The Rock Family Sermon of the Week
The Rock Family Worship Center is a multi-cultural non denominational church led by Pastors Scott & Britt Silcox.
The Rock Family Sermon of the Week
Believe For The Impossible | The Seat Of Victory - Pastor Rusty Nelson
Pastor Rusty Nelson delivers a powerful message about understanding our spiritual position as believers seated with Christ in heavenly places, and how this perspective enables us to believe for the impossible. Where we sit determines what we see and ultimately who we become.
• Four seats that determine our spiritual perspective: the seat of the scornful, the seat of honor and influence, the seat of intimacy, and the seat of Christ
• The phrase "but God" marks God's divine interruption in our hopeless spiritual condition
• Being seated with Christ represents our union with Him, our authority and identity, and our rest and security
• Believing brings rest, not striving - we enter His rest when we truly believe
• From the seat of victory, we see problems differently - fear gets smaller and God's purpose becomes clearer
• Our authority over spiritual forces comes from our position in Christ, not our own strength
• The "already" nature of God - He has already blessed us with everything pertaining to life and godliness
• Changing your seat changes your sight - when seated with Christ, we respond from faith rather than react from fear
Come join us as we believe together for the impossible through the one who makes all things possible. Take your rightful place seated with Christ in heavenly places and see your circumstances from His perspective.
Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week. For more information about our church, please visit therockfamilytv Now. Join us for a message from Pastor Rusty Nelson.
Speaker 2:How many have your Bibles this morning? Come on, take them, hold them up, turn them on. Whatever you're reading from today, this is just something that has been in my spirit for 27 years almost. But can you say this with me? I am what his word says I am. I can do what his word says I can do. I can be what his word says I can do. I can be what his word says I can be. So right now, I'll hear his word, I'll receive his word and I will obey his word Because I love his word. Lord, I thank you for your word today and I ask you in these next few moments, would you once again, would you allow my tongue to be the pen of a writer, that somehow I could write your heart to your amazing people that are here in this room, those that are watching online our campuses today. Father, thank you for your faithfulness, thank you that we can believe for the impossible, but we have to see the God of the possible, the one who says through you, all things are possible. In Christ Jesus, we stand and we take a seat at the table of the Lord of communion, of remembrance of who you are and what you have done, and we honor you in this place and everybody believes that says amen. I want you to take your Bibles. Turn with me to Ephesians, chapter two. I want to kind of jump in on this series today on belief for the impossible, this series today on Believe for the Impossible.
Speaker 2:I know, as Pastor Scott and Britt declared a vision back on Vision Sunday last August, of building a school. I knew, lisa and I, we weren't called to start a school. God called us to buy a school. So we put some things. Some people sow, so we put some things. Some people sow, others water. But it's God who gives the increase. And how many realize in every area of our life, even when we say Lord, I'm going to believe you for above and beyond, to see that launch. And you are seeing it launched into reality. I tell you, dr Rachel Ballard is one of the most brilliant people I think I've ever sat at a table with and I'm so grateful for not only the head of school but all of the teachers now all of the administration that's coming together to launch this in August and I'm very grateful for that.
Speaker 2:But I want to read a passage before Ephesians 2. Now I know I'm going to have you out of here by one o'clock and I'm going to work really hard. That was a joke, kind of Now I don't have my glasses today. For a year I had to. Finally, after 27 years, I had to get progressives. So you like, you're you're. Just look at your neighbor and say you look blurry, you just you're blurry. Either that it's the Shekinah glory over you, I don't know, but you're kind of blurry. But in Romans 8, 28,.
Speaker 2:Before I get to Ephesians, I want to give you one of my favorite passages and it says and we know now that's a strong statement here's Paul declaring we know we are so intimately acquainted with what I'm about to say that it's not just a concept, it's not just a flippant social media bullet point. This is something we know. What does he know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. All things in the Greek means all things, but it actually includes good, bad, joyful, painful. Nothing is wanted in wasted in God's plan. It says these all things that God doesn't waste anything work together.
Speaker 2:In the Greek it implies cooperation. It is where we get our word synergy. It's God weaves everything into a greater purpose. So, no matter where you are, no matter what trial is at hand, no matter what test you feel like you're in the middle of, no matter what crisis is on the horizon, of what you cannot stop, and no matter what report you have received, understand God is weaving everything into a greater purpose For good, not always immediate comfort. It doesn't mean the ultimate, but it means ultimate good. It is conforming us into Christ. There is an image that is being developed in us. We're image bearers. This is bigger than the moment. This is about a savior and it says, for those who love God, the only reason I can love him is because he loved me. So I'm only responding and I'm called according to his purpose. And so this promise is specific. It applies to believers.
Speaker 2:Everyone say believer, believers who are walking in relationship with him. And it's why, when Jesus said to the man who brought his demon-possessed son to his disciples and they couldn't cast him out, and Jesus said if you can believe, if you can, all things are possible for the one who believes. Now go to the main passage Ephesians, chapter 2. I just want to kind of lay this out, structure it, because my prayer is today you'll never be the same, I pray you'll catch a fresh glimpse of faith and what it means to be a believer.
Speaker 2:If we're going to believe for the impossible, we need to know the one, have a vision of the one who, through him, all things are possible. And it says in verse four of chapter 2 of Ephesians but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he has loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive. Together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised us up with him, seated us. Underscore that he has seated us with him In heavenly places In Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show you the immeasurable riches Of his grace and kindness toward us. In Christ Jesus, get this phrase today To believe for the impossible, we have to see the one for whom all things are possible.
Speaker 2:Where you are seated will determine what you see. Now, I know that sounds kind of simple, but where you are seated you will in that place. It will determine what you see. And where you are seated will also determine who you become, how you view things, your perception of things. There are actually four seats. There are a few more of this in Scripture things. There are actually four seats. There are a few more of this in Scripture, but there are only four seats I want to deal with for the first portion of this message today.
Speaker 2:Four seats One is the seat of the scornful. The other is the seat of honor and influence, the other is the seat of intimacy and then the seat of Christ, the seat of victory. But the first one is the seed of the scornful I love. In Psalm 1, it said blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. You know the thing about when you walked in here today. I'm not saying you're ungodly, I don't know you Now, some of you I do, and there is the jury still out on some of that. But you know when you walk we walked in as a group today. Your view is that way and sometimes you can get. You can get lost in a crowd and just think you're a part of a number or something, and you can get in here and hide in a crowd. Can you hold that? That's your. Were you texting while I was preaching?
Speaker 2:No, anyway, I'm just joking, I was kidding complaining. How many understand? All I can see is the back of their heads. I can get lost in a number and realize that if I'm not careful I can get mob mentality in a crowd perspective. But it says in Psalm 1, blessed is the man who walks, not in the council. What you listen to, who you listen to, really matters, because what we listen to is what we give our attention to.
Speaker 2:There's a progression happening in Psalm 1. It says blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the ungodly. He's not listening to the council of the ungodly, the counsel of the ungodly. He's not listening to the counsel of the ungodly. Because before you walk, after a while, you find a seat there. Can I borrow this? Can I borrow your phone? Oh, I'm sorry. See, the problem is this seat. I just threw my wedding band, Thank you. Thank you so much. It says I am my beloved's and he is mine. Thank you, beloved. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Here's the problem with this seat, because after you walk, there's a progression. Blessed are they who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the seat of the scoffers, nor sit or stand in the seat of the wicked or sit in the seat of the scoffers. Here's the thing about the seat it's limited. I'm always limited to who's in front of me and who I'm listening to. And he's saying blessed is the man, happy is the man who doesn't live his life. This is not the seat I define for you. This is what social media will produce in you. If all you listen to are the naysayers, the mob, the crowd, if all you're listening to is the confusion and chaos that comes out of a wicked thought plan that has nothing to do with the image and the character and nature of God. They're only viewing it and judging one another by themselves. And it's all human, just human nature. We don't see what God sees. We're limited in what we're doing.
Speaker 2:But he said to those disciples come and follow me. I want to change your listening ability. I want you to come and follow me because those that delight in the law of the Lord delight in the word. It says. They're like a tree planted by the rivers. There's a difference. There's something that starts happening when you get out of the seat of being scornful and mockery and cynical, and the very thing that creates a cynicism. You cannot receive a miracle if you're cynical toward a miracle and you cannot receive a miracle. If you're cynical toward a miracle, if you're trying to judge everything by your own perspective and your own insight and your own ability to see, you can't see past the one who is in front of you. Because there is one who is greater, one who has said I am one who all things are possible. If you can't look past your brother and look to a throne, you will never know what a miracle is like. So he calls them out and they come and follow him. Then you get. They became disciples.
Speaker 2:There's another seat I want to talk about. It's the seat of honor and influence. Disciples there's another seat I want to talk about. It's the seat of honor and influence. And you couldn't follow Jesus in those days without all of a sudden man. You realized you walk into a town, you are honored because you're with him. There's influence, what you say matters. There's weightiness on your words. It was so strong that James and John, the two brothers, they went and apparently had a meeting with their mama and said Mama, we feel like we feel led, that we're supposed to sit on the left and the right of Jesus.
Speaker 2:We feel like we were made for this moment. So mama comes in Matthew 20, but in only Mark 10, only mentions in James and John, but it says that they came with their mother and they asked Jesus. She said, lord, would you I think it would be good, but wouldn't you, would you allow James and John to sit on your left and your right when you come into your kingdom? He didn't even talk to her, he just talked to them and he said are you able, are you able to drink from the cup I'm about to drink from, of suffering and pain? You know what they said we are, and he said you are and you will, but to sit on my left and my right. You have lost the perspective.
Speaker 2:You think this is about influencing others. See, if we're not careful, we will get caught up in the idol of leadership, where we have created a leadership culture that is domineering. It is toxic at times. It only. What can I get out of this for myself? It has nothing to do with taking a towel and a water basin and washing the feet of people and knowing what it is to serve rather than to be served. We will be a people of preferential seating, where we will give highlights for the wealthy and those that have great influence and because they have a social status. We'll want to be near them, but we'll keep at bay the ones that are hurting and are broken. And even James says that's a sin. Be careful how you honor preferential seating in your own life. This is bigger than your honor and the influence that you will have in the kingdom. But we think it's all about that.
Speaker 2:But there's another seat, and it was found when Mary, the sister of Lazarus Jesus, had raised him from the dead. She comes into the room. She wasn't facing the people. She turned and faced him. It was called the seat of intimacy. It was the place that Martha was serving. There was nothing wrong with her serving, but she was so caught up in trying to serve others she didn't know that there was a priority. There was something that would change the way you think, the way you look at others, the way you serve others. And Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. She put her back to the crowd because it was no longer about the crowd. All it was for was him. And Jesus said what she has done, this will not be taken from her. This is the priority of life.
Speaker 2:If you want to know me. If you want to be intimately acquainted, you have to let the crowd be in the peripheral and you have to let my face be your focus. You have to be willing to humble yourself at my feet. You have to be willing to understand. It's not about your devotional time. It's not about just fulfilling another time, claude. No, it is about come away with me, come to me. All you that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. There is a transaction that is happening in the moment of this relationship. There is something she is finding out about him and something she realized he knows about her. She is being loved by him and now all All she can do is respond I love you because you first loved me. It's called the seat of intimacy, but that's not where I want to stay today.
Speaker 2:I want to talk to you about the seat of Christ. I want to talk to you about a seat that I just read to you in Ephesians 4, where it says that he has raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places. In Christ Jesus, he has seated us. He called us out of the crowd. Come and follow me. Let me show you a new perspective. Let me give you a new insight. Let me change the way you think. Let me give you a new insight. Let me change the way you think. Let me change your mind, because if you let me change your thinking, you will allow me to change your way of living.
Speaker 2:Just watch this. It's the chair of the overcomer, it is the seat of victory, and where we sit determines who we become. It says in Colossians 3, if you then being raised with Christ, if you've been raised with Christ, then seek those things that are above, where Christ is Seated at the right hand of God, and so set your mind on these things that are above and not on things of the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God, and when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. You were seated with him in heavenly places.
Speaker 2:How did I get here? I can't earn, perform enough. What could I ever do to try to earn his grace? Grace means unmerited favor. Grace is also an empowerment to be who I could never become within myself. It is also an empowerment to do the things I could not do within myself. This grace what is the turning point? Not do within myself this grace. What is the turning point? Here's the phrase but God. You were this, but God, you were dying in your trespasses and your sin. But God, you were a wicked man or woman doing your own thing, running your own life. But God, you were involved in every work of the flesh. Your mind was messed up, you were perverted in your actions, but God.
Speaker 2:God intervenes not because of us, but because of who he is. It is his divine interruption in our hopeless condition. But God, but God, what? Being rich, in mercy Rich, implies abundance. God doesn't have just a little mercy, he is overflowing with mercy. Mercy is God withholding judgment that we're rightly, we deserved. Grace is giving us something we didn't deserve. Mercy is not giving us what we deserve. Are you guys hearing me? Don't go away. Look at your neighbor and say you still look blurry.
Speaker 2:Even though we were children of wrath, god did not treat us according to our sin. It's a fulfillment of Psalm 103. Here's what it says. He does not deal with us according to our sin. It's a fulfillment of Psalm 103. Here's what it says. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is the steadfast love God has toward us who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. He didn't say from the north to the south, because as far as you go north, before long you're going to turn and go south. But you throw it to the east and you will never go west. You throw it to the west, you will never go east. And as far as the east is from the west, he has removed our transgressions. And the phrase reflects God's character he is inclined to show us compassion even though we're undeserving.
Speaker 2:Why Watch? Because of the great love. Why did God extend his mercy? Not reluctantly, but it was because of his great love. It's the Greek agape, it means sacrificial, it is a covenant love. It's the love that's not based on our worthiness, but it's on God's own nature. It's this great love, watch, which he loved us. It's not theoretical, it's expressed in action. He loved us. It's not theoretical, it's expressed in action. He loved us Even when we were spiritually dead. We were rebellious, undeserving for God, so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. How did we get the name believer? We got the name believer because we believe. Romans 5, 8,. God demonstrates his love toward us in that, while we were sinners, he died for us, despite our hopeless condition. God, rich in mercy, overflowing in love, he chose to love us. He chased us down. It was an act on our behalf and he rescued us from spiritual death.
Speaker 2:That waits on anyone Sitting in the crowd, thinking you're just a number, a part of a multitude, and he says no, I called you by name and I came and got your seat and I brought it next to mine. Listen to this. What does it mean? Seated together with Christ? It's a spiritual position. It's not a physical location. Though we live here on the earth physically, spiritually, we are united with Christ in his resurrected and exalted position. The moment we confess our sin, the moment we repent and turn from our wicked ways, the moment we turn to him, repentance is turning from our ways and turning to his. It is getting our back to the crowd, it is turning our back to our former way of living and it is focused centrically on Jesus. He is the author, he is the finisher of my faith. At that moment, when I receive him as my Lord, my savior, my soon coming king, I am placed in a spiritual position, exalted to a place that is not just for the future, it's present reality For believers.
Speaker 2:You got to hear me today, please. It represents our union with Christ. The phrases you'll find in the epistles, specifically in Ephesians, colossians, you will find with him or in him. It's a central, focal theme and all of this being made alive, raised up, seated, it's possible because of our union with Jesus. Through faith, his victory becomes ours. He is the God of the possible. It represents our authority and identity. Come on, I'm working hard to get finished. If you'll amen me, amen me, amen me. It's my first time to say amen. That was very strange. I felt like that was a foggy moment right now.
Speaker 2:Authority and identity. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. It is the position of authority. Being seated with him suggests that believers share in his authority. Watch this over spiritual powers by being united with him, by being invited to sit on this seat of victory that he has already accomplished. I had nothing to do with it. It was not my warring in the spirit that brought me here. It was his complete tetelestai it is finished, it is accomplished, it is done. And he sat down at the right hand of the Father in complete fulfillment. He dotted the I, he crossed the T, he fulfilled every law. He became the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. But he's not coming back as a lamb, he's coming back as a king of kings, a Lord of lords who rules and reigns. And he says a Lord of Lords who rules and reigns. And he says you are invited in union. That being seated with him suggests that believers share in his authority over spiritual powers. It reflects a new identity, a new authority. It's the spiritual realm. So, in other words, you can believe for the impossible.
Speaker 2:In Luke, chapter 10, it says behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Power and authority. It is exousia and what it's meaning. It is delegated authority. He said I have been given all authority. I turn around. I give you all power and all authority. It means serpents, scorpions or demonic forces are dangers. I've given you all power over all the power of the enemy. A reminder the enemy is real.
Speaker 2:I don't go around looking for a devil in everything. Typically you don't have to go look for a devil. A devil has already found you and what you do with that devil will determine the authority you place over that devil, what you allow the authority you place over that devil, what you allow the voices you listen to, the things you allow to entertain and come into your living room. My friend, be careful what you entertain. Not only have people entertained angels unaware, they have also entertained demons unaware. And this is not the day to play with some or pet some demon in a generation that needs to be an overcomer and believe for the impossible.
Speaker 2:Are you hearing me? When you understand you've been seated with Christ, then nothing shall by any means hurt you, nothing, no way, never shall it ever, ever, ever, never, shall it ever ever hurt me? Didn't say it wouldn't impact me, didn't say I wouldn't feel pain, but it cannot stop my eternal being, it cannot stop my spirit, it cannot stop my eternity. You cannot silence the voice of the Lord that speaks clearly in moments of darkness. But what the enemy is trying to do is to get you to sit down and shut up and not say a thing.
Speaker 2:And we're watching too many voices being silenced because of sin that was never taken dominion over. Because he also said sin shall not have dominion over you. The only power sin has is what we yield and give up, you say you mean you're not tempted. I'm tempted every, probably every day of my life. But I have learned one thing that in every temptation he has made a way of escape. And if and whatever I get my eyes on is what I'm going to yield to Whoever I'm listening to is who I'm going to follow.
Speaker 2:So I had I have to take personal responsibility. I can't blame it. I'm tired. I'm tired. I can't blame it that I've had everything hit me at once. Do you not know what it's like, man? Like Murphy's Law, what can go wrong does go wrong. It's like I was talking to a precious couple. We did a wedding yesterday, did another wedding yesterday. You say are you Catholic now? No, I just thought that was a quick way. We can't get tongues out. I can just do that one really quick.
Speaker 2:Father, son, holy Name, are y'all awake here? I got to hurry and the guy who was preaching the ceremony. He came, he looked like he was he'd been whipped up on. He walked in he said I'm sorry, I'm late. He said my pipe bursted and my whole basement flooded and I've been cleaning up water and I'm late here getting to the wedding. I said I get it, I get it. It's like when one hit comes, it's like another hit's waiting. It's like when one hit comes, it's like another hits waiting. It's like one thing after another, because the enemy comes in like a flood. No pun intended, he got the flood, I guess. But we like to think the enemy's coming in like a flood. But do you know there are some translations that in that Isaiah moment it doesn't say when the enemy comes in like a flood. But do you know there are some translations that in that Isaiah moment it doesn't say when the enemy comes in like a flood, it says when the enemy comes in comma like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him.
Speaker 2:This seat has to do with identity and authority. It also has to do with rest and security. To be seated implies rest from works to try to earn salvation or even earn provision. Jesus said look at the sparrows. They don't have a house, but God provides for them. Consider the lilies they neither toil nor they spin. But God did not array all of Solomon and more of beauty. And if God has cared for the sparrows and if he's taking care to make the lilies beautiful, do you not know he's going to take care of you? Paul would say I know something, I am so intimately acquainted with something because I have learned about someone. It's a place of rest, security. See, believing brings rest, not striving to earn it, says in Hebrews 4, 3, for we who have believed do enter into rest. Can I say that again, we who have believed. That's why we're believers, not skeptics. You remember it wasn't when the man brought the demoniac son to Jesus.
Speaker 2:After he came off this encounter and the disciples were like. They saw Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus about his crucifixion, his death and everything. They're overwhelmed. Peter speaks up and says hey, let's just make three tabernacles, let's just hang here, let's stay here. I don't want to go down the mountain because she'll be coming down around the mountain when she comes, and I don't want to. I don't know if he had a bad experience with his mother-in-law. He had.
Speaker 2:Jesus raised her up out of a sick bed later, you know, before that, and I don't know if Pete was happy or I don't know. But he said let's just hang here. But he said let's just hang here. And through doing that, jesus, a cloud came, a voice spoke this is my son, hear him, don't get distracted with everybody else, just hear him. A cloud filled. When it lifted they only saw Jesus and Jesus said come on, boys, we're going down the mountain. They get back to that point that father runs up. And he said all your other disciples? I asked them if they could deliver my son. No one could help. Can you please deliver my son? He said oh, you have little faith. And he looked at the man and said if you can believe, all things are possible. He said Lord, I believe, I believe you can do it. I believe I believe you can do it. They may have missed it, but I believe you can do it.
Speaker 2:When Jesus delivered the boy, the disciples came to him after it was over and said why couldn't we do it? He said because this kind does not come out, but by prayer and fasting. It wasn't a demon that needed to come out, it was the doubt that had to be cast out. He had already to come out. It was the doubt that had to be cast out. He had already sent them out. He sent out the seven. He said, lord, in your name, demons flee. He said yeah, and I saw Satan cast out of heaven. I saw him fall like lightning. Don't be concerned that the demons are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written down in heaven and they would learn later. And I have seated you together with me in heavenly places.
Speaker 2:Rest, rusty, see, belief and rest are equal. You can't believe and step into rest, but when you believe, when you know, because you know, because you know, because you know, because you know, because you know, because you know, because you know, because you know, and you know what has come around in your life. You know what the report was, you're like, you know what. I just know him and he ain't never done me nothing but good. If he never blessed me again, he has blessed me a lifetime. He's been good to me, he's loved me. I'm almost finished If the guys would come.
Speaker 2:It helps preachers finish, either that or it stirs them up again, one or the other. It says of Jesus that when he had finished, he offered one sacrifice for the sins forever and he sat down at the right hand of God, the Father. He sat down because his work was finished. And when we believe, we enter into that rest, we're not working for it, we're resting in it. We're seated with Christ resting in his finished work. It's now. He's my identity, he is the authority I belong to him. It's a place of security and not striving. The Lord is saying today you can't enter my rest until you sit with me and believe. You'll settle for less and never rest until you believe. Without faith it's impossible to please him. But everyone who comes to him must believe that he is. He is what he's, everything he says he is. He's Jehovah Nissi, my banner of victory. He is Jehovah Sidkenu, my righteousness. He is Jehovah Shammah, the God who is there. He is the God, jehovah Rapha, the one who heals me.
Speaker 2:The one. He was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities. Beating for my peace was on him by his stripes. I'm healed. He's the already God.
Speaker 2:There's no word that says Jehovah already. I don't think I'll get in trouble to say you are Jehovah already, because Paul would say he's already blessed me with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. I just read to you in Ephesians, where he's already loved us Already. He's already provided everything I need that pertains to life and godliness. He's already. What's he ready for? He's already for any attack, any lie, any moment of crisis. He's already. He's already to provide. He's all ready. He's all ready to provide. He's all ready to show up. He says, as a matter of fact, I'll never leave you, nor forsake you. Come here, rusty. I've seated you together with me in heavenly places.
Speaker 2:I've spent a lot of time on airplanes this last year and four months. You know there's something Lisa and I used to talk about this when we were the lead pastors here. There were times I would feel when I flew out of Huntsville I would feel a heaviness and a weight come off of me, had no idea what I lived in, because your assignment brings a lot of weight of attack and responsibility that, without grace, you have no idea how to handle it. It's more, it's bigger than your education, isn't that? God takes foolish things and freaks out engineers. That's been one of my phrases. God took a foolish thing from Double Springs, alabama not even two springs there. That'll give you a complex.
Speaker 2:Growing up as a kid, I'm not an engineer, nor the son of one. I tried to add and multiply one time years ago and it became. It was a joke. I'm just an old country boy and he said you know, son, you'll never touch the intellect of the city. When I fly, when I go around, I say I'm from Huntsville, they go oh wow, that's a smart place. I said, yeah, it is, it's real smart, real smart, and God sits in the heavens and he laughs.
Speaker 2:He said you know you'll never touch the intellect, but if you ask me, I'll give you the heart. Our former mayor, mayor Loretta Spencer. Years ago we were dedicating the building on 2300 for all of you new people, we were 15 years. Two miles down the way before that we were in an old bar. We all bellied up for three years in an old bar and she came for our dedication to that building, that building. She said, you know, she actually, the presence of God was so strong that Sunday morning Lisa was on one side of this precious woman who I've had a dear friendship with all these years, and I was on the other side of her and she said don't let go of my hand, I don't want to fall. I don't know if she meant by that completely, but I do know the presence of God was so strong that day and she wept and she made this statement. She said you know, some people feel like the heart of Huntsville is downtown. Never forget this, she said, but it's moved through the growth of those years. And she looked at us and said you are the heart of Huntsville. And God took me back to that little phrase and he said I told you, son, ask me and I'll give you the heart.
Speaker 2:You see, in this place, this seat of victory, it's not mine, it's his. This is his victory. We're more than conquerors, because he conquered, he's the conqueror. If my eyes are on my abilities or on my gifts or talents, it will only go so far. It's so human influenced. But if he's the source, if he's the strength, if he's my salvation, if he is my joy in the morning, if he is my peace at night, if he is the shalom shalom, he is the prince of peace, he is the mighty God, he is the everlasting father, he is the one this is all about.
Speaker 2:Then, when I'm facing difficult moments, I'm sitting in the seat because he let me sit next to him and he said I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. And I may not know what to do and I can look and say what do you want me to do? What do you desire? Because I can't see past me when you go on a 35,000 foot view and you're looking down in an airplane and I have flown out of here so many times through the years and I have felt a weight just lift off and I get up there and I look down and people just look like ants. Can't even see people, things are just. It's quiet.
Speaker 1:It's peaceful why?
Speaker 2:Because a 35,000 foot view is a lot different than being in Times Square and hearing all the noise and all the clatter and the chatter.
Speaker 1:Where does it start?
Speaker 2:He never said how we were faced in the seat. Thank you, my dad, thank you. We are seated together in heavenly places, way above principalities and powers. I know all things work together for the good because I'm called by you.
Speaker 2:You called me out of the crowd, out of numbers, out of chatter. You said follow me. I got distracted with the crowd. Many times I had my chair facing wrong, but you've made me to sit together with you, thank you. You've already blessed me, so I praise you as though it's already done. Would you close your eyes just for a moment, lift your hands?
Speaker 1:Thank you, Jesus fear gets smaller.
Speaker 2:Come up higher. Offense loses its power. Come up higher.
Speaker 2:God's purpose becomes so much clearer. Come up higher. If you change your seat, you'll change your sight, and from his seat you won't react from fear, you'll just respond from faith. You'll no longer chase identity, you'll live from it. You'll live from it Because being in the right seat changes our complete perspective. Right seat changes our complete perspective.
Speaker 2:It's how we see things to the moment that the one in that seat of victory, of authority, the one who has already done it, who has already loved us, who has already blessed us, he looks at us now and he says now see what I see, son, feel what I feel. And I've given my spirit to you to have the authority to do something about what you see through my eyes and what you feel from my heart. I ask you today, in this close, who's influencing your walk? Who are you listening to? Where are you standing? What company are you keeping? Are you standing on truth or is it compromised? What seed have you claimed, my friend? He invites us to sit with him in heavenly places. Where you sit today determines who you become tomorrow, and if we're going to believe for the impossible, we must know the God that all things are possible to them who believe Jesus Jesus.
Speaker 2:Jesus, no one. Please walk in out of the auditorium if you can please, unless it's an emergency, would you very respectfully and reverently stand with me? I'd like for our prayer teams to come. Here's what I want to ask. God took my seat out of a crowd just like you. He doesn't redeem somebody's. He redeems nobody's and makes them somebody. And who are we? I'm a child of the king. I am my beloved's and he is mine. There is no weapon formed against me that will. I am my beloved's and he is mine. There is no weapon formed against me that will prosper. Every tongue that rises against I condemn, because it's a part of my inheritance, Jesus Jesus.
Speaker 2:Father, I thank you for your word today. If you're here, you'd say you know what I'm tired of getting. I got to get out of the seat of compromise, out of the seat of mockery and arrogance and the seat of cynicism. Hell, I've seen, is what other people have said about him. But who do men say that I am? He asked his disciples. Well, some say you're John the Baptist, you're Moses, you're Elijah. But he said but who am I to you? You are the Christ, the anointed one in his anointing, the son of the living God.
Speaker 2:If that's your cry today and you say I'm changing seats, I want you to get up from where your seat is. You don't have to bring a seat. Just come out of your seat and come, make an altar and say I'm coming to Jesus, believe for the impossible. The next time Murphy's law comes and tries to read it to you, you just say but he's the God of the already and he's already met all my needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. So I think I'll praise him as though it's already done. Amen. Can you give the Lord praise today? May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine on you, be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance on you, give you peace, write his name on you and say you belong to me.
Speaker 1:I pray you have a Jesus-filled week. We hope and pray. This message was encouraging and impactful. Join us live on our website or Facebook. On Sundays at 9 and 11 am. You can stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram at the Rock Family. Have a Jesus-filled week.