Good morning. Welcome to Auburn Community Church. So glad you are here.
My name is Gage Henry. If we've not had the opportunity to meet, just look at the person next to you and say, I'm so glad you're awake and here at church. I'm going to go old school youth pastor mode right now. Raise your hand if you got less than five hours of sleep. Let's go.
Here to worship Jesus anyways. Raise your hand if you're on the field last night and you're at the 8 o'clock service. Let's go. Come on. Fired up y'all are here.
We're ready to worship together. So if you would, would you stand to your feet in the space? Say hello to somebody around you. We're going to get started in just a moment. Well, Psalm 103 says, Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm still just reeling with anticipation and excitement coming off of baptism last week. And we realize the God of David is the same God we worship here and now, and we're seeing the same thing. Sickness, disease.
Coming out from the pits, we are worshiping King Jesus. And we are seeing the kingdoms of darkness be removed. So we're going to worship him in spirit and the truth in this time. Amen? All right, come on, let's sing this out.
I see you taking ground. I see you taking ground. I see you pressing ahead.
Your power's dangerous to the enemy's camp. Amen. You still do me a favor.
Hey! Hey! I still do miracles, you will do what you said, for you're the same God now I see. I do all within, I see you taking ground, I see you pressing in, your power is dangerous to the enemy's game.
You still do miracles, you will do what you said, for you're the same God now as you were. Your spirit, your spirit breaking now, your kingdom moving in, your victory claims the ground that the enemy had. I said, employ your voice, but just imagine it makes a way. John is falling, strong goes way.
There is He, and it's the power that I play. It's the same that will deliver me. Jesus makes a way, tried his heart and struggled with, here he's healing, it's the same that will do. And let the king of my heart be the mountain where I run The fountain I drink from, oh, he is my song And let the King of my heart be the shadow where I hide The rest of all my life, all is mine Let's sing this out together Sing, you are good, you're good, oh You are good, good, oh You are good, you're good, oh You are good, so good, oh And let the king of my heart be the wind inside my sails The anchor in the waves, oh, is my song Let the King of my heart be the fire inside my veins, the echo of my days, oh He is my song.
Sing that again, let the King. Let the King of my heart be the wind inside my sails, the anchor in the waves, oh He is my song. The King of my heart, be the fire inside my face, the anchor of my face, oh, He is my song.
And you are good, you're You're good, oh, you are good, you're good, oh You're not-You're not-You You're just that fake, you're just that fake You say you are good, you're good, oh You are good, you're good, oh You say you are good You're good, oh, you are good, you're good, oh The cross was your decision, but death was not the ending. You rose and now we're raising. The work you did is finished. All of our sins forgiven. And now we get to live it.
No wonder the work kept running. The cross was your decision. But death was not the ending.
You rose and now we're risen. No wonder the work kept running. The wonder, the work, it bled The play, the play, the play Oh, the wonderful play Your love, your love, your love Oh, the marvelous play The blood, the blood, the blood, oh the wonderful blood. Your love, your love, your love, oh the marvelous blood. Let there be songs, praises for love to the sun.
The blood, the blood, the blood, oh the wonderful blood. The wicked day. And the work you did is finished, all of our sins forgiven, and now we get to live it.
The wonder of the work you've learned, the cross was your decision, but then you rose and now we're risen. The wonder of the work you've learned. Sing that. Don't wonder if the Word came alive.
Don't wonder if the Word came alive. Don't wonder if the Word came alive. Oh, we are grateful today. Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. Oh, I'm so grateful for the blood of Jesus.
I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner Oh the wonderful blood You love, you love, you love, oh the marvelous love Let the redeemed sing a song, praises belong to the Son The blood, the blood, the blood, oh the wonderful Oh, the perfect blood, the perfect sacrifice. So Father, we cry out to you in worship today, not because of anything that we have ever done or will ever do, but Father, we cry out to you desperate, and we cry out to you grateful for what you've done. God, we are nothing without you. We are depraved without you.
And so today we just sit in wonder and awe, just reveling at the goodness of the Savior, the goodness of the Father, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. So thank you for moving in our midst today. Would you continue to speak clearly to our hearts in this moment?
Our hands are open. We love you, Jesus. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen.
You can grab a seat at all of our locations. Thank you, worship team, for leading us so strong on this beautiful November morning. It is good to be in church and it is good to be singing about the unchanging, unrivaled power of the blood of Jesus. I love these moments that we get together and can sense a level of peace and strength.
strength that God is distributing through his spirit to this room. And we hope and pray that that's happening through screens. So to the amazing group of people that are meeting together in Huntsville over like three hours away, we love you guys. So grateful that you're with us.
Purcell Farms, Lake Martin at New Water Farms. I love that we have multiple farms tuned in to this moment, even if they're not necessarily, you get the picture. Birmingham, Nashville, we love you. We're grateful. 323 Airport Road, thank you for joining us out there.
These moments are so... so special. And if you're new to ACC, my name is Miles. I want to welcome you to church on a victorious day in Auburn, Alabama. Man, every day, every Sunday, it's fun to preach God's word, but this one hits different.
I mean, this is so awesome to get to be in front of you right now. And as tired as I know some of your physical bodies are, I know that your spirit is alive and ready for what God is going to say through his word. Before we open up the word of God, we want to worship God through our availability with our stuff.
Sunday, we do this moment called Bringing Time where we invite our church family. If God is pressing something on your heart to respond in financial generosity to build the kingdom of God, then we ask you to do that humbly and faithfully. But every year around this time, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I like to call our church into a deeper level of generosity because I don't know about you at the end of the year, I like to look back on what God has done and the story that I've lived through.
And there's always a moment at the end of the year to consider what would my availability and surrender be like? render to God look like as this year comes to a close? So I want to challenge our church family.
You know the needs are endless with the missions that are happening in the world. Speaking of that, we got our friend Romy from Romania, who you saw in the video, in Ukraine. He's on the second row right now. Welcome to America. We're pumped that you're here.
This week, Romy and I were working on this like AI-generated way of getting our sermons immediately translated into Romanian. We're closer than we think, guys. I was watching myself preaching Korean, and I was like, Brad Lichtenhouse, you would have loved this because you would have just thought it was the Holy Spirit, but it was not. It was AI. And man, like there are fun days for this church around the globe moving forward.
I'm excited and grateful for the way you serve our church. But one of the main ways you're able to serve, like literally driving a vehicle that this church purchased for you to take supplies. he told me about how he made a wrong turn as he was taking those supplies to Ukraine and he ended up like in front of the Ukrainian battlefront he's like don't shoot I'm just here for supplies and that was a couple weeks ago and now you're here so we're grateful you're here and the way that you serve but the way we're able to do stuff like that and every expansion effort that we have to carry this gift God has given us here to places we've never been before it happens because of your generosity so at the end of the year what would it look like for you to respond financially by giving above and beyond what you plan for it.
There's always this moment for me and Courtney at the end of the year to go, okay, we set out our financial plan for generosity. Now, how do we end the year on a note that says, God, thank you for taking my family through another year. We're going to trust you again, going into 2025. That's between you and God, but I just invite you be open to.
the Holy Spirit might say during that time. Next couple of weeks, we got gatherings that are a little all over the place. This is the last Sunday that we will have gatherings at 323 Airport Road because that will be our location for a study hall when our college students are taking finals in a couple of weeks. Watch out for that.
So make sure you're up to date on gathering times. Gave y'all a little more sleep going into our Advent season next week and always stay updated on when we're going to be gathering and where we're going to be gathering as well. Did you bring your Bible to church?
Are you ready for the grand finale of King Jesus gospel this morning? If you have your Bible, hold it up. Hold it up all over every location.
Hold it up. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter five. I love it.
I'm seeing people who have been fighting the Bible drill for years now bringing their Bibles. That is a beautiful thing. Of course, Kendra on the front row has her Bible. She was baptized in our first baptism gathering 10 years ago.
And this is her first time at Hamilton Road since we built the new building. So I think that's super cool. She's at ACC Birmingham now. They're tired from clapping and cheering so much last night. But if I was in the crowd and I.
I appreciated 10 years worth of the faithfulness of God in your life. I would, no, it's not their fault. They were turning to first Thessalonians and they don't know where it is. Oh, I'm so sorry. My bad, my bad.
I forgot we have Bibles being turned. Don't let, just give me grace. Give me forgiveness for that. Let's stand for the reading of scripture if you're able at all of our locations. And I invited Kelly Ulner to come up here and read our scripture today.
We're going to be in first Thessalonians 5 verses 16 all the way to the end of this book of the Bible. And I'll talk through context of this in just one second. Okay. Kelly has been serving our church faithfully since the very beginning, along with her family.
She was a volunteer for many years, but she is our operations director. And she gets to see firsthand how your generosity enables everything that our church is a part of. And she's also in so many relationships and teams in the building of our church.
When we were reading this passage this week, we just thought about how much in this we see the story of our church. And I want you, as she reads it, you could blow this time over. Just like, okay, she's reading.
I'm following. following along. I want you to, with an open heart and an open mind, prepare for the word of God to speak to you in a powerful way, because I think God has a word for our church in this. You will read the passage.
She'll say, this is the word of the Lord. You'll say, so you still remember, and then we'll jump into the word. Kelly, take it away.
All right. Our scripture reading today comes from 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 16 through 28. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all your heart. all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the spirit.
Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test them all. Hold on to what is good. Reject every kind of evil.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Brothers and sisters, pray for us. Greet all God's people with a holy kiss. I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all of the brothers and sisters.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
You can be seated. Heavenly Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would be sent here now to breathe on this word as it is preached. I tremble when I start to think about how many stories and lives are going to be touched by the sound of my voice right now and how helpless I really am unless your spirit does the work.
There is no amount of energy or eloquence in my delivery that could ever replace what happens when the Holy Spirit opens someone's eyes. So God opened people's eyes today. Open people's ears to hear.
Let us be good soil for the word to produce good fruit in our lives, God. We want to be sons and daughters who respond to the direction of our heavenly father with openness and obedience. So come and move, God. I believe you're already here, God.
We want to be obedient and humble enough to receive what you're saying. Even if it means a change for our lives, even if it means a perspective we've never considered, even if it means further conversation, God, would you do the work and meet people right where they are today and help me to be a faithful steward of the gift you have placed on the inside of me through this word. In Jesus'name, amen.
All right, King Jesus Gospel. This is... So much more than a series we did in the life of our church.
This is more than a season that happened in the fall of 2024 at our church. This is a culture-shaping, DNA-defining sermon series for our church. King Jesus Gospel is what we are trying to preach through everything we do every Sunday. And it's really a reorienting of a lot of people who have been quote-unquote Christians their entire lives to see the gospel as more than a list of doctrines that you believe in or don't believe in. The good news of Jesus is so much more than, do you believe he died on the cross?
Do you believe he rose from the dead? Do you believe he's coming again? Do you want to receive the free gift of Holy Spirit?
Do you want to go to heaven instead of hell when you die? No, it is a story that includes some of those things, but it is a story about a kingdom. And a king, Jesus, who's king over Israel, king over everything. And if you decide, I want to be a disciple, I want to follow him, he becomes king over your life.
That is a Christian. It's not an expert level Christian. It's not like a super passionate Christian. That is a biblical Christian who says, I see the story of the kingdom of God, the promised Messiah sent to Israel, who's grafting in all nations to become a part of his family.
And through his blood, he is reconciling what went wrong in the garden and bringing us back into a right relationship with the God. who created us. That is the full picture of the gospel. And it mandates a full response from our lives.
Now we've talked about King Jesus gospel for over a year, and we finally put it into a sermon series and the election happened during this series, but we have paid attention in November and said, oh my goodness, the spirit of God is doing something different and new. I told you on November 3rd when I preached radical discipleship right before the election, I said, I just don't think our church is going to be the same after this moment. And then John Thompson was here, and the Holy Spirit fell in such a powerful way on those gatherings.
And then last Sunday for baptism, Every baptism Sunday is significant and special. But even if you were joining through a screen, you know, there's something the Holy Spirit was deciding to pour out on these moments that was undeniable through real stories and real families. And I just call us right now.
as a church family, as we're going to the finale of King Jesus gospel, I don't want this one to get buried in the archives of YouTube or a podcast somewhere. I want this language to be on our lips. I want these thoughts to be in our minds that when we talk about the gospel, we're talking about the kingship of Jesus and a whole life surrendered response to his finished work on the cross.
And now first Thessalonians five, Paul takes us to the end of this beautiful letter that he wrote to a church that was loaded with faith, loaded with love, but lacking in hope. And he wrote to them about the return of Christ. and called them to live holy lives.
But at the very end, he summarizes the finished work of Jesus with the statement, the one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. So if you need a title for this sermon, it's simply called, He Will Do It. Won't he do it? Yes, he will.
He will. Both last night and this morning. Won't he do it?
He will do it. Do what? Finish it. Jesus is not just king over your salvation. He has also promised to be king over your sanctification.
And if you knew the depths of what that meant, you would struggle to be quiet or maintain yourself where you are right now. Salvation is amazing. That the son of God, the perfect son of God would trade in glory for a crown of thorns and die openly naked on a Roman cross for my worst sin and shame and yours to be brought back into a. right relationship with God.
And it, guys, I just, I promise you when I say this, I mean it. If he just did that, it would be so much more than enough. I mean, if it's like, I died for your sins, you're forgiven. Now respond through a holy life and surrender and I hope to see you one day. It would be mind-blowing that the Son of God died to save us from sin.
But the fact that when you read the New Testament, he doesn't stop there. He's like, I'm not just king over the process of rescuing you from sin. I'm also going to be king over the process of making sure everything I planted in your life, I finish. Philippians 1.6 says, He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. One of the most common questions I get every time we do Baptism Sunday is this, What are you whispering in their ears right before they get baptized and the band is blasting?
We just want to know what you're saying. And some of that's personal to what they shared or something about their family that's there or something that the Holy Spirit might be revealing in a moment. But the one consistent factor is I love to quote Philippians 1.6 about the fact that What you're experiencing now is only a part of your journey. This is not an ending. It is only the beginning.
God has promised that what he planted in your life, everything he has begun, he will be the decisive factor in carrying it to completion. He will do it. And there's few truths of the Bible that are more comforting for an anxious and worried generation than the fact that God has not only promised to save you, but he's also promised to sustain you. And this is the truth that we are failing to agree with God on that's causing us to be so anxious. This is what actually at the core of who we are, we're not seeing about the King Jesus gospel, that he's not just wanting to get us to this position where we trust him and believe in him and want to follow him.
He's wanting us to have the peace and rest that comes from a soul that knows you're not on the throne and that's a good thing. He's going to finish everything he started. This is huge to end King Jesus gospel this way, because I feel and sense a groundswell in our church of response to our new mission statement.
ACC exists to normalize radical discipleship in the American church. Every time I see that, I like tremble a little bit. I'm like, I would die for that.
That's not ACC exists to help you become more like Jesus. I love the, no, we're going full surrender. I, you give your life to this and we want it to be normal in the American church for that to be the case.
And I think God's going to do that in a powerful way through our church. But one of the dangers of that language is when you say things like radical discipleship and surrendering all to follow Jesus, very subconsciously you can start to relate your commitment to God with this comparison mindset to how surrendered the people around you are, where you start to feel a level of pride in your commitment to Jesus because of how surrendered you are. And you also start to look down at those who are not in the same place you are, and you're going, yeah, you're not fully there yet, and yeah, you don't get it yet, and yeah, you haven't left all to follow Christ yet. And it can create this kind of competitive mentality of who's in, who's out, who's actually radical, and who's just faking it. And part of that is a result of preaching that needs to improve on my part.
I'll just be honest with you. I lean so hard against lukewarm cultural Christianity that sometimes I can come a little too hard and not meet people right where they are. And I do apologize for that somewhat. Some of you are like, never apologize, say more.
But I do want to say this. There's a shifting happening in our church right now. There's a shifting.
They're starting to become a distance. between those who are radical disciples and those who are habitual churchgoers. I can feel it. I can feel it relationally in our community groups.
I can feel it in the way y'all are talking to me and relaying things back to me. Like there's something happening at ACC right now where the radical disciples are starting to look a lot different than those who are pretending. And I never want that. I want God to do that because he should, but I never want that dynamic to create a false level of pride among the radical disciples that somehow their commitment level to Jesus.
got them to the place of surrender that they are. You end up looking like the fool Peter was the night before Jesus died. This is one of the saddest moments in the Bible.
It's kind of funny now when you look back on it, but you're like, Peter, you were real sure about your commitment to Christ, man. I mean, Jesus straight up tells him, listen, you all are going to desert me, but I'm not alone. I've got my father.
I'm good. And, and Peter goes, okay, Lord, in front of the other disciples, I love this. If you have a sibling who's like so aware of their own pride, you know what this environment was like.
And, uh, and Peter is like, listen, Lord, even if all of them desert you, I won't, I'm ready to die. They're not ready. I get, yeah, I get it, Jesus, I'm with you.
They're definitely gonna desert you, but I'm in. And he goes, you're the one who's gonna desert me the most. Like before the rooster crows, you got three denials coming, buddy. And it literally happens like right after. It's because for- Peter, the hinge point of his commitment to Jesus was his own surrender, not Christ's call.
He who calls you is faithful. He will do it. The power, the hinge point of Peter's commitment to Jesus was not. I have surrendered all.
It was the fact that Jesus said, come follow me in the first place. And the Holy Spirit opened Peter's eyes. So we're not in a competitive mindset of who's more radical than who and who's really in on the Jesus stuff and who's faking it and measuring people by external things.
We're asking the question, has the Holy Spirit opened your eyes so that you see Jesus as more captivating and worth losing everything for than anything this world has to offer you? And only the Spirit of God can do that. This is so, so important for this moment in our church right now.
And I believe the byproduct of living like this, not just when you get saved, but through your entire life is a level of rest and peace that doesn't exist for most of the Christians at our church that claim to believe the King Jesus gospel. How is this possible? Y'all look up here.
Don't miss this. I promise we're going to get back. First Thessalonians is just one second.
How is it possible for thousands of people to claim? I believe and trust in the King Jesus. gospel, that he's king over every detail of the story, not just of my life, but of the whole story that he's the promised Messiah, that he can have my all. How is it possible that we have thousands of people at our church that have legitimately got to that place of faith? And I would say the number one struggle that is blocking people from a deeper level of intimacy with God is their own inner turmoil and anxiety.
How can those two things coexist? He's king, he's ruler, he's in control. I love him.
I trust him. And yet at the same time, paralyzed by worry. And I'm not here to throw shade at those who are struggling with anxiety.
I'm here to lift it up and go, hey guys, we're all kind of struggling with this at the same time and different levels. And yet we're claiming that sovereign rule and control over the universe and over our lives has been handed over. What is the disconnect between what I say I believe on paper, I surrender, you're king, and what I'm experiencing in my life, I'm freaking out and I want to control the narrative. And what Paul's going to do at the end of 1 Thessalonians, he's going to bridge the gap and go, hold on.
It's this element of Jesus promising to finish what he started that leads to you resting and not banking on your own response, but banking solely on the person and the promises and faithfulness of Jesus. So that's what today is. You guys ready for this?
All right, let's get into it. First Thessalonians chapter five, going back to verse 16. Keep in mind, this is a church in Thessalonica that had been struggling with the deaths of family members and friends. It's always. Good to acknowledge around the holidays that this is a time where hope seems to be lacking. And next week when we jump into our Advent series, we're going to start on the theme of hope and just make sure our hopes are set on Jesus.
That's so much of what 1 Thessalonians is about. But at the very end, Paul does what he usually does and hits them with a flurry of commands. It's like command, command, do this, do this, do this.
You ever read the end of Romans or Ephesians? He's like this and this and this and this. And he's just going to hit them with all of this at once.
Look at verse 16. He says, rejoice always, pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Now, you don't see this in English, but in the Greek, these are corporate commands.
They're plural. It means y'all, like the church, all of you. What are we supposed to do as the church?
Rejoice always, pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances. You know, for our church family, it's good to remember that the assignment of the people of God week in and week out is to make sure no matter the circumstances in our life, that joy and prayer and thanksgiving are always present in our gatherings. We always have something to be thankful for because we're always responding to Jesus. And it's fitting that I would preach this on Thanksgiving week because we've got this holiday marked out on our American calendar where we're supposed to name what we're grateful for.
Did you know the will of God in Christ Jesus is not for that to be a Thursday at the end of November? on your calendar. It's a heartbeat and a way of going about your life from a posture that says, if there's anything about me that is not grateful for what Christ has done, I got to get my heart and mind back in submission to his ways and his will.
This is one of the few places in the Bible where someone straight up says, this is God's will. How many of you struggle, like wondering what God's will is? Or you're debating about a decision, you're debating about a future, a city you might move into, a relationship, a school, like you're like, what is it, Lord?
Tell me where I'm supposed to go, tell me what I'm supposed to do. And what this verse is saying is that God's will is more about the state of your soul than the details of your decisions. This is huge. Because when I seek God about his will, it's usually about terms.
Lord, I just really want to know where you're calling our church to. I really want to know who my kids are going to become and how to best father them. I really want to know your will. I want to know your will. And God's like, my will has a lot less to do with showing you all the answers to those questions and more about.
this attitude of entitlement that you've brought into this day. Let's talk about that. I'd rather you be buzzing with joy and not know the plan than you know the plan and be acting like this guy today.
God's will for you is your pursuit of joy in a relationship with him more than it is. your pursuit of the map you need for the decisions you're going to make in your life. It's more about being set on fire right where you are just going, I don't really know how the plan is going to go, but I do know I'm grateful for grace. I do know I'm grateful for the blood.
I do know I have allowed my emotions and my affections to get stirred again for what Jesus has done. That is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. And how freeing is that to go? I don't have to enter into the arm wrestling match with God about his will today. I actually just need to submit and surrender and make sure I'm grateful.
And I remember the story that's already been pronounced over my life. I am loved. I'm called.
I'm sent. That is the King Jesus gospel. So Paul is bringing it right here.
This is so good. And then in verse 19, he says this, we need to receive this. He says, do not quench the spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test them all.
Hold on to what is good. Reject every kind of evil. Paul knows for you to rejoice always and pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.
That's markers of what we would call a spirit-filled life. But then he stops to say, don't quench the spirit. There's this terminology in the New Testament called grieving the Spirit of God, that if you're a believer in Jesus, you need to understand this.
When you trust in him, his life enters into your life. You're united with him. You're baptized into him, so he fills you from the inside.
But the Holy Spirit can be quenched and subdued by real willful decisions that we make to subdue him in disobedience, in sin, or sometimes by simply fearing what he might say if we listen. So when he says, do not treat prophecies with contempt, prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit. So when you hear prophecy or the prophetic, you're talking about the Holy Spirit revealing something in real time that's not necessarily word for word on the page.
That's what the gift of prophecy is. And when he says, don't quench the Holy Spirit, don't treat prophecies with contempt, he's coming after the Christian prideful. arrogant way of thinking that would say something like this. And there's people in our church that talk like this. Well, if God wants me to know it, he'll show me it in the Bible.
I believe the spirit of God speaks through scripture, but I believe when you read scriptures like this one, they're opening your eyes to a real relationship you have with a living God. So to say, show me where it is in the Bible. I'm not, I don't believe in this whole, I got a word from God or this whole spiritual gifts thing kind of freaks me out or the Holy spirit. Like Just show me where it is in the scripture. I'll show you in the scripture in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 where that very attitude you're showing about the scripture is actually unbiblical.
Because the scriptures are intended to open your eyes to a brand new realm of possibility as the spirit of God is filling you from the inside out. But I love that right after that he goes, uh, don't get weird with this. Treat them like, man, hold on to what is good and leave behind the evil.
I always tell the guys on our staff, There are ways that you can learn from almost every pastor, even the worst ones that are out there preaching a false gospel somewhat. You can take the good and leave the bad if you have a humble spirit and a humble attitude to go, man, one of my least favorite pastors in America, like I just can't stand when I need to pray for him, I need to pray for myself to be less judgmental. But one of my least favorite pastors who so clearly preaches a prosperity gospel, they have an incredible ministry at their church for special needs kids. And so the ability to take what is good and go, we have to care about kids with special needs in our church.
And at the same time, we have to leave behind that trash of a gospel message that says it's all about health, wealth, and prosperity. You see what I'm saying? It's a humble attitude that says, take what God is revealing in real time and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal what needs to be left behind. So I just want to charge our church, as John Thompson was here a couple years ago, if you're going to live a sustained life following Jesus over the course of a lifetime, The decisive factor in that journey is the Holy Spirit.
And some of you are suppressing the Holy Spirit because you don't want to get too weird. And I just want to challenge you. Take what is good. Leave behind what is bad. Be patient.
Be humble. Seek out counsel on this journey. We're all going through this kind of metamorphosis as a church together of going, what does it look like? To recognize this special thing God is doing at ACC, but also recognize it's not Miles's, it's not the elders, it's not the band, it's the Spirit of God who's doing this.
So how do you let the Spirit of God drive a church or your life? You admit that you're not in control. And you go, okay.
This is kind of freaks me out because I want to grab the steering wheel and, but you're, you're driving. Do not quench the spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Live your life with an openness about what God might be speaking to you today, but also recognize you might be wrong.
And guess what? That's okay. There's nothing in your life that doesn't grow over time through practice and following Jesus is included in that. Everybody good? Everybody cool?
Okay. Nothing, nothing else controversial, at least for now. Verse 23, this is the best part, by the way. Watch the shift here.
May God himself. Okay, so what's he doing? He's switching from command to prayer right here. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. It's just hitting me that these are verses 23 and 24, and I feel like these verses describe the years 2023 and 2024 so clearly in my life, and I know in the story of our church. So I'm just going to read it again.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who calls you as faithful. And he will do it.
He switches to prayer. And he prays one of the most unforgettable prayers in the Bible. If there's a prayer you need to know, it's this one. May God sanctify you through and through. What does that mean?
To be sanctified is to be set apart and made holy over the course of time by the spirit of God from the inside out. It's the process of becoming more like who God says you are and less like who you used to be. You know, you're a new creation when you follow Jesus. And you know that happens in a moment and it happens over the course of a lifetime. So Paul says, I'm praying that the Holy Spirit would sanctify you through and through.
That phrasing through and through means from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes and everything about who you are. That's why he. He says, may your whole body, spirit, and soul be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It means everything about who you are, everything about your physical body, but not just your physical body, the true essence of your spirit, the person, the unique individual that God has put on the inside of that body, and your eternal story, every detail about the one in billion story that God has planted on the inside of you. May that be. be blameless when Jesus comes back.
The whole letter has been about what happens when Jesus comes back. And Paul's final prayer is when he comes back, I pray that you would be blameless in every part of who you are before the judgment seat of Christ. This is one of those prayers that when you hear it in passing, you're like, man, that, that feels like a bath.
Like that is like so comforting to hear. Keep talking, Paul. Like let's talk about what it means to be sanctified through and through.
This is good. But if you actually listen to what he says, it's like, Wait, it's kind of like an eye-opening prayer moment when somebody prays something and you're like, oh, that's bold because I don't know if that's happening. In fact, I need more details about that.
I had a moment like that recently. Have you ever been in a prayer moment either at church or with friends where somebody prays something and you want to stop and go, yeah, I need to hear more about that because I didn't know that, or I didn't know what you meant by that. We were in Nashville a couple of weeks ago for Thursday night church in Nashville, which was such a powerful night, by the way.
And then Mark Lamb, our Birmingham campus pastor, gets up to close the night and it was powerful. I preached, the band led, like God moved. And there's something that happens when Mark's on stage where we don't always know what he's going to say, which Courtney told me, she's like, I love when Mark's on stage because I never know what's coming.
And I'm like, and she's like, would you engage? You know, it's a little more polished and you guys are asking me about Mark. He could say anything.
I'm like, that makes me not want to put him on stage ever. But Mark gets up there and prays. He goes, Lord, I thank you for this night in Nashville.
I thank you that in a city that I lived in for multiple decades. Okay, he prays that, and I kid you not, I open my eyes, and I look at Gage, and I look at Michael Fagan, and Courtney looks at me, and we're all like. Did you know Mark lived in Nashville for 20 years? Like we're all like, I didn't know he lived here at all.
But then Mark told us later, when you're in your mid 40s, there's more lives than the rest of us have. And so, and he was like, yeah, I lived here from zero to 18. And we're all just like looking around as he prays. Like I looked at Abby, I'm like, is that verifiable? Is he just making stuff up?
Like, you can't just say that, Mark. Did you live in Nashville for multiple decades or not? Apparently he did. But this is what I want you to think of when you think of 1 Thessalonians 5. Instead of this.
Oh, thank you, Lord, that I'm blameless at the judgment seat of Christ. Did you hear what he just said? Your eyes should be open going, what? That's not possible.
You got to explain it to me. He is saying that when Jesus returns for the church, your soul before the throne of a holy God is going to be received as pure, faultless, and blameless, and holy. and if you're hearing that prayer, you got to open your eyes for a second and go, hey, appreciate the language, but that is so far from the reality that I'm living in right now. I'm thankful for grace, but oh my goodness, blameless before the judgment seat of Christ.
No, there's like a a lot of blame and a lot of fault and a lot of things to be ironed out. There's a lot of things about my sanctification journey that actually look like I'm falling further behind than it looks like I'm getting ahead. How are you going to pray that when I stand face to face with the son of God, God God is going to receive me as pure, forgiven, white as snow, blameless, the full version of who I'm called to be.
I struggle to put words to this because it's more than forgiveness. We have limited the gospel so much when it's just about forgiveness of sins. It's also about wholeness, that God's like, that is who I created them to be. And now they are complete. You hear that and you go, how's that gonna happen?
There's no way. And then verse 24 hits. This whole year we've been reading Acts 20, 24 as a theme verse.
I just couldn't believe that this is 1 Thessalonians 5, 24. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. The one who calls you is faithful. He will do it. This speaks so personally to me because my last name, Fide, is the Latin word.
Fidel is my last name, not Fide. I realize that. Stay with me. The word Fide in Latin means faithful. And a lot of times I feel like everything about my personality in life runs contrary to what my literal name says about me.
Faithful and true. You know, it's Jesus's name as he returns for the bride. Faithful and true. The one who calls you is faithful.
He has promised to be the one to do it. So the prayer makes sense from there's no way. way to, oh, he didn't just take on getting me forgiven.
He also took on completing what he started. And that switch, that switch from, oh gosh, if this is on me, this is going to go really bad to, oh, it's not. That switch is where peace overcomes anxiety. It's the switch from your control and ownership to handing it off in open hands.
And it's a switch of two very different types of gospels. We'll put this on the screen. are two different types of gospels in the American church right now. And you need to know the difference between the two.
The self-help gospel says, will yourself to the end. You can do this. You got it. You're strong.
You're capable. The King Jesus gospel says, get to the end of yourself. He will do it.
This is our message. And you read that on the screen and almost everybody agrees. You're like, oh yeah, I can't stand the self-help gospel.
And I just, when it's all about just managing behavior, I don't like that. It's false. It's, oh yeah, give me the King Jesus gospel. But functionally in your life, even though you would say you believe the bottom one, functionally in your life, you live a lot more like the self-help gospel is the one you agree to.
Because more of your life is spent on tips and tricks for life hacks to make things better. than it is about falling on your face before the throne of grace and receiving the provision that's yours in Christ Jesus. By the way, I'm not saying that the tips and tricks are bad or that life hacks are bad or anything like that. Give me all of them. Give me all the cold plunges.
Give me all of the efforts to give me energy at 36 years old to raise these four daughters. Absolutely. But when you look at this, I want you to see the difference in your life.
The self-help gospel, it says, you got this. Will yourself to the end. And the King Jesus gospel says, you don't got it.
And if you get to the end of yourself, the true end of yourself, not the theoretical one, but like through real words, I have nothing. If you don't come through, he will do it. ACC, look at me. Do not miss this.
This crossover. from functionally living in self-help to living under the rule and reign of King Jesus is the doorway to inner peace and overcoming worry and fear and anxiety. The number one sermon from our church's history on fear and anxiety is called, I Am a Shepherd. a sheep from years ago. We're going to repurpose it and pretty soon, but, and preach it again.
The most powerful revelation about all of that is what if peace came from embracing my need instead of pretending like I don't have it? Like what if peace came from going, I'm not going to know the story and it might not go okay. And I might not have all the evidence of the fruit that I want right now.
It might not look the way I felt like it was going to look when he promised it to me. But he's king. He rules.
He reigns. And my peace doesn't come from the narrative working out of certain ways. way.
My peace comes from my proximity to the shepherd. And now my ambition is stay at the end of myself where he can rule and reign. And functionally, the way this works itself out is it creates the space and the capacity for the Holy Spirit to actually. empower you. So with the few moments I have left, I want a mindset shift to lead to us actually living like this.
I don't want the King Jesus gospel to be this document for here's how someone gets saved. I want you to understand the holistic picture of Jesus, King of Israel, King over everything. Everything's made for his glory and our soul satisfaction is found in glorifying him. All nations are invited to the throne. Huge.
And now I participate in this when I surrender my life to him. But now I got this whole life in front of me from now until I stand face to face with Jesus. How is that sustained? It is sustained by the same gospel that you accepted when you trusted Christ.
But functionally, how does it work itself out? You've got to switch over from living in self-help to living under the rule and reign of King Jesus. Here's how.
I want to put two prayers up. We'll start with just one right now. Two prayers that when I put them on the screen, you're going to want to disagree with them.
At least your knee jerk reaction is going to be, yeah, don't pray that. It's not what God wants to hear. But they're not really prayers you would pray out loud, but you would think them.
And I think them every day. Number one is this. They're simple.
I can't do this. Have you ever come to God in prayer? Maybe you didn't say it out loud.
But the mindset you were in and the true expression of what was happening in your heart is, whatever it is that I'm supposed to do, I can't. If it's obedience in a certain area of your life, if it's forgiveness over a family member, hello, Thanksgiving in a couple of days. If it's your own mental health, if you ever got to that place where it's like, I can't do this. Men in the room, the number Number one lie that men tend to believe is the lie.
I don't have what it takes or what if I don't have what it takes the insecurity that comes from that. So usually the self-help way of combating this is misquoting verses to empower you with a false sense of. motivation.
No, you can do it. You are more than a conqueror through him who loved you. Rise up, strengthen your feeble knees. These are real verses, by the way.
Like we grab verses and we're like, no, you do have the strength. Come on, get up, fight more. And I just, I want to flip that mindset just a little bit and ask this question.
What if you're not supposed to combat that? What if you're supposed to embrace that so God can transform it? What if you really can't do it?
What if when you told God, I can't do this, he's like, literally been waiting for you to discover that your entire life. Like, I can't. I don't. I don't have what it takes.
You're right. What would he say? What would he say if that really was your prayer?
He would say, verse 24, the one who calls you is faithful. He will do it. And now, what qualifies you to walk in victory is not willpower, it's Christ power. Because the power was always in his calling of you, not your response to his call. When Peter was in that embarrassing moment, what did Jesus say?
You're going to betray me. All of you will be sifted. But I've prayed for you, Peter.
And when you have returned, strengthen your brothers. Jesus, how do you already know? Peter's going to return.
Jesus wouldn't say, because I know Peter. He's so stubborn, he'll still follow me, even after he fails. No, Jesus would go, I know he's gonna return because I called him.
The strength of the peace of God in your life is unlocked by realizing whether or not he called you. When you know him, when you know his voice, when you know he called. I can't do it.
You're right, Miles. You can't do it. The one who calls you is faithful.
Not you. He will do it. And now he'll do it by his spirit's power in me. So I'm not denying our participation in it. Philippians 2 says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
You know what it says right after that? For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. So it's like, is it me or is it God? It's you creating the space for you to not be involved anymore. And God to come through and do it.
But it takes your surrender. I can't do this. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Number two, this is the last one.
Then we'll take communion. The second one is even more personal for me. I'm not going to make it.
I'm not going to make it. The whole theme of this last section of 1 Thessalonians 5 is perseverance. The whole theme of Hebrews, which we're going to study at the beginning of 2025, is perseverance. Perseverance involves pressing on in moments of struggle and wanting to give up. You ever been mid-workout or mid-long run for all the fitness people here, and that moment hits you where you're like, I'm not making it.
I'm seriously not. I know what it's like to press through the pain, but I'm not making it. I remember one time, Gage, we played soccer for like three hours the night before I ran the Peachtree Road Race on July 4th.
I used to do that before I had children and did dumb stuff like run 10Ks. And so... And so I remember we played soccer for three hours and then I ran that the next morning. I don't know what I was thinking. And so I, and, and, and I was so sore that I got like one mile into that race and it hit me.
I'm not making it like there is, there is no physical way where this works. And for me, making it is jogging the whole time. I'm not much of a walker. And so I had to like humble myself and like limp to the end. And Courtney beat me by 15 minutes and she never lets me forget it.
Um, and I think she was pregnant at the time, which just makes it worse. And so, um, like that, that moment where. You're like, I don't think I can, I don't think I can make it to the, I can make it like another day, but how am I going to make it to the end?
And if that has ever hit you about your relationship with Jesus, if that has ever hit you about your personal calling in life, I think instead of rushing to a self-help speech of empowerment, yes, you can, you have what it takes. You can make it to the end. I think God does something special when you admit. I don't have what it takes to make it to the end of this journey. At our 10-year anniversary mark in the church, Courtney and I had dinner with all the elders and their wives.
And just in a moment of vulnerability, I shared with them that 10 years in, one of the hardest things for me to believe a decade in is that decades from now, I'll still be going. And I know, like, don't make plans for tomorrow. Jesus will come back.
I hope he does any second now. But like thinking through longevity. I would have thought 10 years in, I'd be 36 years old going, oh, I got the rest of my pastoral career in front of me and I've only just begun. But more of what was going on in my spirit was fear of like, I'm watching every guy around me fall around 40 and 45. How? Lord, how am I going to make it to the end?
Of course, they prayed and encouraged and all the words and all the counseling and things that have gone into the last couple of months for me have been powerful. But more powerful than any personal ministry to me has been this verse about just the future. What is it?
The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. If there's a part of you that feels like there is no way I'm following Jesus 10 years from now. 20 years from now, you might be right. But what if God is the God who makes a way where there is no way? What if the whole point of it is for us to embrace the fact that we're not going to make it?
that the one who called us can prove himself faithful again and go, didn't want your strength to do it. Here comes my power. I will do it.
My soul's peace and my life's longevity cannot rest on the motivation and effort of what Miles feels today. My peace and your peace must rest on the faithfulness of the one you are connected to. He is your source.
He is your power. He's your strength. So what does it look like today?
to cross over from, I got this, to, I don't got it. I need you. This is real.
And this is not mental agreement. You got to do something with this. You got to pray and say out loud, God, I had a Friday a couple of weeks ago where I was preparing a sermon and I just, in my kitchen with like two children napping, I slammed my hands on the island.
I was like, God, I can't. Oh my gosh. I cannot right now.
Like I can't. And he's like, there you are. This is what. prayer is not that good sounding like, Lord, thank you that you're ruling over India right now, but like that. And I love India, not curry.
And, um, but, but that, that moment where you're, where you're, where he's like, there you are, like you're, you're finally bringing the. the real you into this conversation. And it creates a doorway for me to shepherd your weary soul.
That's what I want God to do as we take communion today. So you can get your elements out for communion. If you didn't get one, our team will come around at all of our locations. You just raise your hand right where you're at.
These elements are reminders of the body and the blood of Jesus. And what better way to end this sermon? If you're not a believer in Jesus, I just wanna invite you to sit this moment out. Maybe consider what you've heard today and consider what you've heard today.
Enter the journey of your life. If you want to begin a relationship with him today, it'd be the best decision you ever make. You just pray in this time, Jesus, I give you my life.
And if you're here today and you're living in open rebellion to God, this is a moment for repentance before you grab that cracker or that juice and go, Jesus, I know what you did. I wanna bring my life back to conformity to your will. But if you're a radical disciple of Jesus, I want this moment to cause comfort and peace and rest to spread. like a wildfire over our church. So if you would, hold your elements for communion out in front of you.
I just wanna end this moment with an invitation to receive this word. Husbands, you can pray over your wives in just one second. We're gonna overflow with thankfulness like the scripture said when we sing songs in just one second.
But before we do, can I just end and close with this passage of scripture taking us into remembering the body and the blood of Jesus as we take communion. May, receive this y'all, receive it. May God himself.
the God of peace sanctify you through and through may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ the one who calls you is faithful and he will do it you're blessed to take communion and we'll respond in worship in just one second Feel free to take your time in this moment and feel like the Spirit of God is definitely speaking. Many in the room, there's probably some things that maybe we've been grasping onto that the Spirit of God is just allowing us to release. It's time.
So when you're ready, stand and sing. We're really going to just lean into the invitation that's given right now. It's you, honey I'll let you leave me I give This is the air I breathe This is the air I breathe, your holy presence, living in me.
This is my daily breath. This is my daily breath, you're there, you heard, spoken to me. This is the air, breathe it in. This is the air I breathe. This is the air I breathe, your holy presence, living in me, Lord.
This is my daily bread. This is my daily bread, your very word spoken to me. Come on, just express your desperation to him this time.
And I, I'm destined for you. I trust you Jesus, you can have it all, you can have it all, you are my future, my plans. Save me in your hands.
You know I saved your heart. This is the air I breathe. We breathe it.
This is the air I breathe, your holy presence lives in me. It's broken to me, yeah, and I, I'm lost without you, I'm lost without you I'm desperate for you, I'm desperate for you, Jesus, and I'm so poor without you, Lord, I'm begging you. I'm alive for you, oh, I'm desperate for You, I'm so lost without You, yes Jesus I'm desperate for You, I'm so lost without You Holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty? What is the land, what is the land?
You are holy, holy. Worthy is the man This is everything, give us Jesus, this is the house of peace. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I pray in Jesus'name that those two truths would be so deep within our souls that we can admit to you that we are not okay, and we can admit to you that without you, we are nothing. So God, I just pray a blessing of encouragement over the weary soul who showed up today tired, hurting, beaten up. and that that is actually the qualification for them to be in your presence and that you're close. So God, I thank you that you draw near to the brokenhearted. I thank you that you are the one who will finish the work that you started in all of us.
So Father, we say have your way. Holy Spirit, we don't want to be afraid of you anymore. We don't want to limit you anymore.
We don't want to quench you anymore. So Father, I pray that we would leave here going into conversations this week that could be challenging, filled with your spirit and encouraged by hope. Father, we love you and we praise you.
It's in Jesus'name I pray, amen, amen, amen. Yeah, you can give God praise. Powerful time of worship together.
And we're so honored that we get to do this journey with you. We're so honored that we have a community like this. And so I wanna challenge you, before you leave, before you jet out of town, if you're here in this room or wherever you're watching this, this, please do not leave this space without admitting something out loud to somebody that you came with. And we have our prayer team that will be available wearing red name tags. If you just need to publicly out loud say, hey, I'm not going to make it, or I'm not going to be able to do this, please come talk to somebody.
We would love to pastor and shepherd you through whatever season you're going through right now. We'll see you back though next week after Thanksgiving to start our Advent series. We love you.
Go and be the church.