Filled to Flow

Pastor Zach Whitehead

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Didn't exactly plan that this morning, but let that be a reminder to you the the worship set this morning. You got to remember who you are. I don't know who that's for this morning. You need to remember that you're a child of God. I don't know what the world has told you, I don't know what the enemy's constantly whispered in your ear, but you belong to him. You belong to him. He paid his life in your place. And so when he looks at your sin and your depravity, he sees a blood covering. He doesn't see what you've done. He doesn't see all your mistakes and your failures. He doesn't see the things that you call yourself. You may call yourself worthless. You may call yourself junk. You may you may call yourself all these other things, but that's not who he called you. He called you son and he called you daughter. And his love was paid a great price for you. And so nobody else in the world feels like values you you. God values you. Remember that this morning. God, thank you for your love. Thank you for your love this morning. Thank you for what you're doing in this house. In your name, we pray to everybody. In Jesus' name. You guys can be seated this morning if you're going to preach with me. Can you guys give Randy a big shout-out, a big hand clap? Man, I have I have been. They came to the house last week for dinner, um, and we got to finally spend some time with him and hang out. And uh I had heard through the grapevine that he played drums, and sometimes people say they can play and you know they can just keep a steady beat. But man, this dude has the chops. When I asked him, he's like, Yeah, I'd love to come practice. I was like, hey, you can come practice this in the morning. If you don't feel if like if it's too much pressure and you don't feel good about it, he's not an off-play during service. I was like, Do you need any ears? He's like I got in ears, I got sticks, I got all of it, man. He's he's been waiting. I'm so glad that they have called this place home uh while they're here in Louisiana. And so, guys, make sure that we love on them. They are all the way from the great state of Washington, uh moving from Oregon, but they're they're here, and so they're part of our family now. Um, and so I'm thankful for that. And um, I mean, having somebody solid play drums, it changed the dynamic of it, and also it gives people like Avery is trying his hardest to do it, and he's doing drum lessons for year, and that's great every time that he gets up here, but it's different when you have somebody to show you in person. And so that's what we talked about discipling. And I know, I know what we've been talking about. Uh, I guess it got to him, and he's like, I want to do something about it. And so he's wanting to play and he's wanting to help, he's wanting to help teach other people too. And so that's the heart, that's the mission, that's what we've been talking about, is we've we've got to do that. I know there's countless people across the room who are doing that. Just want to give him a shout out this morning. So this morning, we we we've been we've been through the past couple weeks, we've been asking this question every week. And I hope that it pricks your heart still every time that we ask it. Don't let it get old, please. How is Zachary? How is the city of Zachary different? How is the city of Zachary and the surrounding areas different because God planted this church here? I don't want that question to grow old, even if we move on from this thought, even if God moves us on to something else. I don't want us to move away from that. Why? Because if we move on from where our mission starts, then we're gonna get sidetracked somewhere else. We're gonna get sidetracked building some great program or some great thing, and we're gonna lose the whole reason that God sends people, that He plants a church. He sends, uh He sends, He sends disciples, He sends believers, He sends apostolic believers to plant a church in the community. Why? Because they're there's strongholds that need to be broken, because there's there's there's there's spiritual forces that need to be put back. And when we when we when we when we when we measure it out at the end of the day, if we're only here and people benefit because their physical needs are met and not their spiritual needs are met, are we truly accomplishing what he's asking us to accomplish? Are we just another 501c3? Are we just another humanitarian organization? Not that those things are inherently wrong, but we have to be able to offer something more as his bride, as his church, than what the than everything else offers. The first week, remember, we talked about bless the blessed, that our blessing was never meant to terminate with who's receiving it. That when God blesses us, it is, yes, it is to bless us, but he blesses us that we also release it and we bless someone else. The next thing we talked to seek in the city is that we don't merely exist in the city, that we seek its welfare. Remember this that compassion makes us unwilling to ignore the need, but the gospel makes us unwilling to stop at the need. We will meet needs and we will be what this city needs, and we will feed people, we will clothe, we will do the things that we have to to meet the need, but we will not stop at the need because the compassion where we're at, the compassion that we have is the compassion of the Father. The gospel that has moved us towards Him and moved us towards His presence does not allow us to stop at the need. Why? Because other places can feed people, other places can clothe people, but there's only one place that can say, Hey, we can feed you, we can clothe you, but we can offer you a new birth. We can offer you a new start, we can offer you salvation because let me introduce you to Jesus. That's who we are. We seek the city. And then last week we talked about the Lamb coming near, that Jesus didn't save from a distance. He didn't, he didn't from on his throne save us, he didn't from uh from from off and away, he came near, he touched our wounds, he restored names. Remember, he even told the healed man, he told the man from the gatherings that was that was the that was that was possessed by thousands, thousands of demons that would cut himself, that would run naked among the tombs. He healed him, and the man was clothed and in his right mind, and he asked Jesus to follow him. What was Jesus' answer? He said, Go home and tell them what has happened. Why? Because redeemed experience becomes mission. What God has redeemed in you, and what God has turned around in you, and God, what God has turned around for your good, remember, it is a blessing to you, but it's a blessing to give to someone else. Now, today we're gonna talk about fill the flow. We have one question left. We know why we go, we know what we desire for this city, we know how we go by coming near. But here's the thing it's by whose power do we do any of this. We know the why, we know the what, we know the power, but it's whose power now do we do all this by? Because compassion's good, strategy's good, systems are good, programs can be good, but none of these things can accomplish what only God Himself can accomplish. None of those things can accomplish what only God can accomplish. We can meet somebody at the point of their need, but only Jesus can reach deeper than that need. We can reach somebody right where they're at at their need, but only Jesus can reach deeper than that need. Because human compassion can help change circumstances. Feeding people will change circumstances, clothing people will change circumstances, helping people pay bills if they need it will change circumstances. However, Jesus could uh the gospel brings the possibility of new birth. The gospel brings a better way, a better life, and as Christ Himself said, life and what? Life more abundantly. We will meet needs and it will change circumstances, but it will be an open door for the gospel to move and the gospel to work. And Jesus explains that source of power with one of the most beautiful images in Scripture. In this, we're going to John uh 7 and 37. Now, this is one of the feasts, uh, this is one of the feasts, this is this is Sukkot that's happening right now. And on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and he cried out, if anyone thirst, okay, let me pause here. We've heard this a lot, and we we we've sometimes we've missed the context of it because what's happening in this feast, there's a lot of symbol uh symbolism and there's a lot of imagery and water in this in this in this feast. There's actually water that's drawn up from a long distance away and brought to this feast. And so all this idea and talking water, for Jesus to stand up and say, if anyone thirsts, kind of fits in with what they're talking here, okay? This is not it's not that Jesus is saying something outlandish first, it's the second part of what he says, okay? So he says, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. They've already been reading the scriptures, they've been reading from the book of Isaiah and multiple chapters and different and other and other books and other prophets. They've been reading all these things, talking about living water, talking about rivers of water, talking about the rivers coming to barren places, talking about uh water coming to droughts. They've read all these scriptures, but Jesus stands up and he says, If anyone thirsts, and everybody thinks he's gonna say something pertaining to scripture, and he is, they just don't understand it. He says, Come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And now this is said about the Spirit, who whom you believed were were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus had not been glorified yet. Jesus is standing at the Feast of the Tabernacles, and again, this water imagery sound surrounds this celebration, and prophets had spoken about water being poured on thirsty ground in so many different ways, in so many different metaphors, in so many beautifully, beautiful ways written across Scripture. Ezekiel had even seen a river bringing life wherever it went, and Jesus stands and cries, if any man thirst, and notice where his start is, not with who wants a ministry, who has a calling, who is gifted, who's ready to change the world. He starts simply with this who is thirsty. Who's thirsty? Because here's before Jesus says anything about flowing out, he says something must first be received in. Thirst is the soul admitting I cannot be my own source. Thirst is admitting the soul is not its own source. Because this is what Jesus is saying about flow. He's saying, come, drink, believe, and then flow. He's not, this is not what he's saying, and maybe what we've gotten locked into our minds over the years of Christianity is that we have to try harder and do more and get more tired and then feel guilty about being tired and not doing enough and then try again harder. That is not what Christ wanted, and that's not the mission of the church. It is come, receive, and overflow. We come to him, we we follow our thirst to him, we receive from him because we are not the source. And from receiving from him, our flow overflows out of our life and out of our souls. Here's the thing we don't need another person telling us to pour out harder. We don't need some of us have been pouring out for, we've been pouring out for years. We've been pouring out in our parenting, some of us are pouring out in our leading and our serving and our giving and our caring and our trying. And Jesus isn't standing on the sideline yelling, flow just a little bit more. It's not what he's saying. He's saying, Come unto me and drink. Some of you in this place, you are thirsty because you've been pouring so hard for so long, thinking something's gonna come from it. And remember, you are a finite vessel. God is infinite. He talked about rivers of living water. Rivers are connected to a source. And without being connected to a source, you and I can pour ourselves dry in our spin in our spirit, in our emotions, in our finances, in our time, in our physical health before we ever make a difference and make a change. Why? Because it's the source that matters. We can change needs and our human compassion will help change circumstances, but will it eternally change circumstances? I'm not here just to impact people on a daily basis, but I'm here to impact eternity. I'm here about my father's business. My father's business was eternal business because you cannot sustainably pour out what you refuse to receive. You cannot sustainably serve day in and day out in ministry. You cannot lead people, you cannot lead your family, you cannot lead your husband, your wife, your children, you cannot lead others to him when you refuse to receive. And I think this is where revival actually may begin. It's not first with another crowd and not first with somebody new walking through the doors. Revival may actually begin when spirit-filled people actually become thirsty again. We've been praying this this entire time, and I believe it's direction from God. Hear me, I'm going somewhere with this. That that we're good, we we we we we need to build this house, we need to prepare his house because he intends to fill it. And we've been praying that and we've been believing that, we've been walking that, and we've been fasting for it, and we've been working diligently on the spiritual side of things, but on the system side of things and everything. And and maybe that phrase is so much deeper than what God has us see on the surface level. Because oftentimes when we think prepare the house, we've got to prepare, we we we we do, and we and correctly so we need to prepare for the incoming people. But maybe at the same time, what God is asking us is to prepare ourselves. Maybe it's not just the house, maybe it's more than just the house, maybe it's more than just the systems, maybe it's more than just the programs, maybe it's more than just the ministries, maybe it's the people that those things are flowing out of that he's trying to prepare. Revival may begin, but spirit-filled people actually become thirsty again. And here's the thing you never actually graduate from your thirst. You just learn where to take it. Because Jesus He didn't stop at saying, Come and drink. He says, He says, What he gives you becomes something more that begins moving. Acts 1 and 8, but you shall receive power, everybody say power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses. Everybody say, Witnesses in Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. We love the first half. You shall receive power. And we've been in church services where it stops there, the shout beat starts, and you it's gone. And we take off running the aisles, and that's great, but only when you have half the equation, you only make half the difference. Watch what, watch what he's directing here. He's saying, You have power, you should receive power, but power without direction is useless. Power without direction is useless. We should still believe people receiving in the Holy Ghost, and we do. We believe in Acts too. We believe that the Spirit fills people, we believe in tongues, we believe in supernatural power. But Jesus didn't put a period after that and stop the verse. He said, You shall receive power, and then immediately the power receives direction, and you shall be witnesses. What's the power meant to do? It's meant to witness who he is, it's meant to witness his power, his love, his mercy, his grace. The same Holy Ghost we defend doctrinally is the same Holy Ghost who sends us missionally. The same Holy Ghost that we go tooth and nail and that we fight people about is the same Holy Ghost that sends us to those people. And we can't be so obsessed with people getting filled with the Holy Ghost that we forget the other half of the mandate of the scripture is that that same power that should be filling us should also be moving our spirits to do something with that power. That power should be moving us to the mission field. That power should be moving us to our neighbors, the power should be moving us to our schools and to the streets. Why? Because that power is meant to give us direction. Acts 2, 1 through 4. And when the day of full Pentecost was fully come, they were together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven as the sound of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting, and divided tongues of fire appeared to them, and they rested upon each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The house was filled, the people were filled, they spoke in tongues, but at the book of Acts did not end there. That was just the moment that the apostolic church was born. What happens there? Peter preaches, people respond to the word of God. 3,000 are then baptized because of what happens up there, and then homes open up after that. Resources become available, needs are met, and witness spreads. Pentecost happened in a room, but what happened in Pentecost was never meant to remain just a room experience. What happened in Pentecost was never meant to be confined to one room, and that they would go back there and they would meet what happened. They poured out to the street, and the people are asking, are these people drunk? And he's you don't understand, it's but the third hour of the day. This is not that. And he began to preach, and the same Jesus that you crucified is the same one. And he began to talk about that. And from the room, the 120 turned into 3,000 that people were added to them that day. They were baptized, they were filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost that day. Why? Because it spilled out of the room that was in. And oftentimes we have this ideology of church is that we just come here and when we have church, oh, we'll have good church, we'll have good singing and we'll worship, and the spirit of God will move, and it happens every time that we show up. Why? Because where two or three are gathered, he's in the midst of their presence. What if we took the same principle that when we're out there, we're in our homes, we're at the school, we're in the grocery store, we're on the street, we're in our neighborhoods, that the same principle that the two or three that are gathered here holds the same power and authority as it does over there. Why? Nothing about this whole sheetrock is inherently holy. Nothing about the chairs that you sit on, nothing is inherently holy about that cloth. They're not, they're just chairs in this sheetrock. But it wouldn't matter, it's the gathering. It's this assembly. It's who you and I, when we come together with the power that we've been sown together with, moves us to mission and purpose. One could put a thousand a flight, and two could put ten thousand a flight. No telling what would happen if we were all unified in the same mind and the same accord, going out into the mission. This power needs direction, and the direction is out. What would happen if we got beyond this Western ideology of church is that we just meet for Sunday morning and I'll see you next Sunday morning. Because really, what happens is that we need to understand that that what happened in the book of Acts, it was the other days outside of their synagogue gatherings that mattered too. They poured out into their homes. Why do you think we're going into small groups? Not because we don't need another service here in midweek, but we need to bring this word into homes. We need to be intentional about it. We need to go into our homes, and it may be uncomfortable at first, and you may not feel like you're the best teacher, and you may not feel like it have it all together, or it's the best organization. Good, you shouldn't. But what we'll see over time is that people will open up more than they ever would sometimes than they would in these doors. More people will show up at your house before they'll show up before they're ever dark in the back doors of the church. Because there is something powerful when we as the church, the ecclesia, the gathering, the assembly begin to take this outside of the four walls. I love the church. I love this building. I love that we get to gather here. I love the freedom and the liberty that we have to do that, and I am thankful for it. And I'm thankful for the men and women whose sacrifice that we have to do it. But we also have to remember our the church wasn't born in the same kind of environment that we live in today. They were forced out of where they were at because they were under persecution. The church, the the the persecution that they were under Roman persecution that they were under, because think think about this. Rome was one of the greatest empires to ever exist, conquered the known world at the time. They were afraid of people who were meeting talking about Jesus. They weren't afraid of warriors, they weren't afraid of an invading army. They were afraid of what was stirring in the people. Why? Because they witnessed power with direction. My God, I feel the Holy Ghost moving right now. When we wake up and realize the power that's been due to us when we've been filled in the Spirit, and realize that power is shaping us and directing us to people, to the lost and to the broken outside of these walls. Hell become scared of what the church actually becomes. Rome became scared because of people unified and they realized the power that they've been filled with, and they spilled out from the upper room and they went to their homes. Fine, you can persecute us and you won't let us gather in the synagogues. You're not gonna stop this movement. We're gonna go to our homes and we're gonna meet, we're gonna break bread, and you won't find what home we'll be at next, but we're gonna keep going house to house, and we'll go into the streets and we'll go in worship and we'll keep going. Persecution, move the gospel out. Maybe what's happened is we've gotten so comfortable in Western Christianity and our Western living that we've forgotten what it's like to bring the gospel outside there. And I'm not just talking about outreach where we just hand out a track and move on to a person. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with tracks, it's a great aid and great tool, but what do we talk about? We talked about last week is that Jesus came near to people and knew their name. Maybe we've just band-aiding our souls long enough when we say, hey, would you come with me to church? instead of developing the relationship and being the church to them first. Maybe people are scared to come to church because they've seen the example of the church outside of the four walls of the building. I'm not pre- I'm not preaching at you today. I am I am I am here with you. I know I God is God is working in me as well. And here's what I think we need a new test for what we call a good service. We we we oftentimes people ask, well, did how was church today? Did God move? Absolutely, God moved. That's a good question, but the book of Acts gives us another one. Here's the lithium test of where we've got to start asking, where did the people he moved upon move afterwards? I don't want good church for have for the sake of having good church. I want God to move in this house. I want miracles and signs and wonders to happen in this house. I want God to be worshipped in this house. I want, I want when worship starts up and you guys begin to sing and lift your hands, you feel the spirit moving. I want tears to be shed. I want people to feel the presence of God, but the goosebumps isn't enough. Tears aren't enough. What what what happens? I want the question is the question now needs to be what how did God move on you during service and what is he moving you towards? Because maybe he's maybe it's somebody's getting moved towards repentance. Maybe somebody's moving towards forgiveness. Maybe somebody's moving towards reconciliation with their children. Maybe somebody's moving towards generosity. Maybe somebody's move is moving towards somebody else who is hurting. Maybe somebody is moving towards a neighbor. Maybe somebody's moving towards a calling. But eventually, when God genuinely moves on a people, those people start moving. And so now that begins to question everything that we've called as we've as we've done this church thing. Do we have a move of God? Yeah, God moved and it was a powerful service. And and and I just I cried and I wept, and altar call was so powerful. What happened on Monday? I'm not trying to talk down to anyone. I'm telling you, I feel so convicted in my spirit because we don't have time to play anymore. We don't have time to just just, oh, we'll get this church thing figured out. No, no, no. There is a hurting world that is looking for a solution and an answer, and they will find it where they were ever they will find it. Remember, sin is pleasurable for a season. And oftentimes people find themselves with an answer they think is good, it feels good, it looks good, and everything's right about it, but all of a sudden they get caught up in it and they realize they're in deeper trouble than what they started with. And I wonder how much God weeps that He says, I sent my bride, I called a commission my church, I empowered my people, and I see the law broken and hurting. And where's my answer? Because when God genuinely moves on people, those people start moving. Here's something I want to sit with us, and I pray that it sits with you in your Monday and your Tuesday, and it echoes in your spirit on Wednesday. If God continually moves upon me and I continually remain unchanged, at some point I have to ask whether I have confused experiencing his presence with yielding to his presence. At some point, I've got to ask myself in my walk. If I've confused experiencing his presence with God moving upon me and speaking to me and working in my life, have I confused that with yielding to his presence? Hear me this morning. Now perhaps that is nowhere clearer more than the story of Peter and Cornelius. In Acts 10, there's a man named Cornelius, and he's praying. He is seeking God, he is giving, he is hungry, he is thirsty, he knows there is something more, and God begins working at Cornelius' house. But here's what grabs me about this. Here's what grabs me about this, and and we talk so often about this, but I think sometimes we miss this. God is not only preparing Cornelius for what he wants to do, but God's preparing Peter for what he wants to do as well. While Cornelius is praying for an answer, Peter still has something in his thinking that God has to confront. Would you would you would you Acts nine, uh sorry, Acts 10, 19 through 20 for me? And while Peter thought on the vision, while he was pondering that vision that God had given him, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you. He said, Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation. Everybody say, without hesitation. For I have sent them. Cornelius was praying. He was praying for God's direction. He was praying for a move of God in his home. He was praying because he knew he did not have the answers. And there was there was an ad there was a vacancy in his spirit. There was a void in his spirit he was looking to fill. And he had heard about this Jesus. He had heard about this church that had been moving and the miracles and the signs and what he'd been heard. He heard about the spirit that was being poured out. And he's saying, Something is real about this. So, God, if that's real, I need you to send somebody to me. I need you to prepare me for what you have. I don't understand it all. I don't know what all is going on, but there is something out there that you're doing that I want in my house, not just for me, but for my family. And we've said it so many times that that we we when we pray and we're asking for for God to lead the lost. Again, God's not, God doesn't exactly lead the lost. He leads the he orders the steps of a righteous man. But there are lost people who are starting to wake up from their slumber and from their sleep, and their souls are crying out for something real. And those corneliuses are looking for something, but God is looking for a messenger. God is working over there, but at the same time, he's working over here. He's working on the recipient to the message, at the same time, he's working on the messenger for it. And somewhere in the middle, obedience will bring them together. While we're praying for God to prepare hungry people, here's the thing: God may actually be preparing the people who will meet them. Maybe at the same time they're praying those prayers. God is trying to prepare his messengers. God is trying to prepare his vessels. Now, listen to what Peter eventually says in Acts 10 and 28. God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Peter had this preconceived notion and this ideology. Now, mind you, this is the man who who who who who who who Christ gave the keys to the church to. That he preached the first message of the apostolic church, and that they were that were the first time this message was preached was the first time that the Spirit was filled, and the people went out from there. This is that Peter. This is the apostle Peter. He had this notion and was stuck from his teaching that that Jews were not to associate or visit with people from any other nation. But he says, God has shown me that I should not call any person common. Everybody's saying common or unclean. Common or unclean. Because it's him that we quote. Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the forgiveness of your sin. You shall receive the it uh and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. But what is he going to say in Acts 2 39? For for the promise is unto you. And he's talking to Jews here. He's saying, The promise is unto you and to your children, okay? And to your children's children. Okay, that's the God that we know. That's the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and Jacob. He said, The promise is unto you and to your children, and those that are far off. Who's the far off? Peter, you were preaching what I wanted you the entire time, but you never caught the revelation of what I was preaching. Do not call common what I have called, what I have called uncommon. Do not call unclean what I have called clean. The blood, the blood of Christ was not just for the people who sit next to you on the on your row at church. And the cleanliness of God is not just for the people who've already been baptized in his name and been baptized for his spirit. But what Peter is trying, God is trying to do in Peter is He's trying to wake up the messenger. The same power that you preach about, the same power that you're talking about, should be pulling your heart towards these people. Peter already had the Holy Ghost, he already preached Pentecost, he already saw miracles, he was apostle, but God still had something in Peter that needed to be challenged. Being filled does not mean God is finished with me. Salvation doesn't stop at being filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost and being speaking and speaking in other tongues. It is the activation of power within you to accomplish to accomplish the mission that God is put moving you towards. It is the new birth, it's the handing of your birth certificate, it is the start of your development as a believer. Receiving the Holy Ghost doesn't mean I have no, I don't have any more assumptions for God to confront. Doesn't mean there's no more fear. Doesn't mean there's no more blind spots. Doesn't mean there aren't any old categories in my mind that need to be removed, need to be taken out. It doesn't mean there aren't any preferences that need to be dealt with. It doesn't mean there aren't any walls. Before Peter could enter Cornelius' house, God had to deal with something inside of Peter that would have kept Peter outside of the house. Before God sent Peter into Cornelius' house, God had to remove something for Peter that would have to kept him out of his house. And I wonder why we're asking God to prepare this house because he intends to fill it. What is stopping us from entering the houses that we need to go into? Entering in the neighborhoods that we need to go into and going to the people that we need to go into. And I wonder, God, I wonder this morning, what if there are people already asking God for answers while God is still trying to get his church willing to enter their house? I wonder how many people sit in their bed at night. God, I'm looking for an answer. I want to hear your voice. And they're expecting to hear this still small voice from heaven. And God is trying to work on the other, and he's trying to work on us because God doesn't want to speak to them from a still small voice in heaven, but he wants to use your voice because the Spirit is empowering your voice with boldness and courage to speak to them. They're praying for a miracle. And maybe God's not wanting to speak from heaven a miracle because he's wanting for you to go lay hands on them and for you to pray for the power that you've been endued with and pray for a miracle, and a miracle happened in their home. I feel so convicted in my spirit because how many times have I prayed, God send me, and I've missed what God is trying, who God is trying to send me to because of some preconceived notion in my mind of what that should look like. We keep praying, God to send them, but maybe God's response to our prayer is I'm trying to send you. Maybe God reached my coworker. I already sat you beside him. God reached my neighborhood. God help that family. You already know one by name. Hear me clearly this morning. Not every burden belongs to you, not every assignment yours. But when the spirit says go, will you? When the spirit says go, will you? And this is what I think we need to consider how we pray for revival, how we perceive revival, how how we've talked about American revival for so long. Hear me, I want revival. I want people baptized, I want people filled with the Holy Ghost, I want healings, I want prodigals to come home, I want the city impacted. That's not a bad desire. Don't get me wrong, hear me clearly. That is not a bad desire, but something has to be revived first for there to be revival. That is the root of the word revival is revive. A revival is the bringing back to life. What has to be revived? Sometimes God is reviving something around us, He begins awakening something within us. He's reviving our thirst, He's reviving our passionate prayer, He's reviving our compassion to people, He's reviving our expectations of what He can do and who He can be. He's reviving our burden for names that we don't know yet. And he's reviving our submission. Everybody say submission to the Spirit. Because we aren't asking God merely to change them. We're asking God to change whatever in us that would stop us from reaching them. That's Peter. And look at the evidence God changed him. Peter went somewhere he would not have gone before, to a doorstep he would not have darkened. The proof that God changed Peter's thinking was Peter's feet entered a house that he would have not entered before. So it takes us back to the question: where did the people he moved upon move afterwards? If that is our new litmus test for God moving, how many times have we said we had a move of God and we did not let it move into our Monday? And we didn't let it move into the other six days of the week, and we lived off what we experienced, the Pentecost experience in this room, until we came back together for another Pentecost experience. What if you are thirsty in your spirit right now and you are wanting more of God? And what God is asking, not for you to come up here and pray and fast more, all those of those things are good. He's not asking you to serve more in ministry, he's not asking you to start a new ministry, he's not asking you that stuff first. What he's asking you to is to once again have an unquenchable thirst for his spirit. Because if we can get back to that, if we can get back to that first love, if we can get back to that first moment when we experience the baptism of the Holy Ghost and the overflowing of joy and the overflowing of peace and the overflowing of his love in our life, what happened with that? Do you remember that moment? You wanted to go and you wanted to tell somebody about it. You wanted to go share what you had been given because you had not experienced that before. And what happens is we've grown accustomed to the taste. But God is asking us, would you revitalize your thirst? Because if I'm gonna make you a river of living water, you can never be satisfied. You can't be satisfied on yesterday's manna. You can't be satisfied on just the manna that I give you on Sunday because I am a speaking God. God's not just has the God God's ability to speak doesn't just exist on Sunday, but it exists on every other day. God's ability to work in you doesn't just exist here at this altar, it exists in the one that you build at your house. God is God's God's ability to speak to you in your prayer life. Doesn't just exist when you pray here, but exists when you pray at home, or you pray in your car, or you pray in your neighborhood, or you pray at your workplace. God, wherever wherever you go and wherever your thirst follows, God's spirit will follow. And watch what happens because Peter goes where the spirit changes something in him. Acts 10 and 44. And while Peter was still saying these things, while Peter was still saying that he didn't even finish what he was telling them, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. Hear me clear this morning. Peter could go, Peter could obey, and Peter could preach the word, Peter could enter the house, but Peter could not manufacture Pentecost in Cornelius' living room. That was God's responsibility. Hear me this morning. You may feel scared out of your ever-loving mind because God is, you feel this prompting in your spirit, and God is calling you to share the gospel. Guess what? You do not have to produce the power behind the gospel. That is his responsibility. All you and I are responsible are telling people that, hey, Jesus died for you. He conquered death, hell, and the grave for you. If you want out of your sin, if you want out of your ways, there is a better way. He can forgive you, he can wash you clean from your guilt, he can wash you free from your shame. Hey, do you want to be baptized in Jesus' name? Do you want that stuff put under his name and his blood? Do you want to come up a new creature? And before you ever finish the message, you don't even have to complete the message. God can fill them with the power of the Holy Ghost. Maybe He's just waiting for somebody to step out in boldness. Where did that boldness come from that Peter had? God gave it to him. Everything that you need has already been given to you when you've been given the gift of the Holy Ghost. The power just needs a direction to move in. We can enter the house, but we cannot manufacture the outpouring. And that's why we're not just another humanitarian organization. We should feed people and we will feed people. We should serve people and we will serve people. We should help people and we will help people. We should create excellent systems and we will create excellent systems. We will care for families. We're gonna make room at the table. We're gonna seek the welfare of this city, but our confidence is never ultimately. Look what our organization as a church accomplished. Our confidence this is that Jesus still saves, that Jesus still heals, that Jesus still delivers, that Jesus still fills people with the Holy Ghost, and that Jesus still makes people new. Compassion makes us unwilling to ignore the need, but the gospel makes us unwilling to stop at the need. We meet people at the need because we love them. We introduce them to Jesus because we believe he can reach deeper than us fulfilling the need can. We live between radical obedience. Everybody say radical obedience. We will go. And we also live between radical, everybody say radical dependence. Only he can give life. That's the apostolic mission. That's somewhere between radical obedience and radical dependence is the apostolic mission that he started over 2,000 years ago when he paid for his church and he bought his bride with his blood. Ezekiel 4, 47 and 9 says this, and and he's talking about this river, and he says, wherever, and everybody say, wherever. Say it like you believe it, wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, and the waters of the sea will become fresh, so that everything will live where the river goes. The prophet Ezekiel sees water leaving the place of God's presence, and he writes about it. It travels towards dead places. And what happens when the river gets to dead places? Wherever the river goes, life starts appearing. The book of Acts shows us this that spirit-filled people do the same thing very missionally. When they go to Jerusalem, life appears in Jerusalem. When they go into Judea, life appears in Judea. When they go into Samaria, life appears in Samarita. When they go into homes, when they go to the roads, when they go to the Gentiles, when they go to the nations, life appears. And so I wrote something in a study that I just can't shake. If every person I'm discipling already knows how to behave in church, I may not be very far downstream. If every person that I'm witnessing to, if every person that I'm discipling, if every person that I'm in contact with knows how to behave in church, knows, knows, knows knows scripture, knows what we're talking about, knows what's going on, then maybe I'm not very downstream from where the source first started. Again, I'm not here to beat you down this morning. I'm here to just speak the direction of God. It is good to disciple believers, and we must. We're gonna grow as iron sharpened iron, so you and I will sharpen one another. But here's the thing: if we got somewhere downstream, there are people who don't know our songs, who don't know our vocabulary, who don't know our customs, who don't know when to stand, who don't know how to dress for church, who don't even know what Acts 2.38 means. They may not know anything about apostolic church culture, but they still have names, they have families, they have pain, they have questions, and they have a thirst because when God created man, he put eternity on his heart. And there's an eternal cry in the heart of man, whether they sit here and they call themselves a part of the bride of Christ, or they're somewhere on the outside, lost and broken. Eternity still echoes in their soul. The spirit who cares about cities, the spirit who cares about cities, the spirit who cares about Zachary and the surrounding areas still stops for names. The goal isn't to make sinners comfortable with sin. The goal is simply to make people comfortable enough with us to encounter Jesus. Paul said, I am to all men. And if the river always stays around people who know the river, how far does it really go, how far downstream does it really go? And can we actually call it a river? Acts gives us the picture. Acts two, watch the flow of the entire book of Acts. Acts two, that a flowing church is devoted to God in doctrine and prayer and fellowship and the breaking of bread. Then we move to chapter four, that a flowing church becomes a generous church, that possessions loosen. They sell it all. Here, take it, use what you need to reach the lost and the broken. Needs get noticed amongst people. Here's what we go two chapters later in Acts 6. A flowing church then begins healthy systems. Widows are being missed, needs are being missed. So they don't choose between the spirit moving and organization. They say, okay, spirit-filled people are gonna start using wisdom to make sure nobody gets missed. Presence is the source, system are the channels. And hear me clearly this morning. We've been talking about digging these ditches out. We've been talking about the primary ways that we believe that God's gonna bring people in here. The channel still serves the river. The river does not serve the channel. Hear me clearly this morning. We may build the ministries that we feel that God is leading us to build, and we may build the systems that God is calling us to build, but these channels that we're building, the systems that we're building, will never control the river, we'll never control the source. Why? Because we cannot manufacture presents. Where the river goes, there will build a channel. If God says, Hey, you built all this, I've got some different direction. We'll pack that thing up, box it nicely, hope another church can use it, we'll bless them with it. We've got to go where God tells us to go. If he says there are people in that neighborhood we need to reach, we don't have a system built for yet. Guess what we're gonna do? We're gonna get our heads together in a room and we're not gonna leave that room until we have something ready to go. Why? Because we're River goes, so we go. Where the river directs us, so we go. Acts Acts chapter 8, a flowing church moves then into Samaria. And there was a great joy, everybody said, a great joy in that city. If the river is flowing somewhere downstream, ought to be coming alive. I wonder, I wonder, I wonder if that's if the city outside of these walls says that about us. Is there a great joy in this city? Because the river flowing from this place. Acts 13, a flowing church sins. Acts 13, 2 and 3. As they ministered and they were worshiping to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they lay their hands on them and they sent them. Everybody say, Sent. I sent them off. They worship, the Spirit speaks, and somebody leaves differently than what they entered. A healthy church lets gifted people leave the room and go what God has called them to do. Which means this is our new test. Where do the people he moved upon move afterwards? I'm telling you, I want that to stick in your spirit every time that you wake up, every time that you go to prayer. God, where are you moving me? I I was I had I was able to be in your presence Sunday. I was able to be in the gathering. I was able to be with your people. I was there when your spirit moved. God, you worked on me. Now where are you moving me to? I want God to move in this room every Sunday. I expect nothing less. I want his presence. I want his power. I want people weeping. I want people rejoicing. I want the gifts of the Spirit. I want the fruit of the Spirit. I want people filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost. I want miracles. I want everything Scripture says that we can have. But hear me clearly this morning. I do not want us to become experts at experiencing the river while never allowing the river to carry us anywhere. I never want to become so accustomed to this that it does not move me anymore. So maybe the whole time that God has been prompting us and saying, prepare the house because I intend to fill it. And that we've been digging out these places that we believe that God is going to send people. Maybe God's digging in the reverse direction towards us. Because maybe the man the revival he's wanting to pour out, maybe it starts as our responsibility first. Maybe there's some dry wells where there used to be a river of living water in your spirit. Maybe there's some places where the calling and the anointings become a little dry and a little thirsty. Maybe you weren't first hungry as you were as a first-time believer. Maybe you've been in this for a little bit, six months, a year, ten years, fifteen years. Maybe you grew up in this and this has just become a custom for you. I don't want to ever get so accustomed to the river that I can't let the river direct me where the river wants to go. And the revival only changes the atmosphere of our services, has not yet changed the culture of our church. Maybe the revival that we want to see outside of our doors has to be a revival that happens here first. That you and I look at each other and we say the power that's been input inside of us and what God has endued us with has now drawn us to mission. And it's either we do something about it or we become a museum of saints until he returns back. And I don't know about you, but my intentions as a believer, not as a pastor, my intentions as a believer when I get to heaven's gates to hear my good and faithful servant come and enter. And I better have the smell of the field on me. I better have a little dirt on my shoes, and I may not have the cleanest of clothes. Why? Because I went where the names were. And what was in my spirit clean me, could clean those spirits. Because I went to people were bleeding and dying and broken. I was once bleeding and dying and broken. The spirit, the power that's inside of me, can be the same spirit that can heal them. Hear me this morning. Hear me this morning. Revival that only changes the atmosphere of our services has not yet finished changing the culture of our church. Maybe revival starts here as we become thirsty with the admission, Jesus, I still need you. Being filled, God, give me only what you can give. And from there being yielded, God, show me, show me, show me, show me what needs to change. And that's the uncomfortable step that we don't like to talk about. And maybe that's what God's been doing over these series in this course of week is God is shining a light on us introspectively. Why? Because where the light goes, the darkness can comprehend it not. And what God is trying to show is I have more for you in this city. You've heard the prophecies, you've heard the promises. I am a God of my word, and I will answer for my word because he promised by no other name, and he promised by his role and his authority and his position and power is God. What did God say? I'm gonna write the check. I'll put my name on it. If I don't go through with it, it's on me. But here's the thing we're in covenant with God. That means we have a position and we have a part in this. And God is wow. I wonder if God is holding on to the throne, his throne, his white knuckled, saying, I wish they would realize it this Sunday, and they would wake up and they would go out into their Monday. Because as soon as they realize what I've put inside of them and the mission it's setting them towards, he would launch off of his throne and there would be a revival that we have not seen yet nor have we experienced. He is waiting for a thirst to waken back up in his people. Because if I'm not thirsty, how am I gonna show them to be thirsty? If I'm not yielded to where the river says to go, how can I show someone else how to be yielded to the river? And if I can never be yielded to the river, how can I truly be sent? Wherever you say go, I'll go. Hear me this morning. We trust God to do what only He can do, only He can pour out His Spirit, only He can eternally change lives. And here it is. Our responsibility is not to manufacture revival, our responsibility is to remain thirsty, yielded, and available to those who give, to the God who gives revival. Our responsibility is to remain, everybody say thirsty, yielded and available to the God who gives revival. We stand all across this house. John 7 and 37, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Here's the thing. I don't believe everybody's resisting what God wants to do. I I I don't I I just I don't I I don't believe it at all. There are some. I'm I'm that I'm not I'm not naive, I'm not dumb. But here's the thing Maybe this morning you're dry. Maybe you've been pouring out of an empty vessel for a long time. And you've been squeezing that vessel and squeezing that vessel, trying like you do with the tube of two space. You are trying to get every last ounce of it, and you are tired of the pressure. There's a difference between the godly pressure and the pressure creating an anointing in you and working in you and the crushing. But and there's a difference between the pressure that you are putting on yourself to perform for God. God didn't ask you to do that. God asked you to yield and surrender, and He would do the rest. Some of you have been pouring out this morning, and you at this point you have poured your vessel over and you are shaking it, hoping a drop shows up and something shows up because you don't want to go to kids' church, or you don't want to go, you don't want to show up for youth, or you don't want to show up for some music practice, or you don't want to show up for for for for Rafa, you don't want to show up for anything else and not have the spirit show up. You've served and you've served and you served and you've served and you served. You've served in roles that you love, you've served in capacities that that that you had you you just you knew they needed to be filled for a while. You've cared and you've cared and you've cared and you've cared and you've carried carried burdens that you're meant to call, but you've also carried burdens that you haven't meant to call, and you're tired and you're worn out. And before anything can flow from you, God, this morning, Jesus is wanting to fill you. You gotta come and drink. If we're gonna go be who he called us to be, somebody's gotta go back to the source. I don't know who you are this morning. But the same water that you drank from when you experience the spirit, it will taste better every time that you go back to it. Why don't we raise our hands all across this place? Don't worry about your neighbor for right now. Husbands, I know you probably want to pray for your wives, wives, you probably want to pray for your husband. We need to pray as individuals for a moment. God, would you would you revitalize a thirst within each and every one of us for your spirit? Some of us we've walked in with our Sunday best on, and we look like we have it all together, and we go home and we go crash and we take a Sunday nap, not because we're worn out from doing good deeds, but we're worn out from trying to pour out from an empty vessel. God, that is not your calling. That is not what your scriptures say, that is not your promise. You said out of their bellies, out of their hearts would flow rivers of living water. And if I'm evaluating with myself on the outside, I make to look everybody else like that. It's a river. But when I get home, God, I am searching for something because I am thirsty, God. My soul is parched, it's dry, it feels like a desert where there was once wells that sprung up with life in my spirit, in my spiritual walk, in my prayer life, in my fasting life, in my family, in my leadership, in my ministry. God, I look at them now and they are dry wells. Every time that I pour the bucket down the well, I pray that it would bring something back up. But I'm tired, God. I'm tired of trying to manufacture this of my own. I'm tired of trying to have good church of my own. I'm tired of trying to be the church of my own. I'm trying to tired of fulfilling this calling on my own. And you said, Come to me that are thirsty and let them drink. And God, I feel shame in my spirit because I'm supposed to be a disciplined believer. I'm supposed to have done better than this. And God, I have not taken care of myself, but there is no condemnation, therefore, that are those that are in Christ. So the shame that is being spoken is alive from the enemy, and we shut the voice of the enemy down right now. You still bid your children to come, whether it's the first time they drink or it's the hundredth time that they need to drink. God, you are more concerned that we stay connected to the source than we are trying to produce things on our own. So, God, let us never stray far from the source. I pray that when somebody leaves this place today, they leave with a burden off of their shoulders and they can take a deep breath again, both in their body and in their spirit. God, when they lay their head down at night, there is a supernatural peace that goes beyond understanding. That when they will then instead of worrying about how tomorrow are they gonna do what they need to do and be a believer, or or maybe next Saturday when they're laying down how am I gonna be when I'm supposed to be at church or when I'm supposed to be a small group and supposed to be in front of other people, there is a supernatural peace because there is a river flowing over them and through them and in them. So here, God, here's our prayer. Not gonna pray for outside revival yet, God, till there is an inward revival. I'm not gonna pray for an external revival until there is an internal revival in me, until my soul and my spirit burst forth with living waters, until my joy is exceeding, my peace is exceeding. God, the power inside of me is exceeding. Why? Because all of those things need to flow out to other people. God, I want to live in the overflow. I want to live in the overflow. And if we come to the place of thirst and asking God to fill, then we have to ask this where am I still saying no? Where the spirit's directing. Again, remember, the same voice that speaks conviction is the same voice that speaks love. Is it fear that is holding you back? Is it an old wound that is holding you back? Is it a category? Is it comfort? Is it control? Is it shame? Is it a person you've already decided in your mind that is unreachable? Is it a house you don't think that you belong in? Is it a relationship God keeps putting on your heart? Remember, being filled does not mean God is finished with me. We're finished when he blows the trumpet. Until then, God is still working on you and I, just like he's working on the lost and the broken. And if God continually moves upon me and I continually remain unchanged, at some point I have to ask whether I have confused experiencing his presence with yielding to his presence. So all across this place, would you lift your hands for a moment? Can we, as a body, as a body of believers, can we just repent? God, would you forgive me? Would you forgive me that every time that I've walked into church, that I've made this about experience and I haven't made it about yielding? That every time you've spoken to me and you've tried to direct me on my Monday, and you've tried to direct me to that coworker, and you've tried to direct me to that person at the grocery store, you've tried to direct me to the certain server, the waitress at the restaurant, you've tried to direct me to the person at school. You've tried to direct me and you've tried to lead my life and you've tried to convict me and you've tried to show me where I'm falling short, and you've tried to show me these things. God, forgive me for every time that you've put the mirror in front of my face, and I felt conviction, but then I walked away from it and I did nothing about it. God, I pray that you would have there would be a restoration of holy conviction in our lives, that we would hear from you, and when you speak to us, even though it may stink for a moment, we know it brings growth and it brings direction. So, God, if you're speaking direction this morning, we're your people and we say we listen and we'll follow. God, if you're saying lay some things down, then God, we lay those things down. If you're asking us to surrender some thoughts, if you're asking us to surrender some time, some talent, some treasure, then God, by all means they are yours. I don't want to do this on my own. I don't want to do this by my hands anymore, God. I don't want to do this by my own production. Teach me, God. Teach me what being yielded and being submitted to your spirit looks like. You said your burden is easy and your yoke is light. God, I'm ready to understand it. I'm ready to understand what it means to be bound to you and led by you and led by your spirit. I want to feel the river moving in my life. I want to feel your direction. So, God, whatever's stopping it up, as we're digging for others, God, I know you're digging for me. You're digging through all those things that would stop me. So every ounce of fear, every ounce of control, every ounce of comfort, every preconceived notion, God, it is here as your altar and it stays here. Hear me clearly this morning. There is a Cornelius in this city that is praying. There is a Cornelius in this city that is praying desperately for God to do something in their lives. And on the other end, here's Peter praying. God is preparing both of them. So what if somebody on the other side of your obedience is already asking God for an answer? What if somebody on the other side of your obedience is already asking God for an answer? No, not manipulation. I'm not promising a guaranteed conversion. Just availability. God, if you say go, I'll go. If you say that person, then it's that person. God, if you say it's that coworker, it's that co-worker. If you're preparing me for somebody, if you're preparing somebody, then God, you need to prepare me too. Revive my thirst, revive my compassion. Remove from me whatever would keep me from going, me to where you're sending. Fill me and let me flow where you desire. We can enter into this house, but we cannot manufacture his outpouring. But if he says go, you know what we can do? We can go. And if he says speak, you know what we can do, we can speak. And if he says serve, you know what we can do? We can serve. And if he says make room, we make room. And we trust. Remember Ezekiel 47 to 9. And everything shall live where the wherever where the river goes. Everything shall live where the river goes. I don't know where exactly God is commissioning you and calling you. I don't know the person. I don't know the house. I don't know the neighborhood. But you do. I know you feel it in your spirit right now. I know God's speaking to you. If I were to tell you it it would it would be manufactured. Let me say that. If I were to tell you why, because when God speaks in mission and conviction, you cannot argue with it. So if God is telling you that person, awesome, you know what my role is as a pastor, my role is to equip you, my role is to give you whatever resources you need, and my role is to help you in your mission. And my role is to teach you how to hear the voice of God and follow the voice of God. I'm not with you on Monday. I may be in a classroom with teenagers who don't want to be there. You may be in an office with just as many people who don't want to be there either. We can't communicate during that time. We can't do it, but you know what we can do? We can both hear it because the same God that's speaking to you is speaking to me. And the same God that's speaking to me in my classroom is speaking to you. And wherever you're at, the same power lives within us. So here's the altar call. Not here. Go. Go home. Wake up Monday, God, where are you sending me? God, where are you directing me? God, what did I try to, what am I trying to, what, what preconceived motions am I trying to make up? Everything that we prayed for, we need to become a daily prayer cycle. God, make me thirsty again. And God, everything in my mind, in my spirit that I've picked up that I'm trying to, I'm trying to say no, I can't I can't go do that. God, I lay it down. Why? Because where this is what this is this is where church goes from church to oh my gosh, we can't contain it, is when a people who are filled with his power yield to the direction of his spirit. And we wonder why there's certain churches in America that see that, because they're yielded. And we wonder why overseas we see miracle signs and wonders. Because there's people that are completely yielded to God. It's not limited to Africa, it's not limited to Asia, it's not limited to China, it's not limited to all these other places where they're seeing great revivals. That revival that's over there is meant for the globe. So do you want to see that revival? I know your answer because I feel it in your spirit. Then let something be revived in you. I love you, AC, and I feel challenged in my spirit. So I feel to challenge you. Go home and do this. And let's do this together. God, send us not by our own power, not by our own authority, not even by our own name. Send us to a name by your name, by your power, and by your spirit. God bless us as we leave here. God, we're gonna give on our way out as a form of worship. We thank you for all that you've done. Our time, our talent, our treasure is yours. And we surrender to this your spirit. In your name, we pray. And everybody say, in Jesus' name, I love you. AC. Remember, no midweek. We will have all the groups that uh we're getting the rest of the groups together. We'll have all that out soon so you guys can look at the groups, look at your schedule, get signed up for a group, and we'll launch those uh here at the end of September. Love you so much.