WEBVTT 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:06.959 Well good morning revive church. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.160 Hey, great to see you guys. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:12.960 So thrilling to be with you again. 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:16.320 But really, uh you didn't need to go to all this trouble. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:26.000 I mean, I was coming through that little uh little uh gate right there and I expected a spotlight and some confetti. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:32.320 Uh Kyle said he was gonna have one of those confetti cannons, but I guess he chickened out. 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:33.920 I don't know what the deal is. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:41.600 But I've been so uh so excited about uh being here with you guys uh today. 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:42.560 I love you. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.159 I pray for you all the time. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:56.320 Kyle and I talk regularly, and uh it's just such a joy to watch what the Lord is doing here and and to be able to know you because we've spent time with you, you know. 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:00.960 And uh so uh it's a thrill to be here today. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:07.840 And we're gonna pick up right where Kyle left off last week in Acts chapter 4. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:10.560 So if you want to turn there in your Bibles, you can. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:28.400 You know, I uh my adult spiritual life really started in a great awakening, a nationwide spiritual movement called the Jesus Movement. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:36.799 Some of you remember that well, uh some of you remember World War II, but I mean that's going back way far. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:42.719 But uh but the Jesus movement happened in the late 60s and the early 70s. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:53.280 I was a high school student and then a freshman in college in in 1970, and God just flipped my life around. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:59.599 I mean, he I was a believer, but I wasn't walking with Christ, and then I just got kind of sick. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:04.239 You know, there's nothing more miserable than a Christian who's not walking with Christ. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:16.240 You're just miserable because you know there's so much more, and um and so I just came to the end of myself and I said, Lord, if you're gonna do anything with my life, you're gonna have to do it. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:20.000 And that's exactly what the Lord was waiting to hear. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:48.960 And so my heart was just on fire, and I went to college and I discovered that there were all these students that God had done the similar things in their in their hearts, and there was this spirit of prayer that was going on uh all across our campus and really all across the United States during that time, which is typical of a of a great spiritual awakening, a revival and awakening. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:51.360 We would we would pray all night sometimes. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:59.280 I remember waking up at 8 o'clock, late for class, lying on the altar in the chapel where we've been praying all night. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:02.000 And that was just not not untypical. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:24.240 One day uh we were in our normal chapel service, and a man came that had uh from San Antonio, Jack Taylor, who had had a meeting, a two-week meeting planned in his church that had gone for five weeks, and God had just saved hundreds and hundreds of people. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:29.120 And he came and he spoke in our chapel, and just it just stirred my heart. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:30.800 I thought, God, that's what I want. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:33.280 I want to be a part of that, that's what I want to see. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:44.639 So I happened to be in charge of a little 15-minute noonday student-led uh service, and I said to this pastor, would you come speak to us? 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:55.439 And so he came into chapel and he spoke for five minutes, and God just fell on that group of students. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:57.039 It was unbelievable. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:02.240 We began to confess our sins and get right with each other and get right with God. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:12.800 We we uh began to uh go to other people and uh and and it went on past the 15 minutes, an hour, two hours, three hours. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:18.079 Soon they had canceled all classes uh all across the university. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:23.120 Uh we had this thing back then sitting out on the campus called a phone booth. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:38.160 I don't know that any of you would know what that was, but that there was a constant line, they tell me, for several hours in that phone booth as kids were just going and getting right with their parents and clearing their conscience, and and all these kids got saved. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:39.600 It was unbelievable. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:41.199 I'd never been in a moment like that. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:44.480 It was just totally spontaneous and unreal. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:54.480 And I realized for the first time, this is what it's like to be in the manifest presence of God. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:02.160 This is what God does when he shows up and shows out, when he decides to magnify himself. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:06.240 And guys, listen, that was happening all across America. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:09.040 That was happening at college campuses everywhere. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:23.040 In fact, a few months before that, at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, a normal chapel service had just extended for seven solid days, day and night, 24 hours. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:29.199 They began to send students uh across the nation to other campuses. 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:42.319 I remember they sent a team to Azusa Pacific College out in California, and the two students went out there and they showed up during a basketball game and they said, We're here to tell you about the revival, what God is doing in Asbury. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:44.639 And they said, Well, this is a basketball game. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:47.199 And they said, Well, uh, can we speak? 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:54.079 And they said, Well, we'll give you a microphone at halftime, and they did, and they never played the second half. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:55.839 Revival just broke out. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:01.279 And I could tell you story after story like this of what was happening. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:11.120 Now, revival is the extraordinary movement of the Spirit of God that produces extraordinary results. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:12.800 God is moving all the time. 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:16.319 You couldn't have gotten out of bed this morning without the grace of God. 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:16.959 Amen. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:18.240 I mean, it was him. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:23.759 He gives good gifts, and uh he's always moving. 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:42.879 But in times of revival, God sees a people, a nation, and he, in his mercy, he opens up the windows of heaven, and he comes down in fresh ways and reminds us of who he is and what his kingdom is like. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:48.319 And his kingdom comes and his will is done in extraordinary ways. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:54.160 We've had five of these movements, nationwide movements in American history. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:07.920 One in the early uh 1700s, 1735, and in which 15% of the population of America came to faith in Christ. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:08.879 15%. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:12.800 Now, I I was just doing a little math on that about Denver. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:20.560 If that happened in Denver, I I think Denver has a population of about 3 million, uh, the Greater Denver area. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:33.360 If that happened in Denver for the next two years, you would see 8,700 people saved every month. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:34.560 Every month. 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:36.000 Now just think about that. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:38.480 Somebody called and said, Man, what's going on in Denver? 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:39.920 You know, you don't believe this. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:42.399 8,000 people were saved last week. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:44.160 2,000 people a week. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:47.519 This is like Pentecost every week happening. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:50.879 And do you know that's happened in Denver before? 00:07:51.360 --> 00:08:08.079 Do you know I I have seen a uh uh front page headline of the Denver Post during the third Great Awakening, 1857, that says whole town stops for prayer. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:10.639 That happened in Denver, Colorado. 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:12.240 Unbelievable. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:30.399 And so the first Great Awakening, then the second Great Awakening, the Third Great Awakening, the Great Prayer Revival of 1857, 1858, during that movement of God, uh, you're not going to believe, you think I'm just make like a preacher story, you know, but this is absolutely verifiable. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:32.080 I can I can show you. 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:41.360 During that 1857 revival, 50,000 people were meeting in New York, which is a town then of 800,000 people. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:54.639 50,000 people meeting every day in churches all across the city in prayer, and 10,000 people a week were being added to the church for two years. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:59.600 10,000 this week, 10,000 the next week, to every church. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:02.879 Presbyterian, Baptists, Episcopal, every church. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:09.279 10,000 the next week, 10,000 the next week, 10,000 the next week were coming into the church. 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:10.879 Now you say, what is that? 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:12.960 Is that, did they have some big program? 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:14.320 Did they have some big rally? 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:14.799 No. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:15.919 That was God. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:18.720 That's the presence of God. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:32.399 And during those times of Great Awakening like that, then the 1904 Welsh Revival that swept around the world, the Jesus movement that happened in the late 60s, early 70s. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:40.480 Another way to define these Great Awakenings is their times of harvest. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:42.960 Their times of harvest. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:53.840 My brother, uh who's older, I have two brothers, both are pastors, and my middle brother uh said, Bill, we're in a great awakening. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:55.600 I said, How do you how do you know that? 00:09:55.759 --> 00:10:18.240 He said, Well, just beside all the things that we know, he said uh he and his wife were they're from Kansas City, they went to California, and he said, we just decided to take a 30-day trip, and we asked the Lord if he would let us uh speak to at least one person a day about Christ. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:32.080 He said, not only did we speak to one, we spoke to three and four and five every day, and there was not one person in 30 days that we spoke to about Christ that didn't lean in. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:33.600 They just leaned in. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:37.200 He said, Bill, it was he and I were both in the Jesus movement. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:40.159 He said it was just like the Jesus movement. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:43.279 I want to tell you something. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:54.879 Maybe you've been following the reports, maybe not, but I've been I've been following and studying revival and spiritual awakening for over 50 years. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:08.559 And I I believe I can say with real confidence, and guys like me who study this very carefully would be saying, we are in the foothills of the next great awakenings in America. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:09.519 We really are. 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:11.519 You say, Bill, why would you say that? 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:24.960 Well, three years ago, the catalytic moment was that same school, Asbury, where a normal chapel extended for 16 days, day and night. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:30.639 Over a hundred thousand people came into the little town of Wilmore, Kentucky during that time. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:33.759 Holly and I, my wife and I got up, we just said, let's go. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:35.919 I got kind of a let's go wife, you know. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:37.440 We just we just let's go. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:48.000 So we we just went and we walked into that packed auditorium, you could barely get in, day and night, full of the presence of God. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:53.360 And people being saved and delivered in just record numbers. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:59.039 We wondered if that would continue after Asbury, but it has. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:03.600 And on college campuses all across the country, here and there, God is moving. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:28.399 There have been 27 uh uh uh in basketball arenas of Division I schools like uh Georgia and uh and the University of Arkansas, where there have been 8 to 10,000 students gathering to worship Christ and thousands and thousands of kids getting saved and baptized. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:33.679 Over 150,000 kids have come just to those uh rallies. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:45.200 California, 300 churches gathered together two years ago to just have a day of baptism in the ocean, and over 6,000 were baptized in one day. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:49.519 The next year they did it again, over 7,000 were baptized. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.000 13,000 in in two years. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:53.360 Now that's not normal. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:58.799 I don't know if you know that, but that's not, and it's particularly not normal for California, right? 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:01.039 God is just moving. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:10.639 Just two days ago, we we have multiple locations of our summit family of churches there in Arkansas. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:17.440 Two days ago, I get a a text from one of our pastors who's in a college town. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:22.639 Uh there's there are uh four colleges in the town of Conway, Arkansas. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:30.879 He said, Bill, he said, My wife and I went to the Athletes in Action end of the year recap banquet last night. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:32.879 Oh my, he said. 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:37.840 AIA primarily does ministry at Hendrix. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:47.679 Since I've been in Conway, Hendrix of Highly Secular School has been the absolute darkest place in our city. 00:13:47.840 --> 00:14:00.559 They've kicked ministries off campus, they've been a hub of some dark spiritual activity, and then there was a little pause in the paragraph, and he says, Well, that's all changed. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:04.240 The president of Hendrix goes to our church. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:06.399 She came to Hendrix three years ago. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:20.159 She spoke last night of the revival that's happening on their campus and how the students that were part of AIA, this ministry, saved her from moving off because when she got there it was so dark, she was going to leave. 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:26.399 She said, now it's like so much light has burst through on our campus. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:33.519 I can walk through the cafeteria, see Bible studies, people wearing Jesus shirts, which would have never happened before. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:45.279 Uh, and all the students, he said, who spoke last night, go to our church, they shared of so many coming to Jesus and how God is just radically saving people. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:50.080 We left in tears, praising God, it's harvest time. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:52.559 It's harvest time. 00:14:54.799 --> 00:15:01.039 Now, what do you do in a time of harvest? 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:04.720 Do you just do the same old thing? 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:09.759 I come from a Arkansas is kind of an agricultural state. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.879 You got a lot of agriculture here in Colorado. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:13.919 But I want to tell you something. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:15.840 I my granddad was a farmer. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:20.799 I don't know a lot about farming, but I know this harvest time is different. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:30.559 When the harvest comes, you don't find a farmer that's waiting until dawn to get up, that's having his coffee at 10 o'clock in the morning. 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:32.720 They're up way before dawn. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:47.600 It's all hands on deck, they do nothing but the harvest, and they stay now with lights on their combines, they'll go to way after sundown, it's harvest time, right? 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:50.080 You don't you don't sit around. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:58.080 Here's what Proverbs says he who sleeps during harvest is a son who acts shamefully. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:09.840 I mean, if you found a farmer and he was just playing around and he was inside his house playing video games when the harvest came, you'd think, well, he's he's lost his mind. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:11.279 It's harvest time. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:34.720 And I want to, what I'm trying to say to you, and I wish I could, I wish I had an hour to talk to you about what's going on both nationally and internationally, and the unbelievable, where there was once no receptivity, the receptivity by lost people to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is it is stunning. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:40.799 It's what happens in times of harvest, it's what happens in a great awakening and has always happened. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:43.840 So, what's Revived Church gonna do? 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:47.360 Are you gonna be ready for the harvest? 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:50.399 Are you gonna join in the harvest? 00:16:51.120 --> 00:17:19.440 Now, last week Kyle preached to you out of Acts chapter 4, and he and he reminded you of Peter and John during a time of awakening, during a time of harvest, right at the birth of the early church, when thousands of people, in a very brief time, historians uh told us, that church went from 120 people to 50,000 people in Jerusalem. 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:21.039 It was harvest time. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:33.839 And Peter and John were preaching the gospel, and they were brought in before the Sanhedrin, and they were persecuted, and they went back and they told the church about the persecution and what was happening. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:40.960 And the church, now listen, the church had a decision to make just like we do. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:44.240 Are we gonna stay in the harvest? 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:47.440 Are we gonna put our hands to the harvest? 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:54.559 Are we gonna give it all we have for the glory of God because lost men and women are at stake? 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:58.480 Or are we gonna cower in our homes? 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:06.000 And so we see this incredible story in Acts chapter 4. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:08.640 And I just want you to notice two things. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:16.160 Number one, during harvest time, some opposition is inevitable. 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:17.200 Right? 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:27.920 You think you think Satan right now is saying about all these colleges where this movement's on Baylor's campus, by the way, where you grew up around the area where you grew up? 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:31.680 Unbelievable movement of God happening on Baylor's campus. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:36.240 You think Satan is just sitting back and saying, well, I guess I've lost that campus. 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:42.000 I guess I'll just not try to stop any of these students from coming to Jesus Christ. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:44.319 Or do you think he's ramping up his work? 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:48.240 Do you think he's trying to oppose the movement of God? 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:49.759 Of course he is. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:55.440 And that's what happened in Paul's day, in Peter's day, and in the early church's day. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:59.599 Look what it says here in Acts 4, beginning in verse 23. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:09.839 When Peter and John had been released, they went to their own companions and they reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:13.680 And the elders, by the way, had said, Stop preaching. 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:22.720 And Peter said, Look, whether you think it's good or not, you be the judge, but we can't help talking about what we've seen and heard. 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:24.880 So they reported this to the church. 00:19:25.039 --> 00:19:50.480 When they heard this, the church, they lifted their voices to God with one accord, and they said, O Lord, it is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our Father David, your servant, said, Why did the Gentiles rage? 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:53.839 He's talking about an Old Testament prophecy. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:55.759 Why did the Gentiles rage? 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:58.799 And the peoples devised futile things. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:06.799 The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:09.839 Jesus had just been crucified, as you know. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:34.480 For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever, listen how they described it, to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:38.000 Now, opposition was happening against the early church. 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:41.599 Some would be killed, some would be scattered. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:49.839 And listen how they described the apid opposition that was coming through the prophet David. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:53.759 They said, Why do the Gentiles rage? 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:55.359 It's raging. 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:57.599 Now, you know what that word is? 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:08.000 It was used of horses that were high-spirited and a horse that would stomp and snort and try to resist its master. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:18.319 It was used of men who were proud and arrogant and took on lofty airs, and uh it used of men who were tumultuous, who were raging. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:19.279 Right. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:23.440 You you look at the news today, you see anybody raging? 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:34.160 Have you noticed the spirit of anarchy, the spirit of rage that's happening in many places in our nation? 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:36.079 Why do the Gentiles rage? 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:39.759 And the people devise vain things. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:48.960 That word means foolish, crazy, things that won't amount to anything, things that are not productive. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:52.160 And then he says they are gathered together. 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:56.880 It's amazing how opposition creates strange bedfellows. 00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.759 People come together to oppose Christianity. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.319 That don't even like each other, right? 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:08.960 But remember this it is always against the Lord and his Christ. 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:21.440 In other words, when people, when the world begins to oppose and they will, and they always have, and rise up and oppose, it's ultimately against Christ. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:24.720 Because you see, Christ calls for something. 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:25.680 As C.S. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:32.079 Lewis said, if you're going to deal with Christ, honestly, you've got to decide that he's one of three things. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:38.000 He's either the biggest liar that ever lived, because he said he was the Son of God, or he's a lunatic. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:42.400 He was a man that just lost his mind, or he was the Lord. 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:47.200 And if he was the Lord, that means he is the Lord of your life. 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.599 That means he demands something of your life. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:51.920 And you see, we resist that. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:57.599 Man doesn't want, many men don't want Christ as the Lord of your life. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:01.359 Maybe you didn't want Christ as the Lord of your life for a long time. 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:06.400 And you were the Lord, and you were in charge, and you were doing what you wanted to do. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:13.279 And so when Christ comes with his claims, there are a lot of people that oppose that. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:19.519 Now listen, when opposition comes, let's just understand this. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:21.119 What do we do? 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:24.799 How do we deal with opposition in Arvada? 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:27.519 How do we deal with opposition in Denver? 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:33.599 How do we deal with opposition that might come in Little Rock in the midst of a great moving of God? 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:35.599 Well, we could hide. 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:37.440 We could just hide. 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:46.079 Just kind of get inside of our churches and lock the doors and sing songs and kumbaya and throw a chip on the fire, right? 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:48.160 We could compromise. 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:50.880 We could not speak up. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:24:03.519 We could be Christians, but just kind of silent Christians and just not tell anybody about the hope that is within us, the very thing that would liberate them and take them from hell to heaven and death to life. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:06.000 We could compromise if we want to. 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:08.880 We could just completely go silent. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:15.440 We could pull into our little self-centered world and just let the world go to hell, right? 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:17.279 I mean, we could do that. 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:22.960 Wouldn't it have been tragic if that happened with the church in Jerusalem? 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:26.799 Just think how differently the Bible would read. 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:41.759 If in the early church the Spirit of God came and power came and they began to just share the simple gospel, and all these people coming to Christ, but a little opposition came. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.640 What if they had just all gone silent, right? 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:48.720 Well, there wouldn't be much left of this book, right? 00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:51.680 So what did they do? 00:24:52.720 --> 00:25:05.519 Well, here's a second truth I want you to see, and that's this inexhaustible power and boldness is instantly available for anybody who wants it. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:16.960 You say, man, I, you know, I live in my neighborhood, and I love the people in my neighborhood, and most of them don't know Christ, but I don't know that I could ever share Christ with them. 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:19.200 I don't know how to do that, do that. 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:30.799 I've got all these people at work that don't know Christ, some are maybe opposed to Christ and the things of Christ, and and and I'm not talking about being obnoxious. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:32.640 I don't, I'm not, I don't want to be that. 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:41.039 I want to be Christ-like with them, but how can I be bold to share the gospel of Jesus? 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:46.559 Because the Bible says, how can they be saved unless they hear? 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:51.039 And how can they hear unless we tell them? 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:52.000 Right? 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:54.720 So we've got to share the gospel. 00:25:54.960 --> 00:26:07.759 The gospel, the good news about Christ, that he lived and died on our behalf and rose again and ascended to heaven and will be our Savior if we believe in him and ask him to save us. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:14.160 The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believed. 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:15.680 But what should I do? 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:17.200 How can I do this? 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:19.279 Now look what happened. 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:34.960 This is how the Jerusalem church, we could say, this is how we pray, revive church and summit church would respond in this moment, in this harvest moment. 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:37.279 And we are in a harvest moment. 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:39.599 Look what it says in verse 29. 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:44.559 They lifted up their voices together and they prayed. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:27:01.599 And they said, Oh, now, Lord, take note of their threats and grant that your bondservants may speak your word with all confidence, with all boldness. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:14.480 While you, it's God's work to save, we can't save anybody, while you extend your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of your holy servant Jesus. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:17.519 And then listen to what happened, verse 31. 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:32.799 When they had prayed, the place where they'd gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak the word of God with boldness. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:50.480 And that's when you began to read that the church grew and grew, daily people were added, and then began to multiply and multiply and expand, and this incredible movement of spiritual awakening happened in the Jerusalem church. 00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:54.319 Does it say, and when they organized? 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:57.039 Does it say, well, I know what they did. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:04.240 When the opposition came and they had the gospel, and here were all these people who didn't know Christ, they organized. 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:12.000 When they organized, when they discussed, when they printed up some flyers, is that what it says? 00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:14.559 No, listen to this operative word. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:15.359 Are you ready? 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:17.440 It's a really important word. 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:20.960 When they had prayed. 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:24.880 When they had prayed. 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:30.319 You know, I travel a lot and I love to watch people. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:34.480 I, you know, I like getting on a plane and just watching people as they come in. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:48.960 So I was on this plane, and uh there was this guy sitting across from me, and he he was all, a man had a very expensive suit on and shoes and a Rolex watch, and he was reading this high-powered business magazine. 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:51.680 And I just I just had this thought. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:55.359 I just thought, I bet that guy is a powerful guy. 00:28:55.599 --> 00:29:00.160 I bet he made something, did something, run something, oversees something, you know. 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:02.000 And I was just thinking about it. 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:04.000 And then, Tim, I had this thought. 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:06.400 It was just, I think it's the Holy Spirit. 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:12.799 It just said, I just thought, I wonder who the most powerful person on this plane is. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:14.240 Do you know what? 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:16.559 I instantly knew the answer. 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:18.799 You say, Bill, are you that smart? 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:20.160 No, not at all. 00:29:20.319 --> 00:29:22.160 But I instantly knew the answer. 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:24.640 And it just came to my heart. 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:30.400 The most powerful person on that plane was a person who prayed. 00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:35.759 Everybody else just had their own resources. 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:41.279 Their mind, their wisdom, whatever they could, their abilities, what they could bring to the table. 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:47.200 But you see, the person who prays brings God into the equation. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:50.160 You have all the resources of God. 00:29:50.880 --> 00:30:04.799 You have the inexhaustible wisdom of God, the inexhaustible power of God, God's ability to extend his hand to do things that couldn't happen any other way. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:13.200 And I look behind me, and there was kind of a college-age guy as he was all tatted up and had dreadlocks, and I just thought, maybe it's him. 00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:14.960 Could be him, could be that guy. 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:18.559 Maybe early on, you know, this kid has just figured this out. 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:25.039 That prayer is this means that God has amen. 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:28.319 Well, that was some call. 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:31.119 Did I lose my mic? 00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:32.400 Am I still there? 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:33.680 Testing? 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:34.960 One, two, three, four. 00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:35.839 Can you all hear me? 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:36.799 Okay. 00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:43.599 So um I have no idea what I was there. 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:46.319 Is that my mic? 00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:48.880 Huh? 00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:51.839 You want to grab me a handheld or something? 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:54.960 Testing one, two, three, four. 00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:56.319 Am I good? 00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:59.200 Bring me a bring me a you know. 00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:06.160 I think what's happened is that Kyle is really wanting to preach today. 00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:09.359 He's not sitting down there. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:13.680 I think maybe he's back there with a little mic doing something. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:16.960 Bring me a, you got a hand tail you can bring me? 00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:19.119 Huh? 00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:21.759 Now, okay, testing. 00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:22.400 Good deal. 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:23.519 All right, I'm gonna go. 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:41.119 Uh so anyway, I was on the plane and I looked a little segue there, and and I looked, I thought maybe it's that guy, and then I looked in front of me, and there was a silver-haired senior adult woman, and I thought it's probably her. 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:43.359 She's probably the most powerful person. 00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:50.559 Because when you get older, you kind of start realizing what's really important and what doesn't matter at all. 00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:53.519 And prayer really matters. 00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:58.880 Bringing God in the lives of my children through prayer really matters. 00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:05.359 Bringing God in the lives of my 27 grandkids really matters, right? 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:09.599 Praying for your lost neighbors really matters. 00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:14.240 It brings God and his ability into the equation. 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:19.440 So prayer can do, without prayer, you get what you can do. 00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:21.759 With prayer, you get what God can do. 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:26.000 And so what happened is these Christians, and they were just like you. 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:37.039 I mean, they were just people going to work every day, eating their Cheerios, you know, just people that had been saved by the grace of God, had come to know Christ as their Savior and Lord. 00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:44.240 He had changed their life and transformed them, and they wanted to give that to other people, but they were scared. 00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:46.079 They were afraid. 00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:48.319 And so they prayed. 00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:52.960 And when they prayed, the place was shaken. 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:59.839 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:08.799 Now, we talked about this last time I was here, but let me just remind you of what the filling of the Holy Spirit is. 00:33:09.039 --> 00:33:13.920 It's not something weird, it's not something that makes you jump pews, okay? 00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:17.039 It's not something that makes you act crazy. 00:33:17.519 --> 00:33:23.599 The filling of the Holy Spirit is just a word that means the control of the Holy Spirit. 00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:28.960 In fact, Paul says in Ephesians 5.18, don't get drunk with wine. 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:32.160 That just leads to excess and dissipation. 00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:38.079 In other words, when you're drunk with wine, you do what the wine tells you to do, right? 00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:40.720 You're controlled by the drink. 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:43.599 Don't be controlled by stuff like that. 00:33:43.920 --> 00:33:47.279 But give the control of your life to Christ. 00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:53.440 And when Christ is in control, he produces all kinds of beautiful fruit. 00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:55.839 Love, joy, peace, patience. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:01.759 Because when you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes to live literally inside of you. 00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:03.200 He dwells in you. 00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:10.320 In fact, Jesus, when he was leaving, after, right before his death, said to his disciples, said, I'm going to go. 00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:13.360 And they said, No, don't go, don't go, please don't go. 00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:14.320 It's just getting good. 00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:23.920 And he said, Look, if I don't go, I can't send the Holy Spirit, but it's going to be good for you because now I was one person in one place. 00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:34.159 Now the Holy Spirit is going to come and dwell all of you, and he can be all over the world, moving through my church, moving through Christians. 00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:46.880 The filling of the Holy Spirit is the continual conscious surrender of control to the Holy Spirit who lives inside of you. 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:51.760 This is what happened to me when I was 17 that flipped my life around. 00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:53.840 I was trying to run my life. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:56.880 And that's always a disaster. 00:34:57.119 --> 00:34:58.079 It just doesn't work. 00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:02.000 Anybody tried your own self-help life deal? 00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:03.760 How's that going for you, right? 00:35:04.239 --> 00:35:05.199 It just doesn't work. 00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:06.159 You know why? 00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:09.840 You were not created to work like that. 00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:12.480 You were not designed to do that. 00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:26.880 And God intended for you to be with him, for you to have his presence, and he's provided a way that the Spirit of God would literally live inside of you, but you've got to cooperate. 00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:33.519 You've got to, in humility, not pride, but in humility, say, Lord, I need you. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:36.400 I want you to be in control today. 00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:38.639 I want you to be in charge. 00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:44.960 And I'm willing to do whatever your spirit tells me to do. 00:35:45.599 --> 00:35:48.239 So here's how I want to live my life. 00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:53.840 I want to live my life every day, making the choice to be filled by the Holy Spirit. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:54.480 Amen? 00:35:55.039 --> 00:35:59.360 And then just follow the prompting of the Spirit. 00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:10.960 That means if the Lord just prompts you to say you're sitting somewhere and there's a guy right there, and the Lord said, Tell that guy about Christ. 00:36:11.840 --> 00:36:16.639 You know, you're tempted to say, well, Lord, what if he what if he didn't like that? 00:36:16.800 --> 00:36:18.880 What if he what if he doesn't understand? 00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:20.079 What if he opposes me? 00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:22.239 What if he thinks I'm a fruit cake? 00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:24.079 I mean, you know, what is this? 00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:27.679 Well, why just do what I say? 00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:37.119 And you'd be you'd be just shocked at how many times when you follow the prompting of the Spirit, there's a guy that's just waiting to hear. 00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:42.559 And God has put one of his children right beside this guy because he loves him. 00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:45.599 And he wants to redeem him. 00:36:46.079 --> 00:36:48.239 And he sent him a messenger. 00:36:48.639 --> 00:36:49.840 And it's you. 00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:56.960 But you see, if I don't pray and I'm not filled with the Holy Spirit, I miss those opportunities. 00:36:57.440 --> 00:36:59.199 And he doesn't hear the word. 00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:01.920 Here's the truth. 00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:10.239 Prayer leads to the filling of the Holy Spirit, which leads to power. 00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:13.599 Power and boldness. 00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:17.599 Listen. 00:37:20.400 --> 00:37:22.000 What's it gonna be? 00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:28.559 I'm telling you, we're moving into a time of harvest. 00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:30.800