Week 4 | Step Out in Prayer

Not just how do we reach people, but also asking how do we help form them? The second question is actually the harder question because it's slower. It doesn't produce the same kind of visible momentum that a packed weekend service or a new campus opening has. And yet, it might actually be the most important work that a church ever does. Because a church that reaches people but doesn't form them actually hasn't changed anything. It's just grown a crowd. And we've never been content as a church with just growing a crowd. You know, when weekend attendance exploded, it became clear that the people were coming, but they weren't necessarily growing. Our leaders made this what felt like a counterintuitive decision at the time. And the decision was that the bigger we got as a church, the smaller we needed to become. And out of that conviction, small groups were born, not as a program, but as a foundational philosophy. A belief that genuine formation happens in relationship around a table, around the ordinary rhythms of life that we get to share together. A few years back, we launched Rooted, this 10-week discipleship experience, that helps people establish spiritual rhythms that produce lasting growth in their lives. Rooted has catalyzed people's faith. Thousands upon thousands of people have experienced it. And now people are asking the question, "What's next? What's after Rooted?" And here's what I know after these years. Formation is not efficient. You can't scale it in a way that you scale a weekend service. It happens one person at a time, one conversation at a time, one group at a time, over months and years, not days and weeks. But the fruit is unlike anything else that a church produces. Our goal is to continue to provide ways for people to practice the rhythms of faith that we're learned in Rooted. Because the practices themselves, they don't change, but the ways that we experienced them actually might change. And so through Step Out, we will build a spiritual formation pathway that pairs technology with discipleship content and group resources to meet people wherever they're at on the spiritual journey. And to help them take their own personalize next step. We're also creating new gathering spaces for connection and community at our South Crescent campus. Because we know that formation doesn't happen in isolation. It happens in a relationship. Clear pathways, biblical depth, relational connection. That's the vision.

And it's built on 50 years of refusing to settle for a church that simply reaches people without taking responsibility of what happens next in their journey. Discipleship is this series of yeses. Every time Jesus does come, someone has to decide whether they're going to take that next step. What's true for Peter on that water is true for the person who walked into Willow for the first time last weekend. And it's true for each one of us. The question Step Out is asking, is it what are you willing to give? It's who are you willing to become? And are you willing to be a part of helping someone else in their becoming too? So, Willow, let's be the kind of church that's committed to make disciples. Hi, great to have you here this morning, doing a welcome all of our Willow campuses. Big shout out to Willow Huntley and Crystal Lake. Shout out to our friends at North Shore and South Lake and our friends down at Wheaton. Great to have you all here. I want to welcome all of those joining us online. People join us online all over the country. So, wherever you're at, a big welcome to you. And as always, a big shout out to our brothers who join us at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. Love you guys. Love that you're a part of our church family. I'm excited that we're all here today as we continue this series we've been in for the last few weeks. We're calling Step Out. It's we're in week four of a six-week journey that we believe is a formative type of journey in our life. And so, this series we're sharing with you the vision that we believe that God has put on the hearts of our church and really where He's taking us next. And part of what you just watched is a portion of that video that's all about discipleship. He doesn't just want us to help people find Christ. He wants us to help people follow Christ at the same time. It's all about the formation of our hearts and who we ultimately become. And truly, my prayer for the entire Step Out series is that it would be a discipleship series. It would form our hearts. It would shape us into who God wants us to be.

It's a really, really grateful that you're on this journey with us. Now, as we've said from week one, Two weeks from now, week six, November the 8th, in what we're gonna do is we come together as an entire church to make a financial commitment to allow God's dream for our church to be resourced so that it can come into reality. It's what's not a have-to, it's a get-to that you and I, we get to partner with the living God in the greatest mission on planet Earth to make an eternal difference in the lives of people. I mean, what a privilege that we get to do just that. But as we've said from the very beginning, it's not just about a financial commitment, it all starts with the formation of our heart. It's we don't ever wanna be people. We just simply write a check without having our lives truly changed by the one that we're ultimately giving back to. And so first and foremost, this is a formation type of experience. Now we've also said from the beginning, if you're a brand new around Willow, we're just ecstatic that you're here. Please feel zero financial pressure to participate in that way. You're a guest, we're excited you're here. I want you to hear about our church, what makes us excited, where God's taking us next,

and maybe just maybe God will invite you to join us in this incredible, exhilarating journey to be a part of his mission. Now throughout this series, we've been following the life of Peter. And I love Peter's life. He was one of Jesus' closest friends, his closest followers. But what I love about his life is he's this case study of what God can do when God gets ahold of somebody's life. I mean, we first meet Peter when he's this ordinary, unschooled fisherman fishing on the sea of Galilee, and God transforms his life to years later that he stands in front of a huge crowd and becomes the greatest proclaimer of the good news of Jesus. So how does somebody go from this unschooled, ordinary person that nobody's paying attention to to become really the epicenter of God's activity and what God wanted to do through him? It was this formative type of journey. And so we've been following his journey because the same God that formed his life, I think is the same God that wants to form your life into form mine as well. It's the day we're gonna be in the book of Acts chapter two. So if you've got a Bible, you can turn to Acts chapter one and we're gonna start in chapter one and we'll go to chapter two as well.

Now just so you know where we're at in the timeline of everything that happens, we'll have to fast forward from what we've been talking about Peter's journey to where we're gonna go today. Acts chapter one and two is on the other side of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. And you think about what happened, we talked about last week to what happened today, Peter's made a few mistakes. You know, Peter fell asleep on Jesus in his most crucible hour in the Garden of Yosemite. Peter was the guy that took out a sword and tried to swipe a dude's ear off when Jesus was being arrested. Peter was the guy that denied Jesus three times around a fire. And so he's had a couple of failures along the way in his formation process, but you get to the other side of Jesus' resurrection and Peter's a changed guy. It may be understandably so 'cause if your best friend died and you attended your best friend's funeral and then your best friend conquered death and you were spending time with you a few days later, that would change you, wouldn't you say? And so that was Peter's journey. He was radically changed after encountering the resurrected Jesus.

And so he'd now spent a couple of weeks with Jesus' post-resurrection. And then Jesus, before he ascends into heaven, he gives what we now call the great commission to his disciples. He commissions them to the mission that they are going to step into and take a hold of and really be about this world-changing type of mission. Now, this great commission's captured a couple of different ways and various books of the Bible, but in the book of Acts, it's captured in this way. Book of Acts chapter one, verse eight, Jesus says this. He says you will receive power. He's talking to Peter as well as all the disciples. He says you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth. In other words, Jesus gave them this God-sized vision about how God wanted to use their lives. That they were no longer gonna just fish for fish. Jesus told Peter that he was gonna be a fisher of men. That through his life and through his leadership that God would literally transform the world in which we knew. And so how does this ordinary guy do such God-ordained type of work? Now, what's interesting about this particular passage

is if you really lean into the commission of what happens here, I think there's a few principles that we want to see. Because the principles that are attached to what happened 2000 years ago are still applicable to us today. The same commission that God gave his disciples 2000 years ago is the same commission that he would give you and I today. And I would argue that this commission matters as much today as it's ever meant. I don't have to convince you I would argue that we've never been as divided as a world as we are even right now, and that's highlighted as we engage in another election cycle in our country. And so we recognize that there are all kinds of massive problems that exist in our world. The question becomes, who's actually equipped to solve them? Now, I think what we can all agree on both left and right, regardless of what our political perspective is, we can agree on the world is not as it should be. We can agree on that, right? The question is, who can do something about it? And I'm convinced there's not a politician that can create a policy that can solve the brokenness of our world. I'm convinced that there's not an educator that can teach a good enough lesson that will solve the brokenness of our world. Because the only way to redeem a world

is to redeem the hearts of people. There is only one person who has the power to actually redeem somebody's heart. Now, I'm not suggesting in any way that government doesn't matter, it does. I'm not suggesting that education doesn't matter, it does. What I am suggesting is not a politician nor an educator has the power to change a human heart. There's only one in the universe that has the power to change a human heart, and that's Jesus himself. And so that's why we say, Jesus working through his local church is the hope of the world. My friends, we don't need a quick fix, we need a savior, we need a redeemer, we need one who can transform us from the inside out. It's what our world desperately needs, and that's why God working through his local church is the hope of the world. Our church needs you, our world needs you. And not that you and I can change a human heart either, we cannot, but we can introduce people to the one who can. And that's the commission that God put on his disciples in Acts chapter one, and it's the same commission that's extended to you and I. And so these principles are so applicable to us in the here and now. So let me give you the first principle, the first principle is this.

We gotta be people who seek God first. Says this in Acts chapter one verse four. Says on one occasion while he was eating with him, that he's reference to Jesus, while Jesus was eating with him, he gave them this command, do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father has promised. Which you've heard me speak about, for John baptized with water, but in just a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And so this is in the same context of the conversation, this great commission that we just described. And so what I imagine it being, if you allow me to use my imagination a little bit, I imagine this being almost like a locker room pep-tock moment. Jesus is about to ascend. He's about to empower his disciples to go to do this, life-changing, eternity-altering type of work. And I can imagine he's kind of pumping him up. You know, it's almost like, let's think about like a Ben Johnson Bear's locker room type of moment. You know the moment where Ben's like, "Good, better, best." You're not with me. Are you with me, right? Never let it rest. So you're good as better, and you're better as best. And then maybe you have a little stinky leg,

you know, in there somewhere as well. If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask somebody else. It's like a Ben Johnson locker room type of moment. Now, if you can imagine in that locker room has been kind of gets all the boys pumped up to go take the field. Imagine he says what Jesus says. Hey, I want you to wait. Wait is my least favorite four-letter word in the English language. I don't want to wait. Especially if somebody's giving me a pep-tock and they're pumping me up for something, I want to be activated. I want to go do the work right now. But if you notice what just said, Jesus says, I want you to wait. Why? It's because of what he said in Acts chapter one, verse eight, he says that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. In other words, what God is doing is he's calling them to a supernatural kind of work. Here's the truth. You cannot do God's work without God's power. You can't do it. It's actually not possible. He was calling them to a world-changing kind of work that would flip the world upside down

in the city they were in and the neighboring regions that maybe they would be world-changing kind of people. How do these ordinary people become world-changing types of people? It is God's work that requires God's power. Do not get ahead of what God is trying to do in our lives. Jesus is not teaching them to take a passive approach. He's teaching them to wait on him that we cannot do God's work with man's power. And so what did they do in response to that? And they actually obeyed him. It said that then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill they called them out of olives. It's about a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Now this upstairs room was likely the same upstairs room where the last supper had happened. It's a place that they frequented very often. Now there's a whole group of people there. Some of them are listed here. Those present were Peter who's kind of our case study here along with every other disciple that gets mentioned. And then it says they all joined together consistently in prayer along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. A couple of verses later it tells us there are actually 120 people that were gathered in that upper room. And when they gathered they weren't gathering

in a passive way. They were gathering in a very active way. What were they doing while they waited? It's not a trick question. They were praying because they said they all joined together constantly in prayer. Here's why a powerful life is a prayerful life. That if you want to be somebody who is empowered by the great power of our great God there's this undeniable connection between God's power and the prayers of his people. And so they didn't wait passively. They weren't twiddling their thumb. They weren't playing bingo with one another. Instead they were on their knees. They were seeking God's face. They were waiting for God to move because he had called them to something so great and so significant that it was gonna take a miraculous movement of God. They could not go in front of God. They had to wait on God's power. And so they took this really, really prayerful posture in doing that. Now notice what it said they all joined together constantly in prayer. And I love that word 'cause it indicates if they had this persistent steadfast, almost this obstinate devotion. They had this stubborn faith

that they just weren't willing to rest. It's almost like they were just on the doorsteps of heaven just begging God to show up in a way that only God could show up. I would say it this way when we get this posture right. If we're gonna be people who participate in the work of God, we must remain utterly dependent on the power of God. And that comes through prayer. Now as I was studying for this message this week, I experienced quite a bit of conviction because if I'm really candid with you, I don't know if your life looks anything like mine, but if I'm really candid, prayers sometimes not my first response. Sometimes I go to it as a last resort. Here's what I mean. I'm candidly in my life. Sometimes when I'm facing something really challenging, the first thing that I do is actually pick up the phone. And sometimes I call a friend that's a trusted friend to seek out some advice. Sometimes I'll pick up my phone, I'll go to social media to my favorite influencers to get a little perspective on whatever the thing might be. Sometimes I'll ask JPT, chat, tell me. How would you go about this particular thing? And so it's amazing that I'll go seek out all kinds of wisdom and advice and answers from all kinds of sources.

And the question that God pressed to my heart is where do you place me in all this? And it's not as if those things are bad inherently, it's good to seek out counsel and advice from trusted people. It's okay to gather perspective from those so you've walked the journey a little bit ahead of you. I actually think there's some valuable uses of AI in our world, but it's not at the expense of carving God out of our life. Why do I sometimes not go to God as a first response? I go to him as a last resort. When the advice runs out, when I've already considered everything else, when nothing else works, then I'll drop to my knees and ask God. But sometimes I'm mistaken that you and I, as followers of Jesus, have the Holy Spirit of God in us, do you know that you have the access to the power of the God who spoke everything into existence? Do you understand that you and I, through the Holy Spirit, have access to the same power that sprung Jesus from the grave, that you and I have access to the power of an all-powerful God. Why in the world would I go to other sources before I go to the source of the greatest power in all of the universe? It's what convicted me this week. It's a statement I'm gonna share with you. Candently it's a little bit cheesy, but maybe it'll be memorable for you. Here was the conviction for me.

Before you go to your phone, go to his throne. (audience applauding) Before you go to your phone, go to his throne. Do we understand the power that God wants to put into place? I would say this, every single week at our church services across all of our locations including at JCCC, we have prayer team members that are here and available to respond to whatever prayer needs or concerns that people have. And I hope that if you ever have something that you're battling, that you're up against, that you don't know how to overcome, I hope that you don't just walk down to the prayer team, I hope that you run down to the prayer team. Do you understand what's happening in those moments that we are pounding on the door of heaven asking God to intervene in the natural world? We believe in a God who can do powerful things and can do the miraculous things that we cannot do on our own. We're asking God to do what only he can do. The reality is I can't reconcile a marriage. He can't. I can't heal somebody's body. He can. I can't restore what's been broken, but God can. And so every single week on behalf of all those who come down, our prayer team is petitioning constantly on behalf of people asking for a miraculous move of God. And I'll tell you the stories are absolutely incredible.

And I would encourage you, every single week, take the opportunity as God leads you to not just go to your phone, but to go to his throne. (congregation applauding) Because you cannot do God's work without God's power. So that's the first principle, seek God first. Here's the second principle. Let's make people who seek God together. I wanna take us back to that upper room. I wanna take us back to that gathering that was there. I wanna take us back to a verse that we've already read. Notice what it said. It says, they all joined what? Together. They all joined together constantly in prayer along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. Again, they're roughly about 120 in that upper room. And they were in it together. What I love about that is this is perspective that the mission that Jesus gave in Acts chapter one verse eight was never intended to be carried by one unusually gifted individual. It's always meant to be the collective mission of the entire body of Christ. It's about the collective believers that are working together and praying together and living together and seeking God together and responding to God's voice together. It's always meant to be a together type of experience.

The same is true as it relates to step out. When it comes to step out, this is not going to happen because of a handful of highly committed people who pray hard and give generously. My friends, it's going to take literally all of us. It's why when we talked about from week one, we talked about the goal of step out. And we said the first goal is a spiritual goal and our prayer is it takes a hundred percent participation because the beauty in a hundred percent participation is we get to live out the principle of Acts chapter one that the entire group was together. We're all seeking God together. We're all listening to his voice. We all step out in obedience to him. It's about all of us going together. It's a hundred percent participation. When the people of God seek God together, I think there's a supernatural movement that can play out through those people. So let me talk specifically about step out. Again, this is not just a financial piece, it's a spiritual one, but I do want to make sure you're equipped for what's going to happen in a couple of weeks. And as you think about the commitment card that you received a couple of weeks ago and we'll give you another one when we get there, I want you to see this as not just a financial document, see this as a spiritual one.

And if you participate in it in the way that our heart would reflect, you're praying through specific things. So can I give you three specific prayer prompts related to this? What you'll see in the card are some different things to consider with a commitment. And I think each one, if understood correctly, can be a prayer prompt for what God might have, you do or consider. The first is when it comes to step out and the commitment we'll make is not a commitment in addition to our normal ties and offerings, it actually includes our ties and offerings. So what we're calling a one fund commitment. And so if you look at the card, the first blank on there is where somebody would just reflect, here's what I gave last year to God at Willow Creek. And I would encourage you to see this as a prayer prompt of Thanksgiving. I mean, how cool is it? That God has blessed you in the way that He's blessed you, He's entrusted you in the way that He's entrusted you and that you've chosen to steward some of your earthly resources to have eternal impact. That's a prayer of Thanksgiving. That's an amazing, amazing thing. The second blank is one that I would call a prayer of faith. And we're saying in light of this mission that God has called us to,

in this coming season, what would that look like? That would be a step of faith. And so the prayer goes something like God, what kind of faith are you trying to develop in my life? And if I were to express that faith in some sort of number, what would that look like? And I would encourage you to pray a prayer of faith. The last blank on there is what I would call a prayer of sacrifice. You'll notice that we call it something around stored resources. It's just where we consider, what does God already put in my hands? And is there anything that God's already put in my hands that I could steward for the sake of this mission and eternal impact? And I think this could be true, there could be something in this for all of us. For example, it could be an example of a young married couple who just found out that they're expecting. And so he promised her that he would sell that motorcycle before the baby came. And as he does so, what if God prompted him to steward the resources of the cell at motorcycle to give it toward eternal impact? And so people will consider all kinds of things. They'll consider cars and motorcycles and RVs, they'll consider properties, they'll consider stocks and all kinds of different things. But it's just asking the question,

God, is there something that you've already entrusted to me that I might be able to steward for the sake of people coming to know you and coming to follow you as well? It's for eternal impact. But again, I wanna ask that you make this a very prayerful journey because we will not do the work of God without the power of God. And I want you to understand, I'm not just asking you to do something. I'm asking you to ask God whatever he might lead you to. Is that's one way that we can kind of process what it looks like for us to do together? Let me give you a totally different piece of application. I was wrestling with this this week as well. We have over 4,000 people in small groups right now, which is absolutely incredible. I love everything about that. People doing like together, people who are known by each other, it's amazing. Now, for those of you who've been a part of small groups, what you know is a typical rhythm within a group environment is at the end of the group. Oftentimes, we take prayer requests in the group. Does that sound familiar? Anybody been in the group? You've experienced that moment? Okay. And so if you've been in groups that are like mine,

typically what happens is fairly predictable. And so people will share some of the difficult things that they're navigating. You know, I've got this relational challenge, I would value some prayer. We're facing this health circumstance, I could value some prayer, or I'm facing this challenge at work who is used to prayer. All really, really good things. Bible's really clear that we should pursue God with prayer and petition, we can bring any request to God. And so in no way is that a bad thing. That's a good thing. However, what I was reflecting about this week is I think through all the different group experiences I've ever been in is sometimes that's where our prayer requests stop. And I wonder if God might be calling us to something in addition to that. In other words, what if we started praying for the mission? What if we started praying for the movement of God to shift this world in which we live? Is what if we started praying for the neighbor and his soul because he doesn't yet know Jesus? What if we started praying for our place of work that God might shift the culture and that he would really move in a powerful way? What if we started praying that God would empower his church and this church to be a world-changing type of church? What if we prayed for a movement of God in Chicagoland?

The Chicagoland might become an epicenter for his activity not only that really impacts this local region, but maybe it could impact the entire country if not the entire world. What would it look like if our prayers weren't just always self-focused, but were on kingdom focused? Let me remind us what the power was intended to do. The power is available for you in your life, but it doesn't just stop with us. The power is not just to make our lives a little bit better and a little bit more comfortable. The power that comes from God is ultimately for his mission, that hearts would be softened, that hearts would be receptive, that knees would be bent to Jesus for the very first time, that people would take radical steps of faith, that people would come to know him and understand him, that people's heart would be redeemed, they would experience forgiveness, they would experience hope for the very first time, they would experience eternal life. God's power is available, not just to meet my needs, but to blow out his mission for the sake of changing the world. And so may we be the kind of people that we certainly can pray for our own needs, but let's not stop there. How does God want to bend your group for the needs of your neighborhood, your community, your city, how does God want to use your life in a world-changing kind of way?

Now I'll warn you, if you pray to that end, don't be surprised that God will open up doors that you didn't expect and will challenge you to take steps that will make you feel a little bit uncomfortable. Bring a big, bold prayer that kind of turned their world upside down, but allowed them to make an eternal impact. Here's their story. - In order for us to step out, we need to obey what God is prompting us to do. If we don't obey, we can hear from God, we can learn about God, but we will never really experience God personally. - So in 2017, God started this homeless ministry through us. That it was extremely cold. We knew that one of the elderly ladies was going to sleep in our car that night. So I was like, okay, what am I gonna do? What am I supposed to do? And I was just like thinking, okay, this is already too late. I should just bring her home. - He didn't ask me first. We didn't talk about it. Immediate reaction was just anger, rage, harsh words, bitterness. So I pray that God will forgive my anger and rage and harsh words towards Kurt and this whole situation. And I ask him, but Lord, I can't do this. I can't do this, so don't, God, you gotta help me.

It was a few days in, I heard country music. I heard people, a kid's laughing with her. And even in that moment, I had this judgmental mindset and thinking, how can they be so free? And then I turned around and something caught in my eye. There was a fourth person in our living room. When I realized it was Jesus, I sank to the floor. His eyes were so tender and so compassionate towards me. So I walked to the living room and I joined them. I was already crying. I was a mess in the best way. I bet my boys and she didn't know why I was crying. But at that time, I was the least of these in Matthew 25. I came home and you seemed completely different for a second. Like, what happened? And then for the first time, it was your gospel to her. And she came to be alone with us on Sundays and worship together. We thought, we're just doing it to them. They were serving them. We're doing it for Jesus or for these people. But then we received so much. Our hearts get convicted, our mindset changed. So the whole cycle, we give each other God's grace and experience God's grace.

So that cycle was happening in our home. I'm excited about this step out series because just imagining, I don't know, thousands of people throughout our campuses, just obeying God's prompting and experience God. What can, what would happen to our church and throughout the Chicago land? Just because we obeyed and stepped out, God will do miracles and change people's lives, praying for the spiritual revival for our church and for the Chicago land. And that this will be a great starting point of that revival because of our church members obeying God's promptings and experience the transformation in their lives. And that'll be an amazing thing to win this. Curt and Sarah actually still serve some of the unhoused population. And I prayed some bold prayers and God opened up some incredible doors and they stepped out into what was fairly uncomfortable. But what they saw God do was absolutely miraculous because God's work requires God's power. And so we want to be the kind of church that this seeks God first, that said, we want to be the kind of church that seeks God together. And then it equips us to be able to step out in obedience. So if you turn to chapter two of the book of Acts, the story continues and they've been waiting and they've been praying and then here the moment comes. It says, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all what?

They were still all together. All 120 of them were still together in one place. So suddenly, as a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting, they saw what seemed in each one of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. So just imagine the scene. For days they gathered in this open, in this upper room and they had petitioned heaven. They'd ask God to move and then God moves. And it describes what happened in these images of wind and fire that both came down from heaven as though it was obvious from God. And that God empowered his people, those 120 disciples with what's called the Holy Spirit, like God's Spirit, God's power at work within us. And what happens shortly after this moment is Peter, who's turning, we've been following all the way through step out, Peter takes another step out. And he steps out of this upper room and it's Pentecost in Jerusalem. So there's only thousands of people in the street. And Peter steps out and he preaches the very first sermon that was ever preached about the good news that's found in Jesus. I mean, think about that for just a moment. This fisherman from the Sea of Galilee

that Jesus meets and he says, "Come follow me." And he says, "I'm gonna make you a fisher of men. Fast forward three years." And now God uses him to reach so many people in a life-changing, eternity-altering type of way. And the response was absolutely amazing to this message that's recorded for us in Acts chapter two. I mean, think about this. The same Peter who fell asleep in Gethsemane. The same Peter who denied Jesus around a campfire is the same Peter who's now empowered with the greatest mission on planet earth. And so he preaches this message and here was people's response. It says, "When people heard this and heard the message, they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, like what do we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized every one of you. In the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." In other words, you will also receive the same power. And then a couple of verses later, notice what I said this. Those who accepted his message that day were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. And so the church went from 120 people to 3,100 in 20 people in 24 hours. It's this movement of God. You can clap for the 3,120 people

who came to faith on that day. And so it was this incredible, powerful work of God that was so far beyond Peter. What did Peter do? Peter bent his knee, Peter waited, Peter received the power that come from God so that he was now equipped to do the work of God. The same thing that happened in Peter's life, I think is the same thing that God wants to do in and through our life. I don't believe that miracles stopped some 2,000 years ago. I believe in a God who still works miracles. I still believe in a God who's still changing hearts. I still believe in a God who is restoring marriages, who is freeing people from addiction, who is bringing people to send Jesus. I believe that God is still the God who's still at work, healing bodies, but he's also healing souls. I believe in a God who is moving so vividly and so actively that people's eternities are altering literally in moments like these. I believe in a God of miracles. And so we're gonna be a church that continues to pray for the miraculous and also plan for the miraculous. Now I learned this one a little bit the hard way, just a few months ago, moment of vulnerability for you. A couple months ago, maybe some of you were with us when we did a good Friday service right here at South Barrington. And if you remember the service before that service, we as a team, we actually prayed quite a bit

about that service. We actually prayed that God might do a miracle and do something beyond what we expected. We looked at our attendance across all of our locations the few years before. And we had roughly five to 6,000 people that would participate in good Friday across all of our campuses combined. We thought, well, what if we just bring everybody together? Everybody can fit within the South Barrington Droom. But then we prayed this prayer, God, would you surprise us? Would you bring more people that we even have seats to facilitate? And we prayed that consistently, we prayed it daily, we prayed it with great expectation. And then the day came and God answered the prayer if you remember you were here. We literally ran out of seats. We were putting people in overflow spaces that we hadn't exactly prepared for. The challenge was we had communion that we were gonna facilitate that particular day. And we didn't know if we had enough communion elements for the people who were here. And so we were literally turning over every rock in the building to see if we had enough communion elements. Somebody found a box. They said, I think this is gluten-free communion. Does that work? And we were like gluten, gluten-free,

spice of gluten, extra gluten. We will take it all, right? that God miraculously has brought. I mean, it was just well beyond our expectation. And so on one hand, it was kind of this thrilling experience to see God move in such a powerful way. But candidly, I got convicted within a few hours and certainly within the days ahead. Because the truth is we prayed for the miracle, but we planned for what was expected. We didn't have the overflow rooms ready. We didn't have the communion ready. And so we prayed that God would show up in a way that only God would show up, but yet we planned somewhere down here. And God really convicted my heart. Like why in the world would God do a miracle and entrust us with a miracle if we're not gonna be planned to receive the miracle? And so I committed that day as leader of this church that God's entrusted me with. I will never again pray for a miracle and plan for anything less than a miracle. (congregation applauding) We're gonna be a praying church. And we're gonna pray to God to show up in good ways that only God can show up. And even through step out, this dream is a God-sized dream. We're praying that God will do the miraculous through us as a church.

I'm also praying that God will do the miraculous in us as a church. And we are praying for with great expectancy in what we pray for, we will plan for. And we pray that God's gonna move in a way that only God can move. And so here's my encouragement to you. Maybe my challenge to you as we leave today. Would you join us in that prayer? Would you every day for the next few weeks pray for a movement of God in our neighborhoods? Pray for a movement of God through his church. Pray for a movement of God in our city. Maybe just maybe God might pour out his spirit in such a way that Chicago land becomes an epicenter of God's activity that really could turn this world upside down. Do you believe that some of the greatest problems that are being faced right now could be met by the redemptive power of our great God? I'm no longer in a posture that wants to play it safe. Let's step into God-sized moments and God-sized dreams and trust God to do what only God can do. But it starts with his people posturing their hearts in prayer. We will not go before God moves. So would you pray with us? Would you pray for us? Would you this week in your group? Would you pray for the soul of your neighbor? Would you pray for a movement in your neighborhood?

Would you pray for a movement in our city? Would you ask God to do a supernatural work in and through his church? Now, remind of those words that Paul wrote in the book of Ephesians chapter three, verse 20. It's our prayer. Now, to him who's able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine according to his, according to his power, it's a work within us. Let's be a praying church. Let's be an expected church. Let's see what only God can do as he turns this world upside down. But God, we love you. And God, we're convinced as good as other systems are in our world, they will never solve the problems in our world because God, our world needs a savior. And so Father, we recognize our incapability to change another human heart. But God, we can introduce to the people, to the one who can change a human heart. So God work in us, God mold us, God shape us, God move us, God help us pray bold prayers and expect bold things. God, we just ask for a movement of your spirit. And God may leave you people who are willing to step out in response to what you call us to. God, we love you. We say thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.