Collierville First Baptist Church

00;00;01;23 - 00;00;22;09
Unknown
Well, good morning. It is great to be back in Memphis, Tennessee. It's always a joy to get to come back to this great city and eat great barbecue. Had the opportunity to do that last night. And over here at the commissary. I didn't know that they moved one out to Collierville. The only one I knew was in Germantown, but it still tasted the same.

00;00;22;09 - 00;00;47;17
Unknown
It was amazing. It's great to be back in Memphis. It's great to see a lot of friends that I knew from our time here. I want to bring you greetings this morning, literally from thousands of church planting couples all over North America. As we sit here right now, there are 2200 church planting couples that are being funded through our network that are engaged in planting churches all over North America.

00;00;47;17 - 00;01;12;08
Unknown
And that happens because of your generosity. Out of 47,000 Southern Baptist churches, you are literally in the top 100 churches. And the way that you give generously to see churches started all over North America. So I want to say, on behalf of all of those planters, thank you very much for your generosity. Isn't it good to know that God's doing something in North America?

00;01;12;08 - 00;01;32;17
Unknown
Amen. So thank you. And I bring you great. I wish I had the time to tell you story after story from all of those planters from places like Eugene, Oregon to Toronto, Canada, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Las Vegas, Nevada, where literally people are coming to faith in Christ. Cities are being engaged with the gospel and churches are being born.

00;01;32;20 - 00;01;51;20
Unknown
I wish I could tell you all the stories, but just hear it for me today from the bottom of their hearts. Thank you. So when you give to this offering that your pastor and mission pastor have talked about today, you're not giving to a church. You're giving through a church as an investment in the Kingdom of God being expanded locally and globally.

00;01;51;21 - 00;02;13;12
Unknown
So I want to encourage you to give and give generously for the first time in Sin Network history, the organization that I get the privilege to lead. Last year, we had more planters than we had resources. We've always had more money than we had church planters. Last year, we overspent the budget by $10 million because we had more planters than we have resources.

00;02;13;12 - 00;02;36;02
Unknown
So more than ever before, we need to catch the wind of what God's doing right now, give generously and join in what he's doing through seeing the church multiplied in North America. But I also want to bring you greetings from your brothers and sisters in Christ in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now, maybe you didn't know you had brothers and sisters in Christ in Vegas, but you do.

00;02;36;02 - 00;02;57;14
Unknown
I, I had the privilege to introduce Dave and I a moment ago. David was in our church in Las Vegas. I had the privilege of planting a church in Las Vegas, Nevada. Matter of fact, I was sitting in Memphis, Tennessee, the senior associate pastor at Kirby Wood's Baptist Church in 1999. When I was spending time with the Lord one morning, pastor Chuck, I was just in my devotional life reading Luke chapter four.

00;02;57;19 - 00;03;13;29
Unknown
I read this verse of Scripture where Jesus said, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose. And that morning when I read it, I saw some stuff in Jesus that wasn't in me. I got my wife. We knelt down here in Memphis on our knees and said, Lord, yes.

00;03;14;01 - 00;03;30;27
Unknown
We don't know where, we don't know when. We don't even know what. But the answer is yes. Wherever you want to send us. We literally thought we were going to the other side of the world, and God had the audacity to fill in the blank with Las Vegas, Nevada. I got to be honest, no city was further off my radar than Vegas when you thought about planting a church.

00;03;30;27 - 00;03;46;28
Unknown
I grew up in North Alabama. When you grow up in Alabama, you don't go to Vegas. And if you do, you don't tell anybody, right? Like where I'm from, they don't think Vegas is hell, but they think you can smell it from there. Like it's close. But as soon as we heard Vegas, we knew that God had called us to that city.

00;03;47;05 - 00;04;09;23
Unknown
We relocated there. It's been 25 years ago, which is hard to believe. Had the privilege of spending over two decades in that city and saw God do an unbelievable work. We were able to plant a church that saw literally almost 5000 people baptized into that fellowship. It was a church made up of 54 different first languages. So on Sunday morning, man, it looked like what that song with you, it looked like heaven.

00;04;09;23 - 00;04;28;06
Unknown
Like there was black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Polynesian and everything in between. People would often joke and say, does your church speak in tongues? We literally didn't know 54 different languages. Like people come, they start praying in a language. We just assumed it was their language. Like we didn't know. But out of that, church had the privilege of planting 80 churches out of our church.

00;04;28;06 - 00;04;53;02
Unknown
Over about 400 people were sent out of that fellowship. My son in law and daughter just planted a church in Las Vegas. She was seven when we moved to Vegas 25 years ago. She and her husband and their three kids just planted a church out of that church in Las Vegas. It launched in September, and so God did an unbelievable work there in the city of Memphis will forever be special to me, because it was here where God called us to send us out there.

00;04;53;04 - 00;05;12;08
Unknown
So thank you for being a church that lives on mission and leverages what God's entrusted to you. For the sake of the mission. Let me lead us in a word of prayer that I want to jump into. What I want to share with you this morning. Father, thank you for the privilege to be in this place today. God, thank you for your word.

00;05;12;10 - 00;05;44;17
Unknown
Lord, I pray in this moment that your Holy Spirit would take the word and speak to our hearts. Lord, what we really need today is to hear from you. We need to hear your voice. God, we don't need to hear a person speak. We don't need to just hear a sermon. God, we need to hear your voice through your word to your people in a way that brings change and transformation.

00;05;44;19 - 00;06;07;14
Unknown
So before I close this prayer, I'm going to ask you to do something. There's a phrase that Jesus uses often in the New Testament. He says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. I want you to turn that into a prayer in your own heart. I want you to pray, Lord, give me ears to hear what it is you want to say to me today.

00;06;07;16 - 00;06;25;19
Unknown
It's in the name of Jesus. We pray and all of us say together. Amen. Talked about church planting. I now get the privilege to lead Cindy Network, which he said I have to always enunciate the d pastor Chuck send network because when you found out I lived in Vegas for 25 years, you hear me say real fast, I'm the president of Sin Network.

00;06;25;19 - 00;06;43;14
Unknown
You think I said Sin Network? I was the president of that one for a while too. Amen. So were you. Don't look at me. Spiritual. Before Jesus, we all were but sin. The network focuses on planting churches in Canada, Northam and United States in Puerto Rico. But I want to take take us back to a place today in the Bible.

00;06;43;14 - 00;07;10;29
Unknown
If you got your Bible, open it to acts chapter one. I want to read you a story from the Bible about the first church ever planted. I don't mean the First Baptist Church or the First Methodist Church. I'm talking like the OG. This is the original church. This is church number one. But before I read you a text of scripture, let me tell you about them.

00;07;11;02 - 00;07;35;28
Unknown
This first church gathered on their very first Sunday. Today, in church planting vernacular, we would call it grand opening or launch Sunday. On launch Sunday, they gather in Jerusalem to have their first worship service. They preach the gospel and get this. 3000 people became followers of Jesus Christ. Now this building, I think you told me, pastor, truck seats about 1700 people.

00;07;36;03 - 00;07;56;27
Unknown
So get this Sunday. Number one at the first church in Jerusalem, 3000 people become followers of Jesus Christ. Now, I don't know how you measure successful church planting here. First call you real. But I'm telling you, if 3000 people get saved on Sunday number one, that's a pretty good start. Amen. Like, we would all get T-shirts printed up.

00;07;56;27 - 00;08;22;02
Unknown
I was there on the 3000 Sunday. Right? And I'm not talking about 3000 people who filled out a card or raised their hand. I'm talking about 3000 people who surrendered the control of their lives to Jesus, embrace the mission of the gospel, and begin leveraging their life to expand God's kingdom all over the world. Well, if that's not enough, they came back on Sunday number two, and on Sunday number two.

00;08;22;05 - 00;08;48;01
Unknown
So many people became followers of Jesus. They couldn't count everybody. They could only count the men. And so the Bible tells us in acts for that on Sunday, number two, 5000 men plus women and children had become followers of Jesus Christ. So we're two Sundays into a brand new worship service, a brand new church being planted in Jerusalem somewhere between 15 and 20.

00;08;48;07 - 00;09;15;25
Unknown
You'll talk about some space problems, right? You imagine the parking lot like what a what a situation. 15,000 new Christians. Well, if that's not enough, historians and scholars go on to tell us within six month of the birth of the church in Jerusalem, there are estimates as high as 100,000 people in Jerusalem had become followers of Jesus Christ.

00;09;15;28 - 00;09;50;06
Unknown
100,000. You know, one of the problems we have with the church in North America today, we don't even think or expect God to do that kind of stuff anymore. Did you pray this week? Lord? Would you save 100,000 in the next six months? Hey, you do know that the same God who's sitting on the throne today is the same God who was sitting on the throne, and acts chapter two and acts chapter three, like he hadn't taken any time off.

00;09;50;08 - 00;10;15;24
Unknown
He doesn't go on vacation. He's never up for election, thank God like he's king. He's sovereign. He's sitting on the throne. And get this God is still working all over the world. Amen. We've just gotten so used to our comfortable brand of Christianity where you come to church, do your thing for an hour, go home. We don't expect God to move like that anymore.

00;10;15;26 - 00;10;28;29
Unknown
You want to talk about impact? Within a few years of this church being born in Jerusalem, the gospel reached every corner of the known world.

00;10;29;02 - 00;10;56;17
Unknown
It's about 40 years after this event that the gospel reached every corner of the known world. Think about that. What if. What if God began something here this morning that could be said? 40 years from now, we finish the mission. Every tribe, every tongue, every people, every. Do we really believe that God can do that? Do you believe God can do that?

00;10;56;20 - 00;11;02;06
Unknown
Well, that wasn't very sincere.

00;11;02;08 - 00;11;22;24
Unknown
Like, do you really believe God can do that? Yes. I'm going to have to. I'll get you to talk back to me a little bit throughout the. I told you about the church in Las Vegas that that was planted when you have a multiethnic church, one of the beautiful things about a multiethnic church is a lot of cultures worship much louder than other cultures.

00;11;22;27 - 00;11;35;01
Unknown
And I've gotten used to people like talking back to me while I'm while I'm speaking like I've just kind of gotten used to. So. So there'll be some times I get you to help me out and get you to lean in a little bit, so just get ready for that, all right? You good with that? If you're good with that, say amen.

00;11;35;03 - 00;12;16;26
Unknown
If you're not good with that, say, oh, me. It's okay. We're going. We're going to make it anyway. All right. Get this. Today there are roughly 2 billion with AB2 billion people on planet Earth who profess to be followers of Jesus. Every one of us trace our faith back. To this handful of people in the book of acts that God used to birth the First Church.

00;12;16;29 - 00;12;41;20
Unknown
Which raises the question if Jesus should withhold his coming again for another 2000 years. Will there be Christians all over the world because of the way you're leveraging your faith for the sake of the gospel?

00;12;41;22 - 00;13;03;08
Unknown
When I understood that about these people, it made me ask some questions about them. What was it about them that enabled them to be so mightily used of God? Like we sometimes read the stories in the Bible, and the way we envision the people that we read about in the Bible are like the Avengers on the movie screen, right?

00;13;03;08 - 00;13;30;23
Unknown
Like they're the superheroes of the Bible. They wear capes, they have superpowers, they have super abilities. But when you study the people that are we're about to read about here in acts, it's about 120 people. When you read the stories of their lives, these were not super Christian. Like if you were going to pick teams to change the world, you wouldn't have picked any of these people to be on your team.

00;13;30;25 - 00;13;48;16
Unknown
They weren't creative. They had no experience. They had no education. They had no influence. They didn't have money. They didn't have power. My friend JD Greer says, never has a larger assignment ever been given to a less qualified group of people.

00;13;48;18 - 00;14;11;07
Unknown
And yet, the world has never been the same. It's like, let's read it. Acts chapter one. I'm gonna read kind of a large passage of scripture. Then we're going to unpack it. Acts chapter one. We're going to start in verse one says in the first book of Theophile, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.

00;14;11;07 - 00;14;29;17
Unknown
Now Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, also wrote the Gospel of Luke, and one of the guys that helped him write these books by providing resources was the man he's addressing here is Theophilus. So he says to Theophilus, hey, you know, the first book I wrote, the Book of Luke that told about all that Jesus did in his public ministry.

00;14;29;20 - 00;14;51;11
Unknown
Now he says, I'm writing another book until the day when he was taken up, after he'd given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, he says he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days, and speaking about the what? Say that phrase out loud. Speaking about the wet, say it one more time, the wet.

00;14;51;13 - 00;15;11;10
Unknown
That's a very important phrase. We're going to come back to it, verse four. And while they were staying with them, he ordered them. Now, the first book Luke was, was about Jesus and his public ministry. Now he's writing about them. Who's this? Them? It's the apostles and the early church as they now carry out the mission that Jesus gave them.

00;15;11;15 - 00;15;30;19
Unknown
So this book, the Book of Acts, writes in detail the historical narrative of the early church as they begin to carry out the mission of the gospel. Look at verse four. While they were staying with him, he ordered them not to depart from what's the name of the city set out in Jerusalem? I'm going to ask you a pop quiz question in a few minutes.

00;15;30;26 - 00;15;46;20
Unknown
And that's the answer. I'm going ahead and telling you, all right, what's the city? All right, you got it. He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

00;15;46;22 - 00;16;10;02
Unknown
So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Now let me pause right here for just a minute and make this statement, because it's so important in where we live in the context of North America. There's a problem in the church in America today. Here's the problem. There's a syncretism happening between our faith and our politics.

00;16;10;05 - 00;16;29;06
Unknown
Hang on with me for a second. The problem is we don't know where one stops and the other starts, and we begin to let them bleed together, where we think our political ideology and our spiritual understanding of Scripture are the same thing. Here's what I want you to know. That's not a new problem. You're the problem. The first church.

00;16;29;06 - 00;16;49;25
Unknown
Ask Jesus. Look what they ask. Look at it again. He said, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? You know what they're asking? Here's what they're asking. Lord, are we going to win the next election? That's literally what they're asking. In this day, Rome was the ruling government over everybody. The children of Israel, the nation of Israel was under the oppressive regime of Rome.

00;16;50;00 - 00;17;12;11
Unknown
The Israelites wanted Rome to be thrown out so they could be in charge again. Jesus has died. He's been buried. He's raised again. The mission has been given, and they want to talk politics. Lord, are you going to throw Rome out so we can control the government again? Look what Jesus said. He said to them. It's not for you.

00;17;12;17 - 00;17;21;24
Unknown
To what? Let me say what that means in the Greek. Here's what that means in the Greek language. None of your business.

00;17;21;26 - 00;17;37;19
Unknown
What he's literally saying here is that's not my agenda. It gets even more intense. This is what he's saying. It's not for you to know times or seasons, that the father is fixed by his own authority.

00;17;37;21 - 00;18;05;26
Unknown
You got to remember where they're living. They're living in Rome. Who was the goat? Let the government run the Caesars. The Caesars demanded the people to worship them as God. The Caesar, others. We're taking Christians, hanging them on posts, lighting them on fire to light the streets of Rome, the Caesars. We're taking Christians and throwing them into arenas so that they could be devoured by animals.

00;18;05;26 - 00;18;28;25
Unknown
And Jesus said, you know why they're in charge? Because by the sovereign will of God, God has them in charge. And it's not our business to be about overthrowing governments. The mission I'm giving you, Jesus said, is so much bigger than that. Here's the bottom line there's no legislation or government is going to change the world. But I'm telling you, the gospel of Jesus Christ and His kingdom can and will change the world.

00;18;28;28 - 00;18;46;15
Unknown
The problem is, the church in America has lost sight of that, and we've now put more emphasis in changing our government than we have in the expansion of the Kingdom of God. And it's going to be the end of the church in America if we don't get back to the book. Everybody all right?

00;18;46;17 - 00;19;04;02
Unknown
Let's read on. Let's move on. That's not the sermon. Let's read on verse verse eight. He says in verse eight, but you will receive power. He said, I'm going to tell you what I've called you to be about. You're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

00;19;04;08 - 00;19;20;27
Unknown
And when he said, these things as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

00;19;21;00 - 00;19;36;27
Unknown
Then when they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away, and when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying. Peter and John, and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son, About-face and Simon the Zealot. That's interesting. Simon the Zealot.

00;19;36;29 - 00;19;57;19
Unknown
You know who the zealots were? A political extreme. In the end, the Jewish people who wanted to overthrow Rome by whatever means necessary. You know who another disciple was, Matthew. The what? You know, the tax collectors were the exact opposite political extreme. They were Jews who had gone into business with Rome to extort money through the government from their own people.

00;19;57;22 - 00;20;19;00
Unknown
Isn't it interesting that Jesus chose two disciples from extreme political worldviews, made them a part of the original 12 disciples? Here's what he said. What I've called you to do, what I've called you to, to be united around. It's so much bigger than what divides you politically now. I'm sure they had some interesting campfire conversation. Let's read on.

00;20;19;00 - 00;20;38;13
Unknown
Simon the Zealot. Judas, Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. Now we'll stop there. Total transparency. We could take the next six weeks unpacking the 14 verses that we've just read. There's no way we can unpack everything that's in that.

00;20;38;15 - 00;21;02;29
Unknown
But what I want to do is kind of from a 30,000ft overview. I want to extract four principles that I think we see in the lives of these early believers that enable them to be so mightily used of God. And here's why these principles matter. You and I can grab these principles today, apply them to our lives. And in so doing that we're lifting up the sails.

00;21;02;29 - 00;21;25;11
Unknown
So that should the wind of the Holy Spirit of God begin to blow, we're ready to catch the wind. Anybody else in the room want to be a part of a move of God? Listen, I, I'm at an age now. All I want to be a part of a movie. I want to see God move in my generation, in my lifetime.

00;21;25;11 - 00;21;47;21
Unknown
I'm like, what I've read about in history books. I believe if we take these four things and wrap our hearts around them, we can't create movement. We can't obey the Scripture. And as we do that, we lift up the sails so that should the wind begin to blow in movement, we're ready to catch the wind. So let me give them to you.

00;21;47;21 - 00;22;31;08
Unknown
Here's the first one. They had a faith that produced obedience. They had a faith that produced obedience. Let me say it another way. They trusted God and they did what God said. Now, I know that sounds simple, but in the world of church we live in in America today, that's radical. You see, we no longer need to hear from God to do church in America.

00;22;31;10 - 00;22;53;27
Unknown
We can do church for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks and months and months and months and months, where the God, if he shows up or not. We got buildings, we got budgets, we got staff, we got parking lots, we got planning center. God help us all. Like like we got all the tools that you need. We know how to manufacture these experiences.

00;22;53;29 - 00;23;24;11
Unknown
There's a reason why we have the largest churches in the history of America we've ever had. With fewer people, percentage wise, attending church in America than we've ever had, we've gotten real good at building large churches while failing at the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. You can be successful in growing a church and fail at the mission of the gospel.

00;23;24;13 - 00;23;43;24
Unknown
But the early church had a faith that produced they. They listened for his voice, and they did what you said. Where do you see that? Well, I told you a minute ago in verse four, he told them to go to a city and wait. What city did he tell them to go to? How did you know that?

00;23;43;26 - 00;24;07;09
Unknown
He told them to go to Jerusalem. Now we hear Jerusalem. And what do we think? Holy land trip, right. We think Jerusalem and think, I'm going to get on one of those trips and go to the Holy Land. But you got to understand, you can't miss the context of this verse. When Jesus said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem was the scene of the crime.

00;24;07;12 - 00;24;27;06
Unknown
It had only been 40 days since the people of Jerusalem lined the streets, and with vitriol and anger and hatred, they screamed about Jesus. We want him crucified.

00;24;27;09 - 00;24;51;27
Unknown
You didn't have to do a survey in the neighborhoods surrounding Jerusalem to discover whether or not they'd be open to the launching of a new church in their community, like Jerusalem had given a bold declaration. We don't want your Jesus. We don't want your God. We don't want your preaching. We don't want your church. We don't want your disciple making.

00;24;51;27 - 00;25;24;13
Unknown
We want nothing to do with you. Crucify him. And Jesus said, all right, listen, here's the plan. We're going to start in Jerusalem. And here's the crazy part. They went to Jerusalem. Now that tells us some stuff about them. Number one, it tells us they didn't make their decisions based on their opinions. Because nobody thought it was a good idea to start a church in Jerusalem.

00;25;24;15 - 00;25;46;02
Unknown
As a matter of fact, their opinion was just the opposite. If we go to Jerusalem, they killed Jesus. They're going to kill us. We won't last 30s in Jerusalem. They didn't make their decisions based on their opinions. If you if you have taken a vote. Our Baptists, we. All right. We got to take a vote about everything, right?

00;25;46;04 - 00;26;07;03
Unknown
If you have taken a vote, if you had pass out index cards and said, we're going to write down our top three cities where we want to go start our new church, let me tell you what, one city wouldn't have been on anybody's card. I'll take that back. Go to Simon Peter. Here's the way he wrote it. I don't care where we go as long as it's not Jerusalem.

00;26;07;06 - 00;26;35;19
Unknown
They didn't make their decisions based on their feelings. Jerusalem didn't feel good to anybody. They thought, if we go to Jerusalem, we're going to die. If we go to Jerusalem, our families are going to die. If we go to Jerusalem, they're going to destroy everything we hold. Precious. They didn't make their decisions based on their circumstances. You ever heard this spiritual nugget?

00;26;35;22 - 00;27;07;25
Unknown
Well, God just closed the door. You know what? Jerusalem screamed? Closed door like they literally nailed it. Shut. And Jesus said, here's the plan. I want you to go to Jerusalem.

00;27;07;27 - 00;27;37;17
Unknown
And they did. Here's what that tells me about them. They listened for his voice. And when they heard his voice, they didn't do pro and con lists. They didn't look at the budget to see if it made sense. They didn't make sure it added up in the balance sheet. They didn't make sure we had a consensus among everybody to make sure this is no.

00;27;37;21 - 00;28;02;25
Unknown
When God spoke, they simply did what he said. And that's one of the reasons why I believe we're not seeing God move. Did you know that North America is one of two confidence in the world where Christianity is declining? Only two North American Europe, every other continent? The gospel is not just growing, it's exploding. Give you an example.

00;28;02;25 - 00;28;17;24
Unknown
Iran. Did you know there been more people come to faith in Christ in Iran in the last 100 years than in the previous 19 centuries combined? Did you know that there's a people movement to the gospel in Iran happening right now? We're almost a thousand people every single month. They're coming to faith in Christ, being baptized. A new churches are being started.

00;28;17;27 - 00;28;43;11
Unknown
That's happening in Iran. What's happening in America? Christianity is shrinking. We're doing it wrong. What are we doing wrong? Here's one of the things we're doing wrong. We don't listen for the voice of God anymore. The Bible says faith comes by what? And hearing by the what? Word of God? Faith comes by what? Which means it's not faith until I hear him speak.

00;28;43;13 - 00;29;03;00
Unknown
Here's what we too often say. Well, we're not real sure what God's doing, so we're just going to step out there. Listen, that's not faith, that's presumption on God. And it's a dangerous way to live your life and lead your family. Faith says, I'm going to sit at his feet. We're going to get in the upper room, and we're going to wait on God to speak and when God speaks, it doesn't matter what it costs us.

00;29;03;03 - 00;29;13;00
Unknown
It doesn't matter what the challenge is. It doesn't matter how many obstacles we have to step over. When God speaks in radical faith, we're going to say yes.

00;29;13;02 - 00;29;41;28
Unknown
We got to get back there. Number two, they had a passion that produced unity. Go back to verse 14. Verse 14 opens with this phrase, all these with one accord. Now let me do what that doesn't mean. That doesn't mean they were all riding around Jerusalem together in a Honda. All right. That's not what he's talking about. This is not all in the same car.

00;29;42;00 - 00;30;14;14
Unknown
This phrase, all in one accord literally means that they had all wrapped their hearts around the same thing. It means one mind, one will, one passion. What is it that they'd united their hearts around? Well, to know that you got to go back to verse three. Go look at verse three. He presented him himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days.

00;30;14;14 - 00;30;23;14
Unknown
And speaking about what I say. We said it out loud here to speaking about the what the kingdom of God.

00;30;23;16 - 00;30;56;28
Unknown
Don't miss this. This is Jesus last 40 days on planet earth. His last 40 days physically. Physically. After his resurrection, before his ascension up to heaven, Jesus made appearances for 40 days to his disciples. And the Bible says, get this for 40 days he only talked about one subject.

00;30;57;01 - 00;31;25;21
Unknown
It's almost as if Jesus said, if you forget everything else I've taught you in three and a half years of public ministry, don't forget that this. Could you imagine if pastor Chuck, for the next 40 weekends came into this pulpit? And for 40 weekends he preached the same sermon 40 weekends in a row. Now, you'd think 1 or 2 things, right?

00;31;25;23 - 00;31;39;16
Unknown
You'd think, and our pastors got lazy. Or you think, I think he is, but might have slipped off his biscuit like something's something's not connecting, right? Right.

00;31;39;18 - 00;32;14;25
Unknown
Jesus. For 40 days, every time he got an audience, all he talk kingdom, kingdom kingdom kingdom kingdom kingdom kingdom kingdom kingdom kingdom shouldn't surprise us. And the greatest sermon he ever preached. Sermon on the Mount, right in the middle. Matthew 633. What he say, seek what first the now that's not Jesus casually suggesting that we put the kingdom in our top ten list and pray about it.

00;32;14;28 - 00;32;36;13
Unknown
That verse in Matthew six is an imperative where Jesus, by way of command, is saying that the kingdom of God is to be that in which all of our lives center in, and everything else in our lives revolves around the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is to be the reason the church exists. What is the Kingdom of God?

00;32;36;13 - 00;33;01;11
Unknown
Let me give you a definition for sake of time. Here's the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is God's sovereign activity in the world, resulting in people being in right relationship with himself. I'll say it one more time. God's sovereign activity in the world, resulting in people being in a right relationship with himself. That's the kingdom. The kingdom is the big picture of what God is doing all over the world.

00;33;01;13 - 00;33;19;23
Unknown
Can I give you a word of discouragement this morning? Here's the word of discouragement. First Baptist Church, Collierville, is dying.

00;33;19;25 - 00;33;39;22
Unknown
I know when you hear me say that, you may be slightly offended and you're also thinking, who's this guy? And sneaks on a platform telling us who or what our. He don't even know who we are. Like, what's he talking about? How does he know our church is dying? Here's how I know your church is dying. They all do.

00;33;39;24 - 00;33;58;07
Unknown
You see, churches have life cycles. They're born, they live, they die. You are closer to death as a church than you've ever been. If you don't believe me, go find any church that got a book deal in the New Testament. Every church Paul wrote to in the New Testament Ephesus, Colossae, Philippi, Corinth, you know where they are today.

00;33;58;13 - 00;34;19;16
Unknown
Gone. I've stood in the remains of the church at Ephesus. I've stood in the remains of the church at Corinth in their heyday in the first century, a thriving epicenter of gospel activity. You know what they are today? Pile of rocks in the Middle East. Those churches are dead and gone. If we wrap our hearts around the church, if we make it all about First Baptist Collierville, we're investing in that, which is temporary.

00;34;19;16 - 00;34;37;22
Unknown
But here's what I'm telling you. The Kingdom of God is alive and well. Did you know that we're living in the greatest days in the history of Christianity to be alive? Did you know that there are more people coming to faith in Jesus today, on a daily basis around the world than in any other single time in human history?

00;34;37;24 - 00;34;59;16
Unknown
Only one guy heard me say, I'm gonna say it again, because if you'd have heard me, you'd have said something back to me. So I'm going to give it to you. We're living in the greatest days in the history of Christianity to be alive. There are more people coming to faith in Jesus today, on a daily basis around the world, than at any other single time in human history.

00;34;59;19 - 00;35;30;07
Unknown
You're getting there. But listen, here's what I want you to hear me say. God birthed your church for such a time as this. Not so you can have the best worship service in Collierville. God birthed your church to lean into the greatest global harvest in the history of the world. Amen. And the early church said, we're all in with that.

00;35;30;10 - 00;35;47;08
Unknown
They didn't care about the style of music. They didn't care what people wore to church. They didn't care what color the carpet was. They didn't vote on anything. They just listened for the voice of the father and did what the father said and let God use them mightily. You say you telling us we don't have passion in our churches today?

00;35;47;08 - 00;36;17;01
Unknown
No, no, no, we got passion. The problem is everybody's passionate about something different. So rather than our passion uniting us, our passion divides us. And we split, splinter and split around different passions rather than uniting around the kingdom of God. You see, when the kingdom of God becomes the scoreboard, when we think just church, you're in competition with all the other churches.

00;36;17;01 - 00;36;37;05
Unknown
Who's got the most, who's got the biggest building, who had the biggest crowd? Who had the most cars in the parking lot? Who's got the biggest budget? But when the scoreboard is lostness and the city going down, when the scoreboard is the kingdom of God expanding in the city of Memphis, then we're all on the same team. Looking at one scoreboard.

00;36;37;07 - 00;36;59;24
Unknown
It doesn't matter how many you had or I had or they had. What matters is, is the kingdom of God expanding in our city. That's the focus we gotta get back to. That's what the early church had. Number three, let's move on. They had a desperation that produced prayer. They had a desperation that produced for. How many of you believe that God has a sense of humor?

00;36;59;25 - 00;37;19;00
Unknown
Let me see your hand. If you don't believe that you're wrong. What do you think we got ours from? We're made in the imago day. The image of God. Part of that is a sense of humor. Did you know that there's funny stuff in the Bible? Matter of fact, I read you some of the funniest verses ever written in the Bible.

00;37;19;00 - 00;37;41;16
Unknown
When I read you this passage a minute ago and you so familiar with it, you didn't even laugh when I read them. So I'm gonna read them again. Give you another shot at it. Look at verse nine. Verse nine says, and when he had said these things as they were looking on a cloud, he was lifted up. A cloud took him out of their sight.

00;37;41;18 - 00;37;59;00
Unknown
Now you're not laughing yet. So you, not you, you, you've become so Bible familiar that you miss the humor in this. It says. And when he had said these things, now what did he just say? Now we're gonna have a little classroom participation time. All right? I want everybody to kind of lean up on the edge of your seat with me for just a minute, or I know what makes you uncomfortable.

00;37;59;00 - 00;38;19;18
Unknown
Are you thinking, why is he doing this? But just just humor me for a second. Just lean up on the front. You see? So here's what happened. Jesus gets up on the hillside. He says, everybody lean in. Here's the plan. We're about to start a movement, and we're going to start in Jerusalem, where they hate you. It gets better.

00;38;19;20 - 00;38;42;09
Unknown
Then he says, lean in. We're going to go to Judea and Samaria, where you hate them. You see, the Jews hated the Samaritan. They would walk clear around and not have to go through Samaria. The Jews hate it. So Jesus said, Lina, and here's the plan. We're going to start in Jerusalem, where they hate you. Then we're going to go to Samaria, where you hate them.

00;38;42;12 - 00;38;57;19
Unknown
Then we're going to go to the uttermost parts of the earth. What does that mean? Places in the world you don't know how to get to and you don't know exist. So here's the plan. We're going to start where they hate you. We're going to go where you hate them. Then we're going to go places you don't know exist, and you don't know how to get there.

00;38;57;21 - 00;39;30;21
Unknown
And then he starts floating. We call it the Ascension. Jesus drops this grenade in the room, and then he starts floating. And I'm not talking like Las Vegas levitation. I'm talking who? God.

00;39;30;23 - 00;39;43;19
Unknown
Hey, did did somebody write down what he just said?

00;39;43;21 - 00;40;04;01
Unknown
Hey. Hey, Peter. You think he's coming back? You see, we've removed the human element out of these stories. We got them in capes and utility belts as superheroes. But here's what happened. Jesus throws this bomb at him. We're going to start where they hate you. We're going to go where you hate them. We're going to go there you don't know exist.

00;40;04;01 - 00;40;13;28
Unknown
You know how to get there. Then he disappears. And what's their response? Here's who. Here it is.

00;40;14;00 - 00;40;36;09
Unknown
You say you're making that up. No, I'm not you. Here's what, because here's what happened next. Jesus gets to heaven, looks down and sees them all staring up into heaven, and he tells two angels to go down there, move along and get him going. You say you're making that up. Look at verse ten, look at verse ten. And while they were gazing into heaven, what does that look like?

00;40;36;11 - 00;40;54;02
Unknown
Look what it says next. Two men in white robes stood by them and said, I love this man of Galilee. What are you doing standing here looking up into heaven?

00;40;54;04 - 00;41;19;05
Unknown
And everything changed with the next sentence. Here's the next sentence. This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, get this will go in the same way you watched him go.

00;41;19;07 - 00;41;41;11
Unknown
And as soon as they heard it, they ran down off of that mountain. They ran into the city of Jerusalem. They ran up into the upper room. They slammed the door shut, and they pulled out a whiteboard and began to discuss demographic conversations, how they could build relational bridges into their community. They're not what your Bible says happen.

00;41;41;13 - 00;42;12;08
Unknown
Oh, they took a vote. Is that what happened? Now here's what happened. The text says in that upper room, they got down on their face before God. And they began to pray. Like they'd never pray because they knew if God is not God, we don't have a shot at this mission.

00;42;12;10 - 00;42;43;14
Unknown
You know why God's not using the church in America? We don't pray anymore. I mean, think about it. What was the early church known for? Prayer in the word. What are we known for? Preaching and music. If we pray at all, we pray for 90s to transition the band on and off the stage while nobody's looking. We don't pray to pray anymore.

00;42;43;16 - 00;42;48;27
Unknown
We don't need God.

00;42;48;29 - 00;43;07;09
Unknown
But you get on a plane and go meet the other side of the world where God's you go to South Asia, where there's a people. Move to the gospel today in South Asia, rivaling what's happening in the book of acts. I've been there. I've seen demons cast out of people. I've seen churches planted by new believers that are exploding and reaching hundreds, thousands of people with the gospel.

00;43;07;11 - 00;43;19;13
Unknown
It's like literally standing in the book of acts. But you get around those people, you know what they do. They pray. They pray.

00;43;19;16 - 00;43;33;03
Unknown
I got to Las Vegas 25 years ago, my first week on the field. My time is going, I'm gonna tell this quick and be done. My first week on the field, I got a phone call from a lady from the Philippines named Lady Peralta answered the phone. She's a pastor. Can I tell you a story? I said, lady, I don't know anybody in Las Vegas.

00;43;33;03 - 00;43;47;00
Unknown
You can tell me any story you want to tell me, she said, pastor, I'm from the Philippines, moved to Hong Kong to make money for my family. That was very poor, she said. While living in Hong Kong, I met an American family, moved in with them, became the caretaker of their home. She said that family over a period of months became like my second family.

00;43;47;00 - 00;44;06;03
Unknown
They adopted me into their family. We would support my family in the Philippines, she said. When they moved back to America, I relocated with them to America, to a city north of Atlanta, Georgia, called Woodstock, Georgia, she said about living in Woodstock, Georgia. I visited a church called the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia. God used it to radically change my life, but she said, I only got to go there about six times.

00;44;06;09 - 00;44;22;17
Unknown
Then my family relocated again to Las Vegas, Nevada, she said. I've been I've been in Vegas for a year and a half. And she said, this pastor, I've prayed every day that the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia, would start a church in Las Vegas, Nevada. Would you please tell me who sent you here?

00;44;22;19 - 00;44;40;11
Unknown
Honest to God, two weeks earlier, my family loaded everything we own in a green Dodge minivan in the parking lot of the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia, being sent 2000 miles across the country to go start a church in a city that none of us had ever been to before, and none of us even knew Lady Prophet existed on planet Earth.

00;44;40;13 - 00;44;55;08
Unknown
We saw thousands of people come to faith in Christ. Churches planted all over the western United States. Missionaries sent to four continents, and church planters call me man. How did you do it? How does a white dude from Alabama pan, a multi-ethnic church, is reaching the nations in the city of Las Vegas? I'm not trying to be spiritual, I'm just trying to be honest.

00;44;55;08 - 00;44;59;08
Unknown
One lady from the Philippines.

00;44;59;11 - 00;45;12;01
Unknown
For a year and a half, she got Ahold of the altar of God, and she didn't let go until God did what he said he was going to do. When are we going to get desperate? We're going to seek God in prayer again.

00;45;12;04 - 00;45;37;21
Unknown
Oh, we do have a post on social media. We'd rather politically get engaged. What if we just got on our face before God and just began to say, oh God, if you don't do this, we don't have a shot? Our church got deeply convicted about this in Las Vegas in 2015, to the point that I carved out ten minutes, pastor Chuck, and every week in worship service, when I would lead the whole church to pray for ten minutes, 4000 people, people said, you can't do that in a church.

00;45;37;23 - 00;45;55;05
Unknown
You got all these unbelievers coming to Vegas. You can't lead them to pray. Let me do what I found out. When lost people come to visit a church, they actually expect us to talk to God. Number two, when lost people show up at a church, most of them showed up hoping we'd show them how they could talk to God.

00;45;55;08 - 00;46;12;22
Unknown
And when all we do is let a paid professional with a microphone use eloquent words for 45 second soundbites we communicate to the average person. There's a far gap between your ability to talk to God in mind. But when we take the Word of God and open up a verse and give some prayer prompts and let it become the centerpiece of a conversation that the whole church has with the father, everybody begins to talk to God.

00;46;12;22 - 00;46;33;07
Unknown
And I'm telling you, when you seek God in prayer, you experience God, empower. And we need to see that in the church in America again. Last thing, I'm done. They have the spirit that produce power. There's a lot we could say about acts chapter two. There's a lot we don't understand about what happened in acts chapter two. There's a lot about us as Baptists that's uncomfortable.

00;46;33;07 - 00;46;52;03
Unknown
But what happened in acts chapter two? Let me give you one encouragement about that. We're going to get to heaven. Somebody is going to be wrong. It might be us. So let's change our posture to one of humility. When we discuss our differences. But secondly, here's what I know is true in acts chapter two. The church was empowered by the Holy Spirit like it had never been before.

00;46;52;05 - 00;47;20;07
Unknown
And what we need today is a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God. And I believe if we lift up ourselves and have a faith that produces obedience, we'll have a passion that unites us around the expansion of his kingdom. We'll have a desperation that seeks him in prayer. When the wind of the Spirit of God begins to blow, we're ready to get involved in what he's doing.

00;47;20;10 - 00;47;38;10
Unknown
Let's pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we bow before you and even as I begin to pray, the worship team can go ahead and come. Staff, team, you can get in your place. Lord, we now want to respond to you.

00;47;38;13 - 00;47;55;12
Unknown
Lord, preaching is not the dispensing of information. It's a call to transformation. What I pray for men and women and young people all over this room, that you've spoken to them through your word today.

00;47;55;14 - 00;48;11;25
Unknown
As you sit quietly before the Lord in just a moment, what's going to happen is the worship team is going to lead us in a song. They're staff members down front. If you're here today, first of all, if you're here today and you don't know this Jesus that I've been talking about in the Bible, let me tell you my story.

00;48;11;25 - 00;48;29;14
Unknown
I came to know Jesus as a freshman in college. I was far from God, had heard the gospel that Jesus died on the cross for my sin, that he rose again from the dead. And as a freshman in college, I surrendered the control of my life to Jesus, and he came to live inside of me by His Spirit.

00;48;29;14 - 00;48;35;04
Unknown
And he began to change me. Didn't make me perfect. I'm a work in progress.

00;48;35;07 - 00;48;56;09
Unknown
But he's walked with me and he's taught me, and he's drawn me to himself. If you're here today and you don't know this Jesus, when we stand to sing, you can come to any one of these staff members here at the front and just say, I need Jesus. And they'll show you from the Bible how you can come to know Jesus, be forgiven of your sin, and begin a relationship with God.

00;48;56;12 - 00;49;11;23
Unknown
If you want to become a part of this church, you can come to one of these staff members say, I want to be a part of this church family. They'll show you how you can do that. But here's the broader invitation I want to give to everyone today. 25 years ago in this city, my wife and I knelt down and said, Lord, yes.

00;49;11;23 - 00;49;26;08
Unknown
We didn't know what the question was. We just knew the answer had to be yes. Is your yes on the table? So you can't say Lord, and maybe.

00;49;26;11 - 00;49;38;16
Unknown
Lord, however you want to use my life, my family, my career, my resources, my job, my retirement. Lord, yes, here it is.

00;49;38;19 - 00;49;52;29
Unknown
Maybe you need to turn your seat into an altar today. Maybe you want to come with your family and get at this altar and just kneel and say, Lord, yes, Lord. Take us to another level of engagement in your mission. Lord, we want to live for that which is eternal.

00;49;53;01 - 00;50;12;13
Unknown
Or maybe God spoken to you today about this thing of prayer. And like Lady Peralta, you want to just come get in one of these altars, just begin to cry out to God to move in Memphis and Collierville, Tennessee and North America and among the nations. Just beg God to move. Maybe you need prayer with one of these staff members.

00;50;12;13 - 00;50;26;21
Unknown
You can come, Lord, as we sing, as we respond, Lord, have your way. It's in the name of Jesus. We pray. Let's stand together. Our team is going to lead you. Respond. Right now the altar is open as God speaks to