The Greatest Day on Earth - Louie Giglio

[Applause] welcome to church i know that that's been said already but what an amazing day uh to be in god's house and i love this journey that we're on through the book of acts and just want to say a big shout out to grant and aaron for kicking us off last week and helping us see that we have a purpose see this whole thing has a purpose and the purpose is that we as jesus says in acts 1 8 would receive power and with that power we would able to be witnesses for jesus on planet earth here there and everywhere is the way that jesus said it so he said wait until you receive the promise of the holy spirit and then in that moment you're going to be activated to be my witnesses here here in jerusalem judea samaria and ultimately here's our title to the ends of the earth and so we're waiting for power to do that thing that god has put us on earth to do and then we turn to chapter two and the power arrives and i love this chapter i love what it's all about it's about the day that the holy spirit came on the followers of jesus a day called pentecost and we actually celebrated pentecost last sunday when we kicked off the series but we come to pentecost in the text on this sunday and i i think there could be an argument made that this day that we are in right now this day of pentecost is the most important day on earth the greatest day on earth you know we've got a lot of hyperbole like have a good meal with friends or you go to the park and hang out it's the best day ever until a few weeks later when you have another better meal with somebody else or you get that right table you want it at the little coffee place for the hang and that was the best day ever we had a lot of best days ever but i could make an argument i think that this day that we're going to talk about today is in fact the best day ever the greatest day on earth you're like well that's a lot of competition for that right because you would think the day the earth was created would be you know right out there as a contender for the best day on earth because there wouldn't be an earth to have a best day on earth if you didn't have an earth so you got creations in there right you to vote for creation greatest day on earth but then there was a day jesus was born god in human flesh we divide history bc and a.d so that's a pretty great day the angels saying the sky opened up heavens echoed and jesus was born the savior of the world got to be christmas right best day ever because it's one thing to have a planet created but then that planet needs to be redeemed and put back together again so christmas pretty great you're like yeah but don't forget good friday jesus went to calvary that's got to be the greatest day ever gave his life for the sins of the world if he hadn't died we would still be dead so i'm going to go with the day jesus gave his life for me as the greatest day on earth because he was born but he didn't have to die choosing to die was the thing that made me alive so i'm going to go good friday oh except for then there's easter resurrection so i was forgiven because he died but then there was the day that he beat hell and death and sin and the grave the stone was moved i'm gonna go easter probably greatest day ever except then there's that day when jesus is coming back and he is coming back he's coming back to put this world right again he's coming back for his people he's coming back for his bride he's coming back for the church so come on maybe that's the greatest day ever is the day that jesus appears and we're caught up into glory with him greatest day ever maybe you're right a lot of contenders but i'm going to make a strong case today that pentecost is the greatest day on earth you're like well it's going to be strong because you got to you got to beat out creation the day jesus was born the crucifixion the resurrection the return of christ to make that case well here's the thing jesus when he came to earth was heaven's crown in humanity heaven's king in humanity in other words the mind of god the word of god the logos the creator the alpha the omega the one who made this universe the crown of heaven now is living on planet earth so the head of heaven is on earth the head of the universe is on earth that head having wisdom and reason and planning and purpose and knowledge but the head was only the head until this day when the church was born and in this moment the head got a body and then the body became the hands and feet of jesus everywhere on planet earth so jesus didn't even need to stay anymore he said no i'm ascending back so the crown is going to be back on the throne the head is going to be back on the throne but don't worry because now i've got a body because of the the spirit of god awakening the church of god and i've got hands and feet everywhere on planet earth and they're going to have sufficient power to fulfill the plan of taking the gospel to everybody on planet earth and that all happened on pentecost two stories were going on the story of jesus and the story of the jews the jewish story was a story from centuries before of coming to pilgrimage in the city of jerusalem coming to make sacrifice coming to the temple and that would happen several times a year it had just happened during passover when jesus gave his life on the cross god fearing jews from all over judea and all around the known world would have gathered in jerusalem for the passover some of them would have known that a man named jesus was crucified and a lot of them wouldn't have even known that this was a quick moment and yes there were crowds in the street and yes there was rumbling and tumbling but that was always going on in this day and age some of them may have seen it jesus crucified as they left jerusalem heading back to wherever they had pilgrimage from but there was another festival 50 days later called the feast of weeks and again jewish people would observe the law they would set aside a day of fasting and jews would gather in jerusalem again from the known world so this going and coming was a way of life for the jewish people so the jesus story is he was crucified raised from the dead seen by his followers witnessed by hundreds of people and now there's a whole new thing happening and jesus is saying to the followers right before he goes to heaven wait for the spirit and then you're going to be my witnesses so that's all happening we've seen him we've touched the scars we we've we've seen him with our own eyes we know resurrection is a reality that story is happening and we're waiting now for this promised spirit so that we can begin to do what we're called to do the jesus story and the jewish story are about to smash into each other on pentecost and it opens like this it says and when the day of pentecost came they the that's the followers of jesus this little band of 100 or 200 people we don't know exactly how many were in this clump but somewhere in that number they were all together in one place suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them all of them were filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit enabled them so immediately the spirit comes in something supernatural happens so that's the first thing i want to make sure we're all on board with today the story that jesus is inviting you and me into is a supernatural story so it's not a story of me just kind of doing normal life and then adding god to my normal life the story that i am in is a supernatural story it has resurrection at its center and a mission that i can't do in my own strength so there has to be a supernatural dimension to the story and god knows that about his people his mission and he knows it about you and so i want you to know today if you don't get anything else out of this talk today that god is not asking you to live in a supernatural story in your own strength he is offering to you supernatural holy spirit power to enable you to do things that you cannot do on your own and so there's got to be a supernatural component to our lives and we see it the instant the holy spirit came to this early gathering of the followers of jesus in this case they all started speaking in other languages so it sounds crazy because it's this cacophony of the languages of the world at that time and it's a roar because it attracts a crowd but it's god doing something that is signifying right away the holy spirit doesn't do things normal way the holy spirit comes to empower us in a supernatural level so they're all speaking these different languages but now to the jewish story now there were staying in jerusalem god fearing jews from every nation under heaven when they heard this sound a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard them speaking in his own language now this is going to be the key today utterly amazed they ask are not all these men who are speaking galileans then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language and then in verses 9 10 and 11 he names all of these various nations that are represented in a crowd of jews who are in the city for the feast of weeks now there's a crowd gathering and people are hearing people talking it with an accent that says you're from here but you're talking in the language that we speak over here the spirit has come something supernatural has happened and all of a sudden the global event is taking place so you start seeing what's on god's heart today you start understanding what's what god's thinking about today he's thinking about empowering people supernaturally and reaching everyone globally that's what god's thinking about today because that's what he was thinking about on day one on our first day as a church that's what god was thinking about he didn't do like hey we're going to make a church and it's going to be amazing and we're going to do a welcome to church thing and maybe somewhere along the way down the line over here somewhere we will have a missions opportunity no he said boom church is born guess what it's global it's going out it's moving out remember the here there and everywhere you're gonna be my witnesses well that's gonna happen on day one and so now all these people are hearing the gospel in their own languages they're representing iran and iraq current day all of turkey and asia minor all the way up to rome italy the island of crete all the way down through judea what we would know is the holy land now down into africa egypt and over to what we would now know as libya so there is like a circle drawn of the known world and everybody is hearing the gospel and it's blowing them away i love how it comes down to the end of verse 11. we hear them declaring the wonders of god in our own tongues and we see right away that to the ends of the earth is what god is all about and the church exists so that every single person on the planet can hear the wonders of god in their own language what's god doing for memorial day weekend that what's the plan of heaven that you say well i've heard the gospel in my own language a lot of times i've heard a bunch of messages and watched a bunch of stuff online and listened to a lot of worship music and i have a niv bible and an esv bible and i have a new living translation bible and i have a this kind of bible and a jesus bible and i've got account a lot of bibles and i've been to a lot of deals and i've i've heard the gospel in my own native language and he's saying yes that's amazing now the plan is that everybody gets the same opportunity that you have so let's go and this is what church is somehow we've inverted the process and turned it in to a inside event and god is saying on day one no it's a global endeavor it's a global mission and the wind that sounds like the blowing of a mighty wind that came on pentecost that wind is the wind of the holy spirit of god and that wind is still blowing today and it's blowing your way depending on where you were born what kind of church you went to what denomination you came from um what town you came from i don't know what your view on the holy spirit is i mean it depends if you were a baptist or a raised pentecostal or maybe there was a crazy holy spirit church on the edge of town where you came from and you didn't really know much about those people but here's the thing the holy spirit is not denominationally defined so he doesn't belong to a certain denomination he belongs to the people of god to the church of god to the followers of jesus the spirit was poured out this spirit had been promised all the way back to joel and peter stands up in a moment and preaches a sermon and in the middle of the sermon he describes what's going on and he says hey this is what joel was talking about when he said your sons and daughters will prophesy because god's going to pour out his spirit on all flesh and then he says and the reason for that by the way why is the spirit going to be poured out on all flesh and why are your sons and your daughters going to prophesy so that he says in the middle of his talk so that everyone who calls on the name of the lord shall be saved so the mission here is so clear and it's so simple and it's so compelling it's god saying there's father son and spirit spirit is for you but where i came from it was more liturgical and it was just father son and spirit or where we came from it was all holy spirit and the whole story was holy spirit and maybe someone was a little crazy and where we came from we weren't really sure about the holy spirit well god is saying today i want you to know that the holy spirit is god it is god the father god the son and god the spirit and the spirit is available for you to empower you to take your place in god's story that wind of god that blew into the followers of jesus on pentecost is blowing your way i believe we receive the spirit of god when we're born of the spirit jesus said flesh gives birth to flesh but spirit gives birth to spirit and when i come through spirit to put my faith in jesus christ i'm born again and i'm born again spiritually into the family of god and i have the holy spirit but in the same way as you can know about jesus and even believe in jesus is different than surrendering your life to jesus as lord of your life making a decision filling out a card shaking the hand of a deacon or joining a church that's all great but that's different than the day that you knelt down and said god i'm not doing it my way i'm doing it your way i don't want you just to get me to heaven i want you to run my life you are lord and you are king of my life i surrender my life to following you and in the same way you can have the holy spirit but that's different than saying to the holy spirit i don't want a normal life i don't want to run the show i don't want to try to do supernatural things in my own power i want you to fill and invade and take over my life to lead me and to empower me to be everything god wants me to be to take up my part in the story of taking jesus here there and everywhere i want you holy spirit to completely fill and control my life the wind of the spirit is blowing your way today because god isn't asking you to join a supernatural story and then to live it out in your own strength but the wind of the spirit of god is also blowing to all the nations today the wind of the holy spirit is not primarily blowing to make your life better and to make my life better the wind of the holy spirit is blowing so that every person on planet earth can hear the gospel in their own language i've told this story a bunch of times before but i was telling it recently at a gathering of people who are focused on helping get the scriptures translated into the thousands of languages who have not one verse of scripture available in their native tongue and the story is our 10-year anniversary it's a great story uh to connect uh with god's global purpose but it's our 10-year anniversary and shelley and i splurged and we chartered a sailboat in the virgin islands we couldn't afford it by ourselves so we got two other couples to pitch in with us and we were going to do a week cruise through the virgin islands just go where you want first day amazing second day was glorious third day was pretty fantastic but on the third day at breakfast the captain of this boat that we had uh sailboat that we had rented said hey there's a tropical disturbance uh it's a couple hundred miles from here it's not a big deal but i just saw it uh come across the the news this morning and i want to keep an eye on it we're like great that's why you're the captain we're going snorkeling you keep an eye on the tropical depression and when we came back to the boat for lunch he said hey that thing has got so much stronger even since this morning and they're thinking it's probably going to turn into a hurricane and we're like oh man sunny skies here so we're all good we no no kidding we get to dinner on the boat and the captain says the storm is already officially a hurricane and it's getting more intense by the minute and it's headed directly towards our boat and we're like that's not good he said we've got a couple of days before it is right here and we've got three options of things we can do so i'll share the options y'all talk about it and when we get to breakfast tomorrow we'll need to make a decision we're like great what are the options option number one i can take you back to the hotel where you came from so we thought okay that's an option glad we didn't choose that option that hotel didn't reopen for two years after the hurricane that came what's the second option so we can go to st john there's a little place there called hurricane hole boats have been going there for centuries we'll get there early we'll get the best spot we'll back into the mangrove trees and we'll strip down the boat we'll tie in and we'll ride out the storm it's like okay what's the third option he said well the third option is probably the best option because if we get out now we can get ahead of the headwinds of the storm and we'll get on the outer band of the headwinds and if we get our sails up the outer bands of the headwinds will just take us all the way to venezuela and we'll stay in venezuela for a few weeks until the storm passes and then we'll say wherever you want to sail after that i was like that sounds like an amazing idea except that we have to be at work on monday but isn't that a crazy thought i've never forgotten it that you can get out in the right position when a giant storm is coming you can get out and position yourself sails up catch the headwinds and that storm can blow you somewhere that you never even imagined that you could go wasn't even on your radar and that's what god is saying today if you want to know where heaven's storm winds are blowing they are blowing towards all people on planet earth that's where the wind of heaven is blowing it is not blowing just into my cul-de-sac so that i can have a better spirit-filled life the wind of god is blowing to the last and the least of these who is the furthest away who's never heard the name of jesus not once nor did their father or their grandfather or their great-grandfather or their great-great-great great grandfather no one in their family has ever heard the name of jesus and heaven's wind is saying we're going do you want to put your sail up because if you do you will feel the rush of heaven oh you can choose to row your way into the wind i am doing it my way i am getting what i want i am spending my money the way i want to spend it i'm going to focus on what i want to do it's going to be me and my story but if you do you will spend your life rowing into the wind of heaven and today god is saying you can turn your boat around drop your oars and put up a sail and say dear god put me in the storm i want to feel the wind yes god wants to empower you to be a better husband yes god wants to empower you to finish your grad program yes god wants to empower you to build the business that you're dreaming about building of course he wants to do all of that he wants to make you distinct and unique and he wants to give you supernatural abilities in every sphere that you're in but he wants to do all of that so that you can take all of that and use it as ammunition in the mission of taking the name of jesus to everybody on planet earth you say what are you talking about i mean surely everybody knows this story of jesus well a couple of things really quick number one there are billion people on the planet right now who are living in what's called bible poverty meaning they don't have any scripture in their native language a billion people don't have not a copy of the bible there isn't a bible in their native language seven thousand plus languages three thousand seven hundred and seventy eight of them bibleless you're like how can that be possible you can google anything i'm getting my email on my watch while you're preaching how is it possible that a billion people can't read the 23rd psalm or john 3 16 or any of the story of scripture in their own native language see see what happens in a lot of places on earth is that there's a generalized language for a large people group which there are by the way thousands of people groups on planet earth not one two three four five six or eight ethnicities there's thousands of ethnicities on planet earth unique cultures unique people unique languages and among them there's little access for billions of them to any gospel story there's no christian radio there is no internet there is no knowledge of god there is no church on the corner or in the city they're just living in spiritual darkness the country is closed the government is anti-christianity and if you go there to plant a church and be a witness you very well may lose your life this is a lot of earth today and so we've got a billion people without a bible to read we've got thousands of language groups with little access to the gospel and there's a reason for it and the reason is not because someone just happened to be born in pakistan and you happen to be born in charlotte the reason is because there is a spiritual battle to blind people to christ and that's what we see paul talking about in second corinthians 4. he says it this way in verse 4 the god of this age we know who that is has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god in other words these images that are filling culture all on the planet these are not the image of god christ is the image of god but christ is not seen why well because i grew up in this part of the world and someone else grew up in that part of the world no christ is not seen because the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they cannot see the light of the glory of the gospel of christ who is the image of god and then he says a few verses down he says for god verse 6 who said let light shine out of darkness made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of god and where is the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ and so then you see pentecost in verse seven we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the all-surpassing power is from god and not from us in other words we are on mission we are preaching jesus we are going to the nations because the world's mind has been blinded by the god of this age but we have light and we have seen god's glory and we have seen the face of jesus and we're going and we're going to take the face of jesus the story of the gospel the grace of god to everybody on the planet that's where the wind is blowing today the wind is also blowing toward a resurrection message in other words that's why the light bulb wall says jesus is life you're like if if pentecost is your vote for the best day greatest day on earth and why doesn't the wall say the holy spirit is life why do we have a crosswall at the end and why is there a jesus life wall at cumberland and why will there not eventually be a why will there eventually be a jesus's life while in any location of passion city church why isn't there a holy spirit is life wall because the holy spirit immediately when he shows up animates and activates people with supernatural power to talk about the resurrection story of jesus the holy spirit doesn't want of the holy spirit is life wall the holy spirit wants a jesus is life wall and the wind of the spirit that's empowering you to do supernatural things and blowing towards all people is also blowing with it the resurrection story of jesus and i love it peter stands up and he preaches this amazing message and in the middle of it he says in verse 22 men of israel listen to this jesus of 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 this man jesus was handed over to you by god's set purpose now that's a mouthful of theology right there and by god's foreknowledge and you jews with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross but god raised him from the dead freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on jesus where are you where are you who who are you yes i'm with you i'm with you it was impossible for death to keep its hold on jesus so the spirit comes people are animated with supernatural ability the nations are already hearing the gospel and now peter is clarifying and what is the clarifying heartbeat of the gospel jesus this man jesus accredited to you by god through signs and miracles and wonders that you yourselves saw this man was handed over to you by god because of his purpose and foreknowledge and then you with the help of wicked men nailed him to the cross but god raised him from the dead freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on the crown of heaven so the wind is blowing resurrection story and if you want to feel the wind ask god and surrender your life to the spirit if you want to feel the wind start asking god how can i find a people how can i find a plan how can i be a part of the story do you want me to go do you want me to give do you want me to pray do you want me to encourage how can i awaken to the thousands of languages that still need a bible and some of you has already given you the answer i was talking to someone in our church a few weeks ago and their business before the world shutdown and even some during was taking them to some cities that you can't go to and carry a bible for example if i went along with them on their business trip and i'm just like tagging along hey i can't because i can't get permission to get into the country and b if i did and we went through security coming into the country and they found my bible in my backpack i would go immediately to jail but yet this person travels in and out of these cities like it's nothing because their company gives them such authority in that city with the leaders of the city they do not go in the name of christ they go in the name of their company and the name of their company is money that's that wasn't a play on words it's just a it's a powerful name and i thought to myself god has put you in the wind you're smart you've accomplished you've got this incredible position you've moved up in the ranks you're willing to go and travel and you end up in these meetings with people who most likely have never heard the name explain to them in their own language in a way that the gospel makes sense to them and some of you are like that you're like that's me you didn't believe the places i travel you wouldn't believe the places that i go you know i'm like of course i would what i'm asking you is well you're there are you taking mental snapshots of the person who checked you in at the hotel are you taking a mental snapshot of the server who helped you in the restaurant and are you taking a mental snapshot of every person around that meeting table because it's most likely you're going to be the only person on the planet who's prayed for them ever their mom ain't praying for them their aunt ain't praying for them their their believing neighbor isn't praying for them their youth pastor isn't praying for them you will most likely be the only person on earth calling out to heaven on their behalf and saying god i can't uh share the gospel after this meeting unless you want me to and if you want me to i will but that will be the end of our business relationship and it will be the end of me traveling back and forth because i'll never be able to come back to this country i probably will get out because of my position with my company but i might not get out i might never leave the country if i share the gospel with this person after the meeting but if you want me to i will you're gonna have to give me supernatural power but i will that's what you want me you just tell me and i will but the least i'm gonna do is pray for them every day in jesus name and the least i'm going to do is give him a little wink or a twinkle and say hey if you ever want to talk to me about anything you know i'm an open book like matters of faith and important things like how we got here if you ever want to talk i'd love to talk [Music] it's just realizing where the wind of heaven is blowing it's blowing toward you it's blowing toward the people of earth it's blowing a resurrection story and it's blowing into the church i'm so glad you're in church on memorial day weekend if you were looking for extra credit you get it you're done you're good you don't have to come back for another month at least you tell god when you get to heaven you remember memorial day i was there but i'm telling you church is the greatest thing there is and that's why i believe this day was the greatest day on earth because this is the day that the church was born peter preached resurrection people got convicted they repented and they got baptized right then in there 3 000 people got baptized and repented and put their faith in jesus on pentecost holy spirit salvation holy spirit gospel salvation uh the church was a mega church on the first day i don't like big churches oh man thank god tell them when you get to heaven i'm so glad i wasn't at pentecost i still like big churches 3 000 people getting saved and then baptized how long is that going to take how did you know all their names [Music] it's called a movement it's called a hurricane it's called a storm it's called the wind of god it's called the supernatural it would be amazing to see so many people get convicted and repent and get saved and be baptized then it would take you a while to figure out all of their names i want to get saved uh okay great we have a right could just come over here we have access you can only get like 15 people in there what were we thinking what kind of vision was that we needed two gymnasiums on the end and say if you're in atlanta and your life is broken down and you need hope and you need life and you need purpose come to church hear the gospel repent of your sins get saved get baptized we got two gymnasiums over here you can go and talk to somebody i love the way we baptize people here we tell their story celebrate their family their friends the people that helped them come to know jesus dar he's in every story [Music] i met a lady she was from iran and we were in the grocery store and she was trying to decide which mayonnaise to get and now she comes from a bible study and now she's gotten saved and her two brothers back in iran have gotten saved and dar i'm i'm and gina i'm i'm preaching a message and darth's just sitting there going uh it would what doesn't everybody already know this [Music] but i love the way we do our baptisms amazing but i also would love it if the system broke down because too many people were wanting to get baptized and at some point we just had to say hey you know we got 600 people want to be baptized so here it goes a storm if you've got god in your ical you you don't have a storm if you're on the every three sundays i'll pop in you don't you don't have a storm if you got disappointed because somebody let you down or hurt you and i'm not belittling that or someone misused their authority or their trust in the name of the church and you said i'm done and i'm out and i'm not coming back or if i do come back i'm going to sit about 50 rows out on the sideline you're not in a storm and again i'm not belittling that people may have disappointed you or let you down or hurt you but the church didn't do that people did that the church is the body of christ and it has been breathed on from day one and it is still being breathed on today jesus said i'm gonna build this church and hell will not prevail against it so stay with jesus and stay with the promise and stay with the church that he's building if you're in a church that's all jacked up hey find a church where the spirit is moving find a church where the gospel is being proclaimed find a church where jesus is at the center and find a church where they're on mission to do something besides just better themselves and when you find it love it and serve it because it is his body and he has a head and he has power and he has wisdom and he has knowledge and he has plans and he has purposes but he needs hands and he needs feet everywhere on planet earth to be the witnesses to the resurrection power of jesus so that every single person can hear the gospel in their own native language not that the big language that everybody in our nation speaks and then the four sub-languages and a lot of these nations that are spoken but under the sub-language is another language and there's only 5 000 of us that speak that language but that's the language my mama spoke when i was in the womb and i'm going to come alive when i hear the story not in the big language that's over the millions or billion and not the eight sub languages that almost everybody in our country can kind of negotiate in but i want to hear the story of jesus in the language that my mom spoke to me when i was a baby and god says it's going to happen because it happened on the first day and there's going to be a day that it happens for you because my people they got it they got the mission they know what the purpose is they know why the spirit has come and they are in the wind [Music] oh man help us jesus [Music] nothing worse than rowing into the wind with your dreams and plans when you could be blowing with the wind into a life that you never even imagined and one that you will be so happy about in heaven you

Channel: Passion City Church

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Keywords: louie giglio, passion city church worship, louie giglio sermons, passion city, giglio louie, louie giglio 2019, city church, passion, giglio, passion city church sermons, Atlanta, memorial day, acts, to the end of the earth, acts 2, build your church, Worship Matters, W2O2R2S2H2I2P

Id: B6Um3PTOQvw

Length: 44min 46sec (2686 seconds)

Published: Mon May 31 2021