WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.120 Well, tonight we're doing something a little different than usual. 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:07.280 I'm swaying off of the Gospel of Mark. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.640 We're only a few weeks away from finishing up Mark. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:16.879 And then we're going into a series in the summer called War. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:20.000 And I'll be talking about spiritual warfare. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:28.559 So I'm going to be talking about what I'm calling strategic frontiers or strategic operations, strategic assaults. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:35.280 We'll be talking about air assault and we'll be talking about ground assault as it relates to spiritual warfare through the summer. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:46.000 So in the past, I've done that in seminars and conferences where I've kind of had to reduce it down to kind of the irreducible minimum. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:59.759 And we've had enough situations within our body, within our city, and people we're ministering to with the road, that we felt it would be beneficial to take the whole church through it. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:16.079 So we'll start with the origins of Satan and demonic angels, where that all began, and then we'll work through down to how we struggle with areas of shame and oppression and strongholds in our own life. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:17.760 All of us have shame. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:25.200 All of us have areas where there's potential for there to be demonic encounters and demonic strongholds. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:26.799 Well, how do you get set free? 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:28.799 How do you break through those barriers? 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:32.000 We're going to talk about all that throughout the summer. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:35.040 And then in most cases, I'm going to make QA. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:43.760 So there'll be a QA time after each sermon for anybody who has questions and if seems appropriate to answer that, or I can say, well, next week we're going to cover that. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:44.959 We'll do a QA. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:51.840 So it's really going to be a great summer in regards to this area of war and the fact that all of you are in war. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:53.439 Has anybody figured that out yet? 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:59.519 I mean, it's amazing to me how many believers are clueless on the battle. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.799 And they're just getting taken out, especially men. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:10.319 Men, you guys are getting taken out all the time because you're not aware that you actually are in a battle and you're in a fight. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:22.879 Tonight, though, I want to talk about the road, the church that you're actually a part of right now, and that you've entered into by coming into the sanctuary tonight. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:31.520 We've been doing these things called roadmaps, and we felt like so many people haven't been through the roadmap that we would just do it again. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:40.560 And we're going to do it as a series here right now, tonight, just this one time, with what I'm calling God's opus, the road. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:44.719 There's two ways to look at church. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:50.879 One is through the eyes of the people, and the other is to look at it as an organization. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:57.840 And too many times it becomes a spreadsheet or it becomes a building. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:04.960 Like even tonight, I said to a group of girls that were over at my house that were playing with my daughter, we're now going to church. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:10.159 Now I wish I'd said that 30 minutes before because I waited outside in my truck for 20 minutes. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:16.000 So I said it, you know, church like it's a building. 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:18.240 We're the church. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:27.840 And we often might even think of it as in terms of the church being both an organization and an organism. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:37.360 The problem with that distinction is that we tend as Americans to go toward and think toward organization almost like it's a spreadsheet. 00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.080 So I'm using a term called opus. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:42.080 Let me give you a definition. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:44.159 I think it's on your notes for opus. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:53.120 A musical composition or set of compositions by a particular composer. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:04:00.319 Any artistic work, work of art, creative work. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:12.159 Jesus said in Matthew 16, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:19.600 And I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:23.680 Isn't it interesting that Jesus is building his church? 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:30.240 It's the church could arguably be said to be the magnum opus of God. 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:32.240 And so I have two pictures up here. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:39.279 And when we were starting the road about 11 months ago, we went into 40 nights of prayer. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:44.879 And during that 40 nights, people gave me some stuff, and one of them was this picture. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:56.800 This was given to me by someone here in the road, and it is a picture of a grassy kind of dirt road, and it says journey. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.000 Then someone else gave me this. 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:04.800 This is a photograph, also, and it says, Let's start the journey. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:06.160 And someone took a picture. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:14.720 I thought it looked like that road in Forest Gump when he was running down the road there and decided he was going to stop. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:16.720 That was a great part of the movie, wasn't it? 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:19.279 Just it's like a total with hairs all grown out and everything. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:20.000 Everybody's following. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:24.160 All the hippies of the 1960s and 70s are following him. 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:29.199 And so I brought these up because to me this is more of a picture of an opus. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:31.040 These are photographs. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:35.920 My son Samuel, who won state in piano today. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.240 Samuel, I grabbed this off of your piano. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:46.000 Chopin pieces, complete preludes. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:46.800 And what do you say? 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:47.920 Is it etudes? 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:48.879 Etudes? 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:52.720 Okay, of Chopin that he is working on. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:06:06.879 And I opened it up, and you'll see prelude in C major, and then it's OP28 number one, and going all the way down, you'll see the numbers with the OP, and that is an abbreviation for opus. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.439 The plural of opus is actually opera. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:24.480 And the reason I like this better than thinking in terms of an organism and organization is because it's a master's work of creativity and beauty. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:29.360 When my son plays the piano, it's beautiful. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:50.720 Some of you are artists, and when you paint, you bring your mind and your heart into this work on a canvas that expresses your heart in a creative form that's different in every part of the whole picture. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:58.160 And so you look at Chopin when he was writing these works, and it's super complex. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:04.240 This to me is a better picture of the church than anything else. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:17.360 Because it brings forth the creativity of the master, Jesus Christ, in a creative work of which I'm looking out right now and it's really colorful. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:23.680 I mean, so many of you are wearing different colors, and some of you have sparkles on your shirts. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:30.480 Hopefully, there's no guys with sparkles, but some of the ladies have sparkles on their on their blouses and on their shirts. 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:40.079 Some of you have dark hair, some of you have gray hair, some of you are wearing glasses, some of you have had LASIK surgery, like me, and you don't have to wear glasses anymore. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:44.000 Some of you are bald and the light is shining off your head. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:47.360 But you're all creative works of art. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:55.040 And so this opus that is made up of each of us creating the image of God coming together corporally is the church. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:01.920 And too many times we see the church by numbers or by giving or by a building. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:04.480 And it's an inaccurate, incorrect view. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:11.120 There's no images in the New Testament that describe the church as a business. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:15.920 It's a work of art. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:25.439 It is the creativity of all of us coming together into this mosaic, this rainbow of colors and different expressions. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:32.960 And so I'm kind of a mini composer by being the pastor teacher. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:34.720 I get to be a composer. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:37.600 In a sense, I'm not even the leader. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:38.960 He's the leader. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:45.759 Jesus is the chief shepherd, and I'm an under-shepherd, but in a way, I've kind of got my composing sticks. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:53.519 And so we compose, and like earlier, before the service, a bunch of men were over here praying. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:57.200 And then the worship team had just been practicing. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:01.840 And if you put me on the worship team, it'd be a disaster. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:03.600 But I can pray. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:13.200 And then, and then out in the lobby when I first came in, all these different groups of people, young people, women, men, were meeting. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.679 It looked like they might be having D groups and stuff like that. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:21.840 But there was this mosaic of color and vision and creativity and artistry. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:24.960 That's the opus of God. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:42.559 And to the extent that we tap into that is the extent that we then get to experience God's opus in our hearts by being around these other works of art that God calls people, that are called men and women created in the image of God. 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:46.000 And that's really what the road is all about. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:51.759 So during that 40 nights of prayer, God gave us a theme. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:10:00.720 A theme for the opus of God, the road, of building wholehearted disciples of Jesus. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:02.080 That's our purpose. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:13.039 That's why we're here is listen to build children, to build young people, to build men, to build women, and to being disciples of Jesus. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:18.159 Not just Jesus' followers, but Jesus' disciples. 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:20.960 And we got that from Jesus. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:44.799 So turn in your Bibles to Matthew 28, the last words that Matthew recorded of Jesus, and I believe they probably were the last words of Jesus, his last injunction to his opus that was waiting on him. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:46.080 They weren't sure what to do. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:49.840 By the way, are any of y'all watching AD on TV? 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:51.440 Is that NBC? 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:52.960 Is it NBC? 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:53.759 NBC. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:56.320 Man, I'd highly encourage that. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.759 Romy Downey and her husband produced it. 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:01.759 It's excellent on the early church. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:03.679 And everything, we've seen the first three. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:08.559 I think we've still got one in our in our recording that we haven't looked at yet. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:20.559 But anyway, in Matthew 28, Jesus, knowing that he was leaving, gave these words, verse 18, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:35.600 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you, and lo, I'm with you always, even until the end of the age. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:37.279 That's the last command of Jesus. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:42.240 That's the command to the church to build disciples. 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:48.399 Well, Jesus made it his focus to go after men. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:50.320 Now, women, I love you. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:51.759 I think you're beautiful. 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:54.159 You're definitely more beautiful than the men in this room. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:12:04.000 But the reality is that Jesus chose to go after men, and one of the objectives in this magnum opus called the road is to build men. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:06.320 And to build women too. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:14.080 But I found that if we're not intentional about men, the men won't get discipled. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:17.600 And so Jesus made it his objective to build men. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:22.080 I want you to write down something on your, I don't know, I forget what's on your notes and what's not. 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:23.919 Do you have one, three, twelve? 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:25.360 Is that in your notes? 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:30.960 I want you to write along the side one, and then underneath one, write three. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:33.919 Underneath three, write twelve. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:36.799 Underneath 12, write 120. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:39.279 And under 120, write 3,000. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:43.279 So 1, 3, 12, 120, 3,000. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:47.360 1. 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:49.679 The power of 1. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:55.440 I think didn't army have that as a slogan for a while, you know, the power of one. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:00.639 When I say one, I'm speaking of intimacy with Christ. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:03.200 It all starts there. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:13.440 We believe that Christ came to set your heart free, and only he can set it free. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:20.320 And your relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important thing in your life. 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:22.799 How many of you have your bookmarks with you? 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:23.919 The P B and J. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:24.639 Just raise that up. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.279 Everybody just grab their bookmark and raise that up. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:29.440 Okay, so pick that up. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:30.720 Everybody look around. 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:32.240 Those are our P B and J. 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:34.399 Those are our bookmarks for the road. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:45.279 Those are designed that every day of the month you have a passage that everybody in the church is reading that you can start having P, B, and J. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:48.240 So I brought my weather journal with me. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:49.600 This is my favorite journal. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:50.639 I like this journal. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:56.000 And it's got a long string on it, so I can attach it to myself and go and drag it wherever I go. 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:00.559 Like Napoleon dynamite with a little soldier hanging out of a bus in the back. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:03.600 No, this actually wraps around my Bible. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:05.360 So I do it like this. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:06.639 You can see. 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:09.679 I take my Bible, I stick it in like that. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:20.080 I've got my pen, and then I can loop it up, kind of the old book style, kind of the way it used to be in America, I think in the 19th turn of the century, kids would carry their books this way. 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:26.720 But I've always got my journal, and I've got an insert that goes in the journal for when I fill that up. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:37.440 And so it's called P, B, and J, Prayer Bible, Journal, Prayer Bible Journal, Prayer Bible Journal, Prayer Bible Journal, Prayer Bible Journal. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:38.399 Yeah. 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:40.639 And that's how we grow. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:15:08.720 I don't care how anointed you are, I don't care how gifted you are, just like we read in 1 Corinthians 13, you can prophesy, you can preach the gospel, but if you're not spending, on most days, I don't think it's, I don't even think it's possible every day, but on most days, spending time in God's Word, writing what He's saying to you in your journal, and spending time in prayer, you will dry up and die spiritually. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:22.879 You are not made, your body and your heart especially and your spirit is not made to withstand the warfare that we have in this world without getting refilled with Jesus on a regular basis. 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:26.480 To have the filling and the power of God working in your life. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:37.200 And I've known evangelists, I've known pastors and leaders of major organizations that do not regularly have time in the word and eventually they burn out. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:49.200 And I don't, and no counselor is worth his salt to me if the first thing he doesn't delve into in his counseling with a believer is how's your relationship with the Lord? 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:51.039 It all starts there. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:58.639 We can learn all the communication skills we want, we can learn all the different ways to handle our finances in marriage. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:06.639 But if we're not having regular time in the word as a married couple, what happens is you start to just suck the life out of your partner. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:14.000 Because you expect your partner to provide something they're not created to provide that only God can. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:21.279 And so as we're growing in our relationship with God and spending time with him, our hearts come alive. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:26.240 We experience the freedom for which Christ set us free, Galatians 5, 1. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:29.120 That freedom comes as we spend time with Him. 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:30.240 So that's one. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:31.200 Now, three. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:33.039 I wrote, had you write three. 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:34.639 I want you to write next to that. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:36.159 Peter, James, and John. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:38.399 Peter, James, and John. 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:45.759 Jesus, though he had 12 disciples, had three guys that were kind of his best friends. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:47.919 They had a relationship with each other. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:17:04.799 Do you have three men, three women in your life, men with men, women with women, that know you, that care about your heart, that care about your spiritual life. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:10.720 Not just hunting and fishing together, not just going to coffee together, but that's great too. 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:11.279 Have that. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.400 But do you have three, and I'm going to use the word allies. 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:18.319 Do you have three allies that will battle for your heart? 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:23.359 Men, you need three men in your life that will battle for your heart. 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:29.680 Women, you need three women in your life that will battle for your heart that you can be vulnerable with, that you can be honest with. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:33.119 They know pretty much everything about you. 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:34.880 Gotta have that. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:37.200 Jesus needed that. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:39.759 Jesus needed that. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.319 How much more do we need that? 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:47.279 And so we call those D groups, discipleship groups here at the road. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:54.319 Ours are more like three or four, sometimes five, six, I found is a little bit big, a little bit too large. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:18:00.400 But you need, you need three to four guys in your life that you're meeting with regularly. 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:02.079 And that's how we use the P B and J. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:05.119 We use that bookmark to follow our D groups. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:08.000 Well then Jesus had 12. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:20.559 So then he had 12 men that he poured into, and that's getting larger, and now there's maybe not quite as much intimacy, but there's still a relationship of accountability and love. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:24.079 And we call that a C group, a community group. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:26.480 We have 11 C groups right now. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:36.880 And these are more like husbands and wives coming together, or young couples coming together, or young people who are unmarried coming together. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:44.000 It's these groups, they're multi-age, they're multi-ethnic, they're multi uh they're multi. 00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:49.519 And so people coming together in that kind of a frame of reference, that's the 12. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:51.440 Then 120. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:59.680 So when Jesus made the pronouncement we just read, probably, we don't know for sure, but possibly there were 120 there. 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:09.920 So the women and the men who'd been following Jesus to the end were there, and that formed the nucleus of this group of people that were up in the upper room. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:12.400 And a couple weeks ago in AD, they showed that. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:18.880 They kind of had a cool scene with the clouds parting and the fire coming down and the fire circling and everybody speaking in tongues. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:20.319 It's a really cool scene. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:23.759 Um, but 120, that's the church. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:30.720 Now we're already bigger than that, but the reality is that that represents the early church. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:37.119 Well, then God came, he filled this group of 120 with the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:40.640 Peter went out, preached, and suddenly they had 3,000. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:44.000 And here's what's unique about that, and this is bothering me just a second. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:48.799 I didn't set it right. 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:51.519 There we go. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:53.920 3,000 were saved. 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:58.880 What's most interesting about that in Acts chapter 2 is they came from all over the world. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:03.839 They came from all over the Mediterranean area where there were Jews and proselytes at that time. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:06.640 That represents the worldwide church. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:09.839 Do you realize you're part of a big family? 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:21.039 Men and women, listen, if you go to China today, let's say you're going there to teach English, and you start asking some questions, you're gonna find believers in China. 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:28.400 If you go to Papua New Guinea and you're doing something in Papua New Guinea, and you ask around, you will find a church in Papua New Guinea. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:37.279 Anywhere you go in the world, you'll probably find a fellowship of believers, and they'll welcome you. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:39.039 They will welcome you. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:50.160 I've been to 30 nations of the world, and every Christian I've ever met just rolled out the red carpet with love and affection and grace and goodness and care. 00:20:51.200 --> 00:21:03.599 You're part of this, you're you're a part of this local congregation, but you're a part of a worldwide congregation that loves you and accepts you until you do something really dumb in their fellowship, they just think you're great. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:05.119 They really do. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:10.079 And so that's part of the strategy, that's the strategic thinking of Jesus. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:15.119 Was one, three, twelve, one twenty, three, we need to be a part of all of that. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:21.680 And even as we hear from Victor next Saturday, he's he's coming from that perspective of the three thousand. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:29.680 He's coming in from what's happening with believers in Iraq that are a part of our fellowship. 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:34.000 In one sense, that we are part of that same body of Christ with them. 00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:36.960 I mentioned that we're targeting men. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:39.039 Listen to these statistics. 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:49.279 Five out of six men in the United States call themselves Christians, but two out of six go to church. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:59.680 Sixty one per nationwide is made up of women, and three out of four married women attend church alone. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:05.920 So if you're here with your husband, you are blessed. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:08.160 You are mightily blessed. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:12.799 Because most men are dropping out a wall with their faith. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:14.319 So we're targeting men. 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:19.440 So this Saturday, Victor's gonna open up our first men's breakfast. 00:22:19.839 --> 00:22:24.559 And then September, guys, write this down, September 10th through the 13th. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:27.759 September 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:32.319 We're having our first, we're not, we don't use the word retreat here. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:34.240 We use the word advance. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:41.279 We're having a men's advance, and we'll be letting you know about it at the men's breakfast. 00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:44.880 It's called Whole Heart Advance, September 10th through the 13th. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:49.119 I'm saying it here because I want to make sure the women hear it. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:52.799 Women, you have permission. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:55.759 This is the only time I give you permission to be a nag. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.559 The only time you can be a nag is to get your husband to this retreat in September. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:01.440 It's gonna be awesome. 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:04.160 It's gonna be a Thursday night to a Sunday afternoon. 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:06.880 It's gonna be really, really fun. 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:08.799 So that's the theme. 00:23:09.279 --> 00:23:15.920 The theme, the opus of the road is building wholehearted disciples. 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:30.720 Right now, just below us, Billy and Liz and their team, with Jay as the Apostle Peter, are discipling your kids. 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:33.920 Your kids are going to love these classes. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:37.359 There's going to be characters like this every week. 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:39.680 Themes will change. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:42.400 Particular themes right now are prophecy. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:46.079 That's what they're going over for the month of April is prophecy. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:48.799 And then what is it in May? 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:49.839 Who knows? 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:51.920 What's the theme in May? 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:54.000 Oh, the reliability of the Bible. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:56.000 Okay, reliability of the Bible. 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:59.279 And I think they're also doing a thing on Worldview, right, Linda? 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:01.680 With uh Paul. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:03.359 I think Paul's coming in. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:04.960 Paul Austin's coming in with that. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:06.240 So that's our theme. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:07.279 Thesis. 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:12.319 Thesis of the opus of God, the values of the road. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:18.079 Now there's a lot of them here, so I'm going to go through these really quick, and then you guys can read this later. 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:19.200 I'll read it to you. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:21.440 And if I want to comment on something, I will. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:24.799 But first is discipleship, and I already covered that. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:26.079 Transparency. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:36.960 We openly face and embrace the wilderness, darkness, and shame of our life and place it under the cross and love of Christ. 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:46.960 In my D group, we went through a lot together, us men in our D group this year, with some with some pretty pretty bad stuff. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:52.640 Pretty heart-wrenching stuff, but we hung in there together and we walked through it together. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:54.799 And so we value transparency. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:56.400 Number three, community. 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:05.599 We value gathering, enjoying, and hanging out together as wild, wholehearted, joyful lovers of God and each other. 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:08.880 And you just have to ask some people around what that all means. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:10.240 Four, men. 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:18.240 We value the building up of men of God who will develop into servant leaders at work, in the home, and in the church. 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:21.440 If I was rewriting this, I might say warriors. 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:23.519 Building warriors. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:25.680 Warriors who go into their jobs. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:29.680 Do you men and women know that God has an assignment? 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:32.079 Sometimes we talk about the assignment of the enemy. 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.240 Do you know there's an assignment from God? 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:38.960 Every one of you in this room has an assignment from God. 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:57.680 I mean, some of you are engineers, some of you are mechanics, some of you are school teachers, some of you are stay-at-home moms, some of you homeschool your kids, some of you drop your kids off at school, some of you are lawyers, some of you are doctors. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:03.839 We have an assignment from God to be a warrior in that environment. 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:04.880 It's from God. 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:06.799 Nobody can do it like you can. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:18.160 You're a work of art by God, given a brush, to paint the beauty and the love and the grace of God where you work and what you do. 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:21.119 And so it's an assignment from the Lord. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:22.319 Number five, word. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:28.640 We value the whole counsel of God through expositional preaching of God's word, chapter by chapter and verse by verse. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:33.279 So normally we are going chapter by chapter and verse by verse through the Bible. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:34.559 Holy Spirit. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:48.240 We value the Holy Spirit's power to change and transform lives through conversion, conviction of sin, sanctification, empowerment for ministry, and the ongoing work of God on the earth. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:53.279 Men and women, we can't live the Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:57.279 Impossible without surrendering to Him. 00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:04.400 And so we are always growing and learning how to be surrendered to the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:05.279 Prayer. 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:13.759 We value the power, contemplation, and life-transforming nature of deep prayer in knowing and loving God and changing the world. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.119 Now that that's going to be an interesting concept in the years to come. 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.839 I can't wait to teach on it when it's the appropriate time. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:26.400 You know, there's a prayer that involves the edification of our own hearts. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:32.720 But there's also a prayer that's very, that's very intentional in warfare. 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:33.839 Do you realize that? 00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:37.920 Sometimes when you pray, it's about your relationship with the Lord. 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:42.079 But sometimes you come into prayer, and it's not about your relationship with the Lord. 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:45.359 It's about God changing structures. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:48.720 It's about God pulling down strongholds. 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:56.720 If you'd have been over here in our prayer time with about 15 men here before the service, it was not about our relationship with the Lord. 00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:58.799 It was warfare prayer. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:05.920 It was crying out to God that when we come tonight, the power of God would show up in our lives. 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:16.880 That people that come tonight who don't know Jesus Christ as their personal, intimate, dynamic, loving Lord and Savior, they would come to know him tonight. 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:26.880 For some of us that come and we're just overwhelmed with shame and brokenness, that God would begin to reveal that tonight. 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:32.480 Because we were praying against an enemy as much as we were praying to God. 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:35.279 That leads into number eight, war. 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:42.880 We believe we were created for spiritual warfare, to fight against Satan and demons and gaining victory for the church in the cause of Christ. 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:50.319 Beloved, we value all people as beloved, created in the image of God, whether a Jesus disciple or not. 00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:51.680 Finances. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:29:03.839 We value wise use of all finances by not going into debt, but trusting God to provide for all of our needs, enabling us to give generously to the mission of changing lives and expanding the kingdom of God on earth. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:08.720 So 10% of all the giving that happens here at the road goes out to missions. 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:14.319 And so we have missionaries that we currently financially support. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:18.400 But we also have some stuff coming, and we'll unveil that in the fall. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:30.319 But there's something coming that I've learned about in LA that I'd like to bring here that's going to relate to a ministry here in the city that's going to be very, very powerful. 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:34.640 We're here at this church on Saturday night. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:37.599 I mean, we could probably double our church if we went to Sunday morning. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:42.799 But right now, God's called us to Saturday night here at this facility, and it's very economical. 00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:45.920 It's a blessing to Chapel Hills Church, and it's a blessing to us. 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:51.839 And so I want to just say hats off to all of you that are here on a Saturday night, because I know some of that's really hard. 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:52.960 I know it is for us. 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:57.440 We've got kids who do piano, we have kids who do gymnastics, we have kids who do baseball. 00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:06.000 And so there's a lot of people on these teams that help us out by driving, and Josh is going to get dropped off here because of his second game at 3 o'clock today. 00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:08.319 I got to go to the first one, but I missed the second one. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:16.559 But that's what God's called us to do, and it's financially really a good situation so we can be generous with our finances by doing it that way. 00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:19.920 Unity, I'll cover that in a moment. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:20.799 Beauty. 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:28.960 We value beauty and creativity in all its various forms, whether in forms of art and worship, website, or structures we build. 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:33.279 Now, we built a website, and it's not like a church website. 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:36.400 Um, because I wanted to do it different. 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:40.960 And so, and so if you go to most websites, you've got all the announcements kind of flipping through. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:42.079 I think that's really cool. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:46.720 But I wanted something that when you came there, it just kind of caught your eye as something beautiful. 00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:49.759 And so, you know how we got the road and we got that mountain scene. 00:30:49.839 --> 00:30:50.480 I love that. 00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:51.920 Um, that is just so cool. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:53.920 And we'll be switching that out every once in a while. 00:30:54.240 --> 00:30:57.920 But I, man, we love beauty around here. 00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:05.599 And we're still thinking this through, but I think there's gotta be a, there's gotta be a venue in the church for artists. 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:13.599 I mean, why does, you know, why does it seem that the kind of junk, I mean, I get Time magazine. 00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:17.119 My dad pays for it, I don't pay for it. 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:17.599 Okay. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.279 But I get Time magazine because I kind of want to know what's going on and everything. 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:24.319 And seriously, they have a, I've never seen this before. 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:25.839 It's only happened the last couple years. 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:30.480 Culture and art is like a third of the magazine now. 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:33.039 It was like three pages years ago, it's now a third. 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:36.000 I mean, more stuff on culture and art. 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:44.640 Church, do you realize that what moves nations is musicians, artists, and poets. 00:31:45.279 --> 00:31:45.920 Proven. 00:31:46.559 --> 00:31:48.000 Again and again. 00:31:48.319 --> 00:32:00.240 Philosophers, musicians, poets, men who write, writers, that's what moves the hearts of nations. 00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:05.839 And so you look at any nation and you look at how it was built. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:13.039 It was built by artists, it was built by musicians, it was built by writers, it was built by philosophers. 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:18.799 Do you realize the Puritans and the pilgrims and the separatists, they wrote stuff. 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:22.240 They wrote a thing called the Constitution. 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:29.519 And they influenced and they impacted and they and they made an indelible mark that we're losing. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.880 We're losing the foundations of our nation. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:40.960 We need artists, we need believers that are musicians, we need writers. 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:43.839 That's beauty. 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:49.759 The right beautiful works of art that impact the hearts and minds of our young people. 00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:51.920 Beauty. 00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:52.880 Home. 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:58.240 Most valuable institution of a nation is the home. 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:04.720 We value the home as the foundation of society and the first place for living out our discipleship. 00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:08.720 If you don't live it out at home, you lose. 00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:13.759 If you don't live it out at home, you lose. 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:16.240 And so we start there, don't we? 00:33:17.519 --> 00:33:18.799 Building the home. 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:21.279 And then lastly, spiritual disciplines. 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:30.880 We value abiding in Christ through the disciplines of prayer and fasting, biblical meditation, solitude, retreat, and Sabbath rest. 00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:35.200 Really, John 15, I put that there because that's the abiding in Christ. 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:38.640