It Starts With Power | It's Time to See the Facts

Welcome to Reach KC everybody, it's so great to have you with us, I just want to invite you all to stand up and join in with us. Let's tell the Lord how grateful we are for him. Praise him for grace, hallelujah. Even though I don't deserve it, he did it. Even though I couldn't deserve it, he did it. Who am I that you'll keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh my love, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh my love, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh my love, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. Yeah. Who am I that you'll keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh my love, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. Who am I, who am I that you'll keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh my love, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Yeah.

God, I lift the roof of my head. You give me chance after chance after chance. And God, I'm giving all that I am. You give me chance after chance after chance. And God, I'm lifting both of my hands. You give me chance after chance after chance. And God, I'm giving all that I am. You give me chance after chance after chance. Who am I that you'll keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh my love, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Who am I that you'll keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh my love, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. I survive and I'm being protected by God. I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. I'm alright if they say I'm out of my mind. God, I'm just grateful for you. for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God,

I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, ♪ And He heard, and He answered, that's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him ♪ ♪ I, I say You're the one who will never fail, who will never fail ♪ ♪ Oh I trust You Lord, oh I trust You Lord, oh I trust You Lord, oh I trust You Lord ♪ I trust Him, that's why I trust Him I'll call Him Lord, let me heard, let me answer. That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him I trust in God, my Saviour, the One who will never fail He will never fail I trust in God, my Saviour, the One who will never fail He will never fail Oh You give life, You love You bring light to the darkness You give hope, You restore Every heart that is broken And great are You, Lord You give life, You love You bring light to the darkness You give hope, You restore Every heart that is broken And great are You, Lord It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise, You hold me And great are You, Lord

You give life, You love You bring light to the darkness You give hope, You restore Every heart that is broken And great are You, Lord It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise, You hold me It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our How great You are to me, how great are You Lord, how great are You Lord. All the earth will shout Your praise, my heart will cry, these bones will say praise are You Lord. All the earth will shout Your praise, my heart will cry, these bones will say praise are You Lord. It's Your praise, our love, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's Your praise, our love, so we pour out our praise to You only. It's Your praise, our love, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's Your praise, our love, so we pour out our praise to You only. Praise, praise are You Lord. Praise, praise are You Lord. You give life, You give love, You bring light to the darkness. You give hope, You restore every heart that is broken. Praise, praise are You Lord. Praise, praise are You Lord. Yes Lord, great is Your faithfulness, great is Your worthiness. You are the one that puts breath in our lungs so that we can worship You, so that we can praise You, so that we can come into Your holy temple and say Lord You are so good. God we thank You, we thank You for the breath You have given us so that we can serve You, so that we can worship You, so that we can sing our song to You Lord, so we can say Jesus You are so good.

Father God You are so good, You are so good. We know of Your greatness, we know what You have done in our lives and we're so thankful for it. We're believing for more every single day. We're believing that hearts are going to be captured by You Lord, that the lost are going to be saved Lord, that the prodigal sons and daughters are going to return home. Lord we are believing that there is going to be healing in bodies, we believe that there is going to be freedom from addiction, we believe Lord that You are going to do more than what we could possibly think or imagine. So this morning we just come to You and we just say thank You. Thank You for Your goodness, thank You for Your faithfulness, thank You Lord for how good You have been. We love You and we praise You and it's in Jesus Your Son's name that we pray. Amen, Amen. Good morning Reach, turn to your neighbor and tell them it's good to see you today before you sit down. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Well good morning Reach KC, it is so good to see you in the house of the Lord today. We are so thankful that you have joined us this morning. If you are new around here, we just want to welcome you home. We are so thankful for every single person that walks through these doors and I believe 100% that it's never by accident that somebody walks in the door but the Holy Spirit is moving and leading you to a place where you can receive salvation, where you can hear hope, where you can receive freedom. So thank you for joining us today. If you are new around here, welcome home, welcome to the tribe. It's good to see you this morning. Thinking about how me and Forrest, we love to go hiking. And every time we go on a hike, we go and get one of those little trail maps, you know, from like the kiosk or something, so that we can see the layout of where we wanna go.

We'll pick a few trails and we'll say, okay, we're gonna go on this trail, this trail, we're gonna connect to this one, whatever. And as we're looking at the map, we can see it in a flat paper format, but we can't actually see the highs and the lows of what that trail is gonna look like. We can't see if we're gonna go up or we're gonna go down, or if we're gonna cross over a creek, or if we're gonna have to climb 320 stairs at the very end of it. True, that happened to me yesterday. We can't see it all, but we do trust the map. We trust that the map is going to lead us back to where we came from. It's gonna take us on the correct path and the correct course to get to where we're going. And so this morning, I was thinking about Psalm 119, 105, where it says, your word as a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path. The word of God is our map. It is our guide that directs us and tells us what we're supposed to do next. We can't always see the long-term roadmap. We can't always see the clear picture of where the Lord is sending us, or what he is doing in our lives, but we can trust that his word is true and that his word is good and that he is leading us towards righteousness,

that he is leading us to the next thing. And we can follow his precepts so that we're able to be more like him, so that we can understand him fuller, and so that we can trust him with everything. And you know, the word of God tells us in Malachi 3.10 that we're supposed to bring our tithe into the storehouse so there will be enough food in the temple. The word of God tells us what we're supposed to do. It is our roadmap. It gives us our guidance, and he directs us to bring our full tithe to the storehouse, to bring it to the church, to bring it to the people that can serve and where it can go further because we've brought it in. So this morning, I just wanna ask you to trust God. Trust God with your finances. Trust God with your life. Trust God in his word that tells us what we can do because at the end of Malachi 3.10, it says, if you do this, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in. Try it. Put me to the test. Put the Lord to the test. Put your trust in God. Trust him with your finances. Bring your tithe. And not only that, but trust him

that when he calls you to give above and beyond, that he will be faithful to provide that extra for you, that he will provide more than what we can do. So we don't just bring our tithe, but we also pray and say, Lord, how do you want me to give further today? Can I give to kingdom builders and see more people reached? Can I see the people in Burundi reached? Can I see the people next door reached? Can we build a new building where we can see multiple people reached in a new community where we can welcome in 500, 700, 1,000 people into the doors and see lost souls saved? Let's give today with a whole heart, trusting God that he is going to provide for us and that he is gonna multiply the offering that is given. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you. We thank you, Lord, that we can trust you with our lives. We thank you, Lord, that you've given us your word that shows us and directs us how we are to live and what we should do, God. I thank you, Lord, that when we bring our tithe into the storehouse, not only do you multiply it and do more with it than what we can, but Lord, you promise to pour out your blessings on our life as well and blessings on your church. And so, Lord, we just thank you for it. We give you our tithe, showing you that we trust you this morning.

We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. Let me guess. You make the best potato salad. Prove it. Bring it to the Memorial Day Cookout. This Memorial Day, that's May 25th, we'll be at our new building from 12.30 to around 3.30, but we're looking to have some good times. We're gonna have pulled pork and hot dogs, and then you can bring whatever side you like. You can bring pop and bring a chair, or you can sit on the ground if you prefer. Bring your friends, bring your family, bring a game to play outside. We'll be playing in the grass, we'll be having a good time, and we'll be enjoying Memorial Day with our tribe as we enjoy good food and make good memories. Bye. Come on, how many of us are excited about that, amen? Just a moment. to be able to just celebrate with everybody and man just just be a part of the the tribe and the family and hang out eat good food come on it ain't a christian event if we don't have food right i mean i've never understood that like we're enticing you to sin through gluttony um in order to participate in a christian event but hey whatever uh i guess it is what it is but hey we are just so glad that you are here we just want to welcome you home if this is your first time maybe your first time in a long time man we just want to welcome you to reach kc let you know that you are a part of the tribe here and we do everything that we do so that you will feel welcome whenever you come and that you can just be a part of what god is doing here and so we are just so thankful

for that and so uh welcome home amen well we are in a series that we're going through the book of acts and um we're going through it verse by verse passage by passage and so it's been honestly to me probably one of my favorites so far um and so we are it's it's kind of a theme that we're going to be in for the year um and it's church on the move church on the move right and we're in a series right now that is titled it starts with power amen it starts with power and there's a dutimus power it's the word that comes from dynamite that's where we get dynamite from there's a an explosive power that happens when the holy spirit comes in the beginning of the book of acts and the church just begins to go on the move and there's something that happens and today i want to talk from the title it's time to see the facts it's time to see the facts i almost titled this the illusion of control um because there's something that happens when we have this illusion of control like we have um control of whatever is going on and it doesn't and if i'm being honest i used to be a very controlling person i know if you know me personally it would be very hard to see that but there is way too much laughing going on right now all my staff are laughing that's messed up um i swear i'm not that person anymore like i'm changed okay like i'm not who i used to be okay but not just in decisions was i controlling but also in relationships like to the point that it wasn't just unhealthy it was harmful right it wasn't unhealthy it was harmful to the point to where what i called leadership was actually control if i was in lead it was because i had control of decisions of people and and it didn't take long for me to see uh actually it took a long time for me to see um because control has this way of disguising itself as love as concern as trust when you lack everything thereof but then i met my wife and i realized something very quickly when i met katherine and it's if i don't change then i'm going to ruin something god may be trying to build if i don't if i don't change something that is in me and for the very first time i had to face something that i did not want to face and it was that the problem wasn't other people it was me come on everybody say i'm the problem yes you are there is the first step of committing to fat to the fact that your life has become unmanageable you are in need of a savior amen because even as a here's here's where it gets messy because even as a confessing believer i still held on to these controlling tendencies that were driven by my insecurities and i had a choice i could either keep control or i could surrender and let god change even the

innermost parts of my man i could let god change me from the inside out because here's what i've learned is you cannot hold on to control and experience real change at the same time you cannot you god cannot change what you won't let go of and in acts 2 this is exactly what is happening to this crowd they had their own version of truth. Come on somebody. Every controlling person in the room knows what that means. You have your own narrative. You have your own suggestive thought of what this idea is. They had their own understanding of even Jesus. But in one moment they saw something that they couldn't unsee. They saw something that was revolutionary. They felt something that they could not ignore and they had to decide am I going to try and stay in control of my life or will I surrender to what God is showing me. Because here's the truth is you can't hold on to control and experience real change at the same time. See surrender doesn't start with behavior. It starts with what you see. It starts with what you feel and what you choose to do about it. It's one thing to notice something. It's another thing to change what you noticed. Amen. And so today I want to show you three keys. Three keys that lead to real surrender. Three keys that lead to real surrender and the first one is this. Surrender starts with sight. Surrender starts with sight. There's this moment that we've looked at the last couple weeks where Peter stands up and he begins to address the the the Jews that were in Jerusalem and and they were some of them were mocking and ridiculing the the coming of the Holy Spirit and Peter stands up and and he's like you guys don't even understand and he kind of goes through Joel 2 and he kind of starts to explain to them what is happening in this moment and he goes on last week we seen he we ended with that that Jesus conquered the pangs of death and that death could not no longer hold him and then you get to that was verse 24 and then you get to verse 25 and it says this he's still Peter is still preaching his very first sermon and he says King David said this about him he's talking about Jesus he went from talking about the Holy Spirit to talking about Jesus and he says King David said this about him he said I see that the Lord is always with me I will not be shaken for he is beside me and no

wonder my heart is glad and my tongue shouts his praises and my body rests in hope for you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave and you have shown me the way of life and you will fill me with the joy of your presence dear brothers thank about this think about it you can be sure that the patriarch David wasn't referring to himself for he died and was buried in his tomb is still here among us but he was a prophet and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David's own descendants would sit on his throne David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah's resurrection he was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave God raised Jesus from the dead and we are all witnesses of this every single one of us and now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven at God's right hand and the father as he had promised gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us just as you see and hear today for David himself never ascended into heaven and yet he said the Lord said to my Lord sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies making them a footstool under your feet so let everyone in Israel and he just I believe that he begins to just proclaim so let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus the one that we talk about this Jesus the one that was raised this Jesus the one that was crucified but death could not hold him he conquered death hell and the grave this Jesus the one who you crucified the one who you crucified he made this Jesus to be both Lord and the Messiah. He made him to be both Lord and that see Peter stands up in front of the crowd and he just goes in. I mean he said you have seen what God is doing right now in front of you even though you may not understand it you still see it you've seen it you've seen that he's not in the grave you see that people are trying to make excuses as to why he's not there that people have robbed it and people have done all this you've seen it and he said I have proven to you what the Holy Spirit is doing by taking you back to Joel 2 and looking at the stuff that scripture talks about I'm taking you back there and whether you want to

ignore the facts or allow them to confront you is up to you but you see this Jesus and then he says now let me take you to King David let me prove to you that Christ is Lord by taking you back to Psalm 16 Peter does this so that he can explain who Jesus is because he needs to say that the resurrection proves that he is the Lord and Messiah the resurrection what you have witnessed what you have seen see Peter interprets this moment through scripture for him he said Joel explains the moment and the movement of God that you see the physical manifestation of God's presence on this earth Joel talked about in Joel 2 and David explains the person of who Jesus is see Peter is essentially saying if you don't understand what's happening go back to what God already said see he doesn't just let their experience define truth he let scripture interpret experience because it's a completely different reality when we try to allow our experience to define the truth of who God is our circumstances don't dictate God's goodness that isn't what it is but he says let scripture interpret your experience he said go back to see Peter didn't explain the moment with opinions we don't need any more opinions we don't need any more people trying to give us their translation of our situations we need something that is explained through scripture why is our life happening in the way that it's happening because scripture has already talked about a church it's already talked about it but we don't know if we don't get in the scripture and we don't know if we're not looking at the scripture for what it really means and we're just trying to read through it because we're going through the motions you've got to look into it and say God how does this scripture apply to my life how does this scripture apply to my heart what can I do to apply it to change me see when they didn't understand what they were feeling he pointed to them of what God had already said see the first pastor stands up and says you need scripture to see Jesus clearly let me encourage you church if you aren't understanding what you're going through in your life right now what's going on in your life go back to what scripture already said go back to what God already said maybe sometimes God has even spoken to you but you

haven't listened to what he spoke and you've tried to get ahead of what he said because you didn't want to do what he told you to do last time and now you've been wondering why your situation has been stuck for years and it's because you didn't listen to what God already said see Peter says to the crowd David said there would be one whose body wouldn't decay whose soul would not stay in the grave but David died David was buried David was still in the ground and they knew this he said because his grave is still among us and they knew it because two in particular people Josephus talks about which is not a Christian but he has written a historical document that aligns with a lot of scripture and two different people one of them being King Herod had tried to rob the grave of David so they knew that the debt that that David's body was still in the grave and so Peter said David wasn't talking about himself David was pointing to someone else David was pointing to Jesus why because the grave could not hold him death couldn't keep him sin couldn't stop him why because God raised him up which tells us this that there is nothing too big that you are carrying right now that could keep Jesus from intervening in your life maybe you haven't been hearing him lately in your life maybe you have been stagnant for a while now maybe you have even been telling God that you need a sign what if he was telling you go back to the very thing that I have already said because maybe you've been overlooking something that's already been told to you see Jesus didn't rise to be admired Jesus rose to be obeyed he did not get up out of the grave to take suggestions he he did it he got up so that he could take authority he truly walked out of the grave if he truly walked out of the grave guess what he has the right to lead your life because you can celebrate a Savior but still resist the Lord some of you will get that Thursday see Peter says something that changes everything he said God has made him both Lord and Messiah not just Savior not just good teacher not just someone that we sing about I trust in God even though I don't my life says so I go I go but I say I trust in God even though I don't it's not just someone we sing about he is Lord but here's the

problem we love we love a Jesus who saves us but we struggle with a Jesus who leads us see we want him to be Savior but we resist him his Lord but you can't surrender to whom you haven't truly seen see truth doesn't change you until you actually see it this wasn't new information to them this was new realization to them see they didn't learn something they saw something they they saw a truth that they hadn't been revealed before and that same truth can be heard by everyone but it's only seen by the surrendered see revelation is when what you've heard actually hit your heart you can doubt what you've seen but once you see it you have to deal with it there's this this tension and as long as Jesus is just an idea as long as it's just something that this image that we talk about come on we get tattoos about we wear t-shirts about we use them has this imaginary friend as long as Jesus is just an idea you can ignore him as long as he is literally just a story from history you can debate him but you can't surrender to a Jesus that you have reduced see you'll never truly surrender control until you see who's really in control but as long as you hold on to an illusion of control thinking that you've got it all figured out even though 49 years has said you don't sorry if there's any 49 year olds in the room I'm 42 so I'm close a small view of Jesus will always produce a small response when you just see him as an idea see when Jesus gets bigger in your eyes your resistance gets smaller when all of the sudden he is who he sees who we really should see him as and when you see him for who he really is you have to respond you have to respond it's like when someone tries to wave you down on the side of the road it makes me think about being in Burundi facts when you're in Burundi we were driving from the YWAM campus one night and all of a sudden you see this figure on the side of the road waving you down I'm not stopping I don't know you you could kill me all this but then when you get a little bit closer you see razor wire laying across the street and he's in a blue uniform with an automatic rifle I'll stop how can I help you sir see the moment you see the badge the moment you recognize authority everything changes and for some of us the issue isn't that we haven't heard

about Jesus it's that we haven't truly seen him as the Lord of our life we haven't identified him to have the authority to change us and do some of the things you've seen him do a lot of things but if you don't see him for who he is you will reduce him to a level of our finite minds removing his lordship from our lives and when we finally see it when they saw it when the people that Peter was talking to saw it didn't just inform them it hit them because when you truly really see Jesus you don't just stay comfortable you get confronted see the second thing I want to talk about the second key is this surrender stings before it saves well I thought as soon as I gave my life to Jesus everything would get better wrong now all of a sudden you have to come to realization that you messed a lot of things up over life and now you've got to slowly start unraveling the hurt slowly start unraveling the pain slowly start unraveling the bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness of all of these things that have built up and you have to allow it to to bring you to a place see Peter said this in Acts 2 37 he said Peter's words pierced their hearts they said to him to the other Apostles brothers what should we do I've tried to figure out why did it cut their heart what was so significant that it pierced him and the truth is is this you need scripture in your life to understand what you're feeling you cannot have a growing relationship with God and overlook the necessity of scripture and the hermeneutics thereof you've got to get into it and look at what it was talking about the principles that it was saying to apply to your life and quit jumping over it this wasn't just a casual moment this wasn't even that was a good message moment but instead something broke inside of them when they heard the Word of the Lord something shifted to the point that they could not stay the same why is it that we have such a tendency to fluff up a message the spirit can move a message can hit we can hear a powerful word from God we can shout the pastor down we can hoopla during worship and yet still not allow it to cut to the innermost parts of our heart because when it cuts to the heart it ushers in full submission why do I keep doing this and then when he says it it should cut you so deep that you walk away from that

moment different and change because I've never seen anybody encounter a moment with the Lord in the Bible that didn't walk away with a limp didn't walk away physically altered like Moses did where people seen something different on his life there is always something that indicates life change when it's a cut to the heart it ushers in full submission Peter is essentially saying hey if you don't understand what's happening go back to what God already said see Peter used Joel to explain what they were seeing and to David he goes to to show them who Jesus is because if you don't understand both catch this you'll either misread your experience or you'll misunderstand your Savior that's why you got to have the balance of both because what we see is conviction this cut this piercing to the heart it's conviction it's not shame it's not guilt see guilt says you messed up Condemnation says you'll never be good enough because you messed up you'll never amount to anything you can't be used because of your past you can't nobody could ever look anything but conviction says baby you need to come back you need to come back to who I create see shame pushes you away from God conviction pulls you towards him you should never walk out of a moment with Jesus and say man I don't want to go back there because it exposed me see conviction is what happens when truth collides with your resistance the more we resist conviction the choir the quieter it gets conviction is a gift why do we ignore it hear me church if you can sin comfortably something is wrong I hope that hits somebody Wednesday and I hope somebody it hints right now because if you can sin comfortably it's all right Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so I don't remember the rest of it but if you can sin comfortably something is very wrong what you feel right now isn't random it's God calling you back back to who he called you to be back to who he created you to be back to who he spoke to you very personally you were going to become but you have wandered away son and daughter of God see God doesn't expose you right now to embarrass you he exposes you to restore you see they saw who Jesus was and in that moment they realized something else man we have been

resisting him we have been resisting to identify with who this was they wasn't just emotional they weren't just overwhelmed they were confronted that's why it's so dangerous to just come to church on Sunday and not walk out a passionate relationship with Jesus according to scriptures standard because we can hear a powerful message and be moved to emotion but if we aren't confronted by it and allow it to cut our heart if we don't allow it to cut deep and remove the veils from our eyes allow it to cut deep and even remove the religious traditions that bind us just like sin did allow it to cut and see Jesus for who he really is then we've only been around Jesus we haven't been connected to him maybe we've been around Jesus and even took a part in crucifying him or if we speak in contextualized context maybe we've been around Jesus but we've crucified his church we've crucified his bride because we don't want to be a part of a church that's full of hypocrites well with you not here there's one less because we're all hypocrites sorry not sorry if we've been around Jesus but not connected to him therefore it's only giving us an illusion of control or get this a vocabulary of surrender I liked it too when I thought of it I was like I had just illusion of control until like my third time editing it and I was like no we need it we need to talk about a vocabulary of surrender to that we can use around church folk giving them an appearance that we're holy because we have actually internally developed a hardened heart therefore not allowing the truth of God to ever cut us deep anymore see they realized that they didn't just misunderstand Jesus but they had rejected the very one that God sent to save them and the truth is this that maybe we haven't stood at the cross personally maybe we may not have been the ones to brutally crucify him but did you know this that every time that you ignore his voice every time that you delay obedience every time that you justify sin we're resisting him in the same exact way that they were see some of us feel that tension right now that pull on our heart that discomfort that you can't explain this is why I don't come to church because you have an illusion of control we think that we've got it all figured

out and nobody can tell me not know you got a problem with authority that we can't confront because we feel like we're soft we feel like we're taking advantage of when we submit to this imaginary friend well why would I be so faithful to somebody that I can't even prove exist the fact that we are breathing and alive and here today is proof enough that Jesus is real and if that isn't enough go back to King David in Psalm 16 and every other scripture that talks about that he is real see don't soften or justify the cut let it pierce it's not just pressure it's the Holy Spirit it's trying to get in there and do something God is not trying to shame you he's trying to bring you back to who he called he's not exposing you right now to condemn you he's exposing you because he wants to change you it's not like some crazy controlling relationship I know we've been in those where he just don't want me to be the person I was when he found me I get it but he don't and it's for your betterment it's for your good because he sees something in you that no abusive person could have ever seen in you before that nobody that you could even see in yourself he sees something in you why because he created you he knew your name before you was even in your mother's womb he assigned he deposited something in you that only he can pull out of you but you've got to get to a place of surrender because here's the truth you may be able to silence conviction you can bury it but you cannot outgrow it you can bury it deep down you can feel conviction and still walk away but you won't forget this moment you will look back on it because a seed has been planted you will look back on it in your life because when that conviction hit they didn't argue they was mocking people they was doing a lot of stuff but when their hearts were pierced they quit arguing they didn't justify it well I love her though no you don't you wouldn't quit but you'd quit making her do things that God told her not to do if you loved her let it cut should have brought a switchblade out or something let the word cut they didn't just walk away you want to know what they did I said brothers what shall we do what shall we do then because when you truly feel conviction you don't stay the same you've got to respond

which leads me to the third key is surrender shifts everything surrender shifts everything watch this acts to starting in verse 38 Peter replied oh you wanna know what you should do I'm glad you asked repent repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit this promise is to you and your mama too oh sorry coming up slamming Cadillac doors this promise is to you to your children to those who are far away and all who have been called by the Lord our God then Peter continued to preach for a long time come on we got six more points I don't know why but I bolded that and underlined it in my Peter continued to preach for a long time strongly urging all of his listeners save yourselves why did I just see that that could have been a whole nother point straight up and it starts with a s like all my other ones did save yourselves I thought Jesus saved me so you mean to tell me that when I surrender my life in order for it to shift everything there's something that I have to do yes you've got to put in work work you've got to save yourself not for salvation but from this crooked generation and those who believed what Peter said come on if there is anybody in the house who would believe what I have to say right now not because what I have to say is just everything but those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day about 3,000 well I just can't stand mega churches I just don't understand why everything has just got to be so big it's just lights cameras action and I mean they've just lost like a 3,000 one day well we need systems to hold they didn't know what a system was 3,000 people one day and these brothers said other what what shall we do what shall we do that because that's the question that conviction should create not do I agree but what should I do what am I going to do about this see Peter doesn't give him some religious checklist he calls him to surrender and save themselves from a crooked generation separate them so that God don't have to because he separates the sheep from the goat he does it and I would rather save myself from the generation then have God

cut me off from it and it's crazy because in this passage I got a hurry I only got 39 more minutes there are a few statements that groups have built entire denominations around and they were not intended to be doctrinal statements they were intended to be confrontational truths see he said repent which literally meant to release control let go repent doesn't mean to just feel bad it means to turn the other direction that's what he told him he said turn to God turn from what you was doing get away from that crooked generation go this way it means I've been in control and now I'm letting go hear me church you cannot follow Jesus and remain in control it calls for us to let go of some things that we are hanging on to allowing our opinions to be challenged Peter says repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins to this culture this literally meant to go public this didn't mean some magical phrase or specific wording to be baptized it meant to the original audience what would have been interpreted as identification allegiance authority think of it this way if you go back into the text it looks in the name of literally means under the authority of it's like saying you are now identifying your life fully with Jesus as Lord in their context they had fully rejected Jesus publicly so Peter's saying hey because of that now publicly align yourself with the one that you have rejected well why not why not mention baptizing the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit like Matthew 28 19 says then because Peter was not giving them a formula he was making a point see Matthew 28 gives us the full Trinitarian and I hope some of you guys came for Bible school today he gave them the full Trinitarian instruction from Jesus well Jesus didn't mean it like that oh so we can interpret red letters how we want to now and x2 speaks directly to the audience Jesus is speaking to the church he's speaking to the disciples here's what I want you to do x2 Peter is speaking directly to the audience and informs them Jesus is the one that you must align with now it's corrective language not exclusive language so when Peter is saying be baptized in Jesus name he's literally telling them to be baptized because they now have to align their lives with the

ones that they've been resisting this whole time the one who we just revealed to them through scripture this isn't a ritual it's identification this is saying hey I'm not hiding anymore I publicly declare that I belong to Jesus which is quite a statement considering 50 days ago many of them could have voted Jesus to death literally and it goes on to state this is the one I struggled with repent be baptized in Jesus name for the forgiveness of sins but baptism doesn't save us so how is that I wrestled with this for days well you go in and you look at the Greek when it says for the forgiveness of sins the for right there I don't know how you pronounce it but it's spelled EIS so I think it's ice it is ice I remember listening to the pronunciation on Google we had that conversation didn't we for the forgiveness of sins it literally means because of or with reference to so this idea becomes be baptized in connection with the forgiveness that comes through repentance in other words private faith was never the goal public surrender is then he states and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit notice this he doesn't say achieve he doesn't say earn he doesn't say prove he says receive which means the problem isn't that God isn't giving it's that we've been resisting hear me church you don't have to earn the Holy Spirit you have to stop fighting him we've got to stop resisting repent be baptized and receive the gift these aren't just steps there are expressions of surrender hear me you don't need more information we are a society of information because we've got these we can digest so many bad scholarly sources they won't even allow you to quote 99.9% of the stuff that we quote in Bible College because it's not a scholarly source it cannot be proved by multiple sources in other words you don't need more information we need more surrender see some of you don't need another sermon you need more understanding you need a moment in the presence of God where you finally just let go see you've been hanging on you've been holding on to sin you've been holding on to control you've been holding on to your way you've been holding on to your understanding of scripture God said I didn't give you my scripture for your opinion I gave it to you for understanding of what your next

move is and today I believe that God is saying let go he said repent be baptized and receive the gift the the language right there receive the gift of the Holy Spirit is receive the Holy Spirit the gift is the Holy Spirit and it's not even just speaking directly to the baptism of the Holy Spirit because he said it's promised to your children and those who are far away he said be saved allow the Spirit to come in and reside in your heart and be a part. This promise can be passed down to the children and those who are far away. He wants to do something. Surrender isn't just a feeling, it's a decision. It isn't just goosebumps that we feel on Sunday, church. It isn't just kneeling at the altar and repeating some ritualistic prayer that we've prayed every time something isn't going right. Sometimes I wonder if he hears our prayers and said, honey, you prayed that last week and you did nothing to save yourself. You prayed that last time, but is what it is saying is Jesus don't just save me. But lead me, be something that I am 100% yours from this day forward. I surrender everything that I have. I surrender everything that I am. And despite what your circumstances say, despite what your history says, despite what all of this mistakes that you have made in your life says, despite what tragedy that you have went through or you have had to endure or you are enduring right now,

despite what you have came in here struggling with today, they saw it. They saw that Jesus was the Lord and the Messiah and they felt it because the truth cut to the depths of their heart, to the core, and they had to decide what were they going to do with it. Brothers, what shall we do? And I believe this, that the same moment is here today for each one of us. We've seen it. We've seen it. We've seen that Jesus was the Messiah. We felt our hearts have been cut deep even today. Now the question is, what are you going to do? What are you gonna do? Are you gonna keep hanging on to things like you have some sort of control over them or are you gonna continue to refuse to see Jesus for who he really is in your life or will you surrender everything and give him full access and full control to your heart today? Will you give him full control over every single thing that is in your heart, every single thing that is in your mind, every single thing that is in your life today? Would you release control, God? Brothers, what shall we do? You know, we do this moment at the ends of these services and we always call people and I think some people are afraid of that moment

because they're afraid to step out. But you know what it is? It's us answering that question. Brothers, what shall we do? Can we take you in a room and just talk to you for three minutes and tell you what you should do? People say, well, why do you do that? That's not seeker friendly. I'm not here to be friendly. I'm here to give you a truth that pierces your heart so that you would ask the question, what should I do? What can I do to change my situation? I feel the pain, I feel the hurt, I feel the agony, I feel what it is, what should I do? What should I do? If I could have everybody stand with me for just a moment. I wanna answer that question. I wanna answer those moments of what should we do? What should we do? Like, what does that look like? Maybe you're in here today and you're asking that question. Say, man, I need to make something happen in my life because I feel the pain of what that is. I feel the pain. My heart has been cut deep today. My heart has been cut and I need to respond to that moment. Maybe that's you and you're in here and you've never given your life to the Lord. And you wanna do that today. Maybe for the very first time

or the first time in a long time, you wanna completely surrender your life to the Lord. Hey, if that is you, maybe you come in here and you thought, man, I've walked with the Lord, but God has pierced your heart. He has done something. To you in your heart that is just it's it's bringing a realization to you That's you and you say hey, I I want to surrender today For the very first time or maybe the very first time in a long time Could I just get you to slip up your hand and say hey, I want to give my life to jesus today Come on, I see see those hands I see those hands. Come on. I see that hand back there two hands Hey, if that's you, can I get you to just step out of your seat real quick? Can I get you to step out of your seat real quick, come on, we're gonna have the worship team playing here Come on if that's you We're just gonna have you come right over here we just want to pray with you Come on Come on, let's just say god. We believe this moment right now I believe this moment right now god. I believe that you are changing my heart. I believe that you are changing my life I am surrendering 100 of my life to you. Hey, we just want to pray with you go with them right there They're just gonna take you right over here into this hallway God I believe that you have something for my life I believe that you have something for my heart And I believe that you are changing me you are changing my heart from the inside out you are making me new You are doing something that you have never done before and god, I believe I believe god Come on if that's you and you're in here and maybe you just need to surrender some things Could you just step out of your seat? Let's come down here to the front

Let's lift our hands and let's just say god you are greater than my problems you are greater than my things You are greater than my pain and god I surrender Everything to you right now in this moment. Come on. Let's worship in church You're Oh You will love you bring light to the darkness You restore every heart Is Is Okay You Hi, i'm tim stalder reach homes director We just wanted to thank you for taking the time to watch today's sermon and we hope that the message spoke to your heart We understand that people who are in your situation often feel overlooked and pushed aside And we just want to let you know that we do consider you as a part of our church family Upon your release. We look forward to you paying a visit to us While you're incarcerated take the time to reach out and write to us if you're looking for safe stable housing Reach out to reach homes your ipo or your caseworker can help you navigate that process We look forward to seeing you again next week and have a great day You