Sunday Message (2nd service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (March 22, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now

enjoy this week's message. We've been talking

about, as I've been kind of going through this

series on the Something More Church. The Something

More Church. And I want to focus, even though

this topic is large and there is an amazing amount

of information and revelation that the Lord has

brought. We've taken various streams of this

river that have kind of revelation and we've

parked on some of the issues of the scripture.

Today, I want to take another stream I want us

to understand that if we're going to be called

to be a something more church, we've got to get

the heart of the Father inside of us. Now, we've

talked about this a little bit. John 4, 34, Jesus

explains something to us. And as we're gonna

work our way toward 1 Peter chapter four, John

4, 34, Jesus said to the disciples, my food is

to do the will of him who sent me and to finish

his work. I wanna focus on those two statements

this morning. Number one, I want to do the will

of him who sent me and to finish his work. First

and primary, The heart of Jesus is what? Who

was the perfect servant, who never sinned. His

primary purpose, he said it first, was to what?

To do the will of him who sent him. And then

to finish the work. I'll say it this way. Jesus

never bypassed the little day -to -day things

for the big cross experience. Let me say that

again. Jesus never bypassed the little day -to

-day things for the big cross experience. This

is where sometimes we as Christian people can

really get this turned around in our heart. We

often think because we separate the Gospels and

some of the New Testament. We try to, and I'm

not saying necessarily you do this, but this

happens often in Christianity that people remove

the gospels from the rest of the New Testament

writing from Acts to Revelation and somehow highlight

the gospels as the pinnacle of Revelation when

in fact God actually said to Jesus, I want you

to finish your work so that you can release my

promise for the other to come, the another. Now,

that's important that we understand when Jesus

was talking about, it's more needful that I go

that I would send the helper. And in another

scripture, he says, and I will send another just

like him. That word another means of the same

nature, of the same character, of the same power,

and of the same authority. Just Holy Spirit is

going to be a same but different altogether.

It's another. It's like having Christ, only the

responsibility of the Holy Spirit's work is the

same responsibility that Jesus had to work. And

so for us to highlight the gospels as the pinnacle

of revelation is to diminish the power and the

work of the Father through the Holy Spirit. And

that's a big deal. It's a big deal because you

begin to end up with a different kind of doctrine.

You begin to think that somehow what Jesus did

in the gospels is superior to all the other things.

No, Jesus was as the God -man perfect. and superior

in all things. But the doctrine, the doctrine

that he laid out, he constantly referred to the

Holy Spirit, giving teaching of who was to come.

And it was better that the Holy Spirit came.

Why? Because he would work with more than just

him. The whole point was he would take what would

be on Christ sovereignly. And now because of

Christ's work and the Holy Spirit's work, the

Holy Spirit would now be sent to God's people.

And you and I, as the scriptures say, multiple,

multiple places are called to do the work and

to do the things that Jesus did and greater things

are we to do. Now that's hard to believe, but

it is the truth. It's the truth. Now, why am

I separating us? Because Jesus never, now please

hear me, never highlighted the cross as his major

destiny. Meaning he did not pick it up all the

time. Fact is, when he did talk about it, the

disciples couldn't get it. If it was all about

the cross, even though the cross was part of

that, and Paul picks it up in the other side,

if you want to talk about from Acts to Revelation,

Paul picks it up and said, I glory in the cross.

God forbid that I stop, that I never, that I

will not stop preaching the cross. The cross

of Jesus Christ would be lifted up, but Jesus

was constantly taking advantage. of his disciples,

getting them to encounter their now understanding

of what was leading them astray. You see, Paul

was dealing with the cross and so did all of

the others in the New Testament about lifting

Jesus high of what he did. But Jesus was constantly

confronting the disciples in their thinking process

in their now. And I was, this morning I woke

at about 2 .45 and I had to kind of do the old

man thing and use the restroom and got up and

did that and went back to bed, looked at the

clock. And when I woke up this morning, my alarm

went off at 4 .40. Somewhere in that two hours,

I had an encounter with the Lord. And in that

encounter, And it wasn't a dream, but it was

like a dream, but only like I could actually

see myself as the Lord was talking to me. And

the principle of what he was speaking to me this

morning was he made me look at my feet. And as

I was looking at my feet, I remembered the scriptures.

memorize some of the word of God and get it hit

in my heart, just like you and I are told to

do, you know, put the word of God inside of us.

And I thought, okay, Romans, the 10, blessed

are the feet of those that bring the good news.

How good, how, you know, I started thinking about

the feet, the scripture in Psalms, Psalms, just,

well, forget the reference. We'll just say it.

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light

unto my path. And I began to think about the

scriptures in regard to feet. And I thought about

David when he said, you've given me Heinz feet

that I can traverse the terrain that I could

climb and you've made me stable. And I was thinking

about that. And as I was rehearsing that, as

I was looking at the feet yet, but the Lord said,

yes, that's all true, but I want you to. I want

you to understand something. I need you to understand

that you must look at where you're at so that

you can determine what I'm doing in your now.

Our tendency is, and I hope that we're gonna

see this in the scriptures in a little bit. Our

tendency as Christians is to want to live for

the future. We don't necessarily like what's

happening in the now. And so what do we do? We

begin to pull on the future. And there's nothing

wrong with that. The Bible says that we're supposed

to. We're to call those things that are not as

though they were. We walk by faith and not by

sight. We're to welcome, as Abraham did, we're

to welcome the promises of God from afar. But

the tendency for the Western church is to constantly

live on this side of pulling things in because

we're dissatisfied with where we're at and constantly

pulling for the more of God. And that's good,

but that's not balance. There is a point because

Jesus could have spent every moment. Three and

a half years with the disciples constantly trying

to drill into them the cross and the resurrection.

He didn't. He did bring it in from time to time.

What did he focus on? Wherever they were at,

he focused on what God was trying to do in their

now moment where they would grab onto him in

their now and believe him. And so that is the

reality of what God is trying to do in the life

of Christians is he wants us to have the whole

biblical spectrum because he is that truth. He

is the fullness. We don't want to just divide

him and say, well, I'm a gospel only Christian

or I'm a New Testament only. No, no, no. You're

a both. You are pulling on the things that are

to come. You are pulling on the promises of God.

You're pulling on the things that God has said

that were going to come to you and you're believing

for, but you're also now recognizing that your

walk with Jesus Christ, you must look at where

you're standing. And not only just where you're

standing, am I positioned in strength? Is where

I'm standing safe? Or have I not been, have I

been so looking about what I'm going through

in life? Now listen, you can have it on both

sides of the coins. You can be going through

some suffering and through some hardship and

some sadness that you don't even look at your

now and you're so focused on, oh, it's kind of

like that old television commercial, oh, Calgon,

take me away. That's kind of how you pray. Oh,

Jesus, just take me away. Just get me out of

where I'm living right now and let me focus on

what it will be. That's not always biblical.

You have to look where you're standing. You have

to look where you're walking. Your word is a

lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. He

didn't say, just trust the lamp, just look beyond

it. No, he actually said, Your word is a lamp

unto my feet and a light unto my back. Dealing

with your personal walk. Dealing with where are

you stepping? Are you on good ground? Are you

looking to see if there's any traps or hidden

things that are waiting for you? Or have you

lifted up your vision so far that you're not

looking at your now? And as the Holy Spirit,

as I came up out of sleep and I recognized, Lord,

that's what you're asking for. You're asking

for the church to have an understanding. Yes,

we have promises. Yes, we're to be a prophetic

people. Yes, we're to understand what is to come.

But we're also to take advantage of you being

God in our now and that our feet would be secure

and our next steps we would recognize that you're

trying to work something in us like you did with

the disciples in the now moment. I'm not just

waiting to be transformed out there. I'm allowing

God to transform me in the now. Are you all right?

All right. I hope I didn't lose you at the colonoscopy

story. So here we are. Jesus didn't bypass the

little day experiences for the big cross experience.

He took advantage. Of every situation. To begin

to work. Now this is key. To begin to work in

the framework. Of their mind and their thinking.

Right? Because what was he doing? What got the

disciples constantly in error. Not to mention

the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Was the fact

that their mind. And their way of thinking could

not embrace God in their now. God in their now

was actually a concept that they couldn't actually

grab a hold of. In fact, as many times Jesus...

was trying to tell them about what was coming.

And you remember, it's just like, the Son of

Man is gonna be delivered to the Romans and he's

gonna be beat and crucified. And he will, three

days he will die in a tomb, but on the third

day he will rise. And they're just like, they

couldn't get it. They couldn't get it. Finally,

at just the moment, like within days of the crucifixion,

they finally kinda, Got it. But even in the getting

it, they didn't get it. Because they all deserted

him at the Garden of Gethsemane. Every one of

them. Every one of them fleed. Some of them fleed

so bad they left their clothes. Mark said, and

the young man that was following was covered

with a sheet and he left his sheet and ran. That'll

preach. When you as a disciple leave your sheet

and run. Come on. How many times when we are

supposed to know, you gotta be careful how you

say that, don't you? How many times you're supposed

to know that God is in your now and we just leave

it because, oh, I can't handle it. Jesus' perspective

of dealing with the disciples dealt with what?

Getting the heart of the Father into their filter

system. Their thinking, their mind, their heart.

Why? Because his primary objective was to what?

To please the Father. And it was more important

than the work. The work followed the heart. That's

why faith, when... When James starts dealing

with faith, he says, listen, don't tell me that

you have faith, but let me see the genuineness

of your faith by your works. So it's both. Pleasing

the heart of God comes first. The work that he's

called you to do or the purpose that he's called

you to do is secondary, not primary. So let's

look at this. Hebrews 10, verses five through

seven. The book of Hebrews is quoting, what Jesus

actually embodied. Notice what it says. Sacrifices

and offerings you have not desired, but a body

you have prepared for me. Jesus literally became

that body. According to the gospel of John, right?

In the beginning was the word, the word was God,

the word was with God and the word went forth

and we beheld him and he became the only begotten

son. The word was made flesh. God prepared a

body for the living word of God and he took on

humanity, right? Now listen, for you and I, we

don't, a body we have, but this scripture was

talking about the fulfillment of the perfect

body although we can receive truth and understanding

from this because what then did Jesus identify

with verse 7 he says then I said behold I have

come to do your will oh God notice the very purpose

of heaven in God preparing a body for the word

of God the response once that body was there

was Lord I didn't come to bring you individual

sacrifices and focus on just the things that

I do for you. I have come for the purpose to

do your will. Now for Jesus, that is so important

for our salvation. Now take it off of the Lord

and put it onto us. It's still important for

us and how we live. Because if that was the motivation

for God to please the Father in everything, that

should be the motivation for every one of us

as Christians to want to please the Father. Rather

than focusing on our individual times where we

sacrificed or where we did something, the goal

should be in our filter system, we live now.

to please the Father. Like Paul would say in

Acts 17 as he was dealing with the Athenians.

In him we live and move and have our being. The

understanding was, I live and I move and I now

live for God's glory. That's why Paul could say

later in Galatians 2 .20, the life I now live,

I live for the glory of God who gave himself

for me. I've been crucified with Christ and the

life I now live, I live for him. Where does that

come from? It comes from this understanding of

I've been born again and in that born again,

Being born from above and being saved and a new

creature. My first goal is not what I can give

him. My first goal is, can I just be pleasing

to him? I know he loves me. And this is where

the American church, if you'll let me just get

into our thinking just a little bit. This is

where our American church becomes divided. Because

we separate out the totality of scripture. Meaning.

We have churches that focus all on he loves me,

he loves me, he loves me, he loves me. And then

we have churches that focus what can I do, what

can I do, what can I do, what can I do? The reality

is they need to be blended together. The reality

is I better know that I am a new creature in

Christ, that I am loved and I'm adopted and there's

nothing. Hell cannot take me. Nobody can snatch

me from the love of God and his commitment and

covenant to me. I can walk out of it. I can cut

it, but no power of hell can do it. Now I can

partner with the things of hell, but it'll be

my choice in doing that. That's got our identity

and who we are, our beginning, if I could say

it this way, our adoption into son and daughtership

should never be questioned. It should always

be rooted and growing and strengthening. However,

that in the end of the story that I just get

saved. That's the beginning of the journey, right?

And that's what we've been talking about. What

does the something more church do? Something

more church understands that there is something

beyond just religion or routine and profession

that actually creates and we live to have the.

power of Christ move in us and through us, and

without being weird, we become a channel for

the work of the kingdom of God to operate in.

Where God's works that Christ did, signs, wonders,

healings, miracles, deliverance, the glory of

God, the manifest activity of heaven takes place.

And here's what we need to understand. Over here,

we become saved and you become a child of God.

That's what John 1, 12 says. Not born according

to the will of man, not according to the mind

of man, but according to the will and purpose

of God, you were born again. Not by blood, not

by man's will, but by God's will, you were born

again. But that doesn't mean you're grown up.

There's a difference in the scripture. Weon and

technon. Or weos and technon. Two different meanings

of sonship. One is in the beginning of sonship.

The other means you're actually participating

as though you have been with the father and been

working the land and his inheritance all along.

And that's the reality of blending the two. In

the Greek understanding is, I always recognize

that I'm always in the family. That's why Jesus'

response to the prodigal older brother was so

stunning. And when the prodigal got mad, here

this son of yours, this younger son, squandered

your inheritance with prostitutes and loose living

and all of this stuff. And you gave him a goat

and now you're celebrating. And then the scripture

is awesome, especially in the King James. You

didn't even give me a goat to make merry with

my friends. Well, you're poor little goatless

self. And you know what the father said? He said,

son, all that I have is yours. Jesus was. was

trying to get the son to understand that what

he was doing, he was trying to, the older son

was trying to prove his worth and was keeping

score. The younger son had tapped into something

that being part of the family of God and pleasing

the father was much more than anything you could

do on your own. And the older son needed to come

to the revelation. Had he come to the father

and say, God, this is what would make father.

This is what would make me happy. I'm going to

ask you for this. The father was said, man, it's

right. It's good. Here it is. But the son wouldn't

ask that way. The older son tried to work it.

And when his disappointment came in is when the

generosity of the father's grace and love was

seen and it didn't give something to him. Now,

so let me get back to where we were talking about.

We're talking about having both. Being a son

and a daughter, loved, adopted, in the beloved,

as we would say, in Christ Jesus. And then what?

Having the responsibility now to now become what

the Bible would say, stewards of grace. And that's

where we're going here. I want you to take a

look at 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4, verse 7. Now I'm

1 Peter 4:7

gonna spend some time in this, so let's just

buckle in for a little bit. 1 Peter 4, 7 says

this. The end of all things is at hand. I mean,

what a great verse. I mean. Peter is literally

just bringing it right down and said, you need

to understand something. The end of all things

is at hand. Semicolon. Therefore, because of

that, be self -controlled and sober -minded for

the sake of your prayers. Verse eight. Above

all. Keep loving one another earnestly since

love covers a multitude of sins. Now, I want

to camp on those couple of verses there. Because

in this scripture, we see the two different realities.

It says, the end of all things are at hand. Be

sober, right? And be self -controlled. But above

all, love one another earnestly. So what was

he saying? He was saying your primary purpose,

above all. Can we say above all together? Ready,

go. One more time. Above all. Above all means

what? The pinnacle. After everything is summed

up and everything is tallied, Above that, here

becomes the primary objective of the Father.

The Holy Spirit in you. Now love one another

earnestly. Why is this so important? Because

this becomes the word that the apostles would

all share is the most important thing. Love the

Lord your God with all, Jesus said it, love the

Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul,

and strength, and the second is like it, love

your neighbor as yourself. John, the apostle

John, as John would write in third person, he

would say, the one who the Lord loves. He would

write and say, I'm not giving you a new command,

but I'm giving you an old command that was from

the beginning, that you love one another. Jesus

said, again, going back to Jesus, he said, If

you love me, you will what? You will keep my

commandments. And so love, understanding love

means what? I set my mind, my will, my value,

and my understanding to what? To please him and

give him my highest affection in every area.

not just in the time of worship, but in the what?

In the day walk where my feet are and in the

vision that God has for me, that I'm not pulling

on what I want from the soul, but because I want

to be pleasing him, I'm asking what will please

him. And I call those things in over my life

that he's chosen to have for me. So it's both.

It's how do I please him now walking in love

now and how I'm gonna walk in love and call those

things in. But notice he says, in order, here's

the first part of it. He says, the end of all

things is at hand. And I wanna focus just a little

bit on this. He says, so because of that, therefore

be self -controlled and sober -minded for the

sake of your prayers. Now, let's think that through

a little bit. For the sake of my prayers. Being

self -controlled and sober -minded for the sake

of my prayers. Let's say what he's not saying.

He's saying, what's not there is, you can pray

things that when they're not sober -minded or

self -controlled, you can pray prayers. That

are not answered. Doesn't mean they're not heard.

It means they're not answered. How does that

work? I'll tell you how it works. When you pray

according to the things that are happening in

your world. That move you past sober Christian

thinking with wisdom. and what is already written,

and you get moved by what? Fear, anxiety, worry.

And you begin to pray differently. Why? Because

you're moved by an outside force that you don't

believe that God will actually step in and do

something. You begin to pray different because

you've left the foundation of where you should

be standing. Right? When it says sober thinking,

let's just, can we go here just a little further?

Sober thinking, why the word sober? It's the

same word that Jesus uses in the scripture. It's

the same word that Paul will then pick up in

his scriptures being be sober, be alert. What's

this sobriety? It means that you're not under

the influence of something. Sober means what?

I have, if I'm not sober, which that's only happened

once in my life, a long time ago. And I swore

to the Lord, I said, Lord, that I will never

touch that again. This is the stupidest feeling

I ever felt. Terrible. I thought, how do people

get hooked by this? I had, I don't know. Let

me just. Let me just say this and I'm not glorifying

it. But for our senior project, they told us

to do something, just think outside the box.

So me and another kid across the field decided

to build our own still. And so, of course, we

did it without our parents' permission. I had

the tap and die set and found the copper and

we hijacked mom's pressure cooker. And we decided

we'd make our own alcohol. And they had a chicken

incubator that got the mash up to a certain level.

And so we decided that we'd make our own kind

of version of corn whiskey. Now I had never,

I've never drank before. I'd never had any of

that done. It's the god awfulest thing I'd ever

tasted. Now I didn't know we were supposed to

add flavor to it. And I probably could have,

you know, as they said, we did something that

we shouldn't have. We distilled it multiple,

multiple times. So when I put a lighter to it,

man, it would just. And so I have no idea how

many proof it was. And we decided, I don't know,

this is kind of glorifying sin here, but I'm

trying not to do that here. We decided to go

to a place where we would just be alone and nobody

could get to us and no driving and no nothing

and just see what it tasted like. Because we

were told that it tasted good. They lied, they

lied, they lied. And after having a bit of it

and getting a headache and then throwing up and

my head spinning and then waking up in the morning

after it was all done going, how do you put fun

and that together? That was horrible. And I remember

saying to myself, I will never come under. God,

forgive me for coming under the influence of

something that took my senses, my judgment, and

my mindset. I never touched it again. Now, the

reality was, that's what Jesus is speaking to

when he talks about sober -minded. Why? Because

if you get under the influence, and most of you,

you know, you're good drivers, most of you. But

when you drive under the influence, what happens?

You can't react in time. You don't see the signals.

You're not thinking line of sight. You're not

thinking, hey, I'm driving. offensive and defensive.

When you're impaired at some level, depending

on the degree of your impairment, you are already

removed the fact that you're not thinking about

somebody else's life. You're just trying to get

to where you're going. That's coming under the

influence of something. Because if you're sober,

you are actually thinking about other people's

lines. You're actually thinking about how what

they do will impact your life and how you can

make sure that you're not an accident, that you're

actually in charge of your car and your family

and not just you, but other people. The minute

you get under the influence, it stops you thinking

about others and it brings its full focus on

you, your pleasure and what you're into. So when

Paul, through the Holy Spirit, says sober -minded,

you have to understand that this scripture always

speaks of impairment spiritually. Because why?

Jesus goes over this. He said those who get drunk,

get drunk at night. Night is coming. What was

Peter addressing? He was dressing. The night.

He says what? The end of all things is at hand.

What did Jesus tell us would take place at the

end? That darkness would get greater. We're not

to fear the darkness, but we're to recognize

that when darkness gets greater, light shines

brighter. And he's saying that those who get

drunk get drunk at night. Put it on alcohol.

Now put it spiritually. The Bible says clearly

in Ephesians chapter four, it says, do not be

drunk with wine, which is dissipation. Means

what? It fades, it leaves, it evaporates. You're

constantly having to feed something to keep the

atmosphere of what it offers going. He said,

don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with

the Holy Spirit. So he recognizes the pull of

that intoxicating power in wine. And when he

talks about the night, he's talking about the

difference between sobriety. thinking of being

a person of the day versus an intoxicated person

that has been consumed with the night. How do

you get intoxicated by the night? It's not because

someone comes up to you and says, I am the devil

and I have powers that you not know of. Join

me on the dark side. That's not the lure. Not

at all, right? There's nothing in Garrett's just,

sure. No, he's like, not buying it. Okay, what

is the intoxication of the darkness? The intoxication

of the darkness is, are you ready? The Bible

says that we fight three things, the world, the

flesh, and the devil. The darkness that Jesus

is talking about is not dealing with the flesh

and it's not dealing with the devil personally.

It's dealing with the atmosphere of how the enemy

gets people across the world intoxicated, which

is what? The system of the world. So that when

darkness comes in the world, what are you drinking?

Whether your station is CNN or Fox, or anything

in between, podcast, if they're not standing

on the wisdom of the rock himself, then you're

being pulled to what the Bible calls the drinking

of the wine of the great harlot's immorality.

Now, I know I just went deep there, but let me

explain it. It's not just the immorality of acts.

of explicit acts that we would do. It is the

wine of the immorality that causes an intoxication

of every ideological mindset that is contrary

to what the Bible teaches. And that's how you

drink it. So if you're spending... an hour and

a half listening to podcasts or news rants or

all of the things that are going on. And then

you give a poultry 15 minutes of just give him

15 and barely read your Bible. What are you doing?

You're drinking a bottle of intoxication of the

world and you're sipping a cup of coffee. What's

happening? You're not being sober minded. Why?

Because you're not understanding the end of all

things. You're actually listening to the intoxication

of what? Fear and anxiety and worry. And then

that doesn't just stay in itself. It begins to

burrow in. And what does it burrow into? It burrows

into the mind and the heart that now says, I've

got to now protect me. I now have to protect

my family. I don't know if I can just do normal

wisdom. I got to pick up from what I would normally

that's in the scriptures. I got to do extra because

now my focus is on fear rather than being balanced

in what the scripture says. And that's why Peter

was coming and he's saying to the church, he's

saying, listen, you need to understand something.

You, the end of all things is at hand. Well,

what Jesus said, listen, darkness is going to

go stronger and stronger and stronger until the

day of the Lord. Well then. He chose you to live

in this generation. So how do I live in the generation

still believing in the promises of God for me

and my generation and my children's generation,

my children's children? What do I have to do

to keep drinking, to not drink the elixir, if

I will, the elixir of the world and actually

operate as a light? I have to be sober -minded.

And I have to be what? self -controlled. Because

you can run around in your prayer time with your

hair on fire emotionally, and because you're

not standing on the rock, you're just saying

words that are sponsored from emotions that are

not coming from the Spirit of God. And I'm not

talking about your prayer being... passionate

or fervent, because the Bible's gonna talk about

the fervent, earnest prayer. Listen, I love how

some of these guys pray. I want them to be fervent,

but the issue is, are they fervent from the balance

of knowing God and their trust in him, or has

Fox News moved them to be passionate about, oh

God, get me out now! Come on. Self -controlled.

It's one of the fruits of the Spirit. Sober -minded

and self -controlled. Meaning what? I'm not allowing

my emotions. But let's put it this way. We can

all see the error of that. But what happens when

you're going through a test? What happens when

you're going through a test physically? Let's

just take it that way. Or you're dealing with

something with your child. Or you're dealing

with a marriage. I mean, I don't want to be too

prophetic here, but let's just focus on those

three. Physical, children, marriage. Let's just

focus on that. If I'm having some level of suffering

or some level... of conflict or some level of

my prayers seem to not being answered in the

time that I want them to. Where I think, who

pushes me in my thinking and being self -controlled

in my emotions determine the level of breakthrough

that I stay anchored. Right? Because it can push

me to get... It's not that I don't need to be

stirred, but I can be stirred from my emotions

that are not self -controlled. I can be stirred

from a place of frustration or anger. I can be

stirred from all types of things. Maybe even

from the fact of, I feel like I've slighted and

God didn't hear me. All of those things can push

me off being what? Sober thinking. Sober thinking

means I must line out who God is, that he doesn't

change. Do you know that most of my prayer life,

when it's successful, comes back to the fact

that I'm anchoring myself in sobriety before

I move to the throne. I have to, I speak to my

soul. I speak to the, because there's rarely

a time, and I'm saying this carefully, there's

rarely a time that I go to prayer on every morning

or night that something isn't upside down in

my world. Some family, some death, some sickness,

some river, some person, okay, some pastor. It

doesn't matter what it is. Rarely. Rarely is

there an issue that I don't have to deal with

something that's sideways. Most of the time when

I go to the Lord, it's like, Lord, everything

is awesome. Not one thing has fallen, not one

request. Everything in my life is incredible.

I don't remember that. From the natural side.

The spiritual side means what? I start laying.

the foundation of truth around myself to be able

to now pray in the confidence of being sober

-minded, still passionate, and self -controlled.

Meaning what? I'm not gonna allow that river

bank to dominate me today. I'm not gonna allow

the fact that I gotta write X amount of thousands

of dollars in a couple of years. I'm not gonna

let that steer my whole prayer time. I'm gonna

mention it, but it has a boundary. Come on. I'm

not going to take that cancer from this person

and let that be the only thing I pray for. I'm

not going to take that loss. I'm not going to

take that issue. I will center myself. Okay,

God, who are you? You are this from your word.

You are faithful. You are just. You are kind.

You are loving. You're the same yesterday, today,

and forever. You have not rejected me. I am love.

I set the boundary stones of my framework. Why?

I begin to bring soberness. Soberness does not

mean kill joy. Contrary to what every drunk says.

Soberness actually allows me to experience the

joy and the relationship of God in its purity.

And sober -minded just simply means I'm now...

touching base and I am now anchoring myself in

who God really is and I now begin to build myself

up not without self -control but in self -control

of the joy of the Lord and from that place then

I can begin to pray with assurance because I

begin to remind myself that faith is what pleases

God and I can even get fervent and Earnestly

pray in that spot, not being carried away by

emotions either way. You doing all right? So

let's keep this going a little bit. That word

earnestly, and this is where I wanna, Jenny,

wherever you're at, sweetheart. Thank you. This

word earnestly is incredible in the scriptures.

The New King James, if you're reading the New

King Jimmy version, it will use the word fervently.

Above all, keep loving one another fervently.

ESV says earnestly. There are two verses that

use this word earnest because the Greek word

is only used in three places. First Peter four,

this verse we're quoting, four, eight, and then

two others. Jesus used it. Notice what it says

in Luke 22, 44. And being in agony, Jesus prayed

more earnestly. and sweat became like great drops

of blood falling to the ground. Now, why is that

important? Because first of all, it tells us

that Jesus actually had prayer. Everything he

did was perfect. Everything he did was in obedience

to the Father, that his prayer moved into stages

and places where he prayed more earnestly. Now

the key of earnestly is this. The root word of

earnestly means to stretch something out. So

think about this. Acts 12 verse 5. We looked

Acts 12:5

at 1 Peter 4, 8. Second one, Luke 22, 44. This

third one. And so Peter was kept in prison. But

earnest prayer for him was made to God by the

church. Now, I don't have time to, this verse

is a whole message in itself. Prior, you have

to understand something. Acts chapter two, the

church was birthed. Acts chapter five and six,

it started to. find all of its ways into the

Jewish people, so much so that there was conflict

between, and that's how Stephen died as the first

martyr in persecution, over church -related issues.

In the church, the first death was over church

-related issues. Then we go to Acts chapter 10,

Acts 10 · chapter mention

or Acts chapter 8. Philip takes the gospel to

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Samaria. So right now what we see, Acts chapter

two, Jerusalem. Then five and six, Judea. Then

chapter eight, Samaria. And then when we get

to chapter 10 of Acts, we have Cornelius who

represents the rest of the world. He's an Italian.

army officer that the angel of the Lord comes

to. And the gospel now is beginning to fulfill

everything that Jesus told the disciples that

they would do. I will send power and you will

be my witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

and to the uttermost parts of the earth. That

is still building at Acts 10. When we get to

Acts 12, persecution started with Stephen in

Acts 7. Persecution has been happening. In Acts

12, we have a throwaway line that Herod reached

out and killed James. Now, who was James? I misquoted

it the first service. James, there was two James.

Well, actually, it was three, but the two big

ones was this. James, the cousin, and James,

the older stepbrother. It wasn't the stepbrother.

That's the one that we believe the book of James

and was the head of the church of Jerusalem in

Acts 15. This James was who? James, the cousin

that went with Jesus everywhere they went. The

three that Jesus would go with, James, Peter,

and John. And when James was taken and beheaded,

It says that Herod, seeing that it pleased the

Jews, arrested Peter also. Now what we don't

see in the scriptures is we see no reference

to the church praying for James. It's almost

like they had gotten used to persecution and

they were doing what? You ready what they were

doing? They were looking for the return of the

Lord. And what did they do? They took their eyes

off their now. They took their eyes off where

their feet were standing. And all of a sudden,

on their watch, one of their apostles got sacrificed

because they were looking beyond. Soon as that

happened, what did the church do? It switched

position. And it said, and listen, here's the

word, an earnest. Prayer was made for Peter.

What's that earnest again? That word earnest

at the root means to stretch out. It's a word

that Jesus used so many times. Let me give you

a few scriptures. It's used in Matthew 8 when

the leper came up to Jesus and Jesus stretched

out his hand. and touched the leper, and he was

made whole. It was used in Matthew 12, where

Jesus spoke to the man with a withered hand,

and he said, he said, I know if you're willing,

you can make, you can heal me. He says, I am

willing. Stretch out your hand. That's the word

earnest. It's the word, the root word, teneo.

What was he saying? He didn't say. Now, in some

cases, Jesus healed them without any response

of their own. But in other cases, he did what?

He required partnership. Notice Jesus didn't

say to the man with the withered hand, just try,

buddy. Just try to, no, no, no. His command was

stretch out your hand. Meaning what? Lengthen

it out. It's the same word that was used in the

garden. And Jesus. more earnestly prayed, meaning

what? He got stretched out to the max. You see,

he was stretched out by the Romans gonna whip

him, and he was stretched out by the cross. But

before he was ever stretched out in the physical,

he was stretched out in the spiritual. And he

laid out in fullness, pulling on heaven, actually

contending in earnestness and fervency. The same

word that's saying here that you would what?

Fervently love one another or earnestly love

one another is the place where you would actually

lay and stretch out for something to receive

it or to bring it near to yourself. You had to

be what? All in. You say, well, what are you

getting to? I'm getting to the next verse in

Acts chapter 12. Where the apostle Paul. I don't

Acts 12 · chapter mention

think it's 12. I misquoted that. I apologize.

In the book of Acts. Where Paul. Is now writing

about his journey. On his way to Rome. He's been.

He left Acts chapter 19 and 20, told the elders

Acts 19 · chapter mention

he'd never see them again. And between 20 and

24, he begins all of his journey to try to get

to make his appeal to Caesar and to those that

he must go to Jerusalem and stand before those

in power. And what happens? Because the ship

captain refused to do what? To heed his advice.

They got caught in a great storm. The Bible says,

and you should read it. It's amazing. It says

that for 14 days and for 14 nights, they drifted

not seeing sky or land. That means they were

in such a precarious thing. When you're on the

sea and you can't see the sky or any land and

have no bearings of where you're at, you are

in trouble. It says that all the people on board,

they had done everything. They had given up their

will to live. They all were condemned of life.

And then what does the account say? Paul gathered

them together. And I love this as a senior pastor.

His first words to them were, brethren, you should

have listened to me. It's recorded in the scripture.

I love it. But this night, the God in whom I

served sent his angel and he stood with me. And

it shall be exactly as he has said, that he is

preserving all people on this ship. And I'm paraphrasing

a little bit, but there was 276. How did that

happen? How did the angel? come in outside of

man's ability in Peter's life. Remember, he was

chained in the inner prison to four guards, having

chains all on Peter, four of them, inside the

gates. Outside the gates, there were guards.

Outside of the cell, then out the door, there

were gates and guards again. There were three.

Sets of guards and gates and the Lord through

what? The church in Acts 12, earnest prayer was

made. Earnest prayer did what? It not rooted

in fear, not rooted in emotions run amok, not

rooted in rejection because they missed their

moment with James, but strengthening themselves

in who God says they were, changed the course

and did what? earnest prayers, the church stretched

out. What happened? God sent an angel and Peter

thought he was in a dream as he walked out of

those chains, walked out of the gates and walked

out of the guard. What happened in Paul's life?

14 days. 275 men despaired of life. 275 men that

served other deities and other gods. 275 men

that had wrong values, wrong mindsets, wrong

hearts that were on their way to destruction

and hell. Somebody, Paul, staying rooted and

sober -minded and staying in self -control, stretched

himself out earnestly on the altar of heaven

and began to ask that God would intervene. And

what did God do? After 14 days of no food, 14

days of no drink, 14 days of no strength, Paul

stood by the Spirit and said, you take a little

grain before you drive it off because what I've

asked for has been granted and I've asked for

276 lives. What happens when we begin to be sober

-minded, self -controlled, and love people? more

than ourselves is that all of a sudden the intervention

of heaven begins to break in. We see it with

the church with Peter's life and we see it with

the church in Paul's life, not a church in the

world, in Paul's life, in circumstances, they

stretched out and in earnesty, they laid hold

of being all in and love Paul, love God and love

people more than himself. As I'm closing this

morning. Isn't that what God wants of all of

us? Hey, Peter. You know why Peter wrote that?

Because Peter was the recipient of earnest prayer.

1 Peter 4 .8 came right from the journey. of

what he experienced through earnest prayer and

the love of people for the will of God and to

be pleasing to God more than just themselves,

he experienced breakthrough. That's what God

is asking for you and I. In these final moments,

would you just maybe bow your head and close

your eyes for a moment? Why don't we just wait

on the Lord just a little bit. You need to ask

yourself, Holy Spirit, have I been intoxicated

by the elixir of the world? Is my prayer life,

the kind of prayers I'm praying, is it being

motivated because I'm sober and thinking about

who you are, Father? Or is my prayer life sponsored

by the elixir of fear, anxiety, frustration,

irritation, disappointment. Who's moving me?

Are my prayers being heard or am I just satisfied

with the fact that I prayed them and I was emotionally

stood? stirred. Father, I'm asking now this morning

that you would begin to deal with us, your church.

And God, you would make us a people. There'd

be a shift, Lord, in our thinking that we would

truly embrace what it means to be sober minded

of the spirit. Lord, that doesn't mean not full

of joy. That means both full of joy and full

of faith, but sober in how we think of you, sober

in how we respond to you, sober in understanding

that we can be rooted and grounded in love and

in truth. And Lord, letting our fervency be in

the fact that we spoke from truth and the platform

of truth, not motivated by any outside force.

And I'm asking that you would separate that this

morning. Like wheat from chaff, that the wind

of your spirit would begin to blow through this

house even now. Lord, there be a blowing out

of that which is not the fullness of your truth

and your word. We would not be people of gospel

only or New Testament only. We would be people

that would embrace the fullness of your word

and that we would see what's in front of us and

learn and hear as well as calling on the promises

and living by faith even for the things that

are to come. Make us people that are balanced

and whole. And Lord, full of faith that when

we pray, we expect answers. Why? Because our

prayers are not done without being under control.

Our spirit controls our soul. Our spirit, your

spirit, the Holy Spirit, keeps in line our soul.

Because we pray from faith, we pray from truth,

and we pray from a platform of love. If you're

here this morning and you don't know the Lord

Jesus Christ, you've heard me preach this morning

for the last 40 minutes, and you go, I've never

asked Christ into my heart. If that's you this

morning, I'm talking to you. Or maybe you've

stepped away from the Lord. Maybe you've not

been able to outrun his presence, you've not

been able to outrun the thought of him there,

but you know you've not, walked and you've deviated

from where you first met him and fell in love

with him. Whether you're here in a place of backslidden

moment, we would call that you've backed off

of that first love. Or you're here and you've

never given your life to Christ. Jesus offers

you, not only does he offer you his life, but

he offers you his fellowship, his love, his grace,

and the willingness to partner with him that

Christ will be formed in you. If that's you this

morning and you can answer, hey, you know what?

I wanna make Christ my one true king. Or you're

here today and you're saying, I have backslidden

and I gotta, I realize I can't just do this on

my own. My thinking, my understanding. It's an

issue. I need the Lord to bring me to a reset.

Help me repent and begin to live fresh again.

If anyone is here with that, would you be so

bold? In any of those categories or in between,

just lift your hand. I could send somebody back

to you and pray with you. But you got to be bold

enough to say, that's me. I know who I am. Is

there anyone else? Is there anyone else? You

just gotta lift your hand up before the Lord

and say, that's me. I'm gonna come back. I wanna

bring my life under the direction of the Holy

Spirit. I'm gonna bring my life under the counsel.

I'm asking for your forgiveness, Lord. I'm asking

for your grace. Change me. Give me a heart to

serve you, to love you. Awesome. Just gonna look

just a little longer. All right. Thank you for

those that said yes to that. To the rest of us,

would you just be willing to stand now? Tiffany's

coming to dismiss us. I wanna pray this prayer

inside of, that would happen inside of us. Father,

Let this message burn in our hearts. Lord, let

the word of the Lord come and be real to us.

Lord, let us look at our feet. Lord, not being

enamored with where we are, but Lord, looking

to what you're trying to shape in us right now.

What are the circumstances we are going through?

Lord, that we would not put our affections to

get out of it. But we would say, let Christ be

formed in me in this now moment. In this now

place. I speak that and I pray that and I ask

for the grace of God to come upon every heart

and mind. Bless them in Jesus Christ. Holy name.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to this

week's message. We are so grateful for those

who tune in each week and have given generously

to this ministry. If you would like to give click

the link in the episode description below. You

can also help us by subscribing to this podcast

and sharing it with your friends and family.

Lastly, if you are in need of prayer send us

a text message at 541 -625 -1365. We would love

to pray with you.