Show Up and Show Out

I need to start this morning by asking for your patience and your grace.

I’m exhausted. Yesterday turned into a full day of ministry, severely cutting short the time I normally have to write my message and putting my brain into something of a deep freeze.

Which sounds good on a 90-degree day, now that I think about it. But in practice, it means I couldn’t spend nearly the amount of time writing and refining today’s message.

We had a great turnout and an amazing time of worship at Autumn Care yesterday morning. I think you’ll probably hear more about that from Diana Jones in a few minutes.

Normally, I’d have left Autumn Care and gone home to write today’s sermon. But on Wednesday, I received a call from an old high school friend who is a filmmaker these days.

He asked to meet with me yesterday to film an interview with me about the miraculously unexpected and controversial salvation of David Berkowitz, whom some of you will recognize as the notorious Son of Sam serial killer in New York.

What was supposed to be a 45-minute interview turned into a 4-and-a-half-hour ordeal. So, please bear with me, because nearly everything I’d planned to share with you this morning has changed — and all at the last minute.

Now, I’m not going to spend time this morning rehashing the story of Berkowitz. Perhaps you’ll get a chance to see the documentary about his conversion when it comes out next year or in 2027. Or Google him when you get home.

Today is Pentecost Sunday. Today, we celebrate the birth of the Church and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the believers gathered in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus.

That’s our main topic for the day.

But what I DO want to point out — and what connects Pentecost Sunday to David Berkowitz, to the mission updates we’ll receive in a few minutes, and, I hope, even to the little graduation ceremony we had a few minutes ago — is this:

Every single sinner saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ is an occasion for rejoicing in heaven. Jesus said that in Luke, chapter 15.

In that chapter, He tells three parables — the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

He concludes two of those three parables by saying something like this: “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” And for the third parable — that of the Prodigal Son — it was the whole THEME.

The salvation of ANY sinner, whatever his or her background, is an occasion for rejoicing in heaven, and it should be so for the church, too.

And we see Dr. Luke describing just that kind of joy at the end of the Day of Pentecost, in Acts, chapter 2.

We’re not going to study that part of the chapter today, but I want you to see what rejoicing over salvation looked like in those first days of the Church. Here’s how Luke describes it:

Acts 2:46–47 NASB95

46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

So, there’s an expectation that the Church will respond with rejoicing when sinners come to faith in Jesus.

And as we’ll see in a while, there’s also an expectation that the Church will respond to that joy by blessing others with the good news of Jesus Christ.

But first, appropriately for Pentecost Sunday, we’re going to hear from some of the members of our Missions and Evangelism Committee.

They’re going to talk about some of the many ways we’ve been reaching out, both near and far, with the message of the gospel and with the love of Jesus Christ.

We’re going to go at this much the way Luke shared the story of the early church. Remember that Acts 1:8 recounts Jesus’ command to His disciples to be His witnesses “both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

I’ve loosely structured these presentations with the same idea in mind. We’ll go from our most local efforts to some of our the far-flung ministries we’ve supported with funding and even personal efforts.

We’ll start with Connie giving us a breakdown of how the mission committee’s finances have been directed and an update on the Coalition Against Poverty in Suffolk.

CONNIE SCHUBERT

Thank you, Connie. Now, Diana, please come up and give us an update on our ministry at Autumn Care of Suffolk.

DIANA JONES

Thank you, Diana. I just love our time at Autumn Care.

We’ve also worked in various ways with Suffolk schools this year. We’ve helped kids meet financial obligations for graduation and other needs. We’ve collected school supplies.

And, though a storm interfered with this last year, we’ve partnered with Lakeland High School at their National Night Out celebration. Tracy, would you come up and share about that with us?

TRACY FRANCIS

Thank you, Tracy. Of course, kids can’t graduate if they’re never allowed to be born. And some of those who DO graduate later find themselves caught up in addiction.

Cynthia Harris is our liaison with the Crisis Pregnancy Center, which helps women find alternatives to abortion. And she’s a mentor with the Hope Center, which introduces women caught in addiction to Jesus and helps them lay down their addictions.

Cynthia, can you come up and tell us about those two organizations, please?

CYNTHIA HARRIS

Fantastic! Thanks, Cynthia.

Now, some of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my time following Jesus have been to go INTO the mission field.

There, I’ve been able to serve others in places and situations that stretched me and forced me to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Y’all know I’ve done this in Haiti, but we did it last year in North Carolina. You don’t have to go to Haiti to serve others.

Dave, would you come up now and tell us a little about that trip last November?

DAVE FRANCIS

Wonderful! What a blessing it was to see Dave and the other folks who were part of that trip last year being drawn closer to Jesus as they served the people He loves in storm-damaged North Carolina.

And what missions update would be complete without a plug for an upcoming event? Regina, would you come up and talk about the upcoming Family Fun Day?

This is an opportunity for us to get to know our neighbors and — perhaps more importantly — for them to get to know US.

REGINA JONES

Excellent. Thank you, Regina.

Now, what you’ve heard about this morning is just a smattering of the ministries this church supports.

We don’t have time to talk about Supply and Multiply in Haiti and Jamaica and Honduras. Or Chosen People Ministries and its work to reach Jews, both here and abroad, with the message of our Jewish Savior.

Or the food giveaways at Thanksgiving and Christmas and even next week, right here in our parking lot. Or the school supply drives and giveaways. Or the many other, little ways we reach out with the love of Christ.

God, in His abundant grace, has allowed this little congregation to make an outsized Kingdom impact, and for that, we should all lift our voices in praise. Hallelujah!

I’m so humbled that the Lord has allowed me to see this congregation take the Great Commission so seriously in my time at Liberty Spring.

But the Church isn’t just a group of people. The Church consists of individuals who’ve turned to Jesus in faith, individuals who’ve given their lives to Him.

And each of us who follow Jesus in faith ALSO has responsibilities. There’s an expectation that following Jesus will result in at least two actions, both individually and in concert with other believers.

We see these two actions in the first part of Acts, chapter 2. And we’re going to take a few minutes looking at the first 21 verses of this chapter this morning to see what they are.

Let’s read this passage together.

Acts 2:1–21 NASB95

1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. 5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 “And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9 “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” 12 And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.” 14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; 18 Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. 19 ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. 20 ‘The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. 21 ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Now, I’m not going to take the time this morning to go through this passage verse by verse. And I can understand if someone feels like shouting Hallelujah to that.

What I want to do with my remaining time is to point out the two actions taken by individuals because of the joy they felt in following Jesus.

And the first action is found back in verse 1. They showed up. “They were all together in one place.”

Look, there’s nothing special about this building. I know it might hurt some of you to hear it that way, but it’s true. We learned that during Covid.

But there IS something special about the CHURCH — the gathered community of believers — coming together in one place to worship and serve.

I’ve said it before, and if the Lord doesn’t take me home or give me a ministry on a tropical island somewhere, I’ll surely say it again: The Church needs you, and YOU need the Church.

We turn to Jesus in faith as individuals, but when we do that, we’re incorporated into the BODY of Christ, His Church. Maybe you’re an ear on that body, or the pancreas, or a kidney, or whatever.

But the ear and the pancreas and the kidney can’t do what they’re supposed to do if they’re not incorporated INTO the body.

Lying on an operating table, an ear is just a piece of flesh and cartilage. But stuck to the side of your head, THEN it can do amazing things!

Listen, I love that we can do Facebook livestreams for people who can’t be with us on any given Sunday. We’ve got people watching us all over the U.S., if not the world. From hospital rooms, from vacation destinations.

Many Sundays, we’ve got people checking us out on Facebook, deciding whether to visit in the weeks to come. We’ve got shut-ins and people who have to work and others who CAN’T be here to worship with us.

Facebook and — when it’s working — our website’s livestream are great ways for us to connect with those who couldn’t be here otherwise.

But understand this: What you’re getting on our livestream is just a sermon. It’s not the Church.

It CAN’T be the Church, because the Church is a body of believers coming TOGETHER to worship, coming TOGETHER to be the one Body of Christ.

Depending on how you count, there are at least 59 places in the New Testament where the Holy Spirit inspired the writers to use the term “one another” to describe how believers are to relate to, love, teach, and serve each other.

But how can we “one another” one another if we’re not TOGETHER? When you’re not here, we miss you, of course.

But we also miss the chance to serve you, to bear your burdens, to rejoice with you, to love you, and all the other things we’re called to do for “one another.”

And when you’re not here, you miss the work of the Holy Spirit within the corporate body of the church, the kind of work He did on that first Pentecost Sunday.

There’s a meme I’ve seen around Facebook lately that I love. It says something like this: “You never know which church service will change your life. But it won’t be the one you missed.”

We miss you when you’re not here, but what YOU miss could change your life.

So, the first action we should expect to result from the joy individuals experience in salvation is that they’ll SHOW UP, that they’ll be active participants in the life of the Church.

And the second is that they’ll show OUT. We see this in verse 4. There, we see the folks who’d been in that upper room — now filled with the Holy Spirit of God — begin speaking in the languages of all the people who were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Weeks.

But we see it especially in Peter’s great sermon, which begins in verse 14 and continues for much of the rest of this chapter.

Look how boldly he’s proclaiming the name of Jesus! “It shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” he says!

Remember, this is the same Peter who’d denied Jesus three times on the night of Jesus’ arrest. And some of those who’d heard him deny Jesus were likely there in the crowd on that Day of Pentecost.

So, what made the difference?

Surely, he’s been filled with the Holy Spirit. But I think there’s something else going on here, too.

I think that when Jesus sat with Peter beside that fire for breakfast on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Peter was reminded just how much Jesus loved him. And I think Peter’s love for JESUS grew that morning, too.

I think Peter had come to a new understanding of his purpose in life. He had found MEANING in his life where he hadn’t known it before.

Folks, something remarkable has happened to me in the past couple of weeks, and I pray it will happen to you, too.

Even though I’ve been a follower of Jesus for years, God has lately given me a fresh understanding of how my relationship with Jesus fulfills me, how it gives life meaning and purpose that it never has had before.

For whatever reason, God has enabled me to love Jesus as I’ve never loved Him before.

And as that love has deepened, He’s given me more ministry opportunities. Things like the documentary interview I did yesterday and a couple of other things you might be hearing more about in the coming months.

And what’s incredible is that the more I serve Jesus, the more I love Him. And the more I love Him, the more fulfilled I feel in my life.

I told my family last night that I’ve never felt so fulfilled — so complete — as I have recently. And it’s all because I’m doing what I was made to do. Not to preach; that’s just my calling — rather, to love Jesus completely.

Certainly I loved Jesus before, but something has clicked lately, and I’ve found my love for Him growing.

And as it’s grown, I’ve been given new ways to serve Him. And as I’ve served Him more, my love for Him has grown even more.

I think that’s part of what Peter is experiencing in this passage. And judging from my own experience, I’ll bet He was overwhelmed by it.

I can tell you that as tired as I was last night, I felt a firehose of God’s grace turned upon me.

It’s overwhelming — maybe even a little bit frightening. But there’s a peace and contentment and JOY that I find impossible to contain.

So, I’m showing OUT right here; I showed OUT in my interview. And hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to keep showing out until He takes me home.

And frankly, whatever you think about salvation for a serial killer, that just what David Berkowitz is doing in a prison in New York. And the angels are rejoicing with every soul he wins for Christ.

That what we do when we support missions and evangelism. And that’s what I pray for you, Abigail, as you set off on the next part of your journey: that you’ll join us, the Body of Christ in showing UP and showing OUT.

And as you do — as each one of us who follows Jesus in faith shows up and shows out — we’ll learn to love Jesus more. And we’ll find in that love true meaning in life, true fulfillment, and true happiness.