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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
The Practical Side Of The Kingdom
This episode boldly challenges listeners to embrace the practical implications of the finished work of Christ in their lives today. We delve into how this understanding reshapes our identity, prayer, health, and the authority we carry.
• Discussing the dangers of waiting for future blessings
• Exploring the concept of the finished work of Christ
• Importance of understanding our identity through God's eyes
• Living from a place of rest instead of striving
• Declaring God's promises over our circumstances
• Practical applications of faith in everyday life
• Embracing healing and divine health as our inheritance
• Exercising authority in our daily lives
• Preparing for the future vision within our community
And I got to thinking about it the other night, because one of the things that we talk about so often and we say this is that if I'm waiting for everything to happen in the future, if I'm waiting for everything when I get to heaven, then what about the things I'm missing out on now?
Speaker 1:That's kind of my argument for that, you know, it's why I believe so much in the finished work. But then I got to thinking about it and I said you know, if we don't truly understand the finished work, then are we not really in the same position that we're saying futurists are in? Because although they're looking and waiting and hoping for something one day, on the other hand we're looking a lot of times and saying, well, everything's already complete, everything's already done. So it's kind of like what are we doing? It's already complete, it's already finished. So you see what I'm saying it's kind of like we're in the same position. They're not really expecting anything because it's coming one day. We're not really expecting anything because it's coming one day. We're not really expecting anything because it's already been completed and we're kind of stuck here in the middle saying what are we going to do in the process? There is a difference, but I think we get stuck a lot of times on trying to figure that out.
Speaker 1:So today is actually the title of this is the practical side of the kingdom. We talk about the kingdom all the time. We talk about kingdom here, kingdom now. We talk about. What jesus is is death and his, his, uh, death, burial resurrection. What did it really mean for us? Right now, we know what it meant back then, we know what it meant in the first century church, but how can we take those verses, those finished work verses, those past tense verses, and apply them to my life today? Because I believe that's where we're missing it at a little bit, because we don't know how to apply some of this stuff to our life today I want to share and I had to really narrow this down because there were so many of them and I really didn't think y'all would stay here for three hours today and listen to this, so I had to narrow it down to about six areas that I believe that we can look at and say this is how the finished work can be practical in your life today, today, tomorrow, next week. We're not just talking about one day in the future when we get to heaven and we're not just sitting here idly by waiting because it's done and we don't know what else to do. So we're going to jump on this thing and we're going to say, kingdom here, kingdom now. But what does that mean to us? How do we explain that to somebody when they say what's all this kingdom stuff you're talking about? I thought that was the kingdom of heaven one day when I walked through the pearly gate. Yes, it is. But he says I want to bring kingdom to earth right now.
Speaker 1:Many believers acknowledge the finished work of Christ. Well, you're not the only one, siri. Sometimes I don't understand either. Hold on, let me see if I can get Siri off of here. He's going to be talking back to me the whole time.
Speaker 1:So many believers acknowledge the finished work of Christ. They don't have any problem reading specific verses and acknowledging that it is finished. Jesus said it on the cross. So if you don't agree with that, that's a whole other issue, because that's what Jesus said. That's just not some theology that some people say the New Age churches are teaching. No, it's not Jesus taught this. This was taught back. Then. He said it is finished. So some people don't have a problem believing that this was taught back. Then he said it is finished. Okay. So some people don't have a problem believing that because they say it's the Word of God. I have to believe that, but they struggle. I'm going to say that we struggle, they struggle and we struggle. Even though we teach it, we struggle in how to apply it in daily life. The finished work perspective is not just a theological concept that was created. Somebody sat down and created it one day. It's a practical way of living in the victory, the rest and the authority of Jesus Christ, and we're going to talk about those three a little bit more today, and I'm talking about the authority, the security, the victory that he's already secured for us. That's where the finished work part of it comes in at.
Speaker 1:I'm finding myself more and more and I'll be honest with you, I did not start out like this when I first got. I mean, I've been in the finished work stuff for a long time, for a long time when I really didn't even know what it meant. I didn't even know if I really believed it. I didn't really understand it, but I just know that something felt right about it, because there was verses I was reading and they just didn't make sense. So that's what led me in this direction years and years ago. Now it's come back around full circle and I'm teaching something that I truly understand. Now I truly see what the verse means when you start reading it in context. But what I'm starting to see now is I'm starting to see that this finished work group and this futurist group is not as far apart as what we try to make out to be. We just look at it from a different perspective, okay.
Speaker 1:And my goal now is to start saying, okay, how can we bring these two together, not looking at somebody saying, well, you're wrong because of what you're teaching, or them looking at us saying you know, you're not teaching the Bible or whatever All the stuff that's said, get all that junk out of here. Why can't we just read the Word for what it says, talk about it, break it down and come to an understanding that this is what God intended, regardless of our own opinion? That's the place I want to get to. I don't want to argue with nobody. I don't want to debate anybody, because you're probably not going to change nobody's view with a debate, but I can change your view with the Word of God.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's a practical way of living through these things because of what Jesus already done on the cross. Instead of striving for God's approval or His provision or His power, we live from that. We're not trying to obtain it, but we live from it. So here's how the perspective transforms daily life and again, I just narrowed this down to six specific things Living from rest, not from striving. Living from rest, not from striving. And I got to thinking about that Because that word striving don't always have to be a negative word. Some people say it's good to strive, to move forward, to want more, but then that striving can also, if you look it up, it actually means to work to do something. So it can be looked at in a positive sense and a negative sense.
Speaker 1:But I want to talk about it a little bit more today. Leaving from rest, not striving. And I want to come out of Hebrews 4, 10 and 11. Every one of these that I'm going to talk about, all these six I'm going to talk about today, I've got a verse to show you where we're coming from with this.
Speaker 1:In Hebrews 4 and 10 it says for he who has entered his rest you see his, it's capitalized. We're not talking about your rest. We're talking about his rest, which means what he's already provided for us, because we're not in heaven yet. Okay, we're not through the pearly gates, so we're not entering that rest one day. It says for those who have entered ed past tense, entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works, as god did from his. This is the verse I want you to see. Let us therefore be diligent we're going to talk about that word in a minute Diligent to enter that rest. God provided the rest. But just because God provided the rest, don't mean that you've entered into it. So it says Let us be diligent to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
Speaker 1:Now look at that word Diligent. I want a definition of what it meant To make an act of pursuit Not by works but by faithful obedience. So I want to be diligent, not because of what I'm doing. I don't want to enter rest because I'm doing something and I'm working hard. I enter the rest. I'm diligent to enter that rest because I'm obedient and I'm faithful to what God has already done and to what God has said. So I enter rest out of faithful obedience, not out of work. It's not striving from the standpoint of I'm always doing something to try to get to a place. So it's no more striving for God's love or for God's righteousness. We're already made righteous, and some of these verses here I'm just going to call out, if you want to write them down, I don't have time to go into them, but we're already made righteous. That's 2 Corinthians, 5 and 21. You can look in there. It talks about that.
Speaker 1:In difficult situations and we all go through difficult things Instead of stressing, instead of getting all worked up, what if we just trusted in what Christ has already provided for us? What if we just rested, instead of getting all worked up to fight? Because that's what we want to do in a stressful situation. We're ready to fight, we're ready to do something. He says I don't want you to do nothing, I want you to rest in what I've already done. We're ready to do something. He says I don't want you to do nothing, I want you to rest in what I've already done. See, prayer shifts us from a begging to confidently receiving. That's where I want my prayer life to go to, and I said it years ago when this hit me, when I started teaching on the finished work and everything years ago that my prayer life.
Speaker 1:One of the first things if you want to call it a testimony from gaining a better understanding of this, one of my first testimonies was my prayer life has changed. I didn't mean I stopped praying. I didn't mean, and some people I'm saying this because people took it like that I had somebody come up and say so are you saying it's not important for us to pray? I said no, I'm just saying that it changed my prayer life. I was no longer a beggar, coming to the altar, telling Him everything I did wrong and begging Him to fix it. But now I stood up and I come to the altar. I said thank you, lord, for what you've given me, thank you for what Jesus has done on the cross, thank you that it says you'll never leave me, you'll never forsake me, I receive everything you've given to me. I was no longer begging for something that I already had. I was simply saying I receive what he's done.
Speaker 1:That's a different mindset to pray in. We're not beggars. You see beggars all through the Old Testament and that was actually a job from the government. They would put coats on them and certain things and they had the right to go out and stand on the corner and beg. That was their livelihood. We're not beggars anymore. We've already been given everything that we need, but we have to receive it.
Speaker 1:Let me give you an example here. Instead of worrying about finance and we come on, everybody in this room at some point in time has worried about finance You've had a bill and you didn't have enough money to pay it. You know that you had something else coming up later on, but you had something you really wanted to do and you was battling. Do I really want to do the want to, or do I need to be smart and hold off and get this bill paid? We've all been there. We've all struggled financially at times. But instead of worrying about finances, what if we just declared God has already provided all my needs in Christ? That's Philippians 4.19. He's already provided everything I needed.
Speaker 1:This is a different mindset to take, because some people would say, yeah, but just saying that it ain't going to pay my bill for me? Probably not. There's got to be some wisdom in there. There's going to pay my bill for me? Probably not. There's got to be some wisdom in there. There's got to be some responsibility in there. But understanding this brings wisdom brings responsibility and my lifestyle outwardly starts changing. Why? Because of what I've discovered, and come to agreement to inwardly, we want to change everything out here. But if we could just begin to say to inwardly, we want to change everything out here. But if we could just begin to say the same thing.
Speaker 1:One of the verses that come up Wednesday night that kind of pushed me down this rabbit hole here was something that was said about how do I live this out? How do I do this in real life? How do I live this out? How do I do this in real life? How do I take the finished work and really play it out in my life? And one of the verses that we talked about as well was being saved, salvation.
Speaker 1:I didn't want to get into that this morning because we've already talked about that, but that was one of the verses that come up and we talked about sort of what the church has put on us as far as what it means to receive salvation and then what the Bible actually says about salvation. You know it says anybody who believes and confesses. I know y'all waiting on the rest of this stuff, but they're not there. They're not there. They're not there. They're not there. Going to the right denomination, wearing the right kind of clothes, getting up under the right people, all this stuff's not there. It's there in the flesh because man has put it there. Why? Because I want you to come to my church or I want you to do this, so we put these man-made stuff on salvation. Well, the Bible says believe and confess. At the very end of that verse it says anybody who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And then there's a pretty little period right there after it which means the end of sentence, not a comma. It just means I'm going to go on to something else. Period, that's the end.
Speaker 1:And I got to thinking about that when we were talking about it Wednesday night and we talked a little bit about it and all, and I said it's easy to believe because we've been taught this stuff for so long. It's easy to believe he's the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe it's the confession part that we mess up on and I wasn't even going to go into this. But I mean, it's just what are we confessing If I say I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Because it says believe and confess If I believe in Him, but I'm confessing the opposite of what he said. I'm not believing.
Speaker 1:And confessing Confession is that homiligeo to say the same thing. I've got to confess not just that he's the Lord, jesus Christ, but I've got to begin to confess, to speak, to say the same things that he's saying you are a child of God, I'm just broken and just not even worthy. People come to the altar to get saved and say Lord, I'm broken. At least I understand that. I'm not trying to make jokes about it, but you see what I'm saying Believe, confess. We're believing. And then we're confessing opposite. I'm not even talking about salvation, I'm just talking about coming into who we really are. I can't confess the opposite of what he's saying and expect to step into the promises that he's given to me already. To be able to do that, I have to confess what he's already said. And what did he say? He's already done? I mean, it's done. It's past ten. He spoke these things and then he accomplished he went to the cross and then the disciples come afterwards and spoke the same thing and told us again about what Jesus had done.
Speaker 1:So instead of worrying about finances and different things like that, what if we just declared everything's provided for us? What if we changed our language? The second one seeing yourself as God sees you, not as the world sees me. Not putting that title on me that the world has put on me or I put on myself, but seeing myself as God sees me. 1 John, 4 and 17. Look at what this says Love has been perfected. I could stop right there and we could go off on that, but then I won't get to these other four. Love has been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is as he is, so are we where In this world? Not one day in this world. So are we as he is in this world?
Speaker 1:Now I wanted to show you some context of these verses too, because that matters. I know y'all get tired of hearing that, but context actually matters. So I looked this verse up. I want to know, okay, who was? Obviously who was talking. We know John was talking here. Who was he talking to?
Speaker 1:The context is that he was talking to a group of believers in Asia Minor, and John was writing to encourage them in their faith, to combat false teachings and to assure them of their standing in Christ. So what was he telling them it's right here? He was encouraging them. And you can go deeper into the context, but we could spend all day on that. Is he telling them? It's right here? He was encouraging them? Okay, and you can go deeper into the context, but we could spend all day on that. There was a reason he was encouraging them. Some things had happened that had got them discouraged, so he was coming back to encourage them. Okay, you can study that out on your own, but I want you to see the context.
Speaker 1:So the reason I'm saying this and I'm going to show you the context of each verse is because he's not talking to you directly Now. He's talking to us indirectly, which means there's things that we can take out of it, because everything that the Christians were then, everything that Jesus was then we are. So we can't take these verses and say, oh, that's past tense, that happened way back in the first century, ain't relevant to me. No, it is relevant. Even though it happened back then, it's still relevant for me today. Okay, I think that's where we're missing that.
Speaker 1:And people put a bad name on finished work because they think well, if it's all done, what are y'all going to do? Y'all just going to sit around and live how you want to live. No, we're not. We're understanding our true identity in Christ and we're seeking to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. It's a little bit different. So we no longer identify. Going back to this verse, he's combating, coming up against false teachings and assuring them of their standing in Christ. We are no longer identified as sinners trying to be holy, but as saints living from that place of holiness. Guilt and condemnation no longer control us. You can find that in Romans 8 and 1. We're not bound by that stuff anymore.
Speaker 1:What if, instead of saying I'm broke and I'm weak, like a lot of people do, when they come up to the'm broke and I'm weak, like a lot of people do when they come up to the altar and I understand where it comes from, I mean, I'm not saying anything's wrong with it, but if we're going to move to a different place, sometimes we have to change the way we think, the way we speak, the things we say. Everything has to shift. So, instead of saying I'm broken and I'm weak, what if we said I'm whole and I'm strong in Christ? That's 2 Corinthians, 12, 9 and 10. I'm whole in Christ. I'm strong in Christ Every time a situation come up. Oh man, something else I got to deal with. That's the mindset that we have a lot of times, a mindset coming from a place of defeat rather than coming from a place of we're already victorious. The third one I think it's the third one Got numbers out here Walking in victory.
Speaker 1:Walking in victory over sin and over fear. Walking in victory over sin and over fear. Walking in victory over sin and fear. Look at Romans 6 and 14. All these are familiar verses. I said this, I think I said this Wednesday night.
Speaker 1:I'm sharing a lot of verses over and over again, but I'm sharing them from different angles, so we can look at them different ways. But this verse right here is really important, for sin shall not have dominion over you. This is Paul speaking in here. Can you imagine Paul standing up speaking to the people that he was speaking to, because that's the context, and looking at them and saying Paul standing up speaking to the people that he was speaking to, because that's the context, and looking at them and saying sin shall no longer have dominion over y'all, for you are not under law, but you are now under grace. So again, you have to go back to the context of it.
Speaker 1:He wrote a letter to the church in Rome, which was made up of both Jewish and Gentile Christians or believers. Paul had not yet visited these places. Go back and look at this if you want to. He had not yet visited here when he wrote this letter, but he wanted to strengthen their faith, clarify the gospel message and address the tension that was going on between the Jewish people and the Gentile people. There was a lot going on during that time.
Speaker 1:Paul was writing to encourage believers that in Christ, they are free from sin's power. They're no longer bound by it, unlike those who are still under the Mosaic Law. He was differentiating right here between you guys who are in Christ and those guys who are still under the law. He was saying because you are in Christ, you are no longer. Sin shall no longer have dominion over you. Stop letting it. You're not the same as those people. You are under a new covenant, you are under Christ. You're not the same as they are Now, god, we always come back and say, well, god's not a respecter of persons.
Speaker 1:Well, god still loved them too, and he wanted he says he don't want anybody to be forsaken. He wants everybody to come to repent, but they haven't yet. This group had, this group hadn't. So he was telling the ones that had don't go back there. You're different. Your life should be different. Do not go back there. Sin no longer has control over your life anymore. He was basically saying sin is no longer your master. We walk in freedom, we don't walk in shame.
Speaker 1:So instead of focusing on sin consciousness, he was trying to get them as well as us today, because, indirectly, we're believers, just like they were believers then. He was talking to them and saying as believers, this is what I need you to know. So, indirectly, we are believers, and this is what paul would stand up here today in this pulpit and say to you sin no longer has dominion over any of you, because you are not living under law anymore, but you are now under grace. You're in a new covenant. He would say the same thing to us today, because he may look at us and say man, y'all still got the same things going on now. That was going on back then. There's a fight between two groups, you know.
Speaker 1:So fear loses its grip, because I love this perfect love. Perfect love casts out all fear. We're a fearful generation. We fear a lot of stuff and I understand where a lot of it comes from, from the counseling background. I know where some of this stuff comes from, so I'm not sitting there, you know, saying anything negative about it. I know where it's coming from with a lot of people. But I also know what the Word of God said, and that's the first John 4 and 18. Fear loses its grip Because perfect love casts out all fear. So if we can understand perfect love, which is God, is love. So if we can see God in these situations, instead of seeing the situation, he cast out all the fear in it. That's why we can stand up in some situations when things happen or you're being accused and this, and that you can say, okay, and it not bother you.
Speaker 1:It really it surprises people when things happen to us and we're like, okay, let's keep going, and they don't understand. How can they do that? How can they just keep going? This would just break most people down. Why? Because we figure out that who God is and we know who God is, we know he's love, we know he created us in the image and the likeness of that same love, and that love cast out all fear. There's no reason to fear. What good is that going to do? It's going to stress you out even more and get your mind in the wrong place.
Speaker 1:Another example right here when, faced with temptation, we don't fight for victory, we stand in victory. We're all tempted. People get tempted every day. There's an old life that every one of you used to live that you could easily go back to. There's an old thought process that used to roll through your mind that you can very easily be pulled back to if you allow yourself to go there. So when, faced with these things, we don't fight for victory. We're not fighting to try to get to a place of winning. We start from that place. We're already in victory. Can I see myself starting from there? We start from that place. We're already in victory.
Speaker 1:Can I see myself starting from there declaring I am dead to sin and alive to God? I'm dead to sin. This thing can't control me. I might have a crazy thought, but guess what? That don't control me. I might make a dumb decision, but that thing don't control me. I'm dead to sin. I will no longer keep looking at the world and myself from a distorted image. I may mess up, I may slip up, I may fall, but I'm going to turn back around and say I am dead to sin.
Speaker 1:What if we declared that over ourselves every day? I don't know if I believe that. What if you'd done it without believing it and had a little faith? Faith is substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen yet. Maybe you don't see this in your life yet.
Speaker 1:Well, say it in faith. You're not lying to yourself, you're speaking in faith. You're not lying to yourself, you're speaking in faith. Those things that are not as if they were. That's faith. So it's okay to say I'm blessed and you ain't got two nickels to rub together yet. It's okay to say God has more for me and you can't even figure out how to get through what you're going through right now. It's okay to speak in faith about the things that we see coming, why? Because he's promised them to us and he's already given that to us. He said every promise, everything has been given to us.
Speaker 1:But can we speak that stuff and I believe that's one reason that we can't act out and we can't see ourselves walking in it on a daily basis is because we're not speaking it. We hear it on Sunday, but am I speaking it over myself? Sometimes we see other people and we say, well, maybe they're blessed. I really don't understand why God's blessed them. But he hadn't blessed me. No, he's blessed all of us. The difference is they see their blessing and this one over here may not. You could both walk in it, but one has grabbed on to it and has made it a part of who they are, and the other one's still fighting to try to get there to it one day. Just accept it. The work is finished. Two more right here Living in divine health and healing. Living in divine health and healing.
Speaker 1:I think about this more often right now. I wish I'd have gotten the guy's name. I meant to do it this morning and I forgot, but I was watching an interview and I can't remember the guy's name. But he's a big. He's into keeping the body healthy. We're not just talking about working out, we're talking about the mind, the inner workings, everything on the inside. He's got all this stuff that it's just crazy what he does.
Speaker 1:But when I was interviewing him, they asked him. They said well, what do you expect as far as life expectancy next few years? Whatever he said, this is what I truly believe he said. If you are living in five years. It will be your fault if you don't live to be 120, 30, 140. That's how much things. I don't want to get into this. But you know, our bodies were never set up to die. Our bodies were not created to die. Go, study that on your own. We were not created to pass, to break down and fall apart and pass. It wasn't created like that. That's a whole other sermon.
Speaker 1:But this verse right here 1 Peter, 2 and 24. Look at what it says. Who Himself bore our sins in His own body, on the tree that we, having died to sins, having what Died to sins, dead they're gone Might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. Come on, people, take that. By His stripes, I am healed. People take that verse all the time and use it, and we should. But I've got to understand this whole verse here. I've got to come into agreement with this whole verse.
Speaker 1:Who Himself bore our sin, our distorted image, sickness, disease that's a distorted image. When I say myself that, oh why I'm not saying that there's things not actually happening in the body, but it's not the way God created us, so it's distorted. He Himself bore our sins, which is distorted image. That's what it means sins. He bore that in His own body, on the cross, on the tree, that we, having been dead to sin, having died to sin, might live for righteousness. Righteousness, what does it mean? Rightstanding, we should. We are dead to that distorted stuff and because he died on the cross and we're dead to that, we can now live in righteousness and rightstanding, with everything that's supposed to be.
Speaker 1:By whose stripes you were healed? This is talking about sickness and disease and different things going on. By his stripes we're healed. See, we don't pray for healing as if it's uncertain. We shouldn't pray for healing as if it's uncertain. We shouldn't pray for healing as if it's just uncertain. We receive what has already been provided for us. So if he died on the cross and it says by that, by whose stripes you were healed, it's already done. Come on, maybe I'm the only one that's ever heard it and I've said it myself. I can remember years ago, but I've heard other people say Lord, if it's in your will, just heal me. Well, it was never his will for sickness to be there. So we definitely know that sickness is not in the will of God.
Speaker 1:Now can I give you an answer why things happen? I can't. I can't tell you why some things happen to good people. I don't understand it. But I do know that we can turn things around with our words by confessing what has already happened and not just hoping and praying for something to occur one day. You hear it at every funeral no more sickness, no more disease. Standing with Jesus today. Good, we can do it here too. I'm not denying that, not at all. But what if we could have it here? What if we could have that same healing right now? Why do we have to wait to get to heaven to get it? Why not just bring heaven down to earth, like Jesus taught us to do. That kingdom come, that will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and experience joy and peace and healing and prosperity and all of those things right now. That's kingdom. Only thing jesus ever spoke on and preached on was kingdom. That was it must have been pretty important, because that was his only message. We can have it here.
Speaker 1:Our first response to sickness should not be fear, but faith. I know it's a natural instinct. We're humans. It's natural when we receive a diagnosis or we receive something that we didn't expect or fear to set in. It's a natural in the natural, but it's not natural in the natural, but it's not natural in the spirit, because that's not who we are. That takes a mindset shift to be able to not let fear set in and begin to take over.
Speaker 1:What if we declared healing is my inheritance. Yes, I'm experiencing this right now, but guess what? Healing is my inheritance. I'm a child of this right now, but guess what? Healing is my inheritance? I'm a child of God, I'm a son of God. It is my inheritance to be healed.
Speaker 1:What if we said, instead of coming to the altar and saying you know, I really hope God heals me? What if we just said Jesus already paid for my healing, father, I receive it today. Different words, different mindset. It's moving from hope, and there's nothing wrong with hope. But that first one, god, I sure hope you heal me. It's coming from a place of uncertainty. He might not. It's all up to God, but really it ain't all up to God. He said I've already done it. Can you receive it? Really up to us. We'll receive what he's already done. Last one, right here, exercising authority over circumstances. This is a big one. What he's already done. Last one, right here, exercising authority over circumstances. This is a big one, because we all go through different circumstances.
Speaker 1:Luke 10 and 19. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. We love to quote this and I can tell you this from experience, not because somebody told me this. You can quote this verse and not believe it and get yourself in some trouble Because you're moving to situations, thinking you're walking in authority because you quoted this and that devil will whoop your tail. I've been there. You go into situations. Listen, we went into situations to pray for people and you better know that you believe this and you better speak this. We have authority and whatever's in here has no authority. I have the authority and whatever's in here has no authority. I have the authority. I speak over this thing Because you can move into some crazy, crazy situations we have over the years. I won't get into some of them, but I've seen almost a 300-pound man through across the camper In the air by a guy that weighed 120 pounds, and it wasn't because the guy was strong, there was some stuff going on and when you walk in that place like that and you're walking in there just as a good old Christian quoting Scripture, but you don't believe that Scripture and you don't really truly believe I'm walking in this place with authority. You're liable to get tossed across the campus.
Speaker 1:Words matter, belief matters. Faith in this word actually matters. It's one thing to read it. It's another thing to take hold of it and say you know, we all want to say, well, all this stuff happens over there in the third world countries. You go on a mission trip. You see all this. Why? It's just different. There's a belief that's there that's not here. A lot of times it is here, but a lot of situations you don't see it. Those people expect when you walk up over there. They fully expect that you walk up over there. They fully expect that you are fixing to heal them. No question about it.
Speaker 1:The audience in Luke 10 and 19. In the context of this verse, he's specifically speaking to the 72 disciples whom Jesus had sent out on a mission to preach, to heal, to cast out demons. It's talked about that in Luke 10. 1 through 20. They returned these 70, they returned and they were rejoicing. They were excited. They were happy. Why? Because they said, even demons were subject to the name of Jesus. They just went out. They heard Jesus talk about this and they heard him say this is what I'm giving you, this is who you are. And then they had the experience. They got kind of pushed out the door and said go, cast out these demons now. Go heal the sick, go do all these things. This is kingdom. Go do it. And I'm sure they were scared to death.
Speaker 1:I've been in situations like that, where you're asked to come pray for something or pray for somebody and you walk in and it's not what you expected and fear can sit in. I'm sure these 70 were just like that when the first demon-possessed man showed up in front of them. But then they come back to what Jesus said I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and all over the power of the enemy. Now they went out, they believed it, they grabbed on to it, they spoke with authority and come back rejoicing and said even the demons have to flee at the name of Jesus. How is this relevant? Because you're the same way, you are no different. You walk with authority, an authority that serpents and scorpions and the enemy has to bow. They have no authority.
Speaker 1:How many times do we let fear set in. How many times do we not pray for somebody that we know really, really desperately needs prayer? Whether it's a physical illness, a mental illness, addiction, whatever it may be, we know that we have something on it. We have the answer on the inside of us and the person walking by us needs it and we're reluctant to give it to them. How many times has that happened? You got to answer because I know it's happened hundreds of times to you, because it's happened a hundred times for me. When are we just going to say I'm going to take this kingdom happened hundreds of times to you, because it's happened a hundred times for me. When are we just going to say I'm going to take this kingdom that's on the inside of me. I'm going to take these verses that says I have authority and I'm going to walk out and just start laying hands on people and watching this stuff manifest. We're not going to see it until we're willing to do it. And I'm telling you there's going to be times where you're going to pray for somebody and guess what, you ain't going to see nothing happen.
Speaker 1:I'm at a loss for words on that. I don't know. I can't explain why that happened. Well, I can, but it would take a little bit longer to do, but it happened. I told you all the story of Thailand. It happened in Thailand when I said, god, why are you doing this to me? Why are you telling me to pray for these people? And nothing's happening.
Speaker 1:And then I finally had to get brave and said God, if I look stupid, you look stupid Because I didn't bring myself over here. You sent me, you brought me to this location, you brought this little girl in front of me. You said I have the authority and the power to lay hands on the sick and to see them recover. I didn't say that, you said it. And if I can't walk it out? I literally stood in the middle of town and said if I can't walk it out, I'll never preach this word again. And I meant it, because if I'm standing in a pulpit preaching it but getting in the face of it and can't make it go, why preach it? And I meant that. And a paralyzed girl walked that day.
Speaker 1:I mean, you can't explain stuff like that, but do we have the faith to step out? And I think that's what kingdom is about. That's where it comes to today. That's where the relevance is today. Do we have the faith to step out.
Speaker 1:Anybody can lay hands on somebody and say oh God, I just pray that you bless them. No, you bless them. You bless them with what's on the inside of you. Yes, nothing wrong with saying God bless them. But we say that all the time. That's like a punchline. Oh God, bless them, you bless them. You lay hands on them, you speak with authority, you take what God has already given you because of what Jesus Christ done and you begin to walk it out in everyday life. Guess what If it don't happen? Guess what? It ain't going to hurt, because it wasn't going to happen if you didn't lay hands on them anyway. So no difference.
Speaker 1:But when it starts happening and I tell you this from experience as well when it starts happening and some of us come up in first community and going out and seeing these things, you know what I'm talking about when you first see it start happening, it blows your mind, even though you know it, even though you know, and you're like I'm fully expecting God to heal them. And then, all of a sudden, god heals them and you're like, oh mind, even though you know it, even though you know, and you're like I'm fully expecting God to heal them and then all of a sudden, god heals them. You're like whoa, did he just do that? Even though you was fully expecting it? It still. God still blows your mind every time. And when he does man, that faith level rises. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:You go around looking for sick people. You really do, you won't. You won't God, lead somebody to me, bring somebody in my path? I mean, I used to take my youth group. We'd go in the hospitals on Wednesday night and I'd say y'all go down that hallway, y'all go down that hallway, y'all go down that hallway, just go in the rooms and start praying. And I always just go in the rooms and start praying and they let us do it. Why? Because they seen kids with a faith. That's what kingdom is right now. That's where the kingdom relevance is at.
Speaker 1:Are we willing to do these now? You're only going to be willing to do it if you're willing to take on these verses and say this is who I am. I believe this. I'm going to speak from this place of authority. I told you a story. I got one. I was only on number five. That's why I don't number these. So if I mess up, I got an excuse, but going back to that verse in 10 and 19,.
Speaker 1:We don't beg God to Listen to that word. It's not that I don't ask God to intervene. I'm praying to the Father. Okay, so it's not like I'm leaving God out of the picture, but I don't beg God to intervene. I exercise the authority that he's already given me, just like what Jesus told His disciples when they got in the boat. He said get in the boat, we're going to the other side.
Speaker 1:And then the storm come up and waves started crashing down and they got all scared and he was over there sleeping. He was sleeping because he was at rest, because he knew nothing was going to happen. They were scared to death. And he rose up and he said oh ye of little faith. When are you going to believe me? I told you who you are. Speak to it. You didn't have to wake me up. Let me sleep, you speak to it. They didn't understand to wake me up. Let me sleep, you speak to it. They didn't understand that. Why? Because they knew he could do it, but they didn't see themselves doing it. See, we know God can do it, but we don't see ourselves doing it. But see, god took His authority. He said it's yours, you have the authority to do. Said it's yours, you have the authority to do this because of my Son, not because you're some awesome Christian, but because of what my Son done. I give this back to you. When, faced with problems, we declare His will, knowing he already won the victory. Declarations are important. We have to declare things.
Speaker 1:Prayer, I said a while ago, it shifts from asking for power to using the power that we already have. I can remember years ago praying and saying you know, fixing to pray for somebody or whatever, and saying God, will you just give me the authority to be able to do it? And I remember thinking later on hey, god was laughing, saying you already got it, son. You're asking me for something I've already given you. And it's amazing that when we first get born again and we first were hungry, I can remember as a youth pastor, I was preaching in a place in Waycross one time, a youth conference, and at the end of that youth conference I don't know what made me crazy and stupid enough to say this, but I stood up in that pulpit at the end and I said if there's anybody in here that needs to be healed, line up. I'm a youth pastor. I was just a youth pastor at the time and we spent what probably an hour and a half just praying over at Mr Rene Sellers' place. We spent probably an hour and a half just praying for every teenager that got in that line.
Speaker 1:Now some people would say that was bold, some people would say that was bold, some people would say it was stupid. I didn't know no difference, I just believed and there was people healed. We've got to get a boldness back that we've lost sight of God. Please change this situation. How many times do we say that in prayer? What if we changed our wording and said in Jesus' name, I command this situation to align with God's will. I command that's the other thing. I don't ask anymore I command. Some people say that's arrogant. No, that's the other thing. I don't ask anymore I command. Some people say that's arrogant. No, that's knowing the Word. I command this situation to line up with God's will. God didn't will this person to be sick. God didn't will this situation. God didn't will for somebody to be messed up on drugs or alcohol. So I command this thing, this situation for somebody to be messed up on drugs or alcohol. So I command this thing, this situation.
Speaker 1:If you hear me pray for you, you'll probably hear this Lord, I command everything to come into creative order. I command everything to come into creative order. Maybe I'm praying for them, and sometimes God will give you a word and tell you exactly what it is. And then other times he won't. I don't know. Sometimes he won't. I don't know, sometimes he won't.
Speaker 1:So what do I do? I just say I command everything in this body, from the top of the head to the soles of the feet, come into the creative order that you established when you put this body together. If it's a broken bone, bring it back. If it's a sickness that ain't supposed to be there, take it out. Whatever it's supposed to be, bring it back into its creative order. And I don't ask that because I have authority. I command that. That bothers people. I'll be honest with you. That bothers people. Can't command that According to the Word. I can't. You don't want to command it. If you want to keep asking and begging, keep on and you're going to keep seeing things not get changed. Last one I promise you this is living with joy and confidence.
Speaker 1:Nehemiah 8 and 10. We don't go to Nehemiah a lot, but we're going to go back there and look at chapter 8, verse 10, in just a minute. Then he said to them Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared For. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow all the way to the end. Here's what I want you to see, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. We quote that. Most of the time we don't know where it comes from, because we don't read Nehemiah a lot. The joy of the Lord is your strength.
Speaker 1:The audience was the returning Jewish people who were in exile in Jerusalem. So here Nehemiah and the leaders were urging the people to celebrate rather than mourn, reminding them that God's joy is their strength, not their own efforts. This don't make sense unless you go back and read the context of it, because you don't know why is he saying this. You've got to go back and understand why he's even saying this to them. You know and look at it. So no more living in anxiety or uncertainty. We walk in peace.
Speaker 1:Joy is not based on circumstances. Joy is based on the finished work. Now, believe me, we all know there's certain things that can bring us joy in a natural, somebody walk up and give you a $10,000 check you're going to be happy. So there's things that bring us joy, but the true joy is found in God. We expect good things to happen because God has already blessed us. It says in Ephesians 1 and 3 that we're blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. We are already blessed with things. So if I believe that verse and I believe that verse and I hate to use that kind of wording as if somebody else don't believe it but if I've come into agreement with that verse and that he has already given me every blessing that I ever need in my life, then it only makes sense that I should be expecting something. When a situation comes up, I expect something good to happen out of it. When a situation happens, I expect good to come out of it and not evil. That's the expectation I walk in with.
Speaker 1:I told you years ago when I started working at the prison over there the substance abuse center first time I ever walked in there and they take me in there and say, hey, we need you to teach this class and you got 55, 60 people sitting there. They don't have any respect for you, they don't know you. They could care less. They don't want to be there. And I mean I walked in and I was just observing that day and this guy that was trying to teach the class, trying to teach the class I won't call his name because y'all know him he was trying to teach this class and I mean he couldn't even you couldn't even he couldn't hear himself. It was so loud and cutting up and throwing stuff and it was crazy. He turned around. He said Brian, you want to try? I said I got this. I said what's up, guys? And I started teaching those guys. Now it'd be real nice to go.
Speaker 1:Man, it wasn't me, it was the authority. You speak with an authority. And when I started speaking that day, the atmosphere shifted. I was sitting there the whole time, the whole time, and nothing changed until I spoke. As soon as I spoke, the whole atmosphere shifted.
Speaker 1:Your words matter. Your words carry power. So when there's a situation, you better fully expect that when I walk up in here and say something, it ain't going to remain like this. My words carry weight. That's glory Weightiness. My words carry something.
Speaker 1:I don't mean to mean that his didn't carry, and I fully expected that. I didn't expect it to happen quite like it did, because it kind of scared me. I was like, oh, what happened? But we have to realize who we are. What if we adopted this mindset that we're going to live from and not for? Think about that. What if we adopted a mindset that we're going to live from a place and not for something? We don't live for victory, we live from victory. We don't live from acceptance oh, my life is good because they accepted me. No, we live from acceptance Through Christ. We don't live for blessings, we live from blessings.
Speaker 1:I don't do things because I want to be blessed. I do things because I'm already blessed and I want to bring blessings on other people. I want to walk into a chaotic situation. Maybe that's why I love counseling. I don't know, because it's chaotic. Maybe that's why I went into marriage and family therapy, because you want to see chaos. Bring two or three family members in a room and start talking at one time and blaming it on everybody else. That's chaos, but I love it because you get to just speak into that and see things just start to move into the area that they're supposed to be in. I love it.
Speaker 1:So we've got to understand who we are when we shift our mindset to the finished work, everything changes. We stop striving and we start resting. We stop fearing things and we start reigning. We stop doubting all the time and we start declaring some things. We can't live in doubt. We can't live with just hope alone. I hope one day this happens. I hope one day that happens. No Again, when we look back at what we say as a definition, it's not actually the definition in Hebrews, it's actually what faith is we say.
Speaker 1:It's the definition of faith substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen. That's not the definition. That's actually what faith does. It hopes for something, but then it believes and it speaks something that has not occurred yet, as if it's already occurred. And then I begin to reach that thing that I'm hoping for.
Speaker 1:So how do we look and understand the practical side of the kingdom? Because you can talk kingdom all day to people and they're not going to understand it. I challenge you to go Listen. Every one of you has got a computer, you've got a phone. There's no reason that you can't study some of this stuff out. If you're only learning from me, you're way behind. If your only teaching on the kingdom and on finished work is on Sunday morning. You are way behind Because we've all got access to every bit of information that you could ever want. There's AI programs out there right now that will blow your mind on what they show you. You could go in there and say show me everything Jesus taught on kingdom, and it'll spit it out within a matter of seconds. There's no reason not to understand.
Speaker 1:I made the comment that day. Let me end it right here with the same comment In society that we live in today, there's no excuse for ignorance. Ignorance means not knowing. There's no reason to not know. Today We've got too much technology available. So if you're only learning this from me, number one, I don't want you to just learn it from me, because you could easily say well, I think he's wrong, or I don't agree with him. Go study that for yourself, let it become knowledge and understanding to you, or I don't agree with him. Go study that for yourself, let it become knowledge and understanding to you, and hopefully what it'll do is confirm what I'm saying. And then maybe you'll say, well, maybe he does know a little bit about what he's talking about and you'll start getting more into it, because we're moving back into a place you can stand. We're going to go. We're moving back into a place I'm saying back into because we've already been there to where this sickness is fixing to start going.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, we used to have people all the time call and Monica we've talked about this, monica's told you this they would go to another church. They wouldn't dare grace the doors of our church Because those folks over there at First Community man, they crazy. But then every time they needed something, they needed prayer for a sickness, they needed something, they would call the church and say well, y'all pray for us, because I know y'all believe this and it would almost make you mad Like you can't come here, but you want us to pray for you. And you wanted to say if your church don't believe that, why are you going there? Why don't you get with people that you believe the same thing as them?
Speaker 1:But we're moving back into a place and I'm not just saying us, I'm saying the church where these things, these manifestations of these things, they're going to quit being just talked about in the pulpit and we're going to be seeing them in the natural. I want every single person in here to be a part of that, not just sitting back being a spectator, but able to understand your true identity in Christ, able to understand the power and the authority that you walk in, that your words carry power and that when you speak a thing, it shall be done, not might be done, it shall be done Whatever. I decree Every person in this room. I want to get to that place, I want you to be there. And if somebody walked in this door right now and just I mean, hurt was freaking out, that I could just point to anybody and say, hey, lay hands on them, lay hands on them that I don't have to come down and the pastor don't have to do it. We got to get beyond. We put too much on the pastor and I'm saying that in a way, we think the pastor's the only anointed one in the house. No, the same Holy Spirit is on all of us, in all of us. You are just as anointed as any of those big wigs you see on TV.
Speaker 1:And I'm telling you, the more we practice some people don't like that word when we're talking about this, but you have to practice laying about this. But you have to practice laying hands on people. You have to practice praying with people. You have to practice prophesying over people. Sometimes you'll get a word from somebody and you may say I'm not sure about that, but then later on that thing will come to pass and you're like wow, and the more you start seeing that I'm telling you God's speaking to people today and he wants to speak to more, but he don't have a mouthpiece. When are we going to step up and be the mouthpiece?
Speaker 1:And some of us in here again, we grew up in first community and coming up through that and I'm talking about where everybody in the house you look at some people. They're sitting over there on the side there and you think, well, they're not anything, man, they'd stand up and prophesy what you've done this morning. You had other people. They had other things going on. Pastor Gary used to be in the sound booth. People looked at Pastor Gary as a sound booth person. That joker would prophesy to a light pole. I mean, he was just so dead on accurate. Now, you didn't see it all the time at first because he was further along than what he was speaking in my life to. This is the same as us. We're the same. I'm killing time right here. I don't know why, but we've got to get this. We've got to understand this. You've got to see yourself as this.
Speaker 1:There's people in this room, right here, that I would put up against any prophet anywhere, and I mean that I mean really, because I know the prophetic gifts that's in this room. I know the anointing that's in this room, that I know the anointing that's in this room that we're not always using it's time to step up Because there's other people. There's other people, janet, that needs what you got. There's other people that need what you got on the inside of you and you're going to be the one that helps pull it out of them and I hate to ever do that, but I just Janet knows, she knows the gift that's on the inside of her. Other people here know that Been around her, and not just Janet. Plenty of people in this room that's been through things. People's been through things. People's been through things physically. It's on the other side of it now and you need to meet with some people that's still on the other side and let them know you can do this, you can do this. I'm starting to see this alignment coming together and the reason we want that other facility built.
Speaker 1:My prayer has been consistently, and this is the way we're going to end today, I want to pray, and I want you to pray with me on something God would not give us a vision without providing the provision. Pro means before. I don't know how I've said that many times. I don't know how I've said that many times. I don't know how it's going to happen, I don't know when it's going to happen, but I believe with everything in me that God will provide the provision for us to get this facility built at this new location. It's going to change things. It's not just going to be a new church building. There's going to be a center out there called the Identity Center. That's going to allow us to do all these things that I was just talking about, not just out in the marketplace, but allowing people to come in on other nights, on other special events Not just church and help them find their true identity in Christ, from counseling groups to recovery groups to just whatever. The opportunity will be there. And one person can't do all that. It takes all of us. But I'm telling you that's going to happen, and maybe it's only going to happen when we get.
Speaker 1:As the movie said, you've got to prepare the field, you've got to get everything prepared first. Maybe that's what the holdup is, but I've been praying every day. I said God, where's the provision? I mean, this ain't like asking for $100, $200, $500. This is asking for $300,000. For asking for $100, $200, $500. This is asking for $300,000. For our size church, that's big, that is huge. $100 or $300,000, what's that to God? I believe he can do it. I believe he will do it. I believe it's done. We just ain't stepped into it.
Speaker 1:So, as we end today, I started to do this doing praise and worship, and I didn't want to stop the flow of worship. But I want you to pray with me that God will release this provision, wherever it's coming from. However it's coming, that we will get in order, we will get set up and ready for this, because I believe that we have to be ready. You can't build something and not have the people to oversee it. When we get ready, I believe he's going to release it. I don't know how. Maybe I'm crazy for saying that, but I'm just that crazy enough to believe it. I know you've got other stuff you want to pray for and you can pray for, but if you would pray for that, in a few minutes Everybody come into agreement, releasing the provision for this new facility, because it's going to be life-changing in this community. It really is. Let's pray, father.
Speaker 1:God, we thank you for this day and this word that's come forth today. And, father, we just pray right now that you release the provision for this facility, for this new ministry. We thank you, father, that you've given us the vision. You've laid out the vision to me. You've showed me the building. You've showed me what it's going to look like. You've showed me the building. You've showed me what it's going to look like. You've showed me the layout of it. You've showed me the opportunity that's going to come along with it.
Speaker 1:You've showed me all of these things and, father, I don't know how the provision is going to come, but I trust you. I trust that you are going to do exactly what you said You're going to do, and you said that you would provide. Exactly what you said you're going to do. And you said that you would provide. You said that you would bless us Beyond what we could even imagine. So, father, god, I thank you and I love the fact that, even though we're a smaller church, and the amount of financing that we need, if it comes, it has to be you, and that's what I love about it, because when you provide this, there's going to be no doubt to anybody that it was you that done it.
Speaker 1:So, father, we just ask you right now To release the provision For this vision that you've given this house and that you've given this church. And, father, we'll do everything we can To prepare ourselves and prepare each person in this room To step into their calling, to step into their gifts, to dig deep some of those gifts that sometimes we buried because we think it's not useful anymore. To dig up some of those things, father, and to realize that You're going to make things fresh again, you're going to make things new again. Those anointings that was there are not gone. They just need to be brought back out. So, father, god, we thank you for everything that You're going to do. We thank you for the building that will be setting, the two buildings that will be setting on that land on Cumberland Road. Father, we thank you for the opportunity that You're going to give us to touch this community in a way that has never been touched before. We thank you and we'll be careful to give you the praise, the honor and the glory in the mighty name of Jesus.