One More - Week 3 - Pastor Trey Hildebrant

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] First Orlando, so good to be with you today as we continue into our one more series where we're having a conversation about what would look like for you and I to align our lives with the great commission. That is to take the name of Jesus to those close to us and around the world. And we're using this idea of one more to make it personal. God wants to use us with sharing the gospel to those who are near to us but far from God, which is why we have these one more boards all around the worship center. And my encouragement to you would be if you haven't prayed through or thought about who the person that's near to you but far from God might be that today and even next week, you'd still write their name on one of these boards. Maybe you would even write neighbor or coworker or parent if you're not sure of their name or aren't comfortable writing their name because there's something about committing in a space like this that I believe God would then increase our passion to reach them for Jesus. And I had a thought this morning that I want to encourage you with because we should be getting passionate about this. And it's walking across these boards and looking at the names. And what if God would move so much in this next year

and bringing your one to faith in him that if we were to do in one more series next year, you wouldn't have to put their name on that board again. That you were able to walk by and almost in a sense in a good way, not a bad way, cross their name out because God brought that person to Jesus. And then I just had this picture in my minds of what if it looked like you standing in the water next to the one that's on that board as they got baptized. You see, we should have pictures in our minds like this for what God has called us to do. And as you can tell, today I am passionate. I want to be passionate about this. I want to be passionate about what God has called us to as followers of Jesus to help one more person say yes to Jesus. Because passion is one of the greatest motivators in life. Think about it, that excitement, that fire in our hearts for something. Do we have passion for sharing Jesus? A personal confession. Is that my passion for sharing Jesus can fade? One of the greatest obstacles to one more include things that just kill our passion. Some of those things are just being too familiar with something. When you're so familiar with something, you lose passion for it or it becomes routine. Boredom and comfort. Convenience and the fear of awkward. Distraction can kill our passion.

Our calendars need all of our attention. Even failure and bad experiences can cause passion for Jesus to fade. So let me ask you, what are you passionate about? Because when we're passionate about something, we can't help but share it, it's overflow. So the big thought today is this, that passion is key to staying engaged in the mission to reach one more. Now I want to have a conversation about personal passion for Jesus. This sermon might feel like it's a little bit about us at the beginning, but the end goal is for those who are not yet with us. In this one more series, we're learning from the key sending passages in all four of the New Testament gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Today we're going to be in Luke, the gospel of Luke, chapter 24. By the way, as we talk through the sermon today, the Bible, it's always a big deal in sermons, but today I'm actually going to talk about why we trust the Scripture. If you don't have a copy, like a hard copy of the Bible, there is a black ESV Bible somewhere in the seat in front of you, take that home that is our gift to you because we believe that we need God's Word in our lives. Luke writes his gospel as a historian. So as you read through the Gospel of Luke, you see names and places in geography and leadership structures.

What he's wanting to do is write with detail so that you can test and see if what he says is true. He also writes as a theologian, Luke does a really good job of connecting Old Testament principles and prophecy to the life of Jesus. He's building like a theological bridge from the Old Testament to the New Testament. And Luke is also the only New Testament author who writes as a Gentile. Matthew, Mark, and John were Jews, but Luke is a Gentile. The point is that the Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as the promised Savior, not only for Israel, not only for the Jews, but for all people. And so Luke presents living on mission to the whole world as fulfillment of the entire biblical story. So we're going to jump in Luke chapter 24, starting in verse 44. Leading up to this moment in verse 44, Jesus has shown up after the resurrection. So Jesus has risen from the dead, he shows up to his disciples and he says, "You can test it." He says, "Touch my scars. See that I'm really alive." And then this is what he says in verse 44. These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. And then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and said to them, "Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day, rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you. Today he says, "Wait, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. You are witnesses." To witness means to tell others what you have seen and experienced. And in fact, the word witness has a deep meaning because the original word here used for witness

is actually the same word that we get the word martyr from, somebody who would literally die for their faith, the point being that sharing Jesus is the greatest use of our lives imaginable. That what God has asked us to do is to share the story of Jesus in a compelling way with passion to give our lives away for this because we play a part in the most important story that all of history has ever heard when we share the gospel of Jesus. The gospel of Luke is actually the first of two volumes that Luke writes explaining who Jesus is. So Luke writes the gospel of Luke to show us who Jesus is to teach us about Jesus' life, and then he writes Acts, the book of Acts, as a second volume, so really you could read Luke all the way through the book of Acts, and you would see one big story. In Luke 24, you see Jesus saying, "Hey, disciples, you are my witnesses. Go to all the nations," and in the book of Acts, you see that turned into a movement. So Luke prescribes it, acts, describes what God has done. So there's this connection from Luke 24, verse 49, the verse we just read, in Acts 1. In Luke 24, verse 49, Jesus said, "But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." That's previewing what's happening in Acts 1 where Jesus, we show up and they're waiting, the disciples are waiting for the power of God. Acts chapter 1, verse 4 says, "And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, that there's power coming, and this power is a promise from God." And here's what the power's meant to do, to give us what we need to be witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus. Side note, we need his power to be effective. This is not just us performing to convince people to become Christians. I think sometimes that's why we lose passion for sharing the gospel of Jesus. to follow Jesus in our own strength. I'm not good enough, I don't have enough words, I don't know if I have enough energy, I don't know if I want to do this. But the promise here is that it's not our power

that is convincing other people to become Christians, it's his power moving in us, bringing people to life in Christ. This is good news that it's not our own power, but watch this. We tend to get in the way of that, because in Acts chapter one verse six, check out their question, by the way, they're waiting, they're doing exactly what Jesus said to do. So Luke 24, he says, "I go to the city, wait for the power." In Acts chapter one, they're in the city, waiting on the power. Then Jesus shows up and check out their question. Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? What did Jesus eat? He just told them that they're gonna be witnesses to all the nations, but he shows up and they want to talk about me, because this is an insider question. It's a question that serves their ideas of what they think Jesus should do, rather than calling back to what Jesus has already told them to do, which is to proclaim his name to all the nations. The early disciples were confused about the primary mission of Jesus, and we have the same tension here. Our gravitational pull of our lives is inward, because isn't it amazing how quickly we can make the great commission about Jesus,

the great conversation about me. You know, and people, myself included, we love to talk about ourselves. We love to bring it back to ourselves. In fact, the late, great Toby Keith even wrote a song about this in 2001, titled, I want to talk about me. I want to talk about I. I want to talk about number one, oh, my, me, my, like there's a country song about this. The gravitational pull is inward. Jesus says go out in all the world, and the follow-up question is okay, but what does it mean for me? Because there is a tendency to forget the redemptive emergency in the world and to concentrate on our own little kingdoms. But there is no greater purpose than to passionately live for others by witnessing to them the grace and the glory of the gospel. So how do we keep passionate about the mission? There's three ways. From this passage in Luke 24, engage the mind, embrace simplicity, and an eager witness. We're gonna start with engage the mind. As we're thinking about that though, on the first Orlando app that we have sermon notes, and that's just an helpful tool for you to use as we move through a sermon so that we can remember some of the things that God teaches us. So hopefully you're following along

in the sermon notes as we start this. Number one, engage the mind. Discovering the depth of the gospel engages the mind and helps unlock a new passion for sharing Jesus. Luke chapter 24, back to verse 44. Jesus says, "These are my words that I spoke to you "while I was still with you, "that everything written about me in the law of Moses "and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Verse 45, here's the key. Then he opened their minds. They're what? They're minds to understand the scriptures. That phrase, the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms is a reference to all of scripture. See, scripture holds together as one unified whole from the Old Testament to the New Testament, telling one unified story of how Jesus has come to redeem people for the glory of God. And so Jesus says, "I wanna open your minds," which shows us that it is important for us to rightly understand the biblical story. What we know is that the mind and the heart are connected, that what we fill our minds with fuels our heart, and we dull our passions, our passions fade when we fill our minds with lesser things. Some people may wonder why it seems that passion for faith and passion for the things of Jesus dwindles so fast, I would encourage you to take inventory of what you are filling your mind with, and that ranges. with sinful things, sinful images,

watching different things, to just filling our minds with like dumb things, you know? And like the spectrum in between. Like I'm on social media. I love to watch shows on Netflix. I got all that. But I think the question we have to ask ourselves is, do am I consuming so much of those things that it's filling my mind and it's doling my passion for the things of God? Sometimes the question is not what's sinful or what's not sinful. The question is, what helps us love God more? Or scripture is like fuel on the fire of our hearts. That when we read scripture, when we begin to trust the Bible as the word of God, we have access to fuel that helps us burn for him. Do you feel stale in your faith? Pick up that dusty Bible and let the word of God ignite a new fire. New believer, open the Bible and learn. Mature believer, open the Bible and be refreshed. We engage our minds with the scripture. Now I want to take this a step further and attach this thought of engaging our mind with the Bible to the idea of apologetics. Here's a quick definition of apologetics. I think all of this is going to work together to give us confidence and passion in sharing the gospel. Here's what apologetics is. It is giving good reasons for why we believe

that Christianity is true. Apologetics is helpful in sharing the faith because it builds passion in us as we engage our minds with the truth of God. Because, and you know this to be true, passion fades as confidence fades. If we're not confident in something, we won't have passion for it. So if we lack confidence in our faith, we will lose passion for sharing our faith. But we can have confidence in our faith. We can have confident defense for why we believe what we believe. First Peter chapter three, verse 15, gives us that confidence. Peter says, "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared, that is prepared in your mind, in your heart, to make a defense to anyone who asked you for a reason, for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect." So let me connect these two thoughts, engaging the mind with the Bible and sharing our faith. I once heard a pastor ask this question, and I wonder even as I ask the question, if you'll have an answer pop up into your mind. Here's the question. What is one of the most important questions for Christians to know how to answer to someone who doesn't follow Jesus?

So think about it, if you're a follower of Jesus, what's one of the most important questions is that you should be able to answer to someone who doesn't yet follow Jesus. There's lots of important and good questions, is who is God and does He love us? Is Jesus really the Son of God? Did Jesus really die on the cross? Did Jesus rise from the dead? And those are important questions and essential questions, but it's not the question that I want to answer for us right now. I want us to see if we can do something together and I'm going to need your help. And there's going to be a clue in what we do together. I want to ask you to raise your hand. I'm sure many of you, even if you're not currently walking with Jesus, maybe you've heard the song, "Jesus loves me." This is, of course, a classic, we held our babies and saying, "Jesus loves me a lot to our kids." There's a clue in the song, "Jesus loves me," and I would like to sing it together. No, I need you to sing loud 'cause ain't nobody paying me to sing loud into this microphone, okay? That's not what, so don't leave me hanging up here, okay? I feel like I need someone to be like, "B, B, C." Anyway, all right, here we go. One, two, three.

♪ Jesus loves me this I know ♪ ♪ For the Bible tells me so little ones to him belong ♪ ♪ They are weak but he is strong ♪ You're welcome. ♪ Yes, Jesus loves me the high note ♪ ♪ Yes, Jesus loves me ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO] Did you pick up on the clue? The Bible tells me so. Then underneath all the important faith questions is the Bible. The Bible teaches us about God's existence, creation, God's love, it teaches us about Jesus' life, His death, His resurrection, and our need for a Savior. The Bible is the foundation for all that we believe. So an important question for Christians that we should be able to answer is, why do we believe the Bible? Because without knowing why we believe and trust the Bible, we get stuck in circular arguments. Do you believe Jesus died and rose again? Yes, because the Bible tells me so. Why do you believe the Bible? So I want to take a few moments to talk about why we believe the Bible, because I want to give you confidence, which raises your passion. You following with me? Here we go. We can trust the Bible. It is reliable, true, accurate, and authentically the Word of God. The Bible holds up to doubts, questions, scrutiny, and concerns. And if you let it, the Bible will change your life. It changed my life. Here's a quick defense of the Bible.

In just a quick paragraph, I'm going to read it for us. The Bible is a reliable historical document written by over 40 authors, often writing as eyewitnesses in the time of eyewitnesses across three different continents over a period of 1500 years with thousands of ancient manuscripts still in existence today, producing a cohesive and consistent narrative with one focus pointing to the one true God in his redemptive pursuit of people through Jesus Christ, amen. That's the Scripture. That's the Bible. So let me just talk about one key piece of evidence. One key piece of evidence for why we trust the Bible is the strength of biblical manuscripts. Here's what I mean. The Bible, everything we hold in our hand, this text was not mass produced originally. The original ancient manuscripts is someone wrote it out, not mass produced, and all of those ancient manuscripts are the source for the Bible. So all the text that we hold in our hand as Scripture comes directly from ancient manuscripts. And what we believe was written thousands of years ago by the original authors to the original audience in the original language, Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, is the inerrant that is without error word of God. And we've collected hundreds and thousands of ancient manuscripts through the years that are tested against other historical documents for accuracy and authenticity. And here's the kicker. If you can't tell, I'm jacked up. Here's the kicker. There are more biblical manuscripts and possessions today than any other ancient historical manuscripts. All of history is supported by ancient manuscripts, and what we're saying and what archeology and textual criticism defends is that there is more historical support for the source of the Bible than any other historical document throughout all of time. I want to keep going through it. Here's what you got to know. Just for the New Testament alone, there's 25,000 or so catalogued biblical manuscripts.

Other ancient sources, Homer's Iliad, is the next closest at 1900, 2500 to 1900. Let me choose the Bible as trustworthy every single time. So Christian, when it comes to engaging your mind, what are you filling your mind with? Because as we engage our minds with God's word, our passion grows. Read the Bible to reignite passion. But the next, embrace simplicity. Embrace simplicity. Here is the gospel said simply in Luke 24, back to verse 46 and 47. This is Jesus himself describing the gospel. Thus, it is written that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day, rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. See our passion for the mission of Jesus fades when we complicate the gospel. When we complicate it. We add caveats and disclaimers. We get scared of what others will think, and we step away because we feel like we have the inability to answer deep questions or address every concern. We add layers of over-explanation and qualifiers to the clarity of the gospel. Why? Because we live in a world of over-explaining, filled with words that mean nothing, trying our best not to drown in the potential sensitivities of people rather than living in the simplicity that people need Jesus. And the result is confusion. When the message of the gospel is confusing to us, passion for the gospel fades. But if we want passion in our hearts again,

embrace the simplicity of the gospel message. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't hard questions to answer, and there aren't other things that we need to work through, but what I'm saying is we can understand the gospel in a simple way that reignites passion. And Luke laid it out for us. So here's the simple gospel, as seen in those verses, in Luke 24, the simple gospel. First, the Savior suffered. The cross was not an accident, but the fulfillment of His love for people. We are sinners, and therefore we need a Savior. Because sin caused death. Therefore, sin has to be paid for by death. Then Jesus, in His great love for us, dies the death that we deserve so that we could be forgiven and offered eternal life. The Savior suffered. But then the Savior rose. The resurrection vindicates Christ and confirms God's plan. Jesus literally rose from the dead as victory for our salvation. He has defeated death, the Savior rose. And the Savior's message must reach the nations. The Savior's message must reach the nations because faith in Jesus is how that forgiveness in Jesus is applied to our lives. And faith, the scripture tells us in Romans chapter 10, comes through hearing the gospel.

Therefore, those of us who know Jesus, it is now our responsibility to proclaim Jesus so that people can hear about Jesus and place their faith in the Jesus who rose and the Jesus who suffered in our place. This is the simple gospel. Jesus saves. Last week, I had the opportunity to go spend time with our brothers at Marion Correctional Institute. And I'm looking right at those guys right now. And I'm talking like this because if I say anything to them while I'm talking, I know that they're cheering on the other side of this camera. And so I'm giving them just a second to do that. Here's what I saw as I spent time with those brothers last week. I saw a passion for Jesus that came from changed lives. 165 men gathered last week. And we sang a song at the beginning that we sing in here sometimes. It says, God, I'm just grateful. And there's a moment in the bridge where it says, oh, I'm lifting both of my hands 'cause you've seen me just as I am. And I looked around in all 165 or like this, both arms up because they have not yet gotten over that Jesus Christ has saved their soul. Part of what happens, listen to me church,

part of what happens is passion fades when we get used to the supernatural. And embracing the simplicity of the gospel brings us back to the moment that I was dead, but now I live. I was blind, but now I see. I was lost, but now I'm found. And those brothers at Marion Correctional Institute, they are living with passion because they have not forgotten where God saved them from. Maybe for us, what we should do to bring passion back in our lives is to just slow down and think, this is no longer familiar. I don't want this to be routine, but I was dead and now I live. Jesus saves. And when I come back to the simplicity of that, passion rises in my heart. And then something else happens. When I remember what Christ has done for me, I can't help but overflow it. And I saw that at MCI last week as well. One man came up to me and he says, "Hey, I cut out these little pieces of paper." They say tag, tag, where you talk about God, think about God, testify about God, and he walks around MCI and he starts up Jesus conversations with the other men who live in the prison because what he's found,

he can't hide. I wonder how many of us could take a lesson from this man who's willing to walk around and tell others about Jesus in his prison. But that's the third thought. An eager witness, an eager witness, scripture said, "You are witnesses of these things. You are witnesses. Notice the present tense. You are witnesses. Not might be. Not maybe. Not one day. But you are witnesses." So what if one of the reasons our passion fades is because we're putting off being a witness to another day. But if we were active and engaged in the work of witnessing to others the gospel of Jesus, if we would actually love people enough to witness to them today and not another day, I believe the mission would stay hot in our hearts. Because this is a daring adventure. This is not just a cool idea, but it only moves us if we do it. That we would love God and love people enough to share the gospel. And it's filled with passion because it's not obligation. It's not guilt. It's not duty. It's love. He's really strobele who is an atheist journalist who cynically investigated Christianity only to eventually become a Christian. He wrote this. And it's actually on page 85 in your one more book. He says this, "This is the missing ingredient in so many Christian lives. I've never heard anyone complain by saying, 'My life is so dry right now.'

And then add, 'Oh, by the way, I'm actively trying to reach a friend for Christ.'" Because dry, no passion, and being an eager witness don't mix. If our faith feels dry, often the missing element is an eager, active witness. We are living in the adventure of reaching our friend, our neighborhood, our city, our country, and maybe even an unreached people group around the world in the name of Jesus. And when we do that, the fire stays bright. It's exciting to live a life of to who is God sending me to next. This mission is rescue, and rescue is exhilarating. No one is ever bored running into a burning building or jumping into the ocean to save a drowning kid. We are on mission to save souls, so why are we so often bored? There's the rescue, passion in us. The passion builds when we eagerly live out this mission. We engage the mind, we embrace simplicity with an eager witness, and passion rises. But ultimately, being in the presence of Jesus ignites the passion, being in the presence of Jesus. In Luke 24, so back to the Scripture, a few verses ahead of where we were today in verse 44, up to verse 32, there's the testimony of two men who had spent some time with Jesus. They walked with Jesus on a road, and their testimony is really intriguing. Listen to this in verse 32, Jesus leaves, and they said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" Did not our hearts burn within us? It's being with Jesus that ignited their heart for Jesus. If the passion for the mission of one more has faded in your heart, what is most needed is time in his presence, prayer, and worship, and seeking his face. Often when passion fades, the only way to get the fire back in our hearts is to get back in the presence of God, and so we're about to finish this service, worshiping together a little bit more, because I hope you engage your mind. with an eager witness. But what I know is that we could walk out to our cars today, and it's much of the same.

That was a good service. That tray guy's been here for 10 months now, he's okay, you know? Or, or, or, or, or. We walk out to our vehicles leaving this place saying we're not our hearts burning than us. In Acts chapter 1 verse 8, so just the next verse over from their question, when they asked the insider question, Jesus still gives them this promise. He says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Don't miss what's happening here. They left Jesus' words, and they had to wait on the power. The next chapter, in Acts chapter 2, the power comes, we know the power is the Holy Spirit. First Orlando, on September 27th, 2026, we don't have to wait on the power or the presence. Because of Jesus, he's here right now. And if we aren't experiencing it as passion, it's not because he's distant, it's because we're not engaged. Because there's a promise, and then there's power, and then there's his presence, and then there's passion. Some of us need to go on that journey right now to remember the promise, to experience his power and his presence so that we would live with passion out there. So would you stand to your feet? Because we're going to worship. We have five minutes to just sing to God together. And some of you need to pray a prayer like this, God, as we sing to you, would you reignite a passion for you in my heart? I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. I was dead, but now I live. God, I'm going to live white-hot for you, so let's worship Him together, Church. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Would you do something for me? Would you put your hand over your heart? Maybe you need to confess, Lord, my heart has not burned for you in a while. Maybe you're experiencing it even right now for the first time that your heart could burn for Jesus. Lord, that's my prayer today as we get ready to leave and move on to the next, that you would send a few thousand people out into their lives with hearts on fire. Ignite something new, do something fresh. Would we be different because of our time with God? Should I hand over your heart, Lord, would you burn in me? We're not our hearts burning within us as he talked to us. That's what we want. Lord, would you fill us with passion? Would we overflow the gospel?

Would we live for one more? Would we live out the Great Commission? Not because our church told us to, not because we feel guilty, not because it's obligation, but because of passion. You've got the first of us, the best of us. We love you, Lord. Help our hearts burn this week in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen, amen, amen. (congregation applauding) Pray for us, we got one more. God's moving at our church. Next week, we finish the One More series, but here's something I want you to have in your mind. Four weeks in the One More series is not an encapsulated start and finish. The four weeks represent a starting line. Who are we going to be as a church years from now? So come next week for a really special time at the end of the service where we're just gonna say, Lord, would you use us? By the way, if you are new with us, welcome to First Orlando. We're so grateful that you're here. Really the best way for us to know you, to serve you, to help you take a step in your faith, whatever that step may be, is actually to download the First Orlando app. If you download the First Orlando app,

you'll see all sorts of ways you can take a step. Join us at Connect next week, volunteer teams, small groups, baptism. You matter to us because you matter to God and we wanna help you take your next steps in your faith. So if you're ready for that, just kind of raise your hand by clicking some things through the app and we would love to do that. And even right now, we wanna pray with you. Jeacons, if you're around the room and wives, did you come and fill the front of the stage on the side? If you need prayer for anything, you wanna talk with somebody about your faith, these men and women are here to serve you. They'll be up at the front to pray with you. We hope that we'll see you back next week. I love you guys so much. See you then. (audience applauds)