Sermon
This is Our Moment - Difference Maker
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Hey, good morning, Real life Church.
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Awesome to see you this morning. I just want to invite you to
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stand to your feet today. We're going to kick things off
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with just singing to our great, great God.
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We're going to sing to him. And yeah, we could get those
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hands going today. I just want this to be an
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atmosphere of praise this morning.
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All right? It's all about him.
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This is our testimony. Come on.
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I saw Satan fall like lightning. I saw darkness run for cover.
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But the miracle that I just can't get over my name is
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registered in heaven I believe. I believe in signs and wonders.
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I have resurrection power. Yes I do.
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Still the miracle that I just can't get over my name is
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registered in heaven. My praise belongs to you
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forever. Let's sing it.
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This is my testimony. From death to life.
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Because grace rewrote my story, I'll testify.
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By Jesus Christ the righteous, I'm justified.
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This is my testimony. This is my testimony.
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Amen. Join us in singing.
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Come together, sons and daughters, bought with blood and
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washed in water. Sing the praises of the Spirit,
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Son and Father. Our God, we'll finish what he
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started. Yes, our God, we'll finish what
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he started. Oh, this is my testimony from.
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Death to life. Because Grace rewrote my story,
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I'm testified by Jesus Christ the righteous.
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I'm justified. This is my testimony.
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This is my testimony. All right, Kai, just tell you
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this morning, if there's air in those lungs and he's not done
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with you yet, let's sing it out. If I'm not dead, then you're not
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done. Greater things are still to
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come. Oh, I believe if I'm not dead,
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then you're not done. Greater things are still to
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come. Oh, I believe.
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Come on, Sing. If I'm not dead, then you're not
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done. Greater things are still to
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come. Oh, I believe.
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If I'm not dead, then you're not done.
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Greater things are still to come.
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Oh, I believe. Come on.
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Real life Church. I want you to to declare this.
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Come on, this is my testimony from death to life.
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Because grace rewrote my story, I'll testify.
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By Jesus Christ the righteous, I'm justified.
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This is my testimony now. I'm alive.
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This is my testimony from. Death to life.
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Because grace rewrote my story, I testify that Jesus Christ the
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righteous, I'm justified. This is my testimony.
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This is my testimony from death to life.
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I've got a reason to sing today. Come on, real life Church, was
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this your testimony today? We let it here.
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Come on, let's praise him. Come.
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On, come on, give Him a shout of praise in the house today.
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Hey, that is our story. We are living proof of His
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goodness and His faithfulness. And because of that, let's build
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our life on Him today. Declare this song.
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Worthy of every song we could ever see.
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Worthy of all praise we could ever breathe.
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Worthy of every prayers we could ever breathe.
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We. Live for you.
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Jesus, the name above every other knee.
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Jesus, the only one who could ever say, worthy of every breath
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we could ever greet every year. Holy, there is no one like you.
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There is none beside you. Opening up my eyes in water and
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show me who you. Are and.
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Fill me. With your.
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Heart and leave me in your love to those around me.
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Worthy of every song we could ever sing.
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Worthy of all praise we could ever breathe.
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Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe.
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We live free. Jesus, the name above every
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other name. Jesus, the only one who could
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ever say, worthy of every brethren could ever breed.
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With every room all we live free room holy.
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There is no one like you. There is none beside you.
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Open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me
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with your heart and leave me then you love to those around
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me. Holy, there is no one like you,
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there is none beside you. Open up my eyes and wonder and
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show me who you are and fill me with your heart and leave me.
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And you love to close around you.
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Montrose different this time today on my
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own upon your hope it is of the foundation.
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I will win my trust he will not reach a game.
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I will win. My I upon you is of the
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foundation. I will avoid my trust.
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In you. And I will not be shaping only.
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There is no one lie, there is none beside you.
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Open up my eyes and wonder and show me who you are.
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To clear me with your heart and knee.
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Being in love to those around me.
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Holy, there is no one like you. There is no.
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The world is all the foundation I will put.
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My trust in. You and I will never be.
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I'll never be changing. You.
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Were. The word at the beginning, the
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one with God, that the Lord Most High, your hidden glory and
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creation is now revealed in. You.
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Our Christ, what a beautiful name it is.
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What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus Christ my King.
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What a beautiful name it is, and nothing compares to this.
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What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus you didn't
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want without us. So Jesus humor.
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On heaven your sin was. Great, your love was greater and
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what could I say, boring us. Now.
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What a wonderful day. And it is.
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What a wonderful. The name.
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Of Jesus Christ, what a. Wonderful.
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Name it is. There's nothing.
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Compressed to this, what a wonderful.
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Name. It is the name of Jesus.
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What a. Wonderful.
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Name it is the. Name.
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Of Jesus. How could you love to sing love?
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To sing who you are, death could not hurt you.
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The heavens. Are worrying the praise of the
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world rain for you? Are rose to life to have.
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What a powerful. Name it is what a powerful name
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it is. The name of Jesus.
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What a powerful. Name it is nothing.
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Can't stand against what a powerful.
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Name. It is the name all sitting out
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today. You have no rival.
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You have no rival. You have no rival.
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Yours is the Kingdom. Yours is the glory.
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Yours is the name of the Lord. What a powerful name it is.
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What a powerful. Name it.
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Is the name of Jesus Christ my? What a.
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Powerful name it is nothing can. Stand against what a powerful.
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Name. It is the name of Jesus.
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What? A powerful.
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Name. It is the name of Jesus.
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What a powerful the name of Jesus sing.
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Worthy is your name. Jesus lives that you deserve to
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praise, and worthy is your name, worthy is your name.
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You deserve the praise, say Worthy is your name.
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Again Worthy is your name, Jesus, You deserve the praise.
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Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name.
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Crazy world is your name is worthy Lord, Because what?
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A beautiful name it is. What a beautiful.
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Name it is. It's just the voices.
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Name. Of Jesus Christ.
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What a beautiful name it is. Nothing compares to this.
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What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus.
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What a beautiful name it is. The name of Jesus and.
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Amen. Let's give it up for God.
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And what a beautiful name. I want an opportunity just to
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give worship back to God this morning and recognize the power
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in his worthiness. And man, just the beautiful name
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of Jesus. But when you call to him,
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there's nothing more beautiful than knowing that you can rest
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in the power of God. So can we give it for God one
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more time this morning, man Amen.
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Amen. Hey, I want to welcome you guys
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here today. I want you guys to know that we
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have a ton of new people with us again today online and in
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person. Let's show those guys some love.
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Give them a round of applause, and thank you so much for
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choosing to gather worship with today.
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Hey, take 30 seconds to greet somebody around you.
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You guys can go ahead and catch a seat as you catch a seat,
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you're getting ready to sit on something awesome.
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It is our connection card. If you call Real Life home, We
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love it when you fill this card out.
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Let's know what's going on in your life.
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We see what you guys right week in week out, we pray over them.
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So whether it's a praise or a prayer request called Real Life
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home, please send those in. We'd love to get it from you if
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you call, if you're new or newer with us here at Real life, this
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is this is for you as well. And I'm going to make this
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promise to you. We're not going to ask anything
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else from you today except this one simple thing if you're new
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with us to introduce yourself. And we would just love to send
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you us more information about real life, who we are, why we
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exist, why we're here every Sunday and throughout the week
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throughout the city. So again, thank you so much for
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being with us. And we're here through through
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on Sunday and throughout the week because we believe that
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we're a church on a mission. And that mission is to see
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people far from God discover their real life and purpose in
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Jesus. And simply, all that means is
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this is we know that it's easy to go through this world and get
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screwed up, get messed up, get beat down.
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And really, that's not what we're meant to stay.
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We're not meant to be laying on the ground on our knees.
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We're meant to come before God and have purpose, be on mission.
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And that's what God's got for you today if you don't know
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that. So we're off.
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We exist just to get people connected back to God and we get
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to see these awesome stories of people receive Christ week in
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and week out. So we're so excited that you're
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with us today and on mission. So that leads us in.
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We're kicking off a new series called Difference Maker.
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So for the last eight years, we've had the opportunity, the
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joy of being on mission with God.
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And what that mission has done is we've seen hope and
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transformation brought to so many people's lives.
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And that happens week in, week out.
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And over these last eight years, it's been so cool just to see
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God do that. But today we're stepping into a
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new season, something we feel like God's called us to do.
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And, and, and in this season, we are going to lead into our next
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step, our next step of faith. And it's not about a facility,
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it's not about a building, it's about a movement.
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And so today I want you guys to buckle in and open your hearts,
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open your minds to what God has for you in this season.
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For the next six weeks, we're going to allow God just to to
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clear obstacles out of our way. We're going to ask God to do the
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impossible. And like every beautiful story,
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whether it was the Exodus and in the Old Testament, God calling
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his people to a mission and a purpose or whether it was the
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early church in Acts, a coming together with 1 accord for a
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purpose. Today we are going to take that
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next step as real life, as a gathering to do what God's
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called us to do here. And we're all going to be called
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to be difference makers and to reach that next generation and
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to see the stories that are coming in the next, in the next
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year years coming forward to see each souls transformed.
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So once you guys take this opportunity, look up Pastor Sean
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with the broken arm as we kick off Difference Maker.
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Good morning. Good morning, good morning.
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Have I failed you already? Check 121020.
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Oh, no. Oh, there you guys are tricking
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me out today. You see how they did that?
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They said broken arm. Man, we see you put them in the
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hotspot. So well, good morning, guys.
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You might be, you might not know, like, man, what happened
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to Pastor Sean? I'd like to say it was something
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really cool like a bicycle kick or some kind of like, you know,
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Roundhouse kick. And I save somebody's life.
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I've been joking with people that I've just may offend the
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mature generation, but I keep joking.
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I turned 40 and my rotator cuff tour.
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Come on somebody right. And if you're older, you're
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like, no, that's, that's not works, man.
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But I tore some along the way. And I finally said, Hey, it's
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time to get surgery. I couldn't lay in a bed.
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I could not pull the blanket up. I said, that's probably an
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issue. And I'm 40, so let's get that
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taken care of. But I want to say thank you guys
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for the prayers for the support. Some of you guys have reached
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out and sent gifts or food or gift cards but I can feel your
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guys prayers and honestly I'm doing really well.
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Probably exceeded expectation. I was dreading like all sorts of
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stuff and I've been feeling 100%.
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Haven't had pain meds and it's a couple days past surgery 2 weeks
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ago. You probably just slowed me down
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a little bit and the team is trying to slow me down.
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I love you all. I know you care for me but I'm
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feeling good. So thank you guys for the
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prayers and support. Just keep praying.
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It's going to be a little bit of journey so kind of hanging with
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it but I'm excited. Can I celebrate a few things
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before we jump in the day? Can we do that?
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Couple things. One, thank you guys for those
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who are going out and sharing the gospel with people are far
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from God. Not just biting people here, but
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going out on mission. I feel like the world's a little
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chaotic with all the politics, the assassination, Charlie Kirk
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to so many things and we have just an opportunity to be hope
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and to be lights to be salt in our city, in our families, in
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our community and to share the hope of Christ.
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So say thank you guys doing that because people are coming to
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Christ because of you guys. Your people are showing up to
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youth group to kids to here on Sunday morning.
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People last week we had two people come to Christ because
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someone went out and shared the gospel and brought them in.
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So give up for that. Amen.
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So not just not just God working people coming, but God working
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through you to share. Amen.
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That's that's a secret sauce. And so be be cognizant of those
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conversations and relationships that are around you.
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I would be a miss not to thank two people in particular this
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last few weeks that have held down the Fort have done a
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fantastic job sharing God's word.
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Can you guys give it up for Barry and Logie Logie Logan.
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That's for not viewing me, buddy.
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Logan Hardy. Give it up big for them.
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Next time he'll mute me faster. So anyway, I thought last week
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was was just excellence upon excellence.
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If you were here last week talking about fasting, that
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message was 10 out of 10 for Logan.
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Being a second time ever up here preaching from a platform like
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this in a stage like this, I would give that a 10 out of 10.
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It wasn't just like here's some information.
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It was something that he lives out something that he believes
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in deeply. It is full of passion and the
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Spirit of God was moving. You guys feel the spirit of God
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last week. You feel a conviction last week.
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You feel like man, I I can do this.
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And so to keep Logan's words true from last week, he says he
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can hold you guys accountable, right and someone holds you
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accountable. I mean, how many guys be real
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honest. You say, hey man, last week I
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actually fasted show of hands. Keep him up dude, that's
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awesome. Go God, Amen.
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Oh God, come on, give it up. For those guys who fasted, don't
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be like shy about that. And if you didn't, guess what,
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you can start, Amen. It's not too late to start.
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I would encourage you guys to continue to fast if you did it
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last week And you know, for some of you, it's like maybe really
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unimpressive, like I fasted and life got hard or I fasted and I
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was really hungry, but nothing really changed.
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But I would encourage you guys. There's something significant
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that happens when you fast. It's basically saying my eyes
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are on Jesus, I'm trusting God, I'm depend on him.
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It's not made to be easy, Amen. And it's it's this lost
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spiritual art. And so I want to encourage you
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guys to continue to do it. And I talked to some of you guys
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that reached out and were like, hey, I've never fasted, what
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should I do? I'm like, hey, take that 12
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hours. Just pick a day a week and some
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sun up to sundown. Refrain yourself from food and
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just twitch your eyes on the Lord.
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And some of you guys have, I know numerous people did that.
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How many guys are first time fasted ever?
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Last week, Show of hands 123. OK, three or four people.
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That's awesome. Give it for those guys, Amen.
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That's a huge step, a huge step. And some of you guys been
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fasting. It has been a long time.
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I know some people came there new last week and there was just
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a word for them and had been a long time say faster.
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They said, Lord, I really get back to I need your presence.
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And so they fasted and some of you guys are routine of fasting.
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You just like that's part of my lifestyle.
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It's my habit, that's my my spiritual habit, It's my
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practice. And you guys just encouraged
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like in big ways last week. And so I was going to share a
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little bit just as a way of kind of wrapping up that thought on
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fasting about the power of fasting, really how it leads in
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the spiritual moments. And you find us all throughout
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the Bible. Matter of fact, I encourage you
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maybe get on ChatGPT or Google and just say, give me the times
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for people fast in the Bible. You're going to find there's 70
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instances in the Bible or people fasted and they're just life
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changing, just amazing stories, these holy moments.
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And so if you need God's presence, you've got people like
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Moses who fasted on Mount Sinai before they had the
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commandments. That's a pretty significant
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moment right to receive the the the law of God or Paul and
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Barnabas. They fasted before they point
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leaders in the church. That'd be a great practice.
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By the way, as we bring up leadership, as we send out
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missionaries, as we grow disciples is to fast for those
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people. Amen.
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We want God's will and want God's a sermon as we send people
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out. Logan talked this last week
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about repentance and renewal. It's about the people of
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Nineveh. There's a Gentile nation of
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people that are going to be judged by God, wiped the face of
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the earth and they tore their clothes and they repented and
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God withheld his judgment. Amen.
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And for some of us, getting right with God, we need to fast.
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Samuel did this and with Israel in First Samuel 7, there's a
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verse and it's not necessarily tied directly to fasting, but
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it's a great verse for our country and what it looks like
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as a response to all things happening.
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But Second Chronicles 714, it says if my people are called by
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my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face.
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That's what fasting is all about, seeking the face of God
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and turn from the wicked ways. Then we'll hear from heaven and
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I'll forgive their sin. Now what their land some of you
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guys are looking for healing in your soul, healing in your
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family, maybe healing some relationships in our country.
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It happens through prayer and fasting.
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Amen. It doesn't happen somewhere
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else. It happens right on our knees
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and this one just stuck out to me as a story of victory and
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breakthrough. This fasting proceeded one of
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these one of the greatest victories you find in the Bible.
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There's a man named Jehoshaphat somebody say Jehoshaphat.
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If you never heard of Jehoshaphat, you're going to
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learn about today real quickly. I'm not going to go.
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I don't have time to preach the whole piece of it, but Second
2 Chronicles 20 chapter mention
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Chronicles chapter 20, if you get a chance to read it through
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21 it it's on fire. Matter of fact, this king of
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Judah, he's kind of backed in the corner.
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There's three armies that are coming after him to besiege him.
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They're coming down this rule of this, we call it like a Canyon
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or a gorge. And there's massive armies and
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they're outnumbered, their backs against the wall.
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And so he asked all of Israel to come to the temple.
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He says we're going to have a fast and it began to fast.
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In the middle of the fast, he stands up, He declares there's
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three paragraphs. You find the Bible of this
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amazing truth of God. And he says, we don't just serve
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the God that is in heaven, we show the God that is here, that
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rules the nation's, is in charge of every single person and every
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nation in the world. And he ends his prayer with
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something we all can relate to. He says, we don't know what to
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do, Lord, but our eyes are on you.
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Amen. If you're wondering what to say
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when you fast and you pray, I would encourage that would be a
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really good thing to say. Lord, I don't know what
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direction to go, but Lord, I'm trusting you.
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There's a man named Zachariah. The word comes to him, he's a
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prophet, and he says of this to the people of Judah.
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He says the battle is not yours, The battle is actually Gods.
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Amen. It's a spiritual battle and the
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most significant thing happens in Scripture.
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And if you've never seen this, this is going to break your
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heart for the power of God because these men, they said
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you're none of you are going to die.
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Matter of fact, none of you have to fight in the battle.
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All of you are going to go out, but no one's going to fight.
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And the Lord's going to fight your battle.
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And so you're going to go up the next morning, you're going to go
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to this edge of the gourd, you're going to meet the enemy
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and God's power is going to come unleashed.
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And so as they go, that next morning, they do something just
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so unorthodox in war. They start to sing and they seen
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God's praise and they seen God's worship.
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And they say, give thanks to Lord our God, whose love endures
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forever. And it says the men raise their
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voices loud. Amen.
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I mean, that's a different type of warfare.
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And the Bible says this, and it's so significant.
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It says as they worshipped, God raged war.
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Think about that. Their worship was fighting the
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battle, and what God did is he had those enemies.
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There's three enemies, and they begin to ambush each other and
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to lose trust in each other and to fight each other.
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And the time the Israelites worship their way to victory,
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they showed up to the edge of the gourd.
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There's not a single person left alive in the enemy, a single.
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And there's hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers
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dead. It took four days for the
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Israelites to pick up all the plunder, all the weapons and the
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food and the horses and the Chariots.
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That's the power of God, Amen. Some of you guys didn't know
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today when you sang those 3 1/2 songs that we call it last part
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there, right? The tags and everything that
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you're waging war in a battle. So we had no idea that God was
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battling for you when you worshiped, Amen.
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And often times you look out and say we can't do it.
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It's not possible. But the Lord's in the battle,
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the Lord's already, the battle is already won, Amen.
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And that's just what we're leaning into.
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There's just something special about fasting.
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Remember that was all about fasting.
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They fasted and the Lord won the battle.
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Like there's, there's just some things only come through
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fasting. You see this with Esther.
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She, she fast with the Jews and for three days just for the
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divine favor of a king to save the nation.
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David fasted when his child was sick.
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Ezra fasted the morning of the unfaithful's of God.
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He brought the word of God back to the nation of Israel.
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We had a season of that in our church.
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I felt like we just brought the word of God back right to the
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forefront of our church. Jesus fasted for 40 days as he
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began his ministry and Satan tried to tempt them and twist
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the word of God. They were the church fasted and
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prayed before sending out missionaries.
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Nehemiah fasted and confession before God for rebuilding the
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walls of Jerusalem. The Church of Antioch fasted
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before they sent out missionaries had breakthroughs
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in their church. And there's something special
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Jesus says about fasting in Matthew 928 and it says this.
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It says when he being Jesus had come into the House of disciples
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asking probably why could we not cast it out?
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Why couldn't they cast out this demon?
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They were trying to and they couldn't cast out the demon
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there. Sometimes they couldn't heal
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people. He said to them, he said, this
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kind can come out by nothing but prayer.
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And what's it say fasting? What this verse means to me is
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that there's just certain places that you will never go to and
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you'll never unlock without fasting.
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There are certain levels, there are certain places in your heart
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that will never be turned over to God without fasting, that
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there are certain keys that will not be used to unlock different
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areas in breakthroughs in your family.
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Some areas of repentance, some areas of restoration from areas
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of healing, some areas of hope. There'll be some areas in our
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church that won't be changed. There may be revivals that are
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stopped. Their souls aren't saved.
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There's repentance that needs to happen.
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The glory of God can can come into our house with pure hearts,
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just like David and these people that fought after God.
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There's just certain things that only happen through fasting.
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Amen. And so ultimately we are selling
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ourselves short of what God has for life if we're not on our
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knees in prayer and fasting. I think for us in this season of
-
our church, there's something special that we're asking God to
-
do. This whole difference maker.
-
You guys got the booklets right and you maybe heard about this.
-
Some of you guys, we've been planting seeds for quite a while
-
now, maybe 6 to 8 months. Our Difference Maker initiative
-
is about finding our first permanent space.
-
It's about creating the opportunity to say yes to our
-
first permanent home. But when you hear this, the
-
temptation is this is about a building.
-
This is about money. And I want to encourage you from
-
day one, sentence one, this is about faith.
-
It's about faith. This is not just about
-
generosity or building. It's about faith.
-
It's about all the stepping out together in faith of what God is
-
asking us to do, Amen. You know, some of you are like,
-
man, I don't have a lot of means to to give to this and I don't
-
know how we're going to get there.
-
Kind of encourage you. It doesn't take a lot to be
-
generous. You don't have to have a lot to
-
be generous, Amen. You know, sometimes a man's
-
don't have a lot. It's like, what do you have in
-
your hands God can use? Amen.
-
You don't mind asking to give something you don't have?
-
I know so many people, man. If I won the lottery, man, I'd
-
give to the church. Come on, somebody, right?
-
And if you do, praise God, Amen, we'll use it, right?
-
But if you don't, don't sell yourself short because you may
-
not have what this person has or what that person's has.
-
But you can't have faith, Amen. You can't give with faith.
-
We all can do that. We all can fast, Amen.
-
It takes zero money to fast, Amen.
-
Like if anything, prayer and fast when we're fasting in this
-
season, lean in and ask God for divine favor for, for a
-
breakthrough. We, we need those people to have
-
the ability to fund the mission. Sometimes in the Bible, it's
-
pretty cool that God even uses enemies.
-
He even uses the things of Satan to pay for the things of God,
-
Amen. Sometimes he makes the world pay
-
for it. Sometimes it's divine favor from
-
somebody who doesn't even love Jesus, but they just love us.
-
I mean, I'm just telling you, God can do what he wants to do,
-
Amen. The question is, do we believe
-
he can? Do we trust He can?
-
And so by faith, I don't want anybody to say, oh, I'm excluded
-
or like, well, that's cool. I'm excited to see what they do.
-
No, I think all of us play a part of this story, all of us by
-
faith. And we activate our faith.
-
I believe God activates his power.
-
Amen. And so this is the season we're
-
leading into. Some things only happen through
-
fasting, through faith. And so you guys get the
-
booklets. Everybody holds your booklet up
-
real quick. Yeah, booklet.
-
Perfect. OK, encourage you.
-
There's a space for your name. Come on.
-
Somebody reminds you of high school, right?
-
Put your name on there. All right, because I know we
-
have some of these. Get left behind.
-
We'll hold on. Hold on to hold on to them for
-
you. But put your name on the top of
-
there. I'd encourage you to read
-
through this booklet. This gives you all the details
-
of what this is about, why we're doing it, why now, What's at
-
stake? What's this one?
-
Fund all the different details. There's a lot of great answers
-
in the FAQ, but bring it with you every week.
-
Put it in your Bible. Take it, take it next six weeks,
-
bring it back. There's a place where sermon
-
notes we're actually going to be on page 17 today doing our first
-
week of difference maker. It's called this is our moment.
-
And there's a place to take notes.
-
Amen. Who knows?
-
You get closer to see than having you take notes, Amen.
-
So just take some notes, write them down, bring it back next
-
week at the bottom of every section of notes you'll see AQR
-
for our you version and you can follow along with with the
-
outline for the message today and just bring with you.
-
OK. And so I'm excited for what God
-
is going to do. You have a committed car.
-
Just hold on that. We'll talk about that later on.
-
We're not going to collect it today.
-
By the way, if you're freaking out, you see that thing, OK,
-
that's not going to happen. I want share my heart and
-
passion for this actually got a great chance.
-
We shot a video. Amen.
-
You can scan that QR on the front of the booklet.
-
It'll take you to our website. You can watch the videos.
-
We're going to be updating all sorts of stuff on there, but
-
it's a lot on already and you can learn all about this.
-
But I'm going to just share with our video of our heart and
-
passion for difference Maker, kind of get your head around it,
-
what we're doing while we're doing it.
-
And so we're going to play the video.
-
Hopefully it goes good because another restart purpose in a
-
little to go thumbs up maybe. OK, cool.
-
All right, let's check it out. Real life family and friends.
-
Today we stand in a unique moment in our story.
-
Eight years ago, we stepped out in faith to launch real life
-
church. And God has shut up in
-
extraordinary ways. Real life, you already are
-
living proof what God can do through ordinary people and his
-
surrender to his plan. We've seen marriages changed,
-
families changed, and eternity changed and countless people.
-
And I believe with all my heart that God is not done yet.
-
There are prodigals in our city and around the world that God is
-
calling home, and this is an incredible harvest on the
-
horizon that we can play a part of.
-
And today, just like 8 years ago, we once again are in a
-
place we have to write the next chapter in our story.
-
But here's the problem. Prodigals lost.
-
People need somewhere to come home to need somewhere to
-
belong, somewhere to grow and people to believe in them.
-
And listen, we've been portable for eight years, and being
-
portable has been huge. Blessing Willis Be Real has his
-
limits. And for instance, in our kids
-
ministry, it's tough to turn an elementary school into a sacred
-
life, giving space for children to encounter God.
-
The distractions are literally around every corner.
-
We also can't host things like kids camp or summer VBS because
-
we simply don't have the space. In addition to our youth group,
-
it's on the verge of outgrowing our Hope Center.
-
There's a space where teens are playing Nightscore in the air
-
and there's a worship team rehearsing at the same time.
-
It's amazing, it's beautiful, but it is absolutely chaotic.
-
And for adults, we would love to host marriage conferences.
-
We'd love to have weddings and dream team celebrations.
-
And the love, love, love to have a life giving, state-of-the-art
-
worship center to invite your family and your friends to
-
experience Jesus and share the gospel around the world.
-
As much as we love being portable, the truth is every
-
purple situation has a shelf life.
-
It has a time frame. And that's why after much
-
prayer, planning, discerning and leadership, I believe God is
-
calling us to secure our first permanent home.
-
Our vision is to purchase a facility somewhere between 15
-
and 20,000 square feet. Places like the OfficeMax, the
-
Walgreens will allow us to double our capacity and give us
-
room to grow. A place where ministry happens
-
24/7. A place where we have.
-
Long term presence in our city and it tells our neighbors and
-
tells the world that we are here to stay.
-
It's a place for inviting culture.
-
The designated kids space where the kids eyes light up and they
-
walk in and everything points them to Jesus.
-
It's a space for youth, for conferences, for weddings,
-
camps, worship, rehearsal, and most importantly, disciple
-
making. And yes, no more set up and tear
-
down. I heard everybody say Amen.
-
Even our mail could finally be delivered to our church home.
-
This isn't about building a monument.
-
It's about building a movement. It's not about a facility.
-
It's about creating a launchpad for the gospel, a hospital for
-
the hurting, and a home for prodigals.
-
Psalm 78 says it best. It says we will tell the next
-
generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power,
-
and the wonders He has done. That's what the space
-
represents. It's a place where the next
-
generation hears about and learns to follow Jesus.
-
So here's the vision of the next two years.
-
Our Difference Maker Initiative aims to raise $1.9 million, now
-
900,000 that is simply continuing to fund our ministry
-
fund already. It funds everything you already
-
like and love about real life. It's not going anywhere.
-
But the additional 1,000,000 position us to say yes to an
-
opportunity when God opens the door for a first permanent
-
space. But here's the most important
-
part. Our primary goal is not a
-
financial number. It's asking for 100%
-
participation. We want every person, every
-
family who calls real life home to help write the next chapter
-
as a difference maker. So what does that mean for you?
-
I'm simply asking you to do three things.
-
One, let's celebrate the moment. Right now.
-
We're on the verge of something amazing with the lead the way of
-
making a difference in thousands and thousands of lives,
-
including your own family, your friends, and your neighbors. 2
-
Commit to hear from God. Ask him, What does faith look
-
like in me in this season? How May God be calling you to
-
grow in generosity and trust? And three, consider becoming a
-
difference maker with us. Take time to pray.
-
Ask God what would he have you to do to help reach this goal?
-
Friends, family, the ability to say yes to our first parent
-
space. Be the true difference maker for
-
us, not just for us, but for you, for your kids, for our
-
city, and for generations and generations to come.
-
So I'm simply inviting you to pray, to dream, and to consider
-
how you can be a part of writing the story because your faith,
-
because your generosity. We can change people's forever,
-
and that's the bottom line. That's what it's all about.
-
There's no other place I'd rather be than with you leading
-
on mission in this season. Will you join together with me?
-
I invite you to take time to pray and to see God and join us
-
together as a difference maker in pursuit of our first
-
permanent home. God bless, guys.
-
Come on, let's work, Barry. I like I get used to this.
-
Get to work, Barry. Man, what a special moment.
-
Our church. Amen.
-
It's kind of like that watershed moment, like God's ask us do
-
something so big and so, so audacious.
-
Like it goes against every piece of human nature.
-
Like the fruit is out on the limb.
-
Amen. Like what's this?
-
What is the fortune favors the bold like, like that we step out
-
on faith and just do something together that's just audacious.
-
And this will be the biggest step of faith outside of
-
launching this church. So I keep saying it's the most
-
important series I've ever preached because we're leaning
-
into a season where we're just stepping out.
-
Like there's one of the seasons, Lord, I don't know how we're
-
going to get there, but Lord, we're trusting you like your
-
eyes are on you want to follow you.
-
And I believe in every generation.
-
There is a there's just a moment where like God just asked us to
-
go all in. There's there's a maybe once in
-
a generation type of moment. You think about the first eight
-
years of our church, it's been amazing, Amen.
-
I mean, we have almost 500 people commit their life to
-
Jesus that we know about, have indicated to us and the first
-
eight years of our church, that's amazing, Amen.
-
That's eternal difference. That's like it's being attorney
-
with 500 more people that we know about.
-
That's not generational or people have gone out or anything
-
else. I get the impact of ripples,
-
right? But what is the next eight
-
years? We saw 5000 people come to
-
Christ. We saw 10,000 people impacted.
-
Like what if we left something behind for our kids in the next
-
generation to stand on, to stand on our shoulders and take the
-
gospel further, farther and faster than we did?
-
You know, in the Bible, you see these generational moments and
-
there's a moment found in Numbers 13 and 14 and you're
-
going to see this, this situation where the Israelites
-
are, are liberated from slavery. They've come through the 10
-
plagues that Pharaoh is basically bowed his knee, let
-
him go, then changed the mind. He chased him down through the
-
Red Sea. God parts the sea, crushes the
-
armies and they're wandering in the wilderness and they say they
-
would take about 6 days, which is really sad.
-
We know the whole story to go from the edge of the Red Sea to
-
the promised land. And they're, they're standing in
-
this like this moment of precipice, like looking into the
-
promise that God has given them and the Moses and Aaron, they
-
begin to contemplate a plan like what should we do?
-
And they decide to take one person from every tribe and do
-
some recombinants, right, like reconnaissance, like going in
-
and saying, what's this about? And is the food good?
-
Like is there, it does a fields ripe with harvest.
-
Like where's the cities at? How how many people are there?
-
Are they big? Like they have numbers, they
-
have weapons. What's the situation?
-
Draw us a map. I don't know if that was a good
-
idea, but I look back at the story, right?
-
Because for some of them, there was 10 of them that saw all the
-
obstacles and their vision stopped.
-
They saw the problems, that they saw the giants, they saw
-
opposition, and they came back and they got everybody together.
-
And this is what it says in Numbers 13, verse 26, it says
-
they came back to Moses and Aaron, these spies, all 12 of
-
them, and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the
-
desert of Proran. And there they reported them and
-
the whole assembly showed them the fruit of the land.
-
They gave Moses this account. We went to the land which you
-
sent us. And it does flow with milk and
-
honey. They were stoked about that.
-
Here's the fruit. It says there the Grapevine was
-
so large they put it between two people on a big stick and it
-
could barely carry it, it was so big.
-
They were excited about what the promise of land looked like.
-
Verse 28 it says but somebody say but, but there's always a
-
but in there. But the people who live there
-
are what? Oh, they're powerful, man.
-
They're strong. And their cities are what?
-
Yeah, they're fortified. There's they're strongholds.
-
It's going to be hard to get in. And they're very large, these
-
cities. And we saw even the descendants
-
of Anoch there. And Anoch is like a it's like
-
the Nephilim. These are giants.
-
These are like people, angels that mix with mankind.
-
If you don't know about it's it's amazing story.
-
I encourage you to to look it up.
-
But this is like Goliath. You guys heard of Goliath?
-
OK, He would have been one of these giants that we talked
-
about. So it's a city full of these
-
people and the Malachites living to give.
-
They drew a map and the you can see them on the ground, maybe
-
drawn on a sand or drew it up on paper.
-
Wherever they had, they said the Hittites and the Jebusites,
-
Embrites, they live over here in the Hill Country, is Canites
-
that live right here near the sea along the Jordan.
-
And they gave this bad report and 10 out of 12 were paralyzed
-
by fear, that their fear stopped the vision.
-
And for so many people, their vision exceeds to the point of
-
which it's extinguished by the 1st obstacle or opposition.
-
You know, they say if you want to kill a vision, give it to a
-
small mind. They say if you want to kill a
-
vision, just give us somebody that faith.
-
And for so many people, like you're so scared to share their
-
vision because somebody else will step on it and this would
-
happen. These 10 begin to step on the
-
vision and they didn't see God's promised land.
-
They just saw land. They didn't see this was God's
-
area to go into anymore because the the obstacles were too big.
-
It's almost like they're talking Moses out of God's plan.
-
But listen, there was two guys that actually saw God's plan.
-
One name was Caleb. You guys remember the name of
-
the next guy, Joshua. How many guys know Joshua had
-
another name before it's called Joshua.
-
I learned this it was crazy. His name is Heshua believe that
-
and Moses changed his name to Joshua and Joshua and Caleb went
-
in the land and they had a different vision.
-
They saw beyond the obstacles. And so in the middle of this
-
meeting, which I love these type of people that stand up for
-
what's right and Numbers 1330. This is what it says and then
-
Caleb would be on the screen. Then Caleb said what?
-
Caleb, what do you do? He, he silenced them.
-
They're all complaining. You guys been in these meetings,
-
right? We're just going off the rails.
-
They're chasing carrots and it's faithless.
-
It's godless. It's whatever it kills like
-
enough. Be quiet, listen up.
-
Probably maybe the other words. I don't know.
-
And he got their attention and he said before Moses and he said
-
we should go up, take possession of the land for we can what?
-
Certainly do it. And he was right.
-
Amen. He was right.
-
It wasn't blind faith like he's not dumb faith.
-
He believes the living God, Amen.
-
He believes the same God we talked about earlier.
-
They were, they worship that wars were being fought on their
-
behalf. The same God that David stepped
-
on the battlefield and said, I serve the living God where no
-
man in the entire country would stand up for anything.
-
This little untrained shepherd boy said, well, God's in it,
-
Amen. And this is what Caleb and
-
Joshua, they stood up and said, no, no, no, this, this is God's.
-
He already declared we're going in and we need to go.
-
That's the thing about Caleb and Joshua.
-
I see him as difference makers. I see him as difference makers
-
in our generation because this is something very unique.
-
They saw what everyone else saw, but they're willing to do what
-
no one else is willing to do. And you think about difference
-
maker, they see the same thing. They see what everybody sees,
-
but they do what no one else does in faith, by faith, by
-
faith. See, some people just saw a
-
land, and these people saw future.
-
They, they, they. Saw beyond like, oh, there's
-
giants, oh, these thieves are fortified.
-
Oh this, it's this, this can be really hard to do.
-
And for Joshua and Caleb, they went back and said, well, we
-
just saw God destroy the Pharaoh's army literally 6 days
-
ago. By the way, technically, if
-
that's what it would have taken 6 days ago, we saw the miracle
-
of God and now we stand there and say, well, God can't do
-
this. 10 people saw giants and two people saw God's promise.
-
It's amazing to me that so many people can stand at the same
-
thing and see things completely differently, Amen.
-
Bone by faith and won by fear. And a difference maker is
-
somebody that doesn't let fear have the final word, Amen.
-
If you ever make a decision by fear, that is not from God.
-
God has given us the power over fear.
-
He's the power of sound mind and strength, and the same power of
-
the race used in the dead lives in US.
-
And so if you're doing something out of fear, that is not from
-
God, Amen. And for so many of us, we're
-
operating in the under the radar of fear.
-
And this is what happened is 10 people spread this news numbers
-
13. It went on in verse 32, just
-
after the last verse we said it says they spread among the
-
Israelites. A what, what's it say?
-
A bad report. You know, if you want, if you
-
want to kill a church, give it a bad report.
-
If you want to kill a church, have a meeting.
-
After the meeting, stand in the hallway, cross your arms and
-
talk about how terrible it's going to be If you want to kill
-
a church. I've been to churches like
-
that's I, I try to kill the meetings, by the way, Amen.
-
Like you say, what needs to be said when it should be said.
-
And if not, you're done with it, Amen.
-
Because there's so many bad reports, because so many people
-
like, man, I have the faith to do this.
-
And these people gave a bad report and it created fear among
-
the people. They said this is the, the land
-
we explored. They said the land that we
-
explored devours those, then now it devours them like it's just
-
going to crush you. All people we saw there are
-
great size and we saw the Nephilim like these descendants
-
of Annex like these. These people are mixed with
-
angels. They're they're massive.
-
And we've seen like grasshoppers in their own eyes.
-
And we looked the same to them. We're powerless, we're finite.
-
This is impossible. There's no way.
-
And this is where their faith stopped.
-
And this is what I love about Joshua and Caleb.
-
And you know, you have to ask yourself often times when you
-
read the Bible, like what have you been with the 10 or the two
-
right? Like, to be honest with you,
-
probably more likely to 10 because it's human nature.
-
Like these people, Joshua and Caleb, they do not have their
-
name mentioned, the Hall of Fame of Faith, but Jericho's
-
mentioned the Hall of Fame of Faith.
-
And who led that battle? Caleb and Joshua, Amen.
-
Like these are men of great faith to simply believe God has
-
called us to this moment, like he didn't lead it, lead us this
-
far to let us die, Amen. He wants us to step into the
-
promise. And they saw beyond the
-
obstacles. They saw something that was
-
amazing. You think about the promised
-
land and for them to look out and maybe Joshua and kill, but
-
they saw new homes. Maybe they saw their kids
-
running around in the pastures. Maybe they saw a field just full
-
of food. And they thought to themselves,
-
you know, it's four or five cities that make some great
-
cities for us to live in. Those are great.
-
Four or five cities for us to have.
-
So when the enemies come after us and gods on our side, they
-
can't come in. Amen.
-
Like this be a great place to have generations grow up.
-
This is a great pace of peace after you've been slaves for 400
-
years, that we can step into this land and have a future
-
here. Amen.
-
That's faith, Amen. And I think about for us As for
-
me as a pastor, especially like what this next season looks
-
like. And for me, what keeps me up at
-
night is not the anxiety of stepping into a building
-
initiative. It's not the anxiety of like,
-
let's raise a lot of money, right?
-
Let's work with architects and engineers and let's work with
-
cities. Come on, somebody, right?
-
Let's do all the stuff and let's lose some hair on the stress.
-
Like I've done buildings before, right?
-
But that's not what keeps me up at night.
-
What keeps me up at night is the excitement of the future of our
-
church. Amen.
-
Like I was sitting with my my boys back here and I got a
-
chance to pray with them before I came up here.
-
And it's just like, man, it'll be so amazing for my kids not to
-
have to go to church and grow up with the burden of being
-
portable. Amen.
-
It would be great not to pass that on.
-
I don't want to pass on debt or struggle to my kids and for them
-
to be able to show up and just plug a guitar in and lead
-
worship with Jesus and not to worry about if COVID or whatever
-
whim of something, the government's going to say you
-
can't meet and we could be in a space and say, no thanks, we're
-
going to keep meeting, Amen. We're going to keep doing the
-
things of God like not to be worried, like, well, maybe we're
-
not going to be in the space. If the dynamics change or
-
politics change, the freedom for my kids to boldly book in the
-
gospel and the word of God will continually go forward and our
-
community and that we wouldn't have to take activity and energy
-
as staff members and leaders in our church to be portable and to
-
meet. There is so much energy and
-
effort. I bet half of our energy and
-
effort for any event goes into making something portable.
-
Like we're probably going to run out jokingly about run out of
-
difference maker mugs a day. If you run out, there's more
-
coming next week. Amen.
-
But we couldn't get enough here. Like, the car is full, right?
-
Like we just strap on the top of the Ford Explorer to get more
-
here. Amen.
-
Like there's just a wait and a burden.
-
Then thank God for it. Amen.
-
We're not. We're willing to do it.
-
Some of you guys were trying to shut me down this morning.
-
Like, your arm's broken. You can't move.
-
You know, you're I'm, I'm not like frail, OK?
-
But it is a burden to do it. But I dream of the future.
-
Like we could have a marriage conference.
-
Do we need a marriage conference?
-
Amen. Come on, somebody.
-
Some of y'all are not here to admit that because the marriage
-
is going crazy. I'm just telling you, like, we
-
need a space for our kids to show up.
-
And it's like, oh, look at the awesome scuba wall.
-
Whoa, yellow. You know, like, we need to have
-
something where the kids walk in and they're excited to come on
-
Sundays, be awesome to up the ante and have some fun.
-
Right. Like, it's just, yeah, just this
-
is just so repetitive and it's the status quo.
-
It's eight years, man. Like, we have to have the faith
-
and the boldness to say we're not doing it for the eight
-
years. We're not going to keep doing
-
it. Amen.
-
Now, the trick about the Israelites, which is really
-
interesting to me, is they're in a desert.
-
It's anything but exciting. It's anything but comfortable.
-
And they're still like, I don't know if I can go into the
-
promised land. And for us, we're portable.
-
And to be honest with you, unless you're like carrying some
-
major weight or something, you might be really comfortable with
-
this. Like it's, it's nice.
-
Got a lot of cool people, man, It's fun.
-
I'm your worship pastor. I love everything.
-
And it may be more difficult for us to step out on faith than
-
even these Israelites, but we should Amen.
-
It's this guy be like kind of a oh, oh moment today.
-
Like we just can't keep doing this.
-
Like we've got to be ready to say yes to an opportunity and
-
there is opportunity and God can open doors and give divine
-
favor. If you're praying and fasting,
-
man, you pray for divine favor, Amen.
-
You pray for divine favor that people can resource this vision,
-
pay for divine favor. People own these properties for
-
developers that have lands. We have these connections and
-
conversations a lot, and we just need one.
-
Yes, I'll ask 100 people and I'll take 99 years.
-
I'll get one. Yes.
-
Amen. Hi, Tom.
-
We raise $1,000,000, we get close to raising $1,000,000.
-
I will call every person who owns commercial property down 58
-
Highway and around this town and I will, I don't care if it's for
-
sale or not. I will call them and I ask them,
-
is the Lord put in your heart to let us use your space?
-
Amen. Why not?
-
Why not? I'm not ashamed.
-
The Lord's in it. He's calling us.
-
There's something here for us and somebody's going to say yes
-
by the grace of God, Amen. So pray for that.
-
Pray for God to move. The question is that can we do
-
this? Because that's what these 10
-
spies ask themselves. Can we do this?
-
They said, no, no, no, no, no. The question is, can God do
-
this? Amen.
-
And this is what Joshua and Caleb asked a different
-
question. Can God do that?
-
That's what makes him a difference maker.
-
That's why it's all past the obstacles.
-
So it's all a different future because they knew God could do
-
it. But the tragedy of the story of
-
#13 is they missed their moment. It's it's one of those moments
-
like, Lord help me not to be this generation.
-
They missed it. They didn't go on the promised
-
land. And what's really crazy about
-
the story you may not know is that they actually tried.
-
They tried to go in after they're builded by fear.
-
They couldn't. And then God said, you're going
-
to wander for 40 years, one year for every day, yet spies in
-
that, in that promised land, you're going to spend one year
-
in the wilderness and every person over the age of 20 that
-
said no, that was faithless is going to die in the wilderness
-
except for my 2 boys of faith over here, these difference
-
makers, Joshua and Caleb, they're going in and they did go
-
in. And this verse like Joshua 17
-
has been sticking on my mind and heart.
-
I saw it four times this weekend.
-
I was praying. I was taking this long walk.
-
I took my brace off. Don't tell anybody, right?
-
I took this long walk and I just kept getting Joshua 17.
-
Just be strong and be courageous just back in my mind over and
-
over and over again. And that's what these guys were.
-
They eventually win the promised land.
-
But every single person. They didn't have faith.
-
They tried to have faith, but it was, it was really fear.
-
They feared the giants and then God gave them judgement and they
-
feared God and they tried to go in on their own without God's
-
power and they were ran out and into the wilderness.
-
It was too late for them. It was too late.
-
And I also encourage you, it's going to take all of us to play
-
part of the story, all of us in faith.
-
Amen. None of y'all are going to write
-
the same gift, right? And we shouldn't, but we can
-
have the same level of generosity, but we all can have
-
bold faith, Amen. We all can have bold faith.
-
We all say Lord's in this, God's in this, we can do this, we can
-
step out. We should be a light to our
-
city. I'm excited.
-
Then we put down roots in our city where people go, Oh, hey,
-
they're they're like a real church.
-
And then we know we know we're real, right?
-
But people don't believe in us yet, right?
-
They're like, Oh, you're portable.
-
Are you that I see some signs, you know, you feel how many guys
-
came because you saw a sign by the way, saw like a a a there's
-
a put your hand up real high, just real high.
-
If you came here with a sign 123 some awesome, awesome people.
-
Y'all saw a sign and our signs are up for five hours a week
-
here and we start putting out the street our our signs and
-
yards. By the way, if you don't have a
-
yard sign, there's eight people that said, thank you, Jesus,
-
there's a yard sign Amen. But wouldn't be cool.
-
Like if you put up a building and he had a sign.
-
Everybody drove by. There's a space.
-
It's like, what's that? Oh, that's real life Church.
-
Ohio. I had a real life church.
-
Is that where you at? Kentucky.
-
Where's Kentucky Trail again? Oh, yeah.
-
I remember it was used to be go down by.
-
What's the Chinese place? What is it?
-
No. Yeah.
-
China Star. But I didn't like the men that
-
mentioned them a lot. Ryan's was the Ryan's.
-
That's right. Ryan's go by Ryan's.
-
It's down the street from Ryan's.
-
That's how we knew by ourselves, right?
-
And now we're like, hey, there's that Chick-fil-A.
-
Come on. Jesus Chicken pass the Jesus
-
chicken. You know, I mean, it'd be nice.
-
Just like you have you have visibility to a lost and dying
-
world, Amen. And there's just something to
-
say about it. And there's late adopters and
-
there's people that are like, I'm not in for a portable church
-
because I'm not really going to. Is it really going to be there?
-
Is it really going to be that good?
-
And people wait and they need hope, Amen.
-
And we could be those guys. Like somebody's got to put the
-
foundation dying down. Nobody looks at a house and go,
-
man, what a sexy foundation, man, I love this foundation,
-
right? The only time you know about
-
foundation has problems, right? And we get to be the people that
-
can lay the foundation, Amen. Like that people can build on.
-
I love it. That's why I come and serve and
-
set up and tear down like you all don't know.
-
I come every week, 8 years, I'll be coming every week.
-
I'll sweat and set up and I'll do it every single week.
-
And you're probably not going to stop me from doing it because
-
it's, it's just nobody sees it. But that's what we do Amen.
-
And so somebody's got to go first, and that's us.
-
That's our generation. This is our time to step in, to
-
see past the obstacles, to refuse, to let fear have the
-
final word, to trust God's promises more than the fear of
-
the cost, to step out with power to enter the promised land, Not
-
someday, but today, not 40 years from now.
-
So I encourage you to church, let's not settle for the
-
wilderness, Amen. Let's not settle for eight more
-
years of portable. Let's not settle and say, well,
-
this is great. Well, let's not settle and say
-
I'm really excited for what God's going to do.
-
I can't wait to see how it goes. Let's not settle for that.
-
Let's not settle for the status quo.
-
Like, wow, we can keep, we can do this.
-
I mean, there's got to be somewhere we can keep written
-
for eternity, but it's not where God's calling us to go.
-
Amen. It's not being idle or
-
apathetic. It's stepping out with power
-
because of bold faith. I would encourage you.
-
Faith isn't just believing God can.
-
I think that's where it starts. But faith is actually an action
-
word. If you said I have faith in that
-
chair and you never sat in it, I wouldn't believe you.
-
Faith is taking a step. I want to encourage you.
-
There's a moment in time where you have to start marching to
-
war. Even though you are heard from
-
God, that enemy's going to be defeated.
-
There's a time you have to step foot in the promised land.
-
They didn't have to send spies in, by the way, probably cost
-
them. They probably said, well,
-
tomorrow we go, what's over there?
-
I have no idea. They probably should have done
-
it without counting the costs because you start counting the
-
costs and numbers don't math and your power doesn't work.
-
It's like this sin census, like David took a census of his
-
people. He's measuring his power versus
-
God's ability versus his enemy. And today we just step out on
-
faith, Amen. Like we just ask God, we trust
-
you in this season. That takes a step of faith and
-
that's the commitment card you guys have in your in your hands.
-
That's that step of faith. That's the actionable piece.
-
And no one asked you to turn the end of the day, but I encourage
-
you read through it, pray through it, look through and
-
say, Lord, what would you have me to give to do to play part of
-
the story so we can get in the first permanent space?
-
Like what would you have me do? I just pray and just listen.
-
Like I don't want you to give a number that I tell you to give.
-
I want you to give the number the Lord tells you to give.
-
I would encourage you don't sell yourself short too, because it's
-
easy to look at the math and say, well, I can really fit this
-
in. And that like for us, me and
-
Diane, this is the largest checker and write every month.
-
Like we don't for us personally, we don't know how we're going to
-
actually hit our number, Amen. That's us.
-
That's the faith that we have in this.
-
But I encourage you, this is going to take bold steps.
-
This isn't like a like, oh, wow, this is going to be comfortable.
-
This is going to be easy. It's going to take us to look at
-
that page and say, Lord, what would you have me really to do?
-
Because the reality is, I don't want you to give a penny less.
-
The Lord asks you to give, don't you give a penny less?
-
But it all comes through prayer and fasting and playing a part
-
of the story. It will be honored and excited
-
whatever God does Amen. Like we set a goal like we're
-
one point 9,900,000 is what we're going to bring in for
-
operations ministry funds. So $1,000,000 goes a difference
-
maker you know, and maybe if you raise 700, hey, thank you Jesus
-
raise 1.2 million, thank you Jesus, Amen.
-
But here's what I do ask is that all of us play part of the
-
story. All of us write that legacy.
-
There's a verse I mentioned the video, but Psalm 78 four and it
-
says this, it says we will not hide them.
-
So about God's word, we're not hide God's word from their
-
descendants or from our descendants, but we will tell
-
somebody say tell we will tell the next generation the
-
praiseworthy deeds and the power and the wonders that he has
-
done. This is what I've been praying
-
and fasting for is that that we have a place where we can tell
-
the word of God to the next generation and share of his
-
praise with the deeds and his power and the wonders that he
-
did. And that we can look back as
-
leaders, as difference makers and say to the next generation.
-
I played a part of the story. I sowed seeds in that season.
-
I was a part of the miracle that God did.
-
I didn't want to miss out on God's miracle.
-
Don't you think about this as we kind of wrap up today in that
-
generation. I don't know how many people are
-
outside of Caleb and Joshua. Hundreds of thousands of people
-
we know for sure could not say this about their story.
-
There's only two people in the entire generation for 40 years
-
that could say, hey, I saw the promised land and by faith God
-
calls to go in. And I was ready and willing to
-
go by God's power because I knew he could and that God honored.
-
But for the other generation, think about those 40 years.
-
What would they have to say themselves?
-
Because they knew immediately they tried.
-
I wish I would have. I missed the mark.
-
I missed it. I operate on my own strength, my
-
own power. I started looking at all the
-
obstacles. I forgot about God.
-
I'm really sorry, guys. And for 40 years it's my fault.
-
Then we're going to wander. We have a chance to be those
-
two. Amen.
-
We have the chance. We do have the chance right now
-
in this series that we can say, you know what?
-
I'm going to be the difference maker, our generation.
-
I'm be the guy by faith that says, you know, I'm not going to
-
stay in the status quo. I'm going to step out by faith.
-
The news is all about faith, Amen.
-
You guys believe God can do it. It's going to be exciting.
-
I'm encourage you guys play a part of the story, be praying,
-
be fasting, and don't worry about like how we're going to
-
get there. Let's just worry that it's God's
-
power that gets us there, Amen. Let's do what the Lord has to
-
do. Let's humble ourselves and God
-
exalts the humble, Amen. It takes a little boy that's a
-
shepherd and is awesome to a king.
-
Why humility? Joshua and Caleb, are they the
-
strongest, craziest words in history?
-
No humility, Jehoshaphat, nowhere to go, pinned against
-
the wall. What happens?
-
He worships his way to win a war.
-
That's what we can do Amen. So Father would come before you.
-
God be asked. God, you make all of us
-
difference makers in this season.
-
God, give us faith. God give us wisdom, give us
-
boldness. Maybe today you're a Jesus
-
follower. Maybe call real life home.
-
You're like, you know what? God is calling me to increase my
-
faith. God is calling me to be a
-
difference maker. God is stretching me like I want
-
to be part of the two. Like I don't be the person that
-
says, you know, no, I was a part of that season.
-
Like I had bold faith that God can.
-
I believed he could. If that's you and God speaking
-
to you to increase your faith, just lean into his power.
-
Just raise your hand high. Just declare it to God.
-
I'm going to be bold faith what God can do in this next season.
-
God, you see the hands and the hearts.
-
God help us to be people. God that desperately needs you,
-
that'll be marked by prayer and fasting, especially this season
-
and beyond. God that you'd make a way.
-
God be here for divine favor. God for maybe people in this
-
house today that can move the needle, that we could be able to
-
say yes to an opportunity for our first permanent space.
-
God that we can see the future. God, we see the obstacles, but
-
God, we see the future. God we see your Kingdom coming.
-
God, we see place full of worship and excellence.
-
You know, we see souls getting saved, missionaries sent out,
-
prodigals coming home, people being discipled, people growing,
-
kids being changed for the furtherance of the gospel.
-
You know, we see each bold transformation.
-
You always see your light shine in your community.
-
God, we declare God that there was a promise and you call us
-
into God. There's a first permanent space
-
you bring to bring us to. So God, give us that faith
-
together. In this season, I'll pray for
-
one group of people in the house, and that's those of you
-
that recognize today that we're all passionate about this.
-
So we're real passionate about souls.
-
We're real passionate about things of God.
-
And he may be the first time in your life you show up to a
-
church that has this type of passion.
-
And the reason we do is because of Jesus, because Jesus changed
-
his lives. He rescued souls.
-
And maybe today you recognize that this is this bold faith is
-
something you need and it all comes from Christ, that Jesus
-
died on the cross for our sins and he's changed all of our
-
wrongs for all of his rights. And by that we have bold faith.
-
And we are unashamedly Christians living for Christ,
-
sharing the good news of the gospel.
-
And that gospel maybe came to you today.
-
Maybe you saw a sign, maybe somebody encouraged you with the
-
gospel this week and you're here today for the first time ever,
-
and you're recognizing there's something special about these
-
people. I'm just telling you today, all
-
this is Jesus, that we've humbled ourselves before the
-
cross and said, Lord, we need you.
-
God save us. And that's what separates us.
-
We're not perfect, but we're forgiven.
-
And if you need Christ today and you need forgiveness today, the
-
Bible says that, Amen, because the name of the Lord shall be
-
saved, forgiven and made noon change and inside out.
-
And so if you needed Christ today, I'd encourage you just to
-
humble yourself before him. If that's you, you need Christ,
-
you just raise your hand high. This place, nobody looking
-
around to make it weird. I'm going to call you out.
-
You can see your guys's hands, see your hand.
-
If you need Christ today, would you just pray this prayer?
-
The prayer does not save you, but it's that belief we talked
-
about that faith by faith. I saw Abraham was saved by
-
faith. We're saved by faith.
-
That faith in God just called him by faith and say thank you
-
Jesus, that you died across from my sins.
-
I believe you're the sinless son of God that died for me.
-
I recognize your power. I see your might all through
-
this sermon and through the Bible and God, I need your power
-
in my life to forgive my sins, come in life and save me and
-
make me new that close in Jesus name.
-
The church said, Amen. You guys have people raise your
-
hand on a building message, Amen.
-
That's the power of God, Amen. Give it up for Christ.
-
I gotcha, there we go. I mean, what an encouragement
-
today. I know for me as well, just
-
calling us to bold faith and even the title of this message
-
that this is our moment. And some of you recognize today
-
that this was your moment to meet Jesus today and you
-
recognize that you need him. You raised your hand, you prayed
-
that prayer and committed your life to Jesus today.
-
We are so excited for you. Let's give them all a hand
-
again, if that's you, come on. Hey, we would love to walk
-
alongside you to resource you today with a few things.
-
If you would just grab that connection card that's on your
-
seat. Go ahead and fill out that top
-
portion there, but make sure and check that box that says I
-
committed my life to Jesus. You can drop those in the giving
-
buckets as they pass here in just a few minutes.
-
But by doing so just allows us to get you a few things.
-
The first one is this. It's a free book.
-
We'll drop it in the mail tomorrow, but it's a short read
-
called begin. It really will be a blessing to
-
you. It's got a ton of resources, a
-
lot of information as you're kind of taking that first step
-
with Jesus this week. Also, if you prayed that prayer
-
and you are right here at Kentucky Trail, as you exit the
-
worship center, there is a table to your left there that has some
-
red bags. Please grab a red bag as well
-
inside as a Bible just for you. A letter from Sean with a few
-
other resources that we know will just be an awesome next
-
step for you this week. Hey, if you are newer with us in
-
the house today, thanks so much for being here today.
-
We love that you chose to spend your morning right here with us.
-
We really don't want anything from you except for this.
-
It's just to introduce yourself to us.
-
You can do that by grabbing that connection card, filling out
-
your information. You can check that first time
-
here box. You can actually take it out to
-
the new here booth as you exit just to your right there,
-
there's a new here booth. Have a free gift that we would
-
love to get to you. Just our way of saying thanks
-
very much for being here and we would love to see you back right
-
here next week. Wait, I'm going to take a minute
-
and just talk about something that I believe truly will define
-
the next chapter, a real life church.
-
And that's our difference and Maker initiative.
-
I mean, over the last eight years, we have just seen God
-
move in so many incredible ways. We have seen 500, almost 500
-
people commit their lives to Jesus, 500 people whose eternity
-
is changed forever. Can we just celebrate that for a
-
minute? So good.
-
We truly believe that we are just getting started.
-
And as we take this step into a permanent space and opportunity
-
to say yes to a permanent home for real Life Church, I mean,
-
that allows us to minister full time to students, to teens, to
-
families, and ultimately to our city because we're believing to
-
see 5000 lives changed for Jesus in the next chapter of Real Life
-
church. That's why we're asking every
-
one of us to start praying. Continue praying, in fact,
-
asking and asking God what is bold faith look like for me in
-
this season? You can scan the QR code there
-
on the screen. Also in your book there is AQR
-
code as well that will take you to our difference Maker website
-
just to catch the vision to learn more about what this is
-
and start asking God, what do you have for me in this season
-
at Real Life church? And I want to you to hear my
-
heart on this. It is not about a dollar amount.
-
It is not about a number truly, it's about 100% participation.
-
All of us who call real life church home stepping in and
-
saying yes, God, how can we do this together?
-
And I also want you to hear this sincerely that we don't want you
-
to give a penny more than what God asks you to give.
-
But this is a bold faith journey.
-
So we also don't want you to give a penny less than what God
-
is asking you to give. And so you got a commitment card
-
when you walked in the door. We're not turning those in
-
today. We do that later in the series.
-
So you don't have to worry about filling that out.
-
But really, now is the time to pray, to seek to believe and
-
dream together that through our faith, through our generosity,
-
we'll see thousands of lives impacted and changed for Jesus.
-
And so if you call real life home, there are a lot of ways
-
that you can take part in generosity today.
-
You can scan the QR code that's there on the screen.
-
You can text any amount to that number there as well.
-
You can drive cash or checking the giving buckets.
-
There's a box in the back as well if that is more convenient
-
for you. And if you or your family find
-
yourself in any kind of immediate need this week, maybe
-
it's food or clothing or shelter.
-
Would you please reach into the buckets that they pass here in
-
just a couple minutes and just grab out any loose cash that you
-
see? We really do want to bless you
-
and your family. Man, what an awesome day.
-
Can we get it for God just to call in our lives to be the best
-
of difference makers in this generation?
-
And I'm so excited for this next six weeks.
-
Hey, I want to let you guys know about a couple awesome things
-
coming up. So on Sunday, September or
-
September, they were the year ago.
-
Man, I'm getting old. October the 26th, we're going to
-
have a super Kids Sunday. So your kids are going to have a
-
great time at 9:00 or 10:45, whichever gathering they come to
-
with wearing their favorite costume, candy, and just a
-
message of faith about the real hero, Jesus in our lives.
-
And then on Wednesday of October as well.
-
So real life youth Halloween party, costumes, talent show, I
-
guess, or meet. Hey, Drew, can we do that?
-
Can we get in the talent show? We told no.
-
It's gonna be awesome. So check out, check it out
-
details online or hit the QR code.
-
And you guys don't want to miss out on that.
-
Hey, if you need prayer for any reason, we'll have somebody up
-
here to pray with you either as individuals or family.
-
Can't wait to see you guys again next week at 9:00 or 10:45.
-
And as always, remember, whoever finds Jesus discovers real life
-
and purpose.