You Can’t Stop What God Starts

Welcome all our brave campuses that are worshiping with us this morning, so great to have all of you here. I'm gonna invite my wife up and two of our supervising elders, Kent Shaw and Lynn Crowley, they were friends before they were elders here. Could you welcome them this morning? They had something they wanted to share. Okay, now? Jeff and Kim in particular, thank you for serving here faithfully for 15 years and this being the end of October, you may know that this is known as a pastor's appreciation month and so Kent and Cal and I got together over texting to determine what things you might want to say to you, Jeff, in appreciation for your ministry, and this is kind of a coalescing of the words, I hope, of your three supervising elders, so just take it like a man, okay? Sorry, that was too easy. And you know, Hebrews 13, I hope that these words reflect your feeling and your appreciation for your pastor as well as the body of Christ here at Brave, because the book of Hebrews talks about leadership and responsible followership and it says, let them lead with joy, not groaning, and I thought, oh, that's a pretty evocative word, so here's the things we are grateful for. Jeff, we're grateful for your leadership, particularly that it is compelled and driven by the word of God and that your communication skills continue to celebrate its truth to the world. We're thankful that your diligence in knowingly relying on the Holy Spirit to do the work that's his job, his work, and you model dependence on him. We appreciate and recognize your heart is consistently exalting Christ to his rightful place of honor over all creation, indeed, Lord of all. We appreciate that you invite God's people to obey and worship and submit and rejoice in their heavenly calling. And finally, we are thankful for your self-leadership. It's evident in your pursuit of intimacy with Jesus away from the platform time. May your undivided service continue to flow into the fullness of your identity as a beloved

son of God, and as a result, your voice be cast across the globe as a cause of the gospel. So we, your supervising elders, stand with you and at your six and are grateful to call you friend. Thank you. Appreciate it. Amen. Thank you. I would just add as well that, Kim, we know the challenges somewhat of being in your seat. And we so appreciate your faithfulness, your prayer, your support. It's a wonderful calling, but it's a difficult calling. And you and Jeff both have just borne under that beautifully and have let God prune you, which we'll hear a little bit more about today, and just are bearing the fruit of that. So on behalf of Brave Church, we are going to give Jeff and Kim a little getaway weekend to celebrate and appreciate their thankfulness. And I'd like to ask you to stand with me now as we pray over them. And if you feel comfortable, lay your hand out. This would be symbolic of putting hands on Jeff and Kim here. So Father, what a great day it is to celebrate a life that's been lived so well to this point. And we thank you for Jeff and Kim. We thank you for, Lord, the grace that you have given them and their obedience to follow hard after you. Lord, I thank you for Jeff receiving and Kim affirming the call to come out from Illinois to plant in Denver. Lord, you know better than anyone the unique challenges and the trials that you yourself have orchestrated to prune them, and they might bear much fruit. And Lord, we're so grateful for them. We ask for your protection over their marriage, over their children, Lord. And we believe, Lord, because your word says so, that their best days are ahead. And I pray that we would see you do great and glorious things in them and through them, and that Brave Church also would bear much fruit in the days and weeks and years to come.

So bless them, Lord, and cause your face to shine upon them and give them peace. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. What about Thanksgiving for Jeff and Kim? Well thank you very much. Kim and I would say the same thing about you. It's an honor and privilege to pastor this church, specifically this is where the Lord's called us. And as much as you may have grown in the ministries here, Kim and I have personally grown from you being a part of this ministry too. So thank you very much for being an incredible congregation. With that, let's continue our worship this morning. Let's just prepare our hearts here for a minute and get ready to hear God's living and active word among us. Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are because Lord you and you alone deserve it all. Lord, we love you so much and we are so blessed to be called your children, those of us who have been born again. Lord, we give you praise this morning that you are about ready to speak to us because Lord, we believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that you are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he says and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you. Will you agree with me very loudly by saying the word? Amen. Amen. Last Sunday was October 19th, 2025.

Like any other Sunday, I was here preaching the word. But after church, I took my son to go watch the Denver Broncos play the New York Giants. I was there. I was there. Throughout the game, my son, who is not as involved in football as I am, kept saying, dad, let's leave. He was saying it at the end of the first quarter. He said it at halftime when we were down 13 to nothing. And I said, we're not leaving. You don't leave games early. Like anything can happen. We're not leaving. It's 13 to nothing. I said, watch what happens in the second half. Plus, at halftime, they honored Demarius Thomas in the ring of fame. The Super Bowl team from 2016 was, it was a great, great day. And so we stayed. And in the third quarter, it got worse. And it was now 19 to nothing. And he said, dad, seriously. Like, I've seen this game before. You've dragged me to many. Like, let's go. I'm like, son. I'm like, they're going to score. I said, if they don't score on this drive, we'll leave. And they scored. And they went for two. And I said, see? And then the fourth quarter began right after that.

And sure enough, on the next series, the New York Giants threw a pass. It got tipped. It went for 43 yards, a touchdown. There was 10 minutes to go in the game. And he looked at me like this. He said, I got studies tonight. I'd never heard him so concerned about his academic career in my life. And so I said, all right, let's go. And we left. It's your fault, son. We left. I joined about 25,000 people walking to the car. And as I was walking to the car, I still felt I had made the right decision, even though on my phone I saw that they were driving and they had scored again. I said, they're still down 10. It's no big deal. Then I got in my car and got to hear about the interception. And then on I-25, I heard about the touchdown. But the New York Giants came back and they scored with 32 seconds to go. And part of me, honestly, although I'm diehard Broncos, part of me was like, whew, at least they lost. But two passes and a kick as time expired and the Broncos won. And everybody started texting me, did you see the game? And I texted back and said, I was there. Then some would be brave enough to text back and say, did you stay to the end? And then it would just be radio silence from me. Because I've seen enough sporting events to know how miraculous that was and was so excited for the team and what they were able to accomplish. But I was disappointed that I wasn't there. And I think a lot of us, when it comes to the mission of the Lord and the things of

God and what his church is, feels the same way. We hear a pastor talk on Sunday saying, we're on the winning team. Jesus wins. We're on that team with him. We're gonna win too. But in reality, we look around and see our culture and we see our school systems and our politics and our neighbors and what everybody else is doing. And while we're hearing that we're winning, it sure doesn't feel like it. And while it sure doesn't feel like we're winning, when's Jesus coming back? Well, he said he's coming back soon. Yeah, but he said that 2000 years ago. Where's he at? So there's this feeling sometimes like it's hopeless. So I wanted to tell you. that if you're in Christ, you're already a winner and you're gonna win, amen? And here's the reason why. Because you can't stop what God starts. You cannot stop what God starts. What he started in the beginning is gonna be continued all the way through. What he who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it. That's what he's going to do. And so for you here today, if God's work is unstoppable and his power's unstoppable and his mission's unstoppable, what can you do to participate in the unstoppable mission of Christ? What is it that you can do to continue to bolster up and hold the faith up so that we see the evidences of that

in our lifetime and for sure in the life to come? And to do that today, we're gonna be in Acts chapter five. Acts chapter five, we're gonna start in verse 12 and make our way through the chapter today. And I'm gonna highlight four truths of what you can do to keep this mission going, that what God starts, you can't stop. And to set this up, if you remember from last week, we left off with a story of Ananias and Sapphira. You'll remember that the church was being real generous. Everybody was selling their property. They were giving to one another. But there was one couple, Ananias and his wife Sapphira. And Ananias sold a piece of property and only brought part of the proceeds to give to the apostles, which wasn't a problem. He didn't have to bring anything and give it to the apostles. But the problem was he sold it for a certain price, but came and lied about it and said he had sold it for the whole thing because he wanted to make himself look good. And Peter asked him this question. Why have you lied to God? Why have you lied to the Holy Spirit? And as he said those words to him, Ananias fell down dead. And the young men came and carted him off. They had to dig a hole and bury him. Three hours later, his wife came in. Ananias said, hey, was this the price

that y'all sold it for? And she said, yes. You know why? Because she was complicit with him. And she fell dead too. And the young men carted her out and both of them were buried. And it says this, and great fear fell among everybody. Duh. I mean, you lie to the Holy Spirit, you die. And what was God doing? He was putting his holiness on display. He was saying what's being built in this church is so important, but I can't work through anything but purity and I need the church to be pure and I'm holy and I'm righteous and I'm good. And I wanna demonstrate to my people that when you lie, it keeps me from being what I need to be. And so God took them. Now, here's what happens in most churches when God removes somebody that you like or something happens in the church that you don't care for. It's usually a chance for people to say, well, I don't agree with what happened here. It's usually a chance for gossip, usually a chance for discord, usually a chance for factions to form. So what do we do when God is at work,

when things happen to our lives individually or in our church or in our business or in our school or in our homes that just don't feel good? Like, how do we keep the work of God going in our marriage? How do we keep the work of God going in our family? How do we keep the work of God going as a Christian in my business? What does this look like? And I'm gonna give you four truths today. And the first is this. If you wanna see the work of God continue, then persist when pruned. Persist with the Lord when pruned. Notice what happens in verse 12. It says, at the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were taking place among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico. What do you see? What does it mean that they were one accord in Solomon's portico? It means they were united. They were together. Now, we don't know anything about Ananias and Sapphira. The Bible doesn't tell us. So to speculate, we can be wrong. But it is interesting to know that they probably weren't a bad couple. I mean, here's a couple that's been part of the church. Here's a couple that is bringing an offering.

I mean, it doesn't say what they did. Maybe they helped out with students. Maybe they led small groups. Maybe they were on volunteer teams. It doesn't say. All it says is that two people that were part of the church fell dead because they lied. And yet, what does God do? As they unified, they were of the same mind. The whole church came together and said, if that's what God's gonna do, we'll let God do what he's gonna do. But we need to be about the work of God, and we gotta stay together no matter what. We gotta be united. And so they persisted when the church was being pruned. They were all together. Notice how this is an answer to prayer from Acts chapter four, verse 29. Remember the first time they were told, don't speak in the name of Jesus? And they went out and did it, and they were threatened. And they said, and now, Lord, take note of their threats and grant that your bond servants may speak your word with all confidence while you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders take place through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. So what were they praying? Lord, take note of the ones that are trying to persecute us. We're gonna continue doing your work.

Let us see you on full display. And so what are they seeing now? As they stayed unified, they're seeing the answer to their prayer because through the apostles, many signs and wonders were taking place among the people. Verse 13, I'm in chapter five. But none of the rest dared to associate with them. However, the people held them in high esteem. In other words, it was a big deal to go to church. It's a holy place. If you lie, you might die. So there were people that were staying away from them. They were held in high esteem, but if you weren't coming to Christ, it wasn't really the place for you because what was taking place in the church was otherworldly. What was taking place in the church was the holiness of God. And so they were held in high esteems, but miracles were taking place. And notice this, in all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women were constantly added to their number. Now, take note of this. Peter's first sermon, you remember how many people got saved? 3,000, right?

And then we saw a number that they had grown to 5,000 men. From this point on, all we see is numbers being added, multitudes. I mean, if they count 3,000 and 5,000, why don't you just say another 5,000? Because there were multitudes, multitudes. Why? Because the ministry of the church is not just for the gathering of the saints, it's for the advancement of the kingdom of God. It has to be, right? And God can use any size church you want. So I need to make clear this before I make this point. I've served in a church of 96 people before and seen the Lord at work. I've served in a church of 500 people before and seen the Lord at work. In Brave Church, I've been here since it was just Kim and I and watched the whole thing grow. I've been at every single faith. God can use any single size church he wants. But if the church is doing what the church is supposed to do, there will be people that come to Christ. There will be the gospel that's shared. And here's why that needs to happen. Because when we gather, one of the things that we do, we worship, we sing praises to God. But can I tell you something? In heaven, the worship's gonna be way better.

We come to church to hear the word of God taught. Can I tell you when Jesus teaches you, you will have no need for me or any other pastor, right? I mean, we have fellowship with one another, but in heaven, do you know what our fellowship's gonna be like? None of us will even know how to sin. All we'll know how to do is build each other up all the time. I mean, can you imagine that? I mean, everything's better over there. The only thing we can't do in heaven is share the gospel with people. And so what they're doing is they're sharing the gospel and multitudes are coming. We should wanna see multitudes. We should wanna see more than what we know coming to Christ. If you're a church of 96, we wanna see more people come to Christ. If you're a church of 5,000 or 10,000 or 20,000, we wanna see more people come to Christ, do we not? I mean, and there were more than they were able, willing to count because the gospel was still spreading. Now notice what happens. This was happening to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on any of them. Now, let me be clear. There's no indication that Peter's shadow

ever healed anybody. But you know how word gets out sometimes? That God was doing so many amazing things through the apostles. God was healing so many people through the apostles that people are just bringing their cots, their pallets, their mats, just throw another sick on the ground. Like, hey, we hear people get healed around here. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to get a shadow of Peter. I mean, that's what the world was saying because they were seeing evidences of God's miraculous power in the church. And notice verse 16, and the people from cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits. And notice this last section. I wanna tell you something before I read it. I have room in my theology to believe that God still heals people today on this side of heaven. I believe that. I still have room in my theology to believe that you can be oppressed demonically. You can't be possessed if the Holy Spirit is in you. You can't combine that with an evil spirit. It doesn't work that way. But you can give influence to a demon in your life if you are disobedient,

and God can free you from that. I believe that. But I want you to see what was going on in the early church at the hands of the apostles. Here's what it says. And they were all being healed. Do you know what all means? It means there's not one that came for healing that wasn't healed. There's not one that came for deliverance that wasn't delivered. Now, here's what I believe. If you're in the hospital or you're sick or we're praying for you here today, I'm gonna pray for your healing. And I can tell you from my experience, some of the people I prayed for have been healed on this side of heaven, but not everyone has. I prayed for people here that have been oppressed. I've seen spirits leave people, but not everybody I pray for that happens. I don't have a supernatural power to heal everybody I pray for. If I did, I wouldn't be here. I'd be at Children's Hospital today. Because I just lay hands and just pray. Now, if I go to Children's Hospital and I've been to Children's Hospital, I will pray and I have seen God move that way. What was going on with the apostles at this time,

what you need to understand is, they were given supernatural power. Everybody they're praying for is healed. Everybody they're casting demons out is doing that. Why? Because at this point in history, God is making himself so known. Does God still do that to be a testimony? Yes, he does. Have I ever seen it? Yes, I have. Do I see it to the extent that I read in the book of Acts? I really haven't. Overseas sometimes I've seen more, right? Where people aren't as biblically literate. But so I don't want you to think like, well, Pastor Jeff doesn't believe in healings. I totally believe in healings on this side of him. Pastor Jeff doesn't believe in deliverance and freedom. I totally believe in that. But I also want you to see what's going on here is so significant to anything that we'd see today. It's special and it's unique as the Lord is pouring out through his apostles. And here's what I want you to see. This is maybe my most important point. You need to persist when you're pruned. When God's pruning your own life individually, you need to stay in the fight. When God's pruning your marriage,

you need to stay there. When God's pruning your family, you need to remain doing what God wants you to do. That's what they were doing. And that's why they were seeing the supernatural grace of God being poured out. Because what tends to happen is when we get pruned, we leave. Now, let me explain pruning really quick. Some of you heard me tell this story. When I was living back in Illinois and doing a different ministry, my ministry director was a green thumb. He loved to be outdoors. He loved to plant trees, bushes, shrubs, everything, mow grass, do all the stuff that made me, my hay fever spring up. So I hated doing it. And when I went on vacation one time, he said, hey, do you mind if I come by and prune your bushes and your grasses? And I had these really lush grasses in front of our house that looked really cool. And I said, oh yeah, go ahead, Gary. That'd be great. I came back from my vacation a week later and I saw the front of my house and I was like aghast in horror because I saw my grasses. They were like literally this high off the ground. He chopped them.

And I called him on the phone and I was angry. I said, Gary, you said you were gonna prune. I thought pruning was a little cutting. He's like, I did prune them. I'm like, dude, you gave them a crew cut. I'm like, I could have done that. If all I knew was you're gonna chop them, I thought you were gonna prune it. He goes, that is pruning. I'm like, it's not pruning. Pruning means you're nice with it. He goes, no, that's not what pruning means. Pruning means you cut it all the way back because if you don't cut it all the way back, there's gonna be some of your grasses that aren't good that are gonna take the nutrients from the others and you'll never have the fullness of your bushes. He goes, I'll tell you what. He goes, if it still looks bad in three weeks, he goes, I'll buy you all new grasses and bushes. Three weeks later, I called him. I said, Gary, I'm so sorry. He goes, that's the best they've ever looked. But it taught me a lesson about pruning. Pruning is this, it's painful. It's cutting back. Notice what Jesus says to his disciples in John chapter 15 when he's talking about being the vine and the branches. In John chapter 15 in verse two, he says, every branch that bears fruit,

that's the good branches. Every branch that bears good fruit, he prunes it so that it will bear even more fruit. I used to think that meant, well, I trim it up a little bit. No, the branches in your life that are good, he's gonna cut them back. So that what? So they grow out even better. This is why in your life as a born again believer, trials and suffering are necessary for your Christian growth. And sometimes God starts pruning. What happens in marriages? When marriages start getting pruned, we don't like it. And here's what happens. You take a man and a woman that are both sinners from two different backgrounds that love Jesus and are born again, and you put them together. And all of a sudden you have somebody this close to you that sees everything in your life objectively in a way that nobody else has. And they tell you about it. And it doesn't feel comfortable. But if you'll allow that pruning to speak to your heart and let the Lord remove certain things, then God can grow you. I mean, I can talk about my own marriage all day. I hope my wife would agree and not after I get done saying this and she would feel the same about me. But I know the fact that I'm holy

because of my wife being in my life. Like all you all ever see is this smiley, kind, blonde woman up on the platform. And that tends to be her temperament too. I mean, she's not being phony or fake. That's who she is, but not always with me. Because she lives with me and she knows me and she's pointed out things in me, things I've said, things I've thought, things I've done that don't align with who I say that I am. And I don't know how many times in our marriage I would say, especially early on, well, that's just not who I am. This is who you married. Get used to it, right? That kind of stuff. But she would say things like this. Well, at least do me a favor, just pray about it and see if Jesus feels the same way as you. Okay, he didn't. And that's how we grow. But sometimes we have a job and the job's really tough and the boss is this or this. Friends, here's the reality. The reality, I'm telling you, trials are not happening to you. They're designed by a sovereign God and he's doing them for you. They're all unfolding for your own good. It's why if you've walked with the Lord long enough,

you'll look back on your sufferings and trials and say, I hated that season. I still don't understand that season. I don't know why I had to go through that season, but it's because of that season I am who I am. It's because of that pain in my marriage. It's because of that pain with my children. It's because of the pain with my parents. It's because of the pain in the job that I had. It's because of the pain I had in school. Those things, I persisted with the Lord in it and he did a great thing. And so I would just encourage you, don't flee, don't run, persist. in the pain, persist in the pruning. Well, I mean, listen, I'll tell you this way. I have so many people that are young in their faith that have come to Christ through Braven. They'll say something like this to me. They'll say, Pastor Jeff, I don't understand what you're talking about with church hurt and all this stuff. I mean, this is the best place in the whole world. And I'll tell them something like this. Well, stick around a little while longer, you'll feel it. Because something's gonna happen that you're not gonna understand or is gonna involve somebody that you know and it's gonna be extremely painful and when that happens, just stay the course.

And some do and some don't, right? But we're called to persist. I mean, think about Gideon. In Judges chapter seven, he had 32,000 men in his army. God told him, cut it down. We're gonna prune this thing. So he sends 10,000 away and God's like, nah, that's not enough. He ends up pruning the army down to 300. Do you know why it was pruned to 300? Because when that happened and they went out to battle, God wanted to make sure that the Midianites and everybody else knew that it wasn't Israel that defeated them, it was God himself that was doing the work. Don't hang on to the things that God is taking out of your life. Sometimes he removes relationships. Sometimes he removes resources. Sometimes he removes influence. Sometimes he removes people. I mean, I don't know what he's pruned. I've seen him prune in my life. He's continuing to prune my life. And when he does, stay the course. Stay unified, seek him, seek others that love him. Hebrews 12, 11 says, all discipline for the moment seems not joyful, but sorrowful. Yet those who have been trained by it afterwards,

it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. I mean, think about, you may not know this about the Methodists. I grew up Methodist. I went to a Methodist seminary. I was able to be there for one year. And a lot of people wanted me to be a Methodist pastor. And I remember when I was studying about John Wesley, I remember I would tell all my professors, I'm like, if John Wesley were alive today, he would not be a Methodist, nor would he be Wesleyan. Because I would read about what he did. And do you know what Methodists, you know what they were called Methodists? They were called Methodists because John Wesley was so methodical in the way that he discipled people. It was a pejorative term because of how faithful they were to discipleship. And you know how serious he took the holiness of God? When they would have their quarterly meetings called societies, there were certain people, if you couldn't demonstrate for the last quarter that you'd been walking in holiness, you weren't allowed to attend. He would say, well, you had filthy language. You're not doing well in your marriage. You're not, you can't come.

Church is for holy people. And what happened was the Methodist movement boomed for a season until the holiness of God got replaced with structure. And now you have what you have today, which is every single church everywhere that doesn't put Jesus Christ on display, amen? So when you are pruned, we're called to persist. And I would just call you, I would call you to do that. I mean, I've been pastoring this church long enough to see, I've seen pruning all over the place. As a matter of fact, when we were in Hawaii in 2019, I've told you this before, my wife's very prophetic. She told me in 2019, I remember asking her, like, what are you hearing the Lord say? And she said this in November, 2019. She said, all I know is this, I keep hearing every time I pray, 2020 is gonna be a very difficult year and it's gonna change the way we do everything. And I remember telling her, well, what does that mean? She's like, I don't know what it means. I just know this is what I'm hearing in my spirit. I'm like, okay. Well, when the third case of COVID happened,

she's like, this is what I was talking about. And here's what you're about ready to see. And they're gonna force a vaccine and all this stuff. And I remember telling her, you're crazy. And she wasn't. So we were in Hawaii this year. We were in Hawaii back in May. So we're getting on the plane. And I said, hey, before we boarded the plane, I'm like, what are you hearing? She said, she's like, Brave's gonna go through a significant pruning and God's doing a new thing that's gonna lead to significant growth. And I'm like, okay. And I was aware that we had a couple of staff people that were transitioning out and it was fine. And that couple of people ended up being about 27 this summer. Some for good reasons. Some went and planted churches. Some went with them. I mean, you have to realize every single staff person that here is a friend of mine. They're just friends of mine. They're still friends of mine even after they don't go here. It's been a significant pruning. And yet God's doing a new thing. And I went back to her later this summer.

I'm like, you did hear the part about there's gonna be significant growth, didn't you? Because it's painful when you go through pruning. It's totally painful. But God's doing it all the time. There's never been a season where he hasn't pruned. I used to say in the early years of our church, people would ask me, how's it going? And I would say something silly like this. Okay, we got this one problem right here, but as soon as we get through that, it's gonna be smooth sailing. We're ready to take the hill. And after saying that like about 300 times every single year for three, I just stopped saying that. Because I realized in my own personal life, in the church and business, there's always something. There's never a season where there's not something. And if there is, I mean, that's a great five minutes to enjoy and then something else, right? I mean, it's just the way that it works. And so we have to get comfortable in our ambiguity, comfortable in our uncertainty and all those different things. because God is constantly pruning us. And if we really see us as servants in the master's hands, then as he's pruning, here's what we're saying,

Lord, do what you need to do. I know this is for my own good. Help me stay connected with you. Help me stay united with the body of Christ. And Lord, do whatever you wanna do, and I trust you. And when we do that, that's where growth begins to happen. And when Christians mature like that, the word of God and the work of God flourish. So persist when you're pruned. Number two is do this. Trust when you're pressured. Trust Jesus when you're pressured. Notice what happens in verse 17. But the high priest rose up along with all of his associates, that is the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with jealousy. Why? Because religious people are always gonna be filled with jealousy when they see a true move of God. Religious people don't want a true move of God. And there was a true move of God. So what they did is they laid hands on the apostles and put them in public jail. Now take note of that. This is different than the temple jail. This is different than pulling them aside to a private cell. This is public jail. Public jail was in the middle of the city where it just had bars where everybody could walk by,

they could talk to you, they could spit on you, they could throw things at you. So it wasn't just about detaining them, it was about humiliating them. It was about demonstrating that they're not worthy. And sometimes in our faith, there's people that will try to humiliate you because you say you trust in Christ. Some people will try to publicly shame you because you believe in Christ. And when you get and go through those circumstances, continue to trust the Lord, because they're gonna continue to trust the Lord. We don't see what they're praying. They're not necessarily praying for a way out, but they're praying for God to do what God wants to do. And that's the best thing to do when we're in a trial. Sometimes we don't experience what God's doing because when we're in a trial, we're asking God to do certain things. And if he doesn't, we think, where are you? A better prayer is this, Lord, this is what I'm dealing with. You know what I'd love to see. I don't know what you're trying to do. Lord, can you help me trust you for whatever the outcome is? And Lord, when you do what you're gonna do, can I rejoice in what you've done? And that's what they're gonna do. Now, notice this, 19. But during the night, an angel of the Lord

opened the gates of the prison and taking them out, he said, go stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this life. What's the whole message of this life? It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. That the God-man Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity who's always existed, put on flesh about 2000 years ago, came and fulfilled the law, perfect God-man, never sinned ever, did everything that was required of him. And because we couldn't get to God, he came for us, fulfilled the law and before he left the earth, he provided what we call the substitutionary atonement, which simply means this, he took your place. And all the wrath that was intended for you and he suffered and died as the God-man. He rose as the God-man, he ascended to heaven, he's as alive today as he's ever been. And guess what, friends, he's coming back soon to a city near you, amen? That's the message of this life. And so the message is you need to repent from your sin and trust Jesus. So he said, now go tell the message. Now, they've already been warned, don't talk in his name anymore. They've been arrested for continuing to do that. They get released from prison by an angel in the middle of the night says, no, go do that. So that's exactly what they're gonna do.

So upon hearing this, they entered the temple about daybreak, begin to teach. Now, when the high priest and his associates came, they called the council together, even all the Senate of the sons of Israel and send orders to the prison house for them to be brought. So in other words, all the leadership's gotten together, they've had their morning coffee, they've had their bagels, they're ready to go. Hey, call the prisoners in, let's get these apostles here. But the officers who came did not find them in the prison and they returned and reported back saying this, we found the prison house locked quite securely and the guard standing at the doors, but when we had opened them up, we found no one inside. Like there's nobody there. Guards are there, doors are locked, but there's nobody inside. Now, when the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this. In other words, they're saying, what in the world's going on? Where are these men? But someone came and reported to them, these men who you put in prison are standing in the temple and guess what they're doing? They're teaching the people. Then the captain went along with the officials

and proceeded to bring them back without violence for they were afraid of the people that they might be stoned. What's going on? These men that had been arrested had been told, do not preach or teach in the name of Jesus ever again. So what did they do? They went and taught and preached in the name of Jesus. So then they were arrested for doing that. And angel of the Lord lets them out in the middle of the night and says, go teach in the temple. So what do they do? They go right back to the work that they've been called to do by God. are preaching and teaching. So when the guards come to get them, they're pretty ginger about doing it because everybody's seen the healing miracles they do, everybody's seen the power in the church, so they can't just go snatch them, they've gotta kinda say, hey guys, would you come with us, please, and all this kinda stuff. Because they gotta make sure that the people don't get up in arms because they themselves now are afraid of getting stoned. And so they brought them back. Here's the thing. Can you trust when you're pressured? Can you trust God when life squeezes you?

Because it's really like, I mean, we always say characters like fruit, I mean, you really don't know what's inside until you get squeezed. And once you get squeezed, that's when your character comes out. And it's pretty obvious in church when people get squeezed what they're made of on the inside, because you cannot prepare for the squeezing. When that happens, it just happens. You didn't know it was gonna happen, you got squeezed today. What comes out has been what you've been preparing for. What comes out, so you'll see people, I mean, I'm thinking about a story of a Christian family, a 15-passenger van that got lit up on fire in the city of Chicago some number of years ago. And a bunch of kids on the inside, they all died in that fire. And the mom and dad, they're born-again believers. And even in that moment, they were praising God because they knew where their kids were, they were praising God that he's done this, we don't know why, they're praising God, they're praising. Who does that? Only somebody who's been allowing God to shape their character on the inside before they get squeezed.

I've watched people get squeezed in the church and I'm like, eh, that wasn't very pleasant because they don't have the fruitfulness of Christ on the inside. So build roots with Christ so that when you are tested, when you are pressured, when you are canceled, you can still trust him. I mean, you think of all the stories that you like. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they were pressured. What did they do? Do whatever you want, we're not gonna stop. Daniel, when he was pressured, what did he say? Do whatever you want. Three of them ended up in a fire, one of them ended up in a lion's den. Check out all the prophets. They're all told to stop talking about Jesus and they keep talking about Jesus. Corrie Ten Boom, who I love to quote, who lived as a believer during an awful time, she said this, she said, "'Never be afraid to trust an unknown future "'to a known God.'" Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. I mean, this is what we see, like in Isaiah chapter 41, verse 10, "'Do not fear, for I am with you.

"'I will strengthen you. "'Surely, I will help you.' Or even the apostle Paul, when he was under house arrest and he's writing to the Philippians, here's what he says in the first chapter of Philippians chapter one, verse 12. "'Now, I want you to know, brethren, "'that my circumstances have turned out "'for the greater progress of the gospel, "'so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ "'has become well-known "'throughout the whole Praetorian Guard "'and to everyone else, "'and that most of the brethren "'trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment "'have far more courage "'to speak the word of God without fear.'" What was he saying? Don't worry about me. My imprisonment's been good. Do you know why? Because I'm put on the earth for the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And because I'm here, it's become known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else that Jesus is the Christ and the believers who are in prison with me, because they see my courage, they now have more courage

and they're speaking up too. So could we all just praise the Lord for how good everything is right now? That's what he's saying, right? And when our circumstances go south, we think, what'd I do wrong? What's wrong with me? How can I get out of this circumstances? What do I need to change? Now, if you're sinning, ask the Lord, have I sinned against you? But a lot of times for a born-again believer, it's not that you're sinning against the Lord. He's taking you through something that you would never design for yourself. You can't see the results of. He's gonna walk you through it. And if you'll trust him in the process for what he wants to do, it'll be a really good thing. I mean, it's interesting to me that God would send an angel to do what he did. You may not know much about the Sadducees, but the Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe in angels and demons. They believed everything was for right here and right now. They didn't believe in an afterlife. They don't believe in angels. So God's like, okay, well then I'll send one of my angels to let them all out of prison

since you don't believe in them. I mean, God will do whatever he wants to do to demonstrate people whatever they don't believe. I mean, that's why we're seeing these things go on. And if you stay in faith and trust the Lord, whatever outcome he brings, even if it's not comfortable for you or not go the way that you thought it was going to go, you will grow in the Lord. So persist when you're pruned and trust when you're pressured. Then you can do this third one. Obey when you're challenged. Obey when you're challenged. Notice what he goes on to say in verse 27. When they had brought them, so now they're coming back from teaching in the temple. When they had brought them, they stood them before the council. The high priest began to question them saying, we gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name. They can't even say the name Jesus. They say in this name and yet. You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. So now they're standing before the authorities. The authorities are telling them, we told you not to preach in this man's name. And now you're not only doing that,

but you're making us feel guilty about what you're preaching. So stop. Right, that's what they're saying. When you have authority that tells you to stop your obedience, to stop your proclamation, to stop your walk with Jesus, that can't be your answer. It doesn't matter when somebody says, now we're called to be obedient citizens, good citizens, to the extent that I can still walk with Jesus and do that. But if it hinders my walk with Jesus, I've got to say no. And I've got to stand with King Jesus, amen? So notice how they're gonna respond. But Peter and the apostles, so it's Peter and all the other 12, say, we must obey God rather than men. There's your answer. Every single time, say to yourself, I must obey God rather than men. Every single time as a church, we must obey God rather than men. Every single time as a family, as a married couple, we must obey God rather than men. We're gonna choose Christ first, no matter what. Like if that is your priority, everything else falls into place. Think about this, obedience under pressure really reveals allegiance under fire. Because courageous faith, it refuses to compromise. You cannot compromise when you really believe in Jesus.

And Jesus will design circumstances to see where is your allegiance and where are you gonna stand? Are you gonna stand with me or are you gonna stand with somebody else? Peter goes on to say, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you had put to death by hanging him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to his right hand as Prince and Savior and to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. So listen, authority has just gotten done saying stop speaking in his name and what's Peter first thing he does? We're gonna obey God rather than men. So let me tell you about Jesus. And begins to proclaim the gospel to him as to who Jesus is and what Jesus has done and how you're responsible for his death and your sin put him there. And he is now the Savior of the world and you may not believe in angels and demons and you may not believe in a God in the afterlife but he is God and he's there and he's ruling and reigning and he sent his Holy Spirit that indwells all of us and so we're gonna obey him rather than you. And that was his response to stop talking about Jesus. When people tell you you can't obey Jesus,

when people tell you if you do this, you're gonna get canceled, you're gonna lose your job, God brings you through circumstances and in circumstances to see, are you gonna stand for Jesus even when fill in the blank? Are you gonna obey Jesus even when fill in the blank? And here's what I would tell you, there's no price tag for a clean conscience. Being obedient is not always the easiest choice, it's sometimes the clearest choice, it's just not always the easiest choice. Sometimes the easiest choice is cutting corners because here's what the devil will always show you when God's saying go this way, this is the obedient way, the devil will say, why would you go that way? I can get you here sooner. Like just take the shortcut, there are no shortcuts with God. You can take the shortcut, but sometimes taking that shortcut that got you there five minutes sooner will take you 50 years to deal with the pain that got you there, you know what I'm saying? The devil will always show you a quicker, easier way. God may not show you a quicker, easier way, but God will always show you the true way and how to walk in that. And if you walk in the true way, then there's blessing that comes out of that, there's character that's formed in that,

there's goodness that gets revealed through that, right? And so when you're going through these things and when you're being challenged, always choose obedience. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a great pastor in Germany during the Second World War who chose not to come and stay in America, but to go back to the German people because he loved the gospel and he loved the German people and was murdered before the end of the war. Here's what he said. He said, when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. Here's what he understood. It's not about my self-preservation. It's about what Jesus gets through me. It's about the glory he gets from my life. Like some of you I know that are in college, if you write a paper the way Jesus wants you to write it, you're gonna get a bad grade or you're gonna get failed by that professor. To which Jesus would say, so what? Don't take the shortcut. I mean, you stand on the truth. And if you stand on the truth, there's always goodness that comes from it. It may not be immediate. It may be what we call delayed gratification, but everything in the Christian life is delayed gratification. Everything I'm looking for is coming in the life to come.

The fullness of everything I'm looking for is coming in the life to come. I get glimpses of it here, but I'm not gonna get there. to see the fullness of it until Jesus Christ comes back. Amen? And you're not either. I mean, think about it. Some of you are businessmen, businesswomen. You know, how does that affect you? It affects you huge in our culture. People will cancel you if you walk with Jesus. I mean, think about the Green family that owns Hobby Lobby. You guys familiar with Hobby Lobby? There's a percentage of my paycheck that goes there. I don't really go there, but my money does. But the Green family, in 2014, they refused to provide abortion-inducing drugs through their company's healthcare plan, citing their biblical convictions. So they had to go defend themselves in court. It went all the way to the Supreme Court. And I have friends that know the Green family that were calling me at the time, said, please pray for the Green family. Please pray for them. They're going through all this stuff. They stand to lose millions and millions of dollars if not lose all of Hobby Lobby. But they made that stand for Christ.

And while they risked millions in fines, the Supreme Court actually ruled in their favor, and their stand became a model for faith-driven obedience in business. Amen? Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Some of you know the friend of ours, a cake maker in town that chose not to make a cake for a homosexual couple. That went all the way to the Supreme Court, right? And some might say, why don't you just make the cake? Just flour and sugar. No, it was about standing for Jesus on your convictions. And if you're gonna stand for Jesus on your convictions, it's gonna cost you something. And so you gotta make the decision before you get there. As Jesus said, anyone who's gonna build a tower first sits down and counts the cost. Or you're gonna go to war, you better make sure you got enough to win the battle. I mean, if you're gonna follow Jesus, you need to make sure that you're resolved in your obedience no matter what comes. Amen? Jesus said this in Matthew 10, verses 32 and 33.

He said, everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him. Friends, there's a great call in our life to live obediently to Jesus no matter how difficult this gets, amen? No matter what happens with this. Because notice what happens in the story. He's preached the gospel, but notice what happens in the story. It says, but when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to do what? Kill them. So now we wanna not just put you in prison, now we wanna kill you. When it says cut to the quick, that literally means in the original language, cut in half. Unlike when Peter preached his first sermon, they were pricked in the heart, they were convicted, and they were like, what do we do, what do we do? These guys were like torn in two, they're furious. And here's really what the gospel, the only two responses that can happen when you share the gospel is people can reject it or they accept it. That's about it. But when people reject it, they usually reject it in two different ways. One is a passive rejection that says things like this. Yeah, I know what Brave Church believes.

I've heard Pastor Jeff, I don't believe that. That's so narrow-minded bigot. I'm not even gonna give that the time of day. You guys do you, I'm gonna do me, I'm not in. Kind of a passive, or I don't really think about religious things, I'm not in. I mean, it's passive indifference. But for other people, it's violent hostility towards it. They hate it. And the reason they hate it, I think those people are actually closer to the kingdom. The reason they hate it is that they're convicted in their gut that what you're saying is true. And that's why we sometimes get afraid to share the gospel because we don't mind the people like, oh, good for you. The world needs people like you, it's so good. I mean, okay, thanks, but they didn't accept. But it's the people that when you share with, or the people around your Thanksgiving meal with your family, or at Christmas this season, and you share the gospel, and somebody that you know, a family member, a friend, they're vitriolic with you. I mean, they hate you as a result. That's hard, super hard. Or you have a son or a daughter who has gender issues, and they decide to marry somebody of the same sex, and they invite you to the wedding, and you say, no, I'm not gonna go participate in that, but I love you.

And it causes division because the gospel always causes division. Jesus said, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Are you gonna obey when you're challenged? So now they're ready to kill Peter and all the other 11, which is kind of interesting for me because when I go back to Acts chapter one, and they're replacing Judas Iscariot, and they're rolling lots to see which of these two guys is gonna get it. And the lot falls on the one guy. I bet he was thinking, why did the lot fall on me? Now I'm about ready to be killed, right? And here's what we need to realize. Sometimes in church, we're always looking for influence. Man, I'm gonna get up here, I'm gonna get up here. When the church is doing what the church is supposed to do, those that are in the front are gonna get attacked the most. That's just the way it works. So notice what happens. But there's this Pharisee, his name's Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up for the council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. So take the apostles out. And he said to the men that were remaining, men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. For some time ago, Thutis rose up, claiming to be a somebody in a group of about 400.

men joined up with him, but he was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After this, a man Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished and all those who followed were scattered. So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown, but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them, or else you may be found even fighting against God. What's he saying? He's like, guys, leave these guys alone. We want to be careful here. If these guys are charlatans, it's going to die out. We've seen people rise up before. We've seen people try to lead people spiritually before, and then when that person dies, everybody scatters. We've seen it happen more than once. We've seen it happen in our generation. Some charismatic leaders raised up, he's got all these things, but then he dies away and all the followers are like, yeah, I'm not following that anymore. Jesus Christ, when he died, he rose from the dead and all of his followers that were scared were willing to give their life for him because they knew it was so true. And here's what he says. As a non-believer, it's so interesting what Gamaliel says. It's so prophetic that the Holy Spirit's speaking through him, even though he doesn't know Jesus. He says, he said, let these men alone, for in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men, let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it'll be overthrown. That's prophetic. If this is a manly thing, it's going to be overthrown. But if it's of God, you will not be able to overthrow them or else you may even be found fighting against God.

I mean, it's prophetic, right? If this is of God, not only are you going to fight them, you're going to have God fighting against you. So I would just back up here a little bit. Like don't be so quick to kill these guys because if they really are of God, then we're going to have not only this other man's blood, Jesus on our hand, but we're going to have the blood of all these men on our hands. So here's the truth. When you're challenged, obey. When you're challenged, obey. It's strange to live in our country and be challenged for the gospel, but it's coming more and more and more, just so you know. It's not less and less and less. In 2020, there were so many people that were telling me, I can't preach. We can't keep our church open. If you do, we will arrest you, all this kind of stuff. It just made me more resolved, right? And it's coming. There might be a little reprieve that you see, but it's coming. And I'm encouraging you now to stand your resolve now for what's about ready to happen so that we're always going to be about the gospel. And we're always going to be about staying united. And we're always going to be about advancing the cause of Christ. And we're always going to be about worshiping him, amen? And then if we do this, then we get to the final one, which I think is the most difficult for any Christian to do. It's difficult for me to do. It's difficult for you to do. I mean, if we're going to persist when we're pruned, and we're going to trust when we're pressured, and we're going to obey when we're challenged, then how about this one?

Do this, rejoice when you're mistreated. Rejoice when you're mistreated. Rejoice means to celebrate. It means to give God praise. When I'm mistreated and you're mistreated, our tendency is to want to pull other people in to tell them how we've been mistreated so they can either sympathize with us or say, oh, you're so awesome and honor us for the way we've been mistreated. But that's not what the apostles did, because notice what happens. So they took the advice of Gamaliel, they're not going to kill him. And after calling the apostles in, they flogged them. So let's pause there. Flogging is not just getting whipped once or twice. Flogging was usually where you were tied to a beam, had your shirt come off your back, and you were beat with a lash or a cat-of-nine-tails 39 times. 40 would put you to death. So these guys experienced the kind of pain that would be so severe in them that their whole back would have been destroyed. They wouldn't be able to breathe very well. It would be extremely, excruciatingly painful. It's what they did to Jesus before they had him carry the cross. It exhausts you. It'll wear you out. I mean, it's not just like a 30-second thing. I mean, you think of how long it takes men to beat 39 times in the back of these men. That's what they had. So they didn't kill him, but they nearly killed him. They flogged them, and then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and then released him. How well do you think that's gonna work out for them? I mean, they've already warned him once.

They've already warned him twice. They keep doing everything they tell him not to do. Now they're beating them, and now they're gonna use the name of Jesus. Don't say the name of Jesus ever again. Got it? Or you're gonna get it worse. Verse 41, so they went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name. So instead of leaving and being like, oh, I'm gonna call my mom, we gotta get some bactine put on this thing, and have all the other Christians, oh, you did it, it's such a good... That's not what they're doing. They're on their way home, and they're rejoicing. Lord, we praise you. We praise you. Everybody's gonna know that they beat us because of you. And that's what they did to you, and we're more like you than we've ever been before. And Lord, we praise you that you're real, and we praise you that you would count us worthy to suffer for your name, because you and you alone are worthy of our entire life. Thank you, Jesus. They had a worship concert on the way home, right? But they weren't done. Because notice verse 42. And how many days? You see it in your text? If you don't have a Bible, bring a Bible to Brave Church. It says, and every day. Every day.

That means they didn't take a day off. And every day in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus is the Christ. They didn't even take a day to recover. They didn't even take a day off. They didn't say, well, you know, this time of year, you know, this part of Greece is really nice. We'll get to the ocean. We'll kind of get in the salt water and feel, no. Every day from that moment on, they continued in the temple publicly and from house to house, discipling people, proclaiming Jesus as the Christ. What does it mean? They're gonna rejoice when they're mistreated. Can you rejoice when you're mistreated? Do you know sometimes we're mistreated by non-believers? I think it's easier to rejoice when you're mistreated by a non-believer. You know what's hard to do? It's when you get mistreated by a believer. You get mistreated by somebody that claims to know the same Jesus that you know, claims to have the same Holy Spirit that you have, and they mistreat you, that's way more difficult to rejoice in that moment. But can I tell you this? You're called to, you're called to. When Kim and I started this church 15 years ago,

I'd been in ministry for about 20 years prior, and we started this church, and I thought I knew a lot of things that I didn't know, and have been through a lot, been through a lot of seasons where I'm like, why do I have to go through this? Or that was the most hurtful thing. You have to realize, every time somebody in our church leaves, this is family, so it always hurts. It hurt when we used to have 50 people, and somebody would leave and take two people with them, it hurt. Or sometimes I don't see somebody for a period of time. What happened? Oh, they left. Why'd they leave? Well, they just this, or this, or this, or this. It hurts every single time. And sometimes people leave because God calls them to another place, or God moves on. That's totally fine, and there's nothing wrong with doing that. Brave's not a cult. You can go wherever God calls you to go. Go do that, and go do it to the glory of the Lord. But sometimes when people have left, they've said really hurtful things on their way out the door.

Really painful things on their way out the door. People we thought were like our friends, have said it to Kim, or they've said it to me, slicing my heart. I'm telling you what's given me the most comfort is Matthew chapter five in the Sermon on the Mount. I think every pastor should have this in his arsenal. I think I have it memorized, but I'll read it just to make sure I'm accurate. Blessed are you when people insult you, and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Here's what he tells you to do. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. What's he say? Hey, there's gonna be people who are gonna say some things about you that aren't true. There'll be some people that say things about you that are mean. People say things that are mean-spirited. People that say things that are hurtful. And when they do, here's what I want you to do. Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you,

and then do this. Just rejoice. Just rejoice. That's how they treat people that walk with me. That just means you're more aligned with me. Good job. Way to go. Philippians 129 says, for it has been granted not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. 1 Peter 4, 13 says, to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing. I mean, I think of Polycarp. You ever heard the name Polycarp? Nobody names their kids that anymore. He was a disciple of the apostle John, Polycarp. He was burned alive at the stake in 155 AD. He was born in 69 AD, born and killed in 155 AD. And before being burned at the stake, he was asked to recant. And here's what he said. 86 years I have served him. How then can I blaspheme my king and my savior? Was he being mistreated? Yes. What was he doing? He was rejoicing in whose he was, even up to the very last minute of his death.

Friends, I wanna encourage you. I wanna encourage you. If we wanna see the work of God continue to grow, these are the things that we could put into practice. Persist when God's pruning things in your life. Just stay the way God wants you to stay. Trust in God when pressure mounts and things get tough. Obey. Always obey God, even when you're challenged. And then rejoice when you're mistreated. If you do this, the work of God cannot be stopped. Now, these are the things that we hear, and I hear them, and I'm preaching them, and I'm like, this would be really good for y'all to do. If y'all could just do this, we'd be great. But this message to me, as much as it is to you, it's for each one of us. How am I gonna respond when these things happen? How am I gonna live when these are the things that God is doing in my life? And we have the ability, not to control how other people treat us, but we have the ability to discern and decide how we're gonna respond to. how they treat us. Every single one of you through the Holy Spirit has the ability to do that. If you don't have the Holy Spirit, you can repent and believe that Jesus is the Christ, that he loved you enough, that he came here for you,

died on the cross for you, rose from the dead for you. He's coming back and he wants to know you. But if you do know him, perhaps he's showing you some things in your life where you can trust him even greater, trust him even deeper, because he's growing your character and he cares about you. So the way we're gonna end today is by taking communion. I'm gonna pray for you here in a second. Just ask you to get your elements ready, because this is where we get the power to do everything God wants us to do through the body and blood of Jesus. And as you're holding these elements and preparing your heart, whether you stand, sit or kneel, just prepare your heart for these elements to take these to the glory of God as we'll take them together in just a minute. But let me pray with you. Our Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise for who you are. Lord, we ask you to move mightily in and through us this day. Lord, to do a work that only can be attributed to you. And Lord, we give you praise for who you are. We love you, Lord. We bless you and praise you. Thank you for shedding your blood and giving your life for us. We give you all the glory, all the honor

and all the praise in Jesus' name. Amen.