Be dangerous for the darkness: get in the spiritual fight by growing in God's Word and inviting one more person to Jesus.
Jesus has already won the fight against sin, Satan, and death, so believers don't fight for victory, they fight from victory. Pastor Nolan calls the church to be dangerous for the darkness by soaking in God's Word and pursuing just one more person who is close to them but far from God, knowing real opposition will come, but Jesus's word brings life, not death.
A story from life
Story of a woman at the Garden Church who left Wicca and New Age practices, was baptized, and burned her magic books
A story from life
Story of a young man at the Garden Church diagnosed with a brain tumor who found confidence in Christ and recovered after surgery
“Be dangerous for the darkness”
— Pastor Nolan Tjaden
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Church notes
A truth worth dying for in a world with nothing to live for.
Point 1 of 8
Evangelism is dragging an unseen spiritual war into the present by convincing people to move sides.
Pastor Nolan frames evangelism as more than a nice activity: it is pulling the unseen cosmic war between darkness and light into visible reality. He illustrates this with Dietrich Bonhoeffer's secret seminary, rowed out on a river across from a Nazi airfield, as a picture of the intensity the church is actually engaged in.
Illustration
Story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's illegal seminary training near a Nazi airfield
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Church notes
Acts 20:1-3 (ESV)
Acts 20:19–23 (ESV)
“It is, therefore, recorded that Paul was beheaded in Rome itself…" - Eusebius of Caesarea
Expect opposition when you live on mission.
Point 2 of 8
You should expect opposition when you live on mission.
Paul's own life shows this: a persecutor-turned-preacher who faced a death plot in Macedonia, was stoned in Lystra and got back up to preach again, and was eventually beheaded in Rome according to the historian Eusebius. Pastor Nolan also tells the story of William Tyndale, betrayed and executed for translating the Bible into English, to show that real opposition has always followed real mission.
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Point 3 of 8
The Spirit warned Paul of imprisonment and affliction, not comfort, as he pressed on in mission.
Working through Acts 20:19-23, Pastor Nolan points out the Spirit didn't promise Paul ease but testified to chains and afflictions in every city, and Paul went anyway, constrained by the Spirit. He contrasts this with Christians today who call minor inconveniences persecution when they aren't actually on mission at all.
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Point 4 of 8
Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Citing Paul's own teaching to the disciples, Pastor Nolan says suffering is tied directly to being dangerous for the darkness, not a sign something has gone wrong. He warns against mistaking everyday frustration for spiritual warfare while ignoring the real cost of actually sharing faith.
Illustration
Account of Paul being stoned and left for dead at Lystra, then returning to preach again
Illustration
Story of William Tyndale secretly translating the Bible, being betrayed, and executed
Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI
Point 5 of 8
To get better at the mission of God, you need to grow in the Word of God.
Pastor Nolan cites research that those most in their Bibles are statistically the ones who share their faith best, then moves into the Eutychus story in Acts 20:7-12 to show Paul pouring hours of teaching into the Ephesian church because he knew it might be his last time with them.
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Point 6 of 8
The 'many lamps' and the eyewitness 'we' in the text show the Bible's credibility and the gathered hunger for the Word.
Pastor Nolan notes Luke, a credentialed physician, wrote as an eyewitness ('we'), and the detail of many lamps shows both a crowd gathered for Paul's long teaching and the room's innocence in Eutychus's fall. He draws out that no major revival in history has ever happened apart from a hunger for Scripture.
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Church notes
Acts 9:16 (ESV)
Acts 14:22 (ESV)
strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Acts 20:7–12 (ESV)
Acts 20:8 (ESV)
Wildfires of awakening are fueled by the wood of God's word.
Point 7 of 8
Wildfires of revival are always fueled by the wood of God's Word.
Pastor Nolan points to the Jesus Movement at Calvary Chapel, where 25,000 young people gathered weekly not for a dynamic personality (pastor Chuck Smith was plain-spoken and slow) but for verse-by-verse Bible teaching. He applies this personally, saying hearts, marriages, kids, and even a nation are changed by immersion in Scripture, drawing on his own testimony of being saved as a teenager through hearing the Bible taught.
“The wildfires of revival are always fueled by the wood of God's Word”
— Pastor Nolan Tjaden
Illustration
Story of the Jesus Movement and Calvary Chapel's crowds gathering under Pastor Chuck Smith's Bible teaching
A story from life
Pastor Nolan's conversion at age 16 and early efforts driving friends to youth group
Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI
Point 8 of 8
God doubly emphasizes that Eutychus was taken away 'alive' because His Word brings life, not death.
Pastor Nolan explains the miracle in Acts 20:11-12 is not an accident but a sign pointing to a deeper truth: the world brings death, but God's Word brings life to all who hear and believe it, to families, to the region, and to generations who would retell the story.
“My word brings life to people who hear it”
— Pastor Nolan Tjaden
“we as the church have a truth in Jesus that is worth dying for in a world that has nothing to live for”
— Pastor Nolan Tjaden
“We are those who proclaim the battle is won”
— Pastor Nolan Tjaden
Illustration
Illustration of how poachers trap monkeys using a box and banana to depict holding on to sin
A story from life
Story of being nearly jumped by five older teens as an eighth grader and being rescued by his older brother
Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI
Church notes
Acts 20:11–12 (ESV)
Today is the right time. Fight for one more
Take it into your week
Pastor Nolan's charge is to get in the fight: be dangerous for the darkness by growing in God's Word and reaching just one more person.
Application
Put your faith in Jesus today
If you're a skeptic or unsure what you believe, don't wait; you don't know the day of your death, so confess your sins, trust His cross and resurrection, and say yes to Jesus now.
Grow in the Word of God daily
Start by cracking open the Bible every day; feed your own heart the fuel of Scripture so you can stand firm, raise kids who know Jesus, and actually get better at living on mission.
Fight for just one more
Identify one person close to you but far from God and pursue them specifically, the way the church sets a daily 1 p.m. alarm as a reminder to pray for and reach that one person.
Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI