Vision Weekend 2026

- You guys came to party. I mean, you were up and ready to go for that GM session. So we're gonna have a lot of fun today. Welcome to the crossing. We're just glad you're here. School has started back up. College football is back. I'm very happy about woo hoo, yeah. And I'm praying for cooler weather. Don't look at your weather app 'cause it's not coming. But I'm gonna pray for it because fall is officially here. It's a special weekend here at the crossing. We call it Vision Weekend. It's just the kickoff to our ministry year. We had an amazing year last year. We saw hundreds of people, some of you in this room, be baptized in just a few minutes. Greg's gonna come up and kind of share what we believe God is leading us this year. And we know he's gonna do it again, what he did last year. We can't wait to see it. Before the services today, we got to kick off the year with our volunteers. So thankful for all the ways that people serve. Yes, our volunteers are awesome. From those who love our kids and kids crossing, to those who make our coffee, we're thankful for those who run everything in here, to the volunteers here on stage leading us in worship.

And we're gonna do that now. So I'd say stand up, but you guys are ready. So let's worship together. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Comin' away again ♪ ♪ He's dryin' dustin' bones ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Shake this holy ground ♪ ♪ All of creation ♪ ♪ We can feel it growing ♪ ♪ Give us the grace of holy sorrow ♪ ♪ We'll sow in tears for a heartless tomorrow ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Comin' away again ♪ ♪ He's dryin' dustin' bones ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Shake this holy ground ♪ ♪ All of creation ♪ ♪ We can feel it growing ♪ ♪ Give us the grace of holy sorrow ♪ ♪ We'll sow in tears for a heartless tomorrow ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪

♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Comin' away again ♪ ♪ Tryin' dustin' bones ♪ ♪ Join me in this hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh ♪ ♪ With one voice ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ To rise ♪ ♪ I will sigh ♪ ♪ Drowned out by ♪ ♪ Hallelujah just this morning ♪ ♪ Like love is ♪ ♪ Love the earth with happiness ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪

♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ ♪ Do it again Lord ♪ ♪ Pour your spirit out ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ I love you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh your mercy never fails me ♪ ♪ In all my days ♪

♪ I've been held in your hands ♪ ♪ From the moment that I wake up ♪ ♪ Till I lay my hand ♪ ♪ I am seen ♪ ♪ Of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ I won't sing this song ♪ ♪ All my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ Every breath that I am made ♪ ♪ I am seen ♪ ♪ Of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ I love your voice ♪ ♪ You will let me through the fire ♪ ♪ In darkness and eyes ♪ ♪ You are close like no other ♪ ♪ I know you as a father ♪ ♪ I know you as a friend ♪ ♪ And I had a name ♪ ♪ Of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ All my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ Every breath that I am made ♪ ♪ I will see ♪ ♪ Of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ For all goodness is running out ♪ ♪ You're running out to me ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ You're running out to me ♪ ♪ My life laid down ♪ ♪ The render now will give you everything ♪

♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ You're running out to me ♪ ♪ Oh my love ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ You're running out to me ♪ ♪ Oh my love ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ You're running out to me ♪ ♪ My life laid down ♪ ♪ The render now will give you everything ♪ ♪ Your goodness is running out ♪ ♪ You're running out to me ♪ ♪ All my life you have been faithful ♪ ♪ All my life you have been so, so good ♪ ♪ Every breath that I am made ♪ ♪ I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ I will sing of the goodness of God ♪ ♪ So I will see of the goodness ♪ - Our praises, God, we lift them up to you. You're worthy of all that we can honor you with today. ♪ I can't wait for you to know ♪ ♪ Join the song they're already singing ♪ ♪ Oh, holy, holy eye ♪ ♪ Just to bow down before you fall ♪ ♪ See your face down, cry out ♪ ♪ Because you're home ♪ ♪ Oh, holy eye ♪ ♪ Lord, come on, Joseph ♪ ♪ Jesus, King of King ♪ ♪ Yes, Lord ♪

♪ Jesus, Lord ♪ ♪ And just King ♪ ♪ Come on, Joseph ♪ ♪ Jesus, King of King ♪ ♪ God, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Standing with those who have very well done ♪ ♪ For claiming forever that you're the one who's made ♪ ♪ Lainful, Lord, in the Lord ♪ ♪ What can I give to my endless praise ♪ ♪ Heaven or as He shouts your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus, King of King ♪ ♪ Yes, Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord ♪ ♪ God, just King ♪ ♪ Come on, Jesus, Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus, King of King ♪ ♪ Lord, in the Lord ♪ ♪ Lainful, in the Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus, King of King ♪ ♪ Lord, in the Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus, King of King ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ We sing word, word, word ♪ ♪ The Lord, the lips of love ♪ ♪ Sing once more ♪ ♪ Word, word, in the Lord ♪ ♪ Forever, forever, forever ♪

♪ Sing, word, ever ♪ ♪ Word, in the Lord ♪ ♪ And in the Lord, Lord ♪ ♪ Sing once more ♪ ♪ Word, word, ever ♪ ♪ Word, in the Lord ♪ ♪ Forever, forever we sing ♪ ♪ Word, word, in the Lord ♪ ♪ Sing once more ♪ ♪ Word, in the Lord ♪ ♪ Word, in the Lord ♪ ♪ Forever, forever, forever ♪ ♪ Word, word, ever ♪ ♪ In the Lord, in the Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ We are the Lord, Father ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ We are the Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus, we are the Lord, Father ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ We are the Lord's King ♪ ♪ We are the Lord ♪ ♪ Jesus, I'm not just me ♪ ♪ We are the Lord ♪ - Amen. Amen. We serve a good God. A mighty God that is worthy of this praise. God bless you all and thank you for worshiping with us. Go ahead and have a seat.

- Yes. It's 1857. There's a British preacher. He gained a lot of prominence for his passionate preaching. His name was Charles Spurgeon. He's invited to preach at something called a crystal palace. It's not a church. It's an exhibition hall that had been built in London. Huge for that day. Like you could house 20,000 people in there for an event. So it was a big deal, but not a church. So a few days ahead of time, Spurgeon goes in to kind of check it out, see where the platform's going to be, see where his pulpit's going to be, and to check out the acoustics because it's 1857. There's no microphone. He doesn't get to wear his little... He didn't get to do that. There's no sound system. He's got to see if his voice can carry. He wants to preach to 20,000 people. So he does a sound check. It would sound different. You guys just take us down a little bit. I know we need to still communicate with everybody. So, but he's going to have to use his voice. Like I'm using my voice right now. So what does he get up for the sound check to do? Because usually when we do sound checks, it's like check, check, check, one, two.

Check, one, two. Is this thing on check? No, that's not it. For some reason, this, he was called the Prince of Preachers. Spurgeon gets up, stands in his spot and just says, he bellows me. Behold the land of God who takes away the sins of the world. (congregation cheering) Turns out, nobody knew it. But there was one guy working in the rafters that day. He had never really heard the gospel before. Now you're going to think this is a preacher's story. You can go and verify this thing. This thing is true. This guy actually verifies it later. He hears these words echo into his ark and it threw him. He's undone. He told his family, I put my tools down and went home and started a journey because I started thinking about my life and my decisions and my choices. And he said, I didn't find peace until I turned to this Jesus, Lamb of God. Now, we believe around here that Jesus is everything, but that Lamb of God thing, that sort of a heavy term. What does that mean? Around the time that Jesus has baptized, John the Baptist sees Jesus coming and says in his own bellowing voice, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What does it mean to be the Lamb of God?

Well, when you look at the scriptures, one of the ways I said it to somebody earlier this week was the story of God is the story of a God who has created all of this and he adores people, but they keep rebelling against him. Now God doesn't give up. God will not be mocked. Remember that. God will not be mocked, but God doesn't give up and he makes a promise early in the scriptures that there will be a way back to him. We know this rebellion, the Bible calls it sin, creates a gap between us and a holy God. But there's the promise of one who will close that gap, who will bridge that gap, who will make a way, who will make things right. And the deeper into the story you go, the more you begin to realize somebody's gonna have to pay a price so that we don't suffer our consequences. In the Hebrew scriptures, there is a symbol of a lamb, a spotless lamb that points towards one who will somehow live a sinless life and he will be the one who makes things right. Are you tracking with me? You see around here, we believe that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God and he accomplished all of this because he is the Son of God. He is the eternal, transcendent Son of God. Very God, a very God, as the ancient creeds put it. And we believe Jesus changes everything.

And I believe Jesus is in the room with us right now. You all sense that? Jesus is with us. Now I know I came in hot, right? It's like, wow. If we haven't met yet, my name is Greg. I get to be the lead pastor here at this one church with many locations. And so for those of you joining it at Fenton and Mid-Rivers and Grants Trail, I just wanna say welcome, welcome, for those of you joining us online, around the country, around the world. maybe it's your first time here, maybe it's the first time in a long time. And what I just explained about the Lamb of God is hard for you to digest. Maybe it's because you didn't grow up in church. Or maybe you grew up going to church all the time, but you're in a phase right now where you're kind of peeling apart what you believe versus what everybody else was kind of trying to make you believe. If you're at that place, I want you to know we welcome you. Those kinds of questions don't throw us. We wanna walk with you. I think you can find some answers here. It could be in a Bible study. It could be in a class. It could be in a small group. It could be in a one-on-one with a pastor.

It could be us helping to find you a mentor. But I think you can find some answers that will begin to explain when the rest of us are so passionate about this Jesus. You see, we do believe that he changes everything. And we need a God big enough to handle this world, amen? You see, you and I are at a place right now where we need someone who sees us in this world and meets us in this world, but isn't finished with this world. Now, for the rest of you, howdy. It's good to see you. You may or may not know here, but the board of directors and my executive team will always say when it comes to July and August, will you take a break from teaching? Still lots of work happening behind the scenes, but will you take a break from teaching? And it's good because we get to hear from other voices, right? And we get to see what God is doing in so many ways. But when I was introducing David Hawkins a few weeks ago, I told you, we've had some kind of summer. It all began with June that glorious rich month where so many people were making decisions for Jesus and it ended at the end of June with hundreds and hundreds of people of all ages, proclaiming Jesus as Lord and saying publicly that they're with Him. I mean, that was a thing, we'll come back to that. But then after that, I got a chance to lead us

through a Fourth of July service and I appreciate the tech people and the musicians and everybody that helped make that happen. It was an honor to celebrate that weekend together. After that, we allowed some other people to kind of get in here and use their voices and we had some of our favorite guest teachers and it was just, it was all so good. For me, what I was doing was working on some things that are gonna help us in the future. But Robin and I got a chance to rest a little bit. I went on a trip to South Africa, Zambia Malawi with a little unplanned stopover in London. So, but God's doing good things there. What else? Wrote a children's book, so I got my Dr. Seuss on and when we were done, I told Robin, "I've got to stop speaking in Iambic pentavender." But it was really cool to welcome Coach Rack and the Savannah Banana players that were with us at that worship service. I know many of you were there for that. That was a cool night and got to be a part of that here in August, that was great. But honestly, I think the most powerful thing this summer for me was watching, receiving, learning from, being fed by our pastors, our pastors, who opened God's Word and spoke the truth to each of us. Amen? I'm gonna tell you what, if, yeah, you can clap for them

if you want. I think they deserve it. God worked through them, the Spirit fell. But here's a theme, stop me if you've heard this before. The theme that ran through all of it was Jesus. It's Jesus who changes everything. It's not a church, it's not a pastor, it's not a preacher, it's not a doctrine, it's not a religion, it's not a tradition, it's not the way we worship, it's Jesus. Jesus is the hope of the world. And like I said, the world's broken. It's angry, it's unsettled, it's confused, it's lost. I mean, we could just put all sorts of words in there. This past week, we were reminded of how violence can wreak havoc in our world and in history. One of the things we did was remember the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Now, I'm old enough, you already knew that. I'm old enough to remember where I was when that first plane hit the tower and then the second plane, all of the stories, right? I'm not gonna go through those now. But I remember, I remember feeling like the shock, the worry, the fear, the anger, the questions. I remember, anybody else here remember how quiet it was right after that? 'Cause there were no planes in the air. But do you remember how quiet like it was in the, like you'd go to the store, it was like quiet.

And people were kind to each other. it was just like, you just kind of made eye contact with people and you just knew we were in this thing together. That was a, some of you are too young to remember any of that, but you are remembering and you are familiar with the, with a sense of loss, a sense of grief, a sense of anger, questions, maybe wondering what on earth is happening in this world? What I would tell you is this, the answer is the same as it was 25 years ago. The hope that we proclaim today is the same hope we proclaimed 25 years ago. It's Jesus, y'all, it's Jesus. I love the way Paul puts it in Romans chapter one when he says, "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel "because it is the power of God "that brings salvation to everyone who believes." In just a minute, I'm gonna come back up and we'll have some fun looking at some practical ways that we can see God at work in our world. There's no formula, I don't want one and there isn't one, but I think we can learn some things from scripture, but first of all, it seems to me like right about now, we should just stop and pray and invite the spirit to do his work in our midst and specifically, if you would, let's pray for those who, the whole thing that I just described, they still carry the burden and the loss of some things that happened 25 years ago. Let's pray now together, can we do that? Lord, we come to you and we do confess,

you are good, Lord, we're, you are good. We need you. We know this world is, it's broken. We need you, we don't understand. Well, do we, even when we look back at something like that, there are opinions that fly and words that get loud, but the truth is the hurt still runs deep for some families. And so, I pray, Lord, for them and for all of the echoes out of that day, through the military, through a variety of different ways, Lord, losses that are being remembered this weekend. From those who lost loved ones in the initial moments, to those who are family members of first responders, who on that day in this day are the first to run into trouble and not away from it. God, I pray, your word promises that you were close to the broken heart and I pray that you would move in close. There are people right now in our services that cannot even pray about those things, God, because they are broken hearted, because they are going through something. I pray that you would move in close. Your word promises that darkness cannot overcome your light. We are asking you, God, push back the darkness. Give us courage to join you, give us wisdom. Lord, remind us in these coming minutes that you are not finished with us or this world. And Lord, I pray that there would be many hundreds, thousands of us who on this day, in this moment, would vow to not give up on this world either.

Not because of us, but because of you, Jesus. You, you change everything. You, Lord, are worthy. We pray all of this in your name, Jesus, we need you. He is in the room, y'all. Do you sense him? He has called you here for a reason. He is worth seeking. He is worth trusting. And I'm telling you, he is worthy of our worship. (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ I'll be through you ♪ ♪ For the Lord, Lord, I love you ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ I love you, yeah ♪ ♪ For the Lord, I don't mind your peace ♪ ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ I love you, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, me ♪ Where is the land? Where is the land? For you are all of me. Holy, are you Lord God of my name? Where is the land? Where is the land? For you are all of me. God, holy, are you Lord God of my name? Where is the land?

For you are all of me. Where is the land? For you are all of me. Holy is the land. Holy is the land. You're so holy, Lord. Holy is the land. You call you righteous. Righteous is the land. You are righteous is the land. Righteous is the land. Righteous is the land. We call you Jesus. Jesus is the land. Jesus is the land. Amen. God, we call you. Lord, save your King. Great I am. Almighty, righteous one. Son of God, Abba Father. So many things, many, many more. God, you are everything to us. And we lift our names and praise to you for you our holy. And we do this in the mighty powerful name of Jesus. And all God's people say, amen, amen. God bless you, have a seat. Well, there are a few times a year that we come together as a church. We come together to remind each other we're not alone. We come together to remind each other we need God.

We invite him into it. One of those moments is coming up in the next few weeks. It's our child dedication. It's an opportunity for parents to stand in front of all of us and say, "I want to raise my children to know Jesus in a godly way." What I love about child dedication, though, it involves all of us. It's whether we have kids or not, we as a community, as a church, have an opportunity to stand with and for these families. So the weekend of October 10th and 11th, we have child dedication. If you are a parent of a three-year-old child or younger, you can find more details on our calendar page. We want you to invite you to do that. But as a church, we love to come around each other. We want to remind each other we're not alone, right? We get to support each other. We get to celebrate together. We get to invest in what God is doing. We do that through our generosity. So as we continue in worship, we're going to take a moment to give, to give to our community, to our church. And so the ways to give are on the screen behind me. But I said this at the beginning of the day. If you are new to the crossing, if you're just checking us out, we'd love to meet you, see how we can serve you, and you can come down front after the service. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (applause) - Amen, amen. Listen, we're gonna have some fun. We're gonna open God's word. We're gonna learn some things. Some of you see chemistry equations up here, and you kinda just threw up a little bit in your mouth. But don't worry, we're gonna have fun, but we're going to open God's word. Let me pray for us, and we're gonna get after it, okay? But the question that we will be answering, that God's going to help us to see is, how on earth did this message get to us? How did this happen? 'Cause I think it's a pretty good clue of how it's going to continue. Father, we open your word now. We come before you, we are grateful to be able to do this together. Holy Spirit, we're inviting you into these conversations. Show us now what we need to listen to,

what we need to remember, and what we need to do with this Father. Please, we do not want to just come to church. We wanna step into this story with you. In Jesus' name, I pray this. Amen. So, the question really is, how does this go from being like a movement with maybe like a hundred people in an upper room who were frightened to death after the public execution of Jesus? How do we go from that to today? 2.38 billion people who profess themselves to be Christians. How does that happen? How do we get from something that is just here to something that is everywhere? How does this happen? Well, let's set the stage. So, Jesus is publicly executed outside the city walls of Jerusalem. This is a historical fact. It's been noted, even by those outside of Scripture, his dead lifeless body is put into a tomb. It's a borrowed tomb. But days later, multiple sources say that Jesus is seen alive with his disciples. Now, we around here believe in the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus. I'm telling you, it all rises and falls on that. But as soon as I say that, some of you are going,

that's another sticking point for me. I mean, how can you guys say that? Well, I think those are great questions. There is a, I always say, there's a logical progression of thought. Faith is involved. There's a mystery to all of this. But we love having those conversations. You see, we want to be a place, where you are on your spiritual journey. We want to be a place where people can make progress. And there are these three words that all start with the letter E. We're not really good at alliteration around here. So we're very proud of the fact that we've got these three words that God has given us. And we think this is a way to help us. It's not Scripture. It's not Holy Writ. It is not church dogma. It is for us a way to think about this. So let me just show it to you very, very quickly. The first of these is what it means to explore. So we explore the truth of God's Word, right? So we are now going to explore, we believe this is one of the best, most reliable ways for us to understand what God wants from us and what God has done. So we pull apart the Scriptures and we learn from them. And we want you to learn how to read the Scriptures on your own.

So we explore the truth of who God is. That never stops. We're going to jump into the Word in just a second. But ultimately we want there to be a moment where you experience God's grace for yourself. It cannot just be a head trip. It has to be something that has settled into your heart and it becomes something personal. That's what you're going to see a little bit later when you see people who are telling the world that they belong to Jesus because it got personal. But we don't stop there. We don't just say, oh man, I'm so glad that I got to know Jesus. That changes everything for me in the eternity. And I'm just going to sit here and wait until he returns. That is not what he tells us. So I want you to express love the way that I have shown you how to do this. So you're gonna love people inside the church. We keep talking about how to do this in healthy God-honoring ways. And then we're gonna love people outside the walls of this church. Sometimes in ways, and we don't even know their names, this side of eternity. But we're gonna do this together. Explore, experience, and express the love of God. We're gonna do this together. And this is how we make progress. Now if you want some help with that,

and you're saying, "Hey, how do I take a step in any one of those things?" Come find us after the service. Pastors would love to get you started on that journey. Right now, we're going to explore God's word. If you look at the book of Acts, it's the fifth book in the New Testament. It's a sequel to one of the Gospels, the Gospel of Luke. It was written by the same person, a reliable historian by the name of Luke. Luke was the answer we were looking for. So Luke wrote Luke, and then Luke wrote the book of Acts. And so what you see in Acts chapter one is how this thing starts off. So it's after the resurrection. Luke says that Jesus was with the disciples for about 40 days, not about it, it was 40 days. He would appear and then not appear. Sometimes they didn't know when he would appear, but he was making sure that they knew that they were not seeing or imagining things. And now we're at the end of this time. Jesus is now going to return to his father in heaven. Think about that for a second. Jesus is about to leave these three dimensions plus time and somehow step back into another realm of existence. Eternity, he's going back to be with his father. Ooh, but before he does, he gathers these disciples and he says these famous words.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. You can see he's saying, go, go. And if you're going to start local, regional, all the way out to the ends of the earth. So we see that. But I want you to notice that there's two parts to this. The first part is he says you will be my witnesses. Now the Greek word for that is the word Martus. We, you might remember this, we get our English word martyr from Martus, which by the way is very accurate because as it turns out, most of the guys who were hearing this would end up giving their lives because they were proclaiming Jesus as Lord. So Jesus says you're going to be my witnesses. I'm not going to like blast this on some sort of a billboard in the sky. You, life by life, person by person, you're going to tell the story. That's a part of it. But what he says now is you will receive power when the Holy Spirit gets ahold of your life. You're about to be soaked with the same power that created the universe. You see, none of this makes sense without the power and the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit.

You are going to go, you're going to do this thing. Oh, but the Holy Spirit is going to move in so close that the best way to describe him in your life is that he's in you. So you need to wait in Jerusalem until this happens. Well, they did and it did. I mean, it happened. This supernatural moment when the Holy Spirit rushes through these people who had gathered there near the temple there in the temple district. And so something happens and all of a sudden Peter preaches the message of a lifetime. Peter, overwhelmed with the Spirit himself, proclaims Jesus. I mean, you can find it all in Acts chapter two, but then look at the results because you can see the results. Those who accepted his message were baptized. That's how it works. You believe and then you're baptized. About 3000 were added to the number that day. Y'all, that's a good day in church. 3000 people come to Jesus and we baptize him. That's a busy day. By the way, here's a fun little question. Lean over to the person next to you. Who was the most influential person in getting this message out? Who was the most influential? Go ahead, just take a shot. Tell him who you think is the most influential person

in the New Testament in the first century. Who do you think got it done? Who was it? Go ahead, just talk to each other real quickly. Okay. Mid-rivers, fountain, grand trail. Shout your answers to me. How many of you here would say Paul? Yeah, Paul got it done, didn't he? How many of you would say Peter? I mean, he launched the church, right? That's a good answer, yeah. Yeah, see, this is why you don't answer my question. Neither of them, those are great answers. Neither of them is the right answer. The most influential person to get the message out was the Holy Spirit. You're like, "Oh man, that's a church answer." No, no, no, I need you to know everything we're now going to talk about. Do not forget the anointing of the Spirit, okay? Do not forget we need Him to empower us. That's how all of this works. Okay, so the church explodes into existence. You got 3,000 new members. Whoo, things are going on. It's still in Jerusalem. How did it get from Jerusalem to us? Like, I don't know if you can see this or not, but it kind of gets lost in the greenery of it all,

but there's an arch there. How did it get, see what we did? (congregation laughing) Don't look at me that way. That's an awesome little arch there. How did this message get to us? How did it wrap around the globe? How did it outlive the Roman Empire? We would say around here sometimes that it's like a chain reaction. That's the best way to explain it. It was a chain reaction. Do you know what a chain reaction is? Why don't you go in ahead and just circle up three, four people around you. There's somebody in your group that is dying to explain what a chain reaction is. So go ahead, give it a shot. We'll get back together in a second. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Okay, all right, I'll bet you you've got some good answers. I'm going to now in a very quick way try to explain to you what a chain reaction is.

Are you ready? Cue the exciting music. Come on guys, let's get it going. Here we go, you ready? So here it is, here it is. In the mid 20th century, we found that if you, we, they found that if you bombard an unstable Uranian isotope, U-235 with a neutron, it will split, it'll become two separate atoms, barium, barium, you might recognize as a kind of a difficult procedure that happens in the lower intestine. We won't talk about that. Krypton, which is, we all know it's the home planet of Kalele, also known as Superman. No, these are two atoms that are split. What happens though, is that it spits out three more neutrons that go find other Uranium atoms and splits those and spits that out. It's releasing massive amounts of energy and it all happens like that. And that's how you get an atomic bomb. That's how you get nuclear energy. That's what's called nuclear fission. You're welcome people, there it was. Now here's the thing, here's the thing. Yeah, don't encourage me, don't encourage me, don't encourage me. Now that we know that, let's take that and go back into the scriptures.

Acts chapter two. God did a mighty thing, through the Holy Spirit. But now watch what happens after that. I'm gonna tell you that this chain reaction takes place in the book of Acts. I've listed the chapters here so that you can go back and you can check my work on it and then you can go, oh yeah, all of that is happening. I will tell you, when you look at the book of Acts, one of the things that you will be surprised with, and here's the punch line, is that it wasn't the headliners. It wasn't the big names and the big swings. There were little things that were happening along the way. Yes, these guys are getting it done, the big names, but there were so many unnamed people that were getting things done, and there are neutrons that are being tossed out and splitting and spitting and splitting and spitting. And it begins to happen. So Acts two, there's a big church already. Acts four, by the time you get to Acts four, you see that there's a rumble of persecution. Like there's something that's starting to come to the surface. Peter and John, so let's just go on ahead and mention them, 'cause those guys are a big deal. Peter and John are certainly, they are professing Jesus. Somewhere along the way, people are trying to silence them, but they can't. Now the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000. We're not even talking about the women.

We're not talking about children. We're not talking about teenagers. So I'm guessing we are way over 10,000 people now in this early, early, early church. Something is happening. The persecution continues to grow. By the time you get to Acts 7, one of the deacons, one of the original deacons, Stephen, is martyred for his faith. All under the watching eye and approval of a Pharisee named Sha'ul. Now you would know him by his Greek name, Paul. This is really a really, really difficult moment here. By the time you get to Acts 8, and that is a big deal. That's why we kind of have the asterisks there. Acts 8 is when persecution officially begins to break out against the church. So part of what you read is, let's just put that one up there. On that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem. And all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Now that ought to sound a little familiar. What did Jesus say? Go to Jerusalem, where? Judea, Samaria ends of the earth. It's now happening. But I want you to notice in this verse who doesn't leave Jerusalem, the apostles. So who's taking this message out?

It's all of those unnamed people who know Jesus and say, I feel prompted by this spirit to go to this village, to go to this place, to tell people about our risen Lord. Man, it's just happening, happening, happening. In fact, what you see in a couple of verses later is those who had been scattered preach the word wherever they went. By the time you get down into 12, 16, and 18, you've got these house churches. So people are showing hospitality. I'll welcome you into my home. Let's talk about this. You have questions? I do too. Let's pray. I'll tell you who Jesus is. We'll do this together. Something is beginning to happen. Of course, in Acts chapter 9, Paul turns to Jesus. He is confronted by Jesus and believes now that Jesus is, in fact, the resurrected Lord. And that's a pretty big deal. He begins to influence all sorts of people along the way. Aquila and Priscilla. Priscilla is a woman who was a teacher of the gospel. Her husband's name was Aquila. That's right. Aquila and Priscilla. I think they wore matching t-shirts to Disney World. I mean, you know, it's cool.

It's cool. But there was a place there where she actually, with her husband, they see a really eloquent teacher who's telling people really cool things about Jesus. But he doesn't have the whole story. He's not getting it quite right. So they don't blow him up. They don't embarrass him publicly. They take him into their home. And they teach him the full way of God. It's a really beautiful way to do that. Priscilla helped. You see someone like Phoebe. Phoebe is the person who, Paul, this is years later, but Phoebe is the one that actually took the letter to Rome. We call Romans. Romans is the word we were looking for there. So she takes the letter of Romans in your New Testament to the church in Rome. Now most tradition would tell you, many scholars agree, that the person who delivers the letter is the one who actually reads the letter out loud to the recipients. So imagine it's Phoebe who is explaining and introducing this letter written by her mentor and friend, Paul. And all sorts of things are happening. But it's not just them. It's unnamed people. It's the people you know.

We don't know their names. Who funded the early church. Listen to me, those of you who remind yourselves that you're not crazy for investing in the kingdom. And you just wonder, is it doing any good? How far out does it reach? I will tell you, I told somebody this week, there is a moment coming where God is gonna sit you down in eternity and say, let me show you your legacy. Unnamed people who are doing that, who are serving, who feel prompted by God to then go and to tell a village about Jesus. All of these things are happening. Many of them are persecuted, they're harassed, they're hounded, and many of them lost their lives, but they never back down. You look in Acts chapter 11 and you see what I think is really one of the pivotal moments. There is a church there mentioned in the city of Antioch. Now Antioch is in the country of what we would now call Syria. Antioch was really one of the first mega churches. It's a place where you begin to see they have like a leadership development thing going on. They're raising up leaders. They take money and then give it to other areas of relief. Even Jerusalem, they kind of help care for Jerusalem. They're a missionary sending church, so they send Paul and Barnabas out. Antioch was a big deal. Here's what you need to know about Antioch.

By the time the apostles got to Antioch, it was already a started church. It was blowing and going. It wasn't those guys who did it. It was people, unnamed people who felt prompted to go I'm telling you, God is using all sorts of ways to get this going. But if you'd have taken people like God, I don't know, let's say Lydia or Epaphroditus, these are people who are barely mentioned in the story. If you'd have said to them, hey, there's gonna come a day where the church is prevailing like three, four centuries later, the church is prevailing. They would say to you, that makes sense. Jesus is Lord. If you said to them, three centuries from now, a Roman emperor is going to publicly confess Jesus as Lord. And they'll come a time when the Roman Empire topples and it will be no more. But there'll be churches and hospitals and schools planted around the world in the great name of Jesus. They would look at you and say, how's that gonna happen? Why? Because sometimes when you are staring face to face with something so big and so intimidating and so immovable, you wonder, you just wonder. Anybody here ever felt overwhelmed? Anybody here ever looked at an obstacle in your life

and obstacle in even getting the word out about Jesus? Maybe it's someone in your family, maybe it's something that's going on at school, maybe it's something in the world that you're just looking at a headline and you go, I'm just overwhelmed and I wonder, I wonder, I wonder. In 1983, a man by the name of Lorne Whitehead, I want to give him props, discovered something and we're just gonna call it the domino chain reaction. And what he found was, and by the way, this is your basic formula for geometric progression down here so you guys can kind of look at that and you can check the math on that. But what he found was, is that a domino doesn't just knock over a domino that is the same size. It can actually knock one down that's 1.5 times as large. So a two inch domino can knock down a three inch domino, a three inch domino can knock down a four and a half inch domino and it just keeps getting bigger as long as the mass and the height and everything else and it can keep going, which if you really take that all the way out, what you will find is that, so what do we have here? One, two, three, four, five, we've got seven dominoes, 1.5 larger in mass, scale, all of that. This little one is little, this big one's big. This is only seven of them. If we geometric progression took this out, I could tell some of you, I'm looking around this room. Like you haven't listened to anything I said, but I'm now talking math and it is your love language

and you're like, oh, well, stay with me. This is it, here you go. This is what you came for. Eighteen dominoes later, you with me? We could knock over the Eiffel Tower. Now we don't have enough, we don't have enough steel, we don't have enough concrete. And we really don't want to do that to the people of Paris. But this theory, boom, boom, boom, it keeps going. You could knock over the Eiffel Tower. You see, what happened at the beginning was like not that big, but it was enough. (audience laughs) (audience applauds) - Wait, wait. First of all, you have no idea how much active prayer was happening in the back of the room with the guys who did this. Second of all, what I just did there, silly, that'll preach. How does this happen? What have I been telling you? No, we didn't do that on purpose, but it's the spirit of God. What's the Greek word for spirit? Numa. What else does Numa, how is the breath? It's the breath of God in the Hebrew, the ruach hakodesh. It is the breath of God. I'm telling you, it's the spirit that is doing that. What's your point, nerdy, McPhysics?

(audience laughs) My point is, you ever looked at an obstacle and gone, "God, I don't know how this is gonna work. I don't think I had enough." You've ever been so overwhelmed by something going on in your life, your family, your office, your school, your world, that you're going, "This is that big, and I'm that big." You ever been tempted to give up? You ever been tempted to give in? I'm not talking about physics now, we're way beyond physics. I'm talking about the power. When you invite someone quietly or boldly to consider Jesus, when you love someone, when you forgive them, when you serve them with those strings attached, when you listen to all of their questions and help them find an answer, or you say, "I don't know, let's go find it together." When you grieve with someone, when you pray bold prayers again and again and again, I want you to know that you have started a chain reaction. Am I telling you that every person you talk to about Jesus is going to come to Jesus? No, I wish I could, but I'm telling you, you are underestimating all of the chain reactions that your life and your love and your actions are creating. And I don't think you'll fully know it this side of eternity. Andrew had no idea. He was there that day that John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus as the Lamb of God. And so now he goes and he starts to follow Jesus just from a distance. He and a buddy of his, they apparently weren't very inconspicuous about it because at some point Jesus is like, "You fellas need something?" Yeah, we want to spend the day with you. Come, come on. And they do. And it only took one day, one day, and Andrew knew. He didn't have all the answers, but he knew this is the one we've been waiting for. Now, what does he do? Does he go home and do a jig and shut the door and say, "Thank you, God." I found the answer. I'm just going to soak it all in. Now, the first thing he did, well, look at what he did. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him we have found the Messiah. That is the Christ. And we brought,

and he brought him to Jesus. You see, what Andrew did was he brought Peter to Jesus, and you talk about a chain reaction that then began. Listen to me, the most loving thing you can do is to invite your friends into the story of Jesus. And after that, who knows where God's going to take it. This is coming series that we're about to begin next weekend. We will look at the, some of the most powerful, I think probably famous, poignant words of Jesus spoken on the most difficult night of his life. And as I was going back through those chapters in John this week, it overwhelmed me how timely they are. For me, for you, and I'm going to say for somebody you know, and if you'll allow him to, God will bring a name to your mind this week of somebody who needs to hear what we're going to talk about because this world is aching for hope. And we know his name. But y'all, it's starting now, like now. We pray, do it again, Lord. And we do, we do pray this, but you need to know there is a kind of revival. There is a thing breaking out in our church that we need to give him glory for. We have marriages that are being healed. We have young people that are finding friendships and deepening their relationship with Jesus. We have teenagers who are locking their arms and saying, I will stand for Jesus in this world. We have younger schoolchildren who are learning about Jesus and the stories of God's Word at an early age. We have older people who are finding meaning in ministry and serving. We have people who are beginning their sobriety journey, one of my favorite emails that I get every year on 9/11, because that's when it happened. And boy, is it a good thing to get every 9/11. My friend just emails me and says, Craig, here it is again. I just want to celebrate God's grace and your presence in my life, because this time I'm 33 years sober. Man, whenever you get an email like that, God is faithful, right? So we keep doing this. Some of you are finding reconciliation in your homes. Some of you are learning how to let go of grudges and to forgive others. Some of you have received forgiveness. Some of you are at a place right now where for the first time ever you are letting go of thinking you have to earn your way into this. You let go of religion. You let go of that performance and you rest in grace. What does Augustine say? Our hearts are restless until they rest in thee. And then hundreds and hundreds of people gathered and told a watching world this past June on two nights. We couldn't even get it all done in one night. On two nights, the most we've ever had told the world that they are forgiven, that they're redeemed, that they're with Jesus. I don't know if you were here or not, but it was something. Saturday, the weather was unbelievable. So good, so beautiful. The stories, the worship, the food trucks, the whole thing.

It's a party. I had friends here from out of town who said, who are you people? How is God doing this in your midst? God is up to something. I just went home that night with Robert and said, wow, wow, God is good. Then I opened up my phone and I looked at the weather forecast. and you're going to have to come through." And he did. We were able to have that. It wasn't just that we were able to have it. The ground wasn't even wet. If you were here on that Sunday, there were violent storms. Like, I had to kind of reroute on the way home because there were trees down. Like, it was something, wind, rain, storms, all of it. But by that evening, clear, or at least clear enough to have the service. And the ground wasn't even soggy. God, look at you. If you've ever been to one of these, we're standing at water's edge, and then all of those who are being baptized are now going to come forward. And there's a song that will play. It's connected to the weekend. And then we all start to cry and cheer, and it's just a great way to start the thing. What I will tell you is, for those of you that were there, you'll remember, as soon as they hit the music, as soon as the downbeat of the song started and people started walking, the clouds literally parted and you saw the sun. I'm just telling y'all, this is how it works. This is what God is up to.

If you want to be a part of this church, then you've got to understand this part. If you want to observe this church, then just take in as much as you can handle. And then it's okay, just take in what you can handle. But for those of you who want to step into the story, I want you to know how this happens. It's the Holy Spirit, and oftentimes, it's somebody inviting somebody. Ken says, "I was invited to the crossing by my wife. "We attended every single week, brought our kids, "eventually one day it clicked, "and I decided to give my life to Jesus." Christy said, "My journey started when I was watching "my sister read her Bible and dive into her faith. "Years later, I walked through the doors of the crossing, "and my daughter and her mother-in-law "invited me to their Bible study. "That's when everything changed. "I found Jesus." Jen said, "My husband and I were invited to the crossing." You catching up on the theme here. When we moved here from Columbia last November, I had an encounter with one of the greeting team members that changed the trajectory of my life forever. For the first time ever, I know I have a relationship with Jesus. Ryan says, "My friend induced me to the crossing. "He'd been quietly inviting me for a long time." What a cool way to say that.

And I eventually came to church. He talked about going through stuff. He didn't know he had the strength to continue any further, but he turned to Jesus. He is now my identity. Joshua said, "I grew up around church in South Africa, "but I never really understood what it meant to follow Jesus. "I was invited to the crossing by my then fiance, now wife. "And through the coming year, I found Jesus, Maggie, last one. "I grew up knowing about Jesus because of my mom. "I always knew that I needed more, "and I wanted to figure out what Jesus meant for me personally. "20 plus years ago, I met my friend, Kim, "and she invited me to the crossing. "Time and again, 20 years. "She kept inviting me. "She invited me for 20 years. "She really wants you to know this. "I finally decided to walk through the doors, "and I found Jesus. "I was baptized this past June. "Best decision I've ever made. "Here's what she says, so I just want people to know. "Don't give up on your people. "Keep inviting them. "It's worth it. "Y'all on two nights in June, "we came together to behold the work of God. "People of all ages saying that they're with Jesus, "Son of God, Lord of all, King of Kings,

"the Lamb of God." We are doing exactly what Jesus has to do in Matthew 28. We're going to baptize in the name of our Triune God. And as these people now step into the water from the youngest to the oldest, I pray that for each one of them, that they will know that they know, that they know that they are not alone, that you are close. May they proclaim the good news of Jesus now to a watching world. ♪ There is a song ♪ ♪ I know it last ♪ ♪ My melody that's never failed ♪ ♪ On mountains high ♪ ♪ In valleys low ♪ ♪ My soul rests ♪ ♪ My confidence in you alone ♪ ♪ All paths are made ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ My Savior's cross ♪ ♪ Has said this near the free home has a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh Christ be praised ♪ ♪ I have victory ♪ ♪ There is a light salvation slain ♪ ♪ Christ undefeaten, tremble that rain ♪ ♪ Sing now the cross ♪ ♪ Be lifted high ♪ ♪ The light has come ♪

♪ The light has won ♪ ♪ The order cries ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ My Savior's cross ♪ ♪ Has set this in a free ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh Christ be praised ♪ ♪ I have been free ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ My Savior's cross ♪ ♪ Has set this in a free ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ There'll be a day ♪ ♪ My whole country ♪ ♪ Now home and glory ♪ ♪ Your face I'll see ♪

♪ My pain no more ♪ ♪ My fear will cease ♪ ♪ I bow my life ♪ ♪ I fix my eyes ♪ ♪ On Christ my King ♪ ♪ I bow my life ♪ ♪ I fix my eyes ♪ ♪ On Christ my King ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ My Savior's cross ♪ ♪ I set the sin of grief ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, Christ be praise ♪ ♪ I am here to be ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ My Savior's cross ♪ ♪ I set the sin of grief ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, Christ be praise ♪ ♪ I am here to be ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ My Savior's cross ♪

♪ I set the sin of grief ♪ ♪ Oh, as a name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, Christ be praise ♪ ♪ I am here to be ♪ ♪ Oh, Christ be praise ♪ ♪ I am here to be ♪ ♪ Oh, Christ be praise ♪ ♪ I am here to be ♪ ♪ Oh, Christ be praise ♪ ♪ I am here to be ♪ ♪♪♪ -Yeah, man. [ Applause ] I hope we never get used to that. I hope we are willing to allow ourselves to be undone by the work of God in our midst and let's give Him the glory. It is all Him. It is all Him. Forgiveness is real. Grace can be yours. Hope has a name. If you want to talk about that, you come find us. go into your offices, your schools, your families, and tell people about Jesus, and then come back next week. And maybe you invite them with you, because I didn't God is up to something. Thank you for being here.

(audience applauding) (upbeat music)