WEBVTT 00:00:02.250 --> 00:00:05.250 Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We 00:00:05.250 --> 00:00:07.669 want to thank you for joining us today, and we 00:00:07.669 --> 00:00:10.169 hope you find today's sermon impacting as you 00:00:10.169 --> 00:00:12.689 listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk. 00:00:12.949 --> 00:00:15.929 To find service times and watch messages online, 00:00:16.210 --> 00:00:20.109 see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now, 00:00:20.129 --> 00:00:26.289 enjoy this week's message. You know, first service, 00:00:26.390 --> 00:00:30.070 I didn't get to any of my notes, so we kind of 00:00:30.070 --> 00:00:33.530 just... just kind of felt led of the Holy Spirit. 00:00:33.630 --> 00:00:36.590 And we're talking about a series. We're teaching 00:00:36.590 --> 00:00:39.450 a series, kind of we've jumped in. It's called 00:00:39.450 --> 00:00:45.229 Jesus and the Journey to Pentecost. Jesus and 00:00:45.229 --> 00:00:48.030 the Journey to Pentecost. Now, I need you to 00:00:48.030 --> 00:00:52.979 understand the key. phrase of that is the journey. 00:00:53.399 --> 00:00:58.060 And for me, I walk slow, so I'm not saying that 00:00:58.060 --> 00:01:01.200 you think slow, but I'm kind of preaching this. 00:01:01.259 --> 00:01:03.840 I kind of felt like the Lord spoke to me that 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:08.040 the summer is going to be, what he's asking me 00:01:08.040 --> 00:01:12.420 to teach on is the fundamental process of getting 00:01:12.420 --> 00:01:15.680 the church to move forward. from the very things 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.680 that God established in the Old Testament and 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:22.500 embracing how Jesus led the church and led the 00:01:22.500 --> 00:01:25.200 building of his church into the understanding 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:28.120 of now what we would represent the Pentecost 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:31.859 celebration and moving forward. And if you've 00:01:31.859 --> 00:01:34.420 been with us here for any amount of time in the 00:01:34.420 --> 00:01:36.620 last few weeks or the last five, six weeks, you've 00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:39.980 heard me from our communion messages all the 00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:43.790 way through kind of... diving deep and illustrating 00:01:43.790 --> 00:01:47.909 the point that God does what God can only do 00:01:47.909 --> 00:01:51.569 for us, but that he's very specific about he 00:01:51.569 --> 00:01:54.750 does things that only God can do, but then he 00:01:54.750 --> 00:01:57.430 invites us to do the things to partner with him 00:01:57.430 --> 00:02:01.010 so that we do it together. And that's a key. 00:02:01.109 --> 00:02:03.450 And we started that understanding where we would 00:02:03.450 --> 00:02:06.549 see it in Passover. Passover became that place 00:02:06.549 --> 00:02:08.689 that represents the cross, that represents our 00:02:08.689 --> 00:02:11.669 communion table. It's what? Blood on the doorpost 00:02:11.669 --> 00:02:15.150 of our heart, the lamb slain, the provided sacrifice 00:02:15.150 --> 00:02:18.689 that only God could do. And then what? The unleavened 00:02:18.689 --> 00:02:21.270 bread portion is what? Clean out your house of 00:02:21.270 --> 00:02:24.270 all the leaven. That is the partnership he established 00:02:24.270 --> 00:02:27.090 right from the beginning that we're to operate 00:02:27.090 --> 00:02:30.949 in that same understanding. That God expects 00:02:30.949 --> 00:02:36.810 his people to participate in knowing him. It's 00:02:36.810 --> 00:02:44.270 not just about only the salvific. Your name written 00:02:44.270 --> 00:02:46.770 in the book of life. That is huge and that is 00:02:46.770 --> 00:02:49.389 important. And Jesus is the door to salvation. 00:02:49.629 --> 00:02:53.849 But he's also the door to fellowship. You can 00:02:53.849 --> 00:02:56.150 say amen on that. It's okay. I didn't think we 00:02:56.150 --> 00:02:57.830 were a Baptist congregation. You alright this 00:02:57.830 --> 00:03:00.669 morning? Come on now. Listen, I was raised Mennonite 00:03:00.669 --> 00:03:02.810 where nobody talked back. I'm telling you right 00:03:02.810 --> 00:03:05.849 now, this is not a Mennonite congregation, okay? 00:03:06.490 --> 00:03:09.189 Because you can actually say amen, hallelujah, 00:03:09.189 --> 00:03:12.449 praise the Lord. I saw no one ever lift their 00:03:12.449 --> 00:03:14.789 hands except when they were in a church business 00:03:14.789 --> 00:03:16.889 meeting. And I'm telling you right now, this 00:03:16.889 --> 00:03:19.229 is not a business meeting. This is about honoring 00:03:19.229 --> 00:03:22.169 Jesus, amen? All right, there you go. You're 00:03:22.169 --> 00:03:27.020 getting it a little bit. What we want to look 00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:32.199 at here is as Jesus is, the genius of Jesus is 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:34.819 this. Not only is he the, he's the son of God. 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:37.620 Obviously he's the living word of God. He's the 00:03:37.620 --> 00:03:42.840 God man. But the genius is he was able as master 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:45.340 teacher and preacher to bring some of the most 00:03:45.340 --> 00:03:48.960 simple illustrations and take simple natural 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:52.680 things and bring us into spiritual understanding. 00:03:54.030 --> 00:03:58.050 And Jesus is revealing the Father's heart to 00:03:58.050 --> 00:04:02.110 give us an understanding of a new framework in 00:04:02.110 --> 00:04:05.150 the things that he's trying to reveal. Now here's 00:04:05.150 --> 00:04:09.069 the first thing. In order to grow in a new grid 00:04:09.069 --> 00:04:12.770 and perspective of processing and motivation 00:04:12.770 --> 00:04:16.350 from the heart of the Father and his love flowing 00:04:16.350 --> 00:04:20.009 from within us, we have to actually be willing 00:04:20.009 --> 00:04:23.069 to take a look at some things that's actually 00:04:23.069 --> 00:04:27.209 in us. What do I mean by that? If I want to get 00:04:27.209 --> 00:04:30.930 the heart of the Father inside of me, then I 00:04:30.930 --> 00:04:34.269 have to actually say what part of my life and 00:04:34.269 --> 00:04:37.529 my heart is not consistent with the Father's 00:04:37.529 --> 00:04:41.410 life and heart. It means I have to be open to 00:04:41.410 --> 00:04:45.629 the inspection of not just the light of Christ, 00:04:45.850 --> 00:04:50.449 but the light of Christ shining in me to see 00:04:50.449 --> 00:04:55.449 where are areas that I have walled off and like 00:04:55.449 --> 00:05:00.689 to be me rather than open to change. Have you 00:05:00.689 --> 00:05:04.029 noticed that there's some people that just love 00:05:04.029 --> 00:05:07.149 change. Now, you know, my wife is one of them 00:05:07.149 --> 00:05:10.949 that if I would have just said, Do whatever you 00:05:10.949 --> 00:05:13.790 want with the house. I don't care if I was just 00:05:13.790 --> 00:05:15.550 one of those husbands. I'm not saying that you're 00:05:15.550 --> 00:05:17.949 that way. But if I was one of those husbands 00:05:17.949 --> 00:05:20.129 that didn't even care, I would be stubbing my 00:05:20.129 --> 00:05:23.529 toe constantly because she would rearrange the 00:05:23.529 --> 00:05:26.970 furniture. I like to know and have paths clear. 00:05:27.050 --> 00:05:29.329 That means I cannot turn on the lights. Why? 00:05:29.430 --> 00:05:33.240 Because saving money. And walking in the dark 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:35.579 is more important than rearranged furniture. 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:38.860 So I like familiar things. And so there's part 00:05:38.860 --> 00:05:41.600 of me that says, Jenny, just leave the couches 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:43.740 where they are. Just leave the coffee table. 00:05:43.879 --> 00:05:47.220 And so I'm kind of a creature of habit. I don't 00:05:47.220 --> 00:05:51.560 like change. She likes change. That's why opposites 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:56.660 attract. I'm like, it was good. It worked. It 00:05:56.660 --> 00:06:02.019 works now. It'll work forever. But that doesn't 00:06:02.019 --> 00:06:06.060 work in our heart. You might like that in your 00:06:06.060 --> 00:06:10.540 natural world. But in your spiritual world, it 00:06:10.540 --> 00:06:13.680 should never be that way. Meaning that once you 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:15.980 invite the Holy Spirit in, I've got news for 00:06:15.980 --> 00:06:21.180 you. He's like my wife. Meaning what? He is constantly 00:06:21.180 --> 00:06:27.199 at change. He's constantly moving things, stirring 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:31.509 things, revealing things. for the point of what? 00:06:31.629 --> 00:06:35.509 Getting me to give more ground to him. Can I 00:06:35.509 --> 00:06:39.970 get an amen? He loves the fact that I've yielded 00:06:39.970 --> 00:06:42.610 myself, but he took me up on that promise a long 00:06:42.610 --> 00:06:44.990 time ago. He's taking you up on that promise 00:06:44.990 --> 00:06:47.610 a long time ago. When you say yes to the Lord, 00:06:47.730 --> 00:06:51.350 you're saying to Jesus, come in and rearrange 00:06:51.350 --> 00:06:56.170 things and make my home your home. Mi casa, you 00:06:56.170 --> 00:07:01.990 casa, change the couch. Move the table. Move 00:07:01.990 --> 00:07:06.509 the furniture. Why? I'm going to bring my presence 00:07:06.509 --> 00:07:09.769 and I'm going to reveal to you where your heart 00:07:09.769 --> 00:07:13.550 is not in alignment with mine. And my job is 00:07:13.550 --> 00:07:18.389 what? My job is to change them. See, I could 00:07:18.389 --> 00:07:20.750 quote the scripture. What does he say? I, the 00:07:20.750 --> 00:07:24.990 Lord, changeth not. You're not the Lord. You 00:07:24.990 --> 00:07:29.509 don't get to say that. Right? So that's usually 00:07:29.509 --> 00:07:32.649 the first lesson in following the Spirit of God 00:07:32.649 --> 00:07:36.009 is that we have to take that honestly. You are 00:07:36.009 --> 00:07:41.509 not God. Thou must change us often. In essence, 00:07:41.589 --> 00:07:44.889 if the Lord changes not, then he does what? He 00:07:44.889 --> 00:07:50.350 expects us to change. And that's the genius of 00:07:50.350 --> 00:07:54.250 Jesus. It's the genius of God hiding things. 00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:59.370 in the Old Testament to show us that he is all 00:07:59.370 --> 00:08:04.449 along wanting a people that would honor him for 00:08:04.449 --> 00:08:08.009 who he is, but then in the midst of honoring 00:08:08.009 --> 00:08:12.250 him for who he is, not just sit back and have 00:08:12.250 --> 00:08:15.990 a distant relationship, but in honoring who he 00:08:15.990 --> 00:08:20.240 is, come close and move into partnership. That's 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:22.899 the whole point of what God wanted to reveal 00:08:22.899 --> 00:08:25.600 in the Old Testament. And as we get into the 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:30.540 New Testament, it is a big deal because your 00:08:30.540 --> 00:08:34.860 New Testament understanding is a better covenant. 00:08:35.179 --> 00:08:38.220 In fact, it's the whole book of Hebrews. If you 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:42.480 could just take one phrase and describe the whole 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:45.639 book of Hebrews from Hebrews 1 all the way through, 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:50.769 you would see The theme would be, it's a better 00:08:50.769 --> 00:08:53.549 covenant. In fact, it's right in the middle of 00:08:53.549 --> 00:08:56.269 Hebrews that says, listen, if you were to pay 00:08:56.269 --> 00:08:58.889 attention to the covenant, the old covenant in 00:08:58.889 --> 00:09:02.230 which angels were mediators of the covenant, 00:09:02.350 --> 00:09:06.029 how much more should you now pay attention to 00:09:06.029 --> 00:09:09.409 the new covenant that is now confirmed and ratified 00:09:09.409 --> 00:09:12.570 by the blood of Jesus Christ and by the giving 00:09:12.570 --> 00:09:16.519 of the Holy Spirit? Which means what? You're 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:22.639 supposed to be in and living in a better covenant, 00:09:22.740 --> 00:09:26.039 which means what? If it's better, it means there's 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:30.840 more participation. Right? The whole goal of 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:33.480 moving you out of the old into the new was what? 00:09:33.620 --> 00:09:37.299 No longer is there a separation and middlemen 00:09:37.299 --> 00:09:41.460 in between you and worshiping God. Now that middleman 00:09:41.460 --> 00:09:45.039 is cut out and God wants you to be the one that 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:49.600 comes in and officiates with him. Well, that's 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:54.179 a big deal. It's a big deal because if we understand 00:09:54.179 --> 00:10:00.090 what the Lord is wanting from us, we're going 00:10:00.090 --> 00:10:04.490 to have to begin to eliminate things that have 00:10:04.490 --> 00:10:09.909 kept us in an Old Testament mindset. You might 00:10:09.909 --> 00:10:12.330 say for those, especially here in second service, 00:10:12.429 --> 00:10:16.950 where I realize we have both seasoned folks that 00:10:16.950 --> 00:10:19.250 are in the Lord and fairly new folks that are 00:10:19.250 --> 00:10:22.250 in Christ. What do I mean by an Old Testament 00:10:22.250 --> 00:10:25.600 mindset? Well, an Old Testament mindset is this. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:27.480 It's not that we shouldn't know what's in the 00:10:27.480 --> 00:10:30.679 Old Testament. Of course, I believe that we should 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:33.080 know everything that's in the scripture. And 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:35.879 that's the joy of the journey of getting to know 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:39.299 the whole Bible and the God who wrote the whole 00:10:39.299 --> 00:10:41.399 Bible. We don't just have a New Testament now. 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:45.269 We have a whole Bible. But the Old Testament 00:10:45.269 --> 00:10:47.909 becomes the blueprint for which the New Testament 00:10:47.909 --> 00:10:50.509 becomes the building of which we are. And so 00:10:50.509 --> 00:10:53.110 as we go back into the blueprint, we gotta be 00:10:53.110 --> 00:10:56.230 careful that we don't just stay in blueprints 00:10:56.230 --> 00:11:01.370 only. That we actually have to shift and move 00:11:01.370 --> 00:11:04.629 from blueprint to actually building. And building 00:11:04.629 --> 00:11:08.850 means what? Has anybody ever, have you built 00:11:08.850 --> 00:11:12.750 anything where you had to borrow money to build 00:11:12.750 --> 00:11:17.009 it? Anybody ever done that? From houses to land 00:11:17.009 --> 00:11:22.370 or anything? What happens when you do that? When 00:11:22.370 --> 00:11:24.610 you sign on the line, Chris, this is what happened 00:11:24.610 --> 00:11:28.710 for me. Jenny and I, over the years, we had bought 00:11:28.710 --> 00:11:31.970 and sold multiple places, but when we decided 00:11:31.970 --> 00:11:34.870 to build our home where we were believing God, 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:39.919 planted us and set us. When I signed that paperwork 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:43.519 on a construction loan, when the house wasn't 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:46.320 done, because we had sold everything we had, 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:48.440 we had invested in the land and we'd started 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:51.000 the building process, but then we needed to go 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:53.419 get a building loan to finish the rest of it. 00:11:53.460 --> 00:11:56.990 When I signed that building loan document, it 00:11:56.990 --> 00:12:01.450 wasn't something that I had now of a resource 00:12:01.450 --> 00:12:04.190 that I could give. I now had no more resource 00:12:04.190 --> 00:12:08.730 to give. You're in that, and the reason I'm giving 00:12:08.730 --> 00:12:11.429 this analogy is because it fits. When you get 00:12:11.429 --> 00:12:14.950 into the place where you have to actually begin 00:12:14.950 --> 00:12:19.629 to pull on something that you don't have and 00:12:19.629 --> 00:12:24.250 now build with what you don't have in your resources 00:12:24.250 --> 00:12:31.720 and build, with borrowed finances, all of a sudden, 00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:40.740 every area of weakness, every area of fear, every 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:48.000 area of timeline, you realize you better get 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:52.539 this done and you've never been that way before. 00:12:53.480 --> 00:12:55.960 That doesn't stop you from building. Fact is, 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:58.840 it's supposed to actually put a little fire under 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:02.879 you and say, come on, Huckleberry, you can't 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:05.080 relax like you were building before when you 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:08.399 had the resources. Now you had to borrow resources 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:11.639 because you're on borrowed time. There are payments 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:15.700 coming due. You better get building. If there's 00:13:15.700 --> 00:13:19.000 anything I could convey to you this morning is 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:21.919 that's what, not that God is saying you owe me, 00:13:22.019 --> 00:13:25.519 of course not, but you are now in a moment where 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:28.879 you're actually, what has been provided from 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:31.820 you from God by the Holy Spirit is meant to come 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:34.299 into your life so that you can do what? You can 00:13:34.299 --> 00:13:38.639 begin to build. You don't have the luxury anymore 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:41.519 in the New Testament saying, well, I just gotta 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:45.879 wait and see what God's going to do. You actually 00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:48.759 have some mandates that you're called not to 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:55.179 wait. The upper room, folks, that was 2 ,000 00:13:55.179 --> 00:13:57.899 years ago. If you're still waiting in the upper 00:13:57.899 --> 00:14:02.460 room, it's time to build. Why? Because he brought 00:14:02.460 --> 00:14:06.340 something of a tool and an agency for you to 00:14:06.340 --> 00:14:09.179 begin to operate with the borrowed supply of 00:14:09.179 --> 00:14:12.299 heaven. Why? Because he's got a work and a commission 00:14:12.299 --> 00:14:16.139 to do. Are you there? Now, listen, as we go through 00:14:16.139 --> 00:14:20.299 this journey, like I said, Jesus and the journey 00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:23.440 from Passover to Pentecost, I want to try to 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:26.720 give you some things along the way. As we look 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:31.059 what Jesus did with his disciples as he fulfilled 00:14:31.059 --> 00:14:34.259 scriptures all along the way in his ministry 00:14:34.259 --> 00:14:37.679 in the three and a half years, Jesus did not 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:41.629 just talk about the Father. But he talked about 00:14:41.629 --> 00:14:43.889 the Holy Spirit as much as he talked about the 00:14:43.889 --> 00:14:47.289 Father. And here's what we find out. Here's what 00:14:47.289 --> 00:14:50.970 we find. We find that in this area, and if I 00:14:50.970 --> 00:14:53.470 can just, I'm gonna speak very frank to you this 00:14:53.470 --> 00:14:56.629 morning. I'm gonna draw some things out of my 00:14:56.629 --> 00:14:59.250 own life. I felt like the Lord really highlighted 00:14:59.250 --> 00:15:07.110 this. Let me just start with my journey. When 00:15:07.110 --> 00:15:09.960 we started this church, When the Lord asked us 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:14.299 to pioneer this church 25 plus years ago, we'll 00:15:14.299 --> 00:15:16.960 celebrate 25 years this September, but we got 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:19.759 sent out in July. And so actually this weekend 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:23.059 was literally 25 years ago was the weekend we 00:15:23.059 --> 00:15:29.059 got sent out in 2001 to pioneer church. I had 00:15:29.059 --> 00:15:33.840 lots of things on my mind that I wanted to do. 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:39.440 And prior to this weekend, 25 years ago, In about 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:42.279 two months prior to that, the Lord had spoken 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:45.320 to me that he was gonna send us out and that 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:48.320 he was gonna open doors for us, but he didn't 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:53.620 tell me where. So man, I had served the church 00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:57.139 I was at, been involved in it for 18 years. I'd 00:15:57.139 --> 00:16:00.720 been on staff for eight years, met my wife there, 00:16:00.899 --> 00:16:08.039 many families. I just knew God. I can come up 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:10.840 with some places. Here's some cities and here's 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:13.600 some states that I'd like to go. If you're sending 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:17.100 me, and I'll tell you what, Harrisburg was not 00:16:17.100 --> 00:16:20.980 on the list. Okay, just so you know, because 00:16:20.980 --> 00:16:25.419 I was born and raised here. I mean, my great, 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:29.929 great grandfather was the first. pioneering bishop 00:16:29.929 --> 00:16:32.529 that came down from Sheridan, Oregon to pioneer 00:16:32.529 --> 00:16:35.210 the Harrisburg Mennonite Church. And my great, 00:16:35.269 --> 00:16:37.190 great grandfather, that was on my grandmother's 00:16:37.190 --> 00:16:39.450 side. My great, great grandfather on my grandfather's 00:16:39.450 --> 00:16:41.990 side was the first deacon. And my dad lives on 00:16:41.990 --> 00:16:45.370 his original homestead of that church. I, five 00:16:45.370 --> 00:16:49.970 plus generations of conservative Mennonite raised 00:16:49.970 --> 00:16:58.669 farm kids. And I thought, oh God, no. I, I, I, 00:16:58.669 --> 00:17:02.230 I moved seven years away. We were not seven years 00:17:02.230 --> 00:17:04.690 away. That'd be a long journey. I, for seven 00:17:04.690 --> 00:17:07.269 years, we had moved from Harrisburg to Springfield. 00:17:07.289 --> 00:17:09.509 We were pastoring after we got married the first 00:17:09.509 --> 00:17:11.829 year we lived in Harrisburg. And then we, then 00:17:11.829 --> 00:17:15.470 we bought a little home in Springfield. And I, 00:17:15.569 --> 00:17:18.250 I just, I didn't even think about Harrisburg 00:17:18.250 --> 00:17:20.730 when I wrote. cities down. I know, of course, 00:17:20.789 --> 00:17:24.769 Bend, Oregon came up. And then that was about 00:17:24.769 --> 00:17:27.390 the only place, Bend and Sisters, Oregon, that 00:17:27.390 --> 00:17:28.950 was the only two places I was thinking about 00:17:28.950 --> 00:17:31.289 going. The rest of them were in other states. 00:17:31.549 --> 00:17:34.430 I wanted either Rapid City, South Dakota, or 00:17:34.430 --> 00:17:37.289 Sioux Falls, South Dakota, because I'd gone pheasant 00:17:37.289 --> 00:17:40.769 hunting and whitetail hunting. And I loved the 00:17:40.769 --> 00:17:42.930 hunting there. There were Army, there were Air 00:17:42.930 --> 00:17:48.190 Force bases near there. They had incredible Did 00:17:48.190 --> 00:17:50.970 I say hunting? Had incredible hunting. And I 00:17:50.970 --> 00:17:53.109 just thought, man, this is the best place. And 00:17:53.109 --> 00:17:55.390 the Black Hills still have gold. I mean, hey, 00:17:55.529 --> 00:17:57.130 maybe I'll become a gold miner. I don't know. 00:17:57.210 --> 00:17:59.430 I just thought, you know, this is the place to 00:17:59.430 --> 00:18:01.589 go. Send me to South Dakota. There's no charismatic 00:18:01.589 --> 00:18:04.190 churches. There's no Pentecostal churches. We 00:18:04.190 --> 00:18:06.650 can just simply talk about the Holy Spirit. God, 00:18:06.769 --> 00:18:08.589 you could do an amazing thing among the land 00:18:08.589 --> 00:18:13.670 of Methodists and Lutherans. And I'll never forget 00:18:13.670 --> 00:18:19.099 it. About six weeks before we'd have a send -off 00:18:19.099 --> 00:18:23.259 service, the Lord spoke to me and said, I'm gonna 00:18:23.259 --> 00:18:27.099 cause you to inherit the prayers of your forefathers. 00:18:29.099 --> 00:18:33.240 And I remember that phrase. I said, Lord, I think 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:35.500 I know what you're saying here, but you're saying 00:18:35.500 --> 00:18:39.160 you're sending me local. I heard it again. I'm 00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:41.240 gonna cause you to inherit the prayers of your 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:44.599 forefathers. It was the first time That I had 00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:46.680 really connected the understanding, even though 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:49.480 we had read it in scriptures, that all prayers 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:53.599 ascend to heaven and God oversees it, right? 00:18:53.740 --> 00:18:56.779 We understand that the Bible says in other places 00:18:56.779 --> 00:18:58.960 that the word of the Lord endures forever. If 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:01.880 it's God spoken or if it's God generated, it 00:19:01.880 --> 00:19:04.660 endures forever because it's connected to him. 00:19:04.779 --> 00:19:08.599 But prayers, the Bible talks about the bowls 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:10.859 of prayers that are collected with the saints 00:19:10.859 --> 00:19:14.289 in heaven. And I hadn't actually thought this 00:19:14.289 --> 00:19:18.049 through that when those prayers are not answered, 00:19:18.150 --> 00:19:22.089 they're still alive and they're still waiting 00:19:22.089 --> 00:19:26.990 for God to send the answer. And so when the Lord 00:19:26.990 --> 00:19:30.210 spoke to me, he says, I'm going to send you to 00:19:30.210 --> 00:19:35.309 inherit the prayers of your forefathers. Something 00:19:35.309 --> 00:19:39.569 in me got really irritated and something got 00:19:39.569 --> 00:19:43.019 really happy at the same time. Not that I'm, 00:19:43.059 --> 00:19:45.900 at least I don't think I am, schizophrenic. No, 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:48.559 you are. Yes, I am. No, no. I mean, the reality 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:53.480 is inside of me, the Spirit of God knew that 00:19:53.480 --> 00:19:56.359 what he was doing was going to birth something 00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:59.400 that had always been before his throne for a 00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:01.920 hundred years, and he was going to send a person 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:04.220 that would contend for prayers that had been 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:07.539 prayed. But the soul part of me is, Lord, I don't 00:20:07.539 --> 00:20:12.059 want to go back there. And I'll tell you why 00:20:12.059 --> 00:20:16.180 I didn't want to go back there. Because the environment 00:20:16.180 --> 00:20:19.119 in which I was raised in, even though I love 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:23.559 many things that I was raised with, the environment 00:20:23.559 --> 00:20:31.039 was an environment of fear. Meaning, I had greater 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:35.960 familiarity with limitation and fear on who God 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:39.359 was than actually walking in faith and liberty 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:43.809 in who God was. Because everything in my world, 00:20:43.950 --> 00:20:47.130 everything from my parents, my grandparents, 00:20:47.589 --> 00:20:50.829 every, listen, when I grew up, this is no joke, 00:20:50.910 --> 00:20:54.430 within a 12 -mile radius, I was related to 400 00:20:54.430 --> 00:21:02.769 people. I went to a first through eighth grade 00:21:02.769 --> 00:21:06.029 schoolhouse. There were 45 kids. I was related 00:21:06.029 --> 00:21:10.150 to 38 of them. First through eighth grade. That 00:21:10.150 --> 00:21:13.029 is no joke. There was no lockers on the door. 00:21:13.089 --> 00:21:15.769 We all had cubbies. I didn't even know that people 00:21:15.769 --> 00:21:18.829 stole from one another. My upbringing was little 00:21:18.829 --> 00:21:22.829 house on the prairie, squared. The reality is 00:21:22.829 --> 00:21:26.210 I went to a church, wonderful people. It was 00:21:26.210 --> 00:21:29.529 400 people that time in Lebanon, Albany area. 00:21:29.609 --> 00:21:33.990 I didn't even know that divorce existed. I had 00:21:33.990 --> 00:21:36.930 never seen it, never heard of it. So I had a 00:21:36.930 --> 00:21:43.160 wonderful farm, conservative, that where we learned 00:21:43.160 --> 00:21:45.980 about God the Father, we learned about God the 00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:49.359 Son, but we had no idea who the Holy Spirit was. 00:21:49.500 --> 00:21:53.240 So it was Father, Son, and the Bible. Because 00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:56.680 the reality was replacement, how can I say this, 00:21:56.819 --> 00:22:01.519 instead of pursuing the Holy Spirit as co -equal, 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:04.019 even though we would say that we believed that 00:22:04.019 --> 00:22:06.660 the Holy Spirit was co -equal, we would not treat 00:22:06.660 --> 00:22:11.059 him as co -equal. And therefore, everything in 00:22:11.059 --> 00:22:15.039 my world was bound by fear. You say, well, how 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:16.859 does that happen? Because when you're living 00:22:16.859 --> 00:22:21.539 in an Old Testament understanding, you're living 00:22:21.539 --> 00:22:24.759 automatically under a covenant of limitation. 00:22:26.380 --> 00:22:30.440 Let me say that again. You'll know you're living 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:34.769 in Old Testament understanding. When even in 00:22:34.769 --> 00:22:38.349 the New Testament, you limit God, you limit his 00:22:38.349 --> 00:22:42.130 word, and you're okay with it because you don't 00:22:42.130 --> 00:22:49.630 want partnership at that level. So for me, being 00:22:49.630 --> 00:22:52.509 a young boy, being raised as a farmer's son and 00:22:52.509 --> 00:22:54.890 the only boy in the family, at least for our 00:22:54.890 --> 00:23:00.549 immediate farm, the reality is what became normal. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:07.160 We talked about God. We talked about the need 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:11.480 for salvation. My dad probably talked to me more 00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:13.880 about the rapture in those days. I had a little 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:15.859 bitty New Testament in case the Russians invaded 00:23:15.859 --> 00:23:18.559 that I could at least sneak in. How many were 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:20.680 born in the times where you tested for nuclear 00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:23.200 drills at school and you knew that the Russians 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:25.460 were coming in the 80s that they were gonna invade 00:23:25.460 --> 00:23:27.420 through nukes? I mean, that was just, if you 00:23:27.420 --> 00:23:29.380 didn't live through that time, you don't even 00:23:29.380 --> 00:23:30.859 know what I'm talking about. But if you lived 00:23:30.859 --> 00:23:33.660 through that, everything, fact is, when my mom 00:23:33.660 --> 00:23:36.059 and dad would go ferry machinery, my sister and 00:23:36.059 --> 00:23:37.519 I would be at home. They'd say, oh, don't bother, 00:23:37.619 --> 00:23:39.180 the kids will be right back. We're just going 00:23:39.180 --> 00:23:40.759 down to one field, bring some machinery back. 00:23:40.900 --> 00:23:42.839 All of a sudden, my sister and I would look around 00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:44.559 and nobody was there. We'd run through the house, 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:47.400 run out to the barn, call for mom and dad, go 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:49.200 back to the middle of the living room, get down 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:52.299 on our knees and repent, say, God, send the rapture 00:23:52.299 --> 00:23:56.119 again. I mean, it was just drilled into us that 00:23:56.119 --> 00:23:59.640 if we were left alone, it was going to be hell 00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:04.559 to pay, right? Now, I'm not negating the catching 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:07.420 away of God's people. I'm just telling you, we 00:24:07.420 --> 00:24:10.259 talked a lot about Christian ideals, but everything 00:24:10.259 --> 00:24:15.029 was drenched in fear. Fear of how I would respond 00:24:15.029 --> 00:24:18.069 to God. Fear of how God would see me. And here's, 00:24:18.069 --> 00:24:20.690 if you've been raised in that kind of, in conservative, 00:24:20.789 --> 00:24:22.349 doesn't have to be Mennonite, but whether it's 00:24:22.349 --> 00:24:26.490 Nazarene or whether it's Baptist or whether it's, 00:24:26.490 --> 00:24:29.349 depending on the nature of, there's sliding scales 00:24:29.349 --> 00:24:32.890 of all denominations. Whatever it was, I realized 00:24:32.890 --> 00:24:37.109 for me, when I look back on my life, here was 00:24:37.109 --> 00:24:39.930 the number one thing that was passed on to me. 00:24:40.589 --> 00:24:48.000 It was fear. Fear of the future. Fear of failure. 00:24:49.140 --> 00:24:52.079 Fear of, this is the big one, fear of being deceived. 00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:58.160 Fear of not doing it right. Fear of not being 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:02.680 humiliated. And fear of looking foolish in the 00:25:02.680 --> 00:25:11.000 eyes of others. Every part of my psyche was imparted 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:15.000 with fear. Now, I look back now and I go, man, 00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:20.920 I lived a pretty miserable existence. But that's 00:25:20.920 --> 00:25:24.480 all I knew because everyone around me had the 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:27.740 very same thing. You didn't branch out into new 00:25:27.740 --> 00:25:31.720 things. You only became good and perfectionist 00:25:31.720 --> 00:25:34.319 at what you already knew that could be proven. 00:25:34.779 --> 00:25:41.160 Are you there? That is the fruit of religion. 00:25:42.700 --> 00:25:47.039 It is the fruit of recognizing that I've actually 00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:51.619 been bound to a covenant that does not want me 00:25:51.619 --> 00:25:55.380 to move into new realms of faith on the basis 00:25:55.380 --> 00:25:59.039 of what? I might do something wrong. I might 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:04.220 actually be deceived. I might, instead of a platform 00:26:04.220 --> 00:26:07.619 of love, that if I am deceived, there's correction. 00:26:07.740 --> 00:26:11.839 I expect correction and it's loving. It's not 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:15.160 about if you make a mistake, you're out of here. 00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:17.619 It's like an umpire calling balls and strikes. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:22.259 But the reality was whether that was meant to 00:26:22.259 --> 00:26:26.460 be, that's exactly what God imparted. In the 00:26:26.460 --> 00:26:30.119 culture that I lived in. And for 18 years. The 00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:33.099 thing that dominated my life. And it took me 00:26:33.099 --> 00:26:35.759 a lot longer than 18 years. But for 18 years. 00:26:36.039 --> 00:26:38.460 The thing that dominated my life. Was a healthy 00:26:38.460 --> 00:26:41.859 love for the father. A love for Jesus. But there 00:26:41.859 --> 00:26:47.119 was no example. And there was no understanding. 00:26:47.180 --> 00:26:50.759 Of how to do this thing. Of partnership in faith. 00:26:51.369 --> 00:26:55.410 Faith became a salvation issue and then doing 00:26:55.410 --> 00:27:00.509 right. That's what faith came. Did I do it right 00:27:00.509 --> 00:27:03.789 or did I do it wrong? That was the judge. And 00:27:03.789 --> 00:27:10.309 so every place I went, I was fearful. Now my 00:27:10.309 --> 00:27:13.470 folks, I didn't realize that my folks early on 00:27:13.470 --> 00:27:16.650 in their life, my dad had, this is kind of give 00:27:16.650 --> 00:27:19.099 you how rebellious my dad was. I talked. first 00:27:19.099 --> 00:27:21.420 service he was here. So I was telling stories 00:27:21.420 --> 00:27:24.339 on him in public in front of his face. So if 00:27:24.339 --> 00:27:25.640 you're saying, why are you telling stories? Because 00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:29.019 I told it right to his face right here. And my 00:27:29.019 --> 00:27:33.539 dad was a rebellious young little Mennonite. 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:38.839 And in his day, he dated a gal that was assembly 00:27:38.839 --> 00:27:45.420 of God. We're talking weasel in the hen house. 00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:50.480 Okay. And they went to a meeting while he was 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:55.140 still dating and he got filled with the Holy 00:27:55.140 --> 00:27:58.920 Spirit. She got filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:27:59.859 --> 00:28:02.299 They both started speaking in tongues. Now let 00:28:02.299 --> 00:28:07.180 me tell you how this works. I never heard that 00:28:07.180 --> 00:28:13.039 as a kid. I didn't know they were filled. I didn't 00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:15.859 know they had a spiritual gifts. I didn't know 00:28:15.859 --> 00:28:19.140 that they had tasted something that was beyond 00:28:19.140 --> 00:28:22.480 what I was raised in. Because here was the culture. 00:28:22.700 --> 00:28:27.279 The culture was, you kept that private. It was 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:29.619 so kept private that it wasn't even told to the 00:28:29.619 --> 00:28:33.559 family. My sister and I had no understanding, 00:28:34.180 --> 00:28:40.619 no model. So that when I was raised, anything 00:28:40.619 --> 00:28:44.559 that looked beyond just the expression, Now, 00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:48.480 hear me on this. Beyond the expression of singing 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:56.859 hymns without music to a pitch pipe. And we sang 00:28:56.859 --> 00:29:00.859 that way. Any form of raise your hand, any form 00:29:00.859 --> 00:29:06.039 of hallelujah or amen was frowned on. Why? Because 00:29:06.039 --> 00:29:11.160 that in the culture was considered disrespectful 00:29:11.160 --> 00:29:17.390 to God. So what covenant were we actually in? 00:29:18.670 --> 00:29:23.089 We lived in a hybrid. We lived in an understanding 00:29:23.089 --> 00:29:28.089 of Jesus was and is the son of God and died for 00:29:28.089 --> 00:29:32.029 our salvation. And by grace and faith, we can 00:29:32.029 --> 00:29:35.630 be saved. For all intents and purposes, that's 00:29:35.630 --> 00:29:38.930 where we stayed. And we didn't move on from there 00:29:38.930 --> 00:29:42.170 because to move on from there and to actually 00:29:42.170 --> 00:29:47.029 treat the Holy Spirit as co -equal as God and 00:29:47.029 --> 00:29:53.829 with God would mean I'd have to change. So what 00:29:53.829 --> 00:29:57.049 do we do? We accept the new covenant of Jesus' 00:29:57.250 --> 00:30:01.730 grace and we go back to that which is familiar 00:30:01.730 --> 00:30:07.289 and religious and limited. That doesn't mean 00:30:07.289 --> 00:30:09.930 that people didn't love Jesus. It doesn't mean 00:30:09.930 --> 00:30:11.569 that their name wasn't written in the Lamb's 00:30:11.569 --> 00:30:15.390 book of life. But it meant that they can progress 00:30:15.390 --> 00:30:21.450 no further because they refused to actually break 00:30:21.450 --> 00:30:25.509 the spirit of fear and move in partnership with 00:30:25.509 --> 00:30:28.670 the kingdom of God. Now that spirit of fear, 00:30:28.809 --> 00:30:33.269 you guys okay? That spirit of fear followed me 00:30:33.269 --> 00:30:37.789 all the way through to this church plant. All 00:30:37.789 --> 00:30:40.710 the way through. And I remember when God said, 00:30:40.809 --> 00:30:42.750 he said, I'm going to cause you to inherit the 00:30:42.750 --> 00:30:46.250 prayers of your forefathers. I knew what he was 00:30:46.250 --> 00:30:48.529 saying. And then he quoted in my spirit, I heard 00:30:48.529 --> 00:30:50.910 it as clear as he was standing in front of me 00:30:50.910 --> 00:30:53.210 talking to me. He said, and he quoted Joshua. 00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:56.759 Chapter one, verses six and following. He said, 00:30:56.839 --> 00:30:59.900 from this river to Lebanon, all the way to the 00:30:59.900 --> 00:31:02.759 great sea shall be your territory and no man 00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:04.920 shall stand against you. Now I knew he wasn't 00:31:04.920 --> 00:31:08.099 calling me Joshua. I knew that that was written 00:31:08.099 --> 00:31:11.059 for Joshua, but spiritually, where was the territory 00:31:11.059 --> 00:31:14.299 that I grew up? From the McKenzie River, Eugene, 00:31:14.579 --> 00:31:18.119 to Lebanon, to Albany, all the way to the coast, 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:20.740 that was my territory. That's why this is called 00:31:20.740 --> 00:31:23.500 the Tri -County Church. Three counties where 00:31:23.500 --> 00:31:26.440 the river converges right here. Lynn, Lane, and 00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:28.960 Benton County. That he would call me to that 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:31.720 area to do what? You know why I didn't want to 00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:37.000 go there? Fear. Because I had experienced something 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:42.859 17 years in a conservative environment. 18 years 00:31:42.859 --> 00:31:48.079 now in a more free environment that was pursuing 00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:51.079 the Holy Spirit. And the thought of coming back 00:31:51.079 --> 00:31:54.759 to this area dredged up everything inside of 00:31:54.759 --> 00:31:58.400 me that was once there. And as soon as the Lord 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:01.940 spoke that to me, I began to say to him, Lord, 00:32:02.019 --> 00:32:05.180 I don't want to go there. And I remember saying 00:32:05.180 --> 00:32:07.380 this, and I look back now and go, what a selfish 00:32:07.380 --> 00:32:11.019 prayer. But I remember saying, God, send me some 00:32:11.019 --> 00:32:13.500 place where people are nice and they like me. 00:32:15.220 --> 00:32:18.819 And it wasn't the fact that they didn't like 00:32:18.819 --> 00:32:23.180 me as a person. They didn't like what was on 00:32:23.180 --> 00:32:30.160 me and what I was bringing in his name. And the 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:31.680 Lord said, where did I tell you you're going? 00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:35.460 So there's no negotiation on this. No, there's 00:32:35.460 --> 00:32:39.180 no negotiation. I'm sending you back to the place 00:32:39.180 --> 00:32:41.920 that you were designed to be. And that's why 00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:46.420 we're here 25 years later. The fear of the people's 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:49.599 faces, the fear of knowing the resistance, the 00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:52.940 fear of knowing the religion, the fear of the 00:32:52.940 --> 00:32:56.920 idea that they're more concerned about being 00:32:56.920 --> 00:32:59.920 deceived than they are about loving God and operating 00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:04.640 in faith. Why? Because I lived it. When you think 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:07.200 about the atmosphere in this area, you think 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:09.819 about Lynn Lane and Benton County. You think 00:33:09.819 --> 00:33:12.539 about every conservative denomination, and I'm 00:33:12.539 --> 00:33:14.480 telling you there's a lot of them. What is the 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:17.880 number one thing that they hold to? We'll believe 00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:20.500 in Jesus, we'll believe in the cross, and we'll 00:33:20.500 --> 00:33:22.519 believe in the resurrection. From that point 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:28.000 on, we don't need anything else. And I'm here 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:33.099 to tell you that that's not Bible. Never written 00:33:33.099 --> 00:33:36.509 that way. The only way you can come up with that 00:33:36.509 --> 00:33:38.950 conclusion is you have to choose to have a hybrid 00:33:38.950 --> 00:33:41.730 Old Testament and New Testament model yourself. 00:33:42.890 --> 00:33:46.190 But if you truly want to actually follow Jesus 00:33:46.190 --> 00:33:49.109 in what he's building. I'm not talking about 00:33:49.109 --> 00:33:51.329 your salvation now because that salvation is 00:33:51.329 --> 00:33:54.430 of grace and who he is and he writes your name 00:33:54.430 --> 00:33:56.650 in and your name is written. But if you wanna 00:33:56.650 --> 00:33:59.630 actually partner and become a mature son and 00:33:59.630 --> 00:34:03.170 daughter and actually walk in the faith of discipleship, 00:34:03.250 --> 00:34:05.670 you're going to have to come to a conclusion 00:34:05.670 --> 00:34:11.590 that the Holy Spirit is God, he's good, he has 00:34:11.590 --> 00:34:14.769 no negativity in him and anything that's from 00:34:14.769 --> 00:34:18.579 him is good and is God. And therefore, if it's 00:34:18.579 --> 00:34:22.440 from him, you should want him. You should not 00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:24.460 just look at it and say, well, I only want the 00:34:24.460 --> 00:34:27.559 part where you convict of sin and just give me 00:34:27.559 --> 00:34:30.099 the seal of salvation. That's it, Holy Spirit. 00:34:32.239 --> 00:34:36.059 Well, see, that's an untenable position. When 00:34:36.059 --> 00:34:38.579 you honestly look at the scriptures, that's untenable. 00:34:39.159 --> 00:34:42.139 Why is it? Because I'm actually, as a man or 00:34:42.139 --> 00:34:46.000 a woman, I'm not confused, but whatever you are, 00:34:46.039 --> 00:34:48.900 whether you're a woman or a man, the reality 00:34:48.900 --> 00:34:56.400 is you have to decide, okay, am I going to tell 00:34:56.400 --> 00:35:05.260 God that I don't need him in these areas? How 00:35:05.260 --> 00:35:11.079 arrogant. We don't see it. Why? Because we're 00:35:11.079 --> 00:35:13.860 fearful. Fearful we might get deceived. Fearful 00:35:13.860 --> 00:35:16.639 we might look foolish. Fearful we might do something 00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:21.860 wrong. Fearful that we will make a mistake. And 00:35:21.860 --> 00:35:24.559 fearful that we don't know what we're doing. 00:35:25.179 --> 00:35:29.659 And so we fall back on the familiar as I just 00:35:29.659 --> 00:35:32.559 want to do what I know and then I'll become, 00:35:32.780 --> 00:35:35.699 I'll just practice that and I'll get good in 00:35:35.699 --> 00:35:38.900 that. Not realizing that that mindset actually 00:35:38.900 --> 00:35:42.400 disintegrates and brings you back under the law 00:35:42.400 --> 00:35:48.219 even more. Are you doing okay? Now why did I 00:35:48.219 --> 00:35:52.320 tell you to turn to Matthew? No. Here we go. 00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:54.900 Before I get there, I want to give you one other 00:35:54.900 --> 00:35:58.420 verse. Luke 11, verse 1. Now it came to pass 00:35:58.420 --> 00:36:01.360 that as the Lord was praying in a certain place, 00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:04.539 when Jesus ceased, that one of his disciples 00:36:04.539 --> 00:36:08.980 said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught 00:36:08.980 --> 00:36:15.559 his disciples. Matthew 6, again, is another version 00:36:15.559 --> 00:36:18.679 of this. Luke included part of it. Matthew is 00:36:18.679 --> 00:36:21.260 teaching a little bit more. Listen to how Matthew 00:36:21.260 --> 00:36:27.619 said it. Now, just a couple of important thoughts. 00:36:27.940 --> 00:36:31.780 You need to understand that Luke is writing as 00:36:31.780 --> 00:36:35.659 a Gentile writer. Matthew is writing as a Jewish 00:36:35.659 --> 00:36:38.760 writer. So when you read the gospel of Luke, 00:36:38.940 --> 00:36:42.920 you're looking at the gospel of Luke as one that 00:36:42.920 --> 00:36:46.940 was a learned medical doctor of that time and 00:36:46.940 --> 00:36:50.880 he got saved as a Gentile and he's writing this 00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:55.849 as a Gentile. the perspective of where he received 00:36:55.849 --> 00:36:58.730 it from the apostles, probably writing, and you'll 00:36:58.730 --> 00:37:03.010 see it in this, to Theophilus. Now, when you 00:37:03.010 --> 00:37:05.949 look at Matthew, Matthew includes the biblical 00:37:05.949 --> 00:37:10.210 genealogy, and he's writing from a Jewish perspective 00:37:10.210 --> 00:37:14.150 only. So you begin to see two different in the 00:37:14.150 --> 00:37:17.869 gospels of the writers. You got John, Mark, Luke, 00:37:18.070 --> 00:37:20.730 and Matthew. Listen to what Matthew says in Matthew 00:37:20.730 --> 00:37:24.679 6, 5. Jesus saying, and when you pray, and I'm 00:37:24.679 --> 00:37:26.480 starting a little bit before the Lord's prayer, 00:37:26.679 --> 00:37:30.739 Jesus was actually commenting on the Sermon on 00:37:30.739 --> 00:37:34.199 the Mount and listen to the phraseology. And 00:37:34.199 --> 00:37:39.559 when you pray, you shall not, you shall what? 00:37:40.320 --> 00:37:42.820 You shall, it's okay, we're speaking in church. 00:37:42.860 --> 00:37:44.440 We're breaking that law of the Old Testament. 00:37:44.480 --> 00:37:46.820 Here we go. And when you pray, you shall what? 00:37:47.480 --> 00:37:51.829 Be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray 00:37:51.829 --> 00:37:54.929 standing in synagogues and on the corners of 00:37:54.929 --> 00:37:59.690 the street that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, 00:37:59.690 --> 00:38:06.230 I say to you, they have their reward. Now, I 00:38:06.230 --> 00:38:10.130 don't want to just spend the rest of the time 00:38:10.130 --> 00:38:12.010 teaching this verse, but you need to understand 00:38:12.010 --> 00:38:17.420 that what was in their heart of being seen and 00:38:17.420 --> 00:38:21.500 recognized was their reward of prayer. Answered 00:38:21.500 --> 00:38:26.880 prayer was not. So please make that distinction. 00:38:27.239 --> 00:38:30.519 Answered prayer from the Father was not. The 00:38:30.519 --> 00:38:35.559 reward was what? They got to be seen as those 00:38:35.559 --> 00:38:40.539 who were spiritual and they built their own platform 00:38:40.539 --> 00:38:43.400 so that they would be elevated in the eyes of 00:38:43.400 --> 00:38:48.219 men and women. So he says, be careful not to 00:38:48.219 --> 00:38:52.500 be like them. Verse six, but when you pray, go 00:38:52.500 --> 00:38:54.679 into your room and shut the door, pray to your 00:38:54.679 --> 00:38:57.260 father who is in secret and your father who sees 00:38:57.260 --> 00:39:00.440 in secret will reward you openly. Which, how 00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:03.099 does he reward you? He rewards you with answered 00:39:03.099 --> 00:39:07.980 prayer. Verse seven, and when you pray, now notice 00:39:07.980 --> 00:39:12.059 here, one side he's talking of the ditch that 00:39:12.059 --> 00:39:14.579 goes to the religious side. Now he's gonna talk 00:39:14.579 --> 00:39:17.320 about the, ditch on the other side of religion. 00:39:17.960 --> 00:39:23.940 He said, and when you pray, do not use vain repetitions 00:39:23.940 --> 00:39:27.380 as the heathen do. For they think that they will 00:39:27.380 --> 00:39:32.000 be heard by their many words. Therefore, do not 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:36.400 be like them. For your father knows the things 00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:40.460 you have need of before you ask them. So notice 00:39:40.460 --> 00:39:44.630 the two divisions. You have a religious side 00:39:44.630 --> 00:39:50.170 that actually turns a heart hypocritical. Why? 00:39:50.469 --> 00:39:54.170 Because you can't, if you give yourself to where 00:39:54.170 --> 00:39:57.289 religion goes, you end up becoming a hypocrite 00:39:57.289 --> 00:40:00.170 because what you say you believe you will not 00:40:00.170 --> 00:40:05.090 do. Isn't that the nature of hypocrisy? That 00:40:05.090 --> 00:40:07.289 you declare that you know something, but yet 00:40:07.289 --> 00:40:10.289 there's no obedience to actually bring yourself 00:40:10.289 --> 00:40:13.309 to live it. Why? For whatever reason, whether 00:40:13.309 --> 00:40:15.809 it's fear, whether it's justification, whether 00:40:15.809 --> 00:40:17.869 you feel like you've already arrived and you 00:40:17.869 --> 00:40:20.050 don't need to do some of those things. It does 00:40:20.050 --> 00:40:23.590 what? It always brings the elevation of self. 00:40:23.909 --> 00:40:30.130 Religion will always elevate self. Are you there? 00:40:31.369 --> 00:40:34.840 Now, and then he says the heathen. Well, that's 00:40:34.840 --> 00:40:40.539 quite a word. What does he then mean? It means 00:40:40.539 --> 00:40:45.420 someone that has no real knowledge about the 00:40:45.420 --> 00:40:49.219 one true living God. Doesn't mean they don't 00:40:49.219 --> 00:40:52.500 have knowledge, but they're using, are you ready? 00:40:52.559 --> 00:40:56.969 They're using knowledge about. other gods or 00:40:56.969 --> 00:41:01.030 deities that they quote serve, trying to bring 00:41:01.030 --> 00:41:03.769 that in of their framework of that lifestyle 00:41:03.769 --> 00:41:07.050 into how that should work in actually serving 00:41:07.050 --> 00:41:10.829 God. What they were born into, their culture, 00:41:10.929 --> 00:41:13.630 their religion, they'll take that and now just 00:41:13.630 --> 00:41:18.050 assume or that that's how God will answer them. 00:41:18.250 --> 00:41:23.389 And God says, I say no to both. I say no to hypocrisy. 00:41:23.900 --> 00:41:28.199 And I say no to your own understanding of trying 00:41:28.199 --> 00:41:31.260 to use your understanding on how to reach me. 00:41:32.880 --> 00:41:38.239 Then he says this, but you need to understand 00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:43.219 the heathen don't know who I am. I would say 00:41:43.219 --> 00:41:47.400 the religious don't either. In saying this, they 00:41:47.400 --> 00:41:50.099 don't know who he is. And we're going to prove 00:41:50.099 --> 00:41:52.820 this out in the weeks to come. But listen to 00:41:52.820 --> 00:41:56.139 what he says. In this manner, when therefore 00:41:56.139 --> 00:41:59.239 you pray, and notice what he's saying. Your father 00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:03.059 knows the things you have need of before you 00:42:03.059 --> 00:42:06.480 ask. Are you ready for this? It means that God 00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:11.440 in his knowledge knows everything you need, but 00:42:11.440 --> 00:42:13.920 he's expecting what? Remember, this is the difference 00:42:13.920 --> 00:42:17.159 between Old Testament understanding and New Testament 00:42:17.159 --> 00:42:20.260 understanding that Jesus comes to bring. the 00:42:20.260 --> 00:42:22.280 people into because he's leading them to move 00:42:22.280 --> 00:42:26.679 into a new covenant. We don't just pray to a 00:42:26.679 --> 00:42:30.179 God and then believe that there's nothing that 00:42:30.179 --> 00:42:35.360 happens. The God that Jesus is going to introduce 00:42:35.360 --> 00:42:38.920 us to is a God who knows every aspect of our 00:42:38.920 --> 00:42:42.059 life, but he's now opened the platform for participation. 00:42:43.400 --> 00:42:47.469 And therefore he establishes the framework. that 00:42:47.469 --> 00:42:51.150 even in your communication practice and in the 00:42:51.150 --> 00:42:54.070 process of actually in spending time with him, 00:42:54.090 --> 00:42:55.829 it's not that you literally have to go inside 00:42:55.829 --> 00:42:59.389 a closet, get underneath your wardrobe, and pray 00:42:59.389 --> 00:43:01.449 and sing. No, that was a metaphorical term. It 00:43:01.449 --> 00:43:03.150 means you go into a place where you can just 00:43:03.150 --> 00:43:06.449 be yourself before the Father, and it's just 00:43:06.449 --> 00:43:10.650 you and him. You go into a place where that time 00:43:10.650 --> 00:43:14.389 is your time with him. And he was saying, I... 00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:18.260 have a nature that I want to engage you. I know 00:43:18.260 --> 00:43:20.679 everything you need, but I'm waiting for you 00:43:20.679 --> 00:43:24.860 to bring me into your life. And I want to partner 00:43:24.860 --> 00:43:27.179 with you. That is new Testament understanding. 00:43:27.460 --> 00:43:30.920 So notice what Jesus says here. Our father, here's 00:43:30.920 --> 00:43:33.219 how he teaches the disciples to pray. Our father 00:43:33.219 --> 00:43:35.840 in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom 00:43:35.840 --> 00:43:38.980 come, your will be done as it is in heaven. So 00:43:38.980 --> 00:43:41.539 first thing we, first thing that Jesus establishes 00:43:41.539 --> 00:43:45.119 is what? Everything that he is, Everything that 00:43:45.119 --> 00:43:48.239 is of his will. Everything that he has released 00:43:48.239 --> 00:43:51.619 about himself. His rule. His ways. His word. 00:43:52.199 --> 00:43:55.980 We should be praying. Embrace it. Embrace it. 00:43:56.019 --> 00:43:59.059 Embrace it. Let it come. Let it come. Let it 00:43:59.059 --> 00:44:02.519 come. Which means by nature. I will do. I will 00:44:02.519 --> 00:44:07.760 do. I will do. You can't say. This is what a 00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:10.820 hypocrite does. Your kingdom come. Your will 00:44:10.820 --> 00:44:19.079 be done. Let somebody else do it. That by nature 00:44:19.079 --> 00:44:24.840 is a hypocrite. You can't say I believe God that 00:44:24.840 --> 00:44:28.699 he's Father, Son, Holy Spirit. He's one God in 00:44:28.699 --> 00:44:33.380 the unity of the mind of God and yet there are 00:44:33.380 --> 00:44:36.239 three distinct persons of plurality. You can't 00:44:36.239 --> 00:44:39.719 say there's a Father, there's a Son, and a Junior. 00:44:42.159 --> 00:44:48.480 You have to say Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And 00:44:48.480 --> 00:44:51.739 the problem is most of us have grown up in areas 00:44:51.739 --> 00:44:55.340 and we listen to sermons that are father, son, 00:44:55.659 --> 00:45:00.039 and junior. And take or leave junior. We'll only 00:45:00.039 --> 00:45:03.519 receive junior as the one who brings salvation 00:45:03.519 --> 00:45:05.880 to our heart. But we don't have to partner with 00:45:05.880 --> 00:45:08.559 junior because somewhere we've interpreted the 00:45:08.559 --> 00:45:12.059 scripture. Not a verse. Not a passage. It's not 00:45:12.059 --> 00:45:15.219 there. But somebody has convinced us that now 00:45:16.019 --> 00:45:19.300 Junior Holy Spirit doesn't give gifts like he 00:45:19.300 --> 00:45:25.420 used to 100 years after the apostles died, senior 00:45:25.420 --> 00:45:31.659 became junior. What kind of spiritual crack is 00:45:31.659 --> 00:45:36.619 that? That, I'm gonna just be honest with you. 00:45:37.119 --> 00:45:40.739 The thing that we fight, that I fight in the 00:45:40.739 --> 00:45:44.929 spirit of the atmosphere of this region, Other 00:45:44.929 --> 00:45:48.949 regions like it where I'm asked to go and bring 00:45:48.949 --> 00:45:52.769 a message like what I'm preaching today. The 00:45:52.769 --> 00:45:56.250 number one thing I believe is this mindset of 00:45:56.250 --> 00:46:01.550 the division of the Holy Spirit. I understand 00:46:01.550 --> 00:46:11.389 it. I lived in it. Every person around me bought 00:46:11.389 --> 00:46:15.309 it, reinforced it. But when I started reading 00:46:15.309 --> 00:46:21.150 the Bible again and afresh and a hunger, I could 00:46:21.150 --> 00:46:26.389 not see anywhere. And folks, I've read the Bible 00:46:26.389 --> 00:46:30.949 a lot. I'm not here to brag how much I've read 00:46:30.949 --> 00:46:32.889 the Bible, but I'm telling you some of the very 00:46:32.889 --> 00:46:35.349 first words over my life from prophets were, 00:46:35.449 --> 00:46:38.369 you're going to read the Bible. Four and five 00:46:38.369 --> 00:46:41.230 times a year, you'll be known as a man who knows 00:46:41.230 --> 00:46:43.150 the word of God. You'll have read this Bible 00:46:43.150 --> 00:46:46.389 over a hundred times, cover to cover. And I have 00:46:46.389 --> 00:46:49.489 believed that word of God. I love it. I read 00:46:49.489 --> 00:46:53.670 it. I listen to it. I allow it to saturate me. 00:46:53.670 --> 00:46:56.289 Why? Because there's nothing like God's word. 00:46:57.369 --> 00:47:01.010 And once you begin to embrace God's word without 00:47:01.010 --> 00:47:04.269 all of the presets of the religion, you will 00:47:04.269 --> 00:47:08.079 find that Holy Spirit is never diminished. In 00:47:08.079 --> 00:47:13.340 fact, God and the Son elevate the Holy Spirit's 00:47:13.340 --> 00:47:18.139 ministry beyond. They all point to him. Why? 00:47:18.320 --> 00:47:25.820 Because they sent him. Man. So listen to what 00:47:25.820 --> 00:47:29.940 it says. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. 00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:33.239 On earth as it is in heaven. Now notice what. 00:47:33.559 --> 00:47:36.920 he teaches them to do. This was different than 00:47:36.920 --> 00:47:39.840 the heathen. This was different than the hypocrite. 00:47:40.280 --> 00:47:46.820 Give us this day our daily bread. So what is 00:47:46.820 --> 00:47:49.820 the first thing? Let your kingdom come. Let your 00:47:49.820 --> 00:47:52.699 will be done. Meaning what? I'm not, I'm going 00:47:52.699 --> 00:47:57.840 to whatever is yours, whoever you are and the 00:47:57.840 --> 00:48:00.199 fullness of how I know you and from the scriptures, 00:48:00.380 --> 00:48:04.530 let it come because that is the highest revelation. 00:48:04.769 --> 00:48:07.469 There's nothing higher, greater, grander. And 00:48:07.469 --> 00:48:14.550 then the next thing, Father, give. The very first 00:48:14.550 --> 00:48:17.289 thing that Jesus teaches as we embrace his will, 00:48:17.429 --> 00:48:23.250 his kingdom, is that he's a giver. His nature. 00:48:23.429 --> 00:48:25.630 Now when we think giver, many times we think 00:48:25.630 --> 00:48:30.010 finances. That's not what he asked. Now we get 00:48:30.010 --> 00:48:33.460 to this. But his first thing that he's wanting 00:48:33.460 --> 00:48:37.639 us to actually ask for is give us daily bread. 00:48:39.760 --> 00:48:42.219 Many of us would think that just means provision. 00:48:42.320 --> 00:48:45.960 That means money for bills and that can fit in 00:48:45.960 --> 00:48:49.420 there. But you know what it actually is? Jesus 00:48:49.420 --> 00:48:52.780 defined it for us. Man shall not live by bread 00:48:52.780 --> 00:48:56.420 alone, but by every word that proceeds from the 00:48:56.420 --> 00:49:01.440 mouth of God. Just in John chapter six, he says, 00:49:01.559 --> 00:49:06.519 I am the bread that come from heaven. I'm the 00:49:06.519 --> 00:49:09.139 bread. Your fathers ate, please hear me on this. 00:49:09.280 --> 00:49:13.440 Your fathers ate spiritual bread and they died. 00:49:15.300 --> 00:49:19.619 Being spiritual bread does not guarantee you 00:49:19.619 --> 00:49:24.940 life. Manna was spiritual bread. It was miraculous, 00:49:25.500 --> 00:49:32.519 spiritual. manifested bread. Jesus said, I am 00:49:32.519 --> 00:49:36.820 the bread from heaven. You shall eat this bread 00:49:36.820 --> 00:49:42.340 and live. So when Jesus in Mark and Matthew. 00:49:42.829 --> 00:49:45.130 Six is teaching the disciples to pray. What's 00:49:45.130 --> 00:49:47.550 he asking them to pray? He said, first of all, 00:49:47.570 --> 00:49:51.090 you've got to get in touch with a God that does 00:49:51.090 --> 00:49:53.809 not stay distant because that's what you learned 00:49:53.809 --> 00:49:56.349 in the Old Testament. There were mediaries in 00:49:56.349 --> 00:49:58.769 the middle. All you did is you came to learn 00:49:58.769 --> 00:50:01.550 about him and you handed off your sacrifices. 00:50:01.650 --> 00:50:04.550 You handed off everything else for a holy priesthood 00:50:04.550 --> 00:50:07.170 and you just stepped back and you watched and 00:50:07.170 --> 00:50:09.829 they cleansed you. They declared you clean for 00:50:09.829 --> 00:50:14.739 a year and so on and so forth. No, you've come 00:50:14.739 --> 00:50:16.940 to the God of the New Testament that now wants 00:50:16.940 --> 00:50:21.980 what? Partnership. Everything in your life prior 00:50:21.980 --> 00:50:24.880 is about reaching out to something that may or 00:50:24.880 --> 00:50:27.219 may not hear you and you have a hope of hearing 00:50:27.219 --> 00:50:29.719 you and that you stayed separated. Everything 00:50:29.719 --> 00:50:32.719 in the New Testament now that Jesus modeled was 00:50:32.719 --> 00:50:36.199 to bring you into relationship that you would 00:50:36.199 --> 00:50:40.280 have a father that would be a good giver, a gift 00:50:40.280 --> 00:50:44.500 giver by nature. Gift of bread, gift of his word, 00:50:44.760 --> 00:50:47.739 gift of his presence, gift of his protection, 00:50:48.039 --> 00:50:52.239 gift of supply, gift of love, gift of forgiveness. 00:50:52.460 --> 00:50:57.300 gift of grace. Everything about God would be 00:50:57.300 --> 00:51:01.780 the gift giver. So why would we get to the New 00:51:01.780 --> 00:51:05.280 Testament when God now all of a sudden pours 00:51:05.280 --> 00:51:08.599 out himself, the third part of the Trinity, and 00:51:08.599 --> 00:51:12.480 we would say, nope, that gift giver doesn't give 00:51:12.480 --> 00:51:22.199 gifts anymore. How insane is that? That the gift 00:51:22.199 --> 00:51:27.579 giver who gives of himself is not allowed now 00:51:27.579 --> 00:51:34.800 to give gifts? Let me just try to help you just 00:51:34.800 --> 00:51:38.340 embrace this a little more, Marcy. There's a 00:51:38.340 --> 00:51:40.360 big difference. Oh, there she is. Hey, sweetie. 00:51:40.880 --> 00:51:43.179 There's a big difference, and you know this, 00:51:43.340 --> 00:51:47.730 between Jenny and me, right? Not just the obvious 00:51:47.730 --> 00:51:50.349 that she has hair and I don't. Okay, but the 00:51:50.349 --> 00:51:55.230 reality is in our personalities. She is a words 00:51:55.230 --> 00:51:59.369 person. So if you give her a card or a letter 00:51:59.369 --> 00:52:02.829 that's about how you feel and how you think, 00:52:02.989 --> 00:52:08.369 she will treasure that and it is wonderful. If 00:52:08.369 --> 00:52:15.269 you give me that, it's nice. I appreciate it. 00:52:15.980 --> 00:52:20.260 but I don't store it in a drawer. I don't keep 00:52:20.260 --> 00:52:23.380 it as like this is, why? Because she, in her 00:52:23.380 --> 00:52:26.880 personality, is a words person. She wants words. 00:52:27.019 --> 00:52:29.840 So if I give her a card on our anniversary and 00:52:29.840 --> 00:52:36.179 says, love you, your husband, that's a negatory, 00:52:36.420 --> 00:52:40.099 okay? That means it doesn't matter what roses 00:52:40.099 --> 00:52:42.380 came, it doesn't matter what gift came, anniversary 00:52:42.380 --> 00:52:46.960 bound, there better be a full card. Front, over 00:52:46.960 --> 00:52:50.920 the writing, and on the back. Where I have sat 00:52:50.920 --> 00:52:53.980 down and I have formulated every, and it feels 00:52:53.980 --> 00:52:56.780 like I have to wring out my soul to write one 00:52:56.780 --> 00:52:59.380 of those cards. Not because it's terror for me, 00:52:59.500 --> 00:53:02.059 but because it just doesn't come naturally. I'm 00:53:02.059 --> 00:53:03.860 trying, Jenny's looking at me, where is he going 00:53:03.860 --> 00:53:07.079 with this? Because I'm having to wring out something 00:53:07.079 --> 00:53:11.320 that by nature I'm not, I do words like this, 00:53:11.340 --> 00:53:15.400 but I'm not words like gushy. Like if I just 00:53:15.400 --> 00:53:20.780 say to Kyle, bro, you're a great friend. Anything 00:53:20.780 --> 00:53:27.840 more than that is weird. Okay. I mean, Kyle would 00:53:27.840 --> 00:53:30.980 feel very uncomfortable. I'll go, Kyle, so meaningful 00:53:30.980 --> 00:53:36.739 in my life. I just want you to know sometimes. 00:53:37.800 --> 00:53:40.000 Your love for me is so deep. You think, what 00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:42.360 kind of church am I in? No, all right. Okay. 00:53:42.420 --> 00:53:45.280 The point is, that's not me. I don't do that. 00:53:45.559 --> 00:53:48.820 But if I was saying, Kyle, bro, you are an awesome 00:53:48.820 --> 00:53:50.820 brother. Here's a hundred dollars. First of all, 00:53:50.820 --> 00:53:52.440 it would blow his socks off the fact that I would 00:53:52.440 --> 00:53:53.840 give him a hundred dollars without him doing 00:53:53.840 --> 00:53:56.840 anything. Second of all, that would be my nature 00:53:56.840 --> 00:53:59.800 as a gift giver to say, I'm giving you honor 00:53:59.800 --> 00:54:03.119 from part of me. My nature is a gift giver. And 00:54:03.119 --> 00:54:05.900 so I'm giving you something that I thought of, 00:54:05.920 --> 00:54:13.119 or I bought him a A tool. Right? Jenny and I 00:54:13.119 --> 00:54:14.579 are totally different. Let me tell you about 00:54:14.579 --> 00:54:19.440 a gift giver. When you're a gift giver, you automatically 00:54:19.440 --> 00:54:25.119 are giving of yourself in that gift. The worst 00:54:25.119 --> 00:54:28.619 thing you can get as a gift giver is when somebody 00:54:28.619 --> 00:54:32.699 says, I don't want your gifts. Because they're 00:54:32.699 --> 00:54:35.940 not saying no to the gift. They're saying no 00:54:35.940 --> 00:54:38.670 to the one who thought about it. who planned 00:54:38.670 --> 00:54:41.230 it. It didn't just give it at an afterthought. 00:54:41.349 --> 00:54:45.869 A gift giver thinks intentionally and thinks 00:54:45.869 --> 00:54:48.550 this will honor them. This will show my love 00:54:48.550 --> 00:54:50.550 for them. And when somebody says, I don't want 00:54:50.550 --> 00:54:54.550 the gift, just think about God who embraces all 00:54:54.550 --> 00:54:58.429 of the aspects of the various natures from affirmation, 00:54:58.429 --> 00:55:04.329 words of affection, time with him, right? When 00:55:04.329 --> 00:55:08.500 we say to the Holy Spirit, I don't want your 00:55:08.500 --> 00:55:11.219 gifts. I don't need your gifts because I'm fearful. 00:55:11.460 --> 00:55:14.239 I don't understand it. And I don't want to change. 00:55:14.559 --> 00:55:19.159 We're actually telling God, I don't want what's 00:55:19.159 --> 00:55:23.519 part of you. And to me, that's the biggest travesty 00:55:23.519 --> 00:55:29.500 of all that this other philosophy has created. 00:55:29.599 --> 00:55:33.760 Why? Because it's elevated the mind of man and 00:55:33.760 --> 00:55:38.119 man's comfortability. Over actually embracing. 00:55:38.340 --> 00:55:43.780 Who the Holy Spirit is as part of God. I'm telling 00:55:43.780 --> 00:55:48.659 you fear. For almost 25 years of my life. Dominated 00:55:48.659 --> 00:55:53.079 me in every aspect. I was more concerned about. 00:55:54.159 --> 00:55:57.219 Doing something wrong. Being wrong. Looking foolish. 00:55:57.440 --> 00:56:01.429 Being deceived. thinking about what would others 00:56:01.429 --> 00:56:03.630 think of me? What am I going to have to face? 00:56:03.650 --> 00:56:06.230 Fear of being rejected, fear of failure. That 00:56:06.230 --> 00:56:12.969 was my whole grid of pursuing Christ. And when 00:56:12.969 --> 00:56:15.909 God called me to plant this church, I said, Lord, 00:56:15.989 --> 00:56:17.929 I don't want to go there because I know what 00:56:17.929 --> 00:56:20.630 I'm going to face. And he said, you're going 00:56:20.630 --> 00:56:23.929 to have with my power to confront this fear. 00:56:24.150 --> 00:56:28.019 And I said, okay, Lord. Fear, you must come out. 00:56:28.119 --> 00:56:30.139 And I didn't think anything was going to happen. 00:56:30.239 --> 00:56:33.619 And right as I said that, I just threw up right 00:56:33.619 --> 00:56:35.460 there on the flower bed in the parking lot, in 00:56:35.460 --> 00:56:41.800 the church parking lot. I mean, just... I wiped 00:56:41.800 --> 00:56:44.519 my mouth. I said, Lord, what was that? He said, 00:56:44.559 --> 00:56:47.480 there's more. Tell it to go. And I began to command 00:56:47.480 --> 00:56:50.800 fear to come. I began to leave deposits of puke. 00:56:51.300 --> 00:56:54.099 Oh, I'm sorry. It's almost lunchtime, so I thought 00:56:54.099 --> 00:56:58.369 I'd get you ready. deposits of puke in a flower 00:56:58.369 --> 00:57:03.829 bed all along the church property. And it lasted 00:57:03.829 --> 00:57:06.309 clear, and people that came from the church would 00:57:06.309 --> 00:57:09.550 know, from the back of the parking lot all the 00:57:09.550 --> 00:57:11.710 way along the side of those trees planted clear 00:57:11.710 --> 00:57:16.789 to the north parking lot. I puked and puked and 00:57:16.789 --> 00:57:19.210 puked each time. Finally, I couldn't even say 00:57:19.210 --> 00:57:26.570 it anymore. I just kept saying, ah! I was confronting 00:57:26.570 --> 00:57:31.690 fear because from a little boy, it's not that 00:57:31.690 --> 00:57:34.909 my parents instilled fear to that degree, but 00:57:34.909 --> 00:57:38.610 the atmosphere of everything I related to was 00:57:38.610 --> 00:57:41.590 about fear, fear of being deceived, fear of failure. 00:57:41.690 --> 00:57:44.309 It stopped me from pursuing the gifts of the 00:57:44.309 --> 00:57:48.230 spirit. It stopped me at so many levels. And 00:57:48.230 --> 00:57:53.809 I realized I had more faith in fear. Then I had 00:57:53.809 --> 00:57:58.210 faith in the word of who God was. And that's 00:57:58.210 --> 00:58:04.090 what we will do this summer. Is we're going to 00:58:04.090 --> 00:58:06.670 continue to preach on this. Of who the Holy Spirit 00:58:06.670 --> 00:58:13.230 is. Why he is fully God. Why he is the way he 00:58:13.230 --> 00:58:16.650 is. And that this church hopefully. Of course 00:58:16.650 --> 00:58:19.110 you're always welcome to find somewhere else. 00:58:19.230 --> 00:58:22.099 But if you're planted here. There should be something 00:58:22.099 --> 00:58:25.460 in your heart that says, I want to partner with 00:58:25.460 --> 00:58:28.619 what is the full will, way, and word of God. 00:58:29.820 --> 00:58:34.380 And I don't want fear to dominate. Do I want 00:58:34.380 --> 00:58:37.159 to be deceived? No. But we have the scriptures 00:58:37.159 --> 00:58:40.460 for that. We have the truth of God's word. I 00:58:40.460 --> 00:58:43.340 don't have to cut the Holy Spirit off thinking 00:58:43.340 --> 00:58:49.900 he's evil. He cannot be evil. He cannot be. He 00:58:49.900 --> 00:58:56.460 is of God. He is God. And whatever he gives has 00:58:56.460 --> 00:59:00.659 to be pure, right, and true. There's no shadow 00:59:00.659 --> 00:59:03.559 of turning with him. Do people make mistakes? 00:59:03.739 --> 00:59:07.719 Do we separate where people move past the Lord 00:59:07.719 --> 00:59:10.199 and don't judge things? Absolutely. But that 00:59:10.199 --> 00:59:13.380 does not indict the Holy Spirit. That indicts 00:59:13.380 --> 00:59:17.059 their flesh and their soul. So would you pray 00:59:17.059 --> 00:59:20.239 with me this morning? that we would just welcome 00:59:20.239 --> 00:59:22.579 that, Trent, if you'd come, get ready to close 00:59:22.579 --> 00:59:27.039 the service. Can we do that this morning? Would 00:59:27.039 --> 00:59:28.400 you just do that with me? Would you bow your 00:59:28.400 --> 00:59:30.980 head and close your eyes for a moment? Father, 00:59:31.039 --> 00:59:39.940 in Jesus' name, I pray this morning, Lord, that 00:59:39.940 --> 00:59:45.179 you would take these words and, Lord, the journey 00:59:45.179 --> 00:59:48.599 that you've brought me through. And God, it would 00:59:48.599 --> 00:59:52.360 speak to your people this morning. Take, Holy 00:59:52.360 --> 00:59:54.440 Spirit, you could do more in a moment than I 00:59:54.440 --> 00:59:58.099 could do in another hour or two. You know how 00:59:58.099 --> 01:00:00.139 to get behind the scenes. You know how to unlock 01:00:00.139 --> 01:00:04.340 hearts. And I'm asking now with the journey of 01:00:04.340 --> 01:00:07.199 how gracious you've been to me, breaking fear 01:00:07.199 --> 01:00:10.820 off of my life to begin to trust what is in your 01:00:10.820 --> 01:00:13.940 word and to trust your nature. I pray that that 01:00:13.940 --> 01:00:16.460 would be a hunger that would come upon everyone 01:00:16.460 --> 01:00:19.480 in this congregation from the first service to 01:00:19.480 --> 01:00:21.920 the second service. Whatever we were raised in, 01:00:21.980 --> 01:00:24.360 however we were brought up, Lord, if there's 01:00:24.360 --> 01:00:27.820 valves enough for places in us that say, I haven't 01:00:27.820 --> 01:00:29.880 wanted to do that because I'm fearful. I'm fearful 01:00:29.880 --> 01:00:31.699 what others would think. I'm fearful for what 01:00:31.699 --> 01:00:34.019 I might do. I'm fearful for being taught wrong. 01:00:34.159 --> 01:00:36.880 I'm fearful that I might be deceived. Lord, we 01:00:36.880 --> 01:00:40.300 bring those to the light this morning. And we 01:00:40.300 --> 01:00:42.900 say, Holy Spirit, establish the truth of your 01:00:42.900 --> 01:00:46.619 word in my life and let that be the marker I 01:00:46.619 --> 01:00:50.579 live from. No longer living under limitation. 01:00:50.760 --> 01:00:55.380 No longer living a hybrid of Old Testament and 01:00:55.380 --> 01:00:59.659 New Testament life, but living a full life by 01:00:59.659 --> 01:01:02.800 the grace of God in the New Testament, having 01:01:02.800 --> 01:01:05.940 understanding from the old, but living in the 01:01:05.940 --> 01:01:09.239 kingdom and the spirit of truth. truth and the 01:01:09.239 --> 01:01:12.800 power of your anointing. I pray that over this 01:01:12.800 --> 01:01:16.860 church and I release that now in Jesus Christ's 01:01:16.860 --> 01:01:22.739 holy name. Amen. Thank you for taking the time 01:01:22.739 --> 01:01:25.900 to listen to this week's message. We are so grateful 01:01:25.900 --> 01:01:28.500 for those who tune in each week and have given 01:01:28.500 --> 01:01:42.579 generously to this ministry. If you are in need 01:01:42.579 --> 01:01:46.440 of prayer, send us a text message at 541 -625 01:01:46.440 --> 01:01:50.099 -1365. We would love to pray with you.