What Are You Willing to Give Your Life For? | Acts 8:1-8 | Kevin Queen

Welcome to church, how are you? Why don't you stand to your feet, say hello to someone next to you real quick. Welcome to the ladies at God Behind Bars, we love you. More importantly, Jesus loves you and sees you right where you are. Well, whether you are coming into the house of the Lord today with heaviness or expectation, we can be reminded that we stand on the promises of God in this house, amen? So let us come together, let us look to Him the Redeemer, the Restorer, the Pioneer of our faith, this church belongs to Jesus. Are you ready to sing, church? Come on, let's worship Him today. Come on with me. Come on, meet with me. Come on, lift your voice. Come on, lift up your hands, you blood-bought saints. Swing wide the doors and bless His name. We are His house, His people. His church belongs to Jesus. And we build our lives on Christ the Lord. Come on, peace our hearts. He is our rock, our cornerstone. Yeah, yeah. It's here and now, we pray. His will be, that your will be done, Lord. It's here and now, His kingdom reigns in us. Oh, yeah.

Lift up your hands, you blood-bought saints. Swing wide the doors and bless His name. We are His house, His people. His church belongs to Jesus. Oh, it belongs to you, Lord. His church belongs to Jesus. And all glory and all honor and all power and all authority, all wisdom and dominion forever to our Lord. And come on, sing it. All glory. All honor. All power. All power to you, God. And all authority and all wisdom and dominion forever to our Lord and King. It's your spirit. It's your presence here with us. You are all we need. And our Savior, our Shepherd. King Jesus, you have everything. King Jesus. Sing, lift up your hands, you blood-bought saints. Swing wide the doors and bless His name. We are His house, His people. And this church belongs to Jesus. And lift up your hands, you blood-bought saints. Swing wide the doors. We bless your name, Jesus. His house, His people.

This church belongs to Jesus. To you and you alone, Lord. This church belongs to Jesus. It belongs to you. And this church belongs to Jesus. Amen. We're standing on the promises today, church. God, we look to you. We need you. Come on, let's continue to sing. This is a house of worship. This is a place of praise. Where every demon trembles, where we proclaim your name. Say Jesus. This is a house of healing. Oh, we need healing today. Our hearts are full of faith. You have a full house. All eyes are on you, Lord. You have the final say. Say come alive in the name of Jesus. Come alive in the name of Jesus. This is a house of miracles. We bring everything to the feet of Jesus. Everything in the name of Jesus. This is a house of miracles. Oh, we believe, Lord. Help our unbelief. Come on, church. Do you believe today?

It's a good day for a miracle. Amen. There's resurrection power. We declare. Your blood runs through our veins. It's in your kingdom. Your kingdom. Oh, it's triumphant. Even the coldest, the coldest rain. Say come alive in the name of Jesus. Come alive in the name of Jesus. This is a house of miracles. We bring everything to the feet of Jesus. Everything in the name of Jesus. This is a house of miracles. Come alive. Come alive. Come alive in the name of Jesus. Come alive in the name of Jesus. This is a house of miracles. Oh, we bring it to you. Everything to the feet of Jesus. Everything in the name of Jesus. This is a house of miracles. I still believe you're new. I still believe you're speaking. God, I believe you're working. All things for good. Some of you need to be reminded of that today. Come on, fix your eyes.

God, I believe you're working. God, I believe you're working. All things for good. I still believe you're moving. I still believe you're speaking. He's speaking. He's speaking. I still believe you're working. All things for good. He's working it all. God, I fix my eyes on heaven. God, I receive your vision. God, I believe you're working. All things for good. Come alive in the name of Jesus. Come alive in the name of Jesus. This is a house. A house of miracles. And we bring everything to the feet of Jesus. Everything in the name of Jesus. This is a house. I believe it is. Come alive in the name of Jesus. Come alive. Come alive in the name of Jesus. Oh, this is your house. And we bring everything to the feet of Jesus. Everything in the name of Jesus. Oh, this is a house. This is a house of miracles.

Signs and wonders. Oh, his spirit is alive. His spirit is alive. Oh, come and heal us, Jesus. Oh, we look to you, Jesus, now. This is a house of miracles. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Miracles and miracles, we believe. ♪ ♪ That Christ is my firm foundation. ♪ ♪ He's the rock on which I stand. ♪ ♪ When everything around me's shaking. ♪ ♪ And I've never been more glad. ♪ ♪ That I put my faith in Jesus. ♪ ♪ He's never let me down. ♪ ♪ Faithful through generations. ♪ ♪ So why would he fail now? He won't. ♪ ♪ He won't. He won't. Come on. ♪ ♪ Sing I feel that joy in chaos. ♪ ♪ I've got peace that makes no sense. ♪ ♪ So I won't be going under. ♪ ♪ I'm not held by my own strength. ♪ ♪ I've built my life on Jesus. ♪ ♪ And he's never let me down. ♪ ♪ He's faithful in everything. Yes, you are, God. ♪ ♪ So why would he fail now? He won't. No, he won't. ♪ ♪ He won't fail. He won't fail. Come on. He won't. ♪ ♪ I believe you won't, Lord. He won't. Never fail me, no. ♪ ♪ He won't fail. He won't fail. Saint Christ is my firm foundation. ♪ ♪ He's the rock on which I stand. When everything around me is shaken. ♪

♪ And I've never been more glad that I put my faith in Jesus. ♪ ♪ He's never let me down. He's faithful through generations. ♪ ♪ So why would he fail now? He won't. He won't fail me. He won't. ♪ ♪ Never fail me, no. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't. ♪ ♪ And he never will forsake me. He won't. He won't. The righteous will never be forsaken. ♪ ♪ I believe you won't. He won't. He won't fail me, no. He won't. He won't fail me. He won't. He won't. He won't. ♪ Come on, lift your voice and sing. Come on, somebody testify. It blew, but my house was built on her foundation. I'm safe with you and I'm gonna make it through. Yes, I'm gonna make it through. Something is strong on you. Lord, I'm gonna make it through. My house is built on holy faith. Oh, I'm gonna make it through. Oh, my house is built on holy faith. Christ is my firm foundation. He's the rock on which I stand. With everything around me shaking. I've never been more glad. I put my faith in Jesus. And he said he'll never let me down. Faithful through generations. So why would he fail now? He won't, no. He won't. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't ever fail, no. He won't fail.

He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't fail. He won't. He won't. Welcome to CrossPoint. It is so good to be together. It is good to be back with the church. I missed you. It has been about a month since I've preached. So I hope you packed a lunch. We might be here a while, and summer has been great. One of the highlights of my summer was getting to do these golf tournaments with Bolton. I even got to caddy for him, which was really special. I only lost one 8-iron, and we'll tell you that story a little bit later on. But this past week, Rhea and I, we celebrated our anniversary 26 years together. Here's a picture of when we started dating, and that's just proof that anything is possible. With Jesus, anything is possible. She said yes with me having hair like that. This week, we also celebrate nine years that we've been on staff here at CrossPoint. We're celebrating that. On our anniversary nine years ago, we were in a U-Haul driving north to Nashville from Georgia, and it's been remarkable to see all that God has done. But one of the best parts over the summer, we were in town on the weekends, is getting to attend CrossPoint and just get to worship with our family at different campuses and get to experience the church family from that. And I love to preach. I love to preach, but there's something about just taking off the apron and getting to come out of the kitchen and just sit at the table and feast with those that you love and with family, and so just such a special time.

And I wish that every pastor had an opportunity to do that because what happened is we fell in love with the church in such a fresh way and a deeper way. When we came to CrossPoint, I don't know if you know this, but we never attended a service before we came. Our first Sunday was the Sunday that we were introduced, so we weren't church shopping. We just knew that God said go. And so over the summer, being able to worship with our church family, I had several times just had this thought, like, this is the church that I've always wanted to be a part of. This is the church that I've always wanted to be a part of, a church where Jesus is at the center, that he is at the center of it all, that Jesus is at the center in a church that prays, a church that's led by the Spirit, a church that is rooted in the Word of God, a church that has a passion for the next generation and to reach those that are far from God, a church that's mobilized on mission, says we want to reach the nations, but at the same time making a difference here in our own community. It was just like this gratitude, this fresh gratitude, God, that you are letting us be a part of something like this, a church like this. I just wanna say thank you, church. Thank you for the way that you serve and thank you for the way that you give. Thank you for the way that you love and you're making a difference. And God is moving and he's doing it through you. And so I pray that you are encouraged today as we open up the book and we go to Acts chapter eight. If you've got a Bible, you can turn there with us.

We are making our way through the book of Acts. We're going verse by verse, walking through this book, looking at this story of the early church. And today, I wanna begin with two questions. Actually, I was reading a book this summer by Arthur Brooks, who's an author. He's a Harvard professor and he's brilliant, especially when it comes, he studied human flourishing and happiness. Actually, happiness studies is one of the things that he is in neuroscience, one of the things that he is an expert in. And in the book, he talks about how his class, well, he teaches a class at Harvard in the business school called Leadership and Happiness. And in that class, he begins things off with two questions. There are two questions that I wanna give to you. He says they're the two most important questions that you'll answer. And the questions are this, why are you alive? And for what would you be willing to give your life? Here's what he says, those are the two fundamental questions, the two most important questions, because those questions are where you get meaning in your life. How would you answer those questions? Why are you alive? And for what would you be willing to die? What would you be willing to give your life for?

Now, he says that our sense of purpose, he says that our sense of meaning in life is directly related to our level of happiness. Our level of happiness comes from our sense of meaning. And he says we are in a meaning crisis in our culture. And this is Harvard. I wanna remind you, these are some of the smartest students in the world next to the University of Georgia. These are some of the smartest, there's some of the brightest, some of the, there's the cream of the crop right behind, there's Ivy League GGA. You know, and so he's letting us know that these are students that they know how to build businesses, and they know how to manage wealth, and they know how to build technology, but they've learned that you can learn all of those things, you can learn all of those things and not know why you exist. Do you know why you're here? And when you find the answer to that question, it changes things. Now, over the summer, we did an extended vacation with, we did a vacation with my extended family, and we were, my mom and my dad and my siblings and our spouses, and we had this dinner with my parents, a long dinner where they just shared their stories.

They shared their testimony. They shared about their life before Christ, and they shared about when they received Christ, and they shared about what their life has been. We've watched what their life has been like then, since then, and I'm just telling you, there was that moment where I just realized that everything we're experiencing right now in our lives is downstream of that decision that they made 49 years ago to follow Jesus. Everything that we were experiencing is downstream of that decision where they found Christ, and they found the reason why they exist in Him, and they found purpose, and they found meaning, and they found something worth living for, and something worth dying for, and then when we look at the early church in the book of Acts, we see that everything we're experiencing is downstream of the early church, this movement of Jesus followers where the Spirit of God filled them, and they found meaning and purpose in their life, and we see this movement like the world has never known. You got young people and old people, rich people and poor people. You've got Jews and Gentiles all coming together. There is this multicultural, multigenerational movement, this multi-ethnic movement that's taking place,

that's going on where people are finding meaning and purpose and hope in Christ, and it's spreading throughout, and that we get to be a part of that today, and so that's where we left off last week with Stephen who found something worth giving his life for, the first Christian martyr, the first person who was killed for their faith was Stephen, and he was a good man, he was a godly man, he was a young man full of promise and potential, and the religious leaders threatened by his life and his message took his life, and that's where we pick up in chapter eight, so I'll read the first eight verses and then we'll pray. together, and Saul approved of their killing him. And on that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem. And all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, and godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church, and going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. And those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. And when the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.

For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. And so there was great joy in that city. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the way that you have moved in the past and the way that you're moving today. And I pray that every heart and earshot of this word, God, I pray that they would hear from you, that they would know your love for them, that they would see that meaning is found in you, Lord Jesus, and I pray that lives would be transformed, that we would find ourselves this fresh welcome into your story, into loving and reaching people beyond our comfort zones. And God, I pray today that joy would be restored in hearts that have lost it. We pray in Christ's name, amen, amen. Now we're calling this section of Acts, this section of teaching, we're calling it Forward Focus because from this moment, this is like a hinge in the book of Acts. These eight verses is like a hinge. You know what a hinge is? It's a tiny mechanism that opens things up. Without a hinge, things stay the same. Without a hinge, all you got is a wall. But when you have a hinge, it opens up doorways to new possibilities, to new potentials, to new places. And so we've got this door that's opening up

in the book of Acts. We're gonna see hinges in the story today. And my prayer for you today is that this would be a hinge, that this would just open things up, a hinge moment. Like for my parents, 49 years ago, when they made that decision to follow Christ, I believe today can be a hinge for you. Or maybe today is just like some WD-40. And where you've gotten stuck, that you would experience a breakthrough, that you would experience a move of God in your own life and in your own heart, a calling back to meaning and purpose in Christ. And so we're gonna see three hinges in the text today. The first is a person, the second is an experience, and the third is a place. The first is a person that we meet, the second is an experience that they have, and the third is a place that they go. Three hinges, the first is a person, and we find that person two words in, and it says, and Saul, and Saul. Now, Luke quietly introduces this man, Saul, last week with the killing of Stephen. It says that Saul stood there and that coats were being put at his feet for Stephen's execution people so that they could throw those stones and execute Stephen. They put their coats at Saul's feet. This would have been a reference that he was in charge,

that he was overseeing. Now, up until this point, Peter has been the leader in the church. Peter has been the one, the dominant figure that was leading the movement of Jesus by the Spirit. So Peter's out in front. Now, what's about to happen is there's gonna be a hinge moment with Saul. Now, Saul is gonna, the one who, this is spoiler alert, the one who is persecuting the church is about to become the great missionary that takes the gospel to the nations, to the Gentile people. So there is this hinge that's about to take place. So it's this introduction to this person, Saul. But what Luke tells us about Saul, it says, and Saul approved of their killing him. Saul delighted in Stephen's death. He celebrated Stephen's death. Luke wants us to know, y'all, that's how lost he was. That's how lost he was. He was so lost that he celebrated Stephen's death. If you ever find yourself delighting in somebody's destruction more than you long for their redemption, that's when you know you've lost the heart of God. I'm gonna say it one more time for the person in the back and the person up front. If you ever find yourself delighting in somebody's destruction more than you long for their redemption,

you know somewhere you've lost the heart of God. Because it's God's will that none would perish and that all would come to repentance. Everyone to know him in Christ. This is the heart of God. But sometimes we can lose our way. Listen, Saul was lost. He just didn't know it. He thought he was right. He didn't know he was wrong. You know the hardest word to say in the English language? What? I was wrong? Well, Worcestershire, I don't know how you say that. Worcestershire sauce, that's the hardest word. And then behind Worcestershire sauce, yes, I was wrong. I had an interesting moment this summer. I was on a prayer retreat and I came across, had a guy just thought, you know what, I've got some video of back when I was a kid. We had digitized some video, an eight millimeter film. I'm so old, there were silent movies. And so had this film of just when I was a kid. And as I'm watching this film, I come to a moment and I see birthday parties. Now, this may not mean much to you, but I don't have a great memory. And I don't remember birthday parties as a kid. And so what I told myself is that birthdays weren't a big deal.

Birthdays weren't a big deal in my family. Birthdays weren't a big deal in my life. And so I guess I couldn't remember a birthday. You know, sometimes the most dangerous stories are the ones we tell ourselves. And so I just told this story to myself, birthdays parties weren't a big deal. But then I'm confronted with the reality, no, I had a birthday party. And I found myself, I'm just, I found myself getting a little emotional watching a birthday party. And I was just, I was thinking about this. I was like, man, I was wrong. I was wrong. Listen, it's one thing to be wrong about birthday parties as a kid. It's another to be wrong about the love of God. See, something happened when I saw myself being celebrated by friends and family. You need to know you are loved and treasured and valued by God. That God is pursuing, that he is the one who longs for you to have a relationship. So when you look at the cross, you might be thinking, well, I don't have film like that. No, you have the cross. You have the cross that is the picture for you to know that is how much you're loved. That this is the gospel that God so loves you

that he gave his son so that you could be made right with him so that you could be reconciled with him. And so if there's ever a moment where you wonder if you're loved, look to the cross and see Jesus. And so Paul would have, Saul would have this experience where he would see the love of God, that he would, Christ would be revealed to him, but, and he would realize I was wrong. He says later on in the Bible, he says, I acted ignorantly in unbelief. So Saul, who was persecuting the church, has this revelation that he was wrong about who Christ is and he surrenders his life to Christ. And he is transformed. He goes from, he goes from being a religious terrorist, from throwing believers in jail, from persecuting believers to now, he, you'll find out later, he is, he is the author of almost half of the New Testament. So he is the person that God uses to reach the Gentiles, that God transforms his life. And here's what I want you to see. Never assume you've met the final version of somebody. If God can take a Saul to a Paul, if there is grace for that, what can he do with you? Some of us, we, our greatest limitations in life is that we limit what we think God could do with our lives. But Saul surrendered his life to God. And so just how many Christians have you killed? Saul more.

And God can take him and use his life in that way. Listen, no one is beyond redemption. Don't count anybody out, including you, that alive surrendered to God, that he can use that life. What we see in the Bible is that God has a way of turning his greatest opponents into his greatest instruments. He does it with Saul. He can do it with you. And so many people would say, well, that hinge moment for Saul happens on the road to Damascus, but I believe the hinge moment for Saul happened in the end of the last chapter when Stephen prayed. Do you remember when Stephen prayed? The last thing Stephen prayed was he said, Lord, do not hold this against them. Do not hold this against them. And Saul had seen a lot of people die. I mean, he was in the Roman empire. He'd seen a lot of people. He had overseen deaths, but he'd never seen anybody die like that. To offer those kinds of prayers, that kind of grace, that kind of mercy, and Augustine said this way, St. Augustine said, we owe Paul to the prayer of Stephen. Without Stephen's prayer, we don't have a Paul. Mama, don't stop praying. Your prayers are powerful. Stephen prayed, Saul's life was changed.

There was a hinge. It took place. And so Saul is giving his life to hunt down Christians, and that's where the second hinge comes in. The second hinge, that's the persecution that scatters the church. If you're writing it down, the second hinge is the persecution that scatters the church. It's what they experienced. It says, on that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were saved. scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. So up until this point, the church has been gathered. Everybody's been in Jerusalem and nobody left Jerusalem. You know why? Because it was good. Jerusalem was incredible. I mean, they were seeing thousands of people add to the faith. They were seeing miracles and signs and wonders. They were seeing thousands of people baptized. They were seeing just a move of God take place in their midst. There was supernatural unity and there was extraordinary generosity. They were seeing God move. They had the receipts.

God was moving among them. Why would you ever want to leave that? And so they weren't going. They were staying. Why? Because it was a move of God. But they forgot that wasn't the mission. Do you remember back in Acts 1.8, Jesus said the last thing Jesus told them was the mission. He said, and you will, when the Holy Spirit comes, he said, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That's Acts 1.8. So Acts 8.1, I want you to see this. Acts 8.1 happens because Acts 1.8 didn't. See, Acts 8.1 is fulfilling what Jesus sent them. See, Saul thinks he's destroying the church, but really he's advancing the mission. Saul is a missionary before he's even a Christian. He's advancing the mission. And so what happens is the church scatters and they moved around and Acts 8.4 tells us what happens. It says, those who have been scattered, preach the word wherever they went. Have you ever tried to stomp out a fire? You ever had a bonfire that just goes a little crazy? Your s'more falls on the ground and it just starts spreading a little fire over there and you try to stomp it out. What happens?

That fire spreads. Saul was trying to stomp out the fire of the church and the church spreads. The gospel spreads everywhere people are going. And it's not the leaders. It's the ordinary believers. It's not the apostles. It's not the famous leaders. It's the ordinary believers that are taking the gospel everywhere they go that are sharing the truth about Jesus. And that's what's happening here. Suffering, there was suffering that took place. The gospel expands. It's just one of the things that I appreciated about the Bible is just how honest it is about the human suffering that we experience. I mean, you read through Acts chapter eight and there's just real, real hardship. You've got a funeral. You've got rejection. You've got persecution, people thrown in prison, families torn apart. Isn't life is hard. The Bible is honest about that, that life is hard. And we know that to be true in our human experience. That every person that you see when you look around is experiencing hardship. See, I think one of the temptations with social media in our world is that we can look at other people's lives and we can fantasize and we can think,

well, if I had their life, then it wouldn't be hard. And we can compare our lives and we can compare our callings. We can romanticize somebody else's life and the enemy wants you to fantasize about somebody else's life because as long as you're fantasizing about somebody else's life, you're not living your own. As long as you're dreaming about going, you're missing what God has in the staying. And so it was hard for all the people. It was hard for the apostles who stayed in the persecution. It was hard for these believers who were scattered. There was hardship that was taking place, but God was using all of that and God will use uncomfortable circumstances to get us where he wants us. And there's a funeral. It says, godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. I wrote it in my notes this way. Godly people grieve. Godly people grieve. We'd only live a life fully on mission if we're willing to take time to grieve because there are things we need to lament. There's loss that we need to open up our hands and let God bring healing to our hearts. See, godly people grieve because grief is not the absence of faith,

it's the presence of love. Grief is not the absence of faith, it's the presence of love. We grieve, we just don't grieve as those who have no hope. See, they knew that the last time they saw Stephen wouldn't be the last time they'd see Stephen, that they'd see Stephen again. But yet they took time to grieve. And people say stupid things at funerals sometimes because they don't know what to say. I was getting ready to preach my grandmother's funeral and I had a guy come up to me and he said, hey, before you get up and preach, you just need to shove it down deep. so that you can preach you'll just deal with it later and I remember thinking okay and I thought that's dumb that is dumb no I need to deal with it because I love my grandmother and when we love people we we grieve and we mourn with those who mourn so that we can rejoice with those who rejoice in the church is mourning but God doesn't waste the funeral of one of his saints he uses funeral as a launching pad for the church and so the movement expands which leads to the third hinge and the third hinge is this the gospel goes from Judea to it goes from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria I need a map to help help us maybe this will help us recognize so here is Jerusalem that's where they've been that's where they've been for the past seven chapters past two or three years it's taken them they've been in Jerusalem and now it says that because of the persecution they go to Judea this whole region is is Judea Judea is the region of people who are who are like those in Jerusalem they're people who who think the same and act the same and both the same and they're the people who are it's familiar territory it's it's the region like we would say Middle Tennessee this is Judea so you got Jerusalem where they've been

well they go to Judea and then it says that that Philip Philip goes to Samaria now Samaria is up at the top and Samaria is a place where people have different tradition they had different culture they have they act differently there there had been seven is a different ethnicity and so you got for 700 years there have been generational hostility and violence that had taken place and so Philip goes to Samaria he goes to he goes to a place he goes to hostile territory a place that normally people avoided the Jews normally avoided Samaria but there was one person who didn't and his name is Jesus that when Jesus says mystery in John chapter 4 you got to go back and read this passage but it says Jesus it says he had to go through Samaria now here's the interesting he didn't have to go through Samaria you see some you see where Samaria is he didn't have to go through Samaria he walked 20 to 30 miles out of his way to go to Samaria because in Samaria there was a woman at a well there was a divine appointment there was a woman who was at a well a broken one woman with a broken past and Jesus needed to go have a conversation and let her know that the God of the universe that God loves her is pursuing her so Jesus Jesus does ministry in Samaria there's one time Jesus healed ten lepers and one of them was the Samaritan in fact the Samaritan was the only one that came back and said thank you there's another time where Jesus tells a story it's a bunch of religious people he tells the story and you know who he makes the hero of the story the Samaritan because Jesus knew that if we're ever going to take the gospel to the nation if we're ever going to take the gospel to the world before we cross the ocean we got across our prejudice before we get over there we got to get over ourselves that in order for them to reach Samaria they had to see Samaritans differently and so Jesus knew that but the first thing that need to be transformed is their hearts and the way that they they see you remember Stephen's sermon we looked at last week the first thing he preaches is the gospel is not that the gospel that the move of God that the Spirit of God is not limited to the temple but the presence of God is everywhere and so Stephen preached the message and Philip

lived the message that the way he sacrificed the way he honored the sacrifice of his friend was that he sacrificed himself the way that we honor the sacrifice of King Jesus is that we make sacrifices ourself and that we go the places that he has called us to go I'm telling you one day there's gonna be somebody some young man young woman that's gonna read this book and believe this book and live this book and change the world who's gonna say I'm not just gonna hear the message I'm gonna do the message I'm gonna believe the book and I'm gonna then that's what that's what Philip did Philip heard the message and he went and he lived it he went to Samaria look what Phil does it said verse 5 it says Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there now why would it say he went down some areas up because Jerusalem it's on a mountain so he went down from the mountain and he went to Samaria he goes to Samaria and he proclaims the gospel he proclaims Jesus there I'm sure there were people when Philip said I feel called to Samaria they're like no are you sure see there gonna be times where God leads you to do things that other people don't expand other people don't understand where they try to talk you maybe even talk you out of the call of God that's on your life but you go where you're sent you stay where you're put and give what you've got and watch God work. That's what Philip did. He went where he was sent. He stayed put where God called him, and he gave what he had. And I do, I just wanna remind you, Philip was an ordinary believer. The only thing we know about him before this is that he waited tables for widows. He wasn't a famous apostle. He was an ordinary believer that just waited tables for widows.

And God was saying, before I can trust you with cities, first thing I wanna know is can I trust you with the tables? Because before you can lead, can you serve? Because leadership is just another form of servanthood. And if serving is beneath you, then leading is beyond you. So can you serve? And so Philip serves, and he waits these tables in Jerusalem and then God calls him to Samaria, and there is a move of God in Samaria. It's revival. Breaks out. Look at verse six. It says, when the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. And so there was great joy in that city. I bet there was. There is a move of God that takes place in Samaria. Through Philip's obedience, there is this move of God that takes place. There are miracles that take place. Oftentimes, we're gonna see this in the book of Acts, that when the gospel transcends a barrier, an ethnic barrier, a cultural barrier, when the gospel transcends a barrier, oftentimes, there will be signs and wonders and miracles that validate the message. Now, the message, the gospel is true,

whether there's a miracle or not. But oftentimes, what happens when you take the gospel to a new place, people experience signs and wonders and miracles, go, oh, this is true, that God will do that. He will authenticate and validate and stamp and say, this is from me, and that's what's taking place here. Now, I'm gonna tell you, I didn't grow up in a church where we saw a lot of miracles. Saw a lot of casseroles, but not a lot of miracles. And then I got to college, and Marie and I were a part of a ministry where we began to see things that we couldn't explain and things that we couldn't deny, where we saw miracles take place. One of our first mission trip, we went to Peru, and we were seeing things that were beyond our level of experience, and even a little uncomfortable, seeing God move in ways that we'd never seen before. And then we got to Crosspoint, and we began to see God do miracles. We began to see God do things. I remember, it was like we would come to Tuesday prayer at 11 o'clock on Tuesdays, my favorite hour of the week, and we'd be praying, and there was, I remember we saw people healed. There was a guy, Ryan, who came forward, and he was like, I'm a pilot, but I can't fly anymore

because I have a hole in my cerebral wall. He said, can you pray for me? And so we gathered around and we prayed for him. He came back the next week and said they did a test, and the hole in his cerebral wall healed up, and he's flying. I'm just like, yeah, we can, some of us are like, what do we do? He's like, I didn't do anything. Jesus did it, God did it, and I believe that it was God's way and I went and I went and used Gemini on Google, and I just asked, what are the chances of somebody's cerebral wall, you can do it yourself. I mean, not right now, or you can do it now. I'm not the boss of you, but like, but like, I put it in there, and it was like zero. And it was medically that, like we have the receipts of a miracle. There's a lady who came forward. Her name was Gia, and she said, can you pray for me? And so we were like, yeah, you pray, what's going on? She said, I've got cancer in my eye. So a group of us gathered, we didn't know what else to do. We gathered, we prayed for her, and she came back, and she said, the doctors have said the cancer is gone, and my glaucoma is gone too. I love that story, because it's like God said, well, while I got the hood up, I'm gonna take care of the glaucoma. And I've shared those stories,

and it can make us feel a little weird, because someone's like, well, why do miracles happen sometimes, and why? I don't know, I don't know, but that's not gonna stop us from pressing in to what God has for us. It's going to be uncomfortable. God will take us out of our level of comfort. That's called faith, and it's just trusting in that God, you know what you're doing in all of our lives, and that you are an on-time God, and we can trust your timing. And when we can't see your hand, God, we will trust your heart. And I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna be vulnerable and just say, we're seeing some stuff happening right now that I can't explain. Over this past year, I've been talking with the campus pastors, there's been a heightened level of signs and wonders and miracles among us, and I don't know what that's, it's like the waterline of those things has, and it's not that we would chase the signs and wonders, we chase Jesus, and when those things happen, we give him all the glory. But we're just gonna, we're gonna keep asking, we're gonna keep seeking, and I'm like, well, why now, God? Why now are we seeing that? And my heart just goes back to this.

This verse in Isaiah chapter 43, where it says, forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I'm making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. That God is doing a new thing. He wants us to be focused forward. That we would focus on the new thing that God has for us. That we would be focused in the future that he has. I believe there's a move of God that's going on in the earth. I don't think it's just a cross, but I think there's a move of God that's going on the earth. And it could be, it could be the next great awakening. I mean, we're seeing this move of God among young people. We're seeing miracles that are happening. We're seeing people who are being set free from addiction. We're seeing people healed spiritually, emotionally, and physically. There is a move of God that's going on. Do you see it? If you don't see it, do you wanna see it? If you don't wanna see it, do you want to want to see it? We'll start there. You say, God, I want to want to see it. God, would you help me want to see it? God can start with an honest heart. He just can't get past pretense. So we don't have to pretend.

We say, God, would you meet me where I'm at? Would you give me eyes of faith to see? Would you help me live on mission? Because I believe that the next great move of God is not gonna happen through famous leaders. It's gonna happen through ordinary believers who experience extraordinary things. It's a nameless, faceless move of God. The invitation is for you to be a part of. Now, God can move around you, but he'd rather move through you. And it starts with this, that God, I give you my life. I wanna go where you're sending me. I wanna stay where you've put me. And I wanna give what I've got to experience it. Is that you? If there would be a sense of urgency in our hearts. And I'll close with a story. I learned urgency this summer, not from a sermon, but on the golf course. Because I was caddying for Bolton, Greystone, and Dixon on that golf course. And I was caddying for him, and we were coming to hole number 10. He had a great drive. And I'm on the bag, I'm carrying the bag, towel around my neck, just because that's what you do as a caddy, and so I looked the part. And we get to, after we approach his drive, and we're standing there, and he goes,

I need an eight iron. And I'm looking in the bag. I'm like, I don't know where it is. Now listen, as a caddy, you got one job. Let's keep up with the clubs and just hand the clubs. I'm like, I don't know where it is. I'm like, Bolton, do you know where, do you remember the last time you used the eight iron? He said, yeah, on hole number five. It's a punch shot, and I was trying to know if it was a seven or an eight, and I think I took the eight, and I set it on the bag. And I'm like, hole number five. And I was like, you take the clubs. And so I took off running. Have you ever seen somebody run on a golf course? No, because they don't, especially during a tournament. But I'm sprinting across, I'm sprinting across hole number seven, I'm sprinting across hole number six, and I get to hole number five, and I'm looking at that spot, I'm like, under the tree, where's the eight iron, can't find it. I'm looking for an eight iron like an Easter egg. I'm looking all over, and then I'm like, oh, so then I start running, I'm like, maybe somebody found it, maybe somebody picked it up. So I start running through the people who are playing and their parents, have you seen a tailor-made eight? Have you seen a tailor-made eight? Have you seen a tailor-made eight?

You know how it just looked crazy just then? That's how it looked on the golf course. People don't do that in a tournament. But I've got one mission, it's to find that eight iron. So then I run back, and I'm like, Bolton, I can't find the eight iron. This lady overhears me, she said, oh, they found an eight iron back there. This older lady that's in a golf cart, and she said, if you want to drive my cart, you can drive the cart, and we'll go get it. And I was like, all right. She said, I've been waiting for a handsome young man to drive the cart. I'm like, how old does she have to be? Well, I'm a young man, how blind that I'm handsome. And I let her know that I was a man of the closet, I said, I'm a pastor. She said, well, I'm a pastor's wife. So I don't know, I just, we drove up. The Billy Graham rule is you don't ride alone with a woman, but I'm just like, I gotta find this club. So put that on hold for a minute. So we're driving, we drive up, and we get up, we get back behind us, I see a cart, and I see an eight iron on the back of that cart. I don't even say anything to the person that found it. I just grab that thing, I'll thank them later. I get in, and we speed down, we make it all the way, we get back to Bolton.

I put that club in the bag, I pick the bag up, and y'all, it was so much joy. I have never felt so alive. I knew meaning and purpose in life. And I rejoiced. That the one that was lost was found. Hey, you know why we exist as a church because people Lost people matter more than eight irons And can you imagine if we just recalibrated to what matters most? See there's a lot of different ways to get lost we can lose our meaning we can lose our purpose we can lose mission Maybe you're here today, and you've lost a sense of meaning. It's found in Jesus Made it maybe today. You've you've become lost because Crying out to God and you need somebody to pray with you for a miracle I'm gonna pray for you in that Maybe today you've gotten off mission you've drifted and today is to return And today is to return to that reality that lost people matter to God Lost is a term of endearment and we can all lose our way sometime. Maybe somebody as close to you as far from God And lost people don't know that they matter to God unless they first know that they matter to us As many days just return God would you help me see people as you see people Would you help me love people as you love people They're like Philip. I'll go where I'm sent I'll stay where I'm put I'll give what I have and then watch God work What we learn from this text The lyric to a song we're gonna close with it says there's never been a day never been a minute Never been a moment that you weren't in it. There's never been a time. You didn't see me through God So I worship you we'll worship together and song but first, let me pray for you father Thank you for your word Thank you for your truth Thank you that you recalibrate us to what matters So God, I pray that right now for those that need meaning

That today would be a yes to follow you To surrender their lives to you. I pray for those that need a miracle God Would you give them the faith to come forward after service? And receive prayer, but we would love to contend to pray with them for you to move Would you give them enough faith to come forward? And they got I pray for those of us who are followers of Jesus if we Have lost mission Lord today would be a reset Our hearts on you and what matters to you that we would go to Jerusalem Judea and what's comfortable and Samaria to the places that are uncomfortable and see you move Jesus name we pray Amen We'd love for you to stay stand with us so we sing in response We serve an on-time God I was When I went You were right You Oh Oh Oh Let's declare this It's never been a day never been a minute never been a moment. That's you weren't in it There's never been a time that you didn't see me through god. So I worship you There's never been a day Never been a minute never been a moment that you weren't in it. There's never been a time that you didn't ♪ Wouldn't see me through God so I worship you come on ♪ ♪ There's never been a day, never been a minute ♪ ♪ Never been a moment that you weren't it ♪

♪ There's never been a time that you didn't see me through God so I worship you come on ♪ There's never been a day, never been a minute ♪ There's never been a moment that you weren't it ♪ There's never been a time when you didn't see me through God so I worship you oh Jesus ♪ I was tossed in the water but I never went under ♪ You were always on time oh Jesus ♪ When I went through the fire you were right there beside me ♪ You were always on time ♪ You were always, always, always on time ♪ He's in all time ♪ Always, always, always on ♪ He's in all time God ♪ He is always, always, always on time ♪ You were always, always, always on time Sing this together ♪ Jesus, I was tossed in the water ♪ But I never went under ♪ You were always on time Always ♪ Jesus When I went ♪ When I went through the fire You never go ♪ You were right there beside me ♪ You were always on time God