Passion 2018 - Louie Giglio

so two big questions that we asked a lot I think can be resolved tonight and if they are then it's going to save you a lot of time and energy over the course of your life there was a photo from one of the events that we did at the Georgia Dome not the most recent one last year but the first full doumitt event that we did several years ago and the photograph was from the the back row of the top section so in this arena it would be as if it were up there to the very very top upper deck last row so fish islands shot so that it kind of wrapped around and you could see the entire stadium filled with you and that picture was tweeted I don't think Instagram really had a lot of traction yet at the time and I remember that it was John Piper who made the comment arrows in the hands of God and that statement just riveted me to think that this is the reality tonight that you and I can see ourselves as flaming arrows in the hands of a merciful God and to think about the possibility of what would happen it if I don't know there's thirty plus thousand of us in buildings and tens of thousands of us around the world right now linking in what would happen if the 40 50 plus thousand of us said yes to being flaming arrows in the hands of a merciful God tonight where would he send us and what would happen in the world in the generation to come as a result of that so the questions are these the two big questions tonight number one what is my purpose is anybody asking that question like what is my calling I don't know how you would phrase it what what is it that I'm supposed to do with my life I think when you're coming through this window of time 18 years of all 18 years of age 20 22 25 30 still some people asking what is it I'm supposed to do I know there are a lot of options and I know there are a lot of paths but I want to know what I'm supposed to do what is my purpose in being on the planet right now and I think the second question is maybe the the more difficult question and it is this can I get past my past and I love that Christine took that head-on today in such a phenomenal and powerful way Thank You Christine for for just leading us down that road of saying goodbye to a life that is marked by dominated by controlled by shame that the first question is what is my purpose why am I here why am I on earth and can I ever really figure that out and get on that track the second question is can I get past my past can I get past the fact that my family cracked in two or in three or in some of your cases in four and I'm confused by a lot of things been disappointed by a lot of things I have a lot of regrets about things I've done in things that have been done around me and things done to me I've got wounds in my life can I get past the shame can I get past the guilt can I get past the letdown and the disappointment and can I find the power to actually live on purpose for a purpose this is the greatest treasure on this earth is to wake up every single day and go I know that I am living my life on purpose I'm not incidental I'm not accidental and I'm not just going with the flow but I know my life has a reason and I'm not waiting till I graduate from school or I find that the right person or I get that first real job or I get out on my own I'm not waiting to some other season to get into that mindset I want to know I can wake up tomorrow and start living a life on purpose for a purpose so maybe no one here is asking either one of those two questions but if you are I think we can resolve both of those questions right here and right now does that sound a little too simplistic maybe it is a little simplistic sounding it but I believe the answers to both those questions are found in God's words specifically in the second chapter of Acts and that's where I want to direct us tonight and I want to focus us on two phrases the first phrase is this the finished work of Christ can you say that with me the finished work of Christ let's say with me all all the venues together the finished work of Christ second phrase the unfinished work of the church can you say that with me the unfinished work of the church so two big ideas in Acts chapter two the finished work of Christ and the unfinished work of the church and if you know your scripture very well you're like no those are not the big ideas in Acts chapter two the big idea in Acts chapter two is that it was Pentecost and the promise of Christ from the Father arrived on planet Earth and the Holy Spirit came down and changed the lives of people that's the story of Acts chapter 2 well that's very much in Acts chapter 2 but I think what we'll see as we do a flyover of the chapter tonight if it really is focusing focusing us on the finished work of Christ and the unfinished work of the church and that's where the Holy Spirit comes in to your life into my life so to the second question can I get past the past we take statement number one the finished work of Christ and I want to direct you to Acts chapter two verse 22 Peter is preaching it and he says men of Israel listen to this Jesus and Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles wonders and signs which God did among you through him as you yourselves know he continues this man Jesus was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge and you with the help of wicked men put him Jesus to death by nailing him to the cross verse 24 but God raised Jesus from the dead freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him and then if you fast-forward to verse 36 therefore but if let all of Israel be assured of this God has made this Jesus whom you crucified this this sermon by the way he's got a little bit of a point to it because he's talking to the people who actually participated in the death of Jesus and so he's stepping on a lot of toes in this he says this Jesus whom you crucified God has made both Lord and Christ the reality of this gathering is that Jesus Christ came by God's purpose by God's foreknowledge by God's design into humanity through a virgin birth to live a perfect life God in the flesh so that he could take on that shame he could take on the guilt and he could take on all the condemnation for your sin in mice and then he could be under the wrath of God that all of our sins deserved obliterated by the wrath of God in death on a cross yet to be raised up from death from hell from the darkness from the grave from all the power of hell by the power of Almighty God so that he can raise us up with him into brand-new life you can put the past behind you but you can't put the past behind you by resolving to put the past behind you you can't put the past behind you by talking yourself into the fact that you're gonna put the past behind you you can only put the past behind you by locking your gaze on the finished work of Jesus Christ who hung for six hours on that cross taking the guilt taking the shame taking the wrath taking the sin and taking the blows and at the end of it all he said it is finished it's finished what's finished all the payment that we owed is finished all of us trying in our best effort to make peace with god that's over religion is done there is now no more attempt in the flesh to measure up to a holy God because holy God has come in the flesh to measure us up by his righteousness and by His stripes we are healed this is the finished work of Christ I know it's not new news I don't see anyone writing this down Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world Jesus Christ took on our guilt and shame but this is what was spoken in Isaiah chapter 6 that moment where that Seraph came flying from the altar of God with a coal of fire in tongs from the altar of God he's coming to Isaiah who knows he's a sinful man because he's seen the holiness of God and the Seraph comes and he touches his lips with the coal and he says see this coal has touched your lips your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for now that doesn't mean that there's going to be a seraph lie down out of heaven tonight and touch your lips with a coal from the altar of God what it meant was 700 years before Jesus the prophecy is laying the groundwork for Jesus that the living coal coming from heaven is not some ember from the altar but it's actually a member of the Trinity it's God Himself Jesus Christ coming down out of heaven and it's his righteous blazing sacrifice that touches our lives and two things happen our guilt is taken away if you're carrying guilt if I can just be honest that's your fault oh I just I can't get over my past that's simply a reflection of the fact that we don't have our eyes on the cross of Jesus Christ we're looking at our problem we're looking at our failure we're looking at I regret we're looking back at shame we're looking back at the guilt we're looking at us but when you get your eyes off of you I get my eyes off of me which is a miracle by the way when we get eyes up on to the cross of Jesus Christ we see written there it is finished there is no more guilt for you to carry he carried it off and it does not honor Jesus for me to carry the weight of the guilt that crucified him and caused him to suffer and die what honors Jesus is for me to look at the cross and go I agree with you I agree with you I am forgiven I agree with you I have been made new I agree with you my guilt is gone my shame is removed my sin is atoned for I agree with God I'm not any longer agreeing with me I'm not good enough or I didn't measure up or whatever Jesus did for everybody else didn't count for me I'm telling you when Jesus went to the cross one drop of his blood was enough to cleanse all of humanity and you are in that story so if you want to move past your past and you can if your question is can I move past the past and find the power to actually live on purpose the answer is yes and that answer is found and rooted in the finished work of Jesus second Corinthians 5:21 says at a different way God made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ that's who we are and once our minds are open our eyes are open to agree with God and to say the two most powerful things we can say God I believe it hello anybody I believe it and secondly I receive it in that moment the reality of that statement by his wounds we were healed becomes an operational reality inside our heart and we began to move forward in the purposes of God I will never ever get over the cross of Jesus Christ I don't want to I don't want to move on from it because all of my life is found in it I want to cherish it I want a kneel before it I want to celebrate it I want to pick it up and carry it I don't need another gospel because the one I've got is the best story ever heard it is death to life in Jesus Christ and I hope that you know that story I'm going to give you an opportunity at the end of this message tonight to say yes to the gift of Jesus Christ to take away guilt and to atone for all the sin of your life but to do that you have to understand the basic heart of the gospel and it is this that sin doesn't just make you bad see that's the world around us oh you're one of those Christians you're you're better than everyone else man if I hear that one more time I think I'm gonna ABS literally literally not figuratively throw up if somebody one more time tells me oh you're one of those Christians y'all are better than everybody else is like no here's reality I think a true follower of Jesus certainly doesn't think he's better than everybody else but it probably has a way better grip on the fact that he is not better than everybody else because he a true follower of Jesus is not walking through life going I'm doing pretty good I'm doing all right I think I'm fine I don't think I need anybody a true follower of Jesus a man I saw the holiness of God and then I saw me and when I saw me in light of the holiness of God I knew I was undone and that my chances were very Slama in fact they were none that's what a true follower of Jesus believes he's not looking at his neighbor going man you got problems he's look at his neighbor going I get it I get it we all have got some major stuff as a result of our choices in sin but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Christ Jesus I hope I never get over that Gospel message that sin doesn't just make you bad that's what the world thinks well I'm doing pretty good it's like well great how's that measuring up to a God who hears holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty every second of every day every year of all the ages eternity past present and future how does I'm doing pretty good stack up to that it doesn't stack up to that and if you wondered why when John Piper started today he said none of us deserves to be here that is exactly the reality so this whole thing of well I didn't get what I deserved No thank God we didn't get what we deserved we got mercy and on top of mercy we actually got more than that we got grace so the gospel isn't that sin makes you bad hello the gospel is that sin makes you dead the wages of sin is death the wages of sin isn't that you're bad the wages of sin is spiritual death but check this out the verse goes on but the gift of God the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord so the gospel you understand it's not about being bad or good the gospel is about being dead or alive can you move past the past I believe you can but to move past the past you have to celebrate cherish believe and champion the finished work of Christ the enemy is always going to come to you and tell you what you need to add to the work of Christ and you need to be able to communicate clearly to yourself in that moment jesus paid it all and there is not one more thing I can add to be completely forgiven and to have peace with God the second question which was the first question how can I find my purpose in life I believe is answered by the second statement so I know that's a little confusing because we had two questions and two statements and then we flip-flop them a little bit but the first question how can I find purpose in life and know what I'm supposed to do is answered by the second statement and that is the unfinished work of the church so we talked about the finished work of Christ that's all done settled forever but there's still an unfinished work of the church are you on board with the fact that the church has unfinished business now I know the work words not a real popular word I think that the church has unfinished work but the church exists for a reason and the reason the church exists is a mission and that mission is at the heart of God tonight and if you want to know what God's thinking about he is thinking about you he does see you and know you he is el Roy the God who sees and he sees you but if you want to know what God's thinking about right now God's thinking about the central mission for which the Spirit came and the church was born and do you know what that mission is it's that every single person on planet earth will hear about the finished work of Christ the unfinished work of the church is to make sure every person on planet Earth gets to hear about the finished work of Christ and until every person on planet Earth hears about the finished work of Christ the church's work is still undone and you see this in a flyover of Acts chapter 2 I got mine laminated yeah that's so I can take it in the shower with me if that sounds weird you're not memorizing big chunks of scripture it's a lot of good shower time you can knock some verses out but you got it you got a laminate that means going to Kinko's and you know doing the old school stuff let's do a quick flyover of Acts - what do you know about it well obviously it opens with the arrival of the Holy Spirit can we just say amen to that it says and as they were gathered together in one place suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind filled the place where they were gathered and not too long after that they saw what seemed like tongues of fire coming down out of heaven and separating and resting on them and then immediately they began this band of about a hundred and twenty Jesus followers who for all purposes were a little bit unsure a little bit nervous somewhat afraid hold up together not knowing which direction to move in because of all of the turbulence of the crucifixion of Jesus so here we are fifty days later in the spirit of God that Jesus told them he was gonna send arrives in such a powerful demonstrative way nobody is mistaken that this is what Jesus talked about the result was that all of them when the tongues of fire rested on them they began to all speak in different languages can you imagine that moment happening and you say well well why would they all start speaking in different languages if there were 120 of them in there and maybe they didn't even know different languages so they wouldn't even know what languages they were speaking in that seems weird that they would all start speaking in different languages in a room together all kind of huddled together all knew each other well what what was that about what that was about was in this case that this was another festival season and Jews from all over the known world had come back to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost and so in the city was four times the normal population and people from every area of the known world at that time and so now these Jesus followers touched by the Spirit of God the Holy Spirit are all talking in different languages miraculously supernaturally and they're making such a roar with their languages there was such a shaking it with the sound of the mighty wind that people rushed to the scene to see what was going on and as they did here came the hundred and twenty people all speaking in different languages and this is what it says this is pretty amazing now they were staying in Jerusalem god-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven verse five when they heard this sound a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard them speaking in his own language utterly amazed they asked are not all these men who were speaking Galileans then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language and then Luke records kind of what went down he said parthians and medes and elamites their people from Mesopotamia and from Judea in Cappadocia people from Pontus and Asia people from Phi Riccio and Pamphylia people from Egypt and the regions of Libya near Cyrene visitors from Rome both Jews and converts to Judaism Cretans and Arabs and this is what they said at the end of it they said we all hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues come on the Holy Spirit arrived and in 15 minutes 15 nations were hearing the wonders of God in their own languages you're not quite as excited about that as as Luc was I don't think so the flyover is this the Holy Spirit arrives tongues of fire set tongues on fire and the wonders of God are being declared not on a micro but on a macro now I just huddled around a campfire so we can all sing Kumbaya one more time and talk about how good god is again but so that the whole world can know that Jesus is alive check out this diagram of those places that a lot of which we've not heard about the parthians medes the Elamites the residents of Mesopotamia Cappadocia Judea these are those places when you can see Jerusalem in the centre one arrow coming from Rome the center of the world at that time the Emperor called himself God all across the Middle East the most contentious area of the world problem down into Saudi Arabia into Africa all across the Mediterranean Central Asia all across Greece Christine all of a sudden are you are you seeing this in one moment the purpose and plan of God was being unfolded so what happened next well a lot of people didn't get it so they said man these people are had a little too much to drink and then someone answered and said no it's it's early in the morning man these these people are not drinking this is this is the promise of Joel 2 and in the last times the sons and daughters are going to prophesy when God is going to pour out his spirit on mankind this is what this is Peter said and then Peter second thing that happens first thing Holy Spirit comes second thing Peter preaches the gospel we just read it a little part of it third thing that happens the church is born on that day when Peter preached and said that if people all over the world repent they can be saved people repented from all over the world right then in the text says I love it 3,000 people were added to their number that day now listen don't I'm not trying to make a big point out of this but don't let anybody set you off by dogging the megachurch God doesn't believe in big churches the gospel cannot be contained and its nature the nature of the gospel is to explode in the hearts of people the nature of the gospel is revival the nature of the gospel is awakening the nature of the gospel is people getting saved not one a year or two a year but lots of people coming from death to life that's the results of the power of the gospel and that's why Paul said I'm not ashamed of it because it's the power of God to salvation and 120 people went to 3,000 120 people in one day now don't don't fret over that because the last part of the chapter which we love says they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching into fellowship the breaking of bread and a prayer everyone was filled with awe many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles all the believers were together they had everything in common they sold their possessions and goods they gave to anyone that had need everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts they broke bread in their homes they ate together and they enjoyed the favour of all the people in the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved so what we see in the flyover of Acts chapter 2 is this when the Holy Spirit arrives people's lives are transformed and they're transformed to proclaim the gospel in power Peter all of a sudden is preaching to this huge crowd of people with all this unction on his life as a result of the Spirit of God and as he's preaching in the power of the Spirit 3,000 people get saved a church is born the church is huge right off the bat but that doesn't stop them from meeting together caring for each other breaking bread together and following the the Apostles teaching so hello it's not an either-or a or B small home group community church or is it this big thing that God is doing hey it's both of those things the church is explosive and people should be getting saved every single day I want you to leave here with a vision that on your campus somebody can get saved this spring every single day not for people not 13 people but every single day we're at South Dakota State University Lois we don't have all that stuff you all have down in the south well you have the gospel and as far as I know it's the power of God unto salvation to all who believe even people who live in parts of America that aren't in the quasi Bible Belt and it's probably easier to proclaim that gospel in the non Bible Belt parts of the world and it actually is in the Bible Belt parts of the world where everybody goes I've heard that a thousand times and so the flyover what do we see we see the mission of God Matthew 28 all Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all nations boom done acts 1:4 but wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes and you receive power and then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem Judea Samaria and to the ends of the earth so what does God care about he cares about the peoples of the earth and how do we know that because on the day the Holy Spirit came Jerusalem got the gospel Judea got the gospel Samaria got to gospel and the ends of the earth got the gospel on day one now not everybody on the planet got the gospel on day one but the planet got the gospel on day one you know what that means it just means that's what God's thinking about today and it means that I have to ask the question where on the list of my priorities is taking the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to every single person on planet Earth because I know it's top on the list of God's priorities and it is the mission of the church I like to think about it an arrow that looks like this and this was a little bit inspired by one of you we stole this off your Instagram someone drew this in their Bible across their text and we loved it so much that we just adopted it because this is you and this is me the tip of the arrow is the authority of Jesus that's what jesus said all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth the arrow itself is the church the tip of it is the authority which is Jesus name so the tip of our arrow that name and power of Jesus our arrow itself is the gospel that the the shaft I mean the point of the arrow is the gospel the shaft of the arrow is the church simply meaning none of us are on a solo mission the feathers that are steering the arrow is the Word of God so we just don't have an arrow going out to what we're ever doing whatever but the Word of God is guiding our flight as the people of God carrying the gospel of God in Jesus name but our arrow is on fire our arrow is on fire by the power of the Holy Spirit and so together we make up a church which is the plan a of Almighty God to finish the unfinished work of taking the finished work of Christ in the power of the Spirit to all the people on planet Earth and I hope that you and I will walk away from these few moments inspired that we get to be a part of that I was in a gathering a few weeks ago in California sort of a consortium of organizations and their focus check this out their focus are not the unreached people groups of the world I think everybody here's probably heard of those if not that would be a people group not a country with borders but a ethnicity of people which could cross borders of a country or be multiple ethnicities obviously in a country but an ethnicity of people with no access to church no access to the scripture no access to the gospel where less than 1% of that people group know Jesus Christ and follow him and there are thousands of unreached people groups thousands of them but I was at a gathering that doesn't just focus on unreached people groups it focuses on unengaged unreached people groups you're like man you're starting to lose me on all this stuff a nun engaged unreached people group is a particular people who have no access to the gospel no Bible no way of getting to a church nobody who's talking about Jesus less than 1% of people in that whole people group which may have 10 million people or a hundred million people know Jesus but not only are they an unreached people group they're an unengaged unreached people group meaning no one at this moment even has it on the radar to reach that people group and of those there are somewhere near a thousand remaining a thousand people groups who no one yet has stepped forward that we're aware of and said we will figure out how to get the finished work of Christ to them and I said in this gathering and I knew sitting there this is what matters to God and it's got a matter to us because the finished work of Christ gave birth to something called the church and the church exists to finish the work of taking the finished work of Christ to every person on the planet let me put a face on it for you the top one hundred unreached people groups by population size the top hundred out of ten thousand the top hundred totals 1.8 billion people one that will maybe come as a little bit of a surprise to you the Japanese people unreached people group you're like no they're not it's Japan well if you've been to Japan like I have many times I don't know someone's online coming to us from Tokyo right now they can not along they'll say yep the gospel is alive there but there are a hundred and twenty two million people in Japan in less than 1% of them is a follower of Jesus and hardly any of them speak English by the way so that's gonna probably rule a lot of us out at least in terms of being the mouthpiece the shake people just another face for us tonight 233 million of them in Bangladesh and India mostly over a hundred million in each place 233 million people no church that anybody can get to nobody preaching the gospel no scripture possibly in complete form in their language just darkness oh they got a God just not the Almighty God that they have a religion but they don't have a finished work yet oh they're still on the treadmill hoping to work it out and hoping it all resolves somehow at the end but they haven't heard about the it is finished yet about a God who didn't invite them to figure out a way to get up but a God who was willing to come all the way down to where they are in Jesus said this is our purpose hello to take the finished work of Jesus to all the people on the planet now passion technically is an emissions conference in the end of this message isn't everyone needs to sign up to be missionary but the end of this message is in the heart of Acts 2 is in the Heart of Jesus in the heart of the Holy Spirit is everybody has to realize we are on mission we have a reason for being alive in Christ and is to join Christ and to join the Spirit of God in taking the story of Jesus to everybody on the planet I want you to see yourself tonight as an arrow and I want to ask if you could put yourself as an arrow and there's a collective we as the church it's again not solo mission but I wonder if you could see yourself tonight as a 22 year old as an arrow flaming by the Spirit of God in the hands of a merciful God and you could say to him tonight grip draw anchor aim release and launch my life somewhere for your glory see we're not gonna settle tonight where our arrows are gonna go amen if you if you think you know where your arrows going all of us older people that are here and not going there you're like no I absolutely know for sure what I'm gonna do I'm going to grad school after this I'm getting the internship it's so and so and I'm getting the job in there and then I'm gonna transfer to there and I'm gonna marry this Owens I already know who she is but she doesn't know it yet and highly unlikely that I had the ginger going that way but and then we're gonna live in such and such and blah blah blah and blah blah blah blah blah no it's not gonna work out that way and you should hope to god it doesn't because whatever we're dreaming about for our lives almost always is way too small for what God's dreaming about and you just never know what God has in mind christine was talking about who told you that i was about 30 years old speaking at a youth conference in texas in the central texas teenagers and it was and kind of indoor/outdoor thing and after i spoke we were sitting at lunch me and some of the leaders who put it on at these picnic tables that's all i can remember about that part of it and we were sitting around this table about five of us and this guy says to me while we're sitting there he says so Louie what do you think you're gonna do like in your life so I'm 30 and I just gave a talk at a youth thing so I'm thinking well you know kind of maybe what I'm doing right now seems like we're gods leading me and so the question is what are you gonna do in your life and I'm thinking about it while I'm thinking about this other guy answers on my behalf have you ever had someone do that for you oh well I'll tell you da ba bla bla bla and you're like what they weren't asking you guy says well I'll tell you one thing he's not gonna do and I was like whoa okay hello thank you so much Holy Spirit I'm ready to hear this now he said he's not gonna be a pastor of a local church guarantee you well I didn't want to be a pastor of a local church so I was fine with I said okay I thought you're gonna say something I really like maybe wanted to do okay great fine and then the other guy says to him well why isn't he gonna be the pastor of a local church I feel like I can leave at this point and they could just finish the conversation about God's purposes for my life why is he gonna be the pastor of a local church because the way he preaches and teaches he just comes in and bla bla bla and things blow up and I didn't know how to steward my gift maybe as well as I do now when I was then and I was younger and a little bit less mature and and the guy said yeah that's probably true people can't stand hearing that every week and I don't know I got some church members here maybe later guy wasn't too far off but I got up and walked away and I just thought okay so I'm not gonna be the pastor of a local church great this is before passion and then life unfolded and ten years of campus ministry at Baylor happened and then 21 years of passion happened and then record-label happened and then getting the incredible opportunity to speak at events around the world happened and I'm just thinking okay thank you Lord I'm in I'm in the game we're at a local church we're plugged into local church but I'm not leading one and it's cuz I got said I wasn't ever gonna lead one and it can I tell you this when I was 45 years old I started getting this sense in my heart that God wanted me to be the pastor of a local church and I know this is gonna be embarrassing for me to say out loud but it took almost five years for me to agree with that I'd kind of floated around friends what do you think maybe one day maybe in a pastor of a local church I'm just trying to get feedback like am I crazy or something's happening in my heart I don't know what it is maybe it's me and every time I would sense it I would hear that guy at that table I got nothing against that guy don't remember his name don't remember where he came from I don't even know if he's ever gonna hear this and he probably wouldn't remember it anyway but I remember distinctly the day God said to me I never told you you weren't gonna be a local church pastor that guy told you that and I went [Applause] I'm gonna be the pastor of a local church 50 years old not as old as Moses but you know not too far off not quite an Abraham's league but you just check it out look around not too many 50-year old dudes planting churches for the first time and here we are nine years in to the joy of my life the honor of my life so don't get too sure about what you're gonna do and whatever you do don't let somebody else tell you what you're not gonna do don't let anybody speak something to you that's different than what God is saying to you let your heart be tuned to God in His Word you have no idea where he's gonna lead you so we're not gonna settle that tonight we are not gonna end this session and you're gonna go okay I know where my arrow is going to go and where it is going to land thank you God you're not going to know that tonight at the end of this time but here's one thing you can notice at the end of the time you can know what your arrow is gonna do when it lands wherever it lands if it lands on Wall Street or it lands in the middle of an unreached people group somewhere on the other side of the planet you can say I don't know where it's gonna land it might land in major league sports like Tim Tebow or it might land and whole plethora of entertainment ideas like Sadie Robertson or I might be a microbiologist like the person in the video I don't know exactly where the arrow is going to land it's going to be in Cleveland or Columbus Ohio or what it's gonna be in California or whether it's going to be in Cuba I don't where the arrow is going to land but I'll tell you one thing I know wherever it lands that arrow in the power of the Spirit of God is going to burn for the fame and the name and the renown of Jesus Christ where ever it lands and I think when you and I settle that we've answered both questions can I move past my past absolutely gonna do that for sure why the finished work of Christ you're kidding me I'm cracking the rear view mirror and do I know what my reason for being alive is absolutely I want to make sure that the finished work of Jesus is shared in the power of the Holy Spirit to every person on this planet and I'm gonna do whatever I do in such a way that I can be a part of that because that's what God is doing on earth and at the end of that mission being completed that's when Jesus is gonna come because jesus said this gospel of the kingdom is going to be preached to every nation meaning people group and then the end will come so if you're of that mindset of Jesus we just need you to come now then you have not checked in with the 1.8 billion people in the top hundred unreached people groups who if he comes now will have no shot at the finished work of Jesus so our prayer isn't come get us out of this our prayer is please don't come today yeah things are going crazy but please don't come today please extend mercy one more day because we want to get busy as your people to finish the job that you gave us to do in the power of the Spirit that came to set us ablaze to do just that so how's it gonna happen that you get your arrow in the hands of a merciful God tonight it's going to happen with these questions and I'll close with these number one do you trust his hands because Trust is a big deal and that all goes back to the finished work of Christ because the hands that draw the bow are scarred by the nails that bought your freedom so that's a bow you can put your arrow in but I don't know where he's gonna shoot me who cares these hands they're scars bought my freedom and I am alive because of this archer named Jesus so do you trust him plan unseen do you trust him enough to say to him I don't know if it's gonna be an entertainment or in education or as a mom or as a banker or a broker or a baker or a athlete or an artist or somebody in tech or somebody in finance see all that can I just tell you none of that really matters you're like what you mean it doesn't matter well of course it matters because God wired you up and uniquely gifted you to be great at something so yes it matters but life's not about what you do life is about why you do what you do it's about whether or not there's gonna be a John 3:16 moment for somebody because you're a great mom on the street or a different guy in finance or a different girl in government that's what life is about so the question is do you trust his hands the second question is do you believe that the purpose is grand in other words do you believe that the whole world hearing about Jesus is better than your plan because if you do it's gonna be easy for you to say put my arrow in the bow and light it on fire by the power of the Holy Spirit we can't miss that tonight by the way I showed up at tor where our passion band guys were touring a couple years ago and it was the last night of the tour and I came in just for the last night and I got inspired by this Crowder to a few years earlier where they did a super great cookout every night around their tour bus on this big tour they were on and I was inspired by that and I thought I'm gonna come in the last night and we're gonna have a cookout so we got the coals and the little grill the girl is about this big you've seen it's on your patio and we put the coals in their fire got hot burned down we put the top on it and then we put as many filets as you can put on that sized grill which was about 20 and in about 18 minutes the whole fire had gone out the temperature of the meat had overwhelmed a little teeny tiny coals in the grill and we were like oh 3 hours later because I'm determined about my epic ideas 3 hours later someone took a bite of a very rare steak but we had a great time you know I think a lot of us are going back to our campus and that is the picture honestly like a dinky little grill with no fire and God does want to add to our number every single day people who are being saved he does want to revolutionize your life from a hideout to being outspoken for the gospel he wants to change you from a little inclusive group of believers to an outwardly reaching God wonder declaring group of believers so that everybody can hear the wonders of God in their own native tongue the athletes can and the real smart people can and the sorority people can and the people who are kind of off doing their own think and everybody gets it in their own language why because there was enough fire on our lives by the Holy Spirit indwelling and filling our lives that we actually could in fact invite the neighborhood and see God do a miracle and some of you are trying to cook 20 steaks on a grill that's too small then you need to ask the Holy Spirit to invade your life with fire so do you trust his hands do you I'm asking you do you believe that the purpose is grand and then I close I'm done and past my time the last question do you believe the cost is worth it everybody wants to talk about axe to the Holy Spirit came tongues of fire but Pentecost ends with the word cost in the Holy Spirit when he comes he's going to lead us to great spoiler alert you ready book of Acts don't you love it don't you love the book of Acts power of God the arrival of the Spirit the mission of the church the expansion of the gospel don't you love it spoiler alert every body dies Peter dies Stephen dies Paul dies all the disciples die they all give it all because pinnacle started the journey to the greatest cost because penetrating the darkness taking open the doors of Hell and freeing captives into the light of the finished work of Jesus is not a walk in the park it is a war in the spirit and God is saying are you willing to come are you willing to count the cost are you willing to pay a price so that all the peoples on the earth can hear about the finished work [Music] you

Channel: passionconferences

Views: 128,956

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Id: xL3BB41RTsY

Length: 58min 5sec (3485 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 04 2018