There’s So Much More
Good morning. How are you? How are you? It's probably better. It's good to see everybody. Welcome to Canopy. I'm excited to worship together. Why don't we stand? Here we are again. It's nice seeing everyone's fall close for the most part, especially you Daniel Gilligan. It's like there's been a big change from sandals to shoes for the fall. All right. All right. We're here to worship. Good to be with you. If you don't know me, my name's Mike, one of the pastors here in Boiler Room.
We, it's our pre-service prayer worship time that we gather and we just wait and listen. And our main objective is just to pray for this church, but also primarily to just listen to what it is that the Lord is speaking. And I wanna invite Katie up. Katie had a word I felt was just powerful word as far as a way for us to enter.
Our gathering space together. I don't know. I, a lot of times I feel like I just trip into this space, right? There's a lot going on and the mornings are pretty hectic. And, there's a lot that takes place from you to get wherever you were to here. And a lot of times we can miss the opportunity to enter into this space ready and expect it.
And more importantly, with our hearts and our ears tuned to what it is actually God wants to do. Cause I, I'm a firm believer that when we gather Jesus is up to one primary thing, and that's to transform our hearts and our minds, right? And so the best thing that we can do is enter into this space with our hands open.
Our hearts are willing so that when we leave this space, we're more like Jesus when we came in. So I want, I just asked that Katie, welcome guys for coming in. We're glad you're with us. I asked Katie just to share what it is that, what it is, the picture and kind of the word that she got, and we'll go from there.
Hi everyone. So the image was, When playing the game of fish bowl, there's a round where you have a blanket over your head and you're trying to act out whatever word you're trying to get across to people. And with a blanket over your body, you can't really see what's going on. You can't really tell what you're doing with your body.
And so I felt like God was saying like, Take off of your cloak, take off of the things that are on top of you, the things that you're putting above me, and just show your actions as a Christian as you are as a person in me. And so I think just the idea of letting go and just seeing God face to face and just giving up whatever you're holding onto, just being able to live as Yoder son of Christ.
Katie. Yeah. That sounds good to me. When Katie was sharing that in boiler room, Joshua chapter three, verse five came into mind and Joshua told the people, Consecrate yourselves before the Lord where he will do wonders among you. And there's just something that stirred up in me as Katie was even that call, to really, when we talk about concentrating ourselves before the Lord, we're talking about associating ourselves, God, right?
We're talking about our identity, finding ourselves in him, letting go of the things that we might define us or the ways, the things that people have defined us, or the roles that we carry. But first and foremost, we come before the living God. He wants us to give us his, our full attention to him in this space.
So whatever's appropriate to whatever stage of life you're in, the invitation is to consecrate ourselves before the living God, because he's gonna do wondrous things today. He's gonna do wondrous things among you right now. And so he's worthy of our praise. Do you? Do you believe that? Yeah. Do you agree with that?
Are you ready to worship? Yeah. Are you ready to let go of the things that maybe held us captive out there? And for us to fully engage with the living God through worship. Lord, we thank you for this space. We thank you for the ways that you're able to realign our hearts and our minds to what's true.
The ways that, an hour and 15 minute gathering with your people can set our souls right before you. And Lord, would you do what you do best? Would you transform our hearts? Would you transform our lives? Would you transform our marriage as we transform our relationships, our workplaces, our schools, because of what is about to take play here?
Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.
And as Katie is sharing, the phrase that just kept going through my mind was just, don't let this be another day. Don't let this be another day that goes by, maybe where you come to church and you sing the songs.
And so I just wanna invite us right off the bat, if that resonates with you. If you've been putting things above God this week, if you know those things that, that kind of like gut check of man, you know the things that you put above God. And I just wanna invite you just during this first set of worship, to just come down in the front and just kneel and offer those things physically to God.
Maybe it's money, maybe it's addiction, maybe it's unforgiveness. Just to physically kneel down and offer those things to God. Offer them up at his feet at his throne. Just wanna bite you as we sing to do that. I know it's bold. I know it takes risk, but just don't let this be another day.
You,
the s
you
god's, I a little up inside Sing. You provide, eh, you provide.
It's provide sacrifice. Oh, you provide
It's little up inside. Let's sing that again. You provide, Yay. You provide,
I provide sacrifice. You provide Holy Spirit. Provide the,
I will. Little bit up inside
God.
God, Me, God. Feel
Me. God. Feel me? You provide five.
I'll provide s you provide. Feel
I'm little bit up inside me. God,
me. God. Feel me? Feel me. Feel God. Feel me? God. Feel me. God. Feel me. Love, Love.
Love
my so love God. Oh, over.
Pull me. Oh my. Can we lift our hands and sing this? Love God. Oh, blow. Yeah. Me.
My so love God. Oh,
oh my. So my,
my song will be a sock. Goodbye awesome Summer hall on. So him
you Glory. Bye
Maia. My Life
song will be,
So let Run, Let It Run.
Let's you, No,
let's sing that out again. We declare the
too. My song will be your
Let It, Let So let
you
five. Sing it up. It's a big Laurie.
Lift his.
Big Laurie, we live You. Oh, Big,
big.
The big
big Laurie.
Big Lo . Lift your voice. Lift your voice to lift your voice.
Big fire your voice. Lift your song with your big,
My sense is just that there's a few more of us who need to come down and who want to come down and just kneel in the front and just physically offer God the things that they're holding onto desperately. The things that we put above God I'm just telling you, they're not gonna bring life. They're gonna bring death.
They're not gonna give you what you want. They're not gonna feed your soul. I just have a sense that there's things that we're holding on. To things that we constantly run to that aren't God. And so if that's you, if you're like, That's weird though, I don't wanna come down to the front. I just wanna invite you to be courageous.
There's nothing special, there's nothing magical about coming down here, but it's just an act, a step of faith to physically move your body into a position of sacrifice. Move your mind into a position of sacrifice. So I just wanna open up this space again down front. If you just wanna bring whatever it is, a stronghold of money, a stronghold of addiction, a stronghold of reputation, a stronghold of maybe a relationship, whatever it is, I just feel like there's more of us who can come down here and just kneel before the father.
Let's sing. Be glorified, be glor.
Aye, big lfa.
It's for you. Love the, you love the, my whole life I gave to you. You love the, you love. Let's hang that out. Every breath, never breath for
love
again. Chicken you,
you love this a.
my song will be sock. Bye.
Let her eyes hi you to you up my life. It's never too late to give it to him. Life is deal.
My song will be your, He says it's never too late. You never too far gone.
Feel you on up. Lord,
you're never too far. Guys turn to turn eyes. On
look for in hiss wonderful face. And a thing
will strange down in eye is glory and gray. Just say that again. So turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look for in his face and the.
In lie,
before I move on from this moment, I just really feel a sense that God is just saying it's not too late, it's not too late. Whatever it is you wanna give up, whatever it is you're struggling with, it's not too late. It's not gonna be this way forever. I just wanna cast out that life. It's not gonna be this way forever.
You can have freedom. So if you need to just receive that right now, just put your hands in front of you. So we sing this next song, just receive his grace and be, receive his holy spirits, which just fall fresh.
Yeah. So wait.
Seven
come.
You did. I feel
I'm like, awaken
Oh,
see
you did fur
speed. The Living God come profession on me. Come wake me from my singing
to the cabins or muscle boy to over.
Wake us Up. To wake us Up to you.
So calm.
Good. See
who come
as you. Did you food?
Woo.
Speeding. God. Call the fish told me, Don't wake me to muscle
throughs of Muscle Boy to
you're up. God come me, come with me.
The Calvin's and muscle one to through
the.
We need love. We need
wake us up to you. Wake us up to your speed. Wake us up to your speed.
Feel this
Have you are prayer this morning. Separate. That's your girl
hot, the swear. Man feel,
please
very calm
this.
That's your
Yes, please. Do you believe it? Do you believe he can fill this place? And that's your
dear come
of living. Come for the fresh on me. Come like me for see no. Who's do theEnd of me to over.
Oh Spirit. The living God come of fresh on me. Come wake me from
through, thes
me to over.
We just keep singing this out and let this be our Christ.
Believing God come fall. Brush on me. Come me from my calm, me interrupt and go through thes my soul to.
I just feel a need to just keep singing this right now. I just feel like the spirit's doing work. All we have to do is receive and let him in. All we have to do is receive and let it in. We're saying, Spirit, come fill this place. Break down the walls, blow through what's going on in my soul and come into my soul.
Wake up my soul. Wake me from my sleep. Wake us from our sleep. Lord, invite us in. Let's just sing that again, Spirit, you. Living God come full, fresh on me. Come awake me from mass.
Oh, through thes of soul. Me to a move.
Let's just say that one more time. Spirit of believing God, the
sleep go through the cabins of my me to over.
Stay in the space. Just gonna wait for a moment. Maybe put your hands out in front of you. Just a posture of God I'm open.
Boy me. Bring something new. Sing a new song of amigo. Bring streams in the desert, rivers in Eastland, streams in the desert. Bring the lifeguard. Bring new lifeguard. As we lay down. As we lay down on what's not of you. Oh, pour me to overflow. Pouring me to overflow. Pour me to. Flow pouring me to the flow.
Just push fast. Apathy for a moment right here. I know it can be easy when we've sang a few songs and we're here on Sunday and we're ready for what's next, but I just blew the spirit's doing something right now. If you're feeling that sense to check out, if you're feeling that sense of Okay, are we done?
Just push through. I just wanna invite you to just push through. Just sing over and over. Pour me to overflow if you have to, but I'm just sensing a need to just push through right now. Pour me to overflow. And if you're in a space where you're like, No, I can keep going all day, then keep going. Just keep singing.
Pouring me to overflow. Pouring me to overflow. Yeah, Pouring me to overflow. Pouring me to overflow. Singing out, pouring me. To overflow. Lift your voice. Pour me to overflow. Lift your hair. I'm pouring me to overflow. Lift your hair. Pour me to overflowing. Pour me to overflow. Sing to over overflow. Pour me to overflow.
Pouring me to overflow. Pouring me to overflow. God. Pouring me to overflowing. Pour me so Spirit calm. Spirit calm.
Feel this place. Holy Spirit, calm with your kindness now.
Oh.
Now
calm, spirit, calms, calm,
feel,
play
at fall. Let glow.
Thank you God. Thank you, God.
Boy. Spirit, thank you for the ways you meet us. Thank you for the ways that you speak to us and your kindness for the ways. Speak when we're not expecting. I pray that this morning we hear from your word.
Speak through Josh,
your word would just pierce our hearts
this morning. So we give you all the praise, all the honor, all glory forever and ever, right? We think our team for leading us and pastoring us. The moment two, to be together. We're gonna go ahead and dismiss kids. So if you are a child birthed through fifth grade, it is time for you to head over to kids Church.
We'll come on over here, Pastor Lila's right here. Can we thank all of our kids volunteers for serving? Maybe lemme just try that again. Let's thank our kids workers and our volunteers for taking good care of our kids. Obviously we call it kids church for a reason. It's not daycare. They are discipling our kids and we are forever grateful for them.
And grateful that you're here. Thanks for joining us. There's a few things I just wanna say before Josh comes up. First and foremost is if you missed all in night. It happened last Monday and we have these cards that we would just love for you to grab. There is a hospitality high top table right outside this door.
Deb will be there. Is Deb. Deb is Deb's amazing. You will get to know Deb much more. And she is overseeing all of our operations and volunteers and processes and calendars, all the exciting stuff at a church. And we are forever grateful for Deb. And so one invites you just to go get one of these cards and you're gonna see what it actually looks like to be all in it.
K different reading material on there. And we actually have a place for you to write your name and date. And if you can act, also add your email cell phone. So we can get a hold of you as a pastoral team. Anybody that's signing this card and saying they're all in, we are gonna be reaching out to you and coffee or help you get plugged into family at can.
So on the back of it, there's QR codes for serving. There's also the tables serve card is, or QR code is the same thing right there. Giving and just the app, all the information that we have on the app and over at that hospitality table as well. If you're new and you're here and you're like, How can I actually get involved?
What's a good first step? Good first step is always gonna be and our, our hope and for everybody here at Canopy and Serve once a month. So you can actually find some of those cards right outside. Again, Deb will be out there. You can take one of these cards, fill it out, all kinds of op, join in with what's very exciting things.
And last thing before Josh comes up giving, there's three ways to give it canopy you can give over on our website. Just wanna say thank. To those of you that are giving, you are in fact fueling the mission from what God is doing, not just here on Sundays, but all throughout the week, whether it's West Side nights and all the different minutes that are a part of ministry around the world.
I thank you so much for your generos. You on our website, we got a giving basket that's right over here. A few of you have been taking advantage of that every week, which is really fun. And so thank you for your giving and that you can also give on the Canopy app. That being said, Josh, I'm turning it over to you.
We welcome up Josh, as he's gonna dive in. We're gonna continue in our acts conversation. Appreciate it. Good morning everyone. It's nice to see you. We're gonna go ahead and dive right in. Full disclosure right off the bat, today's a weird day for me and my family. It's the two year anniversary of my dad's passing today, and I bring that up for two reasons.
One case this happens. And two, I just my dad really loved this church a lot. I remember praying and with my dad in your house,
just felt like honoring him in this commute. I don't know that, I don't know how many hours of prayer he and my mom put into. It looks the way it does today without its investment. And I guess I just say that because I'm feeling nostalgic and emotion, but also as an invitation, everybody gets a chance to play here and who knows what the church will look like in the future because of ways you show up and your investments in your mom.
Y.
Holy Spirit, would you do whatever you wanna do in this fight? Anything get
in the way? We're here simply to be with you. There's no other reason
that this, but we're here because we're desperate for you. We need to hear your voice to be changed by your presence. We need friendly cuz we're your people.
So we believe that there's nowhere better to be here. Lord, we ask that you speak to us. Meet with us.
Amen. This is Acts 18. Words will be up on the screen. I'm gonna read a good chunk of text. We are still cruising through Acts. It's been a year and a half. We're gonna keep going. , we'll be done at some point. I promise. We're getting near to the end. But it's been a value of ours to read the entire text out loud throughout this series.
What the Bible says is more important than anything I have. So I'm gonna read from 18 one to 19 seven. It's a lot of stuff, but here, work with me after this. It's after Paul left Athens. What's say after this. Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. It's gonna give you some context, but Luke did that for us.
If you weren't here last week to Bill's message, I highly recommend you go on the can. Bill talked about what happened in Athen after this. Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, and there he met a Jew named Aquila, a native Aons, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Kalos had ordered all the Jews to leave.
Paul went to see them and because he was a tent maker as they were, he stayed and worked with them every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogues trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching opposed Paul and became abusive.
He shook out his clothes and protests and said to them, Your blood beyond your own heads, I'm innocent of it. From now on, I'll go to the Gentiles. Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of tedious justice, a worshiper of God crisp. The synagogue leader in his entire household believed in the Lord, and many Corinthians who heard, Paul believed and were baptized.
One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision. Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Don't be silent for I'm with you. No one is gonna attack and harm you because I have many people in this city. So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half teaching, teaching them in the world while Galileo was proco of a.
The Jews of Corinth made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. This man they charged is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law. Just as Paul was about to speak Ga, Leo said to them, If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you.
But since it involves questions about the words and names in your own law set to the matter yourselves, I won't be the judge of such things. So he drove them off. Then the crowd there turned on softies the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the pro council. Galileo showed no concern. Paul stayed on in Corin for some time.
Then he left. The brothers and sisters sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla qui. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Centria because of a vow he'd taken. They arrived at Ephesus where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with him, he declined.
But as he left, he promised, I'll come back if it's God. Then set sail from Ephesus. He landed at Caesarea. He went up to Jeru and greeted the church and went down to Antioch. After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Frisia, strengthening all the disciples.
Meanwhile, Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures, and he'd been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus. Accurately. Though he knew only the baptism of John, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.
When Priscilla heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. When Apollo wanted to go to Akaya, the brothers and insist encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him when he arrived, he was a great help to those who, by grace had believed or he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents, improving from the scriptures.
While Apollo was in Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at deficit There he found some disciples and asked them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe? They answered, No. We haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. So Paul asked, Then, what baptism did you receive?
John's baptism. They were, Paul said John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told people to believe in the one coming after him that is in Jesus hearing this, they were baptized in the name of Hall, placed his hands on them, the holy scream on them, and spoken tongue prophesied 12 men. All right, Great story.
And I am trying to learn that the stories of scripture are good the way they are. It's not my job to now tear it down into three alliterated. Instead my job just to be a tour guide through the store. What we have here is really simple. Paul goes on this long journey, He leaves Athens and heads about 30 mile far.
A little quick trek for Paul. Of course, this is a trek on foot. I wonder, as I was reading this whole journey is gonna get fairly extensive, as you noticed thought. This first bit just, quick 30 miles for walked, 35, 30 miles from me. Anyway, Paul makes some new friends along the way, powerhouse wife and husband, couple named Priscilla, and we're gonna talk more about them in just a second.
But he ends up in Corinth with Priscilla and Aquila working as a tent maker, which means a leather maker could have made of all sorts of stuff but to pay the bills while he preached the gospel on the weekends. Here's Paul. He's making sure he's not taking he's not taking advantage of anyone.
He's coming into a city to bless the city, so earning his own way. He does this for a while until Sim, Silas and Timothy some old. Show up with an offering from a church from out of town that enables Paul now to stop the tent making business, preach the gospel full time. I love this picture. I love that the churches around the region were saying the work you are doing is so significant and so important that we will sacrificially fund it so that the work of the kingdom can continue.
We love that you're willing to be a tent maker, that you have that humility and all that, but you've got to get out there more people have to hear. So Paul has these the phrase I've heard before is gospel patrons. I love this. People who say our wealth, what God has provided for us should not exist as an end in and of itself should be used for the work of the gospel of the King.
So they donate it so that Paul can preach so that the word can go out. And we see this happening throughout history. As a matter of fact, we started this book of Acts series, the Luke, as a letter to a guy named The Awful. And most people think that Theophilus was the GU who funded Luke's. It sent Luke around the entire Mediterranean investigating all this so he could retell the story, acts a good chunk of the Bible existed because somebody paid Luke to do his work.
And the fact of the matter is, I bring this up because a second ago, Mike gave this giving call, and that's really good and important for a variety of reasons. One of them is because giving to the work of the kingdom is good for us. It helps to break the idol of money in our lives. Giving to the church is a way that we can crush the God of mammon, which is the primary opponent to the life of Jesus in our life.
But it's also a way that we can fund the work of the church which matters significantly. So I invite you, I, we haven't said this often. God has been faithful. He's been taking care of us. I'm not trying to money grow, but I invite you to invest yourself into the work of this community. God has work for us.
Who, There are people in our community who need to hear the. And the investments we make as gospel patrons can actually enable that work. We have a chunk of the Bible because somebody paid for it to be written. We have revivals happening in Corinth and in Ephesus and around the Mediterranean because people were funding the work saying, Hey, this is really important, friends, it's really important we hear it.
Canopy want to be all in together, which means we want everybody to invest in the work that's happening here, Gospel patrons. So Paul begins preaching not just on the weekends but now regularly, and he's doing what he normally does, which is he heads into the synagogue, preaches to the Jews there. Now it's not just Jews who are showing, it's also Gentiles.
A whole bunch of people are really interested in what he has to say, but after a while it says, the Jews in the synagogue get tired of hearing that Jesus is the Messiah. And so they become abusive toward Paul and Paul in this dramatic. Calls down judgment on them. He walks outta the synagogue and in such a dramatic way, he shakes the dust off of his clothes, says, Your judgment is on your heads.
I am not guilty of your blood. And we look at that and there's this like moment of vindication in this moment of Yes, he's finally told him how it's gonna be. I just think we can't miss the fact, Tried so hard to get through to him. God, when God called Paul several chapters ago, he called him to be a missionary to the Gentiles.
Yet Paul is so in love with his people that every city he walks into, he walks straight into a synagogue and he tries. He tries as hard as he. Convinced them of the truth that he has discovered of the love he's discovered, the power he's discovered, he bleeds, literally bleeds for these people. They will beat him.
They will throw rocks at him. They will hurt him. And he continues to walk in. And I think when he does this moment of judgment that we all feel so vindicated he's stood up to him. He's, whatever. I think he's saying it with tears in his eyes. And I just I felt so drawn to this picture this week as I was become known as a place of judgment.
And we almost enjoy it,
like almost feel vindicated in pronouncing judgment over this wicked world. And I just wanna say, we're not allowed judge this world until we have first bled and
wept Paul. He doesn't pronounce judgment until everything he came in then.
And then what's he do? He just goes right next door. I'm leaving, but I'm gonna stay as close as I possibly can. Just on the off chance that maybe just, maybe they'll hear some something coming out the door and they do. Did you see that? He moves next door and then the synagogue leader that kicked him out comes to know Jesus and his whole family and a whole bunch of other people too.
And Jesus tells him it's gonna be okay, Paul. You can keep and keep doing the work here. We've got lots of people,
meaning I'm in charge of.
Paul gets to be in one place for more than a couple
weeks, and then this attack happens where the Jews come and they accuse him, and you say, Wait a minute. I thought Jesus just said everything was gonna be okay. And now he's being dragged into a place of judgment. What happened? Watch what happens. What happens is they drag him into a place of judgment.
They make this pronouncement against him in front of the local magistrate, the leader of the city, and the leader of the city. Before Paul even gets a chance to defend himself, says, What are you talking about? This is ridiculous. This has nothing to do with me. And he shuts down the case before it gets started.
Because why? Why? Because he's in charge of the city and he uses this Roman Pro counsel and says no. We're not even entertaining this. I told Paul he was gonna be okay. He's gonna be okay. And then what happens? Somehow the crowd has gotten so riled up that they've gotta beat someone and they can't beat Paul.
So who do they. The new synagogue leader, not the one who came to know Jesus, but the new one. And so the guy that was part of throwing Paul out in the first place now gets beaten by a crowd. And we don't wanna be happy about it, but there's part of us that's like Jesus is protecting Paul like he said he would.
Story's remarkable. You've got people in the city. I'm on this. Don't, Paul stays there for a year and a half. He
MoveOn, he heads to a port not too far away, called centre, and he a haircut goes port in detail, hops on the boat. From there he sails to Caesarea to Jerusalem and he's gonna make this whole trek from Jerusalem back up to Antioch and to glacier. Crazy stuff. We're gonna we're gonna leave Paul here in just a second, but not without saying one thing by the end of this, Paul arrives back now in Ephesus.
So they passed through Ephesus, dropped off Priscilla in Aquila. He goes on to Jerusalem, Antioch, back into glacier, back to Ephesus. By the end of this trip, Paul has traveled by foot and boat almost 2000 miles, 2000 miles, the gospel of Jesus. And if you look at these, if you look at your maps in your Bibles, you notice on the map different parts of the, that they've got these lines that show where he went.
And you're gonna notice two things. They're really important. First of all, you're gonna notice that some of the lines, it's on a boat 2000 years ago, dangerous, tricky, costly. And then you're gonna notice also on the map that when a lot of times when the line goes over land, it goes over these little bumps.
Those bumps are mountain. This man is literally. Crossing oceans, climbing mountains, preach the gospel, courage churches, because he thought it was worth that much. He thought that this gospel of the kingdom, a church of Jesus Christ is worth just that, and that's just the geographical length. Let's not talk about the emotional, I mean in this story, Jesus had to tell him, You're gonna be okay in this city.
Why did he have to tell him that? Because he wasn't okay in any other city. He got beat up and thrown out of every other city he went to. Paul was traumatized by the gospel, and I don't use that word lightly. Sometimes I'll have a bad meeting and I'll say I'm traumatized by that meeting. But this guy experienced deep trauma, continued to walk forward.
Grace.
Just moved lengths. The rest of the
Christian tent makers, fishermen, carpenters, they went to courage. They Christ,
they Church of Jesus war.
Important. Now, bring this up because I think we tend to think of and rightfully we tend to think of the Book of Acts as the work of the holy work. The Holy Spirit did this miraculous work that enabled the church to plode over the entire region in the course. And that's true. And what I wanna say next will not in any way take away from that truth.
Book of Acts is also story of the tireless, courageous work of ordinary men and not just vocational, who considered this cause worthy. Everything tradition holds that. The three characters that we're gonna see story, Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila, were all,
and I just wanna say this,
we wanna see this
both the power
law, and I say it
foot in and foot out.
The average church attendance.
Sunday only church is
not so many ways challenged and inspired by this vision of March. Literally to
the end. Story's this, I leave Paul for a
second into
Ephesus. Paulis is quite a guy. Interesting guy. A little bit of a shadowy figure. Not shady, but shadowy in that we don't know a whole lot. No, he's a native, a Jew, native of Alexandria, which is a. This means basically that Apollo is like wicked smart. That's what it means. He, Alexandria is the center of Ed, great library of Alexander, that Alexander says he was thoroughly learned in scripture.
He had a thorough knowledge of scripture, which thorough knowledge for us means while he went to Bible school, he memorized the passages. He did thorough knowledge. This context, thorough knowledge means he had the Bible. That is the Old Testament memory. That's what thorough knowledge means. He is what's called a Mo Mead, a student of Talmud.
They go, Wow, student of Talmud, which means, and this is, this could be an exaggeration, but it's not by much. It was said of Mo meads of people like Apollo who had the entire memorized that they could stand in front of a tourist. Or a book and they could take a pin, a push pin and push it into the pages of that book.
And based on the depth of the pin, could tell you what letter of the alphabet, the point of the pin hits. That might be an exaggeration. But the point is this, They knew
the guy Apollo, he knew the Bible well, and it says he knew about the Lord. The Lord in this context, whenever you read in the Book of Acts, is always Jesus. So somewhere along the way, somebody opened his eyes up to what Paul learned, which is that whole thing I had memorized is all about Jesus. And he began then to teach about Jesus through the Bible.
And it said he did it accurately. Okay, It's quite a guy now. He's a great preacher. Oh, and by the way, it says With great fervor. Great fervor. In other words, he was a gifted community. But it literally says
in great. Fascinating. We have this amazing guy, the Bible portrays as filled with the spirit to understand Jesus and to preach the word of God accurately. And when Priscilla and Aquila meet him, tent makers, these leather workers from Rome, they get together and they say, This guy's great. Missing something.
It says He only knew about John's baptism. Now we have no idea what Apollo was missing. Okay? We don't know what piece he didn't understand. Maybe he didn't understand the idea of the great commission. Maybe he didn't understand the baptism or the infield charismatic gifts of the sphere.
Maybe he didn't understand fully the mission of the kingdom, what it looked like holistically. Maybe he didn't, He was missing a piece. I don't know what it was. The Bible doesn't give us that, but it's a lot.
Wanna stop here for a second. First of all, I want to be very clear.
Silla taught him, woman taught a man. The Bible makes this very obvious. Okay? Very obvious always. Whenever the Bible talks about Priscilla here and elsewhere and always has
it in first, always,
and you might be saying, What does that mean? I'm saying what that means is she is considered the,
a matter of fact, church history will testify her name pops up in Mo in far more places,
consider to be a significant.
And you might say, that's thin evidence that her name comes for. Is that all you got? And I
would say, started off this sermon, All met Powerhouse.
Find out to anybody else cuz how do we say it in our culture? Wife duo. When I said intentionally. Why? Cuz I was making a point. The order made the point. Same is true here. Whenever anybody in the ancient world reads this text and they read Priscilla and Aquila, they say, Wait a second. First he is teach one of the most gifted and knowledgeable orders that the world had ever seen.
And oh, by the way, Statement about our church and hopefully the church and hopefully issue a corrective. I know what Paul says in first about, I forbid a woman to teach have to read that in the context of this. Paul knew this couple knew Priscilla's gifts and he never in his discipleship with her, shut her down, knew what happened.
She was never rebuked. She is in fact, throughout the rest of the Bible commended and there are many scholars who think that Priscilla may very well be the
person. What does this mean?
It means in the early church, women are leaders straight. We have to read the whole Bible as a whole and not just Paul
and these women filled with spirit and gifted for work. Be able to work without being leaders in the year. Leach women. I wanna say, Lee, you
hold, No, I can't
speak. Pauls listens. I love this guy has the Bible memorized. He's like an amazing, or he's seen great success in his ministry, and then these two leather workers. Pull him aside and say, Hey, you're missing some stuff. And he says, Please, the humility, but also the power of these two filled with the spirit that he saw immediately in them.
I am missing something cuz whatever they have, I've gotta have. And then they release him back into mission and he goes, Where? You know where he goes from fsis? He goes to Corinth where he now works with Jews in the place where Paul wasn't able to get through to the Jews and it says he's wildly effective, which is maybe why Paul seems a little bit jealous in first Corinthians.
He breaks through where Paul wasn't able powerful. And then Paul arrives in Ephesus, Promise for getting there, tour guiding through the store. Paul shows up back in Ephesus, same, similar thing happens. He runs across these 12 disciples. That's all it says. Doesn't say disciples of who? Just 12 disciples.
That only. About the baptism of junk. Hey, have you been baptized? Spirit? We didn't even know there was a Holy Spirit Teaches them who Jesus is baptized in the name of, Filled with the Spirit
prophesy. They become round zero.
You look at these two stories, fascinating about them is how many times a variety of content bull want to take these stories or what it means, and when we're filled with the Holy Spirit, how this Holy Spirit thing and people on both sides, whether you're a charismatic, meaning you believe in the gifts of the spirit, you believe in tongues and prophecy, or whether you're a cessationist, which means you don't.
Wherever you happen to fall on that spectrum, people will point to these stories to make their point. They'll say, Here's a formula, a good charismatic will point to that second story of the 12 disciples, and they'll hear people who had been baptized but never filled with the spirit. So they had this first experience of God, but they never moved on from that into sort of what I call platinum level membership.
You enter in of on the silver level through baptism, and then you can advance along the way to platinum membership when you speak in tongue. And so a good charismatic, a good Pentecostal will look at the ah, there's the formula baptized in Jesus, baptized in this first experience, Second experience, first filling, second filling.
Then a good cessationist or somebody who doesn't really believe in the, in that kind of work of the this, they'll say, Look at the other story though. Look at Apollos because it said that he taught accurately about the Lord. And the Bible says that no one can confess that Jesus' Lord, unless they are filled with the spirits.
And it even says that he spoke with great fervor. In the spirit. So here you have it. Don't tell me I need a secondary experience. I am fully filled with Jesus at the moment that I confess Jesus is Lord. I have all of the Holy Spirit. And so we look at these and we make arguments about which formula is right on the basis of which story we like the best.
And I just wanna say that if you do that, you miss the point entirely. Lo Luke does not give us these stories to be formulas, but to be stories with very simple, Here's the point. You ready? What? I could have said him right at the very beginning. The point of this story of both of these stories, right on the surf like plane is a
slap. I don't care what you've experienced of him so far. Not I don't care. But like it doesn't matter what you've experienced of him so far. There is more, I guarantee he has more for you this Holy Spirit. Jesus Following life means that we are brought into intimate relationship with the living God, with the holy God.
Have you read this book, Everything That This God Is, Do you understand what it must be like to be in relationship with that person? Do you think that you have reached the end of him in or two? How silly all of this sound when we put it into that context, Did you receive Jesus his Holy Spirit when you
first, Maybe you know what you need to like fully get it? Is
this really two church service? I'm gonna get to the bottom of him. Really? Two altar calls, That's all it's gonna take. About y'all, but I've been following around for about still most days.
Says something along the lines,
which I think
you ever
say really connected with after that first conversation. Where you soul friend, would you say, I'm good. That was great, man. I never need to see you
marry somebody. On the wedding day and walking down the imperfect dean and you get done and you say the vows and everything is fantastic and you just say, This moment has been so good. I'm set. Like I'm set for light. Sounds so silly when we're talking about relationship, but that's what we're talking a relationship with.
And if it's true of a dear soul friend or it's true of a spouse, how much brewer than when we're talking about the Almighty God, how much more interesting, How much more do you think he has to show or to say or to learn? And that in no way discounts anything that's come before you see, we don't discount Apollo's experience, we don't discount these disciples.
Experience. You integrate that into a much bigger. What I am realizing in my life right now is that this box that I've been playing around with God in is actually good and real and true, but it's just a corner of a much bigger box, which is just a corner of a much bigger box, which is just a corner of everything.
Like I don't know , why we get so hung up in. Did you
received that? Todd
introduced that? Oh, yes. Oh yes. It comes right after the
first saying what Paul says,
and if be filled with the spirit and in Greek that says, literally go on. Being. Active, continuous tin. Go on filled with the, And that's the point here. Simple as that. Friends, I know that
each of you, they, to you all honesty, No idea
with this, don't be content
with that. More looks like set your hair on fire. Like I'm ready to take the world by.
We're just gonna sit.
I don't know what it is,
but you don't think
that you go on being filled. Can't force the filling still tells you
happens, that this isn't just about ask.
Close with this. Paul got a haircut,
says he got a haircut because he
took dollars. Believe this vow fourth
example, is taken out of number. Person wants to special
no fruit of the vine, which
means you don't come near a dead body. All strange thing.
Do you wanna make a special commitment? Scholars have wrestled for a long, It's happening in
this voluntary, It's entirely possible for her not to take a
na you
special way
lives. Scholars think that what's happening here, God is offering the ordinary person the opportunity to become as the priest didn't have a choice, they were forced into this commitment where they have to maintain this ritual. God is now enabling a regular person who's not, because priests were born into in the tribe of.
Saying Look, this isn't my presence. Isn't want to exp have the
to voluntary
or a lifetime
terrible nazare, but God
moves in second time, another terrible
nazarite act comes.
One of the fact establishes the mon David ion
the third example.
Fourth example, Paul of Tarsis took an
nazare. I do know what happened
in Ephesus. We're gonna read this in so much. So there's this huge revival that results in peak roles of which the Bible tells us amount thousand drop modern
culture with $5 million worth of idols,
just massive revival citywide revivals in both places. And I'm just saying it's not quid pro quo. It's not that God is asking us all to give up these crazy things. I guess I'm just asking who wants to see that kind of a move of God? Who is that hungry, that desperate, that desires that we would say, I wanna dedicate myself in a special way.
I don't know what that means in your context, but a costly way. Maybe it means what it means here. Maybe it means we give up alcohol, God forbid, because we wanna see him move. Not because it's evil or awful, but because we wanna see him move. It's not to force his hand, it's just I am so like set apart. I am so excited, so filled.
I just wanna see you do it. Come on.
Say that's a guilt. Say this whole story, start to
finish. Dump guess I'm just.
Lesser thing. If that
means shattering
our dealing with church
wounds, whatever it means. No. You want to give a No, We need.
Take some time
to have this conversation with
cheese, whatever that looks like. Went through the songs
we've been offered,
finding a space if you need to be on your knees or on your face.
But else he is
worried about.
Not say against giving
him moment. I'm acting out
desire.
With that desire, so much grief.
Then our desired heal our. Things of this world.
Oh my God.
Thank God.
Love you observing and glory.
Forgive us. Remind, hang one foot in, one foot out.
We repent. Anyone who wants to all in completely, and it doesn't. We are perfect. All of a sudden. We want him more than we want ourselves. We want him more. Wanna please move. We want him more than we want. The thing that gives us happiness or comfort in. God, we wanna please you. We wanna live for you.
And as Sophie's
what she said about, we wanna be filled with the thing that are of you, things that are filling us, they have to go. And
I'm a bit hesitant to say this because it is such a strong hold in our culture and it's, But if what Josh said about alcohol resonates with you, I just wanna say, put that idol down right now. It will not give. What you're looking for, and if the excuses are, it'll be awkward socially. Isn't God worthy of that?
I just feel like deep within me to just call out that idol right now in our culture. No shame, no guilt. Roman says, There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is an invitation into more, I just wanna call out the idol of alcohol in this community, in this culture in Orange County.
And that's no condemnation, no judgment. That's just, man, put it down. There's so much more. There's so much more. He's so much more worthy. He's so much more worthy than the idols that we worship that are gonna break our hearts. Then the idols that leave us empty at the end of the day, he's so much more.
Than Instagram, than social media, than vanity. He's so much more worthy than the stock market. He's so much more worthy than a savings account. He's so much more worthy than anything. We put our trust in anything. We put our hope in anything. We put our comfort.
And so I just, I do wanna dig in. I wanna dig in to what Josh said about that Nazarite vow. What does that look like for us? And are we willing? Are we willing? I just wanna invite you to put your hands out in front of you if you just, You're just willing. It's all it takes to say, God, I'm willing. God, I'm willing.
It's okay if you mess up. It's okay if you stumble. But just to say, God, I'm willing. And I think often rep. If we think of something that, that we think about being really heavy or guilt ridden. But repentance is simply saying, God, I'm turning away from those things and I'm coming to be embraced. And that doesn't sound guilt ridden to me.
Sounds joyful. That sounds free. That sounds free to me. So I just became a spirit of freedom over this church, over Canopy Church, just joy, a spirit of rep penance and a spirit of freedom to stand against the idols of our day. Stand against money, alcohol, vanity, comfort, whatever it is, just let it go. It's not gonna give you what you're looking for, but Jesus will, He will satisfy.
He says, Come to me who are weak and are weary. He says, I have water you don't know about. Drink from my bow on before me and let me give you an identity that can't be shaken. Let me give you an. They can't be taken away by the world. They can't be taken by alcohol. They can't be taken by money.
They can't be taken by beauty standards of whatever our culture says. Those are beauty standards change, culture changes, but God stays the same. He's not going anywhere,
and we just keep our hands out in front of us
and we're just gonna simply sing our God reigns as a proclamation, a declaration that the kingdom of God is here and now, and he's reigning and he's more powerful than any idol we worship. He's more powerful than anything we turn to. He's more powerful than sickness disease. He's more powerful.
Anything we can think of. He's more powerful than alcohol. He's more powerful than drugs. He's more powerful than money. He will give you what you need. So can we just sing out our God reigns? Is that okay?
Sing our gods. Oh God.
Oh God. Love.
Don't
sing.
Oh God.
Oh God.
For you.
I got.
Oh God.
Oh God.
You're kidding. Do got,
Oh God,
your king.
You,
Wow.
Oh,
Gods on the,
Can we sing out just the voice our brains? Oh God. Ring Ains. Yes. Rains.
Oh God.
I gots, Oh God. Ring two rings. You two rings. Oh God.
You can
shoes.
We don't want to rush out of this space, but we also wanna recognize that we've got kids outside. And so if you feel like you need to go grab your kids, please do that. Feel free to leave. But if you're here and you still want prayer and you want to continue to worship we're not looking, we're not looking to rush outta this space.
So feel free, we'll just go ahead and end the service now. But if you're here and you still want prayer or you still wanna sit in this space and worship, we'll be open here for a few, few more minutes together. Thanks for being here and let's continue to worship. If you need to go, elementary, kids are outside.
Yeah,
we up on Wes? Yes.
Yes.
Our God reads and God.
Ooh. Ah
God.
Oh God,
yes.
Oh God.
Okay.
Holy The earth. Ith will cry.
All the angels cry. Holy. The
all the through your holy, the all the three prize. Holy is God. The three prize Holy pie is God. All
I, all the Christ is God. Thes. Is Holy. Hallelujah. Hallelu Hall.
Holy.
Yeah. Holly? Yes, Holly. Holy.
I'll cry. Holy is the God. All the three repli. Holy. You all the angels. All the angels cry. Holy God. Holy. The three. Holy, the angels. All the angels. Holy God. The three Holy are
holy. I You are so they sing a it all. Whoa.
You're worth the
four from you are all things to you are things. You deserve it. Glory. See it out. See it out. You
four from you things'.
Yes. Glory
you.
You of
is for Rome, You.
Yes.
Day at night. Day at night. Day nine. Day at nine. Nine in
day. Not in Daylen. In ride day night. Not in day
day.
You're of love
from you all
things. Beautiful. The glory soy night's sing day at night, not in's, night day and
are of
from you.
Things you deserve the glory.
Four from you. Thanks.
Thanks. You deserve glory
and maho. You see no dad,
she.
No, the
name,
the Hot will sing my sing.
And now will say no one. She does. It's all of the glory. All of the, It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. I love the I love Theia. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. I love the it'ss. It's yours. It'ss. It'ss. I. The It's. It's yours. It's yours. De Yrn. I love the Lord. I love the It's yours.
It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. I love the I love Lords. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. I love, Lord. I love. The It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. Love the ma. Love Ma. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. I love the ma. I love the It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. All the all of the Lord.
It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. Everything is yours. Everything is yours.
It's yours. It's yours. Everything is your the hard. We'll sing ya your name forever. We'll sing the hard. We'll sing your name forever. So we're just gonna close this morning. Let's just sing that chorus out. Yeshua, the name of Jesus
Yay shoe.
Yay
you.
Your
holy, we glor you. Yes, we manage your.
Is,
Whoa. Oh,
too worthy of
it or from you are. Unto you are thanks only you deserve the glory.
You're worthy of it all
part of my life. You worthy of it All
from you are thanks to, into you are all things only you deserve the glory
for, from, for, from you are all things into you are all things only you deserve the glory. Oh.
Yes. For from you are all thanks. Do you
are,
Be you.
You, you have no arrived. You have no he
ever.
Yours is the king. This yours is.
Dad could not hold. The ve, they're talking before you. You silenced the stop. And the heavens are the praise of glory for you always to live of the heavens. The heavens are the praise of you. Glory for you always to live of the world. A beautiful name. It is what a beautiful name. It is the name.
Oh Jesus Christ, Maggie. What a beautiful name. It's, yeah, Nothing can stand against What a beautiful name it is the name of Jesus. What a powerful name it is Jesus. What a powerful name. It's the name of Jesus Christ. My what a powerful name. It is nothing powerful name. It is the name. Oh geez. What a powerful name.
It is the name Jesus.
Close this moment by saying the Lord's Prayer as we do every week, but would you really let it sink in? It's really easy for me to just say the words. I feel like especially it's something due every week, we've got it memorized, some of us, and let's just say it really slowly and just let it sink in.
Let it be our souls prayer. Would you pray this with Father who aren't in.
And you guys, if you wanna stay and Yeah, we can clap out of that , but if you wanna stay and get prayer, feel free to, But,