Amen. Amen. Let's take our Bibles. Let's open to the book of Luke. It is Christmas time, and so I've decided to start in Luke chapter 1 for the next four weeks. Let's take our Bibles. Let's open to Luke chapter 2. We are in Luke chapter 2 today. Hey, let's take our Bibles. Let's open to Luke chapter 3. We're in Luke chapter 3 this morning. Let's open to Luke chapter 4. Let's open to Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 6, chapter 7. Let's open to Luke chapter 8 this morning. Luke chapter 9. We're gonna be in Luke 10 this morning. We're in Luke chapter 11, Luke chapter 12. Let's open to Luke 13, chapter 14. We're going to be finishing chapter 15 today. Luke 16 this morning. Chapter 17. We're in Luke 18 this morning. We're in Luke 19, chapter 20, Luke 21, 22, chapter 23. Let's pick our Bibles. Let's open to Luke 24. As you're turning there, I want to put this picture up on the screen from a couple years ago. I told you about this. My favorite part of that video is the chapter one for the next four weeks. Um six years later. Well, let's take our Bibles and let's open to Luke 24. That's where we're at this morning. And uh, if you're a guest with us today, we want you to know this. Uh, we're basically a Bible church. We study the Bible every single week, and you can count that every time you come to Central Church, the Word of God will be open and the scriptures will be preached, and your hearts will be encouraged. And so we're in Luke 24 this morning. As you're turning there, I love this story, and uh it's a it's a bit of a it's got a few rough rough edges in the story, so buckle up. But a man was going hunting and uh he was taking his best friend hunting, and so he went and he said, I know a rancher, let's go to his ranch, he'll let us uh hunt the north forty of the ranch. And so they drive up on the farm, and he says, Well, let me run inside and just get permission real quick. So he goes inside and he says, You know, can we have permission to hunt? The guy says, Yeah, you can hunt, no problem. But would you do me a favor? This is a big farm, and we have a lot of needs, and there's one that I just can't bring myself to do. Would you do this for me? I've got an old mule, and it's out in the barn, and it's at the end of its life, it's dying, it's going blind, it's deaf, and I know this is an odd request, but would you just put the mule out of its misery, all right? And uh some of you that shocks you, you're city dwellers, and welcome to farm life. That's just farm life. If you struggle with that and you need an education in that, go watch a movie entitled Old Yeller, all right? They're having an old yeller experience, if you've ever seen that movie. But he said, Yes, I'll do it, okay? I'll do it. And he goes back out of the car and he says, You know what? I'm gonna pull a prank on my friend. I'm gonna mess with this guy. And so he comes back to the car, he slams the door, he starts yelling, ah, this guy just made me so angry. He won't let me hunt the land, he won't let us hunt. We drove all this way. Can you believe it? You know what? Let's get even. Let's do something against this guy. I'm gonna kill his mule. And he goes up to the barn, and the guy's arguing with him the whole way. Don't do this. You're gonna be on the news tonight. This is a really bad plan. And he says, No, I won't be deterred. He deterred. He goes up and goes in the barn, does the deed, and he comes out and he hears two more gunshots, and it's his friend. I got that jerk's two cows. Now, what is the point of that horrible story? All right? Here's the point. Are you ready? The point is that we can be quite contagious even when we don't mean to. You see, you and I are contagious by nature. In fact, whoever you're around, you become alike. And one of the things that I think that we miss in the church is that sometimes we can influence people in the wrong direction by our attitude, by our words, by our actions. In fact, I would say this touches on one of the great problems in evangelicalism today. Our view of Christianity, the world's view of Christianity is not an attractive view. In fact, oftentimes we look like things we don't want to look like. We look angry, judgmental. We look like caricatures, like the picture of Mark Hamill. This is how some people enjoy worship, like the picture of Dana Carvey for another generation. We look judgmental. For many, the news looks at us and says, no, you're angry. You're angry, and it's all over the news. The angry railing preacher, the angry people. We're known for what we're against rather than what we're for, and that's part of the problem today. Our message is absolutely confusing at times, and our actions make us unappetizing. I like this story. My uh my wife told me about our friends in Phoenix and um told us that they were headed to the to the airport to pick up, to pick up grandma. And it was this, it began really heartwarming. It's like, we're so excited about seeing grandma, and we've made signs for her at the airport. And I was like, oh, this is such a neat story. They met grandma at the airport with signs, and then I heard what was on the signs, and it was things like, Congratulations on your parole. And it was things like, Welcome back from prison, grandma. And uh sometimes the message that we give is not an attractive message, and that's really the heart of this passage today. We're actually looking at a passage where the message of those first disciples was beautiful, it was attractive, it was glorious, and that's something we struggle with. Now, I I would say this I would say the time that we struggle the most is when we're emotionally affected. When you go through something hard, when you lose a friend, when you have a job problem, when you have a relational uh dysfunction, you and I can struggle through those times, and unfortunately, we do and say things that push people away from Christ. I've always regretted two things when I've gone through a trial. I've always regretted that I didn't display more joy and I didn't look for a way to witness of the glory of Christ in my trial. Those are my two regrets. See, some of you will be the only Bible that your coworker reads. And some of you will be the only church that they attend. And the question is, how are you at messaging? Is your messaging attracting people or is it pushing them away? Let's take our Bibles. Let's let's stand together in honor of God's word. We're in Luke 24. We're back in the death of death. We've had many series coming up to this final series. We've looked at a lot of different passages of scripture. Today we're talking about a contagious gospel. Is your gospel viral? Is it attractive? Is it compelling? Is it contagious? And what do we need to do to have a contagious message like these first disciples? It says this in verse 50. He led them out as far as Bethany. Everybody say Bethany. Nice and loud. Say Bethany. Remember that name, it's going to matter. And lifting up his hands, and he blessed them. Well, he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. That must have been quite a moment. Feet just lifting off the ground, flying into the sky. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they were continually in the temple blessing God. I don't know if you've seen this picture. It's a picture of 21 Coptic Christians on the beach. Have you seen this? It's happened in world history where 21 Christians were executed. And the amazing piece about this picture is I think about Christianity as a transforming religion. These Coptic Christians died, and this was their leader, and this is the guy that I picture the Apostle Paul as. You see, the Apostle Paul was going house to house. He was going church to church, arresting Christians and putting them away forever. Paul would soon be wearing an orange jumpsuit. He would be led down the Ostian way there in Rome, and he would be beheaded. Christianity is a transforming religion. It transforms cowards into Christians, into compelling witnesses. And here's the one sentence, big idea summary of today's sermon. Let's put it up on the screen. The ascension of Christ produces contagious Christians. It transforms. It can transform you just like it did those first Christians. The ascension of Jesus, if we would understand what that was about, it would absolutely transform your life. So I have three points that I want to give you very simply that we need a contagious lordship. We need to understand who's in charge. Who's in charge of your life? This is the biggest one. Why is there so much confusion? Why is there so little evangelism? Why is there so little boldness? It's because we're confused on who's the boss. And we've got to get that under control. Second, we need to see a contagious love. They're going to talk about their joy and their worship, both of which speak to the love that they had towards Christ. And lastly, we're going to see the word continuously. They had a lifestyle. They had a lifestyle of Christianity. And we're going to see what having a Christian lifestyle looks like in our day. I'm going to try and make it very practical, and I'm going to leave you with some homework. May God bless the holy word of God. You may be seated. We're going to look at his lordship, his love, and the lifestyle. And so let's start with that first one, the lordship of Christ. We need to return to a contagious lordship. In order for us to have a viral Christianity, a compelling witness, your life has to display that you're not in charge of your life. Your life has to display that you report to a higher authority. This is so important. If you don't get this right, this is the starting place for the Christian life. Now I don't have time to get into this in detail, but that's never stopped me before. Let me just talk about stagnation, all right? Let me talk about stagnant organizations. Anytime you experience a stagnant organization, it's probably a leadership issue. It's probably a decision-making issue. In fact, let me just apply it to central. Now, this is true of all sorts of organizations. This is true of churches, this is businesses, this is families. If there's some sort of stagnation in there, it's a decision-making problem. It's an authority problem. It's a leadership problem. Let me talk about that. At Central Church, I say that there's four wheels of the momentum bus. All right. We want to keep the momentum going here at Central Church. There's four wheels on that bus. There's the preaching of God's Word. We've got to have that every single week. We've got to open our Bibles and say, let's stand and let's read the Word of God and give the Word of God. That's got to happen every week. It's huge. The second piece is we have to have worship as part of our cultural identity. I mean, worship's not just what happens on the stage on Sunday morning. It's a way of life for us. It's that everywhere we go, it's 24-7. It's a response to the Word of God, the response to the greatness of God. It is a declaration of worship. We'll see that in this passage. The third wheel. You have to have next generation ministry and multi-generational discipleship. That's why we've hired Richard. The older should disciple and develop the younger. There has to be this process of discipleship. It's got to happen. And then the fourth one is decision-making, direction, authority, and power. It's all about clarity on how decisions are made. That's the church world. It's true in other places as well. If you want to keep the momentum going, there has to be clarity on who's the boss. There has to be clarity on where the authority lies, how decisions are made. You've got to have clarity. And notice these disciples, look at verse 50 with me. Notice he's Jesus is back in the leadership. He led them out. Now, this is a huge transition because it really, first of all, it speaks to who's leading your life. We need to answer that question. Who's in leadership of your life? Who decides what you do with your time? Who decides where you go? Who decides the organization of your calendar? Who decides what you give, where you serve, who's leading your life? You've got to come to grips and answer that. Notice with me, they're back in Bethany. This is huge. I told you this word would be important. Bethany. Let's get that picture of the Mount of Olives up. This is the Mount of Olives, and you're in Jerusalem, you're looking, you're looking east, and you can see the Mount of Olives. There are basically three peaks on the Mount of Olives. And this is funny. Different denominations have built their church at the peak of each of these hills. And all of them say that's the place Jesus ascended to heaven. Who's got it right? Is it the Lutheran Church, the Catholic Church? What do you think? Which one of these have it right? There's even one where there's a footprint, and people will go and touch the footprint and worship around the footprint. I'm going to break it, alright? I'm going to tell you the answer. You ready? None of these are the right place. All you have to do is read your Bible. Bethany is actually over the hill. It's actually down the hill. And it's so it, there's the Mount of Olives. It's behind that. And Bethany is the ministry headquarters of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. It's actually a place they had been before, but this whole story happens in Bethany, and there is a significance to that. Alright? And you have to understand the significance. Notice it says, as far as Bethany. They went. He led them back to Bethany. Why does that matter? I think that this is actually for the disciples a return to his lordship. See, if you read John's gospel, and if you read what happened up until this moment, the disciples have left the leadership of Jesus Christ. They're done. All of them fell away. Every disciple fell away from following Jesus at the moment of the cross. And even after his resurrection, when he appears to his disciples, the crazy thing that happens in John's gospel is they are kind of waiting around, and one of them says, Let's just go back to fishing. You know, let's just leave this ministry thing behind. And Jesus has to show up and recommission them. See, Bethany represents a return. We're going back to the Lordship of Christ. We're going back to submission to Christ. We're going to submit our will to his will. They're back at the place where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, where death was defeated, and his disciples are now following him faithfully again. It reminds them of his power. It also reminds them of a fresh start. Some of you need that today. There are some of you who have been to bad places, done bad things, denied Christ by your will, by your actions, by your words. You need a fresh start. These disciples, that's what I see here. Jesus is reconnecting them to their ministry. He's calling them into submission to his will. And that's such a delightful thing. In fact, that's one of the things that is so compelling to a watching world. When they see that you have a master, when they see that you have a Lord that you're submitting every fiber of your being to, it is compelling. It's attractive. I have a little dog, his name's Winston. He's a little golden doodle, a little mini golden doodle. I love my little doggy. How many of you have a dog that you love? You know what I love about this dog? He's different than the last one. The last one, it was like, it was like when you walk around the block and you've got a stroller and you're pulling a kid, and maybe the leash is attached to the stroller. It was like it was like I had a snow dog on the front of it. Just pulling at light speed, or it pulled my arm off, and it always wanted to be in the lead. I couldn't stand that. I would pull it back, and I just couldn't get this dog trained. This new dog, I I call him a uh laugh, I call him a beta male. He's just a beta, you know, he's just really submissive. When I'm walking, he all he's always looking up at me, and he never wants to get in front of me. And and I actually like him more for that because he's a dog in submission. And um, you know, I think that's actually true of the Christian life. There can be no other Lord except the one Lord that is Jesus Christ. And the question is, are you under his lordship or are you trying to live out your own lordship? But there's nothing more attractive than someone who says, all of my desires, all of my will is in submission to the will of someone greater. That's a very attractive thing for people to see. And I think that's why we're missing some of our witness today. You'll never be contagious until people see the lordship of Christ in your life. There's a story that I heard this week. Um, there was a speaker of uh this one of the sons of John the Bull Bramlett. Maybe you've heard of him. Am I saying his last name right? Is it Bramlett? He was known as the meanest man in football. Played for a couple pro teams, absolutely terrorized his family. His home was a wreck. Guys, his home life was an absolute wreck. And I hope this is encouraging. Maybe if your life is a wreck right now, you need to hear what God can do. Um, this guy would beat his wife. This guy was a drunk. This guy would drink himself into a stupor and terrorize his family, abusing his family. It's a crazy story. And every every football season he would sort of clean himself back up, get back in shape, but then once football season was over, he was it was back to his alcohol, it was back to his abusive words, it was back to his abusive actions. I mean, this guy lived a dark life. His family lived in fear of him. His wife called the local church and said, Would you just come and share Christ with my husband? They sent somebody out. Her husband actually listened. And right then, right there, he believed the gospel, repented of his sins, trusted in Jesus, and guys, it changed his life. Next thing you know, he's witnessing to the neighbor. The neighbor that he hates is a police officer who lives right next door, and he goes over and says, I've just become a Christian, and I've just got to tell somebody. And so he goes to his neighbor, he tells his neighbor, his neighbor is ashamed. I've been a Christian for two decades. And I've never told you that I was a Christian. So, what's wrong with me? That's a powerful moment. That's why I love new converts. But they haven't cooled down. Their fire is still going strong, and they're just ready to share. And that's what some of you need. Some of you need to recover the fire of God that you once had. You need to recover what you used to have. This passage is a return for the disciples. It's a recovery for the disciples. It's them coming back to the ministry table. It's them submitting to Jesus again. Yes, Lord, we're not going back to fishing. We're not going back to our own designs, but we're back in Bethany and we're here we are. We're doing it again. And some of you need to recover that. Well, how do I know? Because you can't remember the last time you shared your faith. You can't remember the last time you were excited about what God did in your life and you were ready to share the glory of God with someone else. You need to recover that and return. That's what makes us viral. What do you share? Notice the blessings of his lordship. You might even write that word down, blessing. The ascension is one of those doctrines that's often neglected, but it's neglected to our detriment. We lose out, we miss out on all the blessing associated with the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Notice with me, verse 50. He lifts his hands. That was a sign. This is the ironic blessing. The Old Testament, Levitical priest, would come out of the house, and you can read about this in Leviticus. He would raise his hands, he would issue a blessing. May the Lord bless you, may the Lord keep you, may it cause his face to shine upon you. And there would be this blessing. By the way, all of the prayers of the Bible, not one of them shows that you pray with your eyes closed. This would have been an eyes-opened prayer. In fact, that's kind of a modern thing where you pray with your eyes closed. We do that for focus, I suppose. I think that's the reason why. I'm not real sure why we do that, but but we do. And then probably at the end of the sermon, you'll hear me say, heads bowed, eyes closed. But but that's really not in the Bible. It's not there. And so that He is blessing them, and all of a Sudden, they witness while he's blessing them the liftoff. He just starts lifting in the air. Now, what do we gain? What is the blessing of the ascension? We know the blessing of the death on the cross. We know the blessing of the resurrection. That's what the last week was about for those of you who are here on Easter front on Easter Sunday and Good Friday. What is the ascension about? Well, let's write them down. Write these down with me. How does the ascension bless us? And out of that blessing we share. Number one, it shows the total victory of Christ. It shows the total victory of Christ. Write that down. This is not his departure. This is his coronation. He's being elevated to his rightful position at the right hand of the Father. It's his total victory. It's his victory march into heaven. And we need to think about it that way, that he's sovereign, he's in control, and he was glorified in that moment. Number two, write this one down. It shows his advocacy. He's our advocate. How is it that you and I gain our acceptance? Whenever God sees the sin of sinners, Jesus is at his side for those who believe. And Jesus essentially says, There with me. My blood covered them. He is in heaven right now at the right hand of the Father, interceding for all who have ever believed. And basically, when God now looks at us, he sees his son Jesus. He sees that association. So he is there in heaven advocating for us as we speak for those who believe. Somebody say amen to that. Isn't that good news? This is a blessing. Number three. Number three, it empowers our evangelism. The ascension is the thing that motivates and moves our evangelism. In fact, from this moment, they're going to be told, get out of here, get to the work, stop looking up into the sky. Now you're in the mission moment. It's time to get moving. Number four, it gives us the nearness of Christ. Now let me talk about Trinitarianism for just a second. We believe in a Trinitarian God. We are monotheists. We believe in a Trinitarian God. One God, three persons. Now there's something in Trinitarianism that involves the inter-indwelling of the Godhead. That the Father indwells the Son, and the Son indwells the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit indwells the Father, and there's this mutual indwelling, all right? But whenever Jesus left, this is what happened. He goes to heaven, he says, It's actually better that I leave. In fact, over in John's gospel, let's put it up on the screen. John 16, verse 7 says, It's to your advantage that I go away. Why? Well, Jesus was always omnipresent because he didn't lose any of his deity in the incarnation. So he's fully, fully omnipresent. He's everywhere. But in the season of his earthly ministry, his presence was particularly localized in his body. And he says, When I go away, I'm sending the Spirit. I'm sending the parakletos, the helper. I'm sending him into the world. The helper will come to you. And it's the Holy Spirit who not only gives us power, but he also mediates the presence of Christ. So now Christ is with us. So is it wrong to say that that Christ lives in me? Well, specifically, it's the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit mediates the presence of Christ. And so I don't think that's a terrible thing to say. And so we need to think about it that way. The helper is indwelling us. And if you don't have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, you're not a Christian. Anyone who has believed on Jesus Christ has become a Christian who has the Holy Spirit living inside of you, mediating the presence of Christ. Now, that's the theology. Now, what does it mean? As Starbucks, when you're talking this sermon through with your friend, what does this mean for you? First of all, write this down. I think that this should affect, it should affect us on the worst days of our life. This truth, this relationship, this lordship should affect us in our daily living. On our worst days, on our daily living. Not long ago, I was talking to a pastor friend of mine, and he was struggling. He was ready to give up his church, ready to quit. Just a few weeks ago, actually. And I started asking him a series of questions. Do you believe that the Lord has died on the cross, rose from the dead for you? I do. And do you believe that Jesus, that he's commissioned you and called you and given you this ministry by sheer mercy? If you're in ministry, it's a sheer mercy of God. Do you believe that? He says, I do. And you believe that he ascended to heaven and he's coming back, and he's a rewarder of those who do his will? You submit to his will? He said, I do. And I said, Don't quit. Don't give up. Don't leave. You keep going. You endure. You submit yourself to your Lord in the hard seasons of life. What does this doctrine, what does everything we just looked at, do? It means we recommit ourselves. We go back to Bethany and we put ourselves under the Lordship of Christ and we say, Lord, you're worth it. I believe you're coming back. I'm gonna serve you as long as I can serve you. I'm gonna bless those who are around me. My countenance will speak of the glory of the gospel and the glory of your son Jesus. I will endure. This changes everything about how you endure. You can do it with joy. You can do it through cancer, through job loss, through stress, through slander, through hurt, through any pain that you can imagine. God will help you and keep you. This is keeping power, staying power for the church. And lastly, it fills you with hope. Write that one down. It fills us with hope. You see, that's what we see in Acts 1.11. In Acts 1.11, the rest of the passage tells us that the angel showed up, and the angel said, What are you guys doing here? You got a job. In fact, he's gonna come back. How? The same way as you saw him go into heaven. And so let's get to work here, guys. What are you doing standing around looking into heaven? What's wrong with you? Fields are white. Let's get on with it. I think this should also create in us an urgency. Guys, Christ is coming back. If Christ was returning today at 4 o'clock, who do you need to have a conversation with? Like, let that seek in. Who do you need to speak to if today is the last day? You should have an urgency. His lordship should produce an atmosphere around you, but it should also produce an urgency about you. Your witness is a very powerful tool. I think this also, write this down as an application. I think this passage teaches us to guard our words, to be on guard about our witness. Years ago, I filmed my testimony. Pastor Greg was a part of putting that together, and we brought out a guy from Colorado, and he had filmed a lot of pastors' testimonies, and he had done a lot of these videos. So he did mine, and we had a good time. It was an all-day filming event from early morning until evening, but uh yeah, it was fun. It was a good time. The guy throughout the day started dropping um these little hints that he was struggling, and so we started digging into that. He was actually deconstructing from his faith, and and I started to ask why, what's going on? What's caused this doubt to come up in your life? I kid you not, this is what he said. I have filmed so many senior pastors, big names, names you would know, and the ungodly filth that comes out of their mouth, the words they use, the lifestyle, how they treat their family. I just don't think it's real. I felt that. I hope you feel that. Write this down. You are always being watched. You are always being watched. And that's not only a liability, that's a possibility. That if you will live a consistent life, one that seeks to glorify, not compartmentalize your life, this is my church life on Sunday, but this is how I live in the office on Monday. If you will not fall into that trap of compartmentalizing your life, oh, you can be viral. You can be a contagious Christian, but be on guard. You could actually do great harm. You could do great harm to vulnerable people, to weaker brothers among you. So be careful and be on guard. Number two, second main point, we not only need to have this lordship, this contagious lordship, we also need a contagious love. I see that in verse 50 with two words. There's the word worship, and there's another word about joy. There's a rejoicing. And let's start with the word worship. They worshiped him again throughout the gospel accounts. Don't let someone lie to you. Don't let someone say Jesus never claimed to be God. The apostles never believed he was God. Don't accept that lie. If someone says that to you, go read the gospel according to Mark. The deity of Christ is witnessed to in every chapter of Mark throughout John's gospel. Here it is again. The disciples are celebrating and witnessing and worshiping the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You don't worship someone who's not God. They viewed him as truly God. And this is essential to our faith. Luke's gospel begins in the temple. Did you notice that? Luke chapter 1 and 2, we're in the temple. You get these stories of Simeon, you get the stories of Anna, we're in the temple. That's where worship happens, and it ends in Luke chapter 24. We're no longer worshiping in the temple, we're worshiping around a person. It's all about Jesus Christ. And that, friends, is what makes you viral. That everywhere you go, you're worshiping his power, his greatness, his forgiveness. All of who he is. This should be part of who you are. I remember as a boy, I was just a kid, and I remember my worship pastor. His name was Steve. And Steve would just be worshiping everywhere in the building. You heard it coming from his office, you heard it up and down the halls of the building. Sometimes we would run from him because we could hear him singing. But I think about that now in my 40s, and I think that was a great witness. It's just always filled with a song. It's better to have no voice and want to sing than to have a voice without a desire to sing, without a desire to worship. You and I ought to be public, visible Christians. And notice another way, it's not only worship, it's also joy. It says they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They can't contain their joy. This is an overflowing joy. Martin Lloyd Jones said it this way: the greatest need of the hour, listen to this. Martin Lloyd Jones, the greatest need of the hour is a revived and a joyful church. He says, unhappy Christians are a poor recommendation for the faith. And I would say yes and amen to that. See, the witness of the disciples was that nothing could quench their flame. Nothing could quench their fire. In fact, in Acts chapter 5, if you'll write that down, Acts chapter 5, verse 41, what we see is they left the presence of the council. What had just happened? They have been abused, they have been beaten, and what are they rejoicing in? That's the word. This is the early church, this is the early disciple. We're rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. That's so different than us. They're rejoicing in their tragedies. They're rejoicing that God is putting them through something that's producing growth. And this is so practical for spiritual health. Let me just talk about spiritual health for just a minute. Follow along with me. You ought to be dramatically concerned that you are a healthy Christian. You need to minister from a place of health. You need to focus on that. Whenever we go to Israel, I always point this out, and some of you have been to Israel with us. You're in this room right now. But we go to the Sea of Galilee and we go to the Dead Sea. Sea of Galilee, beautiful. Fish everywhere. It's like a vacation resort spot. It's basically a large lake, but it's stunning. It's a beautiful place. And you can just imagine Jesus walking on the water right there, Sea of Galilee. It's where a lot of this story happened. You go south and you go to, I kid you not, the lowest place on planet earth that the air touches. It's below, well below sea level. I can't even remember how many feet below sea level it is, but it's it's very deep. You feel the pressure drop on top of you. And the water source of the Jordan River, it goes into the Dead Sea. It's bigger than the Sea of Galilee. Much bigger. But the water goes in. The problem is it doesn't go out. It has no outlet. And so because it's stingy, because it's not giving, because it's not investing, because it's not giving away, it becomes toxic. It's 21 times more salty, and in some places 23 times more salty than the ocean. Nothing can swim there. Nothing can live there. You can't even swim there. You just start floating as soon as you get in. You just lift off at your waist. It's just, it's wild. But that's a picture of a lot of people. Because they're not spiritually healthy, they're a bad advertisement for the church. We've got to focus in on that. True story, we had a great, uh, great weekend. I want to thank all of you for Easter this last weekend. That was just a great time. We had 300 more people at Central this year than last year over the weekend. Isn't that great? We just saw growth in every ministry, we saw growth in every metric, and it's all about reaching people with the gospel. And that is thrilling. You know, I've noticed though, uh, every church has has growth, and also there's there's families that they get a job in another city, and we hate to see them go, and that's just part of church life. Or churches that move, people that move to other churches, and and we receive people from other churches, and I see that more and more and more uh the longer I'm a pastor. I've been a pastor over 20 years now, 20-something years. And that's just part of the pastoral life. But here's here's what I have noticed over the course of the lifetime of ministry here at Central and in other churches. If you don't have spiritual health, you are on the road to a bad witness and destruction. In fact, many people who leave, many people who get frustrated, many people who who go somewhere else, like 90, 95% of them are not in a small group, they're not giving, they're not serving anywhere. And it's like when you don't have those things, like you're the Sea of Galilee pouring out, pouring out, pouring out. When you're not giving away, you're not healthy. And you're not a witness. And you become a toxic witness. That's why my mentor did this with me. Uh, I met with him on uh a phone call this week by Zoom, and this was this is so funny. He always says this he says, make those investments in your marriage. He says, never stop investing in your marriage. And and he just he's he's constantly saying that to me. He's like, invest in your marriage. Why? Because it's like these little deposits. When you put those little deposits in, it becomes sweeter and sweeter and sweeter. And that's why when somebody leaves the church, they haven't been giving, they're they're sour on the church. You're not making those deposits. The moment in your in your marriage that you stop making deposits, your marriage is in trouble. He'll say things like this He'll say, You need to make your wife laugh every single day. Just make her laugh. Tell her the dumbest, corniest joke that you can possibly imagine. And just try to get her to laugh. But you've got to make deposits and you've got to be healthy. That's what this is saying. You have to submit to your Lord, but you've got to make those deposits that you love him. Expressions of love. Notice they're back in Jerusalem. What happens when they're devoted to Christ is they're willing to take a risk. This city was the city that killed the prophets, just killed Jesus. They're back. They're not in an upper room, they're out in the open, and they're there spreading their joy everywhere. It's powerful. You know, back to the story of John Bramlett. His transformation was uh amazing. In fact, his family didn't believe it. They actually thought that this was uh not, it would never last. And they saw the transformation take root and it just kept going. On Saturday afternoons, he would often go to a gas station and get one dollar of gas. And it was back in the day when you had to have an attendant pump your gas. And he would sit there and he'd talk to that guy about Jesus and have a conversation about Jesus Christ. And then he'd go to the next gas station and get another dollar of gas. And he would do that 15 or 16 times in a row. Just going gas station after gas station after gas station. And his son would say, Dad, why are you doing this? Why not just fill it all the way up? And he'd said, I need opportunities to tell people about the love of Christ. The love was just overflowing in his life. Friends, your life will never be viral until we catch something of that. Out of your great love, if you're a great sinner who has been greatly loved, let it be known and find strategic ways to go to your Jerusalem and do that. Last point. We're done. Last point. How do we become contagious? Well, it involves lordship. You'll never be contagious until you are submitting to your Lord in every aspect of your life. How do we become contagious? You have to have this love that overflows from your life. Yes, in worship, but also just a general joy that you are a more happy person because of the forgiveness of sin and what Christ has done for you by dying and burying your sins. Lastly, it's a lifestyle. Notice one word in verse 53. Notice it with me. Where were they in the temple? They were continually in the temple. This was just a way of life. They're always doing this. Blessing God. Their new life is organized in this place where the city people meet. In fact, why are we in the temple? Didn't the curtain tear? Aren't we done with the temple stuff? No, this is actually really strategic. They go where the people are. There was a place called Solomon's Porch, and the people would go there today back then as the coffee shop of the ancient world. They went there for strategic conversations. It'd be like Pastor Greg going to the college campus. We're going to go to the place where the people are. And all week long this week, you're going to places where people are. And you need to see that as your commissioning. You need to see this as a way of life. Now let me give you some homework, all right? Notice in Acts 2.47, write that down. It says that the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Because they had this way of life, God just sharing the blessing of God day by day. What's happening is there's revival. So let me give you some homework to revival. Do you want to revive this city with me? You want to revive Collierville? You want to revive your neighbors? You want to revive your coworkers? Let me give you some steps to revival. They turned their city upside down. We need to do some of the same things that they were doing. Write this down. Write it down. Some of you need to display God's joy consciously. Now, some of you struggle at this. In fact, there is a brand of Christianity where you just kind of carry yourself heavy. And I joke about it in the office. I tell Michael about this all the time. I'm like, yeah, we're not that brand of Christianity where it's just like I am worm. You know? It's just like dour and sour, and it's just like that's not the brand of Christianity we want uh to be. Some of you carry yourselves naturally a little heavier than other people. And I just want to train you in this right now. Maybe maybe just smile a little bit more. It may not come naturally to you at first. It may look like and you're scaring people, and they're like, whoa, what is that? What is that? Um but but you need to try it, all right? You need to just kind of smile a little bit more. Christ is real. Risen! Some of you got it. You know what that comes from, right? He's risen indeed. That's a reality for me. He's risen in me. He rises in me. You may have noticed this if you're a guest here, but when you come to Central Church, the general tone of our worship service is on, it's it's a little bit more on the celebratory scale than kind of the sadness scale and the darkness scale. And that's that's very strategic on our part. Because we we actually believe every Sunday is Easter Sunday. It's not one Sunday a year, it's every single Sunday. We come back to this place and we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. And that's a joyful thing. Christ is risen, He's alive, He's interceding for us, He's empowering our ministry. Therefore, we have a lot to celebrate, and we have a lot of compelling witness to give. And so we're on the more celebratory scale of worship here at Central, and we need to live our lives that way. Number two, evaluate your words. Be very careful with your words this week. Don't be a Debbie Downer, don't be an energy vampire, don't be any of those things. In fact, maybe even just discern a little bit. Are you compelling or repelling? Are you complaining or compelling? Are you refreshing? When people come and talk to you, like just ask this question. When people come to you for advice, when people come and talk to you, how does that go? How do you think they leave that conversation? Like, are they excited to come and check out the church that you go to? Those are the kind of things that we need to think through, and I think that was going on in the early church. Write this one down. We need to create and allow interruptions. Man, we're so driven. Some of you are so driven. You've got your plan for today, tomorrow, all the way for the next two weeks. And I can fall into this trap. We all do. Sometimes God lines up conversations we need to have with people, and we don't see them because we're busy. Some of you just need to preach this to yourself all week long. I need to allow interruptions into my schedule that are divine conversations that God has lined up for me to have. I need to allow the interruptions. Write this one down. Just homework for you. I want to teach you how to go viral. This is homework for you. You need to look for sovereign opportunities. Maybe the Lord's bringing someone to you to talk to. Lead out in family worship. I've told you this before. My family every evening does highs and lows and buffaloes. It's just our way of just saying, okay, kids, hi, what was your high point? What was your low point? What was your buffalo? The thing that was unexpected. And then we transition to what's God teaching you in God's word? Who's read something that they want to share? And that's a good way of life. That's a good pattern. Some of you need to get mealtime back together as a family and make it an important time to cultivate the mission of your family. And if you feel like this is impossible for you, I could never be what that early church was that grew by 3,000 in just a few days. I could never do that. Let me encourage you. God can change anyone. And God can transform the coldest, most hardened Christian into a Christian on fire for his glory. God can change you. You know, last Sunday I had a um I had an illustration that I started the sermon with. It was that Rubicon sticker on my son's Jeep. And this was really funny. I've been talking to people all week about that. Some of you are just like a sticker. You know, that was the whole illustration. There's nothing underneath that's that's the reality. After that sermon, um, someone came up to me and said, hey, let's make it the rest of the way. Let's make it the real deal. And he gave us some some Rubicon rims for the wheels. And it's like, with me, that ain't never gonna happen. You know what I mean? Never gonna spend that money. But if but if someone outside of you, if someone outside of you enables the change, you can become something other than what you are right now. It's called the grace of God. God can transform people. Christians are transforming people. God will have it no other way. Heads bowed, eyes closed, would you just ask the Lord to change you? By his spirit, by his power, God can change you. God can make you a compelling, evangelistic Christian. God can work in you to become something contagious, not contentious, contagious. Something compelling, something powerful. Would you just pray that and say, Lord, use me this week? Help me to see the opportunities you're putting in front of me. Help me to open my mouth in boldness. Help me to have strategy, to strategically proclaim the glory of God's grace, that, that, that, that I might go somewhere just for the purpose of meeting people, that I might get where the people are because that's the will of God. God's will is to reach more people for his glory. And he wants to use you. What a privilege. Here's the question that matters. Are you willing to come under his lordship? Are you willing to visibly, publicly share your love for him? Are you willing to strategically display the worth of your Savior? Father, I thank you for this book. We just finished it. I thank you for the last uh six years, Lord, that that uh we've been working through this, and Lord, we thank you that your will is found in your word. Now, Lord, would you would you make us more like these first disciples? For some in this room, we need a return. For some in this room, we need repentance. We're not we're not displaying the glory of Christ, we're compartmentalizing our life. And for some in this room, we need regeneration. If there's anyone in this room, Lord, that that needs the gospel, I pray that they would accept the grace of Jesus, that they would admit their sin, accept your grace on the cross, that you died for sinners, rose from the dead. And Father, I pray they would confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord. You are in the transforming business. Now, Lord, we watch and we wait and we anticipate how you are going to take this message and cause revival in our city. We love you, we praise you, and it's all in the name of Jesus Christ we pray these things, and all God's people say it together. Amen.