WEBVTT 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:29.010 You're listening to GARDEN CHURCH Podcast. We're in a series called Church on Fire, a journey to the book of Acts. This is the story of ordinary people filled with the spirit carrying the presence of Jesus into every corner of the world. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and in us today. Join us as we step into the call to be people set on fire for his mission. 00:00:30.130 --> 00:00:35.330 Hey, good morning, GARDEN family. We're doing okay? Yes. My goodness. Glad to hear it. 00:00:35.730 --> 00:00:55.905 Gosh. I'm a little overwhelmed. I I I have to resist the temptation to gush over the number of people that are in this room that have impacted my life deeply. So, gosh, one of the reasons that my wife and I are here is because we love your leaders. Pastor Ramin and pastor Darren are some incredible people who have profound impact on our lives. 00:00:58.110 --> 00:01:10.910 There's another kind of spiritual godfather in the room for many of us. His name's Todd Proctor. He's the Bishop of Orange County. Todd has ruined my life in a good way a few times. So that really is a good thing. 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:20.605 A little bit about me. I'm six nine. I know that we just talked about that, but I gotta get that out the way. People get distracted. Like, I think that's not heresy, but just how tall is that dude? 00:01:20.605 --> 00:01:27.165 It's like how that goes sometimes. And so let's get that out of the way. You saw my beautiful wife. What an upset. Well done by me. 00:01:28.730 --> 00:01:41.290 And we have been married for getting close to twenty years. We've been in oh, thank you. I wasn't even pandering. I appreciate that. But, yeah, we've been married for almost two decades. 00:01:41.290 --> 00:02:31.640 I've been in ministry just a little bit longer than that. We were church planters in Seattle for over a decade and we now, in many ways, live vicariously through communities like this one. So we we have been watching, we have been praying, and it was an easy yes to to come to Orange County and to to be a part of this for a number of reasons. One of them was just, man, wouldn't it be something yes to get to contribute something? We have seen you get caught up in this wave of God's grace that you are riding, and it's like, Lord, what if what if there was some small way we could contribute something that was timely as they try to ride that wave as long as they can and I'll just be honest, I have found myself over the last twenty four hours in this weird tension. 00:02:32.360 --> 00:03:11.005 First of all, where your desire to serve your friends as well as possible in an environment like this can start feel like wanting to do real good. And so I've been like laying that down, pray for your boy for the next half hour. That is one thing and then the other one is I cannot shake that me just sharing the way that I got caught up in the wave of God's word these last seventy two hours and couple weeks before that might actually serve you well to ride the wave that you're riding. And so that is what I'm gonna bank on happening here. Need to do this very, very quickly. 00:03:11.005 --> 00:03:19.245 The time is short. But Breakaway was mentioned. It's at Texas A and M University. So weird. We'll talk some other time. 00:03:20.125 --> 00:03:42.415 A lot of people don't know that's the largest university in The United States. And so 1989, four sophomores start a bible study. It's kinda like handful of people started a church in like Long Beach in a club or something like that. And then and then you fast forward thirty six, thirty seven years later, I love bragging on it, I didn't build it, right? And now, this is the bible study on Tuesdays, okay? 00:03:42.415 --> 00:04:32.570 So there's one other picture just to kinda understand the scope of what we're talking about, that's the bible study. So that's that's the basketball arena at the largest university in the country, public school, supernatural favor and that other picture is a glimpse of just what God's doing right now. We're seeing more of like these tipping point kind of moments. God's just kind of like introducing this new blueprint of what it looks like to follow Jesus as a college student in that region and we're a small part of that, it's incredible. Quick bonus nugget that I don't have time for is when I was in high school, I signed to play basketball at Texas A and M University and on National Signing Day, after signing in public and like taking the pictures with the media, they rescinded their offer. 00:04:33.215 --> 00:04:56.550 It and then I had to go person to person to explain how they didn't want me anymore. Was awesome. Formative rejection experience. Fast forward twenty three years, I preached the gospel on the same court I was supposed to play on. Don't tell me he won't do it, alright? 00:04:56.550 --> 00:05:18.490 Don't tell me he won't do it. So guys, let's get to work. This is what I really want, I want this book that is ink on paper bound by leather to become something more than that. Like, I want the spirit of God to breathe on the word of God, set it on fire and put it in your chest. I will admit most mornings in this book, it ain't feeling like that but it can do that. 00:05:18.490 --> 00:05:28.570 And I think we're foolish not to ask, right? Right? Okay, so join me and we're gonna we're gonna do that. So pray with me. Oh, Holy Spirit, you're already in this room? 00:05:30.655 --> 00:06:00.905 Gosh, I am furious I was in this room for whatever you were doing the last half hour. Goodness gracious. You can sense it, you can feel it. But God, before I go an inch further into this, I silence the voice of the enemy in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit in every heart, every ear, every voice that is not your voice, God, we silence it in the name of Jesus. And father, would you start speaking into that sweet silence? 00:06:02.985 --> 00:06:16.260 Would you start speaking into that silence? We are going to do our best to obey what you show us. We're gonna do our best to receive what you wanna give us, to distribute and share what you trust us with. Yes, Lord. Would you do that? 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:47.380 Friends, I'm gonna ask you to pray the way that we always pray when we're starting a Tuesday back in Texas, and that is take a moment and just pray a simple prayer for yourself. God, speak to me through your word. Now for the people on your left and your right, behind you in front of you, God speak to them. And then lastly, would you just pray, God speak through the word through Brian? Yeah, God help me handle and steward this well. 00:06:48.900 --> 00:07:10.330 Would you do something timely? Would you do something beautiful? We trust you, it's in Jesus name we pray, amen. All right, so my friend Stefan in Seattle needed to get away. And so he did, he packed up everything he could in his backpack, he got his fancy camera, he threw them into the shotgun seat of his Subaru, if you are not from Seattle, that is on brand by the way. 00:07:11.690 --> 00:07:51.045 And is this very angsty millennial gen z type thing, he just starts like driving around the West Coast and he's using his fancy camera to take beautiful pictures of like very emo, empty winding roads and majestic things and wildlife and then I he finishes his beauty tour at my house in College Station, Texas. If you have not been to College Station, you don't know why it's funny to end a beauty tour there, okay? It's not a beautiful place, it's a beautiful life. So this is this is what's happening. He comes into our house and he walks inside and he immediately is like, you guys gotta see my pictures. 00:07:51.045 --> 00:08:13.380 So he's casting those pictures onto the big screen and we're seeing those roads and the wildlife and then the next few quest the next few pictures really kinda stop us in our tracks, right? So the first one that causes everyone in the room to go, woah, is this one. We wanna show them to you guys, alright? And we're like, where is that? Like, what planet are you on to see that many stars? 00:08:13.380 --> 00:08:38.580 Like, we're kind of out in the country but we're close enough to the city. LA, you haven't seen this, gosh, you haven't seen a star since like, what, 1955 or something, I don't know but this is what they look like if you're curious and he's like, here's what I did, I took the camera, I put it on top of my car in a really lonely place and I set it on an eight second exposure. So that is what the camera saw, the lens saw over eight seconds. It tried to capture everything it saw. It's like, cool. 00:08:38.740 --> 00:08:53.725 That's incredible. And then I think we're going back to lonely roads and, you know, mountains and stuff and then this is the second one. And we're like, where is that? You should have started there. And he's like, no, no, that's fifteen seconds instead of eight. 00:08:53.725 --> 00:09:17.665 And then I'm certain the astronomy lesson is over and then this comes. Color, texture, movement, right? Just glory and it's silence. And I look at him and he doesn't even make me ask, he just smiles. He says, thirty seconds instead of fifteen. 00:09:19.185 --> 00:09:50.200 So friends, doubling the amount of time of the look and then doubling the amount of time again led to seeing things that you didn't know were there but were there all along. The principle is this, what's true of the stars is what's true of the one who made them. If you want to see more glory, you just look longer. Okay. So, here's the thing. 00:09:50.200 --> 00:10:07.835 This is a little untraditional, but this is how we're gonna attack Acts 15 if you've got your bible. Alright? This is how we're gonna do it. In breakneck speed is we are going to look at Acts 15, which is not an easy assignment for the guests. Like I'm honored. 00:10:09.595 --> 00:10:31.210 I'm honored but, there's probably eight different ways to preach this faithfully. We're gonna look at it. I'm gonna take us through quick. I'm gonna try to highlight some things that are gonna move us through really quickly to get the glimpse of it, you will, the eight second version. I'm gonna give us like four mile markers, kinda signposts that I think show a thread of one of the faithful ways to look at it. 00:10:31.485 --> 00:10:50.400 We're gonna pause and then just for a couple minutes, we're gonna look this much longer and see if there might be something there. This isn't a parlor trick. Like the point of me having this, we're gonna put like the scripture on the board on the back right now. The point of me having this is that so doctor Brian can nerd out on his bible a little bit. Is it not working? 00:10:51.360 --> 00:11:06.245 No? Oh, good. It's like only a momentary panic, we're good. It's it's not just so I can nerd out, like the point of this is not let me show you something secretive. The point of this is just for you to leave saying, oh, I can do that. 00:11:07.205 --> 00:11:37.065 Like, I can look longer at the word and and look a bit longer at the spirit through the word and like see Jesus Jesus and see calling and see purpose, I can do that. That's the purpose of this setup, okay? So we gotta do this super super quick but I I wanna show you this story as quickly as I can, alright? So this is in Antioch which is a wildly influential city, in Syria, coastal city, very diverse and a church just a little younger, I think, than GARDEN is there. Interesting. 00:11:37.865 --> 00:11:54.665 And it is crazy things are happening there. It's absolutely beautiful. And people from all different kinds of backgrounds, most notably Gentile, non Jewish backgrounds are coming to Christ in droves. Like crazy stuff happening in Antioch. That's the context you get right now, okay? 00:11:54.745 --> 00:12:16.610 And so what happens? Let's just jump right in friends, we're all family now. Some men came down from Judea and were teaching to the brothers, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. So here's what happened. Darren and Ramin are like, how do we keep nurturing this emerging revival? 00:12:16.930 --> 00:12:27.575 Let's bring in the tall guy no one knows and have him talk about circumcision. And then Pentecost will follow. Alright? I assume that's what happened. Alright? 00:12:27.895 --> 00:12:46.820 We don't have a ton of time here but that red, it's in red because it's bad. Okay? It's bad because it's wrong. Alright? That's the bottom line and it's not just bad because it's like new people are like, bro, it's even a conversation that salvation comes through circumcision. 00:12:46.980 --> 00:13:11.800 It's like, no, this scandal is that salvation would be by anything you can do. Like, that's the secret sauce of the Christianity thing if you're trying to figure it out. The opposite of this is just like there's nothing you can do. We believe it's what Jesus has already done that can change your life regardless of what you have already done. Alright? 00:13:11.800 --> 00:13:48.310 So this is bad right off the bat, and it says that Paul and Barnabas have no small dissension and debate. They're very upset by what is taking place in this moment. Right? And so they decide we need to elevate this. We gotta take this to Jerusalem because that's where kinda like the church is headquartered, not so much from a missional hub, but that is where the foremost authorities and the apostles who walked with Jesus and that the council of trust that kinda guards the doctrine and the life of this emerging church that's still figuring itself out in a global sense, they need we gotta go to Jerusalem and figure this thing out, right? 00:13:48.485 --> 00:14:40.780 And so they're like, let's try this again. They're welcomed after several years being away and they're welcomed back and then they start sharing the incredible things that have happened as they've gone to the Gentiles on their first missionary journey and seen non Jewish people experiencing miracles and life change and like salvation and all this stuff. They're sharing it again in that context and they get the following from some believers who were part of the Pharisees, the more legalistic group of the Jews who apparently have come to faith but are still shaking some things off or more so just accidentally forgetting some things, but this is the response they get from some in that group at headquarters. It's necessary to circumcise them in order them to keep the law of Moses. The lie, the poison has beaten them to Jerusalem. 00:14:42.940 --> 00:14:58.885 Like the the weight of the moment is crazy in this moment. Right? And it says, okay, they gather the apostles and elders together to figure this out. And then Peter, yes, that Peter, one of Jesus's three best friends walked on water. Right? 00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:31.100 Denied Jesus three times but reinstated by Jesus says, you're the rock like I'm naming you rock and on your confession I'm gonna build my church. That Peter, he's still around. He's still around and he stands up and he reminds them, he says, guys, lest you forget that story you've ever heard where God said that by my mouth, the Gentiles were going to hear the word of the gospel and believe. Hear and believe. Hear and believe that they will not do anything to be saved. 00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:50.545 It won't be by circumcision, it won't be by following the law, it won't be by pilgrimage, it won't be by anything. They're they're it's just by what Jesus has done. Right? Do you guys forget that counsel is what he's saying? And he highlights three things that happened when he was obedient to a prophetic vision that was saying, hey, the gospel's for all kinds of people. 00:15:50.545 --> 00:16:15.135 There's no such thing as inherently unclean and clean just by your background anymore. That's not a thing. Never really was a thing in the heart of God in that stereotype sense but we're doing away with that. There's this crazy vision, Peter's obedience to it goes to a Gentile named Cornelius who has the same vision that he has and this entire Gentile household comes to faith. And he says, what happened in that situation, guys? 00:16:15.135 --> 00:16:33.740 Did you really forget? He says, first, God gave them the Holy Spirit. Just like he did to us. As evidenced by them having the same outward gifts that the Jewish folk did when the spirit came to them, right? And then right after that, number two, what happened? 00:16:33.740 --> 00:16:51.475 God cleansed their hearts by faith. Cleansed? I tell you these pharisees cared about that word. Cleansing was kind of a big deal. They're basically saying you're not really cleansed, you're not clean enough for God to really accept or love you until you do our stuff. 00:16:52.210 --> 00:17:08.865 He's like, oh no, no, do you remember what happened before? You're cleansed by faith. You don't have to clean yourself up to come. He cleans you up and then brings you close. That's what happened. 00:17:08.865 --> 00:17:34.475 And then the third thing to make it really beautiful, he says, hey, remember, we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus just as they will. And this word grace, y'all, goodness gracious, this word grace, grace is what's being attacked by trying to put additional ingredients into the gospel. Grace is the thing that makes our worldview completely peculiar. You know that, right? Yeah. 00:17:34.795 --> 00:17:46.730 Believe weird stuff. Yeah. Sometimes as a follower of Jesus, you go read all the other world religions and all the emerging new age stuff and like this culture, we're like, that is weird. Bro, we're the weird one? Yeah. 00:17:46.810 --> 00:17:54.810 We're the only ones everyone else is basically saying, adopt our particular brand of divinity and then get to work. 00:17:54.810 --> 00:17:55.370 Yep. 00:17:56.490 --> 00:18:18.480 The suit there's very few exceptions to that. That's not it. Grace is this scandal where God says, nah, you can't do the work and I love you too much for you to spend your life trying. I'm gonna come and do the work you couldn't do. Like, I'm gonna come live the life you can't live. 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:44.760 I'm not gonna ask you to live an impossible life for eighty years, grind yourself into misery, right? I'm gonna live the perfect life you could never live. Then I'm gonna die the death you deserve because of your sin. I'm gonna die for you in your place because I love you. I'm gonna rise to new life so you can have new life and it's gonna be a gift and it's gonna be a gift and you're gonna have this instinct to start trying to figure out how to pay and you're not gonna do that. 00:18:44.760 --> 00:19:11.195 I'm not gonna allow it because the second you start trying to pay your friend for the gift they're giving you, it stops being a gift. It's like we can't we can't let the peculiar part, the special sauce get taken out of our gospel. That's what's taking place. So Peter says that, I gotta move a little bit quicker. I can't skip this, I'm not capable. 00:19:11.195 --> 00:19:59.145 Verse 12, verse 12, it says the assembly fell silent and they listened to Barnabas and Paul. This is the same assembly that had some of these people from the Pharisees that just said you have to circumcise those fools and make them be Jewish by custom like us. But those believers who had forgotten what was true had the gospel preached to them by a brother wrapped up in a story of life transformation. It's really hard to argue a story, especially when the story has grace, faith and the gift of the spirit at the middle of it, right? And so they go from saying you gotta circumcise them to total agreement and consensus with everything that happens next. 00:19:59.145 --> 00:20:36.800 That is a miracle. That is a miracle. So what's beautiful in this place is that James steps up steps up to the plate and like James is like, okay, here's the deal. Everything that Peter just said is legit and I'm putting alongside that, not should you trust just the stories of Paul and Barnabas and what God's doing to Gentiles and not just should you look backward at what Peter experienced with Cornelius, I'm showing you that in Amos chapter four centuries ago in the Old Testament, God called his shot and said the Gentiles were invited. So all of us who love this book, we gotta be all on the same board. 00:20:36.800 --> 00:21:06.210 So it's confront this weird confirmation moment is absolutely beautiful and James goes a step further. He says, we're not gonna put anything on their backs. We're not gonna burden them with unfair expectations, we're not gonna ask them to do what we could not do, which is live up to the law, let's write them a letter. Let's write them a letter, let's call them brother in the letter. Some people came to you, newly adopted one and said, are you sure that you've been adopted? 00:21:06.210 --> 00:21:16.985 Yeah. Are you sure your dad loves you if you haven't been circumcised and you're not doing all the Jewish stuff? We call you brother. The adoption was legit. Let's call them brother. 00:21:16.985 --> 00:21:42.150 Let's send two of our own so they don't doubt whether or not we really mean it. So they send two people. Some people from Judea last time came and sowed confusion and sowed division and now a group of people from Judea come and they say the opposite. And the end of this is just absolutely beautiful. At the end of that moment, it says that they rejoiced because of the encouragement of the letter. 00:21:42.505 --> 00:21:57.465 The vision and confusion have given way to rejoicing and to encouragement as a result of what happened here, okay? So how does this break down? Here's your signposts. That first section, right? The things in red, it's in red because it's bad, right? 00:21:58.030 --> 00:22:32.350 Oh, that's incorrect, give me a second here. That section one is the gospel compromised. We already talked how messing with the gospel, which is Jesus plus nothing equals everything and the second you take nothing out and you put anything in, you ruin everything, right? That's the gospel compromise. Secondly, we've got the Jerusalem moments, we've got Peter and James and everybody, we have the gospel clarified. 00:22:32.670 --> 00:23:04.720 This really beautiful, important work that throws the doors just wide open, this is like an official decision of the capital C Church, we're not having this conversation anymore, right? Huge deal, high, high stakes, right? Third, gospel confirmed. That James moment, it's not just the stories, it's the scripture beside it and the consensus of this community expressed through a letter and through this beautiful moment. And then we come down here to the very end, we've got the gospel celebrated. 00:23:07.655 --> 00:23:43.225 The gospel compromised, the gospel clarified, the gospel confirmed, the gospel celebrated. So what is this a story about through this lens, right? It's about gospel clarity preserving gospel unity. It's the way that having the gospel clear keeps people united. GARDEN, you're a place of peculiar unity. 00:23:44.665 --> 00:24:07.195 I'll be at both locations today. I've seen both rooms, stories, backgrounds. You're a place of peculiar unity. The reason you're able to pull this off is because of your gospel clarity. Because the story, the song of people with gospel clarity is none of us qualified. 00:24:07.195 --> 00:24:14.395 Can you believe we're in? Yeah. Amen. Amen. Can you What are we doing here? 00:24:14.395 --> 00:24:28.780 Can you believe the love of the father? Can you believe the intentionality of the son? Can you believe the power of the spirit? Look at us. We didn't qualify and this is not a declaration of shame, it's celebration. 00:24:28.780 --> 00:24:47.630 I didn't like the love is that big. My sin, I didn't, I had, none of us found a way to out sin the grace of God. Yes, yes. That's the song of those people. But when the gospel clarity goes down, when the gospel clarity goes down, the song changes. 00:24:48.750 --> 00:25:12.975 The song goes from look at what he's done to what have you been up to? The focus goes from what he's already finished to how you doing? You earn enough, are we all doing the right stuff? Like there's a healthy version of that called like biblical encouraging accountability, but that if it has something to do with acceptance, right? Gospel clarity preserving gospel unity. 00:25:16.920 --> 00:25:27.160 I feel like what we just did is faithful. I feel like it's accurate. I feel like it uses alliteration like a good Texas pastor. I apologize. I feel like it's true. 00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:57.905 I think that we made pit stops there that might've changed your life. I think we made pit stops there that might make you aware of things you need to repent of because regardless of your doctrinal statement, you've been putting weight on yourself or other people that you or them are not supposed to be feeling when it comes to how am I accepted, right? So there's plenty of good that's happened but with the few minutes I've got, I think we're supposed to look longer. Not to replace but to amplify, okay? So where do you go to look longer? 00:25:57.905 --> 00:26:16.270 I mean, I'm not really sure if there's a right way to answer this. We don't have time for a true participation thing here. But I think that the beginning is a great place to start. And if we were desperate and only had, oh, I don't know, eleven minutes and five seconds left. What if we just started here? 00:26:18.030 --> 00:26:31.075 Can you guys see that? Yeah. Okay. But, the first word is but. If the first word of the story you're reading is but, you are not in the beginning of the story. 00:26:32.195 --> 00:27:04.310 If the first thing you remember in the conversation is but, oh, you you were not at the beginning of the conversation. So I've been married for a while. There's not as many married people in this room as I might have thought but I I'm gonna I'm gonna say weekly. I weekly find myself in a situation where Emily will be doing dishes and I don't know, I'm over here clearly cleaning something also. And I think we've been in total silence for a while there's kids running through, haven't been like interacting, right? 00:27:04.310 --> 00:27:43.575 Like, maybe I just got home from work, I haven't seen her for hours, whatever and then into out of total silence, will hear, but I don't know if you think that'll work, that's fine. This is a very precarious place to be because there are a couple things that may have happened here. One, my a d d brain might have just missed a very important like segment of information. Or she's been talking to herself in her head and isn't aware of it and I'm supposed to be the one to call her on that. So I can wing it and just be like, girl, don't know. 00:27:43.575 --> 00:27:52.855 You know I trust you. What do you think? You know? And sometimes that goes okay. But it's usually better to be like, hey, time out. 00:27:52.855 --> 00:28:19.595 Can we can we make sure that we're actually at the starting place? But and then whatever comes next is typically a response to or something contrary to whatever came before it. This is right at the this is before literally everything we just studied. Is it possible this is a response to something we were not even considering? And let me show you what that might be as I erase the evidence of the last service. 00:28:23.180 --> 00:28:48.585 This is the end of Paul and Barnabas' last missionary first missionary journey. When they arrived, when they gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them and how God had opened a door of faith. That's a huge deal. We get that, right? Something that's been foretold for centuries has happened. 00:28:50.960 --> 00:29:29.510 Like, the doors are open for anybody to come through and people are taking God up on the offer and receiving the gift and the miracles and the healing and the salvation is all happening and it's ongoing? Like they went and they faced everything they faced. They came back and they're like, you're not gonna believe this and the door of faith is open. If you knew nothing about Jesus, if you knew nothing about the Bible and you just read that part at the end of 14 and it was like, they just got back from something and there's celebration over whatever they did, and then a door is opened. It's very dramatically put there. 00:29:30.150 --> 00:30:27.180 I know nothing about the book, but if I had to guess what comes next, something's gonna try to stop the celebration and someone's coming to close the door. GARDEN, how much does the urgency of everything that happens after the but go up? If this is a story that serves as proof or at least an example of the following that a real enemy tends to attack and try to close doors in churches where God has opened a door. You know a door's open here, right? If you're curious, I'm telling you that I think that it absolutely is. 00:30:27.245 --> 00:31:12.195 I think I think that something supernatural is happening here and here's what needs to happen. We need to recognize that everything that comes next is wildly urgent and relevant in ways we did not know when we did our one, two, three, four milestones. All the same truths, especially that gospel stuff in the middle, right? But what changes when you look through the lens of this whole passage is about something coming to close the door of faith in a church where it's been opened, through a church where it's been opened, right? So the question kind of becomes, you know, the question that How do we recognize what's gonna come next? 00:31:13.360 --> 00:31:37.335 Like, how do we know? If that's what this passage is about, what do we need to prepare ourselves for? What do we need to do? And I think that this is really helpful because I think quickly, a second look identifies like four ways they keep the door open and four ways I think you should consider as you try to keep the door open as long as you can, all right? So that's what we're gonna try to do. 00:31:37.335 --> 00:31:47.760 So what will it look like, right? What will it look like? Well, first, the first thing before, we gotta go super fast. Number one, you gotta guard the gate, Okay? Guard the gate. 00:31:47.760 --> 00:31:54.240 More alliteration from your Texas boy. I apologize. You gotta guard the gate. Gardens don't have doors, they have gates. You're welcome. 00:31:54.240 --> 00:32:03.215 Contextualization. Alright? Guard the gate. You have to defend the door. This sounds obvious but you must covenant together, alright? 00:32:03.215 --> 00:32:27.510 You must first agree that the door is open. That like when the next guy says, do you feel like something weird's happening here, like the door's open? You don't have this weird false humility or this unhealthy skepticism that you're like, undeniably, the door is open. I don't know everything about this place but I do know that in this last season, there's been an average of 30 baptisms a month. Let's skip the part where you've like four x'd in like like in a crazy small amount of time. 00:32:27.510 --> 00:32:37.515 Even it's just the 30 baptisms a month. You're like, I don't know, it's not 3,000, you know? You know you know another way to say 30 baptisms a month? One a day. Okay? 00:32:38.475 --> 00:32:49.690 So would you agree that like the first century of the church, the door was open? Was the door open in Acts two? Yes. Okay. Because in Acts two, after Pentecost, it starts describing the things that they're dedicated to. 00:32:49.690 --> 00:33:07.065 Right? And then after that it says, and the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. I'm not I'm no mathematician. But I'm telling you the door's open. You have to decide together that the door's open. 00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:24.945 You have to say it's good that the door is open, and we wanna do everything we can to keep the door open. Now God is sovereign, and he things rise and things fall and whatever, and often moments like these are kinda like riding a wave. I'm not trying to over contextualize. Contextualize this dude doesn't surf well. I know we're in Huntington Beach. 00:33:24.945 --> 00:33:34.305 Okay. Like, all that. You ride the wave as long as you can when you find yourself on one. It might be time to paddle out again someday. I hope it's like centuries from now. 00:33:34.305 --> 00:33:46.310 Your great grandkids are like, what do we do with this? Gosh, the door's been open and the logistics are a nightmare but let's keep this thing open. Right? You gotta decide that together. You have to decide to guard the gate. 00:33:47.270 --> 00:33:56.115 But what are we guarding and defending against? Okay. What are we guarding and defending against? Whatever's on the other side of the butt. Yeah. 00:33:56.675 --> 00:34:09.110 That's right. Do you remember what's on the other side of the butt? Yeah. What did the attack what's what's it look like for the enemy to attack and try to close the door? Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. 00:34:11.990 --> 00:34:58.875 Gordon, he's coming after your gospel. There's this pivotal shift in Acts 15 where the attack strategy changes. For chapters thirteen and fourteen, the whole missionary journey, Satan's desperate attempt to slow down what is happening, to prevent the door from opening is simple over and over again, Stop by stop. At the first stop on their missionary journey, there is a demonic magician opposing them and it escalates from there. At stop two, it's like, well, let's revile the messengers and then stop three, it's like, let's oppose the messengers and then stop four, it's man, let's discredit the messengers and then stop five, it's well, we might as well just stone and kill the messengers. 00:34:59.355 --> 00:35:08.320 Which they try to do to Paul doesn't work. He's a tough son of a gun. Did it work? Did attack the messengers work? No. 00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:29.645 No. It's time to attack the message, says the enemy. It's time to attack the message. So what he does in Antioch and what he tries to do in Jerusalem, what he's trying to make like viral, right, is to attack the message. And not like, let's take this out and try to put like the God of Artemis back in. 00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:56.215 No, no, keep your Jesus but let's add some works. Let's get the circumcision back in there. Let's get the mosaic law stuff back in there. Let's get that and just so you feel the emotion, I'm so glad that this is here and that it's gonna get used soon. Precious souls soon are gonna come up here and declare that God has changed their lives through the grace of Jesus and the filling of the Holy Spirit. 00:35:56.215 --> 00:36:14.190 Are you excited about that at all? Okay. You know these are brothers and sisters, right? This is your This is like a welcome to the family moment. They're gonna be hugged and told well done and welcome to the family. 00:36:14.590 --> 00:37:09.450 What would you feel if outside the door or somewhere tomorrow, someone from within the community or else comes up to them and says, hey, I know you're celebrating that like you've been brought out of the cell of earning and worry and uncertainty. I know you're like trying to rejoice in that freedom but I just want you to know, until you dot dot dot dot dot, I'm sure if it's really legit. And I know you're celebrating that you've been adopted by your new father and this new family but man, until you read this translation, until you cover the tattoos, until you figure out our lingo, until you do this over here, then the real acceptance comes, what do you feel? Rage. Anger. 00:37:11.345 --> 00:37:50.115 Anger and you can feel anger and at the same time feel, oh. I think the Holy Spirit's showing me small ways I think I do that where I elevate preferences to principles. So friends, you don't just guard the gate, you protect the treasury. The treasury is where you keep what's most precious, most valuable. That metaphorical beautiful place where you keep the gospel as a community, where you keep it in your own heart and you let nothing pollute it, add to it, compromise it, that's what you do when you delight in it and you repent of the ways that it's not working properly, you refuse to do the devil's work for him. 00:37:50.115 --> 00:38:11.465 It's the devil who's trying to get new believers to go back into the cell or to doubt their adoption. It's the devil that's trying to put unnecessary weight of earning on people who've been given everything they'll ever need through grace. You will not do the devil's work, Garden Church. You will call it out and you will preach the gospel to one another. You protect the treasury. 00:38:14.905 --> 00:38:34.150 Third thing you gotta do as we look at this whole passage through this lens of the attack, alright? Third thing, quickly, you gotta empty the armory. I wish I had time to really nerd out on this. Here's here's what you need to hear. That council was one of the most important moments in the history of the church ever. 00:38:34.515 --> 00:38:58.830 The gospel itself is at stake, okay? The church of Antioch is at stake. Those newly baptized precious souls that are at home wondering if they're really loved or not are at stake. Those new communities that have been just popped up through the first missionary journey are at stake. The churches we know it as established through Paul's efforts and the other disciples' efforts are all at stake in this moment. 00:39:00.335 --> 00:39:20.070 And on the day when spiritual gifts saved the day in Jerusalem, it was the unspectacular ones who did it. Wow. Wow. There was no miraculous healing, may there be more of them here. There was no tongues and interpretations, may there be more of them here. 00:39:20.070 --> 00:39:57.140 There was no prophecies of miraculous unknown knowledge, may there be more. There was a wild gift of faith that God could pull through. There was a wild gift of discernment to read the brotherhood and to say, what does this moment need, spirit, what are you doing? And there was an incredible word of knowledge from James, a word of wisdom. A word of wisdom to say, Amos four comes alongside all these things and we need to move towards acceptance and we need to write a letter, proposes a way forward to the power of the Holy Spirit that changes the world, potentially saves the gospel and completely makes this a beautiful, glorious day instead of a disaster. 00:39:57.555 --> 00:40:23.730 Unspectacular gifts. GARDEN, we need the whole armory at work. We need all the gifts out. Okay? There are people in the room right now who are doubting whether or not they're accepted and there's a speaker using his teaching gift, I hope, to you're accepted because of the gospel and they wanna believe it and they wanna embrace it and they're not gonna do it right now in a sanctuary with my gift, they're gonna do it when you use your hospitality gift and bring them to the table and say we love you. 00:40:25.835 --> 00:40:35.915 There is no JV in varsity. Okay? We need the whole armory empty. All the gifts, all of them. Last thing is you need to hold the line. 00:40:35.915 --> 00:40:46.340 That's what we close with. Hold the line. You might hear that and think that means don't retreat. It really means stay together. It really means stay together. 00:40:46.900 --> 00:40:57.375 And friends, your unity, we already talked about it, it's your superpower. It comes from the gospel itself. Your unity is wildly compelling, it draws people here. It draws people. So GARDEN, listen to me. 00:40:57.375 --> 00:41:27.865 May you protect the treasury, may you empty the armory, may you hold the line together. Would you bow your head just receive this blessing as we respond? GARDEN, may you spend your life holding the door wide open until you meet death. When you meet death, he will be the one forced to hold the door for you and watch the celebration as you're welcomed home. That moment will be proof of a wild miscalculation by your enemy. 00:41:28.265 --> 00:41:45.220 He thought killing you would be the end, and it's given you eternal life. And it'll be proof that your math was always correct. Jesus plus nothing really was everything and it always will be. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen. 00:41:45.220 --> 00:41:46.020 Love you guys. 00:41:48.500 --> 00:41:51.380 For more information, visit us at garden.church.