Partnering with God's Mission

KiDZ Message

SLIDE - KiDZ Message

Cookie Game — Round 1 (no prayer): Pretend there is a cookie in my hand and grab when I say “GO!”

Waiting is hard!

Fruit of the Spirit grows when we keep in step with the Spirit

SLIDE - Fruit of the Spirit

Last week: Love & Joy

Today: Peace & Patience

Peace: a calm heart because I trust Jesus.

Patience: waiting without getting angry or giving up

Cookie Game — Round 2(with prayer)

Prayer: “Holy Spirit, help me.”

SLIDE - KIDZ Big Idea:

When we keep in step with the Spirit, good fruit grows.

Prayer.

Main Sermon

SLIDE - Title

ON-RAMP

A lot of Christians believe the Holy Spirit is real, but they aren’t always sure what the Holy Spirit is actually for.

Is the Spirit here just to comfort us? Just to guide our private lives? Just to help us feel close to God?

But when Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit, He talks about mission.

In fact, the very last words Jesus gives His disciples before ascending into heaven explain why the Spirit is coming.

And what He says is clarifying.

The Holy Spirit is not given so the church can manage outcomes. The Holy Spirit is given so the church can join God in His mission. The Spirit is given so the church can participate in what God is doing.

The Apostle Paul said to the Galatian Church,

SCRIPTURE - Galatians 5:25

Galatians 5:25 NIV

25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is God with us and in us, leading us into the life and mission of Jesus.

Which means the Spirit is not given so we can control our lives better. The Spirit is given so we can partner with God in His mission.

SLIDE - Big Idea

The Spirit’s power isn’t for personal control — it’s for partnership in God’s mission.

For the past two weeks we’ve been asking a question:

What does it mean to keep in step with the Holy Spirit?

Week 1: We saw that In step is not in charge. It’s to be an apprentice to Jesus as he obeys the father. The Spirit will only ever lead us to submit ourselves to the will of the Father.

Week 2: We saw something else Jesus does before sending the disciples. He speaks peace over them. We must recieve his peace before we can walk in step with his power.

But that raises a question: If the Spirit is with us… Why? What does the Spirit empower the church to do?

Jesus answers that question in today’s scripture.

SLIDE - What does the Spirit...?

SCRIPTURE EXPOSITION

Turn with me to Acts 1:4-8. The verses will not be on the screen today, so follow along in your own bible.

1. The Spirit empowers the church to wait on the Father

SLIDE - Point 1 - Acts 1:4-5

Acts 1:4 NIV

4 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.

The disciples have:

seen the resurrection, spent 40 days with Jesus, heard the Great Commission

You would think the next instruction would be “Go.”

Instead Jesus says “Wait.”

Why?

Because the mission of God cannot be accomplished by human effort.

The church does not move forward by:

strategy alone, passion alone, urgency alone

The church moves forward by the power of the Spirit.

Mission without the Spirit becomes human activity.

But mission with the Spirit becomes participation in God’s work.

2. The Spirit empowers the church to stop obsessing over outcomes

SLIDE - Point 2 - Acts 1:6-7

Acts 1:6–7 NIV

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

Then the disciples ask a very human question.

“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

In other words: “Is this when everything finally gets fixed?”

They’re still imagining:

political restoration, visible power, immediate victory

Most of us want the same thing the disciples wanted.

We want to know when things will finally change. When will the diagnosis get better? When will the relationship heal? When will the situation resolve?

Jesus answers: “It is not for you to know the times or dates…”

The mission of God is not about predicting the future.

It’s about participating in what God is doing now.

SLIDE - Big Idea

The Spirit’s power isn’t for personal control — it’s for partnership in God’s mission.

3. The Spirit empowers partnership

SLIDE - Point 3 - Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 NIV

8 But 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.”

Then Jesus gives the promise.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…”

This word power is important.

Not control, influence, or status.

Power means capacity given by God.

The Spirit enables ordinary people to do what they could never do on their own.

And what is that power for?

“And you will be my witnesses.”

Witness means telling the story of Jesus. Proclaiming what God has done. Living lives that point to Christ for the sake of those who do not yet know him.

A witness is someone who tells what they have seen and experienced.

The disciples weren’t given power so they could control history.

They were given power so they could testify to Jesus in the middle of it.

Partnering with God in his mission

Then Jesus describes the movement of the church:

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

The Spirit’s power always moves the church outward.

Not inward. Outward.

That’s what happened in the book of Acts.

So what does it look like when a church actually responds to the Spirit like this?

STORY: DISCERNING THE SPIRIT

SLIDE - Ecuador

Tell the story of Ecuador from RE:23 -> Explore 24 -> Our New Vision -> This Trip

This is my own experience of trying to stay in step with the Spirit, not to be in control or to make things work the way I want them to, but to Participate with God in what he is doing.

We learned that the vision God has given for the Latin American Church is “we partner with God in the restoration of Latin America”

When we say we want to be a “Spirit-led community” we are saying the same thing. God is working to restore Wyoming County, and we have the privilege to partner with him in that work.

We can only be “empowered by the Spirit” if we “keep in step”,

We can only "keep in step” if we are “partnering with God in his mission”

APPLICATION

SLIDE - Title

And that’s exactly how the Spirit often works.

The disciples in Acts did not know what Pentecost would look like.

They only knew two things. Wait. And trust the Spirit.

And the first thing they did while waiting. Was pray.

SCRIPTURE - Acts 1:14

Acts 1:14 NIV

14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

That’s not a coincidence.

Before the Spirit moved the church outward…

The church gathered to seek God together.

And this week at Valley Chapel we have an opportunity to do the same.

This week:

We are launching 24 hours of prayer.

I am going to Ecuador

We are sending a group of women to seek the Spirit together.

These are not just events on the church calendar.

They are opportunities to participate in what the Spirit is doing.

SLIDE - Big Idea

The Spirit’s power isn’t for personal control — it’s for partnership in God’s mission.

THE MAIN TO-DO

So here is the simple invitation for this week.

Show up to pray.

Join the church in seeking the Spirit.

Not as spectators.

As partners

Because the Spirit’s power is not something we manufacture. It’s something we receive as we seek God together.

When the church stops listening to the Spirit, two things happen.

Either we try to control everything ourselves.

Or we retreat into private faith.

But when the church listens to the Spirit…

Ordinary people become part of what God is doing in the world.

Just like the disciples in Acts.

CONCLUSION

The disciples in Acts did not know exactly what was about to happen. They didn’t know what Pentecost would look like. They didn’t know how the gospel would spread.

They only knew this: The Spirit was coming. And they were invited to participate.

And that same invitation is still being extended today.

TRANSITION TO COMISSIONING

SLIDE - Title

Now we’re going to respond together.

We’re going to:

Pray for the Ecuador trip

Pray for those attending the women’s gathering

Begin our 24 hours of prayer. (name who will “carry the torch” from the commissioning)

And as we do that, we are simply saying: Holy Spirit, lead us. And we will follow.

Band will lead us in our final song after the prayers