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. We've been talking
about, as I've been kind of going through this
series on the Something More Church. The Something
More Church. And I want to focus, even though
this topic is large and there is an amazing amount
of information and revelation that the Lord has
brought. We've taken various streams of this
river that have kind of revelation and we've
parked on some of the issues of the scripture.
Today, I want to take another stream I want us
to understand that if we're going to be called
to be a something more church, we've got to get
the heart of the Father inside of us. Now, we've
talked about this a little bit. John 4, 34, Jesus
explains something to us. And as we're gonna
work our way toward 1 Peter chapter four, John
4, 34, Jesus said to the disciples, my food is
to do the will of him who sent me and to finish
his work. I wanna focus on those two statements
this morning. Number one, I want to do the will
of him who sent me and to finish his work. First
and primary, The heart of Jesus is what? Who
was the perfect servant, who never sinned. His
primary purpose, he said it first, was to what?
To do the will of him who sent him. And then
to finish the work. I'll say it this way. Jesus
never bypassed the little day -to -day things
for the big cross experience. Let me say that
again. Jesus never bypassed the little day -to
-day things for the big cross experience. This
is where sometimes we as Christian people can
really get this turned around in our heart. We
often think because we separate the Gospels and
some of the New Testament. We try to, and I'm
not saying necessarily you do this, but this
happens often in Christianity that people remove
the gospels from the rest of the New Testament
writing from Acts to Revelation and somehow highlight
the gospels as the pinnacle of Revelation when
in fact God actually said to Jesus, I want you
to finish your work so that you can release my
promise for the other to come, the another. Now,
that's important that we understand when Jesus
was talking about, it's more needful that I go
that I would send the helper. And in another
scripture, he says, and I will send another just
like him. That word another means of the same
nature, of the same character, of the same power,
and of the same authority. Just Holy Spirit is
going to be a same but different altogether.
It's another. It's like having Christ, only the
responsibility of the Holy Spirit's work is the
same responsibility that Jesus had to work. And
so for us to highlight the gospels as the pinnacle
of revelation is to diminish the power and the
work of the Father through the Holy Spirit. And
that's a big deal. It's a big deal because you
begin to end up with a different kind of doctrine.
You begin to think that somehow what Jesus did
in the gospels is superior to all the other things.
No, Jesus was as the God -man perfect. and superior
in all things. But the doctrine, the doctrine
that he laid out, he constantly referred to the
Holy Spirit, giving teaching of who was to come.
And it was better that the Holy Spirit came.
Why? Because he would work with more than just
him. The whole point was he would take what would
be on Christ sovereignly. And now because of
Christ's work and the Holy Spirit's work, the
Holy Spirit would now be sent to God's people.
And you and I, as the scriptures say, multiple,
multiple places are called to do the work and
to do the things that Jesus did and greater things
are we to do. Now that's hard to believe, but
it is the truth. It's the truth. Now, why am
I separating us? Because Jesus never, now please
hear me, never highlighted the cross as his major
destiny. Meaning he did not pick it up all the
time. Fact is, when he did talk about it, the
disciples couldn't get it. If it was all about
the cross, even though the cross was part of
that, and Paul picks it up in the other side,
if you want to talk about from Acts to Revelation,
Paul picks it up and said, I glory in the cross.
God forbid that I stop, that I never, that I
will not stop preaching the cross. The cross
of Jesus Christ would be lifted up, but Jesus
was constantly taking advantage. of his disciples,
getting them to encounter their now understanding
of what was leading them astray. You see, Paul
was dealing with the cross and so did all of
the others in the New Testament about lifting
Jesus high of what he did. But Jesus was constantly
confronting the disciples in their thinking process
in their now. And I was, this morning I woke
at about 2 .45 and I had to kind of do the old
man thing and use the restroom and got up and
did that and went back to bed, looked at the
clock. And when I woke up this morning, my alarm
went off at 4 .40. Somewhere in that two hours,
I had an encounter with the Lord. And in that
encounter, And it wasn't a dream, but it was
like a dream, but only like I could actually
see myself as the Lord was talking to me. And
the principle of what he was speaking to me this
morning was he made me look at my feet. And as
I was looking at my feet, I remembered the scriptures.
memorize some of the word of God and get it hit
in my heart, just like you and I are told to
do, you know, put the word of God inside of us.
And I thought, okay, Romans, the 10, blessed
are the feet of those that bring the good news.
How good, how, you know, I started thinking about
the feet, the scripture in Psalms, Psalms, just,
well, forget the reference. We'll just say it.
Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light
unto my path. And I began to think about the
scriptures in regard to feet. And I thought about
David when he said, you've given me Heinz feet
that I can traverse the terrain that I could
climb and you've made me stable. And I was thinking
about that. And as I was rehearsing that, as
I was looking at the feet yet, but the Lord said,
yes, that's all true, but I want you to. I want
you to understand something. I need you to understand
that you must look at where you're at so that
you can determine what I'm doing in your now.
Our tendency is, and I hope that we're gonna
see this in the scriptures in a little bit. Our
tendency as Christians is to want to live for
the future. We don't necessarily like what's
happening in the now. And so what do we do? We
begin to pull on the future. And there's nothing
wrong with that. The Bible says that we're supposed
to. We're to call those things that are not as
though they were. We walk by faith and not by
sight. We're to welcome, as Abraham did, we're
to welcome the promises of God from afar. But
the tendency for the Western church is to constantly
live on this side of pulling things in because
we're dissatisfied with where we're at and constantly
pulling for the more of God. And that's good,
but that's not balance. There is a point because
Jesus could have spent every moment. Three and
a half years with the disciples constantly trying
to drill into them the cross and the resurrection.
He didn't. He did bring it in from time to time.
What did he focus on? Wherever they were at,
he focused on what God was trying to do in their
now moment where they would grab onto him in
their now and believe him. And so that is the
reality of what God is trying to do in the life
of Christians is he wants us to have the whole
biblical spectrum because he is that truth. He
is the fullness. We don't want to just divide
him and say, well, I'm a gospel only Christian
or I'm a New Testament only. No, no, no. You're
a both. You are pulling on the things that are
to come. You are pulling on the promises of God.
You're pulling on the things that God has said
that were going to come to you and you're believing
for, but you're also now recognizing that your
walk with Jesus Christ, you must look at where
you're standing. And not only just where you're
standing, am I positioned in strength? Is where
I'm standing safe? Or have I not been, have I
been so looking about what I'm going through
in life? Now listen, you can have it on both
sides of the coins. You can be going through
some suffering and through some hardship and
some sadness that you don't even look at your
now and you're so focused on, oh, it's kind of
like that old television commercial, oh, Calgon,
take me away. That's kind of how you pray. Oh,
Jesus, just take me away. Just get me out of
where I'm living right now and let me focus on
what it will be. That's not always biblical.
You have to look where you're standing. You have
to look where you're walking. Your word is a
lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. He
didn't say, just trust the lamp, just look beyond
it. No, he actually said, Your word is a lamp
unto my feet and a light unto my back. Dealing
with your personal walk. Dealing with where are
you stepping? Are you on good ground? Are you
looking to see if there's any traps or hidden
things that are waiting for you? Or have you
lifted up your vision so far that you're not
looking at your now? And as the Holy Spirit,
as I came up out of sleep and I recognized, Lord,
that's what you're asking for. You're asking
for the church to have an understanding. Yes,
we have promises. Yes, we're to be a prophetic
people. Yes, we're to understand what is to come.
But we're also to take advantage of you being
God in our now and that our feet would be secure
and our next steps we would recognize that you're
trying to work something in us like you did with
the disciples in the now moment. I'm not just
waiting to be transformed out there. I'm allowing
God to transform me in the now. Are you all right?
All right. I hope I didn't lose you at the colonoscopy
story. So here we are. Jesus didn't bypass the
little day experiences for the big cross experience.
He took advantage. Of every situation. To begin
to work. Now this is key. To begin to work in
the framework. Of their mind and their thinking.
Right? Because what was he doing? What got the
disciples constantly in error. Not to mention
the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Was the fact
that their mind. And their way of thinking could
not embrace God in their now. God in their now
was actually a concept that they couldn't actually
grab a hold of. In fact, as many times Jesus...
was trying to tell them about what was coming.
And you remember, it's just like, the Son of
Man is gonna be delivered to the Romans and he's
gonna be beat and crucified. And he will, three
days he will die in a tomb, but on the third
day he will rise. And they're just like, they
couldn't get it. They couldn't get it. Finally,
at just the moment, like within days of the crucifixion,
they finally kinda, Got it. But even in the getting
it, they didn't get it. Because they all deserted
him at the Garden of Gethsemane. Every one of
them. Every one of them fleed. Some of them fleed
so bad they left their clothes. Mark said, and
the young man that was following was covered
with a sheet and he left his sheet and ran. That'll
preach. When you as a disciple leave your sheet
and run. Come on. How many times when we are
supposed to know, you gotta be careful how you
say that, don't you? How many times you're supposed
to know that God is in your now and we just leave
it because, oh, I can't handle it. Jesus' perspective
of dealing with the disciples dealt with what?
Getting the heart of the Father into their filter
system. Their thinking, their mind, their heart.
Why? Because his primary objective was to what?
To please the Father. And it was more important
than the work. The work followed the heart. That's
why faith, when... When James starts dealing
with faith, he says, listen, don't tell me that
you have faith, but let me see the genuineness
of your faith by your works. So it's both. Pleasing
the heart of God comes first. The work that he's
called you to do or the purpose that he's called
you to do is secondary, not primary. So let's
look at this. Hebrews 10, verses five through
seven. The book of Hebrews is quoting, what Jesus
actually embodied. Notice what it says. Sacrifices
and offerings you have not desired, but a body
you have prepared for me. Jesus literally became
that body. According to the gospel of John, right?
In the beginning was the word, the word was God,
the word was with God and the word went forth
and we beheld him and he became the only begotten
son. The word was made flesh. God prepared a
body for the living word of God and he took on
humanity, right? Now listen, for you and I, we
don't, a body we have, but this scripture was
talking about the fulfillment of the perfect
body although we can receive truth and understanding
from this because what then did Jesus identify
with verse 7 he says then I said behold I have
come to do your will oh God notice the very purpose
of heaven in God preparing a body for the word
of God the response once that body was there
was Lord I didn't come to bring you individual
sacrifices and focus on just the things that
I do for you. I have come for the purpose to
do your will. Now for Jesus, that is so important
for our salvation. Now take it off of the Lord
and put it onto us. It's still important for
us and how we live. Because if that was the motivation
for God to please the Father in everything, that
should be the motivation for every one of us
as Christians to want to please the Father. Rather
than focusing on our individual times where we
sacrificed or where we did something, the goal
should be in our filter system, we live now.
to please the Father. Like Paul would say in
Acts 17 as he was dealing with the Athenians.
In him we live and move and have our being. The
understanding was, I live and I move and I now
live for God's glory. That's why Paul could say
later in Galatians 2 .20, the life I now live,
I live for the glory of God who gave himself
for me. I've been crucified with Christ and the
life I now live, I live for him. Where does that
come from? It comes from this understanding of
I've been born again and in that born again,
Being born from above and being saved and a new
creature. My first goal is not what I can give
him. My first goal is, can I just be pleasing
to him? I know he loves me. And this is where
the American church, if you'll let me just get
into our thinking just a little bit. This is
where our American church becomes divided. Because
we separate out the totality of scripture. Meaning.
We have churches that focus all on he loves me,
he loves me, he loves me, he loves me. And then
we have churches that focus what can I do, what
can I do, what can I do, what can I do? The reality
is they need to be blended together. The reality
is I better know that I am a new creature in
Christ, that I am loved and I'm adopted and there's
nothing. Hell cannot take me. Nobody can snatch
me from the love of God and his commitment and
covenant to me. I can walk out of it. I can cut
it, but no power of hell can do it. Now I can
partner with the things of hell, but it'll be
my choice in doing that. That's got our identity
and who we are, our beginning, if I could say
it this way, our adoption into son and daughtership
should never be questioned. It should always
be rooted and growing and strengthening. However,
that in the end of the story that I just get
saved. That's the beginning of the journey, right?
And that's what we've been talking about. What
does the something more church do? Something
more church understands that there is something
beyond just religion or routine and profession
that actually creates and we live to have the.
power of Christ move in us and through us, and
without being weird, we become a channel for
the work of the kingdom of God to operate in.
Where God's works that Christ did, signs, wonders,
healings, miracles, deliverance, the glory of
God, the manifest activity of heaven takes place.
And here's what we need to understand. Over here,
we become saved and you become a child of God.
That's what John 1, 12 says. Not born according
to the will of man, not according to the mind
of man, but according to the will and purpose
of God, you were born again. Not by blood, not
by man's will, but by God's will, you were born
again. But that doesn't mean you're grown up.
There's a difference in the scripture. Weon and
technon. Or weos and technon. Two different meanings
of sonship. One is in the beginning of sonship.
The other means you're actually participating
as though you have been with the father and been
working the land and his inheritance all along.
And that's the reality of blending the two. In
the Greek understanding is, I always recognize
that I'm always in the family. That's why Jesus'
response to the prodigal older brother was so
stunning. And when the prodigal got mad, here
this son of yours, this younger son, squandered
your inheritance with prostitutes and loose living
and all of this stuff. And you gave him a goat
and now you're celebrating. And then the scripture
is awesome, especially in the King James. You
didn't even give me a goat to make merry with
my friends. Well, you're poor little goatless
self. And you know what the father said? He said,
son, all that I have is yours. Jesus was. was
trying to get the son to understand that what
he was doing, he was trying to, the older son
was trying to prove his worth and was keeping
score. The younger son had tapped into something
that being part of the family of God and pleasing
the father was much more than anything you could
do on your own. And the older son needed to come
to the revelation. Had he come to the father
and say, God, this is what would make father.
This is what would make me happy. I'm going to
ask you for this. The father was said, man, it's
right. It's good. Here it is. But the son wouldn't
ask that way. The older son tried to work it.
And when his disappointment came in is when the
generosity of the father's grace and love was
seen and it didn't give something to him. Now,
so let me get back to where we were talking about.
We're talking about having both. Being a son
and a daughter, loved, adopted, in the beloved,
as we would say, in Christ Jesus. And then what?
Having the responsibility now to now become what
the Bible would say, stewards of grace. And that's
where we're going here. I want you to take a
look at 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4, verse 7. Now I'm
gonna spend some time in this, so let's just
buckle in for a little bit. 1 Peter 4, 7 says
this. The end of all things is at hand. I mean,
what a great verse. I mean. Peter is literally
just bringing it right down and said, you need
to understand something. The end of all things
is at hand. Semicolon. Therefore, because of
that, be self -controlled and sober -minded for
the sake of your prayers. Verse eight. Above
all. Keep loving one another earnestly since
love covers a multitude of sins. Now, I want
to camp on those couple of verses there. Because
in this scripture, we see the two different realities.
It says, the end of all things are at hand. Be
sober, right? And be self -controlled. But above
all, love one another earnestly. So what was
he saying? He was saying your primary purpose,
above all. Can we say above all together? Ready,
go. One more time. Above all. Above all means
what? The pinnacle. After everything is summed
up and everything is tallied, Above that, here
becomes the primary objective of the Father.
The Holy Spirit in you. Now love one another
earnestly. Why is this so important? Because
this becomes the word that the apostles would
all share is the most important thing. Love the
Lord your God with all, Jesus said it, love the
Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul,
and strength, and the second is like it, love
your neighbor as yourself. John, the apostle
John, as John would write in third person, he
would say, the one who the Lord loves. He would
write and say, I'm not giving you a new command,
but I'm giving you an old command that was from
the beginning, that you love one another. Jesus
said, again, going back to Jesus, he said, If
you love me, you will what? You will keep my
commandments. And so love, understanding love
means what? I set my mind, my will, my value,
and my understanding to what? To please him and
give him my highest affection in every area.
not just in the time of worship, but in the what?
In the day walk where my feet are and in the
vision that God has for me, that I'm not pulling
on what I want from the soul, but because I want
to be pleasing him, I'm asking what will please
him. And I call those things in over my life
that he's chosen to have for me. So it's both.
It's how do I please him now walking in love
now and how I'm gonna walk in love and call those
things in. But notice he says, in order, here's
the first part of it. He says, the end of all
things is at hand. And I wanna focus just a little
bit on this. He says, so because of that, therefore
be self -controlled and sober -minded for the
sake of your prayers. Now, let's think that through
a little bit. For the sake of my prayers. Being
self -controlled and sober -minded for the sake
of my prayers. Let's say what he's not saying.
He's saying, what's not there is, you can pray
things that when they're not sober -minded or
self -controlled, you can pray prayers. That
are not answered. Doesn't mean they're not heard.
It means they're not answered. How does that
work? I'll tell you how it works. When you pray
according to the things that are happening in
your world. That move you past sober Christian
thinking with wisdom. and what is already written,
and you get moved by what? Fear, anxiety, worry.
And you begin to pray differently. Why? Because
you're moved by an outside force that you don't
believe that God will actually step in and do
something. You begin to pray different because
you've left the foundation of where you should
be standing. Right? When it says sober thinking,
let's just, can we go here just a little further?
Sober thinking, why the word sober? It's the
same word that Jesus uses in the scripture. It's
the same word that Paul will then pick up in
his scriptures being be sober, be alert. What's
this sobriety? It means that you're not under
the influence of something. Sober means what?
I have, if I'm not sober, which that's only happened
once in my life, a long time ago. And I swore
to the Lord, I said, Lord, that I will never
touch that again. This is the stupidest feeling
I ever felt. Terrible. I thought, how do people
get hooked by this? I had, I don't know. Let
me just. Let me just say this and I'm not glorifying
it. But for our senior project, they told us
to do something, just think outside the box.
So me and another kid across the field decided
to build our own still. And so, of course, we
did it without our parents' permission. I had
the tap and die set and found the copper and
we hijacked mom's pressure cooker. And we decided
we'd make our own alcohol. And they had a chicken
incubator that got the mash up to a certain level.
And so we decided that we'd make our own kind
of version of corn whiskey. Now I had never,
I've never drank before. I'd never had any of
that done. It's the god awfulest thing I'd ever
tasted. Now I didn't know we were supposed to
add flavor to it. And I probably could have,
you know, as they said, we did something that
we shouldn't have. We distilled it multiple,
multiple times. So when I put a lighter to it,
man, it would just. And so I have no idea how
many proof it was. And we decided, I don't know,
this is kind of glorifying sin here, but I'm
trying not to do that here. We decided to go
to a place where we would just be alone and nobody
could get to us and no driving and no nothing
and just see what it tasted like. Because we
were told that it tasted good. They lied, they
lied, they lied. And after having a bit of it
and getting a headache and then throwing up and
my head spinning and then waking up in the morning
after it was all done going, how do you put fun
and that together? That was horrible. And I remember
saying to myself, I will never come under. God,
forgive me for coming under the influence of
something that took my senses, my judgment, and
my mindset. I never touched it again. Now, the
reality was, that's what Jesus is speaking to
when he talks about sober -minded. Why? Because
if you get under the influence, and most of you,
you know, you're good drivers, most of you. But
when you drive under the influence, what happens?
You can't react in time. You don't see the signals.
You're not thinking line of sight. You're not
thinking, hey, I'm driving. offensive and defensive.
When you're impaired at some level, depending
on the degree of your impairment, you are already
removed the fact that you're not thinking about
somebody else's life. You're just trying to get
to where you're going. That's coming under the
influence of something. Because if you're sober,
you are actually thinking about other people's
lines. You're actually thinking about how what
they do will impact your life and how you can
make sure that you're not an accident, that you're
actually in charge of your car and your family
and not just you, but other people. The minute
you get under the influence, it stops you thinking
about others and it brings its full focus on
you, your pleasure and what you're into. So when
Paul, through the Holy Spirit, says sober -minded,
you have to understand that this scripture always
speaks of impairment spiritually. Because why?
Jesus goes over this. He said those who get drunk,
get drunk at night. Night is coming. What was
Peter addressing? He was dressing. The night.
He says what? The end of all things is at hand.
What did Jesus tell us would take place at the
end? That darkness would get greater. We're not
to fear the darkness, but we're to recognize
that when darkness gets greater, light shines
brighter. And he's saying that those who get
drunk get drunk at night. Put it on alcohol.
Now put it spiritually. The Bible says clearly
in Ephesians chapter four, it says, do not be
drunk with wine, which is dissipation. Means
what? It fades, it leaves, it evaporates. You're
constantly having to feed something to keep the
atmosphere of what it offers going. He said,
don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with
the Holy Spirit. So he recognizes the pull of
that intoxicating power in wine. And when he
talks about the night, he's talking about the
difference between sobriety. thinking of being
a person of the day versus an intoxicated person
that has been consumed with the night. How do
you get intoxicated by the night? It's not because
someone comes up to you and says, I am the devil
and I have powers that you not know of. Join
me on the dark side. That's not the lure. Not
at all, right? There's nothing in Garrett's just,
sure. No, he's like, not buying it. Okay, what
is the intoxication of the darkness? The intoxication
of the darkness is, are you ready? The Bible
says that we fight three things, the world, the
flesh, and the devil. The darkness that Jesus
is talking about is not dealing with the flesh
and it's not dealing with the devil personally.
It's dealing with the atmosphere of how the enemy
gets people across the world intoxicated, which
is what? The system of the world. So that when
darkness comes in the world, what are you drinking?
Whether your station is CNN or Fox, or anything
in between, podcast, if they're not standing
on the wisdom of the rock himself, then you're
being pulled to what the Bible calls the drinking
of the wine of the great harlot's immorality.
Now, I know I just went deep there, but let me
explain it. It's not just the immorality of acts.
of explicit acts that we would do. It is the
wine of the immorality that causes an intoxication
of every ideological mindset that is contrary
to what the Bible teaches. And that's how you
drink it. So if you're spending... an hour and
a half listening to podcasts or news rants or
all of the things that are going on. And then
you give a poultry 15 minutes of just give him
15 and barely read your Bible. What are you doing?
You're drinking a bottle of intoxication of the
world and you're sipping a cup of coffee. What's
happening? You're not being sober minded. Why?
Because you're not understanding the end of all
things. You're actually listening to the intoxication
of what? Fear and anxiety and worry. And then
that doesn't just stay in itself. It begins to
burrow in. And what does it burrow into? It burrows
into the mind and the heart that now says, I've
got to now protect me. I now have to protect
my family. I don't know if I can just do normal
wisdom. I got to pick up from what I would normally
that's in the scriptures. I got to do extra because
now my focus is on fear rather than being balanced
in what the scripture says. And that's why Peter
was coming and he's saying to the church, he's
saying, listen, you need to understand something.
You, the end of all things is at hand. Well,
what Jesus said, listen, darkness is going to
go stronger and stronger and stronger until the
day of the Lord. Well then. He chose you to live
in this generation. So how do I live in the generation
still believing in the promises of God for me
and my generation and my children's generation,
my children's children? What do I have to do
to keep drinking, to not drink the elixir, if
I will, the elixir of the world and actually
operate as a light? I have to be sober -minded.
And I have to be what? self -controlled. Because
you can run around in your prayer time with your
hair on fire emotionally, and because you're
not standing on the rock, you're just saying
words that are sponsored from emotions that are
not coming from the Spirit of God. And I'm not
talking about your prayer being... passionate
or fervent, because the Bible's gonna talk about
the fervent, earnest prayer. Listen, I love how
some of these guys pray. I want them to be fervent,
but the issue is, are they fervent from the balance
of knowing God and their trust in him, or has
Fox News moved them to be passionate about, oh
God, get me out now! Come on. Self -controlled.
It's one of the fruits of the Spirit. Sober -minded
and self -controlled. Meaning what? I'm not allowing
my emotions. But let's put it this way. We can
all see the error of that. But what happens when
you're going through a test? What happens when
you're going through a test physically? Let's
just take it that way. Or you're dealing with
something with your child. Or you're dealing
with a marriage. I mean, I don't want to be too
prophetic here, but let's just focus on those
three. Physical, children, marriage. Let's just
focus on that. If I'm having some level of suffering
or some level... of conflict or some level of
my prayers seem to not being answered in the
time that I want them to. Where I think, who
pushes me in my thinking and being self -controlled
in my emotions determine the level of breakthrough
that I stay anchored. Right? Because it can push
me to get... It's not that I don't need to be
stirred, but I can be stirred from my emotions
that are not self -controlled. I can be stirred
from a place of frustration or anger. I can be
stirred from all types of things. Maybe even
from the fact of, I feel like I've slighted and
God didn't hear me. All of those things can push
me off being what? Sober thinking. Sober thinking
means I must line out who God is, that he doesn't
change. Do you know that most of my prayer life,
when it's successful, comes back to the fact
that I'm anchoring myself in sobriety before
I move to the throne. I have to, I speak to my
soul. I speak to the, because there's rarely
a time, and I'm saying this carefully, there's
rarely a time that I go to prayer on every morning
or night that something isn't upside down in
my world. Some family, some death, some sickness,
some river, some person, okay, some pastor. It
doesn't matter what it is. Rarely. Rarely is
there an issue that I don't have to deal with
something that's sideways. Most of the time when
I go to the Lord, it's like, Lord, everything
is awesome. Not one thing has fallen, not one
request. Everything in my life is incredible.
I don't remember that. From the natural side.
The spiritual side means what? I start laying.
the foundation of truth around myself to be able
to now pray in the confidence of being sober
-minded, still passionate, and self -controlled.
Meaning what? I'm not gonna allow that river
bank to dominate me today. I'm not gonna allow
the fact that I gotta write X amount of thousands
of dollars in a couple of years. I'm not gonna
let that steer my whole prayer time. I'm gonna
mention it, but it has a boundary. Come on. I'm
not going to take that cancer from this person
and let that be the only thing I pray for. I'm
not going to take that loss. I'm not going to
take that issue. I will center myself. Okay,
God, who are you? You are this from your word.
You are faithful. You are just. You are kind.
You are loving. You're the same yesterday, today,
and forever. You have not rejected me. I am love.
I set the boundary stones of my framework. Why?
I begin to bring soberness. Soberness does not
mean kill joy. Contrary to what every drunk says.
Soberness actually allows me to experience the
joy and the relationship of God in its purity.
And sober -minded just simply means I'm now...
touching base and I am now anchoring myself in
who God really is and I now begin to build myself
up not without self -control but in self -control
of the joy of the Lord and from that place then
I can begin to pray with assurance because I
begin to remind myself that faith is what pleases
God and I can even get fervent and Earnestly
pray in that spot, not being carried away by
emotions either way. You doing all right? So
let's keep this going a little bit. That word
earnestly, and this is where I wanna, Jenny,
wherever you're at, sweetheart. Thank you. This
word earnestly is incredible in the scriptures.
The New King James, if you're reading the New
King Jimmy version, it will use the word fervently.
Above all, keep loving one another fervently.
ESV says earnestly. There are two verses that
use this word earnest because the Greek word
is only used in three places. First Peter four,
this verse we're quoting, four, eight, and then
two others. Jesus used it. Notice what it says
in Luke 22, 44. And being in agony, Jesus prayed
more earnestly. and sweat became like great drops
of blood falling to the ground. Now, why is that
important? Because first of all, it tells us
that Jesus actually had prayer. Everything he
did was perfect. Everything he did was in obedience
to the Father, that his prayer moved into stages
and places where he prayed more earnestly. Now
the key of earnestly is this. The root word of
earnestly means to stretch something out. So
think about this. Acts 12 verse 5. We looked
at 1 Peter 4, 8. Second one, Luke 22, 44. This
third one. And so Peter was kept in prison. But
earnest prayer for him was made to God by the
church. Now, I don't have time to, this verse
is a whole message in itself. Prior, you have
to understand something. Acts chapter two, the
church was birthed. Acts chapter five and six,
it started to. find all of its ways into the
Jewish people, so much so that there was conflict
between, and that's how Stephen died as the first
martyr in persecution, over church -related issues.
In the church, the first death was over church
-related issues. Then we go to Acts chapter 10,
or Acts chapter 8. Philip takes the gospel to
Samaria. So right now what we see, Acts chapter
two, Jerusalem. Then five and six, Judea. Then
chapter eight, Samaria. And then when we get
to chapter 10 of Acts, we have Cornelius who
represents the rest of the world. He's an Italian.
army officer that the angel of the Lord comes
to. And the gospel now is beginning to fulfill
everything that Jesus told the disciples that
they would do. I will send power and you will
be my witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
and to the uttermost parts of the earth. That
is still building at Acts 10. When we get to
Acts 12, persecution started with Stephen in
Acts 7. Persecution has been happening. In Acts
12, we have a throwaway line that Herod reached
out and killed James. Now, who was James? I misquoted
it the first service. James, there was two James.
Well, actually, it was three, but the two big
ones was this. James, the cousin, and James,
the older stepbrother. It wasn't the stepbrother.
That's the one that we believe the book of James
and was the head of the church of Jerusalem in
Acts 15. This James was who? James, the cousin
that went with Jesus everywhere they went. The
three that Jesus would go with, James, Peter,
and John. And when James was taken and beheaded,
It says that Herod, seeing that it pleased the
Jews, arrested Peter also. Now what we don't
see in the scriptures is we see no reference
to the church praying for James. It's almost
like they had gotten used to persecution and
they were doing what? You ready what they were
doing? They were looking for the return of the
Lord. And what did they do? They took their eyes
off their now. They took their eyes off where
their feet were standing. And all of a sudden,
on their watch, one of their apostles got sacrificed
because they were looking beyond. Soon as that
happened, what did the church do? It switched
position. And it said, and listen, here's the
word, an earnest. Prayer was made for Peter.
What's that earnest again? That word earnest
at the root means to stretch out. It's a word
that Jesus used so many times. Let me give you
a few scriptures. It's used in Matthew 8 when
the leper came up to Jesus and Jesus stretched
out his hand. and touched the leper, and he was
made whole. It was used in Matthew 12, where
Jesus spoke to the man with a withered hand,
and he said, he said, I know if you're willing,
you can make, you can heal me. He says, I am
willing. Stretch out your hand. That's the word
earnest. It's the word, the root word, teneo.
What was he saying? He didn't say. Now, in some
cases, Jesus healed them without any response
of their own. But in other cases, he did what?
He required partnership. Notice Jesus didn't
say to the man with the withered hand, just try,
buddy. Just try to, no, no, no. His command was
stretch out your hand. Meaning what? Lengthen
it out. It's the same word that was used in the
garden. And Jesus. more earnestly prayed, meaning
what? He got stretched out to the max. You see,
he was stretched out by the Romans gonna whip
him, and he was stretched out by the cross. But
before he was ever stretched out in the physical,
he was stretched out in the spiritual. And he
laid out in fullness, pulling on heaven, actually
contending in earnestness and fervency. The same
word that's saying here that you would what?
Fervently love one another or earnestly love
one another is the place where you would actually
lay and stretch out for something to receive
it or to bring it near to yourself. You had to
be what? All in. You say, well, what are you
getting to? I'm getting to the next verse in
Acts chapter 12. Where the apostle Paul. I don't
think it's 12. I misquoted that. I apologize.
In the book of Acts. Where Paul. Is now writing
about his journey. On his way to Rome. He's been.
He left Acts chapter 19 and 20, told the elders
he'd never see them again. And between 20 and
24, he begins all of his journey to try to get
to make his appeal to Caesar and to those that
he must go to Jerusalem and stand before those
in power. And what happens? Because the ship
captain refused to do what? To heed his advice.
They got caught in a great storm. The Bible says,
and you should read it. It's amazing. It says
that for 14 days and for 14 nights, they drifted
not seeing sky or land. That means they were
in such a precarious thing. When you're on the
sea and you can't see the sky or any land and
have no bearings of where you're at, you are
in trouble. It says that all the people on board,
they had done everything. They had given up their
will to live. They all were condemned of life.
And then what does the account say? Paul gathered
them together. And I love this as a senior pastor.
His first words to them were, brethren, you should
have listened to me. It's recorded in the scripture.
I love it. But this night, the God in whom I
served sent his angel and he stood with me. And
it shall be exactly as he has said, that he is
preserving all people on this ship. And I'm paraphrasing
a little bit, but there was 276. How did that
happen? How did the angel? come in outside of
man's ability in Peter's life. Remember, he was
chained in the inner prison to four guards, having
chains all on Peter, four of them, inside the
gates. Outside the gates, there were guards.
Outside of the cell, then out the door, there
were gates and guards again. There were three.
Sets of guards and gates and the Lord through
what? The church in Acts 12, earnest prayer was
made. Earnest prayer did what? It not rooted
in fear, not rooted in emotions run amok, not
rooted in rejection because they missed their
moment with James, but strengthening themselves
in who God says they were, changed the course
and did what? earnest prayers, the church stretched
out. What happened? God sent an angel and Peter
thought he was in a dream as he walked out of
those chains, walked out of the gates and walked
out of the guard. What happened in Paul's life?
14 days. 275 men despaired of life. 275 men that
served other deities and other gods. 275 men
that had wrong values, wrong mindsets, wrong
hearts that were on their way to destruction
and hell. Somebody, Paul, staying rooted and
sober -minded and staying in self -control, stretched
himself out earnestly on the altar of heaven
and began to ask that God would intervene. And
what did God do? After 14 days of no food, 14
days of no drink, 14 days of no strength, Paul
stood by the Spirit and said, you take a little
grain before you drive it off because what I've
asked for has been granted and I've asked for
276 lives. What happens when we begin to be sober
-minded, self -controlled, and love people? more
than ourselves is that all of a sudden the intervention
of heaven begins to break in. We see it with
the church with Peter's life and we see it with
the church in Paul's life, not a church in the
world, in Paul's life, in circumstances, they
stretched out and in earnesty, they laid hold
of being all in and love Paul, love God and love
people more than himself. As I'm closing this
morning. Isn't that what God wants of all of
us? Hey, Peter. You know why Peter wrote that?
Because Peter was the recipient of earnest prayer.
1 Peter 4 .8 came right from the journey. of
what he experienced through earnest prayer and
the love of people for the will of God and to
be pleasing to God more than just themselves,
he experienced breakthrough. That's what God
is asking for you and I. In these final moments,
would you just maybe bow your head and close
your eyes for a moment? Why don't we just wait
on the Lord just a little bit. You need to ask
yourself, Holy Spirit, have I been intoxicated
by the elixir of the world? Is my prayer life,
the kind of prayers I'm praying, is it being
motivated because I'm sober and thinking about
who you are, Father? Or is my prayer life sponsored
by the elixir of fear, anxiety, frustration,
irritation, disappointment. Who's moving me?
Are my prayers being heard or am I just satisfied
with the fact that I prayed them and I was emotionally
stood? stirred. Father, I'm asking now this morning
that you would begin to deal with us, your church.
And God, you would make us a people. There'd
be a shift, Lord, in our thinking that we would
truly embrace what it means to be sober minded
of the spirit. Lord, that doesn't mean not full
of joy. That means both full of joy and full
of faith, but sober in how we think of you, sober
in how we respond to you, sober in understanding
that we can be rooted and grounded in love and
in truth. And Lord, letting our fervency be in
the fact that we spoke from truth and the platform
of truth, not motivated by any outside force.
And I'm asking that you would separate that this
morning. Like wheat from chaff, that the wind
of your spirit would begin to blow through this
house even now. Lord, there be a blowing out
of that which is not the fullness of your truth
and your word. We would not be people of gospel
only or New Testament only. We would be people
that would embrace the fullness of your word
and that we would see what's in front of us and
learn and hear as well as calling on the promises
and living by faith even for the things that
are to come. Make us people that are balanced
and whole. And Lord, full of faith that when
we pray, we expect answers. Why? Because our
prayers are not done without being under control.
Our spirit controls our soul. Our spirit, your
spirit, the Holy Spirit, keeps in line our soul.
Because we pray from faith, we pray from truth,
and we pray from a platform of love. If you're
here this morning and you don't know the Lord
Jesus Christ, you've heard me preach this morning
for the last 40 minutes, and you go, I've never
asked Christ into my heart. If that's you this
morning, I'm talking to you. Or maybe you've
stepped away from the Lord. Maybe you've not
been able to outrun his presence, you've not
been able to outrun the thought of him there,
but you know you've not, walked and you've deviated
from where you first met him and fell in love
with him. Whether you're here in a place of backslidden
moment, we would call that you've backed off
of that first love. Or you're here and you've
never given your life to Christ. Jesus offers
you, not only does he offer you his life, but
he offers you his fellowship, his love, his grace,
and the willingness to partner with him that
Christ will be formed in you. If that's you this
morning and you can answer, hey, you know what?
I wanna make Christ my one true king. Or you're
here today and you're saying, I have backslidden
and I gotta, I realize I can't just do this on
my own. My thinking, my understanding. It's an
issue. I need the Lord to bring me to a reset.
Help me repent and begin to live fresh again.
If anyone is here with that, would you be so
bold? In any of those categories or in between,
just lift your hand. I could send somebody back
to you and pray with you. But you got to be bold
enough to say, that's me. I know who I am. Is
there anyone else? Is there anyone else? You
just gotta lift your hand up before the Lord
and say, that's me. I'm gonna come back. I wanna
bring my life under the direction of the Holy
Spirit. I'm gonna bring my life under the counsel.
I'm asking for your forgiveness, Lord. I'm asking
for your grace. Change me. Give me a heart to
serve you, to love you. Awesome. Just gonna look
just a little longer. All right. Thank you for
those that said yes to that. To the rest of us,
would you just be willing to stand now? Tiffany's
coming to dismiss us. I wanna pray this prayer
inside of, that would happen inside of us. Father,
Let this message burn in our hearts. Lord, let
the word of the Lord come and be real to us.
Lord, let us look at our feet. Lord, not being
enamored with where we are, but Lord, looking
to what you're trying to shape in us right now.
What are the circumstances we are going through?
Lord, that we would not put our affections to
get out of it. But we would say, let Christ be
formed in me in this now moment. In this now
place. I speak that and I pray that and I ask
for the grace of God to come upon every heart
and mind. Bless them in Jesus Christ. Holy name.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to this
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