SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: But isn't it encouraging to know that you just have a little strength?
SPEAKER_01: Not great amounts of strength, but a little strength.
SPEAKER_01: God can do great things through you.
SPEAKER_01: We know that Jesus says that if you have the faith of a mustard seed, which is the tiniest seed at that time in the Middle East, the little mustard seed, you can move mountains.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to say, if you have a little strength, God can open doors for you.
SPEAKER_00: Today, Pastor Steve continues his series on the Book of Revelation.
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_01: Well, we're in the book of Revelation church.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're here for the first time, we're in Revelation chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: We're working our way through the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: We started Revelation 10 weeks ago, and we are in the in the seven churches of Revelation, and we're looking at these seven churches as it relates to our lives today.
SPEAKER_01: And even though the seven churches on this roadmap, on this uh route, probably a male route is what we believe in the Roman times, was regular churches in cities.
SPEAKER_01: There is a lesson from each one of these churches that's unique to churches for all time.
SPEAKER_01: So it has both a local meaning and a translocal meaning.
SPEAKER_01: And where we are right now is we found ourselves in one of the two churches that Jesus, who's in the vision, remember, we believe that John was probably in a cave on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, which you can go visit today, one of the most beautiful places in the world, they say, is Patmos.
SPEAKER_01: It was not beautiful back then.
SPEAKER_01: It's a volcanic island.
SPEAKER_01: There was nothing there.
SPEAKER_01: That's where Rome sent its most severe prisoners to the island of Patmos.
SPEAKER_01: And he has this stark vision, this apocalypse, this revelation, this unveiling of the last days of the coming of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And in this first part, chapters two and three, if you have one of those red letter Bibles, it's all in red.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus is literally speaking to John, and then he is, he's writing down what the Lord Jesus is saying to him.
SPEAKER_01: And there's two churches.
SPEAKER_01: There's a church at Smyrna, and there's a church at Philadelphia, where he has no criticisms.
SPEAKER_01: All he has is commendations to them.
SPEAKER_01: And as we looked at the church at Philadelphia, and remember we talked about the meaning of that word in the Greek, is not just the city of brotherly love, but it's the city of the brother who loves his brother.
SPEAKER_01: Because the ruler of the city of Philadelphia had a deep affection for his brother, and we know historically that later his brother took over the city of Philadelphia.
SPEAKER_01: And historically, we share there's five vibrant, dynamic churches in the city of Philadelphia.
SPEAKER_01: It's not called Philadelphia now, it has a different name there in Turkey, but it is still a vibrant city for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And it's been a vibrant city now for over 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_01: So it's really, really exciting to see what God has continued to do with the church at Philadelphia.
SPEAKER_01: But as we got into Philadelphia last week, we came to this interesting phrase about the open door.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm kind of doing a little mini-series with even a subtopic of the apocalypse here, and I'm going to call it the law of the open door.
SPEAKER_01: The law of the open door.
SPEAKER_01: And this is part two.
SPEAKER_01: And if you want to stream it, you can always go online.
SPEAKER_01: You can see where our streaming is.
SPEAKER_01: You can click that and you can get all the past stuff on Revelation and you can see what we taught last week.
SPEAKER_01: But turn in your Bibles to Revelation 3.7.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 3.7.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to pick it up, actually, at the same verse we were at last week.
SPEAKER_01: We'll march through the rest of it in the coming weeks.
SPEAKER_01: But verses 7 and 8 are so unique.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of those unique set of verses in the Bible that I've never heard a message on that I think are so full of depth and width for our lives and so practical that I feel like God gave me some words for this.
SPEAKER_01: And I tested it in my own life.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm going to say something tonight that may come across to you as heretical.
SPEAKER_01: And I haven't said any heretical statements in probably a few weeks.
SPEAKER_01: So let me explain it before you judge it.
SPEAKER_01: But let's just read the passage first.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 3:7.
SPEAKER_01: These things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts.
SPEAKER_01: That's good news, right?
SPEAKER_01: And shuts and no one opens.
SPEAKER_01: That can be bad news.
SPEAKER_01: I know your works.
SPEAKER_01: You ought to underline that, highlight that.
SPEAKER_01: That's a part of the thesis for tonight.
SPEAKER_01: See, I have set before you, that means the church in Philadelphia, an open door.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, I've placed before you an open door because of knowing their works.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss that.
SPEAKER_01: And no one, that means no person can shut it.
SPEAKER_01: For you have a little strength, you've kept my word, and have not denied my name.
SPEAKER_01: Now I like that last part.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk more about that in the coming weeks.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to do a lot on it tonight, but isn't it encouraging you to know if you just have a little strength?
SPEAKER_01: Not great amounts of strength, but a little strength, God can do great things through you.
SPEAKER_01: We know that Jesus says that if you have the faith of a mustard seed, which is the tiniest seed at that time in the Middle East, the little mustard seed, you can move mountains.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to say, if you have a little strength, God can open doors for you.
SPEAKER_01: Amazing doors that no man can shut.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, if you'll keep my word, if you'll keep my word, and if you'll not deny my name.
SPEAKER_01: Now those are loaded.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to go into that too much right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to go into it in the future weeks.
SPEAKER_01: But this idea that a little strength, keeping God's word and not denying his name can open doors that no man can shut, folks, that's radical stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss that.
SPEAKER_01: So God never seems to open doors for me.
SPEAKER_01: Seems like all I've ever known is shut doors.
SPEAKER_01: Well, do you have faith in him?
SPEAKER_01: Do you have a little bit of faith?
SPEAKER_01: Are you keeping his word?
SPEAKER_01: Are you not denying his name?
SPEAKER_01: You see, sometimes we think of not denying his name as something like, you know, martyrdom or something.
SPEAKER_01: You know, like, well, if he told me to bow down to an idol, I would not do that.
SPEAKER_01: They would have to chop off my head.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you deny, you we deny his name when we're at work.
SPEAKER_01: And there's opportunities for us to stand up for integrity and we don't.
SPEAKER_01: We deny his name when we are in situations where we're cheating someone out of their salary or something because uh because it helps us better.
SPEAKER_01: That's denying his name.
SPEAKER_01: And so you start doing a lot of that, you're closing doors for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: It's a real bummer.
SPEAKER_01: Because when you do the right thing, when you do the right thing, you may not see it immediately.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I can almost guarantee you won't see it immediately, but you are starting to open doors because do you realize you're always getting interviewed by God?
SPEAKER_01: You know, every day is an interview.
SPEAKER_01: I remember when my kids come back from college, had a few come back from college, and they go and they buy their clothes and everything, and they're gonna go do their first interview.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And they've got all the nice clothes and everything because, you know, first impressions, the only impression you'll ever have, uh, you know that stuff, which is stupid because it's not true.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, that's what everybody tells you.
SPEAKER_01: And so you wear all the nice clothes and everything, and you're all dressed up and all, and because you got this one interview, you know that God doesn't work that way?
SPEAKER_01: You know, God's interviewing us every day, and he's testing you every day, and he's giving you opportunities to not deny his name.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what here's the thing the promotions of God are based on the interviews of God, and he's interviewing you all the time.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, well, man, I this thing just keeps happening, and it just keeps happening, and I just hate that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, when are you gonna pass the test?
SPEAKER_01: You want to keep taking the same exam again and again and again because you keep cheating on the test.
SPEAKER_01: And so here I'm here's the heretical statement.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody listen.
SPEAKER_01: Heresy number one for tonight.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, my thesis: we're saved by grace alone, but doors are opened by works alone.
SPEAKER_01: You're saved by grace alone.
SPEAKER_01: God saves you.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't save yourself.
SPEAKER_01: God saved you, you were saved because you received Christ by faith, but even the faith received him.
SPEAKER_01: That's all of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He gets all the glory for that.
SPEAKER_01: But when we look at the parables of the talents, which is actually taught twice in the scriptures using different forms of coinage, but those two are all based on what they were given and what they did with what they were given for God to open doors and rewards for the next thing, the next promotion that he has for your life.
SPEAKER_01: So he says here, let's look back at our passage.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 3 8, I know your works.
SPEAKER_01: I know your works.
SPEAKER_01: I have set before you an open door that no one can shut.
SPEAKER_01: Salvation is by grace alone.
SPEAKER_01: Open doors and closed doors are based on works alone.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not being faithful with what you've already been given, God's not gonna give you more.
SPEAKER_01: If you're faithful with what God's given you, he's gonna open doors for you.
SPEAKER_01: I promise you he will.
SPEAKER_01: I know that theologically, biblically, and experientially, it's true.
SPEAKER_01: God wants you bearing fruit.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to open doors that no man can shut to move you into the miraculous, to move you into exponential blessing, to move you and I into supernatural, natural stuff that only he could do.
SPEAKER_01: And you go, whoa, God did it.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I say it's a little heretical because it's still by grace, it's still God's grace.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying that as God looks at us and we look at the whole tempo of what we read in the New Testament, he does evaluate what you do.
SPEAKER_01: So you could say, well, I could have gone fishing today and I went to Springs Initiative.
SPEAKER_01: God noticed that.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some of you went fishing and God noticed that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying you should have been at Springs Initiative.
SPEAKER_01: Especially if you bring back me a smoked trout or two.
SPEAKER_01: That'd be great.
SPEAKER_01: But no.
SPEAKER_01: My point though is I'm not, I don't want to get legalistic.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying, though, that, and this is the point that I don't want you to miss.
SPEAKER_01: It's God leading each one of you individually.
SPEAKER_01: It's you hearing his voice and obeying him.
SPEAKER_01: I'm taking tomorrow off.
SPEAKER_01: I need a day off.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you do too.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't feel guilty about it one bit because God's leading me.
SPEAKER_01: So that's not what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying we don't evaluate each other, it's between you and the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, look at Revelation 2.2.
SPEAKER_01: To the church at Ephesus, I know your works.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 2.9 to the church in Smyrna, I know your works.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 2.13 to the church at Pergamos, I know your works.
SPEAKER_01: Revelation 2.19 to the church at Thyatira, I know your works.
SPEAKER_01: And then here's the closed door instead of an open door, a negative word, Revelation 3.1.
SPEAKER_01: To the church at Sardis, I know your works, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you're actually dead.
SPEAKER_01: You see, God knows our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what I want to do tonight.
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about what I see as three things, the three most important works for God opening doors.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I think there's three key works.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm looking at the entirety of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: So you we could cherry pick a lot of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: We could have 50 works that we're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna talk about that because I believe these three handle everything.
SPEAKER_01: I think they're the rubric over all our other things that we do.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the first thing.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: Clinging to Jesus, obeying the Lord, intimacy with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You are not gonna hear one religious thing that I'm gonna tell you about church or about attendance or about giving, all those things that you kind of expect from a pastor of a church or something.
SPEAKER_01: Those to me are just simply a result of your intimacy with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Clinging to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm basing it on one chapter in the New Testament that I believe is one of the great seminal passages in Scripture, and it's John chapter 15.
SPEAKER_01: John chapter 15.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus knows that he's about to leave the earth, and he gives this final, this final, almost, you know, it's almost like a beatitude.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost like Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
SPEAKER_01: It's his one of his greatest sermons, and he talks about how to know the Lord through abiding in him.
SPEAKER_01: Another way to think of it is the presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: Living in the presence of God, gang.
SPEAKER_01: Living in the presence of God at work, living in the presence of God in your marriage, living in the presence of God in your parenting.
SPEAKER_01: Well, not that.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: But living in the presence of God in everything that you do, and no, and none of us have arrived.
SPEAKER_01: All of us keep sinning, all of us keep messing up.
SPEAKER_01: But as best we know how, Jesus instructed us in John chapter 15 about how to abide in him, how to remain in him.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm using the word cling.
SPEAKER_01: I like cling.
SPEAKER_01: I dig cling.
SPEAKER_01: Cling's a good word.
SPEAKER_01: Because here's what John 15 is saying, and don't miss this.
SPEAKER_01: God created every one of you in this room to bear fruit, to make an impact, to have an influence, and to touch other people's lives.
SPEAKER_01: This life on this earth is not just about us, it is about God working through us to make an impact in the world.
SPEAKER_01: So that's why I've always believed Luke 4, 18 and 19 is the greatest mission statement ever given on the face of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: It's the greatest mission statement ever given to a business.
SPEAKER_01: It's the greatest mission statement ever given to the church, and it's the greatest mission statement ever given to government.
SPEAKER_01: And you can look it up.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus says, I came to set the captives free.
SPEAKER_01: That's basically what he's saying.
SPEAKER_01: That I came to heal the brokenhearted.
SPEAKER_01: And we did a little bit of healing of the brokenhearted today.
SPEAKER_01: Not by talking about it, not by giving a sermon about it, but by putting feet on the ground, hands in the dirt, hands on a paintbrush, and loving by doing.
SPEAKER_01: By doing something.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, Oh man, that why are y'all here?
SPEAKER_01: We heard that so many times.
SPEAKER_01: And it's because we are here to show God's love in a tangible, practical way because you are loved by God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we're here.
SPEAKER_01: No other reason.
SPEAKER_01: One guy wanted to give us a bunch of money, it was one of the neighbors, and I said, Man, keep your money.
SPEAKER_01: That's the last thing we want.
SPEAKER_01: We just want to serve you and love you because you're worth it.
SPEAKER_01: You are worth it.
SPEAKER_01: You're beloved.
SPEAKER_01: So in John 15, here's what Jesus says, starting at verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser.
SPEAKER_01: Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.
SPEAKER_01: That's a closed door, gang.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not bearing fruit, God is gonna actually close doors in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And every branch that bears, this part I don't like.
SPEAKER_01: This is I wish he hadn't said this.
SPEAKER_01: Well, okay, we'll skip that part.
SPEAKER_01: No, he said.
SPEAKER_01: Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes.
SPEAKER_01: So even when you're bearing fruit, sometimes God's gonna discipline you.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: That you may look at it, I underlined it in my iPad.
SPEAKER_01: It may bear more fruit.
SPEAKER_01: So he prunes you to bear more fruit.
SPEAKER_01: So as you bear fruit, it doesn't mean it's easy street.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean like everything's just gonna go your way.
SPEAKER_01: It means it's still gonna be hard.
SPEAKER_01: But as you get as it's harder and it's gonna get harder, God's gonna open doors where you bear more fruit.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're satisfied with just, you know, kind of coming to church, sitting in the pew, and do your Christian thing, that's fine.
SPEAKER_01: You can do that.
SPEAKER_01: But you're missing out on so much that God could have for you by learning to bear fruit.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what he's about to talk about.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: You're already clean because the word which I've spoken to you.
SPEAKER_01: So, so the terminology and the understanding of that time was an agrarian society.
SPEAKER_01: So everybody was farmers and stuff back then or merchants.
SPEAKER_01: And so he's looking at organic farming, and he's saying, Look, my father is an organic farmer.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I, Jesus, I'm the stalk, I'm the trunk that goes into the ground, and you guys are the branches.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you'll connect with me, you're going to bear fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Now, look at verse 16 in the same chapter.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to jump, jump ahead over if you've got your Bible open.
SPEAKER_01: I think you have it in your app too.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.
SPEAKER_01: So, men and women, you were created to bear fruit.
SPEAKER_01: You and I were created to go through open doors and to come into influence and impact and to touch people's lives and to heal the brokenhearted.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us.
SPEAKER_01: Not just pastors, not just counselors, not just uh teachers or evangelists, every one of us are supposed to bear fruit for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4 is he says, This is how you do it.
SPEAKER_01: Abide in me and I in you.
SPEAKER_01: As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine.
SPEAKER_01: Neither can you, unless you abide in me.
SPEAKER_01: I am the vine, you are the branches.
SPEAKER_01: He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Not a little bit of fruit, a lot of fruit.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, lots of fruit.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and I and the picture I had is like going through uh being in Georgia again and with my granddaddy, and we'd go through these fertile peach orchards during the peak harvest time in July and August, and just branches about to break.
SPEAKER_01: They're so laden with peaches.
SPEAKER_01: And you go pick a really soft peach, and and you would just dig your mouth into that peach, and it would just splatter all over your face and all over it, just run down, and you're all sticky for the rest of the day.
SPEAKER_01: But it was worth it because it was so awesome, the fruit and the peaches there.
SPEAKER_01: So the law of the open door is that it's based on works.
SPEAKER_01: And the first work is abiding in Christ, coming to know him, having a personal, vital, dynamic relationship with him, not just getting saved.
SPEAKER_01: Not just getting saved.
SPEAKER_01: One of our guys was sharing with a young man today.
SPEAKER_01: I saw him over there on the side, and this guy was a massive dude, and they're talking, so I asked him later how it went, and he said, it was really good.
SPEAKER_01: He said he he accepted the Lord when he was 10.
SPEAKER_01: But he he doesn't want to have anything to do with God, and and he has no desire to follow God.
SPEAKER_01: And um, and you know, it's like, dude's not saved.
SPEAKER_01: He's not saved.
SPEAKER_01: And you say, well, how can you say that?
SPEAKER_01: That seems so judgmental.
SPEAKER_01: Because I read the Bible, and when you have the Spirit of God, I'm not saying you don't go through times where you don't have any desire and stuff, but if you don't, after year after year after year, and this guy looked like he was in his 30s by now, any desire to follow Christ, you can pretty much say, either God really doesn't know what he's doing, or this guy really hasn't come into saving faith yet.
SPEAKER_01: That's my story.
SPEAKER_01: You know, growing up Lutheran and being in the church, and I knew all the right answers, and I and I was a good kid when no one, you know, when everybody was looking, and um and all that.
SPEAKER_01: But then I when I came to know the Lord, I wanted to abide in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to abide in him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not saying there's not ebbs and flows, I'm just saying this: that overarching in our hearts is this desire to bear fruit because we're clinging to Christ in intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: That's why you're at the road.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we're here.
SPEAKER_01: Building whole-hearted disciples is our vision.
SPEAKER_01: Building whole-hearted disciples, not half-hearted, not building religious disciples, building wholehearted disciples, men and women, wholeheartedness is built on vulnerability in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's how we break the power of shame is through vulnerability through intimacy.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 7 he tells us again how to cling to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He says, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
SPEAKER_01: By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
SPEAKER_01: God's word.
SPEAKER_01: We open God's Word every Saturday night.
SPEAKER_01: Starting in September, we open God's Word every Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01: We open God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: We have P B and J, that little bookmark, because we want you to open God's Word every day.
SPEAKER_01: We have expositional teaching for our women.
SPEAKER_01: We have expositional teaching in our C groups.
SPEAKER_01: We're always talking about opening God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason is, is because if you're depending on me to be your source for your growth, one hour out of 168 in a week, you are not going to grow.
SPEAKER_01: But if you can take what we're learning here, and each day you get up in the morning and you open up God's word and you read God's word, you can use P B and J or whatever devotion you want to use, God is going to speak to you.
SPEAKER_01: To you.
SPEAKER_01: And it's going to be, and it's going to be exciting because you're hearing from God.
SPEAKER_01: Because God speaks most reverently, most powerfully, and most succinctly from his word.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, He says, Abide in my word.
SPEAKER_01: Then look at verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: As the Father loved me, I've also loved you.
SPEAKER_01: Abide in my love.
SPEAKER_01: So abide in Christ, cling to Christ, abide in his word, cling to the word, abide in his love.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what this is all about.
SPEAKER_01: So before we went out today, this was my challenge message to all of us in there when we were having breakfast together.
SPEAKER_01: By this we know love.
SPEAKER_01: This is the same guy.
SPEAKER_01: This is John, who wrote the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_01: He said this By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
SPEAKER_01: But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
SPEAKER_01: My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you guys are just, I say most of the people in this church are some of the most giving people I've ever met.
SPEAKER_01: You give and you love and you care about your kids and you care about the kids of this church.
SPEAKER_01: And when I look at what's happening with the middle schoolers and the high schoolers and all the stuff that's going on there, and then I look at our mission team that's in the Amazon right now.
SPEAKER_01: They're down there on the Amazon River, and we're looking at a trip to Rwanda next summer and a trip there, a mission trip there.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's giving, that's love, and you know, that's so cool.
SPEAKER_01: You know, here's what's gonna happen next week, because the Brazil team will be back.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna all come in here and they're gonna be like this.
SPEAKER_01: And it really stunk.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't even know why we did that.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, man, I got so many mosquito bites.
SPEAKER_01: Probably got Zika.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: No, they're gonna come back and they're gonna be fired up and they're gonna be excited and they're gonna share their faith now with the waiter, the waitress at the restaurant, and they're gonna be part of this the next month and all that stuff, because God did something because they gave away what they had and they got it back pressed down, running over.
SPEAKER_01: That's see, that's the kingdom, guys.
SPEAKER_01: So if you don't, if you don't have anything to give, then you don't get anything back.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's why it's based on works.
SPEAKER_01: And so when we're just faithful with the little bit we've got, God blesses you with so much more.
SPEAKER_01: So that's first.
SPEAKER_01: First is clinging to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Second point, this is a this is an important work.
SPEAKER_01: Contending in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: So first, clinging to Christ, and under the rubric of clinging to Christ, I'd say clinging to his word, clinging to his love.
SPEAKER_01: Second point.
SPEAKER_01: Contending in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you a dictionary definition of contending.
SPEAKER_01: Struggle to surmount.
SPEAKER_01: Struggle to surmount a difficulty or a danger.
SPEAKER_01: Cope with, grapple with, and I like this last part in the dictionary.
SPEAKER_01: It said, take on.
SPEAKER_01: Take on.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_01: Saints, I want to challenge you to learn to contend in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We have not because we ask not.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, Ask and it shall be given to you.
SPEAKER_01: Seek and you shall find it.
SPEAKER_01: Knock and the door shall be open to you.
SPEAKER_01: Is Jesus either a liar, he doesn't know what he's talking about, or he's telling us the truth?
SPEAKER_01: And for some reason, God chooses not to give us everything we want until we contend for it.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to battle for it.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to battle for your marriage in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to battle for your job in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to battle for that new business that you started in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to battle for that relationship that has gone awry, and they're saying stuff about you that's absolutely a lie and it's not true.
SPEAKER_01: And you know if you go and you take a stand for yourself that it's gonna go bad.
SPEAKER_01: And so you all you can do right now is contend in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Most things in our life are one in prayer before they're one in public.
SPEAKER_01: And we rush into the public arena and we get ourselves in a lot of trouble because we haven't broken the forces of evil down through contending in prayer before we go in public.
SPEAKER_01: Prayer always precedes public.
SPEAKER_01: And so we know in John 10, 10, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, I came that you might have life and might have it abundantly.
SPEAKER_01: It's the 1010 struggle.
SPEAKER_01: You hear me, gang?
SPEAKER_01: It's the 1010 battle.
SPEAKER_01: There is a thief in the night, and he is trying to take every one of you guys out.
SPEAKER_01: I know Christian kids that have committed suicide, that just a few years ago were fired up for the Lord and they let themselves be taken out because the thief came to steal, kill, and destroy, and they didn't learn how to contend in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: I've seen great marriages, I've seen couples who've been on the mission field together, serve the Lord for many, many years, 15, 20 years, come back, get a divorce, everything falls apart.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't learn to contend in prayer for their marriage.
SPEAKER_01: I've seen churches, great churches, churches that were making a huge impact and torn apart because they never learned to contend in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And so we see one of the great illustrations of scripture in Daniel chapter 10, where Daniel sees a vision.
SPEAKER_01: And when he sees this vision, he doesn't understand the vision.
SPEAKER_01: He knows it's about the nation of Israel, but he doesn't understand it.
SPEAKER_01: And so for 21 days he contends in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it says.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands.
SPEAKER_01: And he said to me, Oh Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.
SPEAKER_01: While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: Then he said to me, Do not fear Daniel, for from the first day, listen to this, this is so radically important to understand.
SPEAKER_01: He says, From the first day that you set your heart to understand, in other words, from the first day you decided to contend in prayer and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, every time you pray, God hears your words.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that exciting?
SPEAKER_01: Every time you pray about something, your words are heard.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, Do not fear, Daniel, from the first day that you set your heart to contend in prayer and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words.
SPEAKER_01: Not just like kind of, you know, and this happens all the time.
SPEAKER_01: It happens with me too.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you're sitting there, you know, and you just got, you think you're praying because you thought about someone.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I was thinking about the Brazil trip, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And you hear it with these political pundits too.
SPEAKER_01: Like, we're our thoughts are with you.
SPEAKER_01: I don't really want anybody's thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Do you?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's really scary because what are their thoughts?
SPEAKER_01: My thoughts are with you.
SPEAKER_01: He's a big jerk.
SPEAKER_01: He's from Georgia, he's stupid, you know, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't want their thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: You don't want anybody's thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: I want their prayers.
SPEAKER_01: Even if they're little lame prayers, I'll take them, you know, but I don't want your thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: Our thoughts are with you.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, so he says, No, every time you speak out a prayer, we heard it.
SPEAKER_01: And then look at verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days.
SPEAKER_01: And behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I have been left alone with the kings of Persia.
SPEAKER_01: Now that is weird.
SPEAKER_01: That is craziness.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying there's there's demon powers over nations, gang.
SPEAKER_01: There is demonic powers over your life.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of you here, I guarantee you, there's demons that want to take you out.
SPEAKER_01: And when you contend in prayer from the first day you choose to contend in prayer, God hears your prayer, and then a battle starts in the heavenlies over you.
SPEAKER_01: And you're contending for something.
SPEAKER_01: You're contending for your business, you're contending for the salvation of your neighbor, you're contending for your 18-year-old son, you're contending for your 14-year-old daughter, whatever's your contending.
SPEAKER_01: God hears that, and then there's something that happens in the heavenlies.
SPEAKER_01: There's a battle that goes on.
SPEAKER_01: And contending means you fight.
SPEAKER_01: It means you fight in prayer and you do not give up until the answer comes.
SPEAKER_01: And too many believers are so, their idol is comfort.
SPEAKER_01: It really is.
SPEAKER_01: It's like, man, this is so uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I've been praying, you know, you whip up one as you listen to your music, going to work.
SPEAKER_01: That's not contending in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's okay, it's better than nothing.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm talking about sometimes you go on a prayer walk or you get down on your knees, but you contend in prayer, and I'm telling you, we are missing out on so many miracles in our life because we never learned, A, to cling to Jesus, and second, to contend in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll just tell you right now, it is worth it.
SPEAKER_01: We have contended in prayer for this church.
SPEAKER_01: We have contended in prayer, many of us for for most of you in this room, for different things.
SPEAKER_01: Contending.
SPEAKER_01: Because God loves you so much you're worth contending for.
SPEAKER_01: And your child is worth contending for.
SPEAKER_01: And your school is worth contending for.
SPEAKER_01: It is.
SPEAKER_01: So, what God does, He's gonna lay stuff on your heart.
SPEAKER_01: He puts stuff on your heart that's unique to you that you need to contend for.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you need to contend in prayer about national issues.
SPEAKER_01: You're just called to that.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are to contend in prayer about local issues.
SPEAKER_01: I believe Amy is called by God to contend in prayer for our city, Colorado Springs.
SPEAKER_01: God, just such as a time as this, kind of like Esther, she's been raised up by God to make a difference in our city as in County Commission and some stuff that she's got coming soon that she's going to be changing around and everything.
SPEAKER_01: And so the reality is that God gives you an arena.
SPEAKER_01: And don't go into arenas you're not supposed to be in.
SPEAKER_01: But God's giving you an arena.
SPEAKER_01: And in that arena, be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Those works will open doors for you.
SPEAKER_01: It might be your neighborhood, it might be the road you live on, it might be your neighbor, it might be your family, it might be your job.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But each one of you have an assignment from God.
SPEAKER_01: And I wish I could just take an hour just on that.
SPEAKER_01: But you have an assignment from God to contend in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And then thirdly, and I want to close it up because I'm running out of time or ran out of time.
SPEAKER_01: Um, number three, God opens doors, first clinging to Jesus, second, contending in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: But then thirdly, and this is really important, consumed with desire.
SPEAKER_01: Consumed with desire, listen, for God's will.
SPEAKER_01: You are consumed with desire for God's will.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are consumed with desire for getting a 72 on the golf course.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are consumed with desire to fly fish every day of your life.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us are consumed with desire to be a millionaire.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us are consumed, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: I could go on with the list, you know, right?
SPEAKER_01: But do you are you consumed with the desire to be in the center of God's will?
SPEAKER_01: Because if you are, God's gonna open incredible doors for you.
SPEAKER_01: You say, well, you know, I never went to seminary, I don't really know the Bible very well.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, it's called cemetery, not seminary.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: I've seen more, I've probably seen more young men buried at seminary than come alive.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to go to cemetery.
SPEAKER_01: Seminary.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: But I'm talking about consumed with the desire wherever you're at, because Zacchaeus was the chief of the publicans.
SPEAKER_01: Zacchaeus, living in Jericho, where all the publicans hung out and had their summer homes, heard that Jesus was coming.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what it says.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
SPEAKER_01: Now, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was the chief tax collector, and he was rich.
SPEAKER_01: And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.
SPEAKER_01: So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way.
SPEAKER_01: And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said, Zacchaeus, make haste.
SPEAKER_01: Come down, for today I must stay at your house.
SPEAKER_01: And so he made haste and he came down and received him joyfully, but when they saw it, they all complained, saying, He's gonna be the guest of the man who's a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, I'll give half of my goods to the poor, and if I've taken anything from anyone but the false accusation, I restore fourfold.
SPEAKER_01: So salvation comes to Zacchaeus because he had a passionate desire to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
SPEAKER_01: Do you guys realize that at that time among the Jews, this guy was hated?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was hated because he ripped off his own people.
SPEAKER_01: He ripped off his own people, and so he was always coming around and snooping around and getting rich off other people's money and taking bribes and stuff like that and stealing the money.
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't even go into the crowd without getting beat up.
SPEAKER_01: But he had such a passionate desire, he made a kind of a fool of himself.
SPEAKER_01: So he climbs up this tree and he looks out, and Jesus, you know what I think Jesus saw?
SPEAKER_01: He didn't see a little man in a tree, like that little song we used to sing in Sunday school, wee little man is a sycamore tree.
SPEAKER_01: You guys remember singing that?
SPEAKER_01: I got so many of those stumb songs that I learned in Sunday school.
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad we don't teach our kids those here.
SPEAKER_01: Those are stupid.
SPEAKER_01: But he wasn't a wee little man in a sycamore tree.
SPEAKER_01: What he saw, guess guess what he saw, gang?
SPEAKER_01: He saw desire.
SPEAKER_01: Remember blind Bartimaeus on the road crying out, and everybody's like, Shut up, man, would you just shut up?
SPEAKER_01: He was like, ah, Jesus, have mercy on me, have mercy on me, ah.
SPEAKER_01: And everybody's like, Shut up, man, shut up.
SPEAKER_01: It's Jesus, man.
SPEAKER_01: This is reverent time.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, ah, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, You're healed, man.
SPEAKER_01: What do you want?
SPEAKER_01: He said, I want to see.
SPEAKER_01: He said, You're okay, you're healed.
SPEAKER_01: God loves passionate desire.
SPEAKER_01: God loves passionate desire for him.
SPEAKER_01: I actually believe God's heart and eyes are drawn to weirdos.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they really are.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're kind of weird, man, you are like, you are set up to be mightily used by God.
SPEAKER_01: But if you have to be, you know, the perfect little saint and have all the little protocol and all that stuff, you know, you could be missing out, man.
SPEAKER_01: And I say, put some desire into it.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, nobody ever gets worked up when everybody's got the beer flowing and the popcorn flowing.
SPEAKER_01: It's a Broncos game.
SPEAKER_01: I know, because I'm at those parties with you guys.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: And oh, that's normal.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you can you imagine everybody, it's Super Bowl time.
SPEAKER_01: And we're all sitting there, we're drinking, we're eating, we're having fun, everybody's having a blast, and everything, ah! And there's just like four people in the corners like.
SPEAKER_01: So who's weird?
SPEAKER_01: There used to be this guy at this other church I was at one time, and and I, you know, there's not many things I hate in life, but one of the things I hate is anybody who sleeps in my sermon.
SPEAKER_01: So I'll just warn you.
SPEAKER_01: And there's this one guy, and he was always three rows back on the right side.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you might have known him, but anyway, yeah, I won't name his name or anything.
SPEAKER_01: And I would never say his name.
SPEAKER_01: But I mean, seriously, I'd get up.
SPEAKER_01: I hadn't even started.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm like, I've gotten, I'm this, I'm I'm like right here, and he's already gone.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: And I remember that time saying, I'm gonna get louder and louder.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna kill this guy.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna kill him.
SPEAKER_01: You know, and he was still sleeping.
SPEAKER_01: I never did win that.
SPEAKER_01: He he won, I lost.
SPEAKER_01: I he but by the way, I would just say this: if you come to church and you sleep, this is a great place to sleep.
SPEAKER_01: We love having sleepers, but there's not many of you.
SPEAKER_01: I've pretty much ruined them.
SPEAKER_01: So you don't sleep.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the deal that God loves desire.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna go into worship right now.
SPEAKER_01: And as we go into worship, be all there.
SPEAKER_01: There's no other time in our week where we get together for the church and worship together.
SPEAKER_01: You can worship alone, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: You can worship as a family, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: But to come together as a body of believers and worship here together, there's something supernatural about it.
SPEAKER_01: It really is.
SPEAKER_01: And God's gonna show up in a mighty way.
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.