Astonishing: Living a Life That Leads to Why - Louie Giglio

0:27 named John Tyson. And I was asking him, because I ask everyone on the Passion and Purpose podcast, what is your passion and what is your purpose? And when he answered the question what his purpose was, he said three things really that I want to do in my life and through our church in New York. And he said, the first one is, I want to raise up and release into the world astonishing disciples. And when he said those words, it just arrested me in the moment. I scribbled all of three things he said down on a piece of paper near me. And I was like, this is what God is looking for. He's looking for astonishing disciples, not astonishing people who attend church, but astonishing followers of Jesus who live lives that are so filled with awe and wonder that it causes people around them to ask questions about their life. And it just got inside of me in such a way that I couldn't let it go.

1:29 And I thought about that phrase, astonishing disciples, day after day after day. And that was the seedbed for this collection of talks that we're heading into in the next few weeks. astonishing with the tagline, living a life that leads to why. And today we're seeing the heart of where all this came from, because it wasn't just from a podcast with John Tyson. It was John Tyson pulling this out of Acts chapter four. And we're going to see this today as we look in the text together. Let's just look at that particular verse, and then we're going to back up and zoom out for a moment. And I hope you're okay today. We're going to dig into a lot of scripture today. And I could not be happier about it. It says in Acts 4.13, when they saw the courage of Peter and John, and we're going to go back and understand what that courage was. And they realized that they were unschooled.

2:26 These guys were, you know, fishermen, ordinary men. They were astonished. There's our word. and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and they realized these are unschooled and ordinary guys, but yet they had such courage and we'll see such boldness in proclaiming Jesus, they were astonished and they took note. They took note of their lives that these men had been with Jesus. Wow. Don't you want a life that people take note of and say about you? She has been with Jesus. You can tell by the way she lives her life. The context here is so powerful.

3:21 You remember in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit came, filled this room where the followers of Jesus were waiting, and they all went into the streets and started preaching the gospel in all these different languages to people who would come to Jerusalem for the feast. And that was chapter two. Then we go to chapter three, and we don't know how much time has passed between chapter two and chapter three. Could have been a day or it could have been a week, but it wasn't very long. It says Peter and John were going up to the temple as they would normally on a day. They would go there and talk with people about the resurrection and about the fact that Jesus is alive. And so on this day, they're going up to the temple. There's a man there who is brought there every day. And he is sat by the gate called Beautiful. And he would beg for money all day long every day. And as they came by him, he asked them for money. And Peter says to him, hey, we don't have any money, but what we do have, we'll give to you in the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk.

4:17 And the guy gets up and walks. Have you heard that story too many times? I haven't. I am absolutely blown away by that today. In the name of Jesus, this man gets up on his feet, and he freaks out, and everyone freaks out. They cling to Peter and John. They think that they somehow might possibly be God. They've never seen anything happen quite like this before. And then Peter takes this occasion, and he begins to speak. And notice what he says. This is chapter 3, verse 11. While the man, that's the guy who's walking now, held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished. There's our word, same word. And they came running to them in a place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them, fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you?

5:14 Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant, Jesus. And then he takes a little side note here, and he says, oh, and by the way, let me just recap.

5:35 You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you all can see. Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, a little recap again, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. Repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah who has been appointed for you, even Jesus. Wow.

6:47 that's a sermon on the spot extemporaneous spontaneous they didn't know they were going to heal a guy they were just going up to the temple again guy asked for money led by the holy spirit we don't have money in the name of jesus walk guy gets up walks crowd freaks out everybody clings to them peter steps up and preaches that now I don't know if you understand what we just read or not that that's the greatest sermon ever it was short to the point took lots of twists and turns went all the way back to abraham went all the way to uh jesus is coming back as messiah because god said he's going to send him back at the right time to people getting saved i mean this is one of the most amazing things that you could possibly see. And it all came just like that. They were astonished that the guy got healed.

7:51 I'm astonished that Peter preached that sermon on the fly. And so then what happened? Let's go to chapter four. The priest and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming Jesus and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They do not want this resurrection story to be preached. They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. So things turn pretty fast here. We saw God get healed. We're preaching, and it's going great, and all of a sudden now we're in jail. but look at verse four but many who heard the message believed so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand we don't know this could be three days after the holy spirit came at pentecost when that message was preached by peter 3 000 people came to faith just like that now 5 000 men have come to faith days are going by now and hundreds and thousands of people are getting saved The next day, the rulers, the elders, the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem.

9:27 Annas, the high priest, was there, and so was Caiaphas. We remember these names because 50 days ago, these are the people Jesus was standing before. 60 days ago. Two months ago, when they arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, they take him to the high priest, and they take him to Caiaphas. And Annas is there, and his family is there. These are the same cats who had Jesus crucified. And now they've got Peter and John standing before them. And they had Peter and John brought before them, and they began to question them. Keyword, by what power or what name did you do this? Now, get ready, because here comes another one. And I don't think they spent the night in the jail going, I know they're going to ask us tomorrow about the name, so let's work on our response, okay? I think we should do this, and I think this would be a good idea. No.

10:19 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we're being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who is lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this. You and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I'll use his full name. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I want to make it as clear as I can. And now let's recap. Whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

11:21 Wow. All they asked him was, by what name or power did you do this? And then he preached that. They're astonished that the guy got healed. I'm astonished that he preached this word. They, the elders and the high priest and family were astonished that they were standing right in front of the men who 60 days ago flexed and crucified Jesus. And they're preaching with this kind of boldness, this kind of conviction, this kind of courage. And when they saw, next verse, the courage of Peter and John and realized they were unschooled and ordinary men, they were astonished. This word astonished comes out of the root word of wonder. They were filled with wonder.

12:21 They were amazed at what they were seeing. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin, and then they conferred together. What are we going to do with these men? Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name. and then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus but Peter and John replied which is right in God's eyes to listen to you or to him you be the judges as for us we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and what we have heard after further threats they let them go they could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened for the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old thank you one amen side message today maybe you've been sitting by that gate for 40 years don't let the enemy tell you today that God can't change your story in one fell sweep They were astonished that they were ordinary and unschooled men, and they took note that they had been with Jesus.

14:15 and I'm just asking today does anyone ever say that about our lives is anybody ever astonished when they see our fill in the blank and do they take note that we have been with Jesus there's several big ideas in this text that I want us to focus on and we'll go through these rather quickly, but I want you to understand God wants to write you into an astonishing story. And the first of these big ideas is that the Holy Spirit fills ordinary people to act in extraordinary ways. That is where this whole message begins. They ask, by what name did you do this? And Luke wants us to see as he's recording all of this for history's sake, then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them. In other words, this wasn't just Peter going, oh, I know how to do this. I know how to answer questions like this. I know how to seize moments like this. I know how to preach the gospel. No, this is the Holy Spirit filling a fisherman and giving him the ability to do something extraordinary. And that is what the Holy Spirit wants to do in you. They were unschooled and ordinary in the light of the fact that they were standing before the most schooled people in the Jewish faith, the high priest and his family, all the elders and the Sanhedrin. These were the smartest of the smartest of the smartest of the smartest people. And then you got two fishermen standing there, and they absolutely confounded them with their answer. And we'll look at it in just a moment. But basically, Peter, in effect, said, hey, you want to punish us for healing a guy? Well, what about the fact that you killed a Savior?

16:10 and they were like whoa okay you're gonna go all the way back to Abraham you're gonna you're gonna spin all that around and they were astonished why because the Holy Spirit isn't looking for extraordinary people he's looking for anybody who would say to him Fill me and do through me things that I cannot do on my own. Do you realize today that the Holy Spirit that is filling Peter is the very same Holy Spirit who is in this house right now? The very same Spirit. He has not modified over time. He is the same Holy Spirit. And if you're thinking, I don't know that God would ever do something astonishing through me, why not? Well, I'm just a pretty ordinary person.

17:08 That's okay. I'm not really all that knowledgeable in that, or I don't have the right training for that, or the right education, or I'm not at the right state of life, or I don't have the resources. And the Holy Spirit's like, that's why I'm here. I'm here to do what you cannot do. The second big idea that I don't want us to miss here is that the Holy Spirit's supernatural working always has a purpose. And that purpose is to open eyes to see Jesus. The healing of the man had a purpose. When Peter was led of the Holy Spirit to say, stand up in the name of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was thinking, this is about to be a revival. Not this is gonna be a healing service, this is gonna be a revival service. Thank you, you got healed. these couple thousand people just got saved. And when we are calling on the Holy Spirit, we're not just asking him to help us or to fill us or to change something in our circumstance or situation. We're saying, do something that will open a doorway to open eyes to see Jesus.

18:14 Yes, heal, but not for healing's sake, for Jesus' sake. Yes, do a miracle, but not for a miracle's sake, for Jesus' sake. Yes, make provision, but not for provision's sake, for Jesus' sake. yes change my husband but change him for jesus say yes save my kid but save him for jesus say yes set them free but set them free for jesus say do a miracle that will open eyes to see jesus The third big idea, and I love this, is that astonishing lives lead to questions that open doors allowing us to tell others about Jesus. They didn't have to get to the point with these elders. They brought them before them and began to question them. In other words, if you want to figure out what we're all trying to figure out, which is how can I get the conversation with the receptionist at my work around to faith?

19:19 So how was your weekend? Great. What'd you do? Do I go right to go to church here? Or do we go to Saturday here? Do I talk about how that we were praising him anyway? And that I threw up my hands and praised him again and again? Is that where we go? Or do we go, well, you know, the kids' soccer game, blah, blah, blah, blah, barbecue, rain, blah, blah. How do I get there? by living a life that is astonishing. People are going to ask you why you are astonishing. and a door is open. And you didn't have to go, wow, I really want to talk to a financial planner about Jesus, but I just can't figure out how to get the conversation with her to that point.

20:19 astonishing lives lead to questions and that's why God is inviting us today to start thinking about living lives that lead to why because then the door is open and when the door is open you get to share the why and you get to talk about what really matters to you and what really is causing you to be the way that you are. And the person might very well say, wow, man, I did not die. Okay, I'm sorry I asked. That's very possible. But it's more likely they're going to go, hmm. And that might be it. But at least in the hmm, you had the opportunity to share about the one who's most important to you in your life. The fourth big idea.

21:13 Is everybody okay so far? The fourth big idea is that the Holy Spirit, and I love this, and I love the Holy Spirit. And I love that the Holy Spirit loves for people to talk about Jesus. The fourth big idea, the Holy Spirit fills us with astonishing boldness to speak the name of Jesus. That's what they did.

21:42 They were filled with the Holy Spirit. I want you to notice this, but they didn't talk about the Holy Spirit. The only way we know they were filled with the Holy Spirit is because Luke was seeing all this go down and he'd seen what happens when people are filled with the Holy Spirit. He was like, oh, that's happening right now. And then two verses later, they say, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that this man stands before you healed. The Holy Spirit fills us, but the Holy Spirit really doesn't want us to go around talking about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit fills us so that we can boldly talk about Jesus. And you see that everywhere in the gospels. And the Holy Spirit is coming into our lives today, not so that we can sort of get in this little Holy Spirit bubble over here, but so that we can step out boldly, filled with the Spirit of God, to proclaim the name of Jesus. In chapter 3, that amazing sermon that they spontaneously preached after the guy got healed, 107 words in this reply. And 16 times Jesus is referred to by a pronoun, he or him or his, but four times his name is used. And then other names of his are used. As soon as he starts preaching, it's just Jesus every which way you can communicate Jesus. And that's what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our life. And he wants to give you astonishing boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus.

23:24 Now let me just put a parenthesis around this thought for a second though, and just underline again that bold doesn't mean loud, although I was just really a little bit loud when I said loud. It doesn't mean annoying, and it doesn't mean weird. because for a lot of you in our church, and we talked about this a few weeks ago, you're in all manner of spheres, working alongside, living alongside, creating alongside all kinds of people, all manner of people of different faiths, different stages of life in their faith journey, and being led by the Holy Spirit and filled by the Holy Spirit for you doesn't probably look like walking into work tomorrow and going down the hallway, dropping off Louis Giglio books in people's offices. this will help you.

24:23 Praying for you. That's probably not the way the Holy Spirit is leading you. But he is leading you, right? He is leading you. You did ask him when you went to work. You did ask him as you're going to work tomorrow. You did ask him, didn't you? Will you fill me and lead me today? Because I want all these people to know Jesus. That's the end game for me here. is that this whole company will know Jesus. Every single person that works here, I want them to know Jesus and be filled with the Spirit and find a purpose in life. And I don't know how you want to do that today. I'm guessing it's probably not me sending out a message on the company Slack. People of Israel. so how do you want to do it today because I want you to do it today and the Holy Spirit is going to give you wisdom and he's going to show you when and where and what and how and he's going to empower you if you ask him to live a life that is going to cause some of those people to come and knock on your door. I have a friend who owns a business and we communicate all the time, praying for each other. He's praying for me right this minute in this message.

25:43 And he told me in a text the other day, he was telling about this and telling about that. He said, oh, by the way, this was amazing. This guy wants to tell everybody on the planet about Jesus. He said, you're not going to believe it. The other day I had a coworker that I've been praying for and sharing with come in my office, closed the door, got down on his knees in my office and prayed and accepted Jesus Christ in my office. And I was like, don't you want to send that text sometime in your lifetime? and so bold again it doesn't necessarily mean loud now now peter was loud it says an exclamation point after his first sentence so he he's he was speaking with some authority he's before a whole council of people it is a bold and a big moment but god may cause you to speak very quietly and softly and slowly and just at the right time having lived the life that is showing people well, wow, there's something different about her.

26:45 There's something so different about him. I know this guy. How is he so kind? How is she so consistent? How is she so patient? I'm gonna ask her, what's going on? Number five big ideas is two more of these. It's that proximity to Jesus leads to lives that look like him. They took note that these men had been with Jesus. Being astonishing, I love this, is the fruit of being filled with the spirit and walking closely with Jesus. In other words, you don't wake up in the morning and say, I'm gonna be astonishing today. No, you wake up in the morning and you say, I'm gonna stay close to Jesus today and in step with the Spirit today.

27:43 And in staying close to Jesus and in step with the Spirit, guess what, there's gonna be some fruit today in my life. And the fruit in my life today is gonna look like Jesus because I'm gonna stay as close to him as I can. and I want to be as filled with the Spirit as I can today. And the last big idea is this. They prayed for boldness more than protection.

28:07 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. Sovereign Lord. I'm telling you, I've read this prayer a couple dozen times, if least a hundred times in the last few weeks. You just don't hear a lot of us praying like this. We're like, dear Lord, do you understand such and such and such and such? This prayer, again, is astonishing to me. Sovereign Lord, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. This is a prayer you pray on a night like last night. You start with sovereign Lord, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father, David.

29:05 And then they're quoting now to God, his own word. Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one. And then they recap. There's a lot of recapping going on in these people's preaching and praying. Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. that's why we're calling you sovereign lord people do what you already decided ahead of time they're going to do because you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them and you have a plan and your plan according to job 42 will not be thwarted now lord consider their threats and eliminate them.

30:10 Oh, excuse me. Sorry. Consider their threats and save us. Nope. Consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. What a prayer. they threatened him as much as they could, but they couldn't really punish him because they had a whole town in revival. and so they said as much as they could and they let him go they go back and report hey these guys are breathing down our neck they're telling us to shut this whole thing down okay let's pray sovereign lord you know they're threatening us will you give us boldness to proclaim your word and then he said they prayed this stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus and after they prayed the place where they were meeting was shaken that kind of prayer right there shakes things and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and the result was they spoke the word of God boldly.

31:34 They were all astonishing because in the face of the threat, they were filled with the Spirit and they spoke boldly the things that they were told not to say. They were astonishing. it's unlikely that most of us are going to ever be in a situation like this where we're going to get thrown in jail and dragged out by people and they're going to tell us, hey, don't talk about Jesus. It's possible. I mean, everything's possible in this world, but living in Atlanta, Georgia, it's not likely that this is going to be the scenario we're going to be in in the immediate future. But God is asking you today to consider the way he moved in these ordinary and unschooled people so that then you could be inspired that maybe God could move like that in you.

32:32 And in the circumstance you're in, the situation you're in, that you could see the Spirit of God do something in your life that would be, wow! This word, astonishing, that we've seen both times in these two chapters today is found other places in the Scripture And in Matthew, it's found in the same chapter two times. And in one instance is when the man wanted Jesus to heal his child. And he said, do you want me to come? And he goes, you don't have to come. You just say the word. You just speak the word. He said, I'm a man under authority. I know how authority works. You're Jesus. So if you just speak the word, it'll be done. And Jesus looks at him and he was astonished and said, I've never seen faith like this in all of Israel. He was astonished at the man.

33:34 A few verses later, a storm on the Sea of Galilee. They wake Jesus up. He speaks to the wind. He speaks to the waves. The wind stops and the waves die down. and it says the disciples were astonished and they said, who is this man? Even the wind and the waves obey him. Around Jesus, near Jesus, filled with Jesus, in step with Jesus, astonishing things happen.

34:05 And that's what God is looking for. And he's just asking today, has anyone ever been astonished at our lives? has anybody ever taken note of us because that's what passion city church must be we must never be attenders we must be astonishing disciples we must never come and sit and absorb and absorb and absorb and absorb. We must be filled with the Spirit of God and in step with the person of Jesus in such proximity to Him that we live lives that look like Him and that we have fruit that comes from our lives. It is obvious to people, that's not me. That's got to be something else going on with that. Where did you get that? What are you on? What are you taking? What is the secret?

35:01 Where do I get some of that? Well, if you're asking, it's Jesus. And I know that sounds like a real religious answer, but that's just the answer. Jesus is life to me, and he's working in me in ways that I cannot work by myself. If you'd seen me four years ago and see me now, you would know it is not me. It is God's grace and his mercy working in my life through Jesus by the power of the Spirit. He's changing things. He's modified things. He's transforming things. and that's how and if you want to be more like that don't try to be more like me just ask Jesus if he'll come and give you life and do in you what only he can do we need Passion City Church no more of just saying wow how many attenders can we get into buildings This city needs astonishing disciples. that show the world that following Jesus is not just church.

36:05 It is change. It is transformation. The most astonishing people in this city ought to be the ones who said today, I throw up my hands and praise you again and again, because I know my name is written in the Lamb's book of life.

36:30 There should be no more astonishing people in this city. And even in a moment like this, to say, I don't know, but I'm confident in God. And I will not fear. I will not cave in to the what ifs. I'm gonna put my feet again today on the rock of ages. I'm going to keep my eyes on the sky and until he comes i'm gonna be busy trying to be astonishing not by waking up and going today's my day look out here i come i want to be astonishing today and some of you i know that's worked for you a little bit and you got that thing you know on your podcast and you were doing that last thursday on the way to work i'm gonna be a champion today I am going to sell today. I am going to win today.

37:24 That can work. But not as much as saying, Jesus, I want to be as close to you as I can today. Holy Spirit, I want to be as in step with you as I can today. And what a thought. I don't know. I hope something shifted today, but what a thought. You know, a lot of me preaching is what I worked hard on, and a lot of it is the Holy Spirit just moving.