All right. Good morning. You ready to get after it? Let's do it. Grab your Bible. So last week, we started our new book study in the book of Ephesians. Um, and this week we're actually going to, we covered two verses last time, but we're going to jump back to the book of acts, and we're going to spend three weeks looking at the establishment of the ministry in Ephesus and really out from Ephesus. Uh, so for the next three weeks, we're going to be in the book of acts. Uh, looking at it's just an amazing, powerful ministry that goes on there. Um, one that hopefully stirs up in us kind of a desire for the same thing. Like, God, please do something in a mighty way among us as well. Um, and here's the good news. God is still actively doing powerful works of ministry in our world. It's not just like a back then type of thing. That's a today type of thing. In fact, today, uh, across the three services, we're celebrating thirty one people getting baptized. It is so exciting. But even in our short life of a church. Uh, you you get some experiences of that and you just want, like, more. Please, God, would you do more of that? Would you draw more people to yourself? Would you do that more among us? And we want to see a powerful work of God among us. And hopefully that's a shared desire, right? Yeah. Like we don't want to just go through the motions of church and show up and kind of check the box like, no, like, God, show up. Do what only you can do. Help us have a front row seat to you doing that. So which raises the question to me is, well, what should we be about if we want to see a powerful work of God among us, like as a church, like we confess it's God's work. We can't do that. But but only God can. But we want him to do it here amongst us. So. So what should we be about as a church to see that kind of work among us? So the book of acts turn to acts chapter eighteen. We're going to get the last part of eighteen and the first part of nineteen. And while you're turning there, let me give you some context. Uh, so Paul takes, uh, he took three missionary journeys where he kind of goes out and spreads the gospel and, and starts churches. And Paul is at the end of his second missionary journey and he's heading back to Antioch. It's this kind of sending church. He's just just got a haircut, a part of a vow he made, and he's kind of going back home, regroup, and he's going to go back out. Uh, and on their way back, they stop at Ephesus. I say they because he's traveling with Priscilla and Aquila. It's a married couple that he met in his ministry that travels with him and helps him in that ministry. Now, Priscilla is the wife and Aquila is the husband. I'm just it's not like Bill and Sarah. So in case you didn't know which is which. I'm just helping you out. So Priscilla and Aquila are traveling with him, and they go to Ephesus. And as his custom, Paul stops and he begins to reason with the Jews in that town of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, they're intrigued and they like, want him to stay longer. But he made this vow and he's on his way back to Antioch. So he's like, no, but I'll come back and he says, I'll come back, Lord willing, because he knows like, yeah, I have my desires, but but God's in control and he's going to do so. He says, Lord willing, I'll be back. But he leaves Priscilla and Aquila there. And when he leaves, a guy by the name of of Apollos comes. And this is where we're going to pick up at. So acts chapter eighteen, starting in verse twenty four. You guys ready to get in the word? Yes. All right. Verse twenty four. Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus. Though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, They took him aside and explained to him the way. More accurately. So you are accurate, but you weren't accurate enough. Like you could be more accurate. There was some correction brought there. And when he wished to cross to a key, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who, through grace, had believed. So that's looking back into last week's message. How did they believe? By grace they. Through grace they believed. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. Now let's get some some back up and look at this a little bit, Apollos. This is where we get introduced to this character, Apollos. Uh, he was a Jew from Alexandria. Now Alexandria rivaled Athens in its reputation for knowledge. They had the greatest library in the world. And Apollos was a smart and talented dude. Like what we know of him. We know we can make that conclusion that he was a very gifted, charismatic, educated person, in fact. Just look at the words in this short description of him. He was eloquent, competent, had been instructed. So he was educated. He taught accurately, somewhat boldly. He refuted powerfully the Jews in public, like he was a charismatic leader, a charismatic preacher. In fact, in Corinth, they were having some some division problems and some he got lumped in with, like Peter and Paul. I mean, he's like, you know, pillars of the faith because they said, well, some follow Peter and some follow Paul and some follow Apollos. So it's like he's got this charismatic influence over people and he's starting something in Ephesus. Now, there's a bit of a debate on whether or not Apollos is a Christian. At this point. I think most people assume that he is, but it says that he taught accurately the things concerning Jesus. Well, Old Testament prophets taught accurately things concerning Jesus. They just didn't know they belonged to Jesus. And then it goes on to say, but he only knew of the baptism of John. So how much did he not know? What did he know? Um. But when Aquila and Priscilla confront him, it seems to deal less with his conversion and more with his correction. Either way, here's what we do know. Apollos was really good and a little bit off. Now, that could be a dangerous combination. Like if you're really talented and you've got a lot of charisma and you can preach and you can carry an audience, but you're kind of off doctrinally, you can create some problems here. So Apollos is really charismatic. He's eloquent, he's educated, he's this good teacher, but he's a little bit off. But what else we learn about Apollos is he's a really humble guy because when he gets corrected, like it would be easy for a talented, you know, speaker to kind of puff the chest up and be like, you don't know what I'm talking about. They came to listen to me. But no, he has ears for this rebuke, this correction, and he receives this correction. Now he gets sent on to Corinth. And when he leaves, uh, that's when Paul comes. And this is the beginning of Paul's third missionary journey. He doesn't take the sea to Ephesus. He works his way through the land, coming back to Ephesus. And this is what we're going to see in chapter nineteen. Let's look at the first verse. And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. Now when he gets to Ephesus, here's what he discovers. There he found some what? Ciples. Now, when we hear that word, disciples, what do we think? What comes to our mind? Christians, right. Got some Christians here. This is like, you know, there was a lot of types of disciples. It's like, well, disciple of who? A disciple of what? But it seems to me like I'm looking at some some Christians. That's where that word kind of gets used, especially in this context. But as we'll discover, they're not actually disciples, not actually disciples of Jesus, but they appear to Paul to be disciples. Um, have you ever been out in public and you see some other people and you think like, I think they're Christians. Now we don't have like a special look to us or a secret handshake or anything, but maybe you kind of observe some people and the way they talk or handle themselves, or maybe you're out to eat and you see them pray before the meal. It's like you don't know who they're praying to, but you're like, I think they're Christians. Like Paul comes into Ephesus and he's making some conclusions. Like, I think these are disciples. Now what we're going to discover is that they're not actually disciples of Christ. In fact, Alistair Begg is a wonderful preacher. He has a message over this text. And in the title of his message is almost Christians. Like they're almost Christians. They're close. And maybe that's where some of you are at. It's not that you're a new creation in Christ. You've been regenerated by the Holy Spirit who dwells in you and is doing a new work in your heart. But you talk Christian and you're engaged in Christian activity, and you have embraced Christian culture. Like, believe it or not, some people love church, right? They love church, they love youth group. That's their people. That's where they have community. That's where they belong. That's their sense of identity. Like they love church. But what happens when it's more about church than about Jesus? And Paul's witnessing these disciples? And it's like, I, I can see something like, are you a follower of Christ? There's some suspicion. There's some things I look at that make me wonder that. But he's like, but I got questions now to ask somebody religious questions. It's not the most politically correct thing for us to do in our culture. But I'm telling you, we got to get over that. Paul asks them like doctrinal questions like, where are you at with this? What do you believe? You need to have a greater sense of permission to ask people questions, religious questions. What do you believe about Jesus? What do you believe about the Bible? What do you believe about heaven and hell? He's seeking clarity, doctrinal clarity, because we don't want a bunch of almost Christians that almost make it to heaven. And if these are disciples of Apollos who started something in Ephesus, and Apollos need corrected, then most likely his disciples need some correction too. So Paul's going to ask some questions. Here's what he does. And he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Like, okay, good to know. We got some work to do. And he said, into what then were you baptized? And they said, Into John's baptism, John the Baptist. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling people to believe in the one who was to come after him, comma. Now their response might be like, yeah, we know that the one that's going to come after baptism of repentance, we're there. And then he goes, That's Jesus. Let me fill in some missing thing. That's Jesus that he talked about. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. They put their faith in Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all. Now, um, this brings us to the front steps of a doctrinal debate. And I just want to I want to touch on it because it's in our text. And, and if I just kind of stir up some curiosity for you to study more. That's fine. We're not going to spend a lot of time on it. But I do want to address it because this is a main text that that is that this comes out of, um, and here's the question, when does somebody receive the Holy Spirit? When does somebody receive the Holy Spirit? Because some people teach that the receiving of the Holy Spirit is like the second event after faith in Christ, that someone else comes and kind of helps you receive the Holy Spirit. And it's kind of like the second blessing where you kind of get elevated to kind of Christianity two point zero. Um, this is probably one of the main texts they go to, to, to make that case. Um, because it seems like that's what happens, right? These are disciples, but they didn't even know about the Holy Spirit. And then they received the Holy Spirit later. But I think there's more going on than that. What we would believe is someone receives the Holy Spirit at belief. And here's some passages that I think clearly teach that we'll see this later on in Ephesians. In him you also know, what's that next word when. All right, we get a timeline language here. When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, were sealed with the promised who, Holy Spirit. So he's saying clearly, like when you believed you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. This is in Galatians. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise spirit, the Holy Spirit, through what? Through faith. That's the way we receive the spirit. Or in Romans eight it says, you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Why do I know? If that's the case? Anyone who does not have the spirit, the Holy Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. So Paul is saying, there's no such thing as a Christian that doesn't have the Holy Spirit. Like if you're a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit. Um, those go in one. Now, if that's the case, then what's happening here? Because it seems to be different. Like they didn't, they had a faith but didn't receive the spirit. And it's like, when did you receive the spirit? That's an odd question to ask. And he's getting down to what happened. Well, when you read acts, it's a bit of an origin story. It's a narrative. It's telling about the establishment and the advancement of the Church of Jesus Christ. But the epistles are letters that were written to the churches to help instruct them in right doctrine and right living. And it's easier to get doctrine from the epistles than it is from acts, because that's the point of an epistle. Let me help you understand what to believe about this and how to live this out. But in acts, you're getting a story. It's a narrative. It's unfolding. And sometimes it's challenging to understand what's prescriptive and what's descriptive. What is what are they saying? That's just how it happened. I'm just describing what happened. And when are they saying this is how it should happen? So you get this challenge going on here. And when it comes to acts, this unfolding story about the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the establishment of churches, it follows the Great Commission given in the beginning of the letter, acts one eight. You remember that verse. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And that's kind of the thesis or the outline of the book. And then it just kind of follows that outline to Jerusalem, to Samaria, to Judea, to the ends of the earth. Like it just kind of unfolds that way. And there's four points in the book of acts where you see this kind of unique manifestation of the spirit in acts two, when Peter preaches the gospel to the Jews at Pentecost. Then in acts eight, when the gospel goes to the Samaritans. Then in acts ten, when the gospel goes to the Gentiles. And then here in acts nineteen, when the gospel comes to the displaced Jews who have kind of been pushed to the edge of the kingdom, kind of to the ends of the earth, where the gospel is continuing to spread. So this was a validating sign as the apostles spread the gospel into new territory, not a normal occurrence for everyone who believes. You tracking with me? Okay, a few of you are. I'm just going to keep going because the clock's going. You can wrestle with it, but this is a validating sign. As the apostles spread the gospel in a new territory, not a normal occurrence for everyone who believes. In fact, when you get into the epistles, what's clearly taught is the spirit is given at belief to all who believe. And here Paul is coming into a new place where there's confusion and his message is validated in a unique display of the spirit. Now, I'm not making a statement, a statement about sign gifts like prophecy and speaking in tongues. What I am saying is we should not connect those to salvation or some kind of Christianity. Two point zero if you're a Christian, you have the spirit at belief. You are sealed with the spirit. That's wonderful news. Now I want to get back to, I think, what the main thrust of the point is here. Did you notice how it ended? In our section in verse seven it says this. now he he gives a stat and it's not even a very impressive stat. And you're like, why did you say that? He gives a number. But but I think the number will trigger something. He says there were about twelve men in all. Does that remind you of anything? Does that remind you of the. Yeah, the apostles, the disciples. Guys, there is so much parallelism happening in this text. It's it's just awesome. I get nerdy excited about it. I want you to get it because like, there's a point in it, there's intentionality in the writing and there's a communication about something. Because what happened in this gospel explosion through the ministry of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist comes on the scene first and he starts something, and then Jesus comes on the scene and Jesus picks twelve guys and baptizes them. They get baptized and they get sent out. And this gospel explosion ministry happens, right? So now you get kind of the to the ends kind of out Ephesus out on the outskirts of the kingdom and the gospel is still advancing. And you have Apollos, who is a disciple of John the Baptist, and he comes to Ephesus first and kind of paves the way. And then Paul, who is a disciple of Jesus Christ, who is called into ministry by Christ himself, comes and preaches the gospel of Christ, baptizes twelve guys, and the gospel explodes, you see? Do you get it? Okay. AM I the only one excited about this? Like nerdy stuff? But it's like, that's the point. Like the point is the powerful work of Christ continues. It doesn't stop. It's not like, oh, that happened then. And that was kind of a Jesus thing. The Jesus thing is still happening. The Jesus thing is still happening with power. He's still drawing people. And with just twelve dudes, he's changing the world like it wasn't just a then thing. It's like, I'll get a new twelve in this spot and we'll rock this thing. Like he's just, the ministry is advancing now. This is a powerful work of ministry. Let me let me read the next section. And he this is talking about. Paul entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning, persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when son became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way, that was kind of a way to describe Christianity, the way speaking evil of the way before the congregation. That's interesting that he's speaking evil of the way before the congregation, like in the church, mocking Paul as he's preaching. That's kind of what he's facing there. He withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Did he get how that ended? All the residents of Asia. I know some time has elapsed. That's a big place. You go from twelve guys who are embracing the gospel of Jesus Christ and all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Gentiles and Greeks, have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is an explosive ministry. In fact, we'll see in a couple of weeks, a riot breaks out in Ephesus because the gospel proclamation in Ephesus was so influential that the the they were selling fewer statues of idols, and the makers of those statues were losing business and got mad, started a riot. Like that's gospel preaching affecting a local economy. This is a powerful work of ministry. I want to be clear on that. But the question is why or how we want that. Like what's behind this powerful ministry? And to understand this, I think we need to understand the contrast between John the Baptist and Jesus. Because that's the transition. These guys were disciples of John the Baptist. They were baptized with the baptism of repentance. but it just kind of just like twelve of them. You know, it's just like not a. Lot something, but not a lot. But then Paul comes on the scene, preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. They become disciples of Jesus. Boom. Like gospel ministry. It's advancing. In fact, in these two years, probably all of the seven churches in revelation were planted like ministry is going forward. So. So why is that? How is that happening? And again, I think John's against this because remember what he said when the disciples like, hey, people are leaving us and going with Jesus. He says, yeah, I need to decrease and he needs to increase. And might that be so even in our own church, that a John the Baptist type of ministry needs to decrease in a Jesus Christ type of ministry needs to increase. Like, what do you mean by that? See, in the ministry in Ephesus was lacking the spirit before this, but they had a lot of of enthusiasm and a lot of devotion. They had a lot of passion, but they didn't have the right message. They didn't have the full message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it doesn't matter how passionate you are or how devoted you are, if you don't have the gospel, you don't have power. Because if you don't have the gospel, you don't have the spirit. The spirit is not a separate work from gospel proclamation. It's not like, oh, you preach the gospel. Well, we're really into the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That's not it's not a separate thing. The Holy Spirit accompanies the preaching of the gospel. It's it's united in the same work. Because, you know what's interesting? When Paul asked them, uh, when did you receive the Holy Spirit? And they said, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Here's what he doesn't do. Oh, well, let me spend a lot of time talking to you about the Holy Spirit. What's he do? He preaches Christ and the Holy Spirit comes with power. Because the Holy Spirit accompanies the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what's bringing the power. But this might have been more of a John the Baptist Church than a Jesus Christ Church, because John came with a baptism of repentance, a needed message. But it was a prerequisite, not the main course. You remember the ministry of John the Baptist, kind of a wild guy eating locusts out in the wilderness, telling people, knock it off. Change. Don't put your hope in your ethnicity. You need to repent. You know, stop stealing. Stop being greedy. Like he's calling people to change. And you better get your mind right. Better get your life right because the Messiah is coming. But he brought more of a critique than a solution, and he knew it. He knew the limitations of his ministry. Here's what he says about Jesus. I baptize with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you. With what? With who? The Holy Spirit and fire. It's like he's bringing some power. Like I'm. I'm a pointer to that. But I'm not bringing the power. He's bringing the power. And we can't just be a John the Baptist church. We need to be a Jesus Christ Church. Now, do you know what I mean by that? Here's what I'm getting at. We can't just be excited about the potential of reform and the call to devotion and the rebuke of sin that can be motivating and even convicting, but it's not powerful. We need to be freed and empowered by the reality of redemption. Because Christian repentance. Hear me now, Christian repentance is not just turning from sin, it's turning to Christ. It's not just about saying no to stuff, saying no to sin, saying no to bad things. It's about saying yes to God and His salvation. The God who comes to our rescue, who forgives our sin, who gives us His Spirit and changes us from the inside out. That's powerful. See, John the Baptist was the last Old Testament prophet. And sometimes it's tricky to conclude that because you read about him in the New Testament, but he's under the Old Covenant and he knew his limitations. He's like, I'm just a baptism of repentance. You don't just need repentance. You need the Holy Spirit. You need God. You need God to change your life. I'm just saying that's bad, but you need more than that. In fact, you know that's bad. You need God to move in and change you. And Jesus comes and he ushers in the new covenant. In fact, he talks about this in one Corinthians eleven. He's celebrating communion. This is a reference back to the celebration of communion with his disciples. In the same way, also, Jesus took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the. What new covenant in my blood now new covenant talk was not something Jesus. Jesus just made up. New covenant talk was Old Testament language. Go back to Jeremiah. It's Jeremiah. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a. What new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them up out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. I'm going to do an internal work, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will not forgive their iniquity, and remember their sins no more. He's talking about the work of Jesus Christ, who brings in the new covenant through his blood. This is Ezekiel. Some of you aren't as excited about this as you should be. He goes, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit, the Holy Spirit, within you and cause you. I'm going to do an internal work, cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. As this powerful ministry comes from a powerful gospel, that's where it comes from. Powerful ministry comes from a powerful gospel. Listen, if I stand up here and talk about the evils of sin in our world, I could talk about how greed is just kind of taking over our culture, how sexual immorality is rampant in our culture. I could talk for a while about just the debauchery that's all around us. And you know what? There may be some conviction in the room, and there may be even a sense of unity around a shared frustration of the depravity in our culture. Right. And we might even have some motivation behind that. Like, we don't like that, but there's no power. That's very different from me standing up here and saying like, okay, yeah, we know the problem. Let me talk about the solution. Christ came to our rescue. He is a forgiveness of sins. He makes all things new. He puts his spirit in us and changes us from the inside out like he has the solution. He is our rescuer. That's powerful. And that's when we get to Ephesians and Paul starts, um, talking about spending so much time talking about the gospel, about how God is rich in mercy, and he lavished his grace upon us. And it's grace that you're saved through faith. It's not a work of your own. No one can boast like because the gospel is power. In fact, the way Paul puts it in Romans one sixteen is I'm unashamed of the gospel, for it is the what power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek. He's saying it's the power to save everybody. It's his power to say, it doesn't matter who you are. God's gospel has God's power. So why would I be ashamed of it? I'm not embarrassed because here's what I've experienced. I preach it. And do people mock me? Yes. Do people throw rocks at my face? Yes. And some people's lives are changed forever. Like their eyes are open, their hearts are changed. I see God work when I preach the gospel, so I'm not ashamed of it. I've witnessed the power. You can put it this way. Powerful ministry comes from a transforming gospel. I see God's transforming work when the Word of God is preached and proclaimed. Thomas. Thomas Chalmers, an old pastor, wrote a book. It kind of describes it this way the explosive power of a new affection. Like when you get a new heart. When that heart of stone is taken out, the heart of flesh is given like it's explosive. And church, hear me now. Please hear me. We cannot be just a group of people that just hate sin. We have to be a group of people that love Jesus. That's just half. That's just a John the Baptist church. We could rally, we could gather, and we can kind of share this frustration about how broken this world is. And we can gripe about it and we can say, this is awful. That is just the John the Baptist church. That's just just like, don't do that. That's not that's not the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're not going to have a unity built on a shared frustration of the depravity of our world. We have to have a church built on our shared love of Jesus Christ that he came and he rescued us. Alright. That's that's good man. A few of you out of three services. This is wonderful. The disciples of Apollos, they had external traits. Enough for when Paul comes in, he's like, I'm wondering if these are disciples, but not internal transformation. Until Paul came and preached the gospel of Christ, and then ministry exploded. His powerful ministry comes from a powerful, transforming gospel. And we've talked a lot as a church about how external traits are evidence of internal transformation, which is true. It's a fruit, but it's not a guarantee. It's not a guarantee. In fact, they may be a disguise covering up the reality of no internal transformation at all. It's like, oh, you're always at church, you're always reading the right books, and you serve in the ministries and you do all the right things. No one would ever think to peek behind that curtain. But if they did, it's still a heart of stone. Like it could just be a disguise. In fact, I think one of the scariest. We've shared this one of the scariest verses in all the Bibles. In Matthew seven, it says this. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. On that day many, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness! Now what if the failure here in these verses is not a failure of devotion? Because they're doing some pretty cool stuff? What if it's a failure of dependence? I never knew you. You never came to me as Savior. You never depended on me. What if this is talking about almost Christians? A lot of commitment and devotion and passion and works and knowledge. But no dependence. No. No spirit empowered living, no internal transformation, no surrender to the gospel. Because guys, almost Christians always try their best. They're always trying to be great people. But that's very different than responding to the finished work of Christ and operating out of a restful position because, you know you're forgiven and loved. Two very different things. One is frustrating. One is powerful. Which one is it for you? Listen, guys, I want you to get this. Our call to you. It's not just repent. Our message is not just stop it. That's bad. Don't do it. Get your life together. That's a needed message. It's just John the Baptist's message. Our message and call to you is put your faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the forgiveness of sin. See him as your Lord, as your King, as the satisfier of your soul. That's where power is. That's where the Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence and changes us from the inside out. And maybe you're just like, I don't want to be an almost Christian. So what do I do? What am I supposed to do? Here's what I'm going to say, and I want to explain it, but let me just say first and let me explain it. Get baptized and you're like, well, why do you say that? Well, that's what happened, right? So if you look at verse five, on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. But even if you go back in acts and it's like, okay, Peter preaches the gospel at Pentecost and people are like, all right, we're convicted. What do we do? Here's, here's what happens. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be what? Baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of who, the Holy Spirit. Okay, what about Paul's conversion? What happens there? So Ananias departed and entered the house and laying his hands on Paul, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized. How about when he took the gospel to the Gentiles? While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles, for they were hearing them speak in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, can anyone withhold water for baptism, for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? No. Like this is kind of what follows. Because guys, when you are baptized in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit, it is the commanded expression of the embracing of the gospel. So when I say be baptized, I'm saying be obedient in expressing your embracing of this gospel. Embrace the gospel like see Christ as your Savior. See him as your King. See him as your Lord. See him as the one who satisfies every longing you have in your heart. And with that comes the power of the Holy Spirit to change your life. Because we believe in supernatural work of conversion, that God does take out a heart of stone, and he does put in a heart of flesh. And our message is not a message of just do better. Nor is when people get getting baptized today. They're not saying, I want to do better. That's not the. That's not our baptism. Our baptism is a baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. So people get in in that tank are professing Jesus Christ as my Savior. I am depending on Christ. I'm aligning myself with Christ and His mission. I'm a sinner. He's a Savior. His grace is sufficient for me. I am dead to myself. I'm alive with Christ. It's a dependence on Christ. And the Christian life is a God empowered response to a God completed work that leads to a God empowered ministry. Now, I don't I don't have time to get into all this. Maybe it'll be a long behind the. I got like two pages of notes we didn't even get to. Um. But if we're going to have a powerful ministry at this church, and I don't just mean like numerical growth, I mean seeing God do what only God can do in our lives. If that's going to be the case, then we got to be a church that preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. We don't tamper with it. We don't change it. We don't veer from it. We preach Christ and Christ crucified. We preach the gospel. That's the power of God for salvation for all who believe. That's where our power is. We don't wander. We're not just here to help you have a better life now. We're here to help you see Christ as Savior. Or you put it this way, put a little bit more detail on it. Powerful ministry comes from accurate, bold, persuasive, resilient gospel proclamation. And I wish I had another half hour to unpack all of that. Um, but it's there. Like if you read your Bible, you can see it, right? The gospel has to be accurate. Apollos needed correcting, right? Because if you want to have the power of the gospel, you got to get the gospel right and doctrine matters and you got to preach it boldly. That's what Paul does. He goes in the synagogue and he proclaims the gospel boldly, right? Sometimes we can be so afraid to offend anybody that we take all the edge off the gospel. We remove the offense of the cross that says, you're a sinner, you need a savior. And we lose the power of the gospel because we so padded it with like niceties that it's just, I don't know, you get it right. We can't worry about people's feelings more than we worry about their eternities, right? We need to be persuasive, not just bold, but persuasive. That word persuasive can also be translated confident because, you know, it's most persuasive. And when people who preach the gospel actually have a confidence in the gospel, they really believe it. You can see it in their lives. And we need to be resilient because when Paul was preaching, he was getting mocked by stubborn, uh, unbelievers who who ridiculed him, but he just kept preaching and just kept preaching and kept preaching. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to accurately, boldly, persuasively, resiliently preach the gospel because that is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. Amen. And we get to celebrate the power of God who? People who believed and they're confessing. I had a heart of stone. Now I got a heart of flesh that loves God. I was lost and now I'm found. I was blind and now I see. And we rejoice in that. Because a powerful work of God is just not a back then thing. It's a today thing. We just can't wander from the power source, continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and watch the power of God through the proclaimed message of Christ. So when these people get baptized, we're going to cheer. Somebody's going to whistle, right? Somebody may shout. Mary's going to shout. Right. We're going to have a good time, and we're going to do it while we worship. And some of you may be like, what am I supposed to watch the baptism? Or am I supposed to worship? Yes, that's too complicated. Don't chew gum to like, just, you can do this, but it's meant to stir up our worship. There is no. Listen to me, guys. There is no greater news than salvation found in Jesus Christ. Right? Of course we're going to cheer about it. We're going to cheer about what we sing, about how great our God is. And we're not just cheering for these people. We're cheering because our God saves people. He's alive and he's active. That's right. I don't want to be a church that's just mad about sin. AM I mad about sin? Yeah, we should hate what God hates. But if we're just a group of people that's mad about sin, there's no power in that. We need to be a group of people that's madly in love with the Savior. And we're not just repenting from something. We're repenting to someone. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would. Remind us of how great your grace is. That we would run to you. We would not just be frustrated with the brokenness in this world, but we would be completely captivated by its Savior. We would be free because we know your grace is sufficient. Your power is sure. Your promises are true. And would we be a worshiping people not just because we're commanded to? Because you're worthy of it. You command it, and you've given us reason to sing and to celebrate. And that reason is the grace of Jesus Christ. We love Jesus. We know you first loved us in Jesus, and all God's people said.