SPEAKER_00: Anybody else this morning sense the presence of the Lord in the house today?
SPEAKER_00: Candidly, I'm I'm wrestling through internally the step that I need to take right now.
SPEAKER_00: I have a message that I've prepared that's fabulous.
SPEAKER_00: And we may get there.
SPEAKER_00: But I feel like I need to lean in this morning just for a few moments as we begin to a word that I shared a couple of weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: A couple weeks ago, the Lord just stirred our hearts together about his glory.
SPEAKER_00: And that a tsunami of his glory was being poured out upon his church.
SPEAKER_00: And that it was gonna sweep across the land and change the landscape.
SPEAKER_00: And I've been that was really all the Lord dropped in my spirit a couple weeks ago, and I've been praying into that over the last few weeks, and I and I feel like the Lord has given me some further revelation about what he's really up to.
SPEAKER_00: And I I want to kind of share that with you, and then we'll see where we go from there.
SPEAKER_00: Is that okay this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I don't need your permission, but I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Noah mentioned that there's just been a drawing in his spirit this morning, and Pastor Meg and the worship team was singing about loving the Lord and dead things coming alive and dry bones living again.
SPEAKER_00: And as they sung and shared, I just I it resonated so deeply with me.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to I just want to share three things that I feel like this this outpouring of the glory of the Lord is gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: I think number one, it's gonna reshape our affections.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna reshape the loves of our lives, the passions of our lives, the the desires of our lives, the hopes, the the driving factor, the things that we love.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like the glory of the Lord that's being poured out upon the earth is going to reshape our affections.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say, reshape affections.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, I think it's going to release his authority.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting in scripture that anytime God pours out his presence, when there is a release of his manifest glory of the Lord, then it begins to reshape the priorities and the ambitions of people's lives.
SPEAKER_00: And as those things are reshaped, there's a release of the authority of the Lord upon those people.
SPEAKER_00: To bind and to loose, to build up and to tear down, to expand the kingdom and to plunder darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And when this begins to happen, there will be a reclaiming of the assignment of the people of God in the earth.
SPEAKER_00: That our assignment to be salt and light, our assignment, church, can I tell you our assignment isn't just to get saved and go to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Our assignment is to bring heaven to earth.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to pray this way.
SPEAKER_00: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come on earth as it is in.
SPEAKER_00: See, our assignment as the people of God are to expand the kingdom of God in the earth today.
SPEAKER_00: Our assignment isn't to retreat from the world, but to go into it with the power of the gospel of Jesus, so the lost can be found.
SPEAKER_00: So the empty can be filled, so that we can be equipped as his sons and daughters on earth.
SPEAKER_00: That's our assignment.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like this the glory of the Lord is gonna be poured out and it's it's gonna reshape our affections, it's gonna release authority, it's gonna enable us to reclaim our assignment as the people of God in the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And as the Lord is stirring in my heart in these directions, I just began to think about affections, the loves of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't know that there's ever been a time in history when the enemy has waged a greater war over people's affections than today.
SPEAKER_00: Say, how do you say that, Pastor?
SPEAKER_00: Because this is built on algorithms that are tailored to win your affections.
SPEAKER_00: This is created on algorithms that are designed to keep and master your attention.
SPEAKER_00: Because if it can keep and master your attention, then it'll get your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Arguably, no generation has lived on the earth that has experienced a greater assignment against its affections than this generation.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe the Lord is saying, enough is enough.
SPEAKER_00: I believe the Lord is saying the time has now come, the time has arrived.
SPEAKER_00: I have moved the pieces on the chessboard to the place where I can release my glory and win the affections of men's heart.
SPEAKER_00: Because can I tell you this morning, there isn't an algorithm that can calculate the glory of the Lord, there isn't an algorithm that can contain all the pieces and the parts of what it is to taste and see that he is good.
SPEAKER_00: And this generation hasn't tasted and seen of the goodness of God yet, but the time has come.
SPEAKER_00: The time is now, the time has arrived for his glory to be released upon the earth, and he's about to win men's hearts again.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna reshape our hearts with his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Because can I tell you, can I tell you, once you've tasted and seen of the goodness of God, once you've experienced the love that is immeasurable, the love that surpasses knowledge and understanding, once that love has touched your heart, every other love pales in comparison.
SPEAKER_00: I believe with everything inside of me this morning that the affections of our hearts are getting ready to be reshaped.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be a tsunami of the glory of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And as a tsunami, I got to thinking about this in the natural.
SPEAKER_00: When a tsunami comes, it it reshapes the landscape.
SPEAKER_00: There's such a movement of water that the landscape around the place where a tsunami occurs, that the landscape is shifted, the landscape is reshaped, and I believe that our hearts are getting ready to experience a reshaping.
SPEAKER_00: The interesting thing about a tsunami in the natural is that once it comes in, it it takes out everything that doesn't have a sure foundation.
SPEAKER_00: Only buildings that are built upon the rock, only structures that are established deep down upon the rock are able to withstand the tsunami.
SPEAKER_00: Everything else gets washed out, and I'm prophesying this morning over your life today and over your heart this morning that you're getting ready to experience a touch of the presence of the Lord, and everything that's not built upon the rock called Jesus is going to get washed out, and he's gonna recapture your heart this morning, and I believe we are there.
SPEAKER_00: I believe this is sequential.
SPEAKER_00: I believe before there can be a release of his authority, there has to become a reshaping of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We're here.
SPEAKER_00: Our love for him.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus say when he was asked, what's the greatest commandment?
SPEAKER_00: To love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength.
SPEAKER_00: So you you before there's a release of kingdom authority upon your life, there's a relationship that is built on in love.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Acts, the seven sons of Skeva came to find this out in the hard way.
SPEAKER_00: They had heard about this man named Jesus and what the apostles were doing in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They were healing the sick and they were casting out devils and they were doing miracles, and they assumed that it was just an equation that you could follow to get a result that you wanted.
SPEAKER_00: And when they used the name of Jesus, the demon spoke back to them.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, we know and we've heard of Paul, but who are you?
SPEAKER_00: Because they didn't have a relationship with him, they didn't have their hearts reshaped by his love.
SPEAKER_00: So there was no power.
SPEAKER_00: See, power is built upon relationship.
SPEAKER_00: In order for there to be a release of the authority of the Lord, there has to be a love relationship there that it is founded upon.
SPEAKER_00: And once that happens, there's a reclaiming of the assignment of the Lord upon our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you a question this morning.
SPEAKER_00: What has your heart?
SPEAKER_00: What is the greatest love of your life?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe what is rivaling your love for Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Is it success?
SPEAKER_00: Is it money?
SPEAKER_00: Is it reputation?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the attention of people or the accumulation of things?
SPEAKER_00: What is rivaling your love for Jesus today?
SPEAKER_00: I'm reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul in the book of Revelation, to the seven churches in Revelation chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: John speaks to the church at Ephesus in verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I know your works, I know your toil.
SPEAKER_00: I know your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.
SPEAKER_00: I want to go back to the beginning of this verse because it really resonated with me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I I know your works.
SPEAKER_00: I want to I want to declare over you this morning the Lord sees your faithful works.
SPEAKER_00: He sees the toil, the labor of your life to follow him.
SPEAKER_00: He he sees and is pleased with your patient endurance.
SPEAKER_00: I know there are people in the house this morning that have committed their life to Jesus and are doing everything that they can to follow him.
SPEAKER_00: You're doing everything within your power to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
SPEAKER_00: You're you're diligently devoting yourself to discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: You're reading your word, you're in prayer, you're you're patiently believing for him to move in areas you've been praying for some things, not just for weeks or months, years, and possibly even decades.
SPEAKER_00: You've been laying some things before the Lord patiently, you're doing the work of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: You don't bear with evil things.
SPEAKER_00: You try to live a holy, righteous life that that honors the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You're doing everything you know to do that's right.
SPEAKER_00: That's who he's talking to right here.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking to church folk, he's talking to people we would call godly, people that are doing all the right things.
SPEAKER_00: Verse three, I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary, you are fighting the good fight of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Verse four.
SPEAKER_00: But I have this against you.
SPEAKER_00: You have abandoned your first love.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: How does that happen?
SPEAKER_00: Because we become so focused on our works that we build a theology on us rather than Him.
SPEAKER_00: We we're so focused on doing all the right things over and being diligent and being patient and being the person that we think we need to be.
SPEAKER_00: We are so focused on our effort we forget that it's not by might and it's not by power, but it's by my spirit, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Church, can our good works are never enough to earn us a thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's by grace that we've been saved through faith, not by works, so that no man can boast.
SPEAKER_00: We've forsaken our first love.
SPEAKER_00: The passion of our heart, the passion of our life, this this fire on the inside of us through Jesus has grown strangely dim.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the enemy has been after our affections all along and we did not know it.
SPEAKER_00: We've fallen in love with other things.
SPEAKER_00: In the effort to do the good thing, we've missed the best thing.
SPEAKER_00: And it's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Every head bowed and every eye closed just for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you would say, Pastor?
SPEAKER_00: I know right now there's something in my life competing for my heart.
SPEAKER_00: There's something in my life that has become such an all-consuming focus of my life that if I was real honest, it's competing with my love of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There's something that's a maybe it's a need in my life that's competing, it's become the focus of my life.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a hurt in my life that it's become such a defining characteristic of my life that it's competing with my love for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a disappointment in your life that has broken your heart so much that it has caused your love for Jesus to waver.
SPEAKER_00: Just a bit.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's an ambition, a hope, or a dream in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Dream for a marriage partner.
SPEAKER_00: Dream for a job or a career or a business or financial goal that has become so big that it's competing with your love for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: With every head bowed and every eye closed, you'd say, Pastor, you're talking to me.
SPEAKER_00: There's something in my life that's competing with my love for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Would you just raise your hand right where you sit?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Just all across, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: All across the congregation, hands going.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus.
unknown: Thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for speaking to our hearts this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I want you just right where you are to ask the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you have already recognized it, but I want all of us this morning just to present this prayer request to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Is there anything in my heart that's competing with my love for Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Is there anything that's rivaling the focus and the passion of my heart?
SPEAKER_00: Just right where you sit this morning, just pray that prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Would you just give the Holy Spirit a moment of permission to put his finger on an area of your heart and your life that is rivaling, competing with your love for Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's caused you to go a little lukewarm.
SPEAKER_00: That's that's caused you to back up a little bit in your passion and your fire for the one who gave everything so that you would have life.
SPEAKER_00: As the Holy Spirit shows you this morning what's competing in your heart for your love, I want you to take out the connection card from the seat in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: On the back side of it is a prayer section.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to write what is competing, what we're gonna do in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna we're gonna write those things down, and then we're gonna come and we're gonna lay them on the front of the stage and turn the front of our stage into an altar, and we're gonna offer them to the Lord and ask him to forgive us.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna repent and allow him to move in our hearts in a fresh and new and wonderful way.
SPEAKER_00: And and the worship team is gonna lead us in a song, and we're gonna we're gonna celebrate God's doing a new work, that the glory of the Lord is now coming in, and it is gonna sweep out everything that that is competing in our hearts, that is rivaling our love for Jesus, and and God's gonna do a fresh work in your heart, that He's gonna ignite a fresh fire in your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Fresh love for Him.
SPEAKER_00: So as right now, as you as you recognize something, the Holy Spirit's put it, brought it to your mind.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to take a card out, and there's a pen there, and there's a card there.
SPEAKER_00: Just write that thing on that card right now.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, speak to every heart, speak to every life, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Do a new work in our spirits today.
SPEAKER_00: Do a new work, reshape.
SPEAKER_00: God, I just prophesy, reshape our affections this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Reshape our affections, God, today.
SPEAKER_00: May our affections be upon you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: May our hearts, your word says that the heart is the wellspring of life that everything.
SPEAKER_00: Flows from it.
SPEAKER_00: So I pray this morning, Holy Spirit, reshape our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: May our affections be set upon you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: May every other love pale in comparison to that love.
SPEAKER_00: Refocus our lives upon you this morning, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Reveal to every heart here today, and every person joining us online this morning the areas of our lives that are competing with your love.
SPEAKER_00: May they grow strangely dim in the light of the glory of Christ this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Speak to every heart this morning, Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Reveal to every life today where our affections are wavering for you.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you gave your everything.
SPEAKER_00: You gave your all.
SPEAKER_00: May we withhold nothing from you, but may we offer you our everything as you offer us your everything this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Reshape our affections, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Reshape our affections, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Reshape our affections, pour out your glory upon your people today.
SPEAKER_00: Pour out your glory, Lord, upon your people this morning.
SPEAKER_00: May we not be the same because of it.
SPEAKER_00: May we be changed, as your word says, from glory to glory.
SPEAKER_00: I declare that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I prophesy glory to glory over your life today.
SPEAKER_00: I declare you may have experienced glory, but you've not tasted a next level glory.
SPEAKER_00: And so I declare glory to glory over you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You take a step of faith and allow the Lord to reshape your affections today.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: Will you stand with me where you are this morning?
SPEAKER_00: And as the Holy Spirit has shown you an area that's competing with your love for Jesus, I want you to take a step of faith today and come and lay it upon the front of this stage and turn it into your altar.
SPEAKER_00: Repent.
SPEAKER_00: Say, God, forgive me for allowing this to compete with your love.
SPEAKER_00: I'm laying it at your feet.
SPEAKER_00: I'm surrendering it to you and declaring afresh and anew.
SPEAKER_00: You are the source and the sustenance of my life.
SPEAKER_00: You are the priority.
SPEAKER_00: You are my focus.
SPEAKER_00: You're my all in all.
SPEAKER_00: And I give you my heart as if for the very first time again today.
SPEAKER_00: As the worship team leads us, would you respond this morning and allow the Holy Spirit to pour out his glory upon your life?
SPEAKER_00: People are heard.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, Pastor Meg.