WEBVTT 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.880 Hey, I'm Steve Holt, the senior pastor of The Road at Chapel Hills. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:12.320 This is the Road Podcast. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:13.759 Thanks for joining us. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:17.039 My heart is to empower you to change the world. 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:19.839 I hope this message impacts you. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:28.480 Hey, this morning I want to talk about being a bold and confident church. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:30.879 This is my last message for the summer. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:35.520 I'm going to take uh Vision Sabbatical uh for the next two months. 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:45.679 And um I just I just have to be honest with you guys and say that um the last year has been probably the most fun year of my career. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:50.000 I've been in ministry for over 40 years, and I just loved COVID. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:52.159 I thought COVID was a gift from God. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:57.759 Now, I don't mean that from the perspective of the deaths that were inflicted on people, not at all. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:58.960 Of course not. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:01.119 We're compassionate for that. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:12.079 But what I mean is that sometimes in our lives, you guys, God takes you through things that are very, very hard to reveal who you really are. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:18.400 And I think COVID has revealed a lot about churches in America. 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:23.519 COVID has revealed a lot about politicians in America. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:30.719 COVID has been used by God to unite and divide. 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:34.560 Not all division is bad. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:37.680 Not all unity is good. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:47.920 But when it's kingdom unity built on the word of God through the Spirit of God by our heavenly Father, it's always good. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:52.879 God moves the church forward through difficult times, and that's what He's doing. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:02:01.519 And so when I look at the New Testament church in the book of Acts, I see a bold and a confident church. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.719 And God wants us to be a bold and confident church. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:14.080 Every one of you are the church, but I'm talking about the local church in a local place making a local impact. 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:19.199 But what's happened in the church is that we now have two kinds of churches. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.719 We have the awoke church and we have the awakened church. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:32.560 The awoke church tends to fear man and flow with the culture, and the awakened church fears God and works against the culture. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:33.680 Now, let me say this. 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:38.479 You've heard me say this many times, word-rooted, spirit alive, culturally engaged. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:42.719 What I mean by that is that we don't run from the culture. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:46.479 Not everything in the culture is bad, not at all. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:54.319 But when I look at the book of Acts, when I look at the church, I see a church that's influencing culture and then changing it. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:02.080 Okay, not just influencing to get along, but influencing it that the kingdom would be enhanced within the culture. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:03.360 And it's hard work. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:05.039 Really hard work. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:10.000 It's easier, believe me as a pastor, it's easier just to float along. 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:14.159 It's easier just to go along, you know, and just kind of flow it there. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:15.439 Everybody likes you. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:26.560 And I've been in the news a lot this year because of the stands we took from Sean Foyt to other things that we've done, and I never listen anymore to whatever they report on. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:28.879 So I get interviewed, I don't want to see the news. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:32.319 Because it always gets spinned in some weird way. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:38.560 Like, like, can you imagine you got 6,000 people at Memorial Park, hundreds getting baptized? 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:40.000 All the reporters are there. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:42.639 I know, because they all in front of me interviewing me afterwards. 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:43.599 They were all there. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:46.719 And all they want to say is this COVID spreader. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:49.039 Super spreader. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.639 And I said, I looked at all of them and I said, Man, you guys really miss it. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:54.719 You're so missing it. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:57.280 You're not reporting the news, you're spinning it. 00:03:57.439 --> 00:03:58.479 Don't you see that? 00:03:58.719 --> 00:03:59.599 Don't you see that? 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:01.520 Look at the lives that are being changed. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:02.960 6,000 people. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:09.360 And I said to one of them, I said, I'll predict that one of you guys will write tomorrow, 500 people were here. 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:11.199 And that's exactly what they did. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:12.560 Somebody took me up on it. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:16.319 And I think they said a thousand, but you guys hear what I'm saying? 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:26.639 So if you need press clippings, if you need people to applaud you and just say, oh, you're so awesome, you know, you're the best, then you're never gonna get anything done. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:31.519 But if you begin to push forward through the fear of God and the love of God, it's exciting. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:32.959 That's when it gets fun. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:38.800 It's because the German church was asleep that Hitler took over. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:43.519 It's when the Russian Orthodox Church was asleep that Lenin took over. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:45.920 You think it can't happen in this country? 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:47.600 Are you kidding me? 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:52.079 We're on the verge of a cultural revolution. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:05:00.240 You won't even recognize America in the next five years if we don't hold the line. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:03.040 Gotta hold the line. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:07.519 You say, Well, I don't want to get involved politically. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:09.920 You're already involved politically. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:11.680 Did you drive here? 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:13.839 Did you stop at a stop sign? 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:16.720 Did you stay on the right-hand side of the road? 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:18.240 You're already political. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:21.360 Everything is political. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:22.800 Everything is. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:26.720 Every cent you pay to taxes is political. 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:30.319 By who decided those laws that made you pay those taxes. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:42.720 So why not flow with our founding fathers who believed that you're that we can vote people in, that we can be involved and we can make a difference. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:50.480 And what's happened to all of us, including myself, is we've been lulled into complacency because it's kind of been good. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:56.560 Well, it's not gonna get better, folks, unless we battle back and are involved in these things. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:01.360 But it begins with a relationship with God and the kingdom of God. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:01.920 J.B. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:10.800 Phillips describes well the difference between present-day Christianity and the New Testament church in his preface to the letters to young churches. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:17.839 And what this was, this was a book, I believe it was written in the 60s, 50s or 60s, that I've loved. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:23.199 And it's basically in modern English, looking at the epistles. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.560 So the epistles are the letters of the New Testament. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:29.839 Here's what he says: one of my favorite quotes of all time. 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:38.399 The great difference between present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these letters is that to us, it is primarily a performance. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:41.600 To them, it was a real experience. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:47.839 We're apt to reduce the Christian religion to a code or at least a rule of heart and life. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:56.240 To these men, it is quite plainly the invasion of their lives by a new quality of life altogether. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:05.279 Mere moral reformation will hardly explain the transformation and the exuberant vitality of these men and women's lives. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:27.759 Even if we could prove a motive for such reformation, and certainly the world around offered little encouragement to the early Christians, were practically driven to accept their own explanation, which is that their little human lives had, through Jesus Christ, been linked up to the very life of God. 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:39.120 These early Christians were on fire with the conviction that they had become, through Christ, literally sons and daughters of God. 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:45.279 They were pioneers of a new humanity, founders of a new kingdom. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:48.720 They still speak to us through the centuries. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:55.839 Perhaps if we believed what they believed, we might achieve what they achieved. 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:08.800 And so we see this hodgepodge of cowardly men and women in an upper room, scared to death of the Romans, scared to death of the Jews. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:10.720 Guess what they do? 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:13.199 Acts 1 covers it, they vote. 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:16.639 They start voting over who's on the team. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:18.160 That's what we do. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:24.079 That's what we men do in our churches when we have no power is we vote on things. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:26.720 That's what you do in churches that have no power. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:28.399 They have tons of committees. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:31.199 There's a committee for this, there's a committee for that. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:36.080 And we're always having committees, and you always want to be like the director of something, you know, right? 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:40.960 But then in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit falls, and who cares about Acts 1 now? 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:44.320 They're not cowardly anymore, they're not scared anymore. 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:47.919 They're fired up because they're filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:56.480 And by Acts 17, 6, the Thessalonians, it is said, these men who have upset the world have come here also. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:05.120 Men and women, that we might turn El Paso County right side up, that we might turn Colorado Springs right side up. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:15.440 May we be used of God to bring a revival all over the state of Colorado and up through the Rockies, all the way into Canada by the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:17.519 That's why we're here. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:19.840 So turn in your Bibles. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:29.360 This will be my last message for the summer from our study of Ephesians, and we'll pick up chapter four in two months. 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:30.399 We'll come back to it. 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:32.480 All the our pastors will be teaching. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:34.559 There'll be guest speakers while I'm gone. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:36.720 It's gonna be a great summer for you guys. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:42.080 But it's gonna be a summer for my wife and I to really pray about the next 10 years. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:44.799 I feel like I'm on the home stretch. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:46.000 You know? 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:49.679 Like they talk about getting that kick at the end when you're in a marathon. 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:50.320 Get that kick. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:51.440 I want that kick. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:59.919 You know, as we come into this last good, powerful 10 years that God has for the road and for me, and then I'll be handing it over to somebody else. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:04.399 But, you know, this is a time to focus. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:07.360 It's not time for shotgun, it's time for a rifle shot. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:09.039 It's like getting the bullseye. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:11.679 What are you calling us to do? 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:16.080 County, city, state, rocky mountains. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:20.000 And so I feel like I need to pull away for a while and fly fish. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:26.159 I get as much revelation fly fishing as I do in the shower. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:31.039 So when to be able to rest and pull away, that's what we'll be doing. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:37.679 But I think this is, I mean, I didn't even plan it this way, but I felt like we should pick it up at verse 10. 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:42.080 When I was praying about today's message, we're going verse by verse through Ephesians. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:46.159 I wanted to go back a couple verses from last week to verse 10. 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:48.080 Let me read this. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:54.240 This is the verse that God used in my life. 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:55.360 When would that be? 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:58.240 That would be 1991. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:06.720 So in 1991, over in Japan, ministering in Japan, loving the Japanese, still love the Japanese people, love Japan. 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:08.320 I could live there for the rest of my life. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:09.039 I could retire there. 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:11.200 I mean, it's just such a I just love Japan. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:16.480 Even though it's only 1% or less Christian, the people are beautiful people. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:18.320 I love the people of Japan. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:30.480 And God used verse 10 of Ephesians chapter 3 to change my direction from being involved in a parachurch organization like Campus Crusade to seeing, you know where it's at? 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:33.039 That the action is in the local church. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:42.240 The action is planting solid Bible, spirit, empowered, kingdom of God, revolutionary churches. 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:43.600 That's the answer. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.240 Look at this verse, it's like amazing. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:57.279 To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the government. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:58.879 Oh, no, no, I didn't say that. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:18.720 Oh, by the parachurch organization, by the church, the local church, to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he has accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:20.639 So verse 10 says, to the intent. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.879 Verse 11 says, according to the eternal purpose, that's the point. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:29.440 Folks, that's the point of Calvary. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:40.799 Calvary is not just saving us from our sins, it's igniting and empowering us to change the world through the local church. 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:55.600 So if someone you know, obviously you're here, you that are watching online, if you have someone in your life who says, I'm a Christian, I believe me, but they hardly ever come to church, I doubt they're even a believer. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:04.159 You cannot disassociate being involved in a local church and being a committed Christian anywhere in the Bible. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:15.120 That's an American, that's a new kind of 20th and 21st century kind of new thing where I just worship God when I'm out camping, where I worship God when I'm out fishing. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:19.679 And all that is, is a selfish way to say, I'm gonna do it my way. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:21.600 I'm gonna make the church my way. 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:24.799 Jesus is the one who created the church. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:30.559 And so I believe he wants us to be a bold and confident church. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:35.039 I believe he wants all of you in this room to be a bold and confident church. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:42.720 He wants you to be excited, humble, a beautiful person, but you're also bold and confident in Christ. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:44.080 So here's my first point. 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:45.600 Here's my first point this morning. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:46.960 Number one, write this down. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:51.440 By the way, you have 80% retention if you write things down. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:54.399 So I know who's serious in here when they write stuff down. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:56.080 Okay, there you go. 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:03.840 Okay, number one, the bold and confident church is making known the manifold wisdom of God to principalities and powers. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:06.240 Now that is crazy. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:08.720 Guys, that's crazy. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:19.440 God's saying that when we prayed just now together, that there were demonic powers out there that were pushed back by our prayers. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:25.519 And that when you, and we'll I'm gonna cover this in my second point, but I'll just say this real quick. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:29.440 That when you pray about stuff, it moves powers. 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:36.000 There are demonic powers trying to take over your home. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:39.679 There are demonic powers trying to take over your marriage. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:41.919 There's demonic powers that want to take over your life. 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:49.919 There's demonic powers over our educational system, there's demonic powers over government, there's demonic powers over your company. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:15:04.080 But when you become a believer and you really start to become a Christian, you are proclaiming by your life and your prayers the manifold wisdom of God to principality's powers. 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:05.600 I can't make this up. 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:07.360 This is in the Bible. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:08.159 Hello? 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:09.679 Right? 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:18.960 That's why what Liz said was so apt that when you begin to pray just 12 minutes a day, it changes you. 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:21.840 It actually restructures your brain. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:25.519 And it's because of Darwinism. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:31.360 Not just that, but part of it is that the whole like the whole concept of evolution, it's going to come down. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:32.799 It will. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:34.000 Some of you believe in it. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:34.480 Fine. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:40.000 You just don't, you just need to understand that God's on the move, even in the science community. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:54.480 Look up the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, 2020 broadcast, YouTube, the mathematical problem with Darwin's theory of evolution, talking that from a mathematical perspective. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:56.960 It's coming from every angle. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:00.320 It's coming down. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:12.000 Because kids grow up now, and the way they're educated is, you know, you're just you came from some monkey or you came from some fin of a whale or whatever, and there's no evidence to support it. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:17.759 Again, big believer in microevolution, everybody knows that. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:19.279 Everybody believes that. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:24.159 You know, that species can change based on their environment. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:35.840 There's white leopards in parts of Antarctica, and there's greener to yellowish leopards that are in the foliage of the Amazon. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:36.799 We all know that. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:44.639 But then to extrapolate that a leopard becomes a human or that an ape becomes a human, there's no evidence. 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:45.120 Zero. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:47.679 And yet we're teaching it like it's fact. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:50.720 Because it goes unchallenged. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:59.200 So when the church comes alive through the revival power of God, it's the manifold wisdom. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:00.480 You know what manifold means? 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:02.000 It means varied colors. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:03.440 That's what it means in Greek. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.200 Varied color. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:06.960 You know what that says to me? 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:09.519 That says that denominations are beautiful. 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:11.839 Church denominations are good. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:16.960 So whether you got an Eastern Orthodox church and you're into the bells and the smells, that's great. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:18.640 No, seriously, it is. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:26.720 You know, if you like liturgies in the Presbyterian church, beautiful, manifold, many-colored wisdom. 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:32.160 You come here because of what we offer, because God's called you to be here. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:33.680 Be here, be all here. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:40.319 You know, if you're if you're in a church, I'm talking about Bible-believing, spirit-filled, culturally engaged churches. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:41.920 I'm not talking about dead churches. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:45.759 I just got a text right before I got up. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:59.599 In the first service, someone sent me that there was an article in one of the periodicals that just came out that said 3,800 churches closed last year in the United States, and only 2,000 new churches were started. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:06.640 And it was like, oh no, where's you know, we're falling off, you know, in Christianity in America and all this. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:09.119 And I was like, no, I rejoice in that. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:12.480 That's 38 churches we didn't need. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.039 Because I believe Matthew 16, 18. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:19.039 Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:23.200 So if Jesus isn't building it, then the hell, the gates of hell are prevailing against it. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:24.480 We don't need it anyway. 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:30.960 So what we need is churches that Jesus built. 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:32.240 Right? 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:36.799 He's the CEO, he's the senior pastor of this church. 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:37.519 I'm not. 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:40.319 I'm just under I'm an undersecretary to him. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:42.160 He's the one running this place. 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:48.000 And then I'm confident that whether Governor Polis likes me or not, I really don't care. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.319 Because the gates of hell are not going to prevail against it. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:55.759 So that's what it says. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:19:06.160 He says here, my church is proclaiming the manifold wisdom of God, even to demonic powers and principalities in the heavenly realm. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:08.799 Look at verse 12. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:15.759 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:17.519 That's where the title came. 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:19.440 This is God speaking to us. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:21.839 You should have boldness and confidence. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:23.279 Through faith in him. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:26.960 So your faith in Christ should make you a bold and confident Christian. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:30.000 Not like afraid to talk about your faith and stuff. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:31.680 Like, well. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:36.799 I believe in God. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:41.119 And I know you don't, but you should, maybe, kinda. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:46.960 God wants to fill you with His Holy Spirit and make you confident. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:48.720 He said, I believe in God. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:49.920 You don't? 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:52.480 You should. 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:54.559 It's a good deal. 00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:56.559 You're healthier. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:58.640 All the statistics, all the science shows. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:03.440 The healthiest people are in spirit-filled churches. 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:04.960 They just are. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:09.839 Guys, we've been open for over a year. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:12.880 Against polis. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:16.559 10,000 people or more have come through here. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:19.039 No one has died. 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:20.640 Zero, none. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:23.839 That is unprecedented. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:24.559 You know why? 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:25.279 Two things. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:27.759 One, the protection of the Lord is over us. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:30.480 But number two, you guys are joyful. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:37.119 And when you get people who are in connection with each other and they're interacting with each other and they're loving each other, you're healthier. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:38.480 I'm not real smart. 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:39.200 I'm from Georgia. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:40.400 I figured that out. 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:40.960 Okay? 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:48.240 When you have connection with people and you love people and your relationship with people, you're a happier person and you're healthier. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:52.720 So when we get sick around here, we get help to them. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:53.920 We get them vitamins. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:55.920 We say, look, your body can heal itself. 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:57.200 We're going to help you grow. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:07.680 And that's why one of the things I'm excited about in the fall is starting a whole, a whole kingdom ministry of health that we're talking about mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:08.559 Help people to get. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:11.200 I want to be the healthiest church in the United States. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:15.119 I want to be the healthiest church in the United States. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:20.880 I want to be a church where millionaires are coming out of this place because they learned how to be an entrepreneur here. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.480 They learned how to start a business. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:29.519 They were bold and confident in Christ, and then they went out and just lit the world on fire. 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:31.039 That's what we need. 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:38.079 Because if you don't, then the devil wins, and that's a travesty. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:42.400 So we have boldness and confidence, verse 12, through faith in him. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:46.720 So that's how the boldness and confidence is not arrogance, it's through faith in him. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:48.160 It's humility, actually. 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:52.640 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart in my tribulations for you, which is your glory. 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:54.480 Now look at verse 12 and 13 together. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.759 Here's what's interesting that on the one is that we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Christ. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.640 But then he says, don't lose heart. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:05.200 Because here's what happens in all of our lives. 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:06.799 We do lose heart, right? 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:07.759 We struggle. 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:09.599 We get discouraged. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:10.799 We despair. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:12.559 Everybody gets discouraged. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:19.920 And if you don't have the local church, other people, blood-state allies to hang out with, you go to some bad places. 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:21.839 You go to some dark places, right? 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:22.640 You do. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:26.480 And you need people, you need others to say, no, don't do that. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:28.000 That's not who you are. 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:29.759 You're bigger than that. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:32.000 So look, here's number two. 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:32.799 Here's number two. 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:37.039 A bold and confident church has access to Christ through prayer. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:38.720 This is about prayer. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:42.640 Boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.559 He's talking about prayer. 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:46.880 He's talking about asking God for stuff. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:54.640 Let me give you my definition of prayer: asking for and receiving God's will on the earth. 00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:55.839 That's what prayer is. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:09.920 Prayer is asking for or crying out for, as Liz said earlier, and then receiving God's will on the earth, in your family, with your kids, in our schools. 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:15.599 Now, prayer, where all we do is worship, is worship. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:16.799 It's not prayer. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:17.839 It's worship. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:18.720 It's beautiful. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:20.240 We should worship. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:28.559 Having a devotional life in the morning where you're got your earphones on and you're listening to music and you're and you're there with God, that's a devotional life. 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:36.720 But when you start to ask for stuff that you need, that's what Jesus described as prayer. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:42.559 So turn in your Bibles, keep your finger in Ephesians 3, but turn to the left to Matthew 6. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:47.599 And Jesus defines prayer in Matthew 6. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:49.039 Look at verse 5. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:59.039 And when you pray, you should not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:01.920 Assuredly I say to you, they have their rewards. 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:03.920 So he's saying, Don't pray to be seen. 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:04.880 That's what he's saying. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:06.720 Don't make a spectacle of prayer. 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:07.759 Verse 6. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:15.200 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you shut your door, pray to your father who is in a secret place. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:20.799 So prayer, by and large, men and women, is a secret place that we go to. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:30.960 We have corporate prayer at times in this church, the semi-regular basis, but real prayer happens in your own personal room there alone with him. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:37.680 And your father, who sees you in secret, will reward you openly. 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:43.200 That means, first of all, prayer is asking for something because you're asking and you get a reward. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:44.799 He wants to reward you. 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:46.160 Then he goes into more detail. 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:47.359 He says this, verse 7. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:54.319 When you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they'll be heard for their many words. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:25:00.319 Therefore, do not be like them, for your father knows the things that you have what? 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:04.079 Need of before you what? 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:05.359 Ask him. 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:08.319 Asking and receiving needs in your life. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:11.680 Then he gave us a model prayer. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:14.400 And if you read it, I'm going to say it now. 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:23.119 The Lord's prayer that many of us learn in our catechism or our confirmation classes, it's all about asking. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:28.079 Every one of the points in there is asking God, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:29.279 That's worship. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:34.559 Then he says, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:37.440 You're asking on earth as it is in heaven. 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:41.519 Give us this day our daily bread. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:44.880 Forgive us not our trespasses, we forgive those who trespass against us. 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:47.039 Lead us not in temptation, but deliver us from evil. 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:50.079 For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:50.640 Amen. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:52.799 That's all asking, asking, asking, asking, asking. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:53.839 Well, it doesn't stop there. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:55.440 Now look at this illustration. 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:57.759 I'm gonna put it up on the screen, Luke 18. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.720 Now, this is a parable from Jesus. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:09.440 He says, then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:20.000 So the point of the parable of Luke 18 is about prayer and not losing heart, saying, verse 2, there was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:26.640 Now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, Get justice for me from my adversary. 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:47.839 And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, some translations say pesters me, I will avenge her, lest by her continually pestering me she wear me out. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:52.480 Then the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. 00:26:52.720 --> 00:27:08.079 And now Jesus says, And shall God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them, I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:13.680 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:14.799 So here's what he's saying. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:16.480 He's saying, look, it's hyperbole. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:29.200 He's talking about, he's given an extreme example that like there's this judge who doesn't even fear God, yet because his widow just bothers him and bothers him and bothers him, he finally gives her what she wants. 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:31.519 He said, Aren't I more loving than that? 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:33.200 Aren't I more generous than that? 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:35.599 Won't God meet you? 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:43.440 If you cry out for an answer, you cry out for God to move in a mighty way. 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:44.319 He will. 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:54.400 We're at something like 250 days straight of noonday war room prayer in this facility, praying, crying out to God. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:28:01.839 And so prayer, you guys, is about not letting the enemy win. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:05.039 You need a job, cry out to God for a job. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:07.440 You need a better job, cry out to God for a better job. 00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:11.440 Need God to move in your marriage, then pray for God to move in your marriage. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:15.039 Getting persecuted at work, ask God to show you what to do. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:16.480 You need wisdom. 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:20.400 But he he ends with saying, Will I find faith on the earth? 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:22.160 That's how he ends that parable. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:24.960 It's like, do you have faith? 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:28.799 Church, do you have faith in me? 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:32.720 You should be walking in miracles every day. 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:34.640 You should see miracles happening. 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:40.400 It's only our lack of faith, and I'm looking at myself in the mirror too, that we don't see more happen. 00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:48.400