SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the road by Pastor Teacher Steve Holmes.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the deal.
SPEAKER_02: When you start to have a kingdom revolution through the person of Jesus Christ, and he begins to revolutionize your life, and you take Jesus into your mechanical engineering job, into your computer programming job, that ground becomes sacred.
SPEAKER_02: That's how we change the world.
SPEAKER_02: We change the world one job at a time, one person at a time, one office at a time.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, one home and one marriage at a time.
SPEAKER_00: At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_02: Well imagine a city where the very feeling in the atmosphere is the kingdom of God, righteousness, peace, and joy.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine a city where people celebrate life, think creatively, and dream imaginatively.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine a city where every life, whether unborn, born with special needs, or born out of wedlock, is valued and celebrated.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine a city where there is hope in the schools because the kids are excited to be there, excited about their future, and are encouraged to dream dreams of changing the world.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine a place where there is prosperity throughout every sphere of influence, whether it's media, government, health care, education, business, military, church, or family.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine Colorado Springs being a model city to the rest of the nation.
SPEAKER_02: Men and women, we are told to pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_02: Thy kingdom come.
SPEAKER_02: Thy will be done on earth, in our city, in our family, in our jobs as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: God's desire is for great cities to be raised up.
SPEAKER_02: God's desire is for great people to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_02: God's desire is for great leaders to be raised up who will not take just what's been done in the past as their standard for what's going to happen in the future.
SPEAKER_02: Those who believe that God put them on the face of this earth to make a change, to bring transformation, and to change lives, that change jobs, that change the atmosphere of an entire city.
SPEAKER_02: We pray until the cows come home on the National Day of Prayer for revival in America, and we should.
SPEAKER_02: But what about revival in your own family?
SPEAKER_02: What about revival starting in your own heart?
SPEAKER_02: What about revival and a kingdom revolution in our own church?
SPEAKER_02: What about a kingdom revolution in our own city?
SPEAKER_02: I love America, but what's America?
SPEAKER_02: America is whatever you first encounter when you walk outside these doors.
SPEAKER_02: America is who we're with in the lobby.
SPEAKER_02: And it's so easy to pray for America.
SPEAKER_02: But God placed us in this city.
SPEAKER_02: God placed us in this city at this time to make a difference.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is a shining example of that.
SPEAKER_02: And so a couple weeks ago, I began a message called a kingdom revolution in Colorado Springs, and I never got to pass part one.
SPEAKER_02: So turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4, and I'm going to skim through part one, and we're going to move to the other parts of this discussion about a kingdom of God revolution.
SPEAKER_02: God has spoken to our team here at the road that He is leading us at the road, the road at Chapel Hills, to be a light on a hill to bring a kingdom revolution to our city and to the Rockies.
SPEAKER_02: Now, are we called to bring a kingdom revolution to Washington, D.C.?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: Are we called to bring a kingdom revolution to Terre Haute, Indiana?
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: God places his church in locales for a purpose.
SPEAKER_02: And he's got hundreds of churches in Washington, D.C., and he's got hundreds of churches in Indiana, and he's got thousands of churches in Georgia, and he's got them all over, but God's given us this mandate, this beautiful city of Colorado Springs, that he wants it to be a model city, and it can't be a model city unless it's with a group of people who really believe in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is our example.
SPEAKER_02: So in Matthew 4, Jesus the revolutionary, and by the way, many times we grew up in Sunday school classes with the pictures on the wall and the type of classes that we had that would give you the impression that Jesus was really kind of a beach comer and a surfer boy out of Southern California that was just about love.
SPEAKER_02: And his whole life was about love.
SPEAKER_02: And he was just kind of cool and kind of just flows with everybody, loves everybody.
SPEAKER_02: That's as far as you can get from the man we see in the New Testament that when he faces people of the religious order, he's not a beach comer speaking about love.
SPEAKER_02: He speaks about a kingdom, a forceful kingdom, in which he was modeling to us something that he began, and this is his thesis statement.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew 4, 17 is a thesis statement of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
SPEAKER_02: Then he said to them, Follow me.
SPEAKER_02: So this is the first point.
SPEAKER_02: This is the most important point.
SPEAKER_02: It's the most significant point.
SPEAKER_02: It's the beginning of a kingdom revolution.
SPEAKER_02: And any way you look at it, it's follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: It always starts with the man, it always starts with the person, and that's Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Come, repent, turn from you, turn to me, turn back to you.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what he means by that.
SPEAKER_02: Repent is the Greek word, which means to do a 180.
SPEAKER_02: I want to speak of a 360.
SPEAKER_02: Here's why.
SPEAKER_02: Because what happens is when we turn from our ways and start to follow Christ, he changes you from the inside out, but you really don't change.
SPEAKER_02: You really don't change.
SPEAKER_02: If you couldn't do math before you got saved, you still can't do math after you got saved.
SPEAKER_02: I tried it.
SPEAKER_02: And I still flunked math.
SPEAKER_02: Here's my point God's gifted every one of you uniquely.
SPEAKER_02: And that unique gifting will never know its full capacities and its full power and its full joy and its full influence until Jesus gets a hold of it because he's the one who gave it to you.
SPEAKER_02: So you start with Jesus and you stay the same person.
SPEAKER_02: And what I mean by that is that the unique calling and gifting before you were born.
SPEAKER_02: Psalm 139 says, He knew you before you were born.
SPEAKER_02: He knew you in your mother's womb.
SPEAKER_02: That's why we're so adamant against abortion.
SPEAKER_02: Because you're killing of creation of God.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you have had abortions.
SPEAKER_02: Many of you in this room have had abortions.
SPEAKER_02: I've talked to you.
SPEAKER_02: And you know the joy that you found through full forgiveness.
SPEAKER_02: No judgment there from us.
SPEAKER_02: I'm speaking in the realm of how we might, as a nation, do a better job of taking care of our children that might be born.
SPEAKER_02: If that law could be changed.
SPEAKER_02: The early church was known for their love for those children that had no home.
SPEAKER_02: In the first century, one of the hallmarks of some of the early writings we have from the patristic fathers is that the church was known for taking in those infants that were thrown away by many of the people of that time.
SPEAKER_02: So God would call us in a kingdom revolution that begins with Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And so you are uniquely created, church.
SPEAKER_02: Each one of you are unique.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are engineers, some of you are called to the political realm.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are called to medicine.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are called to pastor.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are called to be a mechanic.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are called to help.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are called to be a housewife.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are called to mother and disciple those children every day.
SPEAKER_02: A stay-at-home mom.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are called to be secretaries, some of you are called to be men and women that'll be used by God to influence the school system.
SPEAKER_02: Don't miss that.
SPEAKER_02: That's the kingdom revolution.
SPEAKER_02: God uniquely put his hand upon your life.
SPEAKER_02: And we've talked about this before, and I'll just mention it again.
SPEAKER_02: That came really through the Roman Catholic Church was this idea of the sacred and the secular, the sacred and the secular.
SPEAKER_02: And that really the only ones that are sacred are the pastors or the priests.
SPEAKER_02: That's not biblical.
SPEAKER_02: You know what sacred and secular is?
SPEAKER_02: Here's what it is, folks.
SPEAKER_02: Sacred means God's presence is there.
SPEAKER_02: Whenever God's presence is somewhere, it's sacred.
SPEAKER_02: Wherever God's presence is missing, it's secular.
SPEAKER_02: There are secular pastors.
SPEAKER_02: There are secular churches and there are sacred schools.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the deal: when you start to have a kingdom revolution through the person of Jesus Christ, and he begins to revolutionize your life, and you take Jesus into your mechanical engineering job, into your computer programming job, that ground becomes sacred.
SPEAKER_02: That's how we change the world.
SPEAKER_02: We change the world one job at a time, one person at a time, one office at a time.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, one home and one marriage at a time.
SPEAKER_02: So I want you to pray today, and I'm going to give you that opportunity when we come to ministry time, that you would have in 2019 a kingdom revolution in your heart through the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Well, right now, before us, we have a bill that's been introduced to Colorado House of Representatives, HB 191032.
SPEAKER_02: I usually don't get political, but I felt like this was something I should mention.
SPEAKER_02: If passed, it would require all public schools and charter schools to instruct children in homosexual and lesbian sex, including graphic how-to information and indoctrination into accepting this behavior as normal.
SPEAKER_02: There's a committee hearing this week on Wednesday, January 30th at 1.30 at Capitol in Denver.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm calling for a prayer meeting in our chapel at 1.30 on Wednesday.
SPEAKER_02: So if you have time or you can make time or you can switch your lunch break around and you can come at 1.30 this Wednesday.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, you are.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna need a mic though.
SPEAKER_02: Got it.
SPEAKER_02: Whoa, you're just on it.
SPEAKER_02: I married up.
SPEAKER_02: I told her to come up when I started talking about this.
SPEAKER_02: She scared me though.
SPEAKER_02: I was just I was so into it.
SPEAKER_02: Um the reason I invited Liz up is because I believe that God is raising up a church that He wants us to lay foundations for through a kingdom of God revolution that will last for a hundred years.
SPEAKER_02: Too many times, and I've heard it so many times from Christian leaders in my generation, say, well, you know, I don't know how long our church will be here, but we're gonna make an impact while we're here.
SPEAKER_02: I hate hearing that.
SPEAKER_02: Because what that says to me is that church may not, not always, but may not be laying good foundations.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, we've gotta we've gotta lay theological, doctrinal, word-rooted, spirit-alive, culturally engaged foundations that could have a kingdom revolution that lasts for a hundred years.
SPEAKER_02: I'm for revival.
SPEAKER_02: I think revivals are great, but revivals by their very nature are short-lived.
SPEAKER_02: At the longest, they're about two or three years.
SPEAKER_02: We want to build a kingdom church, proclaiming the kingdom a hundred years from now, and that begins with our children.
SPEAKER_02: That's why I asked Liz to be the director of our children's ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Because we're gonna start down below this floor, and every one of you should have some part in it.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the deal: I want every week, every class, every child to encounter God.
SPEAKER_02: I want every adult who comes in this church to encounter God.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm most interested in these kids because 80% of the people who get saved get saved before they're 13 years old.
SPEAKER_02: They are so impressionable.
SPEAKER_02: And when I see stuff like this coming from the Capitol in Denver, and this is just one little thing, you know about what's happened in New York with abortion, right, this week?
SPEAKER_02: Study up on that.
SPEAKER_02: They've just legalized murder.
SPEAKER_02: If you are planning to abort a baby and the baby's born alive, you can kill it.
SPEAKER_02: You know what certain people in this nation have been doing for the last 40 years?
SPEAKER_02: Having a revolution.
SPEAKER_02: A revolution to take over our country.
SPEAKER_02: A revolution to make this country just like Europe, to make this country with no borders, no history, no traditions, and especially no Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: And they're on the move.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus came to a similar situation in the Middle East at that time, and he began with a few men and he changed the world.
SPEAKER_02: And it still works, folks.
SPEAKER_02: It still works.
SPEAKER_02: But it starts with our children.
SPEAKER_02: And men and women, I want to challenge you that when we go downstairs and when we minister our children, we lay hands on them, and we bless them, and we equip them and we disciple them for that hour and a half that we've got.
SPEAKER_02: That we love those kids.
SPEAKER_02: So, Liz, your turn.
SPEAKER_01: I would love for you to raise your hand if you've worked in children's ministry or middle school or high school in the last six months.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody give those people a hand and yourselves, honestly.
SPEAKER_01: So I gotta I gotta say this.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta give Jesus an advertisement here, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So since taking this job, I've run into a lot of pickles and potholes.
SPEAKER_01: And man, sometimes they've made me cry.
SPEAKER_01: And Steve knows I don't cry very easily.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what I've learned in a really cool way is um Jesus refreshes us.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just gonna tell you, I've been miserable inside, and then there's this one thing where I thought, Lord, you said, Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_01: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
SPEAKER_01: For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
SPEAKER_01: So you know what I've been doing when I feel that weariness come?
SPEAKER_01: Um I'm like an electric car.
SPEAKER_01: I want to plug into Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Like, uh, you know, I need refreshing.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I've sat there with the Lord until he does it.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what's so cool about it?
SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna tell you, if you haven't done this lately, try it.
SPEAKER_01: Just say, Lord, I'm staying here till I feel refreshed, till I feel like I don't care how many potholes or pickles I have to deal with.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
SPEAKER_01: And then you get energized, and then you want to go pray for the sick.
SPEAKER_01: You want to go love on a child.
SPEAKER_01: We get so weary, we have to plug in.
SPEAKER_01: So I just want to say you know who embodies the kingdom revolution is Jesus, and we need his energy to do this.
SPEAKER_01: So, okay, the kingdom revolution is about valuing children.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_01: Some disciples were saying, Who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus called a little child to him, set him in the midst of them, and said, Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus puts his stamp of approval on children, and guess what?
SPEAKER_01: When you that okay, so I was an English major and I love words.
SPEAKER_01: So the word receive means that the children are coming, right?
SPEAKER_01: We don't have to go out and convince them they're coming.
SPEAKER_01: But why are they coming?
SPEAKER_01: It's because we have an excellent, fun, um, supernatural program here.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a program, but do you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: We have a we have things set up for them to do and to experience and to to um to actually gain so that they want to come and they want to tell their friends, hey, you should come to our children's ministry.
SPEAKER_01: So it's really important for all of us to get involved.
SPEAKER_01: Because right now, I'm gonna say this our children we I have four people on my team, and we're we're still trying to fill in spots that are empty, and that's not gonna make excellence.
SPEAKER_01: That's not gonna make excellence.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to ask you all.
SPEAKER_01: We have a table out there, come to our table and just commit to working once a quarter.
SPEAKER_01: That's once every three months.
SPEAKER_01: And you can do administration, you can play with older kids, you can play with the the little guys, you can hold a baby.
SPEAKER_01: Don't, don't not be involved.
SPEAKER_01: Please come and and so that we don't have to like have a net, and when you walk out of the bathroom, we like go, here, we gotcha.
SPEAKER_01: Sign up, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Come and come to us because we want to do something extraordinary.
SPEAKER_01: That's what my team wants to do.
SPEAKER_01: But we don't want to have to try to fill in spots because you know what that is?
SPEAKER_01: That's a daycare with a little Christianity sprinkled on it.
SPEAKER_01: That we're not going for that.
SPEAKER_01: We're going for kingdom revolution.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to share with you what the Lord downloaded to me on December, I can't remember, late December.
SPEAKER_01: And he said this, no, it was the first of January.
SPEAKER_01: He said, There are many starving children in this city.
SPEAKER_01: Many are starving for truth in our evolution-soaked culture and education places.
SPEAKER_01: Some are starving for love in our busy, impersonal, lonely culture.
SPEAKER_01: Some are starving from not enough food, real food.
SPEAKER_01: In Colorado, one in seven children don't have enough food.
SPEAKER_01: That's a huge proportion right there.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I will enable my people who are called by my name to satisfy the hungry children.
SPEAKER_01: And as you satisfy the children with truth, love, and real food, I will satisfy you.
SPEAKER_01: Because remember it says, when you receive children, you will receive me.
SPEAKER_01: If a bill comes up that trashes children, I want to be the church where people have seen a diff a totally different thing, where we value children.
SPEAKER_01: And that means all of us have to do that.
SPEAKER_01: A kingdom revolution means a sudden change in how we think.
SPEAKER_01: So I just want to ask you, will you come sign up with us?
SPEAKER_01: Because we want to change the lives of children.
SPEAKER_01: I would love to see you, seasoned prayer warriors, get a hold of four names or five names of children you're praying for every day.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't that be awesome to have us have people praying for our kids, not only us, but others in this church?
SPEAKER_01: You can be a part of that.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to do so many things.
SPEAKER_01: Or you're excited to go downstairs.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just share this.
SPEAKER_01: So we want to have worship in every class.
SPEAKER_01: So guess what happened?
SPEAKER_01: The Valentines, who are awesome, and they have they are uh a mom and they had two um sons that um led worship for us.
SPEAKER_01: They're 10 and 12 years old, and they came down and led worship.
SPEAKER_01: This is how kids are starving, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So they were in the class, they led um they led worship for babies.
SPEAKER_01: And there was one little boy who was one year old who was bouncing, and when they left, he cried.
SPEAKER_01: Children are starving, they're starving for love, truth, and some are starving with real food issues.
SPEAKER_01: So let's be a part of this kingdom revolution.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: I'm married up, no doubt about that.
SPEAKER_02: Love that woman.
SPEAKER_02: And thank you again, Steve, for all that you've done to lay the foundation and we're building on that.
SPEAKER_02: It's fantastic.
SPEAKER_02: Turning your Bibles again to Matthew 4.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm actually gonna get to verse 20.
SPEAKER_02: They immediately left their nets and they followed him, going on from there.
SPEAKER_02: He saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, and the boat with Zebedee, their brother, mending their nets.
SPEAKER_02: He called them.
SPEAKER_02: And immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.
SPEAKER_02: Men and women, the kingdom revolution is about the person of Jesus, but then he gave us a pattern of discipleship.
SPEAKER_02: What Liz was talking about is a pattern of developing in our children a heart to be a worshiper and warrior at an early age.
SPEAKER_02: Now, every, I mean, churches have been trying to do this for years.
SPEAKER_02: Dad, in his Lutheran context, had me go through a catechism class.
SPEAKER_02: How many went through, in your background, some kind of a catechism class or confirmation class?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because the church, whatever denomination has figured out, we've got to equip and train these young people.
SPEAKER_02: And that's why we have OU.
SPEAKER_02: That's why we outlaw our university.
SPEAKER_02: I went to two classes today and I sat in those classes and they were packed out with people who want to grow.
SPEAKER_02: They want to be outliers.
SPEAKER_02: Why not six-year-old and seven-year-old outliers that understand that God created the heavens and the earth?
SPEAKER_02: Why not 12-year-olds that understand that they can lay hands on their little buddy and see them get healed?
SPEAKER_02: What about a 13-year-old that knows how to share his faith, knows how to understand the cross and the resurrection of Christ in a simple way that another little child can understand?
SPEAKER_02: That does not happen by them just being in a home where they have loving parents.
SPEAKER_02: They actually have to be equipped and discipled, and that's what Jesus did for three and a half years.
SPEAKER_02: He began a pattern here of discipleship that men and women brought a kingdom revolution.
SPEAKER_02: Twelve guys, minus one, eleven, add in Paul, 12 guys, add in one more Matthias in Acts chapter 1, 13 men rocked the world.
SPEAKER_02: To such a degree that Constantine, when he became emperor, looked around and realized, I better Christianize Rome because they're taking over everything anyway.
SPEAKER_02: And when those Puritans and those pilgrims came to America, they had a vision for America to be a light on a hill to the nations of the world.
SPEAKER_02: Read the documents.
SPEAKER_02: They don't teach that anymore in schools because it goes against the narrative.
SPEAKER_02: But you see, the Puritans and the pilgrims believed that they were laying a foundation that would touch all the nations of the world.
SPEAKER_02: And so they built for hundreds of years.
SPEAKER_02: They built with our declaration of independence and with our constitution of vision.
SPEAKER_02: Then that's why you're here.
SPEAKER_02: That's why we're here today with freedom of religion.
SPEAKER_02: That's why we're here with the freedom to worship.
SPEAKER_02: That's why we're here with the kind of military we have and the kind of democracy we have.
SPEAKER_02: It's because the pilgrims and the Puritans laid good foundations.
SPEAKER_02: I'm taking my son through American history right now.
SPEAKER_02: Great book called A Light on a Hill by William Bennett.
SPEAKER_02: And let me tell you, you need to know history, folks, because history gives you perspective.
SPEAKER_02: There were some real nutcases out there, even in the beginning of our nation.
SPEAKER_02: And to see the rub of the early founding fathers against each other is amazing.
SPEAKER_02: But God was superintending that because there were people who were praying, there was a Christian foundation, and there was a biblical worldview.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus continues, look at verse 23.
SPEAKER_02: He says, This.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
SPEAKER_02: Then his fame went through all Assyria, and they brought to him all who were sick, people afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who are demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.
SPEAKER_02: The person, the pattern, the power.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, we can't do it without the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: The world is starving not just for the word, they're also starving for a demonstration of the word.
SPEAKER_02: What's happened in time immemorial is that gradually the church has been formed around just the proclamation of the word.
SPEAKER_02: And let me tell you, you know that is so important to me.
SPEAKER_02: We are a word and spirit church.
SPEAKER_02: But men and women, we are a word and spirit church.
SPEAKER_02: We have to have the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Illumination and illustration.
SPEAKER_02: We are the illustration of the illumination of God's Word as we call ourselves Jesus followers, as we call ourselves Jesus disciples.
SPEAKER_02: You can't bring the good news if you're the bad news.
SPEAKER_02: And so as God is working a kingdom revolution starting in your heart, you bring that power of the Holy Spirit prayerfully through a witness of love, grace, generosity, and compassion, like the world can't see.
SPEAKER_02: In which we have through Jesus the power to be a witness of.
SPEAKER_02: Proclamation and demonstration.
SPEAKER_02: It's interesting that it talks about those that are demon-possessed.
SPEAKER_02: I don't use the word demon-possessed.
SPEAKER_02: It's actually an incorrect translation of the Greek, Diamonizai, which is a Greek word.
SPEAKER_02: It's not demon-possessed.
SPEAKER_02: Possession in our English language tends to mean ownership of.
SPEAKER_02: I don't believe a demon can own any believer.
SPEAKER_02: I believe you can be demonized, though, and what that means, what literally what the word means is demon-influenced.
SPEAKER_02: Because here's what happens when we get the Holy Spirit into us, God begins to drive out the devil in you.
SPEAKER_02: Anybody know any believers that's got a little devil in them?
SPEAKER_02: If you can't raise your hand, you haven't lived very long, you need to get out more often.
SPEAKER_02: Church can be a mean place, made up of some mean people.
SPEAKER_02: And God wants each of us to be set free from those demonic strongholds that have been built up through a lifetime of hurt, pain, and betrayal.
SPEAKER_02: And he can do that.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a living example of that.
SPEAKER_02: God can set us free.
SPEAKER_02: And it's usually some kind of a power encounter.
SPEAKER_02: There's some kind of a power encounter involved.
SPEAKER_02: And that power encounter oftentimes is through someone who has insight and prophetic wisdom who speaks something into your life, and bam! He begins a process of breaking loose those strongholds of the past in your life.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you have that.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are walking with that.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, most of us are, but as we start to get sanctified in Christ through his word, he starts to set us free.
SPEAKER_02: I can't tell you how many testimonies over the years in worship or in ministry time up front or a small group, a D group, where people have been there and they're in the Word, they're praying for each other, and they feel something lift off of them, and they're set free.
SPEAKER_02: Think about in our world today, those that have no church, that have no Christian influence, that have no believers in their life, what they're carrying and the opportunity we have to love them and to bless them and to set them free.
SPEAKER_02: That's what Jesus was doing.
SPEAKER_02: He's going about setting the captives free.
SPEAKER_02: We have a new road mission statement.
SPEAKER_02: Empowering people to change the world.
SPEAKER_02: We want to empower young people.
SPEAKER_02: We want to empower babies to change the world.
SPEAKER_02: How do you do that?
SPEAKER_02: You take that baby in your arms and you lay your hands on him and say, Lord, bless this child.
SPEAKER_02: God, I pray the blood of Jesus over this child.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I pray, God, that the unique callings and giftings and talents that are within this child would be realized.
SPEAKER_02: I ask you, Lord, to protect this child from the evil one.
SPEAKER_02: Do you realize that when Luther would do infant baptism in the early ancient church in the 16th century, he prayed against devils.
SPEAKER_02: He prayed against demonic spirits over that baby.
SPEAKER_02: Now I'm not a believer in infant baptism, but I'm not an unbeliever in setting everybody free, even an infant.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't care how you do it.
SPEAKER_02: I really don't.
SPEAKER_02: We dedicate babies here, but when we dedicate our babies, and when you pray over your little baby at home, pray that they'd be set free at an early age by God.
SPEAKER_02: And then look what the last verse says, verse 25.
SPEAKER_02: Great multitudes followed him from Galilee and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.
SPEAKER_02: You see, what was happening here with Jesus is he was bringing a kingdom revolution to cities.
SPEAKER_02: God loves cities.
SPEAKER_02: And it's cities through Jesus here, and then later through the early church, through the church.
SPEAKER_02: God's plan A is through the local church.
SPEAKER_02: Let me read you from Ephesians 3.
SPEAKER_02: Paul writes this: From the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church, to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Men and women, it's through local churches just like ours, that decide at some place in their journey we're gonna build foundations that will last for a hundred years, that get serious about ministering to the babies and to the children and to the youth of that church that make an impact.
SPEAKER_02: It's hard work.
SPEAKER_02: But I love my job.
SPEAKER_02: Because I don't know how in the world it's gonna get done in my lifetime.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna have a lot of work to do.
SPEAKER_02: And guess what, men and women?
SPEAKER_02: Most of you, because I can't speak for you, but I'm gonna say most of you in this room are called to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_02: That's the reason you're here today.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you have grandchildren, some of you are older, and you're well, I don't know if I have anything to offer.
SPEAKER_02: You have the most to offer because you've lived life.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to challenge you, we're gonna watch a video in just a moment, of a young girl that went through a difficult time in her life, and she found Jesus in a fresh, new way, and she has dedicated her life to being a world changer.
SPEAKER_02: I want to challenge you to a kingdom revolution.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna challenge you to walk out today, and there's a table out there with some little balloons on it, and you're gonna sign up to help with children once a quarter.
SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have been blessed by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.