Sunday Message (2nd service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (January 18, 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. Well, I am so grateful

you're here. We have a full day. You know, I

can... strategize all week I can pray I can ask

the Lord what he wants to do and and the last

three or four days of just trying to hear the

Lord and respond and then I wake up this morning

to a bunch of words and I actually said driving

in as it was about 545 as I was driving in this

morning I said you're not going to do anything

that we talked about today are you That's just

how God is. He's willing to change the plans.

He allowed me to dig into a few things. And I've

got two things that we need to do today. First

thing is I want to give you a word from the scriptures

that I believe is just, it's gonna be a shorter

exhortation message on what we're doing right

now in prayer and fasting. And then I'm gonna

take you to some video. I'm gonna take you to

what's happening on our riverbank and what's

before us like I told you I would last week,

okay? Would you tell the worship team they did

a great job this morning? I'd like you to open

your Bibles, if you would, if you brought them

in the old, hopefully the leather bound, or if

you have an electronic version. make sure that

you open it up because we're gonna memorize a

verse this morning. Psalm 119 verse 10. Psalm

Psalms 119:10 Psalms 119:10

119 verse 10. I gotta find my message here. There

it is. Put it up on the screen if you would.

It's an easy one. You can do this. Ready? Say

this with me. With my whole heart, I seek you.

That was kind of half -hearted, so let's try

it again. Let's try it again. Ready? With my

whole heart, I seek you. Come on, there you got

it. Psalms 119, verse 10. That is why we are

Psalms 119:10

setting ourself aside for a time of prayer and

fasting. Why? We're dedicating our whole heart

to seek the Lord. Okay, now some of you thought,

well, shoot. I didn't make the 21 days. No problem.

You now have 14 days. That's why I'm coming to

you again. If you missed the first seven, here

we go. We're ready to do 14 days. What are we

doing for the fast? Well, you can do a variety

of things, but what we're suggesting is that

you would do a Daniel fast with us. And what

does that mean? That means you put aside the

sweets. That means you put aside the meats. You

know, some people I know. diabetic or restrictions.

Maybe you want to eat a little fish, but no beef,

no pork, no bacon, Nathan. I'm just telling you

in Jesus' name. Setting that aside and then all

the desserts. You just hear the cry of Israel,

the groan. You set those aside. Try to portion

yourself a little bit less. You're not just Jenny

Craig -ing it for Jesus. You're doing what? You're

causing a leanness in your soul. And then you

fill the rest of the time that you would maybe

self -entertain through movies and social media

and all sorts of video games, Trent. And just

all those things. Sorry about that, bro. And

you set those aside to do what? To seek the Lord

with your whole heart. To actually create a place

where... there's a hunger level inside of you

that's past just what's nominal and normal. That's

what we're doing the first of the year. Why?

Because first of all, God wants us to pursue

him, right? I will seek the Lord with my whole

heart, I will seek you. How about Luke 11, 10

says this, for everyone who asks receives. everyone

who seeks finds, and the one who knocks, it will

be opened. But see, it's not about the getting

of things. It's what seek first the kingdom of

God and his righteousness. He's looking for us

to pursue him. And the pursuit of him leads us

to what? Finding him. Now that doesn't, let me

give you just a little bit of a help here. Every

one of us has to go through the door of salvation,

right? I mean, you cannot get to God. Jesus was

very clear where he said, no man can come to

the Father but through me. Not Pastor Brad, but

through Jesus. I'm just a messenger. Jesus is

saying he's the only way he is the truth and

he's the life. He's the only way you can get

to the Father. Whoever has the Son has the Father

too, the scripture says. That's the door that

we all have to go through. It's called the cross.

We have to come to his cross and by faith we

enter into relationship when we recognize he

did for us what we could never do. He bridged

the gap from the father who's perfect and holy

became made like us so that he could die in our

place and satisfy the requirement for the penalty

of sin so that you and I could now walk across

on the bridge of faith to be in relationship

with God. That is the gospel. but you don't just

open that door. I say it carefully. You open

it one time to salvation, but you keep going

through that door. What do I mean by that? It

means that there are areas as we grow in God.

Now I'm 56 years old. I have almost 48 years.

of serving Jesus. Now in the first, when I got

saved at eight, there wasn't this deep revelation

other than I just got saved. My dad wasn't sure

it actually took, but I'm telling you at eight,

I got saved. Hallelujah. Now for 48 years, I've

been walking with the Lord in various capacities

of yieldedness. How many have experienced some

gross spurts in God and some stunting spurts?

It wasn't God's fault, it was our own, right?

Choices that we made. How many know that even

though we walk through the door of salvation,

God wants us to pursue him at that door because

there's levels in our life where we get stuck.

Now, don't have to raise your hand or don't raise

your neighbor's hand, right? But how many know

in your own life that there are some places that

you would like some breakthrough that in the

course of life, in seasons of life, things got

stuck. This is where God wants to pursue us.

That's why in every one of his journeys, he's

not saying, okay, well, I'm the Lord of death

over those areas, but I'm the Lord of life over

this area. He's the Lord of life over every area.

And what we came to the altar call today of getting

rid of rocks of offense and an agreement with

lines of judgments and the sentences where we

said, well, there's nothing we can do about that.

That's just it. That's not who he is. All things

are possible. The scripture says all things are

possible to those who what? Believe. The enemy

comes to get us to believe in what we see and

feel versus what he has said and how he thinks

about things. So the goal of pursuing him, whether

we just start with the door of salvation or when

walking with the Lord, like maybe me, 48 years.

AJ, how many years? You should know this. Okay,

24 years. How many minutes and hours? No, I'm

just messing with you. Okay, the fact is, AJ's

been walking with the Lord for 24 years. How

many doors have he took you through through that

salvation door over those 24 years? A lot. And

he's still taking you through doors. He'll still

take you to doors of that place of the cross

as you pursue him until you leave this earth

or he comes back. That's the goal of growing

in God. So when we say, well, why are we fasting

and praying? It's not just because we've got

a massive issue that's facing us on the riverbank.

That helps. That rallies us together and says,

oh God, help now. Or we're going to get swept

away in the flood. But that's secondary. Primary

is that what? you pursue him personally and areas

that have been stopped up and held the line and

held against you, you would seek God of what

he wants to do with that area. He can move that

boulder. He can cause you to dig that boulder

out. He can do a lot of things. He can cause

you to jump over that boulder. You might have

the same jump height as I do, about two credit

cards, but he can still, he can still, he can

still cause you to leap. Through God, I can do

great accomplishments. The principle is, am I

pursuing him in those areas? And what fasting

and prayer does is it brings it down to a level

to where now I get raw and vulnerable with a

disappointment and I'm willing to unwind cover

that brick wall that I said I'm not going to

pursue there anymore. And I allow him to speak

to me. Now, let me give you one verse before

I move to the second. This is a two part message.

So just think of it. Most of the time we're a

rifle, but today we're a shotgun. I got both

barrels loaded. Okay. So this is the part of

the first barrel. We'll get to the second barrel

in a second. I want to give you a word that the

Lord spoke to me. Last week, I gave you some

of the things that the Lord spoke to me while

I was away and some of the vision that the Lord

spoke to me. But he gave me a word on January

7th for this congregation. It was for me, but

it was for this congregation. And he said it

this way. He said, look to me and lift up your

eyes and your heart to see what I set before

you. For the world sees dark. The world welcomes

fear. and hopelessness, chaos, and destruction

surround it. But I am the light of life. I am

light and I am truth. I am hope and I am peace

and love. I reward faith and those who stay in

faith. And then he switched as he was contrasting

the world and all of its things versus who he

is. And then he said something very funny to

me. in that he used a sports analogy. Now I'm

not, I played sports all through high school

and a little in college, but I'm not a super

sports fan. But God does speak to me. When he

speaks to me, I have visions as he speaks and

pictures that come to my mind to affirm what

he's saying. And he said this, he said, I'm the

one who breaks determined plays, scrambles plans,

and chooses to bust the thought out plans of

man. And all I saw was a broken football play

where all of a sudden you couldn't read the defense.

The offense had a play that they were going to

do. And all of a sudden everybody was going into

an audible and it was just a scramble and there

was no design into it. And that's what the Lord

was saying. He said, listen, man, man has a lot

of things that he tries to put in play. He has

a lot of programs, but the scripture says what?

Man has a way that he thinks he should go, but

it's the Lord that establishes the path. And

so he was speaking that to me. He says, I'm the

one. And he said it very clearly. He said, I'm

the one that determines the correct path. I'm

the one that has preordained plans and purposes

from your beginning. And then he shifted again.

He said, I am the prevailing, prevailing God.

I am. I am the prevailing one. I have prevailed.

I am prevailing and I will prevail. It is tied

to my eternal nature. The one who was, the one

who is, and the one who is to come. I am the

prevailing one. And then he spoke. He said, there's

no one like me. There's none to compare with

me. I am the Lord most high and the almighty.

Now take your stand. And this is what he was

saying to me. And I knew he was saying it to

the church. He said, now take your stand with

me. Stand with me, stand with me, and stand in

faith. Watch and see my prevailing power, grace,

and provision be released. Walk with me in faith.

Stay in faith. Believe and respond to me in faith.

For as I prevail, so you too shall prevail. And

this house will prevail as each prevails in me

and stands with me, says the Lord. Now that I

believe with my whole heart is a now word for

this house. And so as I was waiting on the Lord

and he spoke to this to me, I was drawn to the

book of 1 John. And John obviously was the apostle

that we would call him in kind of, oh, in just

kind of. summarizing the apostle John's life,

we would call him the apostle of love. Because

in the gospel of John, he writes in the third

person, he writes in first person, he talks about

the one whom Jesus loved. That's who he's talking,

he's writing about himself as though. And as

John writes, he's always putting the reality

of his relationship with Jesus so much so that

Jesus asked, his own mother to come under John's

house and care as the eldest son as Jesus died.

And so I was drawn to his latter book, which

he wrote toward more the end of his life as he

is representing an apostolic, not from his time

with Jesus and the gospels, but his time now.

after persecution his time now writing to the

church of of how to operate in this thing and

first john has an incredible truth here and i

i want to release this in the next seven minutes

and i want to get to the next part i i want you

to turn in your bibles if you will to first john

chapter one verses one through four because john

ties something in the in the very first part

of his this there's three books first second

and third john at the very end of your bible

Not the gospel of John that's part of the gospels,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But John who wrote

the gospel is the same John that wrote these

three books at the end. And if you know your

Bible, or even if you don't, I'll share a little

bit. John starts his gospel unlike any of the

other gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, I mean,

Luke kind of starts with the birth of... John

the Baptist and Jesus. Matthew starts with the

genealogy. Mark starts with John the Baptist.

There are kind of all angles that come in the

beginning with birth and Jesus and John and the

forerunner and how this whole thing was the Messiah

would be born. John doesn't start with shepherds

or wise men or genealogy. John starts with in

the beginning was the word of God. and the word

was God, and the word was with God, and God sent

the word to the earth, and the word became flesh,

and we beheld him, and we handled him, and I'm

not the message, but I'm just the messenger that

I beheld the son of God. So he starts with the

fact that Jesus was the eternal word who came

from God, and he was made in the likeness of

men. That's how John starts his gospel. Then

he moves to, What does he move to? He moves to,

in his book, the very first opening line. Listen

to what he says. That which was from the beginning,

which we heard, which we've seen with our eyes,

which we looked upon, which we touched with our

hands, concerning the word of life. Stop. Again,

he's reiterating how important you understand

that this word. is not a dead word. This word

doesn't originate from the soul of a created

being. The word that is now the one who is with

us is the eternal word, the word of life that

is still living and power is still emanating

from that word. And that's radically important

that you get that. That's what sets apart the

word of the Lord from every other word out there.

It comes from an eternal, ever living, ever loving,

ever light giving source. And he said the life

was manifest and we saw it and we testify to

it. And we proclaim to you that the eternal life.

which was with the Father, was made manifest

to us. And that which we have seen and heard,

we proclaim to you. Now here we go. This is my

exhortation to you. That you too may have fellowship

with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the

Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. I wanna

point out this word and I'll maybe talk about

it more next week, fellowship. It's gonna be

really, really hard for me not to preach this

because it's in me, but I'm gonna do my very

best just to try to lay it out. We do really

good with an understanding of fellowship this

way. Fellowship is the word in the Greek koinonia.

And koinonia has at its root system, The ability

to participate, to share, and to have social

interaction. It's why we have small groups. It's

why we have ministry groups. It's why we have

places of connection to where we share life together.

And when we rejoice, we rejoice with one another.

When one suffers, we suffer with one another.

It's about the place of doing fellowship. in

the body of Christ and having that around the

fact that Jesus loves us, that Jesus paid for

us, and that Jesus wants you and I to actually

engage with one another around him. That's one

part of fellowship. But notice what it says here.

It says that you may have fellowship with us.

So he's talking about this way. But then he says,

and our fellowship. is with the father and the

son. It's the same word. It means what? Participation.

It means having something that you're contributing

and that there is interaction, not just receiving

an order. It means that there's discourse. Right

from the beginning, this is one of your key scriptures

to know that God is not a God to get prayed at

as though you were just plugging a quarter in

a machine. He's saying, if you know who we are

talking to, if you understand this is the word

of life, himself that's living, and he has sent

his Holy Spirit and he's joined you to Jesus

and the Father, he now is asking you, To actually

have fellowship. We can have fellowship with

us. But our fellowship now. Where we get the

us. Comes from the fellowship with him. And this

is the part that God is actually working on.

In these now. What used to be 21 days. Now 14

days that we're all together on. Now in these

next 14 days. What are we working on? We're working

on the fellowship here. And what does fellowship

mean? It means. That I have to be willing to

actually get vulnerable. It's prayer made in

vulnerability. Think about it in natural fellowship.

There's no connection if you stay locked down.

And somebody asks you, hey, how's it going? Good.

Anything going in your life? No. You doing anything

fun lately? Not really. Are you enjoying this

life group meeting? I guess. At that point, there's

no vulnerability. You are a bummer for Jesus

right there. Okay. The point is, it's when I'm

willing to let go of the shields. I'm willing

to let go of what you might think of me and I'm

allowing myself to enter into a place of some

dialogue that reveals vulnerability or at least

truth and honesty of how things are really going

in my life. At that point, I begin to do fellowship.

Does that make sense? That's why I wrote prayers.

Or prayers of repetition over and over. That's

not what God is looking for. He's not looking

for how fast you can say the Lord's Prayer. Our

Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom

come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Hallowed be thy name. Forgive us our trespasses.

Forgive those who trespass against us. Give us

our daily bread. Lead me not into temptation.

Deliver us from evil. Yours is the kingdom, the

power, the glory, the favor. Amen. And then over

and over and over. That is. Ridiculous. That

didn't even get above my hairline, which is...

Okay, what is he looking for? He is looking for

when you step into that place of my father, that

automatically begins to roll back your heart

and say, my father, you're in heaven, but you

see everything. And even though you know what's

going on in my life, I want to honor your name.

And I begin to come to you this morning. I'm

not talking about professionalism. I'm talking

to you about getting vulnerable. And I'm asking

the Lord, you see everything that's going on.

I didn't do it right yesterday. And even though

you're in heaven, I come to draw near to your

throne of grace. It's a starting point to begin

to pray through. It's a place of vulnerability.

It's a place of spiritual connection. It's a

place where I learn to open up to the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To a God who loves

me is full of compassion, mercy, grace, truth,

and light. And if I miss the key of drawing near

in vulnerability of fellowship, I guess what?

I am hindered in other prayers. Let me tell you

how this works. If I can't, I'm going to pick

on this side because AJ's over there. If I can't

get vulnerable with the father and he deal with

me of areas that I didn't know I was stuck in

and he take me through, then when AJ needs a

prayer of healing or breakthrough, I am praying

more out of knowledge than I am out of relationship.

And now my prayer of real relationship and God

coming in with power actually hinders me from

actually seeing some things break through because

I've hindered myself from the one who is the

answer, the word of life, the authority of life,

the light and the truth and the grace. Does that

make sense? That when I'm praying for healing

or I'm praying for provision or I'm, sorry, I

just happened to work that way. I'm praying deliverance

or I'm praying, I can't, or I'm praying whatever

I'm praying. The reality is it becomes more real

and becomes more tangible. Why? When I've touched.

the heart of the Father, and been real with me,

and I recognize he is the answer and the only

answer of any power and any freedom and any life

and any healing that can roll through. I am just

the messenger. He is the source. And that's why

we have to take time to fast. Why? It peels back

the layers so it removes blinders in our own

life so that he can actually use you in the things

that you want to be used in. That's a good word,

preacher. Can we put a pin in that? Okay, we

are. I wanted you to at least be able to have

a couple of verses that we could dig into this

morning and that for the next 14 days, we start

getting vulnerable with the Father. And we begin

to realize that the most important thing is drawing

near to him. In this time of prayer and fasting,

yes, we've got things to pray for, but the first

thing that you pray for is to draw near and to

get vulnerable to him. Okay, we're gonna do that

together, amen? All right, now, let me shift.

And as I'm doing that, I'd like, Pastor James,

if you are able to, wherever you're at, I'd like

you to. Church, I'd like you to turn your attention.

We're gonna talk about the riverbank here and

I'd like you to watch this video that I made

this week for our family and the churches that

we're in fellowship with. Church family, MFI

family, Brad Neuschwander from Life Bible Church

here coming to you right on the bank of the Willamette

River. What you're seeing behind me is a massive

pile driving machine and crane. that is getting

ready to start operating tomorrow morning as

we are putting in a 500 foot steel wall z pile

to save the buildings in the riverbank all of

the geologists and people we've had out said

if we don't do something within this year we

won't have any buildings as you can say this

is our youth It has our commercial kitchen and

the motel that we purchased this property 12

years ago is all being threatened on this end.

And just south of us, we have lost over 40 feet.

There used to be a giant oak tree, a full patio,

fire pit. You can see sidewalks gone, landscaping,

of course. Those all can be replaced. But buildings

and property and land can't be replaced as over

the last... 18 years, we have lost almost 100

feet of property. We're standing on a $2 .25

million project that I'm just presenting now

to our congregation because we were told no for

two and a half years. Our city finally has intervened

and said, we'll give you a window and you have

to be within 20 feet of the river. I want to

thank you for partnering in prayer. Your prayers.

Your contacts of people that you might know.

We've tried legislators, senators. We've gone

from the state houses even to our national houses.

We're just believing God to do a miracle through

his people and bring resources that we know not

of. Thank you. Thank you for partnering with

us. Thank you, church family and MFI family,

for being willing to partner with Jenny and I

and our whole church eldership team and church

body in this moment of crisis for us. We love

you. Thank you very much. Amen. All right. You

can tell it's not very professional as my cameraman

did not tell me that my mustache was crooked.

Hallelujah. Silly thing I can see in that whole

thing. Anyway, had the wings off just a little

bit. Anyway, all right. The point being, you

can see. That started on Tuesday. We filmed that

on Tuesday. I'm gonna show you in just a little

bit, a little more drone footage of what now

has already gone in the ground in just a little

bit. What stands before us is, and I said it

last week, I'm saying this week, is a $2 .25

million project. I don't even know hardly what

to say because it has come so fast that it has

been exceedingly difficult to plan for. I'm a

good little, I'm a farm kid, German, Swiss background,

a little, you know, I was raised ultra conservative.

And so for me, planning and strategic planning

is what I do I I I work a plan God gives me strategy

and I just bite by bite by bite take it out now

sometimes that drives my wife crazy because I'm

like okay this is going to take us seven years

so I need you to take this month every month

put this in the account you cannot spend it this

is our goal here in seven years We just finished

a seven -year goal in our personal life with

a roofing project. So this is how I live personally.

It's also how I live for the church and the fact

of I want to know where our budgets are and we're

constantly planning little accounts for things

so that we're not coming to the congregation

all the time nickel and diming people. It's part

of the process of what we do is very strategic

and to say, God, we want to be great stewards.

However, When you keep getting told no over and

over and over and prices are fluctuating, it

is really, really hard to try to plan. Imagine

me coming to you two years ago and say, we don't

have a solution. We know we have a problem. I'd

like you just to give. You don't need to know

about it. Just give. Well, that may sound funny,

but I'm going to tell you what you would do.

No. because we don't have a plan. You don't have

a strategy. And so that's why this has been very

difficult for us because we have had multiple

bids. This project started at a $10 million price

tag. Now that was staggering to me. When we,

they started, engineers started, when we started

the process and you, you can go to the website

and read the four pages of history that I've

put there on the Riverbank update. You can go

to the information counter and get the full summary

of what we've been through, the number of denials

and stuff that we've been through to get the

answer that we've given, been given. And the

bottom line was this answer has changed. What

we thought was going to be a maybe a million

point two, million point four at the highest

because the ground has given way more than we

thought. We're having to almost double the depth

that we're going down in the ground. So what

we thought we could do with 25 to 30, 28 to 30

feet, now we're having to go potentially 55,

56 feet deep. And so the price of steel doubled

on us. What we thought would be maybe 800 ,000,

you know, six to 700 ,000 of steel is now doubled

that. And so that is part of the issue that we're

having to drive steel, what they call Z pile

steel pieces. And you're going to see it in just

a little bit on this next video. We're having

to drive that into the ground to make a wall.

Think of it like a W. kind of an inverted W.

They'll come together, two pieces come together

to form a flat line and then they'll form a curve

from that flat line out and then another one

will connect in and it'll just continue to do

a webbing W all the way down the line and we

have a 500 foot plus riverbank. So with the permit

that the city of Harrisburg gave us, it bypassed

a lot of the The requirements that we were trying

to get. We were trying to get rock. Big rock

over the river bank into the water side. And

because of all the environmental regulations.

No one would give us permits to put in quarry

rock. So now in order to save the river bank.

Because there's restrictions on how close you

can do work to the river bank. We've come to

the last. I mean to the last. God comes. Always

through, but always at the last moment. And so

now at the very last, when we have 20 feet, which

is the bare minimum, we got the permit and we're

starting this. So I'd like us to just roll the

drone footage if we could, so you can see a little

more, a little bit of double shots, but take

a look at it again. About a 200. 40 ,000 pound

machine that vibrates with hydraulics to drive

those pieces in. As you see right there, you

can see where one, two, three, four, five, six,

seven pieces have been driven in so far as we

started on this far north end. Then you see the

crane. Even now he's lifting up on the right

hand side, lifting up a piece of metal. That's

a single sheet to create one Z pile put together.

Now they put two pieces together and they're

moving it into place. You can see where the river

is eroded. And there is a partial driven wall

right there. That's how it will look all the

way down. It will go further in the ground in

Jesus name. Is that the it? Was that it? Okay.

All right. So there it is. There's up close and

personal. Each, as you can see, two pieces come

together and then it makes that W. And once they

get them all driven at the same place, it will

kind of form a corrugated wall all the way around.

Why the urgency? In October, when we believe

that God actually started to bring our answer,

when we changed engineering firms and a person

that represented that engineering firms came

to our eldership and said, I believe God has

a plan and we want to be part of it. That was

an answer to prayer for our eldership team in

our church. And the direction of having some

real ability. Although our plans changed from

the style and shape because of the depth, and

though our plans went from 1 .4 now maybe to

a finished product of 2 .25 million, the fact

that we have an answer that was going to be 6

to 10 million is a third of the price of what

would be anywhere else. And I want to thank God

for that miracle. That is a miracle. Come on,

would you just thank him? In doing so, we had

to sign some contracts immediately. We had to

just say, hey, we're not going to hold you liable.

We understand that insurance is the biggest thing

on this, that why costs go so high. So we believe

that with design and with truth and integrity

and our relationship that we're going to trust

the engineering, but we've got to. It's more

important for us to have a price that our congregation

can do. Because if we can't do this, we lose

the buildings. And so we said yes and we signed

some contracts right away to get things moving.

That means that at the first of around the middle

of December, we had to start writing checks.

And we've been writing checks by the grace of

God. That means that now in every 30 days for

the next 90 days, I'm going to be writing checks

in excess. of $650 ,000 to $700 ,000 in the next

30 days, and then again in the next 30 days,

and then, no, not forever, thank God, okay? But

in that process, it means that we haven't had

time like 15 years to start storing up for this.

When we bought this property originally, for

those of you that are in second service that

have come to the church along the journey as

we're going to celebrate 25 years. When we bought

this property, the Lord spoke to me in 2002.

This property was not even developed by the previous

owners until 2006. In 2002. The Lord gave me

a 40 -year vision. I didn't know it was this

property. I saw parking lots. I saw RVs and semi

-trailers. I saw a motel. I saw a cross on top

of a church and a swimming pool. I had no idea

what it meant. I thought I had bad pizza the

night before. Because there was nothing around

here that had that look in 2002. In 2006, they

took out building permits. to build the motel

and to build the RV pad. It was only in 2010

and 11 when I walked on this property again after

the 2008 financial crisis where the RV industry

took a severe turn. And then I was walking on

this property and somebody introduced me to the

vice president of a bank that now was holding

the note. And I heard the Lord say to me, this

is what I showed you 10 years ago. We bought

this property in faith. But from 2001 to 2012,

the eldership teams that were with us at Life

Bible Church all along the leadership, God had

spoken to me. He said, I want you to put money

aside every month. You give 10 % to missions

to go over the wall. And I want you to put 10

% to the future storehouse of your property.

So for 12 years. We lived on only 80 % of what

came in. We gave 10 % away and we stored 10 %

so that when it came time to buy this property,

we had cash money available that I never had

to go to the congregation and say, hey, we need

money to buy this property. We had already been

at together stewards of what had been given.

Same thing happened when we began to build this

sanctuary. Because of First Fruits and because

of stewardship, over 50 % of what actually built

this building was the faithfulness of your First

Fruits giving. And that we only did two years

of a building program. Do you realize that only

three quarters of a million dollars out of a

total $7 million project came in through raising

building funds? That's it. Today, I'm coming

to you different because I haven't had time to

process. We've still had time. Obviously, we've

been good stewards and we've been able to write

the checks all along, but I am asking you with

urgency. I don't like doing this. It's not my

style. I'm a planner, but sometimes God makes

you do things outside your comfort zone. How

many have experienced that before? I'm going

to ask the ushers to begin to come and we've

prepared some cards. We're calling this, what

we're doing is rise. Raise the wall, arise and

build. And I know Calvin's got a word that I'm

gonna have him share in just a bit. I'm gonna

have him come forward. I wanna have James, if

you would, would you put up the screen on the,

as you're getting these cards, I know it's gonna

be tempted to read them and stay focused on them,

but just give me a little bit, just more time.

Could you put up the graph? All right. You can

see James did a great job here. I was gonna do

a pencil drawing. He goes, ah, no. But what you're

seeing here is you're seeing the total goal of

fundraising of 2 .5 billion. You're seeing 100

little iron steel plates there. Now, they're

supposed to be 500, so we scaled it by one fifth.

What you see there, Is the amount of money that's

already come in. Without us even announcing this.

From last week. To this week. People have seen

it. People from our church. Some people from

other churches. I've had three donations given

to us. Some in the four figure. Some in the five

figure. That have come in to Life Bible Church.

On behalf of our friends in the community. That

have donated to help us. So what you see there.

Is almost at $80 ,000. And there's more than

three. If there's 500. But according to the one

fifth scale. $80 ,000 has come in already. Can

we give God a great big thank you. Thank you

Lord. Because I am just. A simple guy. That likes

things very straight forward. Just think this

through with me. Each. 56. foot piece of metal

is a foot. By the time you put the bend in it,

it's just, it's a foot of land that it occupies.

It's about two feet, but by the bend, it ends

up being one foot. So you need 500 pieces of

steel for a 500 foot river bank. And the goal

is 2 .25 million. That includes the steel, the

labor, the rock. All of the construction costs,

the removing of the concrete, the welding, the

fabricating, and all the coil backs that have

to go under the building to tie the top in and

replacing the sidewalks and trying to get the

property back to where it's usable for us. That's

2 .25 million, which means what? Every piece

of steel represents $4 ,500. 4 ,000, if you want

just a simple number, $4 ,500. We need 500, $4

,500 pieces of steel. That's what we're believing

God for. Now on those cards that you have, I'm

going to ask you to do something. I'm going to

ask you to pray, number one. I'm going to ask

you to do what God puts on your heart to do.

We are in a now moment of faith. We're in a now

season where I wish I could have brought something

forward sooner but i'm i'm in the same boat that

you are i just know that in the next 30 days

i've got to write a check that's almost seven

hundred thousand dollars and i am believing god

to say lord i don't know how it's going to come

in but you got to bring it in i know it's going

to come in through us but it's also going to

come in from people around us because you're

the god of great supply you're going to bring

it in but we've got to do our part amen Calvin,

would you come on up? Calvin shared this word

first service. He got it in the prayer room.

And I just said, listen, that is a word of the

Lord. We've had a lot of great words today that

I believe are absolutely true. But as Calvin

is part of our church, I want you to hear what

God spoke to him this morning in the prayer room.

Go ahead, sir. So as God was poking at me this

morning in a good way, He began to show me that

out of all the years that this project has been

on his mind and in the works, that isn't it amazing,

son, that I've put this wall, literally, it's

a three -week estimated time to drive the piles,

and he said, isn't it amazing that I've put this

wall smack dab in the middle of a fast week?

And then the Lord showed me a picture in my mind.

I was in the airport this week and he flashed

back to that, the sign in the airport that I

saw. And it said, currency exchange. I said,

hmm. And the Lord said, Calvin, this season,

we're not building a wall. I'm building a bridge.

And that bridge. Is to span the gap between the

season where the kingdom is now. And the church

is now. And a new season that I see that I'm

calling for in my spirit. And in this season

of fasting. That I'm opening the walls of the

currency exchange. Of the kingdom of heaven.

And the exchange rate is really good. The exchange

rates are up this month, guys. The exchange rates

up. And in this season, God is going to, as he

drives the wall deep, he is going to be releasing

us into a new season as his people and as his

church that he has intended before we were born,

that he's going to scrape off any little thing

that's left on us. As they drive those piles,

it just polishes the steel. Because the pressure

just scrapes everything off. And he said, I'm

going to use this season as a bridge from what

is now to what I want in the future. And I'm

going to be exchanging your time for my presence.

Come on. Your silver and gold. for power and

provision. And church, I'm just saying that the

Lord has put on my heart so heavily that this

is a currency exchange season for us. And anything

we deposit in the physical is going to bear fruit

five and 10 and a hundred fold in the spirit.

So I just want to encourage you, partner with

him in this season. Not just silver and gold,

in presence, in your fasting, in your seeking

after him. And let him move us into a crazy,

amazing new season. That's right. Amen. Amen.

Exodus 35, 21 and 22 as we get ready to close.

As God decided to do something in the midst of

the children of Israel that had never been done

before, he began to put it on the hearts of the

people. And the scriptures say this, and all

whose hearts were stirred and those whose spirits

were moved brought their sacred offerings to

the Lord. Both men and women came whose hearts

were willing. I'm asking you in this season,

in this moment, To see what the Lord would say

to you and your family. Jenny and I have prayed

about it. We've received a number of what we're

supposed to do. We passed the cards out this

morning. We've asked the church to, if they're

ready, you could certainly do that now. We'll

have ushers at the back that will have some buckets

that we can put the card and whatever gift in,

or you can do it electronically on our website.

Yes, time is of the urgency, but the most important

thing is that you pray and you stand in faith

and that we do something together. I said at

first service, I'll say this. I felt like the

Lord challenged me. He said, Brad, will you take

any gift that's brought to me and use it? And

I said, yes, Lord. And he said, remind the people

that silver, gold, precious metal, even the crypto

that people have bought into. The Lord said,

isn't there a reason why things have gone up

so drastically in the last season? Would you

consider even some of that from your own resources?

Say, you know what? I may not have tangible cash,

but I've got something. We'll figure out how

to get you a tax return, charitable contribution,

and receive that. I had someone this morning

say, I'm bringing a vehicle. I want you to sell

it. Whatever it is, here it is. I've had... Just

this morning. I don't know how the Lord's going

to bring it in. I see up here we've got some

nickels and dimes and quarters. Let me tell you

something. All of it's going into the raise the

wall. I'm not going to take any, nobody's taking

anything from this. This is a thing where we're

all pouring in because God is giving us a moment

to stand in faith. And yes, it's going to cost

us. But the reward of it is going to be so much

more than what it was ever given. Would you allow

me to pray for you as Tiffany comes? Father,

in Jesus' name, Lord, I know this was a longer

service and I thank you. I don't know how you're

going to do this, Lord, but my faith trusts you.

And I'm doing my part today. We're doing our

part today to hear you and to respond in obedience.

Lord, we know that you're doing a quick work

and we thank you now that heaven's resources

are available. Speak to us, stir us in Jesus

Christ's holy name. Amen. Thank you for taking

the time to listen to this week's message. We

are so grateful for those who tune in each week

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