An Atmosphere of Faith

Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.

Church of the Lookout is in Boulder, Colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love.

Visit us online at thelookout.church.

So, hey, if you have your Bibles here, I just uh we're gonna be in Mark chapter two.

That's where we're gonna start today.

Mark chapter two, the second of the gospels.

Uh Mark chapter two.

You can flip open in your phone if that's what you do.

Uh we'll have this the scripture on the screen.

This is not part of a series, a teaching series.

Many of you guys know we do a lot of teaching series here, and we'll be starting one for Advent and the promises of God starting uh next week through December.

It's gonna be fantastic.

Um this week is just more of a fresh, just something I feel is fresh for us uh for for today and for this body for today.

So I pray that it's encouraging.

Let's start in Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

So verse 1.

And it when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

And many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even uh not even at the door.

And as he was preaching the word to them, they came, bringing to him a paralytic paralytic carried by four men.

And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.

Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, Why does this man speak like that?

He is blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus question within themselves, said to them, Why do you question these things in your hearts?

Which is easier to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise, take up your bed and walk.

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, Rise, pick up your bed and go home.

And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this.

So on November 7th, 1993, a man named Michael rode his Harley Davidson to church, still drunk from the night before.

He had been invited by a friend to what was then the Boulder Valley Vineyard.

And so just a little history.

That was this church back in the 80s through most of the 90s.

He was invited to the Boulder Valley Vineyard because he was told he'd like the music.

So Sunday mornings were a challenge for him because they were typically his laundry days.

So it just so happened on this on this Sunday morning, there was no wait at the laundromat.

So he was able to finish earlier than expected, and uh, and that left him without an excuse to put off going to church one more time.

So he was able to ride his motorcycle to church.

He parked his motorcycle in the east law, and after walking into the lobby right out here, a man named Chuck Miles noticed him across the room.

He abruptly, Chuck abruptly ended the conversation he was having and beelined straight over to meet Michael.

He greeted Michael and helped him get settled in.

He kind of walked with him through the rest of the morning.

During the church service, Michael said that he encountered something he hadn't encountered before.

He encountered the power in the presence of God for the first time in his life.

It was so captivating that he entrusted his life to Jesus.

And as a quote, professional alcoholic, his words, not my words, he was he became completely sober ever since that moment.

Now, months after this life-changing encounter, Chuck would say that when he first saw Michael come through the door of the lobby from the parking lot, the entire room went black except for the face of this man, Michael.

And so Chuck knew that for whatever reason, the attention of heaven was on this man for that morning.

And so he he changed what he was doing.

He reordered his own priorities and he made sure to make sure that Michael was able to kind of get settled in and get ready for this morning because he knew that God had something in store for Michael.

Now, I met Michael a couple weeks ago because he had called the church and he asked a random question.

He said, Hey, this is gonna sound weird, but I had an experience in that building nearly 30 years ago.

Would it be okay if I came and just spent time there on my 30-year anniversary?

So on November 7th, the 30-year anniversary of him meeting the Lord, and the 30-year anniversary of his sobriety and moment of his salvation, he he him and his wife came in here and I was able to share the space with them.

And uh, and as he walked into this room, he just began to weep.

Because in a moment he was ushered back into this holy moment, this history with God.

Of course, the room was much different than he remembered it.

There was a lot more windows back then.

We've kind of you know we've we've blocked off some of the windows, and and so he was kind of making notes about how the room looked differently.

Um he pointed out where he would sit every Sunday morning, which was right behind the sound booth over there, or where Coach Bill McCartney would sit every Sunday morning, and he said, That's where I was when God met me, and that's where I would continue to sit.

And and as he was recounting this, you know, he was, he you could feel the nearness and the faithfulness of God as he stood in the very spot, the very location of his spiritual rebirth, where the power of sin and addiction broke off his life.

And so in that moment, I was able to sit over with him and just we just I just hugged him.

And we shared the moment.

And it was it was not a short hug, it was a long hug.

All right?

It was like some moments need a long hug.

All right.

So if you're not a hugger, it's a you just gotta know when it's right.

You gotta know when the moment's right for a long hug.

Sometimes you just need a long hug.

It was time for a long hug, it was a good hug.

And together as we hugged, having just met each other, we thanked Jesus together.

And we shared a moment.

It was holy ground.

It's holy ground, not because the actual physical ground, not because this building is necessarily holier than any other place, but the location of any encounter with God is holy.

The location of any encounter with God is holy, and maybe you have moments in your life where there is holy ground.

And as Michael shared his story with me, and I was, I had the privilege of sharing this moment with him, of revisiting on the 30-year anniversary of the power of God in his life.

It was like fresh water for my soul.

And I found myself celebrating the faithfulness of God.

I was moved to tears of joy because I know that this is Jesus.

This is what Jesus does.

This is what he's done in my life.

Also, I felt this hunger start to stir within me as we were celebrating the faithfulness of God together.

I felt the this new hunger stirring within me to believe for a fresh outpouring of the power in the presence of God in our time and in our day.

We're in a single moment lives are miraculously changed in his presence.

Do you guys believe that in a single moment a life can turn around?

Do you still believe that?

Do you believe that in the presence of Jesus anything is possible?

Anything is possible.

There are no limitations to the presence of Jesus.

Now, some of you came here today, and as we've already prayed into a few things, I believe that there's some here today that need a touch from God.

I believe that some of you here today, you just like, I need to encounter the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit of Jesus.

And I pray from here on out, if that hasn't already happened, I just I just thank you, Holy Spirit, to rest on every heart.

Holy Spirit, we believe that you are with us.

And we're not gonna talk about you as if you're not in the room.

We're not gonna talk about you as you're just buried in the text.

Holy Spirit, we honor your presence and I thank you to rest on each heart.

We thank you, Holy Spirit, that you know the way to our hearts.

We don't even know the way to our own hearts most of the time, that you know exactly how to get to us.

So we bless your work here, God.

And as a church, I believe that there's a we're kind of in a time where there's I believe a few invitations for us for anybody who's willing to receive them this morning.

Now, in this this passage we just read together, it's a it's a beautiful passage.

It's a passage of a that a large crowd had gathered around Jesus.

And uh a few men had the inkling, they just knew if we can get our friend into the presence of Jesus, they knew if they could just get him there, he could be healed, he would be healed.

They knew it.

And uh there was a sense of faith, so much so much so that that Jesus took notice of it in verse 5.

And when Jesus saw their faith, not just the faith of the paralytic, the faith of the men who brought the paralytic in, when he saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.

It was their faith that caught the attention of Jesus.

There was a confidence in them that was otherworldly.

It wasn't just wishful thinking or or what we would call hopeful optimism that were rose-colored glasses, like we we might say in other situations.

See, Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

And and I believe faith is a gift from God, it's God given.

It's a supernatural knowing that when you get before Jesus, all possibilities are now made available.

Now, there were a lot of stories where Jesus was moved by faith.

We, if you know the scriptures, it's a story of a centurion who came to Jesus.

And sometimes, you know, we talk about here at the church, we talk about living lives of awe-inspiring love, following Jesus onto the on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love.

We talk about being awed by God, and it's it's true, we're awed by God as people are awed by God in the scriptures over and over again.

But in another passage, when when the centurion comes to Jesus, Jesus was awed by him because he brought to Jesus, he said, Jesus, my son is at home.

All you have to do is say the word, and my son will be healed.

And Jesus said, There is not a faith like this in all of Israel.

Jesus was stunned, he was astonished by what was moving in the heart of this man.

See, faith is a gift from God to believe he is who he says he is.

I believe we have an invitation as a church to continue just to be reminded that when we come into this space, and it's not just this space, it's all of life, that God is ready to move on our behalf when we pray with faith.

As James 5 says, the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

There's something about praying with the gift of faith that moves the heart of heaven.

Now, to be clear, God doesn't need your faith or my faith to move on your behalf, okay?

And maybe you've been told at another part in your life that you just need more faith.

You didn't have you didn't have enough faith.

If you just had more faith, something would have happened differently in your life.

I just want to release you from that.

That's a lie, okay?

You are not meant to live with the yoke of your your failure or your disappointment.

God doesn't need your faith.

He invites you to trust him through the gift of faith.

But Jesus healed plenty of people that didn't have faith, all right?

He only said you needed a mustard seed.

You only need a mustard seed of faith, just an inkling of faith.

And it's also clear in the scriptures, though, that a climate of faith can actually release more of heaven into a situation or to an atmosphere.

A climate of faith in your home can change your relationships, can change your marriage.

A climate of faith in your workplace can help you solve problems with the wisdom of heaven.

A climate of faith in your neighborhood or in your city can help you tackle citywide problems.

A climate of faith in the church can help us all partner together to see what God's doing and be in the flow of the kingdom of heaven.

The opposite is also true.

A climate of unbelief also has consequences.

A climate of unbelief also has consequences.

And there were times where Jesus actually left the city, also surprised at the level of unbelief or passivity.

Unbelief can hinder the flow of heaven as well.

Now, again, caveat, that doesn't mean the same thing as doubt or at times even skepticism or cautiousness.

Listen, I've been there.

I have questions that I'm so waiting on God to answer.

I have doubts at times that I'm like, I don't even know, I don't know what's what's going on in this situation.

I don't even know, God, what you're doing in this particular part of the world or in this part of my life.

And so I just want to be clear here.

God is not afraid of your questions.

God welcomes skeptics.

He surrounds himself with skeptics.

If you got questions, he says, bring it on.

I just do want to point out that there's a difference between skepticism and a spirit of unbelief.

Having questions is one thing, but there is a spiritual reality called unbelief that actually can affect and taint and actually hinder our experience of what God is doing in our life.

And maybe you've experienced either one of these environments.

You've experienced an environment where there's a palpable sense that God is among us.

I felt some of that even this morning.

There's a power was when Brandon was sharing that word.

Did you guys sense the anointing of God on him?

I just, I'm thankful for Brandon.

And guys, by the way, if that's a new experience for you, we're just random people coming up to the stage and sharing.

Like this is all in the scriptures.

It's in the New Testament.

And we, as at the front, when people come up and have words, they share them with us, and we just kind of think we just discern the right timing of when to release it.

But we we do believe that God gets to speak through more people than just the preacher.

Alright?

And what he was able to release, even to those with knee problems and spine issues and the artistic flow, what he's doing, what we're doing is we're partnering with faith, believing that we get to all hear from God and be a part of what God's doing.

That's what we're trying to do when we allow space for these types of things.

We're trying to create an environment of faith.

Not just the squinty thing I'm doing right now.

Not the constipated, like if I just try, if I if I try harder, that's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about the gifts from God to cooperate and participate in the things of heaven, right?

It's interesting though, we have to actually, we have to recalibrate faith though, through throughout our life.

I remember when I was in high school, I did not have a normal youth group kind of growing up.

I mean, being you know 20, 30 years removed from like high school now, um, I'm realizing how astonishing it was.

In fact, like what we would do, um, there was at that point in time in the mid to late 90s, there was a um a huge revival, is what we call it, down in Brownsville, in Brownsville Church in Pensacola, Florida.

Anybody hear of that back in the day?

Okay, some people, maybe you have no idea.

Um, but there was a uh what we call a revival.

People were showing up for all around the world for two years for nightly services every night of the week.

In high school, two different times, we rented a huge charter bus from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

We all packed on the bus and drove overnight to go to church services in Florida.

And we would stand outside all day.

It wasn't just show up to church, grab a coffee on my way in, get a seat in the back, right?

It was if you want to get in, you need to go stand in line outside of this church and sit in the baking sun all day.

And then hopefully you get a good seat when you come in.

It's that kind of thing.

But there was something about that, even as a young person, going across the country to go stand in the line to be a part of what God was doing, that was it was formative because what happened was even as you were standing in line all day, faith was rising on your heart.

What could happen?

What's going to happen tonight?

Now, I get that sometimes with these kind of you know moves of God or some kind of revival expressions, it can feel, you know, there's there can be a lot of hype or just produced energy, and you know, it can get squirrely sometimes.

But I'm telling you, I was there, just even as a young person, there was something like God is going to do something amazing among us.

God is going to change lives tonight.

God is with us.

Can you guys feel it?

And I just remember that being the atmosphere, even growing up.

And that kind of faith, though, has to be, it does have to be fought for.

It does have to be contended for.

We have to remind ourselves that we are living in the presence of God.

And it starts individually, it is stewarded, it is something that we do collectively as a church.

And listen, I understand that we're not quite at the point where there's people standing in line to get in on a Sunday morning, all right?

You didn't have to fight to be in line unless you're checking in kids in the back, right?

We're standing in line to get coffee.

So I get that the picture I just painted is not the picture that we experience on a week-to-week basis, where it's it's not necessarily you're standing in line oftentimes to be a part of what God is doing.

But I'm just curious this morning, as you woke up and you got out of your bed and you were thinking about church this morning.

What were you thinking about and what was percolating in your spirit and your soul?

Was it a simple man?

I I hope the I hope I hope the sermon's good today.

Not too long.

I gotta prepare for Thanksgiving.

I gotta get the Christmas lights up, right?

And I don't hope the sermon's.

I hope they sing that song I really like at church today.

Or was there a sense as you were driving in, was there a percolation in your spirit?

Was there a sense of, oh my god.

We are meeting with the living God today.

Anything can happen.

Oh my god, thank you.

I get to drive, I get to make this pilgrimage from Erie to Gunbarrow.

Again, I get to do this.

I get to ascend the hill.

And as I'm doing, you know, as you were, was there a sense that God is alive?

Anything can happen today.

He's given us his Holy Spirit, and I just know that if we can together just be to behold him and adore Jesus together, I just know that addictions can break at the sound of his name.

I know that bodies can be healed at the sound of his name.

I know that, I know that people can experience forgiveness for the worst sins that they've been holding for years, not knowing if there's a place for them in the kingdom of heaven.

I just know that they can experience the blood of the sons, the blood of Jesus shed on their behalf, and they can walk out of church free in Jesus' name today.

I just know that the lost can feel welcome home today.

I know it's possible because it happened for me.

I know it.

Was that inside of you this morning?

Be honest.

I don't say that to create a shame.

I don't say that to create a like a kind of a level of, you know, wow, we're missing it.

I do believe, though, there's this invitation of what would happen if a group of friends that knew that Jesus was coming to town said, we're gonna drop, we're gonna do whatever it takes to bring ourselves and everybody we know into his presence because anything could happen in his presence.

So growing.

In faith.

Faith is an invitation for us.

Faith allows us to carry others to Jesus.

So the story I shared at the beginning, in order to become the kind of church where men like Michael, who need to experience the real Jesus and not just an artificial surface-level Jesus, but the real Jesus.

In order for men like Michael to be able to come into the church, it requires men like Chuck who can see across the lobby and look at the face of somebody coming in and say, all of the attention of heaven is on this man.

All of the attention of heaven is on this woman.

It requires the ability to see.

And I just, it's just another question for you this morning.

You brought yourself into the presence of God together into the presence of Jesus with others.

But are you carrying others with you into the presence of Jesus?

Who are you carrying with you?

Who in your life has the attention of heaven?

And of course, you know, we can talk about this on a few levels.

This morning you might be coming and thinking of yourself, you need an encounter with God, and I bless that.

Maybe you need to experience Jesus.

But I also want to ask the question who else surrounds you right now, even this morning, who did you see this morning who needs to be carried into the presence of Jesus?

Who do you need to take?

Who do you need to stop after the service and say, I don't know what it is, but I saw you?

I don't know what that means, but can I pray with you?

Can I pray for you?

Is there anything you need right now?

Do you need anything?

Because you caught my eye.

Are we living with an intentionality that we are determined?

We are, we see it not just even as a good idea, but as a responsibility to carry others into the presence of Jesus with us.

It's a responsibility for those who have tasted and seen the goodness of God.

It's a responsibility to carry others.

That's not just talking Sunday morning.

I'm saying when you wake up tomorrow morning for work, are you asking the question, God, who in my life, who will I encounter today that has the attention of heaven?

What faces have you given?

Who are the people that you've called me to be with today, to believe for, to carry into your presence, to bring your presence to?

It's not just a Sunday morning thing.

You guys know that.

We're not just talking about church services.

We're talking about a lifestyle of holding each other in the presence of God.

It's a different mindset shift.

It's a mindset shift.

It's not just about what's good for me today, it's about who is God in it for today.

Which is why I love the ability for those of us, we call it the gift of prophecy or words of knowledge, when we're actually listening this morning.

God, is there anybody that you want to pray for?

Are there any physical conditions that you want to heal?

Oh, you oh, you want to heal knees today?

I'm gonna believe that you're gonna lead me to somebody that needs healing and their knees, and I'm gonna pray for them in the name of Jesus and see them made well.

Is there somebody that needs encouragement?

Is there somebody that just is heartbroken today?

God, would you lead me to them and give me the faith to minister in the anointing of Jesus, to bring the oil of gladness, to bind up the brokenhearted today?

Are we coming in with an intentionality to see what God is doing and partner with it?

It's a way of life.

It's a way of life that as we carry others, we're willing to remove obstacles, we're willing, we're willing to do what it takes to get into the presence of Jesus with others.

It requires a tenacity of spirit.

And it's amazing in this passage we read that the crowds were gathered around Jesus.

Healing was marking his ministry, and so this these men knew they had to get through the crowds.

They weren't gonna take no for an answer.

They didn't turn around and say, we're gonna wait until the line thins down a little bit.

We're gonna circle back.

I think we're gonna try to catch it online later and see what happens.

They they went and tore a hole in the roof, right?

We're not giving a lot of detail about this act of vandalism.

Um we're not told that they asked permission.

We're not told that they they offered to pay for the roof afterwards.

That wasn't on the top of their minds.

That wasn't on the agenda.

The only thing that mattered was we have got to get to Jesus today.

We've got to get to him.

That's all we're here for.

We're going to get to Jesus today.

And it's it's part of this tenacity in the body of Christ, the tenacity of the church that we have to that we think through the lens of we have to remove every obstacle that keeps people from experiencing the presence of God.

This is what Isaiah the prophet said when he was speaking of the last days in Isaiah 57, 14, he says, and it will be said, build up, build up, prepare the road, remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.

See, the heart of God is to break down walls.

The heart of God is to eliminate every obstacle that keeps us from God.

And I think that needs to be our operating system as well.

We are door holders in the house of God.

What I love, though, about this body is I I believe that we're doing this.

I believe inside of you there is a spirit of I will do whatever it takes to help people encounter the presence of Jesus today.

I believe that's in this body, and I believe it's going to continue to increase.

And as we're preparing for Thanksgiving, just a moment of gratitude, even today, I'm thankful for the men, the women, the youth who are giving their lives.

They're laying down their lives in this body.

I'm thankful for our host team that launched this year, Carly Robertson and Amy Joyner, and all of our host team members who are holding signs and making sure that when you show up, that you're not showing up to a dead church, you're showing up to a smile, you're showing up to the presence of somebody who is waiting for you.

See, our host team, what I love about our host team is that they're not just smiley, happy faces, they're removing obstacles that keep people from the presence of God.

I love our kids' ministry team as we're in this transition, and Rebecca is coming in and she's doing fantastic, and Heather and my wife Megan and all the teachers and all the ones who are doing check-in.

And when they show up on Sunday morning, if you're teaching down there and you're taking this seriously and you should, when you show up down there, you're not just doing childcare, you're removing obstacles that keep people from the presence of Jesus.

You're removing obstacles so that families can experience the presence of God together.

I love that Marcia Sue is doing this in the coffee bar and all for her family.

And those of you who are serving coffee, you're not serving coffee.

You're removing obstacles that keep people from Jesus, alright?

Our youth ministry, Gary and Emily and Tiana and several other youth leaders that aren't even here on Sunday mornings.

They meet week after week in at Gary and Emily's home in Erie, Colorado on Thursday, every other Thursday night.

They're not just doing pizza party, pin the beard on Moses youth group, alright?

They are it's full, it's just it's just full out, flat out.

We are here to meet with God.

This is what we're made for.

We're removing obstacles.

I'll put Robert in on that too.

Robert and all those that meet with the junior high on Sunday mornings.

If I don't mention your name in any of this, it's not because you're not important, it's because everybody is making significant contributions.

I'm thankful for our worship team.

I'm thankful for the guys who labor on Wednesday nights who come on Sunday mornings, Josh and Shannon and Piper and Alex and Byron and all of our vocalists and instrumentalists, and they come here and they take seriously the work of uh of rehearsing the songs and catching the heart of God because they're not just playing music, they're removing obstacles from people that stand in front of people from encountering Jesus.

I thank thank God for our tech team, Blaze and Graham and Jesse and Talia and all of our guys who week after week are working to do that.

I'm thanking God for our community groups, the Capels, the Van Peltz, the Vots, Carolyn Armin, Martha Robbins, the Hockmans who are meeting in homes in different points in time because they're determined we will open up space, be it in our home or at the church here, or somewhere.

We will open up a space because people need to encounter the presence of Jesus.

We're going to do it.

We're not taking no for an answer.

We're gonna figure it out.

There's the tenacity.

We're gonna do it.

I'm thankful to God for our pre-service prayer group that meets every Sunday morning, and most of you, you some of you just need to come and you need to be a part because they're preparing away at 8:30 a.m.

every Sunday morning on the third floor of this church while most of you guys are sleeping, rolling out of bed, eating your weaties, right?

We have a group of people who are saying, God, what are you wanting to do today?

And we want to pray and partner, and we're gonna believe that you have the kingdom of heaven has treasures reserved for us today.

And we're gonna listen in, we're gonna pray it in.

And it's all part of the picture.

It's all part of the picture.

Every event we host, everything we do, every outreach we do, and I believe we're to do more, all of it is about removing barriers from people to the presence of Jesus.

And this is all because this is what Jesus did.

He removed the barriers, he removed the barriers for us to get to him.

He said, I don't the things that kept us, the sin, the addiction, the wrongdoing, the ways of living that all of us are prone to.

Jesus came in with his body and his blood.

He said, I'm gonna break down every dividing wall, I'm gonna break down every barrier through his body and his blood to make sure that we could get to him, so that for all of time we would never be left with a doubt that when we meet with him anything is possible.

He said, I'm gonna send my Holy Spirit to you to show you what is possible, to remind you to stir these things up in your heart, so that when we get, when we gather and when we disperse, when we meet in a building and when we meet in homes, right?

When we're doing the things that God has called us to do, that we can always remember that we have not been left alone, we have not been powerless, we have not been left as orphans, that we are sons and daughters who are cared for by our Father and by our King.

And he has every intention to get us to have us swept up in the flow of his kingdom, that we would know his power and his love every day of our lives.

Who here is craving an outpouring of the power and the presence of God in our day and our time?

Come on, thank you, Jesus.

What I want to do this morning, I believe I want to do uh here for a moment, is to honor Jesus, honor his sacrifice for us.

And in the front of the room, we have two communion trays on the left and the right.

I just want to invite you across the room.

We're gonna receive communion together.

Because everything we're doing is not based on us mustering faith, it's based on entering into his faith for us, the faith of Jesus, his faith in himself, his faith for his own glory, his faith in his own power.

So I just want to invite you across the room.

If you're willing to receive communion this morning, there's no pressure to participate, but if you're willing to receive communion to honor the body and the blood of Jesus, I want to invite you to stand with me today.

And just form two lines on the left and the right hand side.

And if we run out for some reason, we'll refill them.

But just grab a packet and you can bring it back with you to your seat.

I just want to invite you to close your eyes with me.

Just hold in the attention of your mind and your heart the cross this morning.

Just behold Jesus in your mind's eye and your attention today.

Honor him with your attention.

And Jesus is a body of believers that you have powerfully redeemed through your sacrifice.

God, we hold your we hold this bread in front of us.

And we thank you that Jesus, you are the bread of heaven, you are the bread broken on our behalf for life, for the life of the world.

And you broke yourself open that we could partake.

And then this morning, as we receive this bread, we thank you, God, for the life and the power of God to be made known among us, to remind us of your goodness, remind us of your grace and your mercy, God, that anything is possible because you did go to the cross for us, and you defeated the power of sin and death.

So we receive your bread with thanksgiving in our hearts, God.

Amen.

And in the same way, God, we we turn our attention to the blood that you poured out for us, Lord God, for the forgiveness of sins.

We thank you.

We thank you, Jesus.

That you bled for us.

You are the God who bled for us.

And there's no other God who is willing to bleed.

But you were you were willing to bleed.

You suffered on our behalf to be with us in our suffering.

And the suffering of the whole world, God.

The suffering even in Israel right now, in Palestine.

The suffering among every war.

We thank you, God, that the only power we have to break the violence and the pattern of wrongdoing in this world is the blood of Jesus.

So, God, we receive your blood to put to death the violence in our own hearts, the unbelief in our own hearts.

And we just pray that you would wash us clean this morning.

We thank you that you have washed us clean, and so we receive your gift, God, in Jesus' name.

Thank you, God.

You can take a seat for a moment across the room.

Do you guys have any other words that we want to pray into this morning?

I think the power of testimony is really underrated in the church, especially when you're talking about things like this.

Because without the testimony, it's it can be easier to believe when you have the testimony.

You know what I mean?

So, Brandon, where are you?

Oh, is he gonna?

Okay, he can hear me.

Um just to cry.

Oh, he's in the cryer.

There you are.

Uh just to encourage you, bro, like I get emotional.

I can be a lot.

Um I'm a filmmaker, and since COVID, um I've been feel f I felt very much like I've been kept out of that by the enemy, which is weird.

But your word today was so specific for me, and I thank you that you got up and you did that.

Um I'm a writer, I'm a director, I'm an actor, and I've been completely removed from that industry, and I've been doing a bunch of manual labor stuff, and my knees have been giving out on me, and I've injured my back.

And I've been nothing but felt so unseen by the Lord.

And when you do things like that, when people step out in that faith, I don't I don't know.

I have middle child syndrome, like there's something about being seen, right?

And when the Lord does those moments where I feel seen by him, man, I could float out of here, you know what I mean?

So the Lord I love the way Luke phrases it.

Everybody gets to play.

Everybody gets to play.

It's not just the special gifted Jedi's who come in here and okay, you know, know the things that can't be known.

Like everybody gets to play.

There's a release of the spirit that wants to have that that he wants to do, and he wants to break these ideas that not me, I don't hear like that, I can't pray like that.

This is going to be a place that people think is magical.

This is gonna be a place full of people who know things they shouldn't know and can do things that no one else can do.

This is gonna be a place that is known as that creepy building on the hill where people go and they get healed, where people go and they get set free.

And this is that place because of you people.

It's not the place, it's you.

So if you want that, I think if you want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, if you want to accept receive this thing, there's an invitation to do that.

But it takes what like what Brandon did, to the willingness to get up and just be a little crazy for the Lord.

So I invite you up here and we're gonna lay hands on you.

And you know, not lay hands on you, and we're gonna let God do his thing.

And so, Holy Spirit, I just I invite you in.

And I pray for just the awareness, the tugging on the hearts that people would know that's you.

That's not that's not anxiety, that's not a weird conviction.

That's the Spirit of God moving in your soul, inviting you into an adventure, into a war zone that he has already won.

To invite you in to participate in the kingdom power movement, setting lost people free, bringing lost people home, healing bodies and minds, restoring what God intended marriages to be, manhood and womanhood to be.

There are men in here that feel like they're boys.

And the Lord says, You are a man of God.

Welcome home, my son.

Stand tall, raise your chin.

I love you.

And you are more capable than you know.

Holy Spirit, we love you.

Come on up, Janet.

Um during worship, I was sensing like there's people that are feeling the wooing of the Lord, that are feeling like he's drawing them in to experience him in ways maybe you haven't experienced, and maybe in your mind you have thoughts of what that looks like, maybe you don't.

Um, but I was sensing there's just fear, a little bit of fear like of that unknown.

Um you're comfortable with, which we all can get like that.

We're just comfortable with what we've known of God.

Um anyway, I just felt like the Lord was saying, don't be afraid.

And I'm reminded of Moses when he went in to see God's face, he had to go into the cloud.

So he didn't know what he was walking into.

And I do feel like the Lord is saying, just walk into the cloud with me.

Um so anyway, after we can pray.

If you're if you're just feeling some hesitation and fear, um that's okay.

I the Lord's not upset about that, and um, I just feel him saying, come afraid.

It's okay.

Because my perfect love casts out fear.

So walk into the mystery with me and I'll I'll I'll deal with the fear.

Amen.

So good.

Yeah, so good, so good.

Beautiful.

Let's stand, let's stand together.

Here's how we're gonna do it.

We're gonna have our ministry team up front have the fancy purple badges, right?

Because they're so special.

I'm just they are special.

Now they're ordinary people that just love God a lot and care a lot.

And um, but they're they're available to pray.

Now, some of the things that you just that were just mentioned up here, maybe you feel like, gosh, I feel like there's something for me today.

There is something about getting out of your seat and coming forward and and and inviting someone to pray for you.

And if that's you today, if you know that you cannot leave this room with a clear conscience with before you get prayer, do not leave, all right?

Come forward, receive prayer up front.

The rest of you though, you're not off the hook.

Okay?

As you're leaving in this place, I would I just want to invite you to be open to conversations, be open to be drawn to anybody that God might be highlighting to you to say, I just I just want to go um get to know this person or pray for this person or even just ask them what their week is looking like as they come to Thanksgiving, right?

Just be open to see each other and be open to where God is highlighting each other.

And that's how the kingdom of God moves.

Amen?

Okay, so we're gonna do this as we go.

I just want to declare our vision statement together.

It's been a few weeks since we've done this.

We're gonna declare that in the spirit of this, we're gonna be out of here, and then Christmas decorating will ensue.

Eggnog galore.

All right, so let's read this together.

Our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe inspiring love.

Let's give it up for Jesus today, together.

Go in the peace and the strength of the kingdom.

Bless you guys.

Meet us out there.

New families, follow that sign, that sign, that white sign.