The Counterculture Christ Part 2 - Rusty Nelson

Come on, can you give Jesus praise today?

Come on, can you do that?

What an honor to get to be here, and especially, you know, listen, Lisa and I have been pastors.

We've been in ministry for over 42 years, but we planted a church.

Pastors Archie and Tangie planted this in 98.

We actually planted our church in 1999.

So a lot of things that, you know, when you meet somebody, you feel like you've known them your whole life.

And that's the truth.

I feel like we have known the Callahans our entire life.

Like as pastors, you go, that's my tribe.

You know, they kind of think alike.

They have a heart of worship.

And what an amazing place called the bridge.

Is anybody thankful God brought you here?

But I had the distinct honor of performing the ceremony for Paytenn and for Elijah on a couple of days ago.

And I was hoping they had a picture of them.

That was so beautiful.

and he said, hey, while you're here, would you pour in?

So I asked him, I said, you guys rest.

I'm not going to blow the church up.

I'm not going to tear things apart.

You got to put back together.

But for a pastor to entrust a pulpit or platform with someone that's never been here, that's

That's an honor.

And so if you're watching online today, I pray you're not.

I pray you and Tange are resting.

But I am so grateful.

My wife is with me.

And we get to do a lot of things together.

Thank God.

We handed the church off two and a half years ago.

After 25 years of pastoring the church, we still base in Huntsville.

But I want my wife, Lisa, to stand.

She is...

My hero, love her dearly.

And we have four children and they'll throw up our family.

If I, success to me is, is not, it's not what people say about the church.

It's if I can walk through the gates of heaven with them, I'm a successful man.

And I'm so grateful for my family.

We have four children.

My wife has five children.

I am her fifth child that she has raised.

We got married when we were 19.

And that is my oldest son, Adam and Lindsey.

They are still there.

He's the worship pastor at our home church, The Rock.

And then my daughter and son-in-law, Ashlyn and Spencer, they were at the ramp for a number of years.

She was over all the arts.

And now they pastor one of our campuses there.

there um in wins in winston county and then uh my youngest son alex and mariah they were with circuit riders for many years in uh california now they're home but they're all in ministry and then my baby girl uh actually before i get to that show me can you throw up my my grandkids this is i i would have had them first had i know this was it was this good

That right there, I told my kids recently, I said, I love them a lot more than I love you.

So just don't ever forget that.

But just a month ago, we married, I gave away my final, as Pastor Archie did two days ago,

my final one.

And so they have the next picture we'll show Annalise and Ethan.

So I'm very thankful.

That's my baby girl.

And we have three children born out of her womb and one was born out of our heart and God has been good to us.

So I'm very grateful for my family today.

Amen.

But what an honor to be here with you and to have an opportunity to pour into your life.

I know you're in a series called The Culture of Christ, Countering the Culture of Christ, The Counterculture of Christ.

And kind of today, I want to tap into that.

But I may come across, take a different road to get there.

But I want to talk to you about that today.

And I don't want to waste time because your time is precious.

And I know you have a third service.

So the first service, they were the early birds, man.

So I had to get them out of here quick.

And then all you showed up.

So we're thankful you showed up.

And I know what the impact this church and its campuses are having.

And I'm thankful for a man and woman of God who have, were willing to say yes to a vision.

So it is an honor to be here today.

I want to make this statement right before you want to take your Bibles, turn with me to Habakkuk, one of the minor prophets, but there was nothing minor about him.

Habakkuk, there are only three chapters to this book.

I encourage you when you go home today, it takes, I was listening to it again last night before I went to bed and it took nine minutes and 50 seconds to read through this book, to listen to this book.

So I encourage you to do that.

But what I want to kind of lace together today is we have to have a dream of God really to have a dream for God

Can I say that again?

What we're lacking is the dream of God, of him, so that we can say yes to a dream for him.

And I want to take you on a journey for the next few minutes.

And actually I left my, here's my phone.

I have my, I have to set my alarm.

I know me and I am, I'm a pastor.

That's why I have notes.

If I didn't, we'd be here until dinner time, all right?

Or supper, wherever you're from.

And I will say to all the Gator fans, yeah, whatever.

That's what I'll say, whatever.

Caleb, get a life, all right.

Now back at chapter two, I wanna start with there.

It says this.

And I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me.

I want you to understand that language.

I've got to see what he's saying to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

And the Lord answered me, write the vision down, make it plain on tablets.

So he may run who reads it.

For still the vision awaits its appointed time.

It hastens to the end.

It will not lie.

If it seems slow, wait for it.

It will surely come.

It will not delay.

Behold, his soul is puffed up with ambition.

It is not upright within him.

but the righteous shall live by faith.

Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for your word today.

And God, once again, as I have all these years, I ask you, would you allow my tongue to be the pen of a writer that somehow I could write your heart to these incredible people gathered today here in this auditorium and those watching online.

Speak to our heart, Lord.

I pray, God, we would have ears to hear, to be able to hear and to see what you're saying.

And I ask it in the name of Jesus.

And everybody believes that with me says, amen.

There's a passage in Proverbs 29, 18 that I have.

It's been a part really as a pastor, as a founder, as a planner.

I love planning church.

I thank God for all of that.

It's been kind of a bedrock for me.

It says this, where there is no vision, the people perish.

There's one translation that says, where there is no vision, the people grow apathetic and careless.

In other words, they have no boundaries.

They don't have no parameters.

They don't know where to run.

If you look at the word vision there, it means a revelation.

Where there is no revelation, what does that mean?

It means where there is no God said, the people grow careless and apathetic.

Where there's no revelation, where there is nothing revealed, this word that is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, it's more than just a devotional book sitting on a table.

This word is powerful.

It is sharper than any two-edged sword.

It's the dividing asunder of joy and marrow, soul and spirit.

It discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.

And if I don't learn to believe what he has said, how will I ever be led by what he is saying?

Because God will never contradict his word, ever.

There's a lot of stuff going on on social media that has nothing to do with what his word is.

And so many people become gullible when we cannot believe already what he has said.

Then we cannot be led nor have discernment by what is being said.

So we got to have his word.

And it's what reveals.

It's actually when the word became flesh and dwelt among us is how we beheld the living word, Jesus, who was the one from the beginning.

And so in that, what is this revelation?

What is this vision?

In the passage I read to you about Habakkuk, he's really finding himself, this is about 10 to 20 years before Judah is going to be carried away into Babylon.

If you read chapter one, he's really got some issues with God.

Has anyone ever had questions for God?

Come on, don't get holy on me.

Anybody, anybody just, God, what are you doing?

What's going on?

Why am I here?

Why did I have to face this?

Why are you gonna do this?

Why is our nation in such a place of borderline crumble?

I'm not a doomist, I'm a realist, but if we don't get back to Jesus, if we don't get back to the very one who gave us the gift of this nation, my friend, there are a lot of things that could be on the edge.

But here's the key.

is that what was it with Habakkuk?

You say that 10 times, man, that'll just, you'll think you're speaking in tongues.

You just need an interpretation of that.

But here he is, he's writing this about 10 to 20 years before Judah is gonna be taken captive by the Chaldeans or the Babylonians.

They're gonna come in and destroy the temple.

They're gonna come in and take them captive.

They're gonna take control of Jerusalem.

They're going to lead captives.

They're going to do something that Habakkuk is having issues with because God's showing him not only what is coming, but he's also telling him, I'm going to bring them back though.

I will restore what goes into captivity.

But if you can't get past of the first moment, you will never know how to praise him in the last moment.

So here he is, he's walking through this.

He's found himself dealing with serious problems with Judah.

Natural calamities like droughts and plagues were going on at this time.

Various military defeats for Judah.

The people of Judah wouldn't listen.

Even God was getting their attention.

Instead of repenting, they hardened their hearts the more and more and they turned for help from the gods of the nations around them.

It was exploitation of the poor.

There were briberies in the court system.

The law was being twisted and ignored.

Leaders were more interested in making money than they were caring for the people.

I didn't read to you what's going on in America.

I read to you what was going on in Judah.

And there was an enemy at the gate.

The enemy was the Babylonians.

It was the present day Iraq and parts of Syria and parts of Iran.

And God was going to use a violent people to bring Judah back to a place of repentance and alignment.

Out of this moment though, in this moment of captivity, there are four boys that are gonna be raised up to make an impact even in this sanctuary today.

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

God is gonna raise up a Daniel that will start pouring into wise men, bringing up, raising up wise men that centuries down the pipe will walk into Jerusalem looking for a king, bringing him gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Why?

Because they were looking for the king.

God put inside a Babylonian culture an idea and a heartbeat.

You may think what's going on in Iran right now, but the greatest revival we have known is happening in the underground church of Iran right now.

And it's being led by women.

We may be bombing.

Things may be trying to hinder this terrorist regime from being able to get a nuclear bomb.

But I'm telling you, there is a spiritual nuclear bomb being developed inside of that house.

There are still Persians seeking the king.

I'm going to try to teach.

I'm going to try to get pastoral here.

Are y'all with me today?

Come on, look at your neighbor and say, I think this is for somebody like you today.

Habakkuk's prophecy appears to have come not long before this.

Look at our culture.

What do we see going on around us?

It's the cry for justice, political agendas, the deconstruction of faith, the evolution of theology.

All this spiritual chaos and all of the prophetic mayhem going on on social media.

All of the talking heads.

Everybody's got to talk.

The murder of the unborn, the redefining of God's design for marriage and family, the complete defiance of God's nature and his character, the calling good evil and evil good, school shootings, mass murder, storms, earthquakes, wars in the Middle East, the threats of AI takeover, all the anti-Semitism, which are all building blocks of

for the purpose of God and what he will do.

We may not like how we get there, but my friend, if we will keep our eyes on him, we will look like something when we get there.

All the questions, the battles of doubt become a great mountain.

Remember when Jesus had the disciples up on the mountain, he was transfigured in front of Peter, James, and John.

And while they're up there having this encounter with Jesus, down below the rest of the disciples, the father brings his child and says, can you cast the demons out?

And they couldn't do it.

They had done it before.

They just couldn't do it then.

So when Jesus comes down, the father runs to Jesus and said, I brought them to your boys, but they couldn't do anything.

And he turns and just kind of rebukes him for their lack of faith and then delivers the boy.

And then when they're out having fire time with Jesus after that, they said, why couldn't we do that?

He said, because this doesn't come out but by prayer and fasting.

What was he wanting to get out?

Was it the demon?

How many realize that the name of Jesus, every knee bows, every tongue confesses.

The name of Jesus, every demon has to flee.

You have authority in the name of Jesus.

It wasn't the name of Jesus that was the issue.

It was the doubt in their heart that was trying to keep them from moving forward in their belief.

It was this mountain of doubt that

That he said, but if you can say to this mountain, be thou removed.

Prayer and fasting wasn't meant to get a demon out.

It was given to us as a weapon to take care of the doubt that's trying to pull us out.

All the questions though, all the doubt become this great mountain.

But he said, but I want to teach you what to say to this mountain.

But you've got to see it removed.

See, dealing with the mountain of doubt can be greater than the challenge of a demonic horde.

The doubt of the call, the doubt of our abilities, the doubt of what, God, are you ever going to show up?

What's going on?

Why are you late?

How many know I've had times in my life, God missed a lot of good opportunities to be early.

But he saw, I'm like, God, you're late.

He said, son, just know when I show up, everything changes.

The disciples said,

had to deal with this.

You see, the thing about doubt, it's the state of uncertainty.

It's a hesitation between believing and not believing.

It's often because something feels unclear.

It feels unproven.

It feels difficult to reconcile.

That's what doubt is facing.

It's a struggle of the heart and the mind to fully trust what God has said

When we see, feel, or understand, that feeling seems to contradict what is in front of me.

See, doubt is the struggle of the heart and mind to fully trust what God has said when we see, feel, and understand what seems to contradict it.

I want to say that again.

It's not necessarily the same as unbelief.

Doubt can say, Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief.

Let me say that again.

Doubt can, sometimes you're battling this mountain of doubt.

It can actually, the honesty of doubt says, Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief.

But unbelief can go farther and it refuses to trust.

This very word in the Greek, in James 1 or in Matthew 21, it carries the idea of wavering or hesitating or being divided in judgment.

Doubt in essence is a divided heart.

It's pulled between what God has said and what the circumstances are saying.

When Jesus came and cursed the fig tree, this is where he said, say to this mountain,

He came to first, you remember he walks in, he goes to get a fig from the tree.

There's nothing there.

And so he curses it.

But here's what the Bible says.

The figs were not in season.

Why would Jesus curse something that it didn't even carry it?

Because Jesus does not give us fruit seasonally.

He gives us fruit that remains.

Amen.

He doesn't come in the good times looking for fruit.

He comes in the bad times looking for fruit.

He comes in the trying times looking for fruit.

Why?

His fruit remains.

We're not seasonal people.

We are people who God's placed in a culture to make a difference and reshape it because the fruit and the fragrance of his presence still abides in us.

Hear me.

You got to see it already done.

He said, I urge you to boldly believe whatever you ask in prayer.

Believe that you have received it and it'll be yours.

Believe.

You gotta see it already done.

See, what he was striving, what God was about to give Habakkuk was he was not only giving him foresight of what was coming, he was also giving him foresight of God's restoration.

He wanted him to build the block of attack off of the victory that was coming.

He wanted him to build his life because you got to see it before you see it or you'll never see it.

You got to see it already done.

You know, there are seven Hebrew words for praise.

One of those is tehillah.

I didn't say tequila.

I said tehillah.

It's a crazy praise.

It's the kind of praise that doesn't make sense.

You're looking at something in front of you and you think you're in denial.

You're praising God for what the attack is happening in your life.

No, it's not the attack I'm praising him for.

It's the victory on the other side of it that I'm praising him for.

You got to praise him as though you already have it.

God is raising up this prophet and he's not only showing him, he's going to use a violent moment to take captive these people, but he's reminding him, but son, I'm going to bring them back.

Habakkuk's name actually means to wrestle or to embrace.

He wrestles with God to how and why he's going to deal with Judah because of their injustices.

He's wrestling with questions, but then by faith, you're going to find he embraces God's character and his promise above the questions of why.

See, God has never had an epiphany.

Let me try this out over here.

God has never had an epiphany.

What's an epiphany?

I didn't see that coming.

Do you know that he sees it from beginning to end?

He sees it already done.

God is the God that when he started it, he already had the end in mind.

He had already ended what he had already started.

And he says, now begin, come and walk with me.

Come and walk with me.

So he's never, we want God many times though.

I need you to explain something.

God's, how could I comprehend what God would explain to me?

It's like the universe.

I live in a very high-tech city.

We have more engineers than those with doctorates anywhere per capita in the world.

I mean, I'm from Double Springs, Alabama.

There ain't even two springs there.

I mean, that'll give you a complex growing up as a kid right there.

Where are you from?

Don't even ask.

I am the living illustration that God takes foolish things and freaks out engineers.

I mean, I'm in a city of high intellect.

I'm going, I don't know why you did this.

In a place where rockets are created and formed and launched, where men get on the moon, where people are in outer space, I'm in a place of great intellectual ascent.

But in that, I say, God, I need you to explain something.

See, in the kingdom of God, though, we do not live by explanation.

We live by revelation.

Revelation of his promises that are only defined by himself of who he is.

Because the promises of God, all of them, have a time stamp attached to them and are based on his character.

We live on revelation, and that is the revelation of Jesus.

Hear me.

Revelation is what teaches us value.

What are you going back to Revelation again?

Where there is no God said, the people grow lax and apathetic.

See, I realized years ago, Jesus is the only explanation we need.

As long as I can see Jesus in the middle of it, I can handle anything that's coming.

That's why the apostle would say, fix your eyes on Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of your faith.

When the scripture says in John one, he says, no man has seen God at any time.

The only begotten of God in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him.

The word explained him is where we get our word exegete.

It means line upon line, precept upon precept.

It's how you study the word.

It's finding the cultural context.

You're doing who's writing this?

When did they write it?

Who did they write it to?

And then it's taking the words and it's breaking it down from the Hebrew or the Greek or Hebrew

any way you're, you're digging deep.

And it says of Jesus, he was the exegete of the father.

He said, if you've seen me, you've seen my father.

If you've known me, you've known my father.

I don't say anything except what I've heard him say.

And I do not do anything except what I've seen him do.

Is anybody with me today?

Come on.

I'm, I'm doing this fast.

Hold on.

I

of this watchman's PowerPoint.

This watchman called Habakkuk, who when he cried out to God, it meant he had a loud voice from a disturbed heart.

Habakkuk cried out to God.

When he didn't understand everything he saw going on around him, his fear and his anxiety level took a voice.

And the first thing God said, I want you to write the vision down.

Before I give you these points, what was the vision?

I've used this passage as a pastor and I've written the vision down so that others can read and run.

You want to make sure in your next steps, people know what they're connecting to and who we are, the heartbeat of everything.

I know this house does that.

It's how you connect, how you get involved, how you get engaged.

But that's not what he was talking about.

He said, son, I'm about to show you something.

I want you to write it down and I want you to write it with sobriety.

That means seriousness, soberness, clear headedness.

I don't want you to get drunk on the moment.

Don't become intoxicated by the environment or the culture around you.

He said of this, I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me.

I got a visual eyes.

I've got to see this and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

In other words, I've got to alleviate every distraction.

I have to pay attention, see what is said.

If we don't pay attention to what he has said, we'll never hear what he is saying.

God wants to give you this vision, this revelation, this God said.

The second thing is to write it with clarity.

Write it down.

It means clearness, simplicity, transparency.

He said, what I'm about to show you, write it down, make it plain so that he may run with it who reads it.

There's something he wants us to see in the strain, in the pressure, in the crisis, in the challenge of your family.

Listen, we've all been there.

We've all been there in those sleepless nights.

I've been there.

I remember when I had a brain injury and I was put out of the pulpit for 20 weeks.

I couldn't read.

I couldn't write.

All I could do was sit on a porch and try to recover.

And through that, thinking I was a broken vessel and would never be used again.

All of the doubts, all of the pain of trying to put it together again.

But let me tell you something about pain.

It is an alarm system God placed inside of you that when pain hits your life, it's saying, look up.

Look at me.

Look at me.

Anytime you feel that anxiety, God is wanting that anxiety to not be found necessarily in some pill somewhere.

He's saying, look at me.

Look at me.

I want to show you something.

I want you to record this.

I want you to rehearse this so you can recall this.

Write it down clear.

Wait with expectancy.

Wait for it.

It means hope, anticipation, expectation.

It means bated breath.

It has to do with, it refers to a state in which you're almost stopped breathing.

It's suspenseful.

It's anticipation.

It is a dramatic pause of God.

When you think nothing's happening and God put a pause on it, a seal a moment, and he's just saying, I'm just waiting to captivate your attention.

For it waits for an appointed time.

The word appointed time is where we get the word feast of the Lord.

Feast of the Lord.

What he's saying is this vision is tied to my calendar and not your calendar.

This moment of your life is tied to God's schedule and not yours.

Listen, I feel like God, I've prayed so many times.

I'm like, God, listen, please don't be late.

God, you're late on this one.

I've prayed many times, God, you are missing a good opportunity to be early.

I could really use an early show up.

He says, son, the only thing you need to know for me is that I show up.

And when I show up, whether you think it's early, mid or late, I reverse everything the enemy tried to define you with.

Because it's on my calendar, on my calendar.

The thing is, he's bringing us.

He says, I'm trying to get you into a point of expectancy.

I'm trying to get you the full context of even what he's saying that I'm coming.

He said, therefore, don't throw away your confidence for it has great reward for you of need of patience, endurance for when you've done the will, you'll get the promise.

Yet in a little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay.

Habakkuk said, it is coming.

But the writer of Hebrews says, he is coming.

Peter said, though he's tearing, wait for him.

He's coming.

He's coming.

The fourth thing is to walk with confidence.

It means conviction, assurance.

His resolve was this.

Here's what Habakkuk said.

The righteous shall live by faith.

Faith of a strong conviction.

Addie, if you would come.

A strong conviction.

Because grace and faith always run together.

See, grace is the empowerment to do what we cannot do in ourselves.

And it always walks with faith.

Grace always run and faith run together.

We live by faith, but grace empowers the faith.

For as the waters fill the sea, here's what Habakkuk saw.

The earth will be filled with the awareness of the glory of the Lord.

He's now giving him a glimpse.

And he says, you know what I've promised you?

That my glory will fill the old earth.

But you've got to get up and write this, see this.

He then responds in verse 20.

He says, the Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth be silent.

The Lord is here.

Now he's on a watchtower.

God's revealing something to him.

What did he want him to write down?

Did he just want him to focus on all of his questions?

He said, son, I want to bypass your mind.

I want to reveal something to you.

And I am in my temple.

Hush.

Let every voice be quiet.

You know, one of the most difficult things and critical moments is to be quiet.

To be careful because what we say, what comes out of our mouth begins to create the environments that we live our life in.

I'm not talking some spooky weird thing.

I'm just saying the power of our tongue

that is a part culturally of what is created around us.

So he says he's in his temple, be quiet, listen.

There was a sense of awe because it's out of that sense of awe it releases the heart of worship.

And he said, worship with sincerity.

Worship is always birthed in prayer.

And it's prayer that cultivates that place of worship.

It's the greatest expression of surrender.

So Habakkuk now, he releases one of the most beautiful psalms of worship out of this place before he even sees what God is saying.

He starts worshiping before he even sees it.

And he says, oh Lord, I've heard of your report.

I see what you're saying.

I worship you in the awe for the fearful things you are going to do.

In this time of our deep need, again, help us.

As to in the years gone by, show us your power to save us.

And in your wrath, remember mercy.

And when he releases that prayer, watch what he sees.

He finally sees what he's to write down.

You ready for this?

Listen.

It wasn't a vision to just get freedom.

He said, I see God moving across the deserts of Mount Sinai.

His brilliant splendor fills the earth and the sky.

His glory fills the heavens and the earth is full of his praise.

What a wonderful God he

In the middle of all of his questions, what God wanted him to see, to write down, was not his circumstance, not the culture that's going crazy.

He said, son, I want you to see me.

I want you to set your eyes.

I am moving.

He looked out from that perspective and he said, I see God moving.

I see him.

Until we can see him, we will never be able to see them.

We will never be able to shift culture until we fix our eyes on Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of our faith.

He said, I see God.

And he's moving.

He's moving.

I see him.

It's what John would see in Revelation.

He said, when I turn to see him, no matter everything he was about to see and experience and be revealed to him, as long as I see the one who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb, everything is going to be all right.

Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple with every assignment on Isaiah's life.

He said, let me tell you what settled me.

It was when I saw him.

When I set my gaze on him.

When I saw him.

When I saw him.

My pastor used to say years ago, what you behold, you become.

So I want to behold him.

What does Psalm 27, one thing have I desired in that will I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever to behold him in his beauty, to seek him in his sanctuary.

Do you know what kind of church is going to reshape and change the culture?

It is those in the people that turn their eyes to Jesus, look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and his grace.

I set mine.

Do you know what will shift your marriage?

If both of you just get your eyes on Jesus.

You know what's going to change your circumstance?

Sometimes he didn't change the circumstance.

He changes us in the middle of it.

That's not some sloppy little key hook phrases preachers give.

No, that is something that is the reality of heaven.

He's faithful today.

I close with this.

Back when I was in my mid-20s, I was able to go and pick up an amazing, great legend of a missionary.

His name was Dr. T.L.

Osborne.

And Dr. Osborne, at that time, before Billy Graham had really, they had logged in, he had spoken to more people face-to-face than anyone in the world.

At that time, T.L.

Osborne had, but he didn't have television.

He did it face-to-face throughout the nations.

I had an opportunity as a young man to go pick him up at the airport and host him.

So I picked him up.

I knew I only had 20 minutes to get him from the hotel to the church.

So when he got in, I got him settled.

I'm driving off and I said, Dr. Osborne, can you tell me, how have you done this?

How have you gone to all the nations?

Have you done this?

I said, I'm a young man.

I'm not looking for a formula.

What is your heart?

He said, no, son, I know what you mean.

He said, first of all, you got to have a vision.

Immediately in my young heart, I thought a vision for ministry.

While I'm thinking it, he said, but I'm not talking about a vision for ministry.

He said, no, son, you've got to see him.

He said, the moment I saw him, the moment I saw him, I saw what he saw.

Then I felt what he felt.

And he said, I've spent my life doing something about what I have seen and what I have felt.

He said, I was never called to Africa, but I went.

I was never called to India, but I went.

I was never called.

He started naming these nations.

I was never called to China, but I went.

I was never called to Latin America, but I went.

All of these nations, God had led him in.

He said, when I saw what he saw, when I saw him, when my eyes penetrated the chaos of my life and I caught a glimpse of him, I saw what he saw and I felt what he felt.

And it changed everything.

Can I tell you the kind of church in America that's gonna shift the very core value of America?

And it's when we once again get our eyes back on Jesus, who is the author again and the finisher of our faith.

We see what he sees, we feel what he feels, and we spend our lives, no matter what marketplace we find ourself in, we spend our lives loving who he loves and caring for what he cares.

Father, thank you for your word today.

Thank you for your amazing people in this room.

God, today, I know there's another service happening in just a moment.

And I pray that somehow, even through the flaws of this moment of

God, maybe thank you between me and your people.

Holy Spirit, you are there shifting into the ears, the spiritual ears of everyone you are speaking to.

God, do that today.

Thank you for your faithfulness.

God, even in the days of the counterculture, God, of the culture around us, how do we invade a culture?

You placed us here.

It is to be bearers of the image of the one who loved us and gave himself for us.

To behold you in your beauty.

To seek you in your sanctuary.

Thank you for a house.

Carriers of your presence.

Thank you for the vision of the Lord in this house.

I bless them today.

And I thank you.

In the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.