Ministering to God: The Foundation of Every Believer | Valuing His Presence

Before we're called to minister to others, we're first invited to minister to the Lord.

In this episode of the Sozo Kyle Podcast, we continue our Valuing His Presence series by exploring what it means to become people who genuinely host the presence of God. Through Scripture, stories of revival, and the example of the woman who poured out her worship at Jesus' feet, we discover that intimacy with God is the source of every fruitful ministry.

Whether you're hungry for revival, longing to deepen your prayer life, or simply want to know Jesus more intimately, this conversation will encourage you to return to your first love.

In this episode:

• Why the Church is called to be a house of prayer
• Ministering to God before ministering to people
• The connection between worship, prayer, and revival
• Rediscovering first love for Jesus
• Living a life marked by God's presence

Thank you for listening to the Sozo Kyle Podcast. If today's message encouraged you, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who wants to grow in God's presence.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You are listening to the Sozokyle Church Podcast. To learn more about Sozo Kyle Church, including our gathering times in the Kyle area, visit us online at sozoktx.com. Today's talk comes from Pastor Chris Ball.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Been feeling that we need to lean in to the idea of valuing the presence of the Lord. And so we've been camping out there. Um, by the way, Steve and Lisa are here tonight, and I just saw your smiling face there. Some patriarchs in the region. Um, glad you guys dropped in. I I know I'm I'm all over the place. One of the there's a number of reasons that got I feel like me confident enough to jump into this project of church planning. And uh Steve and Lisa are part of that reasoning. Um got attached to these guys and just feel the pull, the magnetic pull of what you guys have done in this area. And it's like, man, we've got we've got good shoulders to stand on, and then here you are supporting us, and that's awesome. Yeah, that's really cool. That's worth worth a hand clap for sure. Yep. And then Andra's here, and I'm so glad you're here, Andra. I used to work with Andra um previously at a church, and so to have you here is a delight too. Okay, I'm back on task. So valuing the presence of the Lord um is something that you want to really lead your life and not just be something you say. It takes intentionality to condition yourself to be a person and to be a group of people who say we we really do like high mark level value, the presence of God leading us, talking to us, giving a chance to obey where we feel his lead. And and there's different facets of that. And so the one that I wanted to direct kind of our attention to tonight is this idea of ministering to the Lord. So when you think of ministry, it's well described to say uh meeting the needs of an of somebody who has a need. For instance, somebody who is uh the minister of defense of a country, they have tools and a team and funding and resources to defend the nation uh because that's a need. So they're the they're to minister defense to the nation. So that makes some sense. Um when you think about ministry, you think about the church and people saying, um, I I have a need, um, I have a financial need, I have a uh a shirtbroken need, I have um parenting need, I mean, I have needs. And so the church comes around and we minister to each other and we help meet those needs and we we lean in, and so that all makes sense. So this idea of, well, then what what is ministering to the Lord looks like when the Lord doesn't have needs? He has everything, he is everything. He he doesn't need anything. So how am I, little I, going to minister to big God who has everything? And the revelation of it all is to realize that, yeah, little you actually moves the heart of God with your life, with your worship, with your sacrifice. And if you can really get a hold of that, you realize that you have the opportunity of all opportunities to be a creation who gets to minister love and affection in a way that it actually moves the one who created you. That that's wild, and that's worth leaning into. Um, it was uh 120 in the upper room in Acts chapter 2 that were waiting on the promise that Jesus said he would send his spirit, and it came, he came, the spirit came, and he's not an it, he's a he, he's a person, and birthed the church. And I believe that God is still creating moments like that, spaces like that for his presence to come and vision to be birthed and kingdom to go forward. Like it's not just, oh, the Spirit came once upon a time in the upper room in Acts chapter 2 for the church to be birthed, wish I was a part of that. No, there's still moments that are fresh and ripe today, like acquaintances five feet in front of you whose shoulders don't work anymore, for the presence of God to come and birth a moment. And so realizing that those are your opportunities when the spirit comes and highlights an opportunity, a moment, a person, you get to minister with and to the Lord by being his his hands, his feet, his mouthpiece, his hope, let hope in. Um it's it's incredible. And so there's something really interesting in the last chapter of the book of Ezekiel that I thought we'd highlight. Uh Ezekiel's kind of this gnarly book in the Old Testament, uh, but at the end of it, he starts prophesying of a coming city. Some theologians think it's a millennial temple, a coming city, but uh he's describing the the intricacies of really the city of God, the new order of worship, the temple dimensions, a river that flows from the temple and has trees growing and the leaves are for healing. I gets this radiant picture of the of the city of God. And the last verse in the whole book is really interesting. Uh if Ezekiel had been kind of laying out like the Google map of the city, um, then you know you get to this place where he's gonna describe the name now of the city. So you have all these details of this place, and it's kind of this wild read. And then he says, but here's what all this is actually to be called. And the name, it's a Hebrew name, I won't try to pronounce it, but it means the Lord is there. That's the name of the city. The Lord is there. And the name of the city from that time on, verse 35, will be the Lord is there. Then I think that that's really the mark of the church. That where the church is, you could name that place the Lord is there. That's a place where God's presence is. And uh you want it to be said about your life. You want it to be said, like, hey, what do you know about that little church startup that calls itself Sozo Kyle but really meets in beautiful? And they city confused. You're like, what do you know? I don't know much yet, but I know that the Lord is there. I know that the like, like let that be the name of what you're up to and what you're involved with, even in your job. You know, it's like that's the place I go, and we could just might as well name it the Lord is there. It's just the baseball field, and it's just where the parents, you know, gather and the team huddles together, but it's a place where the Lord is there. Like I'm I'm conditioned to see it as that, to call it that, to partner with it as that. Um I think that's the response we have to his presence. And so if I could just encourage us as a church, valuing his spirit, his presence, to look, to be on the lookout, to create, to help create spaces and places for his spirit to come where people would say, My word, I encountered the Lord. He was there. That that was real. There was a real moment of encounter, and I felt God's touch, I experienced his goodness. Um, and I believe there's, yeah, just a mandate in our city for his zeal to be known. You think about zeal, like the passion of God to be known. I think God's a passionate God. He's not apathetic, he's not indifferent, he's not like, huh, created all this and tired from it, and so we'll see what happens, arms folded, but like real zeal for people, for missions, for projects, for kingdom advancement, advancing the kingdom. Like he's zealous for it. I think it's the mandate of the church to say, we're gonna let those places be known. Let his zeal be known. And I believe that he wants to captivate us all over again with his zealous beauty, his splendor. Natalie and I uh were in Mexico. Um I kept my bag packed, and she's like, unpack your bag. I'm like, I'm not, because I'm going back. I'm like, it was so amazing. I don't want to if I unpack it, the the trip is over. Um, one of the things I was so enamored with was uh I know, I know, I'm holding on. The memories are still fresh enough that it feels like I'm there. Um was the like the vegetation in the landscape was immaculate. They kept such pristine care of, and it was like desert stuff, like they had cactuses, and I'm like, the cactus is beautiful. Um, there was coconuts falling from the palm trees, and they'd lop off the top and stick a straw down in it and serve it to you. Here, drink the coconut milk. I'm like, yes, absolutely. I need to hydrate today anyway. Um, and I've just yeah, been thinking about a refreshment of his beauty, like even convicted about my own lawn. I'm like, I this needs to reflect the beauty of the Lord. I don't have to spend every dollar I got on it, but might as well, you know, keep the weeds down in the grass cut and a little edging on it because it's a it's a small part of me saying, God, I want to partner with your beauty in the city that I live in, in the place that I'm in. And so I have a conviction that God's called us here and planted us in our lives here. Some of you guys are old vets, you've been here a long time. Others of you are moved in. Nevertheless, God's positioned you here, He's planted you here to minister to him and to others. And I believe that we best minister to others when we first minister to him. So, this idea about ministering to the Lord, I think positions you well best for your kingdom calling, whatever that is, whatever God's called you to, you're gonna do it best as you actually minister to Jesus. Because you minister to his heart, his face. And so, what does it mean to do that? Uh, 2 Kings 7 has a story that I think is interesting about four lepers that live in a time when Israel is surrounded by Samaria and the supply chain is cut off into the city. And so it's been like this for a bit of time and it's gotten real bad. In fact, there it describes some things. Um, a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver. I've never eaten a donkey's head. I'm pretty sure there's not a lot of meat on it, and that's probably a spike in cost because the supply and demand and e-economics majors in here, those things need to be congruent, they need to match. And so if the uh supply is way down here and there's high demand, then you're gonna get donkey's head for s for 80 shekels of silver. How about this one? Uh, Dove's dung. It says it, it's the Bible. Sold for five seckles of sh shekels of silver. Careful. Um so the story is that they're starving inside the city, and the king passes by of Israel, who's obviously not thrilled about the condition of his kingdom being captivated and um being limited. And so he hears these two women arguing, and one of them uh pulls him aside as he's like, Well, what's the problem? And she said, Well, the problem is what just happened yesterday. What happened yesterday was me and this woman, she said, Hey, let's kill your son and we'll eat him today, and then tomorrow we'll kill my son and we'll eat him tomorrow. So we boiled my son and we ate him, and now here's today, and she won't make good on the promise. So we got us a real problem. And so this obviously breaks the king's heart. Um, and uh, super sad about it. Elisha, the man of God, shows up at the beginning here of chapter seven, and he says in verse one, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says about this time tomorrow, a siya, which is a measurement of dry grain, of the finest flour, which now you're like, okay, now we can actually get on board with selling some stuff for some shekels of silver that we can actually eat. Flour, we can make something out of that. It says it'll sell for just a shekel. That's more reasonable, and two sias of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria, this time tomorrow. And so, in essence, Elisha is saying that the supply that is low and the demand that it's high, it's going to be met by tomorrow. Um, what hasn't been able to be will be met. And so the next verse, the officer on whose arm the king was leaning, said to the man of God, to Elisha, Look, bro, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen by tomorrow? And Elisha says, You will actually see it happen with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it, because he's speaking the king's servant's death, because he didn't believe. You might try believing, actually, the word of the Lord, rather than doubting it. And then verse three is really why I want to highlight this story. This is where the four lepers come in. They're outside the city because they're lepers and they can't be inside the city. And one of the lepers says to the other, Now, um, yeah, there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate, and they said to the other one, Why stay here until we die? Why would we stay here? Because obviously we're gonna die if we stay outside the city gate. Can't go inside the city gate for two reasons. One, they won't let us, and two, there's nothing to eat in there anyway. So why would we stay here and die? It's a really good question. And verse four, if we say we'll go into the city, the famine's there and we'll die. If we stay here, we'll die. So let's do this. Let's go over to the camp of the Aramians, Arameans, and surrender. If they spare us, we live, because they've got food. If they don't spare us, then they kill us, we're as good as dead here anyway. So you see the reasoning. So this question, why do we sit here until we die in this plight that we're in? The question like that is really where the vision is birthed for breakthrough. I can't stay where I'm at. I believe there's tension right now in maybe some of the people of God's hearts that this can't be all there is. There's gotta be more. God, there's been promises, people are coming, I see hungry hearts around me. This can't be how it ends. This can't be enough. I believe like it's that kind of tension, like this holy there's gotta be more, that actually is the seed bed for promise to be planted in. For yes, there's a way, there's more coming, there's another opportunity. And so the question is rolling around inside. Um, you actually, I think are uh causes for you to move, for you to not sit here. For for when you say, I think there's got to be more there for your kids, for your loved ones, for your friends, for for somebody that you've seen and observed, you're like, I think there's more for them. That holy tension is good. It it's it's on purpose. Um I'll highlight this to you. Jeremiah Lampier, in the 1800s, so going back in time, doing a little history with you, is largely responsible for uh the revival that broke out in the United States um 1857 through 1859. So he lives in New York City, he's frustrated with the condition of people in New York. Maybe we've come full circle. And he says, um, this can't be right, I have to do something about this. So he prints up some pamphlets and he passes out some pamphlets to come to a prayer meeting in uh Manhattan uh at noon. And they got this church, the Fulton something, Fulton Street Church, which as I understand is still there to this day, so that would be worth a visit. And he comes in, got the place reserved, sits down, 30 minutes go by, and it's just Jeremiah. Nobody else shows up. And then after 30 minutes, five other people trickle in and finish out the last 30 minutes of the prayer meeting. And so now there's six of them. And so uh that's week one. The next week, the original six show back up, and thirty-four other people show up also, totaling forty people. Forty people come to a prayer meeting to pray, oh God, this can't be all there is in New York City. There's got to be more, more opportunity. After that second week, a financial downturn hits Manhattan and businesses tank and plummet. And now, let me get my number right here. There are uh over 200 people that show up on week three to the prayer meeting because they're all flipping out. What are we gonna do? Oh my. Isn't it interesting how sometimes when the bottom drops out, there's a turn towards God for hope. Let hope in. And so after a few weeks of these prayer meetings, that number turns into 10,000. People in Manhattan, New York praying that the condition of the city be changed, be turned over. Um as the people came, the Holy Spirit showed up and it stretched down the eastern seaboard to other places in America. And I think one of the most interesting parts is that it actually went out to sea. And so as people would be coming to the eastern seaboard by boat, which was common in the 1850s, that they would actually, some cases say a hundred miles out, would feel the presence of God on the boat, not even knowing what was going on on the mainland. One ship captain radios in to the mainland and says, We need a minister. Send a minister because something has broke out on the boat, and uh some hundred people get saved on the boat before they even make it to land because of Jeremiah's prayer meeting that's now taken over the United States. Um I could end it there, but I gotta give you a few more. This is getting this gets you fired up. But James Buchanan's the president at the time, and he decides that the whole nation needs to be praying from 12 to 1. So it's not like a national day of prayer in May, like we got now, which I'm thankful for. It's an hour a day of prayer every every week in the nation that's gone out. But let me give you a couple newspaper headlines. This is this is what happens when you realize, oh, this tension in my heart of what's not right, and you say, God, let's, I'm gonna move, I'm gonna, I'm gonna actually not stay here until I die, I'm gonna do something about it. This is some of what happens. Uh 1858, New Haven, Connecticut, city's biggest church packed twice daily for prayer. Bethel, Connecticut, business shuts down for an hour each day. Everyone prays, the headline reads. Everybody's reading the newspapers in the 1850s, by the way. Albany, New York, state legislators get down on their knees, the headline reads. Upstate New York, ice on the Mohawk is broken up for baptisms. Newark, New York. Firemen's prayer meeting attracts 2,000. Washington, D.C. Five prayer meetings and worship meetings go around the clock without ceasing. And then maybe this is as great as any of them. New Haven, Connecticut. Revival sweeps Yale. One man is agitated at the condition of his surroundings and decides, I think I'll not stay here and just let it be. I'll take action, I'll move, I'll do something. And I believe there's just a stirring in hearts around here. And it just takes a few. It doesn't take hundreds and masses of people to actually bring about cultural transformation. Micah 2.13, it says one breaks through, and then many break out. Be the forerunner for what's got your heart agitated. And this is the zeal, I think, that that we're talking about. Like that the Lord is wanting to stir a remnant once again for what his heart is zealous for. And the echo, the question I hear is, will you partner with the zeal of the Lord for your day? And it's one of the reasons I really do get fired up thinking about the possibility with the youthful generation around us. Um, I have some of them in my house, so I get a good picture. I see their friends come through our living room, and um Cohen has a friend before school got out that they were going through some experiencing God questions in his bedroom on Friday morning before they'd go to school because they didn't have football stuff in the morning because Fridays you get the break. I'm like, that's hunger. What can we do with that? What can we do to throw gasoline on that fire and invite more people? Uh this morning in San Marcus, I was at church and I met a girl. Her mom's name was Joy, that's a cool name. Her name starts with an I and I can't recall it anyway. Um, she goes to San Marcus High School. Excuse me, she's a junior. And sheepishly but assertively was asking, is there anything for high school students? And of course, right now there's a good junior high presence in San Marcus at Sozo, but not so much of the high school crew. And yeah, my heart's just beating for, especially for the high school opportunities around here. Um, you know, Hayes is 6A now because there's so many people. Um and you look at statistics population wise, it's like, man, there's just no shortage of. Of people, whatever their demographic, and put an agitation in our heart to respond to an opportunity that God's zeal is for right around us. I think the best way to carry um the simple culture of the gospel is to carry well the identity that he's given the church, which Jesus actually called a house of prayer. And whether it's Jeremiah Lampfear and his big vision or me and feeling a pull on my heart towards the youth, like it's not overly sophisticated. The gospel is simple. It's Jesus and his spirit, and and the Holy Spirit is leading the way, and it's just about catching it, seeing it, and jumping in with it and partnering with it. It's not like you have to make it up and engineer it and resource the whole project. It's just joining God. And it's doable. And so when Jesus enters Jerusalem in Matthew 21, we you know celebrated on Palm Sunday, there's quite a stirring. There's a lot happening in Jerusalem when he comes riding in and says that the entire city is asking one question, which is who is this man Jesus? Who is this that's come in? And some, you know, thought he's probably the prophet from Galilee from Nazareth. Um, but Jesus really doesn't even answer their questions as he's coming into town. He actually turns his attention to the temple and he goes into the temple and there's no welcome party rolled out for him there. He actually finds everybody busy, heads down, selling, and he realizes this is not the picture of the church. And that's where he flips the table over and he makes a bold statement. He says, My house is to be called a house of prayer. And I think that it's that identity of the church being the house of prayer. It's what Jeremiah Lampier in the 1850s tapped into and realizing this is the connection source, you let an agitation in your heart, a holy frustration, a realizing there's more to be had partnered with being the house of prayer that gives way to breakthrough. Like the promises get unearthed that God wants to do. And uh Matthew 16 is another place where this question is being asked of, Well, who is Jesus? Who is he? And uh you remember, you know, Jesus' question to the disciples, he says, Well, who do you say I am? And and they say, Well, some say you're Elijah, and some say you're John, and some say you're Jeremiah, and and Jesus says, Well, well, who do you say I am? And it's when Peter has his moment, you know, and he says, Well, you know, you're you're the son of the living God, you're the Christ. And Jesus says, Um, you know, flesh and blood didn't re reveal that to you. Um the Father in heaven revealed that to you. In other words, you're seeing me rightly. And Jesus then pulls Peter in and says, and this is who you are, Peter. And I think a big revelation to realize is that you see yourself rightly when you see Jesus rightly. Um, you've heard the term uh apple of your eye before? It's a term term of endearment. Uh do you know where particularly it comes from? Um you probably trace it back to a few different things, but the the apple uh originally was was thought to be like the pupil of the eye. Um, before even like microscopes and everything, they thought it was more like this round sphere ball kind of in your eyeball. I think now you know it's like you know, cones and rods and layers and things like that. But the pupil is the apple. And so if you were trusted enough by the king, then you were allowed to get close enough to him. And if you got close enough to the king, you could actually see your reflection in the king's eye. And the king could see you in the reflection of your eye, he could see, excuse me, himself. It's like that kind of intimacy. I won't ask for a volunteer because I don't know that we got a mint or anything around here. But if you were to stand up right here and we were to get close enough to actually see the other in each other's eye, we'd have to be pretty close. If you told me that, like from five feet away, oh bro, I can see I can see myself in your eye. This that's close enough. That's actually not what Jesus is inviting you to. He's actually inviting you to this place of intimacy. That's where you minister to the Lord. And that's where you receive the ministry of the Lord. And I think that's what a house of prayer actually is. It's not a standing 10 feet back and saying, Oh God, would you, you know, somehow disciple the nations and heal our land and do all that. It's it's let me get up close enough to see the apple in your eye, and from this place of intimacy have an exchange. When Peter says, Well, you're you're the Christ, and Jesus says, and Peter, you're the rock I'm gonna build my church on. Like that's apple of eye level proximity to be able to have that kind of a transaction experience. And that's what Jesus is up to with his church to be a house of prayer. That's a good description, actually, of house of prayer. And uh in Psalm 17, and and it says it in Zechariah, there's a description that you are the apple of God's eye. It's a picture of how he wants to interact with you and the invitation for us to interact with him. Jesus is drawing us to himself, and the house of prayer is a means to us as a people collectively to host him and engage the presence of God. And a group of people living in close proximity, family is the word for that, I think is the key for transformation in a city. Um recognizing the intimacy and the unity of the people of God and experiencing the breakthrough power that that kind of closeness has. Um it's really the budding of revival when a group of people get a taste for the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and they start like sacrificially living together. I don't mean necessarily in the same house, though there is some of that. Um, but this this place of connectivity to minister to each other and to host his presence to the Lord. Luke 7, 36 says, this is such a it's a great story about a woman. We've actually talked about it before. Um, it's the woman who breaks the alabaster jar at Jesus' feet. And it's a story about the most important thing in our faith, which is loving him and letting him love you. It's the high mark of our faith. And Jesus said the most important uh thing is to receive love from him and to give love to him, to minister to him, to let him minister to us. And so the story is there's a Pharisee in verse 36 that requests to dine with Jesus because Jesus is all the rave. And so the Pharisee, who's a somebody, says, I've got to get Jesus here so we can find out, you know, what kind of prophet he is, who he really is. And by the way, when you invite Jesus, he comes. If you extend invitation to the Lord, he comes. He he comes on the invitation that you give him, because he wants to be known, he wants to be found by you. And Jesus shows up on time, he shows up to the right address, he sits in the right spot at the table in the Pharisee's home. And then verse 37 is the entry of this woman, a woman in that town who lived a sinful life, most likely a prostitute that would have probably been known by most of the people in the city because of her reputation. She learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house. So she learned that Jesus was in close proximity to her. She learned that the presence had come near. So she wanted to respond to the fact that the presence was near. So she just goes. She's not invited, she's party crashing. And she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet, weeping, because she realizes the opportunity that she has to come and respond to him being right here. She began to wet his feet with her tears, and then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them. The story does not get old. Her response to Jesus then provokes a response in others, which is interesting. That your response to Jesus, to the Holy Spirit coming near, actually causes a response in other people. When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this act of incredulent behavior, essentially, there's a response. That she's a sinner. So it's interesting that her response to Jesus provokes a response in Simon the Pharisee about Jesus, a judgment on Jesus. Not even a judgment on the woman, but a judgment more on Jesus. And in one sense, I mean, it is this man's dinner party. He set it up, he invited the guests, he had the thing planned. He's probably even thinking, do all of my friends here think that I know this woman? Like, is she a regular in my house? Like, there's a lot going on here at play that he's running through in his mind as he's talking to himself, and then like only Jesus can, it's beautiful. Uh verse 40, Jesus answers him, who didn't say anything out loud, by the way. I have something to tell you, Simon. Tell me, teacher, he said. Two people owed money to a certain moneylender, one owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now, of which which one of them will love him more? And so it's a parable about love. And Simon replied, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven. And Jesus says, You've judged correctly, and then verse forty-four is the high mark of the text. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I came into your house, and you did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I entered has not only stopped kissing my feet, she she's pouring perfume. You did not pour oil on my head, she has poured perfume on my feet. And Jesus is telling Simon that you had the same opportunity as her. You invited me here, and I came with the intention of receiving this lavish love from you, Simon. You had the same opportunity she had, but yet she's the one who actually gave it to me. She breaks all of it open before me. And she knew she was in close proximity to Jesus and she responded rightly to him. And he wants, Jesus, those things from us. He wants those things from the church. He wants the lavish kisses and the response to when he comes, you show up, that you draw near as he draws near. And that's actually a reciprocated thing that when you draw near, he draws near, James tells us. So that's pretty encouraging. All of this. He found his tears. And so he said, Yeah, I found my tears in the middle of other people around me responding to Jesus. It is the power of your response that as you respond to the nearness of the presence, it has a way of impacting your surroundings. I know there was another, um, it was Willow Creek Church back in the early 2000s. It was one of their teaching pastors, and he had lost a child young, and he was mad about it. And, you know, had been given the freedom, hey, I know you're on staff here, but you don't have to come to church. And so he didn't for a while, and he realized that's not helping him. And so he ends up going to church at Willow Creek there. And he said, it was the he goes, I couldn't sing. I couldn't get the words out of my mouth to say how good God was. I'm sitting here in my biggest grief pool ever. And I, therefore, I could hear all of the voice, all of the sound of all of the people in the room who were saying how good God is still, how wonderful, giving him thanks. He said, it was that sound of the people around me responding to God that lifted me up out of my despair, that got me back on track. And so I just am wound up how the truth that your response matters not just for you, but your response opens the gate for the people around you. And so, how wonderful and important it is to participate full on with a response that looks like this woman's of you can have it all, Lord. I'll spend it all on you. I'm dumping it all at your feet. I know I wasn't invited. It's a little intimidating being in here, frankly. Why, you know, somebody like Ethan jumping on the keys in a room. I'm like, come on, that's the spirit, and and that's the invitation. And so I'm in on it. Um it's possible that what what some of the church has done is invite Jesus over and put him in his chair and have a cute dinner party. And I think he's looking for the bride that will crash those dinner parties and lavish him with tears, kisses, and oil. It's that face-to-face type of encounter where we are beholding the Lord together, and there's something about us gathering together in rooms and houses, um in RB campers, drinking coffee, regularly responding to him and to what he's initiating. And I think about um, yeah, the geographical locations, they're just marked by the presence of God around here, around the nation, around the world. And to me, uh this is the house of prayer. Um don't relegate prayer to a list of things you're asking him to do. It's part of it. But prayer is better described as people living in right relationship with God, who is present and with them, like apple of the eye proximity. That's the house of prayer. Those are houses that are filled with faith. And when you walk into them, it's like a line in the sand. You either run to it or you run away from it. I mean, that's what's going on with the Pharisee Simon here in this story. It's he's like his whole paradigm of what's going on and what's allowed and what's okay is being turned upside down. So he's having a flip-out moment here. You're either going to run to it or run from it, but there's no real amidst the whole thing about being lukewarm. It's really not an option. It's in the kingdom, it's really you got to kind of decide. And if you decide for it, then you go for it and you get pulled in to be the house of prayer as part of the church. And that's the call on the bride to respond rightly to his presence that really actually confronts the culture's paradigm, the one that they think they know, the one that they're living in close proximic proximity to Jesus without realizing the call is actually to be face to face with him. That's really the invitation, face to face, not just checking in and knowing about and throwing laundry list prayers at, but like this deep place of intimacy. That's ministering to him. And the story ends really well, verse 47. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little, and then Jesus said to her, Your sins are forgiven. And so I thought we could pray for each other tonight to have our first love reawakened. One of the reasons I love us praying for each other side by side is because we're training. We're training to be praying people. And the model of having a prayer team where people come and get prayer is a good one, but not at the expense of maybe somebody not feeling comfortable or learning to pray. So I really value, especially right now, and and I know you guys know this, us praying for each other so that you're practicing being the prayer team. Because I believe there is a day, not just in our gatherings, though in that also, but where there's lots of guys whose shoulders don't work around you, and you need to be confident and equipped and ready to deliver the hope, let hope in the word of the Lord, the healing of God into your places. So the more we do it in a safe place in here, the more apt we are to do it anywhere, all the time, everywhere. So why don't you find a person or two around you and pray for each other for anything that might be on your heart? I don't want to relegate it to nope, just this narrow spot. But what I'm feeling passionate about is yeah, uh a fresh awakening to your first love. Like the when you first realized, oh my word, he is for me, and I am in on this. And like that first love, that that can actually crescendo all your life. That can accelerate and um just pray for a fresh breakthrough of your first love. So find somebody, take a minute. Ethan, would you do us the honor of just come up here and playing for a minute while we do that? I would love that. Yeah. So, yeah, as you're finding somebody to pray with, Lord, I thank you for the agitation of not sitting still but saying, you know what, there's opportunity here. We're the people of God, and we're going to affect our region by ministering to your heart. So thank you for this group and the call on our lives to do just that in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

If you were encouraged by today's talk, be sure to rate us and hit subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you stream your podcasts. To experience other talks, videos, and live gatherings, visit us online at Stozo KTX.com, as well as on Instagram at Stozo KTX. And again, thanks for listening to the Stozo KTX podcast.