THIS Is A Blueprint For The Church Right Now!

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I woke up early this morning and out of a dream. Sometimes God will put certain people on my heart, and I just want to be faithful to the Lord Jesus with the gifts that He has given me.

So, could I have Evan come down? As you're here this morning, I do this wherever I travel and minister. I just ask you to stretch out your hands toward this individual. You can face me just right here. Yep, you look nervous, Evan. Come on, it's going to be good, man. It's going to be good, brother.

So, we're just stretching out our hands and praying. We know that Jesus loves us. We know that He has a plan for our life—plans to prosper us, to give us a hope and a future.

Evan, I want to prophesy over you in 2025 that this is your year of belovedness. The Father would say in 2025, "This is my son Evan, in whom I'm well pleased." Would you just lift up your hands like this?

Father, I pray right now that you would release peace to our brother's heart, that you would remove all unnecessary burdens, every yoke that's not from you. Jesus, your yoke is easy and your burden is light.

Evan, I feel like the Lord is saying, "Learn from me. Learn from me in 2025, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. For I'm inviting you into a year of beloved identity, where you will learn what it means that even as you think you're chasing me, I'm chasing you. Even as you think you're pursuing me, I am pursuing you. This will be a year where you will come up leaning on me as your beloved. Even in the wilderness, even in the seasons and the questions, I will reveal myself as a good Father."

So, Lord, we bless our brother this year in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. God bless you. [Applause]

Are the Thomases here today? Okay, yeah, come on down, brother. As I mentioned, it's not just like random selection. These are the people that were in my dream last night, so I'm just being faithful to minister to them.

All right, let's stretch our hands out toward our brother. For the Lord would say that I am uncovering you in this next 12 months. I am further revealing to my body the gifts and the grace that I have given you.

For the Lord says that I have need of thee. For the Lord says that even as it has felt like a season of a type of hiddenness, it feels like a season where you have been on reserve. The Lord says, "In this year, I am calling you forward. I am calling you to the front lines. I am uncovering you. I am bringing you forth for such a time as this."

For the Lord says, "Even as generals would train soldiers for battle, I have anointed and graced you as one who will train my people for war. For the Lord says that there is a grit and there is a grace on the inside of you that is needed for this hour. The Lord says it's time to make further preparation. It's time to get further rooted and planted, for your revealing and your uncovering draws near."

Father, I bless my brother today from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Lord, we thank you for a year of unveiling, of uncovering in the best of ways. Surely, the best is yet to come. We bless him in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.

The Jesses, would you come? Thanks for coming back, Darl. Praise the Lord.

The Lord gave me James 1:12: "Blessed are they who persevere under trial, for when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has for them."

I had a vision last night in my dream where it was as if the enemy was trying to cause you to fall back. But the Lord says that I am positioning you. I prophesy over you that 2025 will be the year of the slingshot. Even as it has felt like you're falling back, the Lord says the fallback is that, in my perspective, you are being seated and you are being positioned for glory.

The Lord says, "Even though it feels like the enemy has tried to push you back with delays and different kinds of things that have blindsided you, the Lord says the fallback is actually me divinely seating you so that you might be crowned for glory. And that you might, like a slingshot, be pulled back, but then go farther than you could have gone even before."

So, I just bless you in 2025 with this year of the slingshot, that you are being prepared and crowned for glory. I thank you, God, for the grace, the shepherding grace that's on their life. Lord, I thank you for the trials and the testings that are preparing them for glory this year.

Don't prepare for trouble; prepare for glory. Don't focus on the fallback; focus on being seated with me in heavenly places. For the Lord would say, "Perspective is everything in 2025. Do not let your mind rest on things below, but fix your mind on things above."

I bless you in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you all. [Applause]

Amen. All right, if you didn't get a word, you got to come visit me in my sleep. I'm just kidding. That was weird, right?

Okay, the Lord... People ask me how this works, right? Because I prophesy over people all over the United States and the world. I tell people I either see people in dreams—that's how I know what God wants to speak to them—or there's usually a measure of light above someone's head that I see in the natural that no one else sees, which identifies to me that God wants to communicate with them. So, that's just kind of how the Lord works with me.

All right, can we give Mads a big round of applause?

Okay, so we are going to launch out this year, as I mentioned, in the book of Acts. We want to become a New Testament Church in the greatest way that we can. I don't know how many of you were able to get a calendar for January. If you haven't, make sure you grab one.

But in a practical sense, as a leadership team, we are endeavoring to create a 2025 calendar that serves as a blueprint for the book of Acts. So, in January, you're going to see prayer meetings, discipleship, and fellowship. Where does that come from? The book of Acts.

As you're looking throughout the calendar in the year, this is not just some kind of pick-four. This is a leadership team that's doing our best to actually lay out a blueprint for us as a community. So that as we have prayer meetings, as we have fellowship opportunities, as we have the altar school—I know that there's a married group this month—we have Alexander Pagani coming for altar night this month. All of these things, there really is a method to the madness. Can you say "method to the madness"?

Okay, so when I look at this, I don't get overwhelmed. I just say, "Lord, thank you for the New Testament Church." And may my spouse or me and my family try to figure out how this works, right?

So, Morgan and I yesterday were creating a list of people that we can get with in January—not because we need more people to get with, but we want to be a part of the New Testament Church where they fellowshipped with one another. Are you tracking with me?

So, like when I'm viewing prayer meetings, I'm not like, "Oh Lord, another prayer meeting." I'm saying, "Lord, thank you for an opportunity to pray," because they continually gave themselves to prayer in the book of Acts.

So, I just wanted you to hear it from me on the first Sunday in January. All of the calendars, all of the planning find their origin in our best attempt to create a culture here at the Altar Church and the Altar Global that would lead us back to the book of Acts. Does that make sense?

Okay, so I wanted to back up just for a few minutes and begin here in Matthew 28. We're going to read what's known as the Great Commission.

For those of you who might not know or might not be familiar, we have what's called the four gospels. The four gospels are written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These four individuals recorded separate accounts of the life, the ministry, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Okay, are you tracking with me? So, we know that Matthew was a tax collector. Matthew was an educated man, probably the most educated out of the four in some way. So, you have Matthew, who was a tax collector. You have Mark, who was a fisherman. His real name is John Mark. He went on a missionary journey with Paul and then he later traveled with Peter. So, you have John Mark, a fisherman.

Then you have Luke, who was a doctor. Many people don't know that Luke was not an eyewitness to the Lord Jesus. In other words, even though Luke wrote one of the four gospels, Luke did not meet Jesus in person. How many of you didn't know that?

Okay, so Luke was led to conversion by Paul. Luke, being a doctor, the Book of Luke, if you will, is him—obviously, many people believe that Mary, the mother of Jesus, along with the other disciples, would have given him an eyewitness account of what it was like to be up close to the Lord Jesus.

But Luke, as a doctor—Is anybody here in the marketplace? Okay, so don't tell me you're not called to ministry. Luke is a modern-day marketplace minister. He was a doctor. He was educated. He was well. He came to the faith through the ministry of Paul, and we have the Book of Luke. But Luke is also the author of the book of Acts. Are you tracking with me?

So, Luke writes the book of Luke, but Luke also authors Acts. And then we have John, a teenager. Okay, you tracking with me so far? Four gospels. Who are the four gospel authors? A tax collector, a fisherman, a doctor, and a teenager.

Look at your neighbor and say, "Wow." We know that the Holy Spirit inspired them, and all scripture is God-breathed. But I'm just trying to take a few minutes and lead us into the book of Acts. A fisherman, a teenager, a tax collector, and a doctor are the ones who authored the four gospels separately.

It wasn't until a few hundred years later that they put them together, if you will, so that now you and I pick up a Bible and read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—all speaking to the life, the ministry, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ Jesus. Good?

Okay, so let's finish here at the end of Matthew. I want to begin reading Matthew 28, verse 16.

Meanwhile, the 11 disciples heard the wonderful news from the women and left for Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them. The moment they saw him, they worshiped him, but some still had lingering doubts.

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority has been given to me. Now, wherever you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to faithfully obey all that I have commanded you. And never forget that I am with you every day, even to the end of the age."

Who has heard of the Great Commission?

Okay, the Great Commission. One of the things that I appreciate about the original language is it says, "As you go." In other words, it was never meant to be a stop-start. The witnessing and the sharing of our faith has always meant to be wherever, however, whenever—as you go.

So, how many of you are going to be somewhere tomorrow? Will you obey the command? Raise your hand. Will you obey the commands of Jesus?

Or maybe not, because it's not church, right? One of the things that we've been talking about over the last few months is that we want to be a New Testament Church, not an American Church.

Okay, and so over the course of this year, I will faithfully help to distinguish the American Church from the New Testament Church. But I'm not going to lie to you; it's going to make us very uncomfortable.

And that tension and that cutting and that discomfort is seeking to lead us to conviction and repentance so that we can turn in our American church membership and get a New Testament membership.

Okay, so a New Testament—there, commissioned.

Okay, again, four gospels. Here we are at the end of the gospel. Jesus, the Great Commission: "All power, all authority has been given to me. As you go, find a local church, pick the parts of the Bible that you like, and remember I'll be back."

Think that's a good American version?

Great! I've come to the faith. Jesus tells me to find a church, pick the parts of the Bible I like, and he'll be back someday.

That's an American version. A New Testament version is Jesus commissioning disciples. Who are disciples? It's you and I.

We have unfortunately separated clergy and laity. In other words, we have said, "Hey, if you're a leader, if you work at a church, you have to try to follow the words of Jesus. But if you're in the marketplace or you're not in ministry, you get a pass."

So, what I'm communicating this morning is Jesus is commissioning everyone—young and old. Anyone who claims to be a disciple of Jesus has been commissioned to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to—

I know it's a cuss word today—to what?

Right? So, you guys heard the story I told of a young lady who wanted to come to Jesus, but when she met with me, it came down to, "Well, I don't want to be told what to do."

I said, "Well, then Christianity is not for you, because we are being taught to..."

It's not loud enough, right?

So, the foundation of New Testament Christianity is based off of obedience. We are called out of the place of love to obey the teachings and the commandments of Jesus.

Versus in the American church, we have made obeying Jesus optional. So, that's why you have great writers like A.W. Tozer who challenges the modern-day gospel. He says the modern-day gospel has been so watered down that if it was poison, it wouldn't kill anybody, and if it was medicine, it wouldn't heal anybody.

So, I love the exhortation of the worship, like, "Lord, we're all in." I'm like, "Amen! I pray we mean it!"

Right? This is—we're starting 2025 like commissioning: "Go therefore and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I commanded you. Lo, I'll be with you always, even to the end of the age."

So, if you'll put the first slide up on the screen there, I want to just connect some things this morning.

So, if we want to know how the disciples interpreted the Great Commission, which we just read, the only divine record we have is in the book of Acts.

So, they get this commissioning, teaching them to obey. But now I want to connect the four gospels to the book of Acts. Are you tracking with me?

So, the four gospels, written by four different men, cover the life, the ministry, the death, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension. But now we're moving into the book of Acts, and in the book of Acts, it is the practical outworking of the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples.

Are you tracking with me?

All right, you can go to the next slide there. The four gospels and the book of Acts must go together. The gospels are the commandments of Jesus Christ. The book of Acts are the fulfillment of those commandments.

Are you tracking with me?

So, if you would turn to Acts chapter 1. Several weeks ago, I just briefly mentioned this, and now, because we're in 2025, we'll really start to dive into this.

So, there in Matthew 28, they're having this encounter in Galilee. He's giving them the Great Commission. And then let's read a little bit more into what's happening.

So, who wrote the book of Acts? What did he do for a living? Who led him to the Lord?

Good.

So, to Theophilus, the lover of God, I write to you again, my dear friend, to give you further details about the life of our Lord Jesus and all the things that he did and taught just before he ascended into heaven.

Jesus left instructions through the Holy Spirit for the apostles he had chosen. After the sufferings of his cross, Jesus appeared alive many times to the same apostles over a 40-day period, proving to them with many convincing signs that he had been resurrected.

During these encounters, he taught them the truths about the kingdom of God. Jesus instructed them, "Don't leave Jerusalem, but wait until you receive the gift I told you about—the gift of the Father that he promised. For John baptized you with water, but in a few days now you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit."

Every time they gathered together, they asked Jesus, "Lord, is it now time for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?"

I'm going to keep reading to verse 11. Sorry, you're at church; you're going to get the Bible.

He answered, "The Father is the one who sets the fixed dates and times of their fulfillment. You are not permitted to know the timing of all that he has prepared by his own authority."

Underline verse 8, and we're going to circle back around here and really kind of land here this first Sunday.

But I promise you this: the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will be seized with power. You will be my messengers, my witnesses to Jerusalem, throughout Judea, the distant provinces, even to the remotest portions of the earth.

Right after Jesus spoke those words, the disciples saw him being lifted into the sky and disappearing into a cloud. As they stared into the sky watching Jesus ascend, two men in white robes appeared suddenly beside them.

They told the startled disciples, "Galileans, why are you staring up into the sky? Jesus has been taken back into heaven, but he will come back in the same way that he ascended."

Jesus gives the disciples this great commissioning. I mention that the book of Acts is the practical outworking of the Great Commission. We mention that in the gospels you have the commandments of Jesus; in the book of Acts, you have the fulfillment of them.

But if you want to go to the next slide, in the four gospels, Jesus dwells among men, but in the book of Acts, he now dwells within men through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's fascinating to me that Jesus commissioned them to fulfill this, preach the gospel, teach them to obey my commands. But that's not enough.

I want you to listen to me. He knows that they cannot become a true New Testament Church unless the Holy Spirit comes upon them with power.

It is futile; it is impossible; it will not work. We will fail in 2025. I say this with sobriety: we will fail to become a true New Testament Church if we are not baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire.

This is more than pulling ingredients out of Acts 2. Okay? In Acts 2, they gave themselves to prayer. They gave themselves to fellowship. They gave themselves to the breaking of bread. They gave themselves to discipleship.

And all right, Lord, send revival. It's more than a formula; it's more than principles. We must be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire.

So, let me separate then and make it very simple. The crux and the fuel for the American church is the flesh. The crux and the fuel for the New Testament Church is the Holy Spirit.

I want you this morning, as we begin our journey in 2025, to come to grips with me, beloved. We cannot become everything that God desires us to become without the Holy Spirit.

We desperately need the friend, the teacher, the advocate, the truth-teller. We must depend; we must lean; we must seek; we must pursue him—not methods, not formulas, not great ideas.

The church is not a building; the church is God's people. The church is the Holy Spirit dwelling within men.

I want you to put your hand on your belly. If you're a believer, if you have confessed with your mouth and said in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father, would you just say, "Good morning, Holy Spirit"?

But why haven't we acknowledged him yet? Why haven't we fellowshipped yet? Why do we act like he's not real?

It's necessary this first Sunday to get hit with, "Oh God, our own ideas and our own good thinking and our own systems." And like all of that is great and fine, but without the Holy Ghost, we're just another church on the corner in another city, and nothing is improving in society.

Again, it's fascinating to me—the Great Commission—and you could have just read in Acts 1 like, "All right, here we go." But you have this whole Acts 1: "Hey guys, I need you to go to the upper room. I need you to be patient. I need you to wait for the promise of the Father."

I want to go there for a minute. If you just hold your place, turn to John—John chapter 14. And then I want you to just see with our eyes. Jesus had already clued them in. He had already told them this.

What I'm saying is the book of Acts and the gospels have to go together. Jesus already told them while he lived and walked on the earth. We know that he's still alive, but he told them what was coming.

John 14:15: "Loving me empowers you to obey my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another—the Holy Spirit—who will be to you a friend just like me, and he will never leave you. The world won't receive him because they can't see him or know him, but you know him intimately because he remains with you and will live inside of you."

I promise that I will never leave you helpless or abandon you as orphans. I will come back to you soon. I will leave this world, and they will see me no longer, but you will see me because I will live again, and you will come alive too.

So when that day comes, you will know that I am living in the Father and that you are one with me, for I will be living in you.

Those who truly love me are those who obey my commands. Whoever passionately loves me will be passionately loved by my Father, and I will passionately love him in return and will reveal myself to them.

Many translations say Jesus said, "It's better for you if I go. It's to your advantage." Imagine the disciples walking with Jesus, and he's saying to them, "Hey, it's better for you. It's to your advantage if I go because I'm going to send another."

They'd be like, "What the heck are you talking about? I like you, Jesus."

Jesus is saying, "Nope, I got to go. I got to go to the cross. But I'll rise three days later. When I rise, I'm going to give you the Great Commission. But before you can fulfill the Great Commission, I need you to gather corporately. I need you to commit to prayer. John baptized with water, but one's coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. And it's only by the presence and power and person of the Holy Spirit that we might accomplish."

And by the way, just in case you missed it, the world doesn't understand him. This is the problem with adopting worldly methods to try to get the Holy Spirit to come.

Okay, I'm going to take it a little bit further. This is why some of our friends and family think we're in a cult.

Oh, just me?

Okay, you're trying—go back and read it—1 Corinthians 2. You're trying to explain spiritual nature and Holy Ghost to people who are carnally minded.

So can we just settle that on the first Sunday of the year? We don't have to be mean about it; we don't have to be prideful or arrogant about it. But folks, when we say yes to the New Testament Church, be prepared to be misunderstood.

Have you ever done that? It's like this: you know generosity came on you; you sewed a big offering; you're excited about it. But then you talk to a friend who can't even tithe.

So like to them, the limit and the legalistic whole thing is 10%. But you actually know the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit says 10% is not the maximum; it's the minimum.

I'm going to try this side.

Like you went to church, and they don't really end at the same time because who cares?

Oh, sorry, I'm not going to be to the buffet at 11:30 every Sunday because we're kind of spirit-led.

Clocks have killed more moves of God than demons ever will.

Clocks have killed more moves of God than demons ever will. [Music]

We have a clock right there, but the clock is not Lord.

Again, I get having systems. I get all that. We're a very—I love that. But without the Holy Spirit, we're just worshiping the flesh.

So I want you to know I've been in preparation for months for this year, but I have been privately repenting again and again.

"Lord, please forgive me for drinking the American dream Kool-Aid. Lord, I'm so sorry that I'm intoxicated and flooded with constantly my own need to glory in the flesh. Lord, I'm asking you."

And here we are at the beginning of the year, so it's a good time. Some of us are fasting, whatever. It's a great time to say, "Holy Spirit, come on in and wreck everything and anything that's taken the center that's not you. Lord, I'm asking you to reorder, to re-prioritize. Lord, I'm asking that you would come."

But again, as we begin this journey at the altar and try to figure out New Testament Christianity, I just want to be a voice that shouts on the first Sunday of 2025: without the Holy Spirit, the adventure we're setting out on is impossible.

Isn't it scary? Have you ever felt like God invited you into something, and you're like, "No, I'm not qualified. I don't have the money."

Can you write this down? God does not call the equipped; he equips those that he calls.

You know, sometimes a good indicator that it is God is you can't do it in your own means. You can't do it in your own because it leaves room for the Holy Spirit.

So that when he does it, only he can get the glory.

I don't have one of those stories. It's like one of my beefs with the Lord. I'm like, "Why can't I stand up and tell people I wanted to do this so that you can never steal the glory that's mine?"

But many people, it's like they believe all God could ever tell them to do is something they want to do.

And I wonder if that's just not really flesh worship. We're worshiping what we're comfortable with rather than following the Holy Spirit on his adventure.

Can I just—I just like want to father a little bit in this moment.

Like, do you know what mistakes are okay? Do you know that we serve such an amazing Father that he's so good that if we miss it, there's not only forgiveness and mercy, but he'll help us find a way?

See, I'd rather be among a community of courageous believers trying to do the New Testament Church, and we might stumble here and there, and we might try—we won't be perfect.

But I'd rather be a part of a daring, courageous company than people that have just settled for the American dream.

I feel like maybe we just even need to say that too: "Hey, welcome to imperfect Altar Church."

Oh boy, where is this guy headed?

I don't know; it's somewhere in here.

How are we doing? Is my heart coming through okay?

So the next slide there, I just wanted for you to consider this.

So the book of Acts is called in many places the Acts of the Apostles, but in other places, it's the Acts of the Holy Spirit in the church.

Because when we're talking about the book of Acts, again, you're talking about a 30—this surprises a lot of people—you're talking about a 30 to 35-year period. Okay? From Acts 1 to Acts 28, you're only talking a 30 to 35-year period of the early church.

Okay? But in the early church, in Acts chapter 1, Jesus tells them, "You must receive the Holy Spirit. You must be baptized in fire in order to fulfill the Great Commission."

All right, next slide. The secret to the book of Acts is the person, work, and ministry of the Holy Spirit operating through the first-century church.

There are almost 50 references to the Holy Spirit in this book. The secret to the book of Acts is the person, work, and ministry of the Holy Spirit operating through the first-century church—almost 50 references.

All right, next slide. I want to show you the role of the Spirit even in the Lord Jesus's life, which I hope just drives the point home more.

Jesus was born of the Spirit. He was anointed of the Spirit. He was filled with the fullness of the Spirit. He was led of the Spirit. He spoke and taught by the Spirit. He cast out devils by the Spirit. He healed the sick by the Spirit. He was offered on Calvary by the Spirit. He was resurrected by the Spirit. He gave commandments by the Spirit.

Are you hearing it? He baptized and empowered his church by the Spirit. He directs and governs his church. Revelation 1, 2, and 3, what does it say? "Listen for what the Spirit says to the church."

Jesus demonstrated and manifested and was an example to anyone who followed him—a life that was dependent on the Spirit.

Is that about cover it?

How much he's telling them in Acts 1, "You need what I have. You have watched me. I'm commissioning you now, but I'm going to give you the secret. I'm going to give you access. I'm going to introduce to you the Holy Spirit who has empowered me and enabled me to do everything you've seen me say and do."

Jesus modeled a perfect life dependent upon the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Think about Jesus's words: "I do nothing. I say nothing that I don't see the Father saying or doing."

Where did we come up with this theology that we just do and say whatever we want?

Well, I just think I'll plant a church or start a ministry and do whatever I want.

I hope wheels are turning for some of you guys.

How did we ever do church without prayer?

How in the world have church services on Sunday become more popular than prayer?

Josh H, how can I be the husband God's called me to be without prayer?

How—why should I go to another prayer meeting?

Maybe that's your problem. Maybe you're so out of touch with your need of God.

Do you see why the gospel is so offensive?

Do you see why it cuts to the heart?

Because the real gospel says, "Nice try."

The real gospel says, "I appreciate all that you've accomplished in your flesh, but that's not going to cut it. I want to introduce you to the way of the cross that's called deny yourself."

To follow Jesus, you have to unfollow yourself. [Music]

All right, take a deep breath. We're doing good.

Getting [Music]—there. I just feel—I hope there's a God cry beginning to erupt in you.

"Jesus, I need your help in 2025. Holy Spirit, I'm so sorry that I'm Lord and you're not. I mean, maybe you're Savior; maybe you're a crisis ATM that I go to when I'm struggling. But Lord, I actually need, like, Holy Spirit every day."

And again, I think we're all wondering, "Why aren't there more healings? Why, why, why?"

I mean, I think a good place to start would just be we need more Holy Spirit.

It's amazing.

All right, next slide. The first-century church recognized their daily need of utter dependence upon the Spirit for working and witnessing.

I would write down those two words: for working and witnessing.

See, Jesus said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you."

To go to church on Sundays?

All right, bye Felicia.

We're going to wave bye to the American church today at the altar call.

Bye to our drive-thru on Sunday.

Turning in my resignation—that's nowhere near what Jesus died and rose again for and commissioned his disciples to become a part of.

He said, "You will become."

And he says, "You will be endued with power."

Right? The Greek, it's dunamis—it's dynamite.

You will receive dynamite.

This little light of mine—little light?

What happened to dynamite?

Do you know that when dynamite goes off, people know it?

And when you have dynamite and it hasn't gone off, they know it.

You will receive power.

This wasn't Jesus like, "Hey, wait in Jerusalem for a little Holy Ghost goosebump."

Folks, I mean, I appreciate like in the charismatic Pentecostal, like, you know, we fall on the floor, you know, slain in the Spirit.

I mean, I'm good with all that.

But the power I want—this filter—the power that he gave them wasn't to knock them down but to raise them up.

If you're not taking out the door what's on the floor, stop falling on the floor.

Wow, that was a really powerful minister. They knocked everybody down.

Maybe I measure powerful by what transpired in those people's lives that week, right?

Again, appreciate Holy Spirit, you know, all the things.

But do you feel like, you know, we're even getting into this whole thing of like, "But the height of revival is not extended services."

Although I appreciate extended services, the height of revival is transformation.

It's receiving power.

It's receiving dynamite to open up your mouth at work.

It's not revival that you opened up your mouth at church and you shut your mouth at work.

To me, if that's the case, you didn't go to revival; you went to a pep rally.

And I'm sorry, but I feel a lot of what we're doing in the charismania—it's pep rallies.

It's people acting excited about God, but people don't know I'm saved at work.

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses.

We talked about this a few weeks ago—martyrs.

So we have to contextualize this a bit, but I want to tell you the reason why he had to give them dynamite is because they were going to die.

I mean, I think in some ways it's not—you know, I wish a lot of our conver—I'm just being vulnerable with you.

I wish a lot of our conversation among believers would move beyond who’s saved or not.

I wish we could talk more about life in the Spirit.

I wish we could talk more about storing up inheritance for the end of the age.

I mean, whatever you want to give in the offering because you want a new car, okay.

But like I sew into the offering because I'm storing up treasures for the end of the age.

I don't need to see with my eyes because I'm not like a petulant orphan.

I—I'm not—

Okay, let me come over here for the working and the witnessing.

And I think we—you know, you love the Lord; you follow his commands.

I mean, I don't think people are going to hell, but my heart is just, "Yeah, but Jesus promised us so much more."

You hear what I'm saying?

I'm not—it's not like, you know, a lot of church—I don't personally—this might offend you.

I don't think a lot of churches are going to hell unless there's some false gospel.

But I think a lot of people in America, we're just hanging out in the shallows of Christianity, praying for the rapture, and it's making no impact on the world around us.

But yet God is inviting us into New Testament Christianity, which he paid for with his life.

And we are the people who will not settle for anything less than what Jesus has invited us into, right?

So this is not about telling other Christians you're going to hell and I go to the best church.

No, no, no.

See, because if you—you lost the Spirit, that's not—that's pride and greed.

We're humility.

Hey, bless you where you're at in your life and God.

But I refuse to tone down my level of hunger for those less hungry.

Hey, if you think I'm a part of a cult and you know whatever, but like I'm pressing into the more.

I want until our lives and our community looks like the book of Acts.

I'm going to keep saying there's more until everyone's healed, until—until—until there's more.

And it's just a whole lot easier to go on the journey for more if you're surrounded by a family that also wants more.

Man, isn't it tough pursuing the more, but you're surrounded by people who just want to hang out?

Who just want to keep investing in worldly pleasures and who haven't been marked by eternity?

And so let's do what we can this year as we pursue the more to make sure that we're not coming off prideful or arrogant or even challenging if not necessary whether people are going to heaven or not.

Let's be an invitation.

Let's be an instrument that says there's more.

Let's model a life of dependence upon the Holy Spirit, and hopefully by our example, it stirs a fire in other people.

Are you hearing my heart?

But it's for the working and the witnessing.

Okay, almost done.

Next slide. Just want to connect them for you a couple times.

Again, in the gospels, we have the promise and prophecy that Jesus would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it—Matthew 16.

And in Acts, we see the church—this church—being built.

Next slide. In the gospels, we see Christ purchasing his church with his own blood.

And in the book of Acts, we see this church rising into resurrection and power.

Maybe one of my favorite ones.

Next slide. The book of Acts is the New Testament in action.

It does not end with an amen because it is more than a historical document; it is a blueprint for right now.

In the King James Version and in the New King James Version of the Bible, every New Testament book ends with amen except Acts.

In the New King James and the King James, every book in the New Testament ends with amen except the book of Acts.

Why?

It's still happening!

Oh, you didn't catch that?

Dude, that should be like—what?

I long to move beyond reading about revival history.

I appreciate and I love reading accounts in the book of Acts, but Lord, we're asking in 2025, would you do immeasurably, immeasurably beyond all we can ask for or imagine?

And if we really want to see you move, move, God, we need the dynamite.

Oh, more, Lord! Move in our city! Move in Charlotte!

We need mega dynamite!

It's impossible without the Holy Spirit.

I want you to just sit in that for a minute.

It is impossible for you and I to fulfill the will of God for our lives without the Holy Spirit.

I just want to speak to hearts right now that you felt the pain, the—you're right where God wants you.

Just ask today for help.

Holy Spirit, I need you.

I'm more in tune right now with how much I don't know, know how much I don't have.

But, Lord, I thank you that I'm not an orphan.

Oh, Jesus said, "Nope, I'm going to be with you. I will be with you always."

But out of love for me, I need you to obey me.

I need you to step out.

I need you to press in.

I need you.

And thank God for people who won't settle.

Come on!

Come on!

No, no!

Thank you for people who—who—man, it's like the love-hate thing, right?

It's like some people you love them because they love Jesus so much, but you hate them because their love for Jesus challenges our status quo.

Oh, Lord, I want to—I tell people it's like we're all normal, right?

You get in here and you don't feel like worshiping.

The worst thing you can do is hide in the back.

If you come in here and don't feel like worshiping, get around somebody in the church that's a wild worshiper.

Let their worship rub off on you, right?

If you don't feel like praying, get around that old granny who you can't tell if she knows English or tongues.

It's just shand, and you get around—this is how I learned how to pray, Jeremiah, around old 70-year-old intercessors.

They prayed—I mean, it's like you thought you knew how to pray for hours again and again.

This one old lady, her dog howled in sync with the tongues.

God is my witness.

I was freaked out.

They clearly have accessed a realm in the Spirit where when they pray, something shifts.

And I just pray, "Lord, release the gift of hunger." [Music]

Here, and Lord, I'm sorry for attacking and criticizing the very people I should be learning from.

Lord, I'm sorry that that complacent thing in me rose up to try to attack someone who just wants nothing less than Jesus.

Next slide. The book of Acts centers around two apostles, namely Peter and Paul.

Acts 1-12 covers Peter as an apostle to the Jews, and Acts 13-28 covers Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles.

So again, gospels—the life, the ministry, the death, the resurrection, the ascension.

He gives them a divine commission.

In the book of Acts, they begin to work out what does this look like to be witnesses, to be martyrs.

In the book of Acts, Paul, he's radically converted.

We'll go through it this year, but he takes three missionary journeys where he begins to plant churches.

So you have gospels, you have the book of Acts, which doesn't have an amen, and then the epistles are letters to the churches that they planted.

Okay, I'm just giving you like a New Testament crash course 101 your first Sunday.

Okay? Gospels: life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension.

Acts is the practical outworking of the Great Commission.

It features primarily two apostles: Peter, an apostle to the Jews; Paul, an apostle to the Gentiles.

And then when you get beyond the book of Acts and you start getting into the epistles, the pastoral letters, they're writing it to the churches they planted.

And then we obviously have John on the Isle of Patmos who writes the book of Revelation.

Good?

All right, verse—next slide. I promise we're almost done.

Is this helpful?

All right, Peter in his ministry reaches from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria.

Paul reaches to the uttermost.

So again, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you—dynamite.

You will be my witnesses.

You will be my martyrs.

You will face persecution.

You will face—the goal of Christianity is not to win influence and gain friends.

The goal of Christianity is to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.

But you see them to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

You have Judea and Samaria that Peter primarily in his field or in his sphere begins to minister, and then Paul is really the one who's commissioned to the outermost parts of the earth.

Next slide. In closing, the four gospels cover all—can you say all?

All!

All that Christ began to do and teach.

Not really.

The Book of John says that if we could literally—I want to just throw that in there because technically that's not theologically correct.

But you have in the Book of John, in the last chapter, John says that if we could contain everything that he did and that he said, we wouldn't have enough books.

So I would probably say the gospels do their best covering what he did teach.

But if you'll just turn real quick—last, last scripture—Acts 1:1 really quickly.

If you'll just look real quick because it has to do with this point.

Okay? To Theophilus, the lover of God, I write to you again, my dear friend, to give you further details about the life of our Lord Jesus and all things that he—

Okay, so there is doing and there is teaching.

I'm at a conference several years ago. They're interviewing an Indian pastor who had planted 5,000 churches and all of these things, and he's speaking at an American conference.

And they ask him, "Brother, why has there been so much success in India as compared to America?"

And he chuckled and he said, "Well, the difference between America and India is people listen and they do."

Okay?

So I would assume that in this room, we have all absorbed 6.9 million teachings and sermons in our lifetime, right?

We are the generation who it's more teaching, more teaching, more teaching.

But that is an American churchy anti-way of more, more, more—ever learning and never doing.

All that Jesus taught and he did.

So on our journey to become a New Testament Church, it's not just teaching and training and equipping; it's empowering saints to do the work of the ministry.

Right?

So the more you just receive without pouring out, we both become obese in our faith.

Much of the American church is overweight because we continue to take in, but we never—

Right?

So what if like our simple altar calls this year were like, "Okay, amen, go do."

Go do Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday.

Every day this week, there's going to be an opportunity to call on the Holy Spirit.

Every day this week, there's going to be an opportunity to share our faith.

Every day, every hour, every—

So, Lord, please let me be someone that is taught but someone who also does.

Amen?

Next, the church and the kingdom of God are eternally connected.

You have some weird people on the internet who fight about church and fight about kingdom.

They're together.

The kingdom is the theme in the four gospels, and the church is the theme of the book of Acts and the epistles.

Okay?

The kingdom of God—Jesus taught on the kingdom of God.

Jesus taught on the kingdom of heaven.

And Matthew 16, it says, "I will build my church, my ecclesia, and the gates of hell."

So the kingdom of God is intended to operate through the church.

The kingdom of God is intended to operate through the church.

They are eternally connected.

The church is Jesus's idea.

And then finally, and we'll close here, if I could have maybe just James, if you want to come up.

There would be no book of Acts, no Christianity, no salvation, no signs and wonders without the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In the New Testament Church, we just don't celebrate Easter bunnies and acknowledge that Jesus is no longer dead.

The foundation, the cornerstone, the head—everything that we rally around is the fact that Jesus is alive.

Would you bow your heads with me this morning?

Thank you for listening.

I just want to wait on the Lord just for a few minutes.

I do feel a really strong spirit of conviction here for some of us.

The Lord is using this first Sunday of the year to draw us to more hunger, to draw us to more repentance.

There's communion down here at the front, but if you felt the Lord Jesus knocking at the door saying, "In 2025, I want you to leave what's behind you," for many of us, it's a way of thinking, a way of doing that we grew up with.

We just go to church, see it's the right—we follow Jesus because—but now there's this: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses."

Lord, we're praying this morning that you would baptize the Altar Church in [Music] fire.

Lord, we confess our helplessness.

We confess our need of you for our families, for our marriages.

Some of us, it's like you're feeling cornered.

"What do I do?"

And I just keep hearing Holy Spirit.

[Music]

When I was a senior in college, they were preparing us for ministry, and they gave us an assignment that we needed to write out 52 sermon titles because they said, "You know, senior pastors, they set out their sermon series a year in advance."

So we're giving you this final exam, and I made a mistake, and I prayed, and all I heard was Holy Spirit.

So I wrote Holy Spirit 52 times for my senior year, and I got an F.

It was a Pentecostal university, by the way.

The professor called me in his office and said, "I know you're young, but you will never be able to follow the Holy Spirit like this when you lead one day."

This message this morning, it's dear to me because there is a cost, and there is a way that seems right to a man.

But my Lord and my God, may the narrative around my life be that dude followed the Holy Spirit.

And I haven't been perfect by any means, but I would rather try to follow the Holy Spirit than rely on my own strength.

This is for husbands this morning.

This is for spouses and parents.

And this is an invitation to say, "Holy Spirit, we need you."

If you know God's knocking on the door this morning, would you just come down to the front?

If you're feeling led, I want you to come down to the front.

If you have a heart cry that says, "Holy Spirit, I need you. Holy Spirit, I've got to do it different in 2025."

I know it's going to take some humility; it could take some tears; it could take some reckoning.

But I just want to open up these altars and say, "Holy Spirit, baptize me with dynamite."

Holy Spirit, I'm asking that you would break us free from fear.

I have sensed a spirit of fear here all morning, and we want to break the power of fear.

Some of us, this feels familiar, but this time it's going to be different because we're going to follow Jesus.

Come on down.

Come on down.

I bid you to come.

I dare you to come.

I dare you to say, "Holy Spirit, baptize me with fire."

Come on, a little bit more.

I want to ask our prayer team, if you're a deacon or a staff, would you come down and begin to gather around some of these people?

Let's just begin to pray in the Holy Spirit.

We love you; we bless you.

This is kind of a soft close.

We're going to begin to press into the Lord, but thank you for coming.

Thank you for joining us on this first Sunday.

If you're visiting, you kind of know where we're headed now.

And if you're sitting and you want to begin to stand up and worship the Lord, we're just going to begin to go up, right?

We're just going to begin to worship the Lord.

If you've got to go, you've got to grab your kids, we love you.

But let's just corporately begin to ask the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit, we thank you.

We welcome you here.

We welcome you here at the Altar Church and the Altar Global.

Lord, we're asking you—

Going to begin to lift up your voice.

I want to ask you just to begin to lift up your voice.

That's it.

Just begin to pray in the Spirit.

Begin to sing in the Holy Spirit.

We love you, Holy Spirit.

We welcome you, Holy Spirit.

Hey, thanks so much for joining me.

Listen, I want to invite you to my upcoming winter online prophetic mentorship starting January 8th.

We're going to go four Wednesday nights in a row.

I'd love to help mentor you and train you in prophetic ministry.

We're going to talk about prayer, consecration, prophets, and the new era.

Click on the link below.

I'll see you in the new year.

[Music]