What is not changing, and what is

Following Vision Sunday, Pastor Max restates Elan's four unchanging values: Holy Spirit led, Bible immersed, wise stewards, and authentic. What is changing is a clarified vision, because Proverbs 29 says that where there is no vision the people perish. A recap video produced by Bjorn Almanson states the vision: to raise up passionate disciples of Jesus who lead a global move of God that shapes generations to come, including planting a church in every state in the United States.

Addition becomes multiplication

In Acts the Lord adds to the church daily until the language shifts and the church multiplies. Pastor Max does the math: fifty churches of three hundred people is fifteen thousand; if each plants ten, that is 150,000 people; another generation reaches a million and a half. This is impossible in human strength, which is the point. The vision only becomes reality through the Holy Spirit and people willing to pick up the mantle. He recalls spectators at a tournament climbing under the ropes to move a boulder blocking Tiger Woods' shot: everyone gets in the game rather than cheering from the sidelines. Worship is participation, not performance, and lingering in the foyer is fellowship. There is no "you guys" at Elan, only all of us together.

Focus in the right places

Using his tenth-grade eye exam and his recent LASIK surgery, Pastor Max explains that clear vision depends on focusing in the right place. God gives vision, but He also gives strategy, as He did for Moses through Jethro and for the early church in Acts 6. Elan's strategy, at elan.church/about, begins with Sunday Gatherings, Groups, and Teams. The early church met in the temple courts and from house to house, so it is both, not either. Every person who calls Elan home should be in a Group. Jesus said greatness comes through serving, and the churches Elan plants will only be as healthy as this church.

Jesus is a better Elijah

Reading the Old Testament like a movie whose ending we already know, Pastor Max revisits Elijah passing his mantle to Elisha. Elijah raised one widow's son; Jesus raised many. Elijah called down judgment; Jesus received it. Elijah passed his spirit to one apprentice; Jesus poured out His Spirit on His whole church, and His ministry continues to the end of the age. The question is whether we will pick up the mantle. Stories from young adults on Christian dating apps illustrate the gap between someone who says they are a Christian and a disciple with real substance, and he quotes Dallas Willard on the need for Christians to become apprentices of Jesus.

Pentecost: Jesus pours out His Spirit

Acts 2 describes the believers together in one place when a sound like a rushing wind filled the house, tongues of fire rested on them, and they were filled with the Spirit. Pentecost was a turning point, not a hyped-up moment. Pastor Max shares giving his life to Jesus at eighteen and noticing the next day that his fierce competitiveness on the basketball court had given way to handing others the ball. The Spirit begins recreating us from the inside out at salvation, and sanctification takes a lifetime. Romans 8 says the Spirit who raised Jesus lives in you. The Holy Spirit is a person, not an it, and He is essential, not optional. Acts 2:38 promises that those who repent and are baptized will receive Him.

Not by might, but by my Spirit

The early church devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer and saw wonders, not by trying harder but because the Spirit was at work. Zechariah 4:6 says, "Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit." Only the Spirit could turn Jews and Gentiles who hated each other into family, and there is no racism in God's kingdom. Moses, Gideon, and the twelve all received impossible assignments, and so has Elan. If your vision is small enough to do in your own strength, it is too small. Recalling his boyhood move from a backyard hot tub to a house on a lake, Pastor Max says Elan's vision has plenty of room to splash around in; God will give each person a vision within the vision. Elan is asking the Spirit only for what He already wants: salvations, baptisms, activated gifts, restored marriages, healing, and freedom. From Luke 11:13, the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask, so the service closes by making room to ask for more of Him.