Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We
want to thank you for joining us today, and we
hope you find today's sermon impacting as you
listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.
To find service times and watch messages online,
see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,
enjoy this week's message. I want to talk to
you this morning about Jesus' life and what his
ministry was about. We've been in a long series,
and it's been a good series. Literally, we're
about halfway through what the Lord has given
me on this thing, but there's been various kind
of themes that I feel like the Lord is highlighting
on this theme of the Something More Church. And
one of the keys to the Something More Church,
for us to be a people that God, he loves all
of his children. But he loves when people want
more of him. And actually not just want more
of him for a selfish purpose. There is that.
pulling and that desiring, those who hunger and
thirst shall be filled and shall be satisfied.
There is that reality that Jesus says in the
gospels, especially in the beatitudes of what
he's saying. If you hunger, you'll be filled.
If you thirst, you'll be satisfied. There is
that. But the primary weight of scripture, as
you begin to look at the whole capacity of what
God wrote, especially in, of course, we have
it from Genesis to Revelation, but especially
in the New Testament from Matthew to the book
of Revelation, is this idea that God is trying
to get inside of us is that in our pursuit of
him, in our in our hunger for him, in our searching
for him and our desire. He said, those who ask,
it shall be, what? It'll be given. Those who
seek shall find. Those who knock, the door will
be opened. And the reality is not just to bless
you alone, but the blessing is meant to actually
transfer. You receive part of it, but the blessing
is also then giving it away. When we're talking
about Easter being, and we celebrate it, here
it's going to be on April 5th, that Easter's
two weeks from now. It seems like we just had
Christmas, but here we are at Easter. The whole
pinnacle of the cross and the resurrection and
the commissioning of Jesus to the disciples was
what? To serve. To give life away, not just only
to die and to give blood as the ultimate sacrifice,
God's blood, only his blood could take away the
sin of the world. That was done for us. Yes,
the resurrection was done for us. Why? So we
could have fellowship with a risen king. But
the Holy Spirit was given to us, what? To teach
us in all things and that we would now be a,
if I could say this carefully, we would be now
a channel receiving from the Lord and giving
away his life continually. It is the essence
of Christianity. If we miss that, we've missed
the very... biggest theme of all that Christ
is trying to build in his church. He wants Christians
who pursue him, love him, fellowship with him,
receive from him, not just to become just fluffy,
but to actually receive and to give it away.
And the essence of that is We can call it, but
it's this idea of being stewards of service.
Servants. Greatest title of the scripture. Servant
of the Lord. But there's a stewardship of being
a servant. And Jesus understood what real ministry
was. So much so that some of these major tests
in his life, even in the three and a half years,
the tests that came to Christ, Jesus was constantly
reminding his team. Again, John 4, 34 says it
this way. My food is to do the will of him who
sent me and to finish his work. The primary and
first heart of Jesus, who was our model of a
perfect servant, was to find out what God's will
was. He knew what it was. Us is to learn the
will of God, like Jesus modeled how he lived
the will of God, and then to do it. That's the
key, right? So if we understand that the primary
purpose of the will of God is that we would receive
God. fellowship with God, love God, pursue him,
grow in him, mature in him, not just until we
get to a point then we say, okay, now we're ready.
No, along the way we are releasing that which
has come to us from the very source of life.
He'll release that source as we grow. Fact is,
it is the releasing that is fertilizer to your
growth. Because if you just try to wait until
you have enough, you'll actually stunt your growth.
Jesus did this, and we can put this on the slide.
Jesus never passed the little day -to -day things
for the big cross experience. As we're living
here and we're barreling down in our calendar
on... the cross and upon Easter and the resurrection.
Notice that Jesus did not train the disciples
to only focus on the cross. Fact is, if I take
the gospel side, now this is a great problem
in the body of Christ that people want to divide
the gospels and the New Testament church and
separate them. You cannot do that because the
Holy Spirit was sent as the, if I could say it
carefully, that's what the scriptures call it,
the parakletos in the Greek, the one who is the
other, the exact likeness of Christ, just another.
That's why God sent the another. to build what
the son could do in three and a half years with
his blood being made in the image of man, the
Holy Spirit would now take the very same power,
authority that the son did and now build the
work that the king had paid for. So to separate
the two is to actually say that the Holy Spirit
is less than Jesus. The reason I'm preaching
this this morning is because there is a great
divide in the body of Christ that wants to highlight,
well, we only do what Jesus is. No, you only
do what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have
actually decided is the whole gospel. You don't
just divide out a Jesus only. That leaves you
cutting out half of the purpose of what the Father
intended through the Holy Spirit. You are actually
living. You are living in an era that God is
still working and building and doing. And shame
on us for trying to get back to something that
had only a shelf life of three and a half years
when the Holy Spirit would actually build something
for over 2 ,000 plus years that was waiting for
the return of Christ. So I said all that and
that's my introduction. So here we go. To understand
this though, Jesus would not let the disciples
focus on the cross. You think about that. They
focused on the cross after the fact. They did
not focus on the cross in the three and a half
years. Why? Because they couldn't even understand
it. How many times did Jesus say, and the Son
of Man shall be given into hands and shall be
betrayed and shall be killed and they will spit
on. Literally, just over and over and over, they
missed it. Why? Because their thinking, now please,
this is where I'm going this morning. Their thinking
kept them. From receiving fresh revelation. The
program of their mind. And their expectation
of what God would do for them. Kept them from
embracing the now presence of Jesus. And what
he was trying to bring as revelation. And can
I just say this carefully. It is like this with
us. Why? Because we can focus so much on what
we want to do, where we want to go, what we're
building, what the vision for the future is,
that you miss right in front of you what God
is trying to actually change and do in you. This
morning, as I was in and out of sleep and got
up to do the... and went back to bed. It was
about, I looked at the scriptures. I didn't look
at them. I looked at the clock. It was 2 .41.
I laid down again. My alarm was set for 4 .40
to get up. And somewhere between 2 .40 and 4
.40, I had where the Lord began to speak to me.
And this morning, he began to show me I was in
this I don't even think it was a dream really
it was part dream and part I was there I was
I was in real time not just thinking about other
people or seeing other situations but the Lord
reminds us I want you to focus on your feet I
want you to focus on your feet and I remember
saying in the The encounter that I had this morning.
God, your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light
unto my path. I began to quote some scriptures.
How blessed are the feet of those that bring
the good news. And immediately when the Lord
shows me something, my first response is, what
are the scriptures I know about that? What have
I hid in my heart? Before I go look anything
up, I didn't come out of that sleep. I just,
I was quoting it. I could feel it inside of me
quoting it. And I began to think about feet.
No, my feet, you've given me. David said, you've
given me hinds feet that I can navigate the terrain.
And as I began to quote some of those scriptures,
I felt like the Lord said, yes, but your feet
are right where your next steps are. Focus on
your next steps. And I knew what I was, I had
prepared preaching. for this weekend and it goes
right with, obviously the Lord knows he's the
greatest teacher of all. Many times we can be
so focused on what's out there that we don't
actually look for what's right in front of us.
Now what's right in front of us can be traps.
What's right in front of us, that's where snares
are. So when you don't look in front of you and
you don't see tripwires, you don't see, or things
that you can twist or fall or fall into. You
don't see camouflaged things. Why? Because I'm
not looking down. Now, I'm not saying we focus
down, but you have to do both. You have to be
able to look down and clearly and also out clearly.
And sometimes as people, when we get into...
or we get into hardship and we look at things,
we spend so much time focusing on when it changes
and what will happen when that happens. And that's
good. But we're not maybe sometimes focused on,
Lord, what are you wanting me to get now? What
is this season trying to do now? How does it
implement and affect my walk now? Where are my
feet standing now? How close to the edge am I?
Am I on solid ground? Are my feet planted securely?
Am I walking in a path that's pleasing you? Are
my feet... girded with the gospel of peace with
a message and with the stability to walk in any
terrain all of those things speak to the now
moment when that's what Jesus was trying to help
the disciples do he knew he would give them the
message That they would carry after his death
and resurrection. In fact, it's so much so that
he would say that you wait until you're endued
with power. Because I'm not going to let you
carry this message without the partnership of
the Holy Spirit in your next level. But I'm trying
to teach you something, disciples. What is the
Lord transforming and changing your now? Sometimes
we've got to dive into that and say, okay, Lord.
Where am I standing? How am I walking? Are my
feet secure? And do I see what's right before
me? And not just what's right before me in the
natural, but am I asking the question, what are
you doing in me now? Don't let me bypass what
you're doing now. That was the classic case of
the religious. The religious in Jesus' day, constantly
took the words of Jesus and filtered them into
their thoughts of how God should do things. They
could not allow Jesus' words to penetrate them
in the now. That's on us. You see, every one
of us has a grid. Every one of us has a framework.
Every one of us has a perspective. We have a
collective in our own lives of experiences of
awesomeness and also the hurts of failure and
sufferings. And many times we can develop a grid
that actually isn't fully biblical. It's partial
biblical. And the goal of the Holy Spirit is
to actually make you a well -rounded person.
To actually that you would be formed in the,
if I could say this like the gospel, Ephesians
says that the multifaceted grace of God would
come to you. Multifaceted meaning what? It means
the many colored spectrum of that grace. So when
you break, when you break. light apart, you're
going to have what? The multicolored facets of
why we see that rainbow. You begin to see those
different hues of color. But yet it all comes
from one light. The whole point of the color
is to bring the multifaceted of what's in that
purity so that your eyes can see the covenantal
promise of all that God had promised. same principle
is true in your thinking and in your processing
of what God is doing in your life from giving
you vision and giving you prophetic words of
what to call in and what to believe for you have
to have that multifaceted but you can't leave
what's right in front of you either And you've
got to bring and allow the Spirit of God to bring
all of that truth in his word, truth in the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit. Bring that in and allow God
to form you in your now. So that's why we can
say Jesus never bypassed the little day -to -day
things for the big cross experience. He was training
the disciples to what? To embrace each day. Each
day, I mean, we know the scripture. Remember
what he says on the Sermon on the Mount? Don't
borrow trouble. Tomorrow, don't even think about
tomorrow. Today has enough trouble for itself.
How many have found that Jesus is true on that
one? Right? I mean, don't borrow in anxiousness
what trouble is gonna look like out there. Deal
with the grace of God, your attitude, your mindset,
the truth of his word forming you and how you're
responding right now. In fact, Carrie is writing
notes for Troy right now. This is a scripture
for my husband. Hallelujah. No, I'm just messing
with you. True, see? Come on. The reality is
we have to recognize, God, what are you wanting
to take away and what are you wanting to add
in my now? Jesus' perspective of being a servant
embraced all ranges of sacrifice because Jesus
embraced the will of the Father as primary because
pleasing the Father Was more important. Please
hear me say this. Pleasing the father was more
important. Than individual sacrifices. Often
times. We can. Make the mistake. Depending on
our level of giving. Or depending on something.
That we've sacrificed with our time. Or even
when we had to give love. Where it was really
tough to give love. we can focus on that sacrifice
and make that the pinnacle, okay, we gave that
to you, Lord, instead of, was that pleasing to
you, Father? That mindset of living with the
filter in our hearts of I want to please him.
Yes, I'm going to live with the other side of
the thing saying, I do, he loves me. He loves
me so much that he's given grace to cover me
and I don't need to think that I could ever be
out of his will or ever be out of his power to
love me. I have to embrace that at the same time
as I also have a mindset that says, but I also
wanna be pleasing to you. I know that you love
me. I'm believing that you love me. I choose
to believe that I've been adopted and I'm in
Christ. That is a truth, but so is the other
side. Just like. Believing and calling those
things that I'm promises and I believe for is
a truth. So dealing with my now is a truth. That's
the beauty of a balanced Christian life. It is
understanding who I am in Christ, believing what
God has done for me, the power of his forgiveness,
the power of a new creation, and then also now
walking in partnership where he's given me also
responsibility. And if I'm going to grow in Christ
and become, instead of just a child in God, but
a actual son or daughter in God, I've got to
allow this choice process of following him to
deepen. Because we all, once we get saved, become
children. The development happens between child
in Christ and daughter or son mature in Christ.
And this is the great divide. Because churches
are usually built, and I say this carefully,
on one or two of those, one or the other position.
You'll find it. They'll either focus all toward
just... Everybody's just gotta know that Papa
loves them and Daddy loves them and they're in
and they adopt it. And they focus on that and
that's only where they stay. Or they focus on
the other and it's only maturity and your choice
and that. And there is a balance of the two.
Because why? It's in the scriptures. The balance
is in the scriptures. We preach the balance of
it, okay? And so Jesus said, my food is to do
the will of. of him who sent me and to finish
his work. And yet Jesus never bypassed the little
things for the big cross experience. Because
why? Pleasing the father was more important to
him than the individual sacrifice. Listen to
what Hebrews 10, five through seven says. He
quotes this. Jesus is quoting this from the Old
Testament. The book of Hebrews picks it up. Sacrifice
and offerings you have not desired. but a body
you have prepared for me. So that verse is talking
specifically about Jesus. Now we can get truth
out of it, but he fulfilled it. A body God prepared
for him. And then I said, as the prophet was
prophesying and declaring it of the one who would
have that. who the body was prepared for. Behold,
I have come to do your will, O God. What is the
scripture highlighting? He's highlighting that
the fact that God had determined to send Jesus
would be born of a virgin, that the word of God,
as it says in the gospel of John, the word who
was God, who was with God, would now find himself.
In as word being wrapped in flesh and blood for
the purpose of what? Not just for the offering
and the sacrifice that he was born to do, but
to what? To do your will. So that's why Jesus
didn't live only with the big cross experience.
He balanced it knowing he came to the earth to
die. But he balanced it with what? I live to
please the Father. And if the Son of Man, who
was on purpose, was sent to be the only begotten
Son and the only sacrifice, knowing that his
whole purpose was to die, could take those 33
and a half years and focus not just on the cross,
it was always on his mind, but to live every
moment pleasing to the Father, that ought to
tell us something. Hmm. How about 1 Peter 4,
7? Through, I don't know, 10. Peter writes it
this way. And the end of all things is at hand.
You'd have thought he was watching the news right
now. Right? The end of all things is at hand.
And you ready? Here's what he says when the end
is near. Be self -controlled. and sober -minded
for the sake of your prayers. I wasn't gonna
go here this morning, but in prayer, the Lord
started speaking to me in pre -service prayer
about this. He said, I want you to teach them
about the connection. Notice he said, be self
-controlled and sober -minded for the sake of
your prayers. Can I just meddle a little bit
this way? I'm going to, thank you. Being sober
-minded and self -controlled for the sake of
your prayers. Do you understand what he's saying
here? That you can actually, if you're not self
-controlled, meaning being able to Have rain
on your emotions and sober -minded being what?
Being able to think using godly wisdom and scriptures,
your prayers can go off the rails when end -time
things begin to happen. Let me say that again.
In the last days, what? The end time is at hand.
The last days are all the end. Peter says it
even better. He doesn't say last days are end
time. He says the end of all things. He just
kind of gets right to it and says, I am calling
the very end of it. This is snip. This is done.
Now, because of that, be self -controlled and
sober -minded for the sake of your prayers. Do
you realize that you can pray amiss? You can
be fervent. You can be passionate. And you can
absolutely, because of not being sober -minded,
pray and it actually not reach or touch anything
in heaven that would release a response. Why?
Because your mind was not anchored in the scriptures
and in wisdom of what God has already written,
you allowed the circumstance of the day to overwhelm
you and you began to pray. Now, listen, I love,
I picked on Troy, I'm gonna just bless him right
now. I love Troy's praying. Why? Because I know
where he came from. And I know what God has done.
And I love the passion that God has put because
he's seen God answer prayers. So we're not talking
about adjusting Troy here. I'm not talking about
you. What I'm talking about is when you allow
outside things to shape your prayers. We could
look at this scenario right now. The Strait of
Hormuz and with U .S. and Iran and the Middle
East and China and Russia, North Korea, and those
who give themselves to news all the time, I'm
telling you right now, you have a double thing
to fight through. Why? Because the bombardment
of the information actually begins to work against
you in your prayers. Now I'm not saying, are
you saying that we're just to be like mushrooms?
Is the church just a room of mushrooms, you know,
in the dark and fed some type of manure? No.
No, that is not the nature of the church. Should
you be informed? Yes. But the question is, if
you're spending more time in being informed than
you are of having fellowship with the Holy Spirit
and allowing him to dictate and set where your
heart is, you're actually fighting a double warfare
because you did it to yourself. Are you doing
okay? Sober minded. What does sober mind mean?
It means, why does all the New Testament constantly
talk about be awake, be sober, be alert? Why?
Because he tells us that at a night season, people
get drunk in the night season. Now, you are a
complete alcoholic if you're drinking during
the day and the night. Because that's what alcoholics
do, right? But he was saying something in a spiritual
understanding about a night season. A night season
doesn't just mean that it's dark outside in the
natural. It means when darkness begins to encroach
on the face of the earth, you are to be what?
Awake and sober. Why? Because darkness has an
intoxicating power to it. Darkness always has,
now that doesn't mean darkness as in things are
coming to you to get you to be weird and devilish
and demonic. Right? That's not what he's saying,
Chloe. He's not saying the enemy comes and says,
come follow me. For I have powers that you do
not know. That's not what he's saying. He's saying
that when darkness has its day, And the Bible
says that it will grow worse and worse until
the day of the Lord. That in each segment of
when darkness grows worse, it has an intoxicating
effect. elixir that comes with it. What is the
intoxicating elixir? To consume your mind and
your emotion to begin to live under the mindset
of how you survive and how you take care of self,
which leads you to what? The elixir of now grabbing
something that he will present eventually called
the mark. Why? Because you've been drinking the
elixir that you won't be prepared, that you won't
have enough. You've been listening to the mindset
of what's happening over the world, and it's
drawing you to a place of saying, I can't live
without this. Surely God will forgive me. You
see, we're not connecting it. We're not being
spiritual people. Understanding when Jesus was
talking about dark, he's always talking about
a season of power and encroachment on the light.
And so why does he say be sober? Be alert. Why?
Because sobriety means you've fought correctly.
Just like in the natural, when you're sober,
you drive correctly. Well, most of you do. What
do you mean drive correctly? It means what? You
recognize signals and signs. You see things in
advance before they happen. You become, in essence,
can I say this carefully? You become prophetically
reactionary. Because you're seeing where that
line of sight and trajectory will take that person
and you respond to steer out of it or slow down
or move to the side. That's what Jesus was getting
to spiritually. That when you're taking wisdom
from the dark, it begins to remove your reaction
times. When darkness comes, your prayers now.
aren't actually garnering strength. Why? Because
you're not praying in faith. You pray in anxiety.
You pray in fear. You pray from a place of, God,
I don't know if he can do it. And those prayers
never move to the atmosphere of breakthrough.
Are they heard? Yes. But he can't respond to
those. He tells us he can't. Would you like me
to travel some more? You see, the point being,
when he says, be self -controlled and sober -minded,
it's never about your passion. The fact is, he
wants you to roar. Who you are, let your faith
and your response to him roar. However that looks
like. Okay? For the sake of your prayers. knowing
that he actually has you. Please hear me say
this. He actually has you here so that you would
grow in Christ. You've been born in such a time
as this, in this generation, to actually pray
the will of the Father, the partnership of the
Holy Spirit, that the will of God would be done
on the earth through your faith. prayers, every
single one of us. When you read the context of
this, he says, for we've all been given a measure
of grace, meaning he's connecting it to the fact
that not one of us is outside of this God -given
commission. So we have to be sober minded. We
have to think clearly. We have to think what
is the truth. We have to actually use a filter
for our now instead of allowing our now to override
us and just start praying things out there that
sometimes need to be prayed right now. Okay?
And I'm going to be careful here. Kind of. Some
of us need to be praying for protection, for
salvations, for America, for Iranian citizens
now. We don't just pick up and pray only, oh
God, save Israel and come quickly. That is not
being sober minded. It's not. You should be doing
both. But to put, and I have heard this, there's
nothing worse probably than me having hours of
travel and listening to some of the El Caca on
the Christian internet. It is poison. The mind,
the stuff that half over, I'm just being generous.
are conservative with half. Some of the so -called
fake prophecies, fake revelations, fake everything
that moves you to something that doesn't make
a hill of beads of difference to nothing that's
mobilizing you to your now. Sober minded. Self
-controlled. You understand that when you give
yourself, I'm going to say this carefully again
too. When you give yourself to all the things
that are only out there, that's what you attract.
And you have no filters to actually rein it in.
And you get deceived by thinking you're giving
revelation and all you're giving is opinion.
God dealt with that in the Old Testament with
the prophets. I have a dream, I have a dream,
I have a dream. He said there's gonna come a
time when nobody's gonna have a dream and anybody
that says it will get absolutely executed. Why?
Because they prophesy out of their own soul.
If you're gonna prophesy and you're gonna give
what God has given, it better actually build
the church. And it better actually be connected
to something that's bringing salvation to people.
What God is doing now. And then I'll enter this
because I'm getting fired up. And above all,
keep loving one another earnestly. See, he knew
I was going to preach it this way. Before you
get so fired up on this, understand that in this
process of living soberly and self -controlled,
it does not allow you to put off the main yoke
of following Christ, which is what? Love. Above
all. Can we say that? Almost everybody. And one
more time. And? Above all. Meaning all the admonition,
all the warning, all the instruction, all the
truth. Keep loving one another earnestly. Now
that word. That word earnestly. is used in the
ESV. The word in the New King Jimmy is the word
fervently. Now, let me read all of verse eight.
It says, above all, keep loving one another earnestly.
New King James, keep loving one another fervently
since love covers a multitude of sin. I'm gonna
stop there before verse nine. Earnestly and fervently.
are used, that word in the Greek, are used in
three major scriptures. I'm gonna give you a
couple of them this morning because of time.
Acts 12, verse five. These are not on your notes,
but if you wanna find it, you can. Acts 12, verse
five. Listen to how it's said. So Peter was kept
in prison. But earnest prayer or fervent prayer
was made for him to God by the church. Same word
that Peter uses in 1 Peter 4, 8, that love one
another should be fervently or earnestly for
all people above all. That word is used with
Peter in prison. Now in order to understand the
context of this was what happened. Herod had
reached out just prior to Acts 12 and had killed
James, the Lord's brother, right? The apostle
James. Killed him. We don't hear anything about
in the scriptures about the church interceding.
It was almost like when you read it, now this
is my filter, so I'm at least saying that caveat.
My filter is there is no building up. There's
no commentary afterwards. The only commentary
afterwards is when Peter, because it's... It
says that Herod saw that it pleased the Jews.
He put Peter in prison also planning to execute
him. All of a sudden, the Holy Spirit writes
in Acts that the church made earnest prayer for
him. So what happened? Now we could spend a lot
of time on this because this, go ahead and put
it up there. Because this verse is so pivotal.
For the atmosphere. Why? Because after the gospel
had come and they had broke through the barriers
of race. Not only from the gospel being to Jews,
but now Cornelius had happened in Acts chapter
10. And we'd had the gospel going to Samaria
in Acts chapter 8. So you've got Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria. And now the uttermost parts of the earth
representing Cornelius, an Italian military person
getting visited by the angel of God. And Peter
comes. And shares the gospel. And before he even
closes. The Holy Spirit falls. And they all get
filled with the Spirit. And the word that the
scripture uses. They receive what we did. Meaning
there was no difference. Between what they got.
At Acts chapter 2. Than what they got there.
Acts chapter 10. And now we are two chapters
past the gospel going into the Gentiles, into
the known world. And all what? Nations, kindreds,
tongues, tribes are being affected. And what
happens? Herod, through the prompting of the
enemy. began to reach out and persecute, not
just persecution, because persecution had been
happening where they were fleeing to other places.
Now persecution coming with real execution to
take out the leadership and the government of
the church of the apostolic team. The church
was not prepared for that. They weren't prepared.
And I don't want to spend a bunch of time on
that, but they weren't. It was only when the
second one, had actually been arrested, that
it says this root word, that you let love be
earnestly for all people, as Peter's saying.
Why? Because Peter was a, why this is so important?
Peter was the direct recipient of that word,
earnest. As he's writing to the church. churches
that he oversees in Galatia and Pontia and some
of those places. He says in 1 Peter 4, 8, and
above all, let love be earnestly made for all
people. That same earnest prayer he experienced
by the church that was made up of all people
at that point. It wasn't just his family. It
wasn't just his Jewish cousins. It was now made
up of every person. We know in Acts chapter two,
they came from 17 different districts that they
came to celebrate on the day of Pentecost. But
by the time we get to Cornelius, the gospel had
gone to every, it was going to every known part
of the world. It was starting to reach in. And
that earnest prayer is what he focused on. That
word earnestly and fervently, they prayed for
Peter. And in the earnest part of it, God did
what? Sent supernatural help where no person,
hear me say this, no person could get in to rescue,
God rescued. where he's chained on all, think
of it, chained on all four sides by four soldiers
in a cell, guards outside the cell as well, and
gates to the city. Talks about three or four
different layers of captivity that Peter was
in, that death was certain for Peter, except
earnest, that word, fervent prayer. Now, Peter
takes that same fervency in prayer and he puts
it now down to the reality of church. And he
says now, earnestly love. Yikes! Above all. Above
your eschatology. Above what your filters are.
Above what you think. Above your preferences.
Above what your gifting is. Above all. What is
that word earnest? Well, the root word of earnestly
is a Greek word that Jesus used often in his
healing ministry. The word ektenio. Ek means
out. Tenio means what? To stretch out. It's what
Jesus spoke in Matthew and Mark. To the leper
that came to him. Lord, I know that if you're
willing, you can heal me. What did Jesus say?
Tenio. Ectenio your hand. And he stretched it
out and he was made whole. It was not just partially
try to do something. It was not just do your
best, child. There were times Jesus went. And
he did it all. There were other times, and there
is a lot of scriptures that use this. He required
what? The stretching out of something in order
to release heaven. It's the same word. I'm gonna
pick up another one. It's the same word that
is used in the Garden of Gethsemane. And Jesus
kneeled and prayed earnestly. And his brow opened
and drops of blood like sweat fell to the ground.
It was only on what? The earnestness of the prayer.
What was the earnestness meaning? It meant there
was no more place in which effort, participation.
Could not be measured. It was all in. It was
all in. When Jesus stretched out his faith and
his heart in Gethsemane, there was no place for
any reservation. He was earnestly in prayer asking
the father to take it. He had stretched out.
Now listen, they would stretch him out for the
whip. and for the cross. But before he ever got
stretched there, and that's why this is so important,
before he was ever stretched there, he was stretched
spiritually in his prayer. He went to the mat
earnestly stretched out. And when Peter uses
this word, it's the same word, and I could give
you a couple more, but Luke 24, 44, that was
the issue. And being in agony, Jesus prayed more.
The fact that the scriptures tells us there is
a level to his earnesty gives us an understanding
that there was no more room to stretch out spiritually.
Stretch out. Put forth. Jesus stretched out his
hand and healed the man's leprosy. Jesus said
to the man, stretch out your hand and it was
restored. Why am I spending so much time and
we're gonna end right here? Because I think it's
important that we stop here and we just take
a moment. The apostle Paul was getting ready
after being, now listen, after being storm tossed.
14 days without food or night, where the Bible
records in the book of Acts that all the men
had lost their hope of surviving. Remember, that's
what it says, on their way to try to get to Rome
because they didn't listen to him. They listened
to the ship's owner. They were being driven by
a wind they had not seen. Now listen, to be driven
and not seen by land or sky for 14 days, Paul
has what? An angel of the Lord. That was his
testimony to the men. Folks, I love how the apostle
says this. It gives me great hope. You should
have listened to me. That's his first words.
That's his first words. You should have listened
to me. But the angel of the Lord, of the God
I serve, stood beside me this night. He says
that all of our lives, he's granted me, notice,
he's granted me all of our lives. How many? 276.
What did earnest prayer do? It granted in a now
season, Paul being, oh my goodness, Paul being
sober minded. Paul, not allowing despair that
was on every other atmosphere of 275 other people,
recognizing that they were going to die and were
declaring they were going to die, earnest prayer
was made. And in the midst of being stretched
out in prayer, God sends an angel. And that angel
says, Paul, the Lord has heard your prayer. 276
will be granted to you and there will be no loss
of. life. Why? Because Paul had to stretch down
even though he knew going to Rome was a dense
sentence for himself. He refused to go out and
think about what his tomorrows were. He began
to intercede for what was right in front of him
there. And it was to love what God loved. Because
275 people would have gone to hell had he not
been willing to be stretched out and look at
his feet of where he was on the deck of a ship
that was storm -tossed. The atmosphere was horrific.
They hadn't eaten or drank and they had called
out to every god. The Bible says they'd called
out to their gods and that was beyond hope. Paul
stayed what? Sober -minded. And self -controlled.
In prayer. And in his love for what God loved.
People. To serve them. To love them above all.
Would you just take a moment. Allow the spirit
of God. Maybe just close your eyes. Just not
looking around. Maybe not moving. We got a little
time. Lord, am I living sober -minded? Am I living
self -controlled? That doesn't mean not having
fun. That doesn't mean not being in joy. It means
I'm living the fruit of the Spirit. Self -control
is the fruit of the Spirit. I'm not allowing
fear. panic, anxiety, worry, terror to dominate
my prayers. I'm not holding the elixir of current
events and constantly consuming them that moves
my prayer from being sober -minded, awake and
alert to actually under the influence of something
that's trying to Draft on my Christianity and
try to pull me off target. And I'm asking this
morning, Holy Spirit, as you are doing. What
only you can do. You know the thoughts. You know
the motives. You know the intent of every heart
and every mind. Lord, I'm only a preacher, a
messenger of what you put in my mouth. But God,
it is you who holds the hearts. It is you who
knows the thoughts and the minds. And I'm asking
now, Holy Spirit, you would begin to reveal that
to them. Lord, uncover any place where there's
been, Lord, a darkness. Lord, that elixir of
drunkenness. Lord, of spirit. Lord, where I've
been intoxicated by the world, its pull, its
fear, its scare tactics. Lord, speak to me and
allow my mind to get sober now. Allow my spirit
to receive a sobering now according to the beautiful,
truth, and the brilliance of your power, holiness,
righteousness, and love. You're better than any
pot of coffee. You're better than any form of
awakening. You are the one who awakens my heart.
You are the one who awakens me to truth and understanding.
And I'm asking now in the name of Jesus, Holy
Spirit, you'll begin to deal a work in us and
in this church. Lord, that we would become sober
-minded and we become self -controlled people
in the midst of the last day generation or generations.
And that above all, at being sober and being
self -controlled, praying prayers, Lord, that
are in concordance with your will. And Lord,
Above all, being people who will love without
keeping records of wrong. Who will love humanity.
Who will see how God loves. Send the truth and
send grace. And above all, honoring, loving,
and doing everything we need to do to not be
out of joint with one another. but living a life
of love from the Father running through us, to
us and through us and to people and back to you.
If you're here this morning, Holy Spirit is working
even in our midst. If you've not surrendered
your life to Jesus Christ, You've not made him
the only king of your heart. Savior. That term
means he paid a price. What we're going to be
talking about, we talk about it hopefully every
Sunday, is the power of his cross and his resurrected
life. He's alive, but he had to die because of
your and I's sin. And he welcomes you. He didn't
die. to punish you. He actually died to liberate
you. He died so that he could have fellowship
and loving fellowship with you and grow you and
strengthen you. You would become a full grown
member of the body of Christ. Having bypassed
now, as the scripture says, though we die, yet
shall we live. Living and ruling and reigning
with Jesus Christ. If you don't know him, The
cross is still open. The way Jesus said of himself
in John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No person comes to the Father but by me.
That way is still open. And he's inviting whosoever
will. That's what the scripture says. Whosoever
believes in him shall not. perish, but have everlasting
life. If that's you this morning, and you would
welcome Christ into your heart, you'd actually
say, I choose to have Jesus Christ not only save
me, but come and fill me that I might live for
him. Would you just lift your hand just right
where you're at? I'm going to have somebody come
pray with you. Just right where you are. Say,
Pastor, that's me. I don't know him, but I want
to know him, and I want to give my life to Christ.
Just all over the building. Yes, right here.
Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you.
Thank you. We're coming to meet you. Thank you.
All right. Pastor Scott is going to pray with
you. God bless you, buddy. Proud of you. If you're
here this morning, you say, you know what? I
needed this word. God is. admonishing me, not
just, I need to love above all else, but I need
to live soberly. I need to not be carried away
with the elixir of the world that it comes to
bring panic and fear. How many would say, this
is right where I was at today and I need Jesus
to help me. Anybody? All right, just me and you.
All right, a few of us, a few of us. All right.
Would you just, if that's you, would you just
lift your hand? I'm gonna pray for us. Yeah.
Father, I thank you now. Lord, you see every
hand, every heart. I'm asking now that you would
bring courage and strength from heaven. Lord,
in that earnestness and in that fervency would
be released a strength to hold on to who you
are. in the scriptures. Hold on to who you are
in our fellowship and walk with you, that we
would not be carried away by fear or anxiousness,
Lord, or any report. Jesus, you said it in Matthew
24, there will be rumors of wars and there will
be wars from tribes and kingdoms and nations,
but the end is not yet. Lord, you're asking for
us to partner in sobriety, and in self -controlled,
fervent prayers that you would have a harvest
that belongs only to you. The reaping of souls,
the building of church for your glory and your
namesake. In Jesus' name, amen. If you are in
need of prayer, send us a text message at 541
-625 -1365. We would love to pray with you.