Like you can't encounter the most high unless you high. Yeah. Bring your mat. Bring your addictions. But quit bringing your weed. Yeah. My God. Bring your grief. Bring your pain. Bring your questions. Bring the part of the story that you have that you wish nobody knew. Because you're not coming because all of the people in this room have answers. You're coming because Jesus is here and nothing in your life is beyond his reach. See this passage looks like the church I believe God has called us to build. See many of us know what it feels like to need somebody to help carry us. There were seasons in our life that we felt this. There were seasons where we could not fix ourselves where we couldn't see beyond our pain. We couldn't imagine that God could still use our lives but guess what?

Somebody prayed for us. Somebody saw more in us than our worst decisions that we had made. Somebody kept a corner of our mat in their hands even though we may not have known that they were caring. Somebody brought us close enough to Jesus for us to discover that our condition was not our conclusion. God has not placed us in this city just merely to hold services. He has placed us here to carry people. To carry the hurting, to carry the overlooked, to carry the fatherless, to carry the family that is falling apart. Listen, we may not be able to heal them but we can carry them. We can help carry them. We may not have all of the answers but we can carry them. Let us remain the kind of church where people know that they can bring their pain. Let us carry God's presence with such a reverence and integrity and compassion that hurting people begin to believe that healing is actually possible again. Because when a church truly carries the presence of Jesus, broken people will find the courage to bring their mats into the street. What's your mat today? What are you bringing in here?

What is the very thing that you need to bring into the presence of what God is doing today? Listen, we cannot continue to carry casually what God has called. covenantial. What what are you carrying today? What could God encounter in your life today? If I could have everybody stand with me for just a moment. I want to give us a moment to do that. I want to give us a moment to think about that. To actually believe that what he is doing could radically change us and maybe you are carrying something in here today that you didn't that you didn't even know you was fixing to encounter but now this message has got all up in your business and you don't like it. Maybe you do. Hey can I encourage you today that he wants you to carry your mat down and he wants to encounter you and he wants to to move in your life like he never has before because you're carrying your pain into his presence today. Maybe you're in here today and you've never given your life to the Lord. You don't even know what that means. You don't even know what I'm saying when I say that but maybe you've never surrendered your life to the Lord but you feel something tugging in your chest right now in your spirit that just tells you hey I need to surrender right now. I need to make a decision and I don't even know what that decision is but man I need to respond to that. Hey if that's you and you are in here today and you need to respond to that maybe you've never you've never done it or maybe you've been walking with the Lord for some years and your life has just gotten away from you. Hey before anybody moves just give us a couple of minutes. Maybe that's you and you're in here today and you just say hey you know what I need to get back to the things of God and get serious about that. If that's you and you want to give your life to the Lord for the very first time or or you say hey I need to resurrender my life and just I want to walk this thing out with the Lord. Could I just get you to slip up your hands so that we could pray with you. Come on I see hands. I see hands. I see hands. Come on anybody else. Hey come on if that's you could I just get you to step out of

your seat real quick. I know it's a bold statement. I know it's a bold move but could I just get you to step out of your seat and just come down right here. We want to pray for you. Come on if that was you maybe you didn't lift your hand but you say hey I need to get into the presence of Jesus and I need my life to encounter a God that can change me and I'm carrying my mat. I'm carrying the symbol of the very thing that has hurt me. I'm carrying the symbol of the very thing that has caused everybody to look at me differently. Hey if that's you that's okay. You can walk down here and you can make that decision today. You still got time. You still got time. What can God do through you this morning if you was to just carry down something and just lay it at the feet. Hey maybe you're in here today and you're just like man this is just heavy. I've been struggling and I've I have a walk with the Lord but man I just need to and I just need to to get it where I need to be at. Hey for the next 90 seconds as we worship if that's you and you just say hey man I just need to lay some stuff at the feet of the altar and at the feet of the cross. Hey as we begin to just worship for a moment could you just step out of your seat and just come on down and just say you know what Lord I'm gonna resurrender my life today and I'm gonna resurrender that area and and this area and Lord I just want to I want to be bold for you Lord and I want to hold on to you. I want to be somebody that God can trust with this reverence in my life. Come on anybody else come on as we begin to worship let's just let's just step out of our seat let's lift our hands let's just worship Him for just a moment. God I'm gonna bring you what I have. Come on maybe all you have is a hallelujah this morning. Come on can we bring that lay it down. Step your hearts in Hallelujah Hallelujah