Lilac City Church Sermons

The Spirit-Empowered Witness

Nuremberg, 1945. The trial of the century rested on one thing — witnesses. Ordinary people who had seen what happened and had to decide whether to say it. Witnessing cost them something. But here's what's true about a witness: they don't decide what happened. They just tell what they saw. In Acts 4, Peter and John have been hauled before the same religious court that put Jesus to death, threatened, and released. Jesus had already told them what they were — "You will be my witnesses." Not volunteers. Not experts. Witnesses. So what does it actually look like to be one? In this final installment of the Becoming: The Whole Disciple series, Pastor Brolin walks through Acts 4:23–31 to unpack the fifth and final identity of a fully formed disciple — the Spirit-Empowered Witness. Most of us assume a Spirit-filled witness leads with confidence, boldness, and the right words. The early church — fresh out of jail, under threat, outnumbered — leads with something that doesn't look powerful at all. They get on their knees. Four movements shape the passage: * They prayed together — When the threat came, they didn't scatter or strategize. They went home to the church and raised their voices homothymadon — with one accord, one heart. A Spirit-filled witness starts on our knees, together. * They prayed Scripture — They addressed God as Despota — total Master. They prayed Genesis and Psalm 2 back to Him, and named the opposition Jesus faced without flinching. The cross wasn't Plan B. It was Plan A. * They asked big — They didn't ask for the threats to be removed. They asked for more boldness in the middle of the threats. They asked God to stretch out His hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Jesus. They speak. He does the work. * God moves — The place was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. The grammar shifts: they're no longer the actors. God is. The prayer of verse 29 is answered word-for-word in verse 31. The straightest line between an empowered witness and a soul saved isn't through better apologetics. It's through prayer. Before you talk to people about God — talk to God about people. You are not big enough to screw it up.

The Humble Neighbor - Luke 10:25-37

We're wired for compartments. A family compartment. A friends compartment. A people-I-don't-care-to-know compartment. We're great at deciding who belongs in which box. But when a religious lawyer tried to do the same thing — narrowing down who counted as his "neighbor" — Jesus told a story that blew the compartments wide open. In this fourth installment of the Becoming: The Whole Disciple series, Pastor Brolin walks through the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37 to unpack the fourth identity of a fully formed disciple — the Humble Neighbor. The lawyer wanted to justify himself. Jesus answered with a story where the hero is the last person anyone expected, and the road from Jerusalem to Jericho becomes a mirror for every one of us. Three movements shape the passage: * Pride sees "me" instead of my neighbor — A priest and a Levite see the man in the ditch and cross to the other side. You can go to church, do churchy things, and still walk past your neighbor. When your neighbor is who you choose rather than who you see, you never learn to love like Jesus did. * Humility means serving who you see — The Samaritan was generous with his eyes, his hands, his time, his money, and his future. A humble neighbor doesn't ask "who is my neighbor?" — he becomes one. * We see because we've been seen — We are the man in the ditch. We did this to ourselves. And Jesus is the better Samaritan who didn't drop us off at an inn — He climbed the cross. He didn't pay two denarii — He paid with Himself. "Go and do likewise" isn't a checklist. It's the love that found you flowing through you. This Mother's Day sermon also honors the moms in the room — biological, adoptive, and spiritual — whose gut-level compassion for hurting kids rehearses the gospel in their bones every day.

The Generous Steward

There's a unique joy in giving a gift and watching someone's face light up when they receive it. That joy isn't an accident — it's a reflection of the very character of God. From Genesis to the cross, God has been giving. He spoke creation into existence. He gave Adam a partner. He gave Israel His presence. And most of all, He gave His Son. So if God has generously given us everything, what should our response be? In this fourth installment of the Becoming: The Whole Disciple series, Pastor Brolin walks through 2 Corinthians 9:6–15 to unpack the third identity of a fully formed disciple — the Generous Steward. Paul writes to the Corinthian church not with a prosperity-gospel formula, but with an invitation: God's grace abounds to you so that grace can abound through you. Three movements shape the passage: * God invites generosity — Generosity is fueled by faith, not transaction. Not impulse, not regret, not compulsion — but a cheerful, settled decision of the heart. Are you a Saint Nicholas or a Scrooge? * God supplies stewardship — We own nothing. We manage what we've been given. The seed comes from God, the supply line runs back to the Father, and stewardship is His strategy for forming you into the likeness of Jesus. * God multiplies praise — When we live as generous stewards, we become "deacons of liturgy" — helping others enter into thanksgiving to God. Generosity expands our gospel witness, and grace multiplies into worship. The ROI of generosity isn't a bigger bank account. It's God glorified, others blessed, and more people worshiping Jesus. Because when we truly see God's generosity — most clearly in Christ, who became poor so we might become rich — we cannot help but give.

The Devoted Sibling - 1 John 4:7-21 | Lilac City Church

First moves are always awkward — whether you're asking for a raise, picking a restaurant, or telling someone you like them. But sometimes the most awkward first move isn't between you and God. It's between you and the brother or sister in Christ sitting two rows over. In this third message of the Becoming series, Pastor Brolin walks through 1 John 4:7–21 and unpacks the second identity of a fully formed disciple: the Devoted Sibling. The word "love" appears twenty-seven times in fifteen verses — and John isn't being redundant. He's building a case that the love of God isn't just something we receive. It's something that moves through us toward one another. Three movements shape this passage: * What kind of love are we being formed by? — Love doesn't start with us. It starts with God, was defined at the cross, and becomes visible when it flows between believers. When you genuinely love your brother and sister in Christ, you make the invisible God visible. That's not a metaphor — that's John's claim. * How can we be sure of this love? — The Spirit, the eyewitness testimony of the apostles, and the mutual indwelling of God in us give us assurance. And devoted siblings don't just receive that assurance — they give it. Calling out the Spirit's work in someone else's life is one of the most powerful things you can do for a fellow believer. * What if we don't become this? — John doesn't mince words: if you claim to love God but don't love your brother and sister, you're a liar. Not harsh — just honest. You can't love a God you can't see if you won't love the sibling you can. Love is the discipline of a disciple — because God commands it. Whether it's a relationship that needs repairing, a name you've never bothered to learn, or a sibling you've quietly drifted from — the call is a first move. Not "if I see them." Not "they should reach out first." A text. A coffee. A conversation. Because Jesus broke a silence that wasn't his fault to get to you. Devoted siblings are moved by love to move first.

The Abiding Worshiper - John 15:1-11

In the year 2000, less than a third of Americans had a cell phone. Dropped calls were a way of life. You'd be mid-conversation with someone you love and just — gone. Then Verizon promised an abiding connection: "Can you hear me now? Good." We take connection for granted now. But what if the most important connection in your life isn't to a device — it's to a person? In this second message of the Becoming series, Pastor Brolin opens John 15:1–11 — Jesus' final teaching to his disciples before the cross — and unpacks the first of five identities that define a fully formed disciple: the Abiding Worshiper. Jesus doesn't give his disciples a five-step plan on the last night of his life. He gives them two words: remain in me. And from that invitation, three realities emerge: * Abiding precedes worship — Before fruitfulness, before ministry, before production comes connection. Jesus is the true vine — the only one that has ever actually worked. The Father is the gardener who prunes what's real and removes what's not. Your job isn't to generate the connection — it's to stay in the connection Jesus is already sustaining. * Abiding produces worship — More dependence equals more fruit. Apart from the vine, the branch doesn't just slow down — it produces nothing. But when you stay connected, the vine's life flows through you and the fruit that grows puts the glory where it belongs: on the Father. Your life becomes a doxology — praise flowing not from you, but through you. * Abiding worship is powered by love — The engine of the abiding life isn't discipline or grit. It's love. The Father loved the Son. The Son loved you. And that love empowers your obedience. You don't obey to earn God's love — his love is what moves you to obey. Put it in the right order and you spell the very thing Jesus promised: J-O-Y. Jesus. Others. You. This is the root identity of the Whole Disciple framework. You cannot become a Devoted Sibling, a Generous Steward, a Humble Neighbor, or a Spirit-Empowered Witness unless you are first an Abiding Worshiper. Everything else is fruit. This is the vine.