Loading summary
Transcript11 lines
- [00:12]
Lead Pastor
Church, family, I love you so much. You can stay standing. I was listening to Andrew backstage. And for those of you that are at different locations, I know that your campus pastors were talking about the same thing, and it's that we come into this weekend different than we had planned. I've been doing so good at not crying lately, and I broke everything. All the rules went out today, so forgive me ahead of time. Feels like every time we turn around, Satan, who came to steal, kill and destroy, we see him using this weapon of his called hate, and we just see the outcome too many times. You know, so many things in the last few weeks. So many heartbreaking things. Kids being murdered, Catholic schools, people on subways. We all know Wednesday woke up feeling heavy anyways, because it was like we're remembering 9, 11, and so many people that are still suffering heartbreak and loss from that. And then I'm walking through the office and someone looks at me and says, have you heard what just happened? And I said, no. And they literally just put their phone in my face. I wasn't trying to see it. And I, like most of you, saw the assassination of a man named Charlie Kirk. If I'm honest, I don't know much about him, except for what I've learned in the last few days is that Satan would love to use that assassination to continue to cause division in our country and division in our church. And I'm pissed off. I'll be honest. Red Rocks Church. Can we be a place where we're not going to put gas on the fire of hate? Can we be a place of love, humility, repentance? God said, if my people will humble themselves and pray, not spread hate. Humble themselves and pray and repent. He said, I'll hear you from heaven. I'll forgive your sins. I'll heal your land. Our world is broken. We know that the hope is Jesus. The one and only hope is Jesus. I couldn't hardly process, even though I didn't know much about the individual, I couldn't hardly process the instant heartbreak and almost shock because as I was watching it, they said, and his wife and his kids were there. And I'm trying to, what am I seeing and what is happening? And. And I didn't even have time to finish processing because I think about 60 seconds later, someone said, there's an active shooter at Evergreen High School. And now my brain's in shock in a whole nother direction. And we have people from Evergreen that are a part of every single one of our campuses here in Denver. And I start Hearing stories of students running out of the building, afraid for their lives. And then. And then I start hearing stories of some in heroic fashion, running back to get a little brother or a little sister. And I'm thinking, if I'm a parent, the faculty, the students, it's not fair, it's not right. And Satan would love to take every single one of these things and cause more division because they happened. And I say we be the church that says not on our watch. Everybody's welcome here doing this series called Rowdy Church. A rowdy church isn't a church that we all look the same, vote the same, and live the same. A rowdy church is Everybody's welcome here. We're all broken. We all need Jesus. And that's where our focus goes. We're gonna sing this song again. Just A Sec. Acts 1. In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day that he was taken up to heaven. After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen after his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. If by chance you had that same feeling this week of, I just think I need to be in church, but I don't know why and I don't know what I believe. God went way out of his way to prove that Jesus was the one and only son of the one and only God and the one and only way to heaven. And he brought him back to life. And there was so much physical eyewitness testimony that it couldn't be refuted then, can't be refuted now. He's alive and he's with us. And if you've never put your faith in him, you could do that before you leave here today. And I'm telling you, it'll change everything. Change your here and now. His spirit will begin to live inside of you and it'll change where you spend eternity. He presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days. Anybody around got a Kleenex? Just throw them up there. Thank you. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command. Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John, baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Do I blow my nose publicly or try to hide this or what do we do? You know, we got a situation going on here. Give me a Sec. So sorry. So gross. Struggling. But I'm here. Then they gathered around him and he asked them, lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said, it's not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive. Listen to this. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Here's what he said. Red rocks. He said, you're the plan. That's what he said. He said, I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit, and it's gonna give you power in ways that you never saw coming. But you're the plan. I don't know why he chose to partner with us. I got many questions for God when I get to heaven. Many. I mean, if you're creating the whole system, why couldn't it be? I'm trying a diet, so I got to stop eating Brussels sprout sprouts and just focus on Dairy Queen blizzards. Like, I got a lot of questions for God. One of them is, why would you partner with us? Why would you call me? You know me. He said, you're the plan. I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit, and it's going to give you the power to take what I've done in your life and turn around. You want to fight back against the enemy? You turn around and you go, share what I've done in your life with somebody else. In love. Not hate, not judgment. In love, in the fruits of the Spirit. If we're a real rowdy church and we don't all look alike and vote alike and live alike, then there's going to be disagreements. Great. Can we disagree with the fruits of the Spirit? Can we post with the fruits of the Spirit? Can we respond with peace and love and joy and patience and goodness and kindness and gentleness and self control? That's who we're called to be. That's how we make some noise for God's kingdom. Not by jumping on the hate train and just doing what everybody else does. We're built different. You put your faith in Jesus, His Spirit takes over, starts to change things. You can start to live in ways you never knew you could. And from that moment on, you're built different. He said, you're my plan. He said this. He was taken up before their eyes, and a cloud hit him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? That same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Church. The king is coming home. He's coming back. Every single thing we're dealing with today, although it feels like it's all there, God says, no, no. This thing goes like a mist here today, gone tomorrow. I'm coming back. I'm taking my bride. Everybody who said yes to Jesus. I'm taking my bride. You're going with me to heaven forever. Let's go. Let's sing that one more time.
- [11:28]
Worship Leader
The spirit and the bride together testify. All things shall be made.
- [11:41]
Lead Pastor
I.
- [11:45]
Worship Leader
The lost shall be restored the grief shall be no more and all the chance will roar I Come on every voice we sing Prepare the way the king is coming I praise the king is coming the last of us the living word in glory shall return we prepare the way with hearts like lamps that burn as light upon the earth we wait for his return Amen.
- [12:52]
Lead Pastor
No fear.
- [12:53]
Worship Leader
Of what to come I hope that in the one who said that it is done. Prepare the way the king is coming is all. How great. The king is coming the last of us. The living way in glory shall return we prepare the way Jesus we prepare the way the trumpet soon shall sound you right upon the cloud and every the honor in the flame the glory power and praise be unto Jesus name Amen.
- [14:22]
Lead Pastor
Can we sing the chorus one more time?
- [14:25]
Worship Leader
And prepare the way the king is.
- [14:30]
Lead Pastor
Coming.
- [14:36]
Worship Leader
On Praise the king is coming.
- [14:42]
Lead Pastor
The last, the first the living world in glory shall reign we prepare the way Prepare the way Jesus, wait. Prepare one more time One more time. Just the voices. Jesus waits. Prepare the way God, we need you. We know you're coming back, but until you do, we need you. We need your grace, we need your strength, we need your mercy. God, would you help us be the kind of people that we bypass what is easy and just throw hate back at everybody else? And could you help us to remember that because your spirit lives in us we're built different and we could lead with love and humility and repentance. God, would you help us be a light that shines in the dark like never before for your glory in Jesus name and everybody said Amen. You can sit down. I can't promise I won't ask you to stand back up here in a minute, but Tyler, stay close. If you or anyone you love right now is hurting, felt depressed Anxious, hopeless, angry, overwhelmed, scared, mad, sad, scared. All of it. You're in the right place. Welcome to Red Rocks Church. Welcome home. We're glad you're here. Psalm 46. God is our refuge and our strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear. God says, I'll be your refuge no matter what you go through. It's interesting. Jesus, he said these two things, and he used to mess with me because he said, in this world, you will have trouble. But then he also said, I came to give you life and life to the fullest, the abundant life, the Zoe life. And I used to think, well, which one is it? You know, maybe it's like a mountain range or a roller coaster. And it's like, there are days when I have life to the fullest, and then there are days when I have nothing but trouble. And it goes like this. And it did. It let me to start asking, like Jesus, which one is it, man? Is it, I'm gonna have trouble, or is it, I can have life to the fullest? And I think if he were here and like, we could hear his audible voice right now, and I could say, hey, Jesus, which one is it? I think he'd say, yes. Yep. Because here's the thing. He knew this didn't. While we're surprised, God's not. And he knew everything that we were going to deal with. And so he says, while you deal with troubles, when you're the most scared, when you're the most mad, when you're the most confused, when you're the most hurt, when you feel the most betrayed, I will be your refuge and I will be your strength. And you can have both at the same time. There's peace in his presence, there's joy in his presence. There's strength in his presence. There's victory in his presence. And Red Rocks Church. I think some of you may already be aware of this, but let me please remind you, we do not come to the church. We are the church. And we're going to do the same thing this weekend that we did all day Thursday. We opened up all the buildings, had staff praying in all the buildings, inviting students and faculty and parents and families. And then Thursday night, this place was packed out and we did just that. We said, we're hurting and we're broken humans. So we're gonna take you up on this offer, God, and we're gonna go to you as our refuge, and we're gonna put our hands up in worship when we don't understand what's going on. And we're gonna lock arms with other believers and we're gonna pray with each other and for each other. Cause we are the church. And so that's what we're gonna do this weekend. They're gonna sing a couple songs when I shut up. And we're gonna have people all across the front. And depending on which location you're at and where you're watching this from, if you happen to be in an overflow, we'll have staff come to you in the overflow. But we are going to be the church. We're going to declare that he's coming back. That Jesus is still the King of kings and the Lord of Lords in the middle of hard times, that he is still our only hope. And then we're going to lock arms with each other. And we're going to worship him because he's worthy. And we're going to call on him together for that strength, for that peace, for that grace, for that comfort that we need. God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. It's in times like this that I have to remind myself. I know everything seems like it's falling apart everywhere we seem to look these days. But see, I wasn't given a spirit of fear, but power, love and a sound mind. Power, love and a sound mind. And when I'm overwhelmed, I run to God as my refuge. And he gives me strength. And I take that strength and I take it to somebody else in love. And I say, man, I don't have all the answers, but can I tell you what Jesus did for me? That verse we read in Acts? See, these guys understood. They understood that Jesus meant what he said when he said, you're the plan. I'm gonna give you my spirit. Now. You go be my witness. You go to your school, you go to your office. You go to your family. You go to your neighborhood. You go to your gym. You go to your team. You're my plan. Satan wants to steal, kill and destroy. But I have come that they may have life and life to the fullest. You're my plan. You've got my spirit. You are my church. Go change the world. That's what we're called to do. In fact, guys, I know it's a circus back there. Can you put up Acts 1:8 again? I'm going to read those three verses. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. He's talking to some guys who are overwhelmed with unanswered questions and emotions. You'll be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. Don't worry, though, because you're going to have my spirit. I will empower you. Shortly before that, in Matthew 28, he said this. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And here it is. Surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. He said, you've got my power. You don't have to. You don't have to be afraid, even though it feels like things are falling apart, because you've got my power. And he says, and as you go, I'll be with you. And see, he'd already told the guys this. In Matthew 10. He said, Guys, I know it's gonna be scary. I know you're stepping into environments where you're like, I'm just not worthy, man. I'm not smart enough. I'm not eloquent enough. I don't know the Bible enough. I still sin. I got all kinds of problems, like, I can't be the plan in my world right now. I don't know what to say. Do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time, you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the spirit of your Father speaking through you. He says, you're the church. You're the plan. I'll empower you. I'll go with you, and I'll speak through you. If we could actually hold on to that in the middle of really difficult times, the best way we can take a swing back at the enemy who's trying to steal, kill and destroy, the best way we can go. Sorry, bro. I was not given a spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. And the same spirit that raised Jesus out of that grave is in me. So I think I'm gonna go share the gospel with somebody today in love. How are you gonna do that? I don't know, man. I got the power. I got the power of the Holy Spirit in me. Aren't you scared? Yeah. But Jesus said he'd be with me. What are you gonna say if they ask questions? I don't know. But God said he'd speak through me. So let's roll. See, if we're gonna be a rowdy church, we can't just be loud in here. We gotta be willing to let church leave the building because there's people at your school. And there's people at your office and there's people everywhere that God has given you space right now. They're not gonna. Probably most of them are not going to accidentally just show up in church and ask you if they can sit next to you. I think some of us play the long game a little too much. Tell you what I do. Okay. Won't even end you. There are. There are. There are people in my life that I have relationship with, and. And there are times when I'm like, I think I should tell him what God's done for me. I think I should invite him to church. I think I should ask him if I could pray for him. It happened to me this week, and I didn't. So awkward. I don't know what to say. I don't know how they'll respond. Feels weird. I didn't. And I think sometimes what we hope is, is I'll just kind of be a good person around them, and about eight years from now, they're gonna go, man, you're a great person. Would you take me to church? We're here today, gone tomorrow, missed. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. I believe that that verse, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. That's a message for us. Church. I believe Jesus is saying, guys, look around, my kids are hurting and lost. Would you go out of your way and go love somebody? Go serve somebody. Go share your story. Ask him if you could pray for them, invite them to church, whatever. God will speak through you. Would you just go try? Would you go try to be my witness because this world needs you. We can do that. Church. Let me see if I can find this verse as a test of my biblical knowledge, or lack thereof in real time. I think it's Second Corinthians 3, oh, 1 3. I bet. If not, we'll just. Here it is. Second Corinthians 1 3. This is going to be our story, okay? Because there's no doubt we're in a season of trouble. We're in a season where you. Everywhere you look, there's. There's heartache all around us, especially right here in our city where this crazy thing just took place in Evergreen. This is going to be our story. Church. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God. That's gonna be our story. We're gonna run to him as a refuge. Right now, we're gonna lock arms with some other believers and say, pray with me. Pray for me. Fight for me. Fight with me. Because we're gonna be the church for each other. And he's gonna do what he says. He's gonna be our refuge, and he's going to be our comforter, and he's going to give us strength, and we're going to turn around, and before you know it, you're going to walk into your school, you're going to walk into your office, you're going to walk into that, to that team meeting, you're going to walk into the gym. You're going to see a hurting person, and you're going to go, that's the one. And I'm going to take the comfort that he gave me and I'm going to go share it with somebody who's hurting. Because I'm the plan. With all your faults, with all your insecurities, with all your struggles and issues and habits and doubts, if you've put your faith in Jesus, you have his spirit. And I'm telling you, you are the plan. And you can do this because he's going with us. He'll empower us and he'll speak through us. And we can not just talk about changing the world. Red rocks. But we'll take this thing out of the building and we'll actually go change the world. Would you stand up with me? I'm gonna pray for you, give you a couple opportunities to respond to what God might be doing in your life right now. And then at every location, we have people down front. And the plan is we'll sing two songs. And I just challenge you. This is not a time for pride. This is not a time for I got this on my own. This is a time for us to allow the church to be the church. And let's believe together. Let's pray together. Let's fight together. Let's receive comfort together. Let's seek refuge in the arms of our God together. All right, God, I thank you for everything you're doing right now, man. We've never maybe, or at least in a while, been so aware that we are broken people living in a broken world. And we need you, Father. And today, right now, we humble ourselves and pray. We ask you to forgive us for our complacency. We ask you to forgive us for being a part of the hate. We ask you to forgive us for not responding with the fruits of the spirit. We ask you to forgive us for forgetting who we Are. And God, we know, according to your word, that you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness, to unleash us on this world like we're shot out of a cannon with an eternal mission to make heaven more crowded one person at a time. And I pray God that as we begin to worship you, you would start dropping names into our heads right now. I'm gonna call that person, I'm gonna reach out to that person. I'm gonna invite that person. I'm gonna bring him with me next week because we're not playing games with everyone's eyes closed. And head back. If you're at any of our locations right now and you say me or someone I love and we're hurting, we're going through it, if that's you, would you raise your hand? I'm just gonna say a prayer for you. Yeah, it's real. We're in this together. Church. Second question is this. I'm doing all this, us talking about what, what happens when we go into God's presence and how we can be forgiven of our sins. And. And you can feel something. Something's going on in your heart right now. Maybe you had no idea why you were going to tune into this message, but. But right now you can feel it. That's the creator of the universe lovingly drawing you into a relationship with him. And you go, man, I can feel it. Like, I can sense it in my heart. This is my moment. I need to ask God to forgive me of my sins. I want to have his spirit live in me and I want to go to heaven for all of eternity. And I want to be able to make an eternal impact while I'm here. And this is my moment tonight, this morning, whenever you're watching this, I say yes to Jesus. If that's you, raise your hand. We're going to pray for you. Praise God. Praise God. Yeah. Yeah. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. I see all of you, God. Thank you so much. You knew exactly why you brought us here today. You knew that we just needed your presence. And God, as we continue to worship you with music, I pray that we would sense your presence in a real and authentic and life changing way. God, I pray that you would remind every single one of us as we sing to you that when we repent of our sins, we are 100% forgiven, perfectly righteous in your sight. And we step into your throne of grace with confidence today, saying, I need you for strength. I need you to be a refuge and God, would you use us to leave the gatherings and go change the world in Jesus name? And everybody said, all right, church, we're gonna sing a couple songs. Let's be the church for each other. Come forward, get some prayer, pray with friends, family, where you're at that. Let's step into his presence with confidence to receive grace and mercy in our time of need. I love you, church. I love you. Let's worship.