The Start of the Church (Gospel on the Move #3)

On Easter Sunday of 2014 — April 20th — Riverwood Church launched.

Except if you really think about it, we didn’t start on April 20th at all.

There had been two years of prayer before my wife and I ever decided that yes, we needed to plant a church. Then about eight months of fundraising. Then roughly sixteen months living in Kansas City doing a church planting leadership residency. Then another twenty-one months of simply living in Waverly, trying to build relationships and earn trust.

So Riverwood didn’t really start in a day. Riverwood started over about six years.

And when you think about it, that’s how most things start. When we see the beginning of something, it usually isn’t a one-day event. It’s the high point of an ongoing story.

If you’re married, you celebrate an anniversary — and yes, on that day God took the two of you and made you one. But there were probably weeks or months of friendship, then dating, then months of engagement and planning. There was a start, but it was the high point of a story already underway.

Same with having a baby. A couple in our church family just welcomed their daughter this past week. They didn’t wake up Friday morning and decide, “You know what, let’s have a kid,” and then have her by Friday night. There were nine months of a baby developing. Nine months of a mom and dad emotionally preparing for everything that was about to change. It started for them on March 18th — and it was the high point in a story that had been unfolding for a long time.

Today we’re going to see the launch of the first church — the global church. There is a starting point. But even though we won’t spend much time on it, there was an enormous amount of preparation. For three years Jesus had been discipling and shaping His guys to become the leaders the church would need.

And after all that time and preparation, it’s finally time for the church to begin.

Open your Bible to Acts 2. We’re going to cover roughly three-fourths of the chapter, and we won’t hit every verse — so I’d encourage you to go back and reread the passage later today or this week. There’s great material we won’t get to. But so much of it is tied together that it’s worth taking a big swath at once.

The Mandate Comes First

Before we start in verse 1, I need to remind you that three weeks ago, when we began this series in Acts, we heard Jesus give His mandate for the church. Before the church even existed, He laid the groundwork. Here’s what you’re going to do. Here’s the mission. Here’s the mandate.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

There’s a command in there — go and be my witnesses. And He tells them where: right in your local context, then in the surrounding region of Judea, then among people quite different from you in Samaria, and ultimately to the ends of the earth.

But we also saw that they were not supposed to do any of it in their own power, their own strength, their own wisdom, or with their own resources. God was going to help them. He was going to give them the Holy Spirit. They would receive power.

Today we see that fulfilled.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1–4)

Back in chapter 1, verse 15, we saw there were about 120 followers of Jesus. So all 120 have gathered in one place.

Why Pentecost?

Just as we chose to launch Riverwood on the Christian holiday of Easter, God chose to launch His global church on Pentecost — a Jewish festival.

Pentecost was a springtime festival God established so the people could bring their firstfruits. It was all about harvest. As crops came in, the first portion was to be given as a tithe to God.

Pentecost always fell fifty days after Passover — one commentary described it as a week of weeks, seven weeks, so forty-nine days, and then the fiftieth. Which makes sense for a festival about harvest. Some Jews called it the Feast of Harvest.

Now, we know Jesus died on Passover. He was the ultimate Passover Lamb.

If you’re familiar with the story in Exodus, the Israelites are enslaved in Egypt, and God brings ten plagues against the Egyptians to persuade Pharaoh to release the people. The tenth and final plague is an angel of death coming to kill the firstborn of everything — humans, cattle, everything. But God told the Israelites that if they would sacrifice a lamb and brush its blood over the doorpost, then when the angel of death passed through the streets, it would see that blood, know something had already died there, and everyone inside would live.

Jesus is the ultimate Passover Lamb, and He dies on Passover. So for those who put their faith in Him, it’s as though His blood is painted over them, and death now passes over them. We will still physically die, but we will not spiritually die. We will live spiritually forever because of the blood of Jesus.

So Jesus is killed on Passover — and fifty days later, on Pentecost, God launches the church.

Which fits perfectly, because Jesus told His disciples in Luke 10:2 that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. There are enormous numbers of people who need to know about God’s love for them, and not nearly enough workers to go out into that harvest.

So here is Jesus, having prepared not just the twelve, not just the seventy-two He sent out, but now 120 — and He is about to empower them to go bring in the harvest.

God chose Pentecost, the harvest festival, as the launch day of His church.

Divided Tongues as of Fire

The controversy isn’t about Pentecost. The questions and confusion come from verses 2 through 4.

There’s a mighty rushing wind that sounds like it comes from heaven. And it isn’t only the 120 who hear it — as we’ll see, the whole city hears it, and people come rushing toward the sound.

Then there were “divided tongues as of fire.”

If you don’t know what that looked like, you’re in good company, because nobody knows what it looked like. I suspect that when Luke was interviewing eyewitnesses, he got answers like, “Well, it kind of looked like a tongue — but how do you describe a tongue descending from heaven? And it looked like it was on fire, but it also spread like fire. All I know is there were separate ones, and one came down on every single person there.”

They’d never seen anything like it before, and they never saw anything like it again. So they’re straining to recollect it, and Luke does his best to write down what they described.

And as soon as that tongue rests on each person, they begin to speak in tongues.

What Speaking in Tongues Actually Was

Many of you have heard that phrase. But what does it mean? There are entire churches and denominations for whom speaking in tongues is a core, critical part of their doctrine and a major part of their identity. And there are other churches that ignore it or outright deny it.

We’ll get to that controversy shortly. But first, what actually happened here? I think the answer is in the very next section.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?” (Acts 2:5–8)

Then verses 9 through 11 list a series of nations. And halfway through verse 11, after “Cretans and Arabians,” we read:

“…we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” (Acts 2:11–13)

Speaking in tongues, here, is simply speaking another language.

It isn’t a lost language. Some argue for a heavenly language, but at least in this case they are speaking the languages of earth — the languages of men. The difference is that instead of downloading a language app and spending months studying, they instantly had the ability to speak it.

And we should also ask what they were saying in those languages. Verse 11 tells us: they were “telling the mighty works of God.”

What was the most recent mighty work of God? The resurrection — just fifty days earlier.

In other words, these disciples are sharing about the resurrection. They’re preaching the gospel. And they’re doing it in the heart language of everyone listening.

Why Heart Language Matters

I skipped verses 9 through 11, but skim them and you’ll notice all those names aren’t suburbs of Jerusalem. They’re nations. People groups. And they all spoke different languages.

Now, most people in that day spoke at least two languages, often three or more. So if the disciples had spoken in Koine Greek, or in Hebrew since they were all Jews, they probably would have been understood.

But there is something about hearing something in your heart language.

In many nations today people speak several languages. You could say, “We’re going to this country and everyone there speaks French, so we’ll speak French.” But it turns out that at home, in the kitchen, they’re speaking their own language. That’s why so many missionaries and Bible translators fight to get Scripture into a people’s heart language — because that’s the language they think in. That’s the one that moves them emotionally. That’s how they’ll understand it best.

And it communicates something else: God is for you. You don’t have to become French or English or Spanish or German to understand this gospel. This gospel can come to you in your own language.

So God empowers them immediately to speak these languages, the gospel goes out, and it cuts people to the heart.

That’s remarkable to me, because it tells us several things.

First, it means God is for all of these people. They didn’t have to go learn another language. God moved to communicate with them right where they were. It shows us His heart for people.

Second, remember the mandate — Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth. And here are Jews from all around the region, as far as Egypt and Rome. Whether they’d come in for Pentecost or had chosen to relocate to Jerusalem to live among fellow Jews, they are hearing the gospel. The nations had come to Jerusalem, and right at the very beginning, the power of the Holy Spirit falls and they begin sharing what they witnessed — the death and resurrection of Christ.

Notice too that the Galileans didn’t need this. They could have talked among themselves in Koine Greek or Hebrew. This was never about them. This was ultimately about the outsider.

Sometimes churches get so wrapped up in themselves that they forget God’s heart for those outside. We never want to ignore you — you matter, and we want to invest in you and disciple you, because you’re the ones who will go into the harvest. The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. But we always have to hold the posture that we want to reach the harvest and welcome people into this church family, because that’s exactly what we see God doing here.

Sometimes God Sends the Nations to You

One more thing this shows us: God had sent the nations to Israel.

Sometimes “going” doesn’t mean becoming an overseas missionary. It might. But it doesn’t have to. Sometimes going means going to work. Or going to school. Or going across the street. Or going across the room. Because sometimes, rather than sending you to the nations, God sends the nations to you.

Did you know there are around 150 international students at the college right down the road? God has sent the nations to us.

That’s why I’d encourage you this August to sign up to become a friendship family. It runs through the international department. They connect you with one student — more if you want — and all you do is build a relationship. Connect a couple of times a year. Make sure they’re doing okay. Do they need to get laundry done? Do they need a ride to the store? Just show them the love of God through your time. And if God leads and the conversations open up, you might help them find Jesus — or, if they already follow Jesus, help them go deeper with Him.

Fulfilling this mandate doesn’t always mean sending a mission team to Haiti. We can do that. But God has also sent people from Haiti to us. And from Africa, and Europe, and South America, and Central America. They’re right down the street. How can we be a blessing to them?

Now, the Controversy

Let’s talk about speaking in tongues. There’s essentially a spectrum.

On one end are those who believe what we read in Acts 2 is meant to be a common, normative experience in the Christian faith. These folks are often called Pentecostals, because they believe the events of Pentecost are for today — or charismatics, from the Greek word charis, meaning grace or gift, because they believe the spiritual gifts, including the miraculous ones, are still in operation.

Many in that camp teach that if you follow Christ you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit — because that’s what we see here, a group of Jesus followers together in a room receiving the Spirit — and that the evidence of that baptism is speaking in tongues.

On the other end are cessationists, who argue that the miraculous gifts were used by God in that era and have since faded. They don’t deny that any of this happened. They just believe these things have passed away.

Part of their evidence comes right after the famous love passage:

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:8–10)

Their argument is that the Scriptures are that perfection — that once the canon was complete, we had everything we needed to know the heart of God, and the miraculous gifts were no longer necessary.

They also point to the biblical record itself. As we study through Acts, we’ll see a great deal of miraculous activity early on, and then watch it become less and less frequent. And if you arrange Paul’s letters chronologically, you’ll notice that in earlier ones like 1 and 2 Corinthians he discusses spiritual gifts at length, while in the later letters he mentions them far less, if at all. So their conclusion is that Acts 2 records a historical event, not a normative experience for every follower of Jesus.

Where I Land

My purpose today isn’t to dive deep into this. It has been debated for hundreds — maybe a thousand — years, and we are not going to settle it in a thirty-five minute sermon. So we’re going to skip a rock across the surface, just enough to help you understand where we are as a church.

First, know this: we are a big tent church. You do not have to believe exactly as we do in order to be part of this family and worship with us. This is not a “see it this way or you’re out” issue.

I have great respect for my charismatic brothers and sisters. I grew up in a charismatic church. I saw their heart for God, their passion, their love of God’s power, their openness to however He wants to lead. I respect that deeply.

I also have great respect for my cessationist brothers and sisters. Many of them have a profound love of the Scriptures. Some of our finest theologians come from that tradition, and they’ve had enormous influence on Christianity.

So I don’t say any of this to declare one side wrong. I believe they’re all part of the kingdom of God, and we can learn from all of them as we try to understand what Scripture actually teaches.

When I left my charismatic church, I had a lot of questions. I had seen and experienced things that seemed to contradict what cessationists claim. But I had also seen and experienced things that contradicted what my charismatic church had taught me. So when I left home for college, I was genuinely confused, and I decided I needed to step back and work it out for myself.

Here’s where I landed, and where I still land years later.

I can’t fully land in the cessationist camp, as much as I respect them. When 1 Corinthians 13 says that when the perfect comes the partial will pass away, Paul goes on to describe what sounds to me like heaven. Heaven is the place of perfection. When this life is complete and we enter into what is perfect, there’s no more need for knowledge, because God Himself is right there teaching us. There’s no more need for prophecy, because God is declaring it directly. There’s no more need for tongues, because we’ll all be speaking the language of heaven.

So I want to hold an open hand. If God desires to give someone the spiritual gift of tongues because He’s going to use it to help someone else find Jesus, then God has my permission to do so.

That said, I can’t fully land in the charismatic camp either.

For one thing, I saw the confusion it brought people — and Paul addresses exactly that:

If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? (1 Corinthians 14:23)

Sometimes we chase after these gifts because there’s something euphoric in the experience — but then it becomes all about me and my experience, and it actually becomes a hindrance to the gospel being shared. The entire point of God sending the Spirit and enabling them to speak in tongues was so they could declare the mighty works of God, including the resurrection. And Paul is warning that this same gift, misused, can keep someone from hearing the gospel at all. They’ll look at you and conclude you’re crazy, and they won’t want to listen.

That’s why he says a few verses earlier:

Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue. (1 Corinthians 14:19)

I also don’t think Scripture teaches that everyone speaks in tongues. I was taught I needed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and that the evidence would be tongues. But 1 Corinthians 12, right after Paul says he wants them to understand spiritual gifts, describes different gifts given to different believers:

To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:10)

So God gives the ability to speak these languages to some — not necessarily to all. And he confirms it at the end of the chapter with a string of rhetorical questions: “Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?” The unstated answer is no.

So I can’t say tongues have completely ceased, because if God wants to use them, I believe He can and will. But I also don’t believe there’s a baptism of the Holy Spirit separate from your salvation, with tongues as the required evidence.

Has that been some people’s experience? Yes. Has it been mine? No.

I believe the baptism of the Holy Spirit happens the moment you put your faith in Christ. Ephesians puts it this way: you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. God brands you. And in that moment He gives you spiritual gifts. If He wants you to have the gift of tongues because that’s what’s needed to help someone find and follow Jesus, that’s His prerogative. But in our day it’s far more likely He’ll give you a gift of mercy, or teaching, or leadership, or acts of service — things that benefit the church now and help outsiders in the harvest find Jesus.

I’m going to let God be God. If He wants to give these gifts, He can. All I know is that He’s given me certain gifts, and my job is to figure out how to use them for His glory and the benefit of His people.

That’s roughly where I land, and where Riverwood lands. But again — big tent. If you disagree on this and yet you know it’s all about Jesus, then this is a church we want you to be part of.

All of It Points to Christ

Because that’s ultimately what I see in Acts 2. In the middle of all the confusion, we get so caught up in tongues that we miss that all of this is pointing to Christ.

We see it in what they’re declaring — the mighty works of God, which would have included the resurrection. And we see it in what comes next: Peter’s sermon.

Peter preaches an absolutely brilliant sermon. We won’t read the whole thing, which is another reason to go back to it later today. But here’s the outline.

We ended the previous section with people mocking, assuming these men were drunk. And honestly, you can understand why. You hear this rushing wind. You wonder what it was. Someone says they think it came from over there. The crowd starts moving, so you move with it. You arrive and maybe you can’t pick out your own language, or maybe you don’t speak any of the languages being spoken, and it just sounds like noise. So you think, these people are weird. They must be drunk.

Peter starts exactly where the people are:

For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. (Acts 2:15)

The Jews counted the day from sunrise, so the third hour is roughly nine in the morning. Guys, it’s mid-morning. We are not drunk.

Then he moves them from where they are — “a bunch of crazies” — to where God is:

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:16–18)

He’s saying: You think we’re drunk. Actually, God is at work, fulfilling a prophecy He made seven or eight hundred years ago through Joel. And right here, today, it’s happening.

And remember, he’s speaking to an audience of Jews who would know the book of Joel. So they’re thinking, I know that passage — and it starts to dawn on them.

But Peter doesn’t stop with Joel. He doesn’t say, “So that’s what’s going on, everyone head back inside and we’ll keep speaking in tongues.” He ties it directly to what God has just done — the resurrection.

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know… (Acts 2:22)

Keep in mind these people were alive while Jesus walked the earth. They’d heard His teaching. They’d heard about the miracles. Some had probably seen them. So Peter is saying, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.

…this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. (Acts 2:23)

Some in that audience had also been in the crowd at the trial yelling “Crucify him!” Others had heard about it and stayed silent — never crying out that He was innocent, that He was from God, that they shouldn’t do this. They stayed quiet out of fear. And Peter puts it squarely on them: you crucified Him when you handed Him over to lawless men.

But Peter knows the story isn’t over:

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2:24)

Think about what’s happening. God empowered everyone to speak all these languages so people could hear the gospel in their heart language. And now Peter is confirming what they just heard, speaking where everyone can understand: God loves you. God is for you. Jesus died for you — even though you’re the ones who sent Him to the cross.

Repent and Be Baptized

It clearly lands, because at the end of it:

“Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:37–38)

Two things.

First, repent. For those in the audience who yelled “crucify him,” repent. For those who stood silent while Jesus was handed over, repent. And even for those who’ve simply been living for themselves, steeped in their own sin — repent.

But he doesn’t stop there. He isn’t a street preacher shouting “repent or go to hell.” He gives the next step: and be baptized.

Baptism is preaching the gospel with your body. Just as Jesus died on a cross, was buried in a tomb, and was raised to new life, when a Christian says “I give my life to Jesus,” they step into the water, are buried with Christ, and are raised to walk in newness of life. Just as you take an outward bath to get clean, God has done an inner, spiritual work to make you clean. It’s publicly declaring that because Jesus gave His life for me, I now give my life to Him. The old me is gone. A new me has risen. I’ve been given new birth in Christ, and I’m going to follow Him.

So if you know the gospel — you know Jesus died on a cross for your sins, you know He rose from the dead — but you’ve never been baptized, it’s time. It’s time to obey.

Think about it: this is the very first sermon ever preached, at the very first church gathering. And the application is repent and be baptized. From the very beginning. Because as Peter points out, you will receive forgiveness of sin. And if God has given you that, why would you not give all of you to Him?

So go public. Get baptized. Let us know and we’ll make it happen — we’ll borrow a tank again, or buy our own, or rent something, or plan something for the summer down at the river. Let’s just make it happen.

Jesus gave His life for you. Will you go public and say you’re giving your life to follow Him?

Three Thousand in a Day

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:41)

Sit with that a second. In chapter 1, verse 15, we’ve got about 120 people — a country church. In one day, three thousand are added. Megachurch.

I cannot imagine the logistical nightmare. And yet it happened, and they welcomed them.

Which is why I want to close by speaking to three different groups.

If You’re Part of the Riverwood Family

And by family I don’t mean formal membership — our word for that is partner, which is a different level of commitment. If you’re here on Sundays, if you’re getting into a growth group, if you’re serving with us, you’re part of the family.

Two things for you. First, the power of the Holy Spirit is meant to work through us.

Second, new people matter to God. He didn’t tell that merry band of 120 to keep to themselves. He added three thousand — talk about wrecking your small group. People mattered so much to Him that He gave the ability to speak in the heart languages of all these different groups.

People matter that much to God. They need to matter that much to us. So when new people come on a Sunday, we need to be the most welcoming place on the planet.

I don’t have any fear that someone walking in here is going to get rejected — you all are great. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get better. I understand the pull. We’re Iowans. We’re nice. We want to find our friends, the people we know, the folks in our growth group. How was your trip? How’d that go? How’s work? That’s good and right.

Just let’s not do it in a way that excludes the new person. We need to learn to say to each other, “Can I talk to you in a minute? I want to go greet that person.” Because new people matter to God, and you have no idea what story God is writing in their life. That person might become your closest friend. That person might need Jesus. That person might end up leading here someday. And if all we do is huddle up and ignore them, we may never get to see God work in and through them.

So let’s be as welcoming as we possibly can — not just on Sundays, but in our whole lives. At work. At school. In our neighborhoods. Let’s invite people into our growth groups. Let’s invite people to serve alongside us. Let’s have a culture of invitation, because God clearly loves people.

If You’re New Here

Maybe this is your first or second or fourth time and you’re not sure yet whether this is where you want to be.

Let me be honest: we’re not the biggest church, and we’re definitely not the coolest, because you have to put up with me as a pastor. I was cool for about seventeen seconds in 1996. Those were the glory days — glory seconds, I should say.

So you’re not coming here for awesomeness. What you’re going to get is a group of people who genuinely want to pursue Jesus. Some of us are new at this. Some of us are stumbling along. Some of us are deeply passionate. But we’re all trying to move the same direction — toward Christ. Just like this whole passage, with all its confusion about tongues and wind and fire, ultimately points to Jesus. That’s the kind of church we want to be.

If you follow Jesus, we’d love to have you be part of this. Just know we’ll do everything we can to keep pointing you to Christ. And if all you want is to show up on Sundays and be comfortable, you’re welcome — but you’re going to hear regularly that God has something more for you. We don’t want you to simply find the American dream and get comfortable. We want you to have a God-sized dream and watch Him do more in you than you thought possible. I believe God has a bigger dream for your life than you realize, and I’d love to be part of watching Him work through you.

If You Don’t Know Christ

Maybe someone dragged you here. Maybe you’ve joined online, or you’ll listen to this on the podcast later. Maybe you’re here out of duty, or for reasons you can’t quite name. But if you’re honest with yourself, you know: I don’t know Jesus. I haven’t put my faith in Him.

Then I’ll simply give you Peter’s invitation. Repent and be baptized.

God loves you. Jesus died for you. Your sin can be forgiven through the cross. God wants to rescue you from what you’re trapped in and bring you into new life. All He asks is that you repent of that sin and be baptized, saying, “I now belong to Him.”

If that’s you, let this next moment become the moment you give your life to Jesus.

A Prayer

Heavenly Father, I pray for anyone here who isn’t yet a follower of You — that as they pray, You would hear them confess their sin and repent of it. Hear their longing to follow You. Hear their thankfulness that You forgive them, and that there is no sin so great that the cross of Christ cannot vanquish it.

Jesus, we’re so grateful for who You are and what You did — that this mighty work of God was done on our behalf. We didn’t deserve it. It was out of Your love, Your grace, Your goodness, Your mercy, Your joy that You went to the cross to free us from sin. So I pray that right now would be someone’s spiritual birthday.

Lord, I pray for the person searching for a church home. If Riverwood is the place for them, we’d love to see them be part of this as we go out into the harvest. And if Riverwood isn’t the right fit, help them connect with the church family that will disciple them, help them go deep with You, and get them on mission for You.

God, we’re so surrounded by the things of this earth that we get entrapped by them and miss something bigger and better. Forgive us for chasing comfort, for chasing prestige and reputation, for chasing material things that will fade. Keep reorienting our hearts so we value You most — that You would be what stirs our affections, what we treasure, and what centers us.

And Lord, I pray for us as a church. I’m so grateful that nine years after our launch — after many days when I didn’t think this would ever happen — You did it. It clearly didn’t happen by my talent or anyone else’s. It’s a testimony to what You have done. And I’m thankful that I believe You still have better and greater days ahead.

Help us be a place that treasures You — and because we treasure You, that we would have Your heart and love people the way You love them. Your heart is clearly for the nations. Stir our hearts to feel the same, and let it show in how we interact with our friends, our growth groups, our families at home, the people we work with, go to school with, play with.

May we be a church that loves the international students at the college. That loves all the college students. That loves the senior citizens who may be stuck at home. That loves those who feel shut in, or ignored, or cast out. People matter to You. So often we only want to be around people who are like us, who think like us and speak like us — and yet Your kingdom is clearly for all. Give us that kind of heart, because I believe that’s where we’ll find our greatest joy and where You’ll be most glorified.

And finally, I pray for our unity. Many churches have divided over these very issues — the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and a number of others. These things matter, but so often we lose the gospel in the middle of the argument. Help us be a church centered on Jesus, built on the foundation of Christ, with Him as our cornerstone — so that we can navigate these issues with love and grace, and understand who You call us to be and what mission You call us to.

God, we want to be faithful to the mandate. I believe You’ve given us Your Holy Spirit. Help us live in His power and go to our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Protect us. Give us unity. Don’t let our enemy come in to steal and kill and destroy what You’ve done here. I believe You want to do something wonderful in this world, and we want to be part of it. In Jesus’s name we pray, amen.