Have you ever felt a nudge so strong, a whisper so clear, that you couldn't ignore it? That's the Holy Spirit at work, and is this message, special guest, Chad Dedmon, joins us to recount awe-inspiring moments God encountering people in every day situations.
This sermon was recorded at a Sunday morning gathering at Church of the Lookout in Longmont, Colorado.
Speaker — Chad Dedmon
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Have you ever felt a nudge so strong, a whisper so clear, that you couldn't ignore it? That's the Holy Spirit at work, and is this message, special guest, Chad Dedmon, joins us to recount awe-inspiring moments God encountering people in every day situations.
This sermon was recorded at a Sunday morning gathering at Church of the Lookout in Longmont, Colorado.
Speaker — Chad Dedmon
Visit Our Website — https://thelookout.church
Take Your Next Step--- https://thelookout.church/connect
Connect with Us --- https://thelookout.church/new
Give to Support the Ministry --- https://thelookout.church/give
Visit our website
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast. Church of the Lookout is in Boulder, colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in His presence, growing in His family and living on His mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love. Visit us online at thelookoutchurch.
Speaker 2:I want you guys this morning, as we hear from Chad and the limited time we have as we listen to Chad, I just pray that you take notes, open your Bibles, do not just wait for him to say something. Probably expect that God is going to speak this morning and he wants something. He has something he wants to say to you and as a community. Can you help me honor and welcome Chad as he returns to the Lookout this morning?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, what a privilege. It's been a whirlwind 48 hours up in the youth camp and kids getting rocked by the Holy Spirit and, yeah, some kids get healed. We had some kids rededicate their life to the Lord and it was just a real special time and sweet time. And one of my takeaways and just being around the youth is just being reminded how Jesus pursues each one of us. It's beautiful. I don't know about you, but I mean I've been able to recognize my life and how Jesus is constantly pursuing me, how the Holy Spirit is constantly pursuing me, and I had a takeaway where I was just spending time with the Lord this morning, just thinking him that I could see Jesus pursuing every one of the youth that was there over the weekend and it was just a real special time. And, yeah, the first time that came here was 2011.
Speaker 3:My wife and I were traveling with Kelly Clark and she did the X Games up in Vale and we came down here to minister and I'll never forget looking out these windows for the first time and going, wow, this place is amazing, which is the epic name Lookout that's what this is. It's a spiritual lookout over the land. And, yeah, luke had an amazing introduction of us doing prophetic evangelism and we're going to talk a little bit this morning about being led by the Spirit, learning how to be led by his Spirit, learning how to hear his voice and having compassion and how Jesus. He walked in this place of vertical intercession and I call it horizontal intercession, that he was connected to the Father and also he was connected to the people of his land, that he let the people of his land cut him deep, and that has been my heart and that is to be an intercessor, is to stand in the gap, to be connected to heaven, connected to the Father. As Jesus would say, I could do nothing apart from the Father. That word in the Greek, nothing, really means nothing. He was completely dependent. If you see me, you see the Father, which really is the greatest way of evangelism the church will ever step into, when we can save with confidence, with boldness. If you see my life, you see the Father To our neighborhoods, to our coworkers, to our classmates. If you see me, oh, if you feel safe with me, if you feel like you're having fun with me, wait until you meet my dad, because if you see me, you see the Father and that is one of the greatest ways to do evangelism. And so Jesus was connected to the Father, connected to heaven, but also he was connected to the people. And I'll share a little bit of our ministry, but I want us to just jump into the word. So pull out your phones or your Bibles.
Speaker 3:And this is Matthew 9, verse 35. Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. And so that is a great example and a great moment of Jesus displaying this ministry, where he was connected to the Father, but also he was connected to the people, where he realized they were sheep without a shepherd. And see, he didn't leave them in their disease, he didn't leave them in their ailments, their sickness, that he brought heaven down to earth. So he was connected to the Father, but also he was connected to the people. He was moved with compassion, and Jesus had this with the woman at the well. He moved with compassion, he let that woman cut him deep that you have in Luke, where it talks about Jesus going through Jericho and he was connecting with his dad. He's like, oh, what's the plan, what's the itinerary for the day? Oh, I'm just passing through Jericho, all right, no ministry, I'm just passing through.
Speaker 3:But Zacchaeus was a task collector and he heard about the stories of Jesus and he goes. Man, if Jesus walks through Jericho, if he comes to my town, I'm not going to miss my moment with Jesus. I've been hearing all these stories and my heart just comes alive that I got to see this man, Jesus. I'm in hearing about what's going on in Capernaum and all these different places. And then Jesus comes and Zacchaeus it says that he was a short man, that he could not see in the crowds, he could not see Jesus. So he's a task collector, he's a man of influence and he does something very childlike and he climbs a sycamore tree and Jesus sees Zacchaeus and he says, zacchaeus, I will come and eat with you, salvation is coming to your household. But it says that in the beginning is he's checking in with his dad, connecting to his father? All right, we're passing through.
Speaker 3:But then he sees Zacchaeus and he lets Zacchaeus cut him deep and it's important that we let God cut us deep and then we let the people cut us deep, that our neighborhoods, our cities, that sometimes all go to like parks or go to different places and I'll just people watch and just be in that place of intercession of God cut my heart deep for these people and that's why I love going to Maui or going to Mozambique or going to different places where God begins to cut me deep for these people and then you begin to bring heaven down to earth and you know it's a lot of fun when you watch God show up, when you're connected, and it's a place of learning that you know to be led by his spirit, to be connected to the Father. It takes a place, you know, of recognition, familiarity. That you know when we become a new creation, all of our senses in the spirit realm are awakened. That you know it's not just for you know special people that see in the spirit. No, we're all called to be children of God that we would recognize his voice, that sometimes we make it a lot more difficult and God's really far away, like no, he never leave you nor forsake you. He his thoughts for you outnumber the sands of the seashore and he's sharing his thoughts with you, that his first language Is not English, that he speaks to us in so many different ways and it's about leading in, recognizing his voice, recognizing how he speaks to you, that you know, when we have someone who is, you know, an unbeliever and someone is blind, they would say that that's injustice. And sometimes in in Christianity, we could say, oh, they're spiritually blind. Well, that's great faith. Oh Jesus, that God, when you become a new creation, he doesn't make you spiritually blind, he doesn't make you, you know, there's, there's obviously things to learn, to cultivate. Some things don't come super easy, but it's the, the beginning, the foundation of the understanding of who the father is, that he's a good father and that when he makes you a new creation, that he is Awakening your senses. It says in Hebrews 4 that your physical body was made to discern the presence of God. But we're all different, like I remember hearing about Bill Johnson, where he, you know, would talk about revival and healing and he was, you know, talking. He's doing a conference with Bob Jones, who was this prophet in the 80s and 90s and 2000s, and Bob gave Bill this word goes hey, when you talked about revival, I saw these angels of fire on your left side and and and Bill goes. Oh my gosh, every time I talk about healing revival, I feel really warm on the left side, like how many times did he preach, how many times he talked about that subject matter and not Recognize that his physical body is actually discerning the presence of God and an assignment that he has. And it's about recognizing his presence, that his presence, the reality is. His presence is here, like.
Speaker 3:I remember speaking at a conference in Norway and they asked me this question like how much do you pray? And you know, do you have certain seasons of fasting and different things, and I was about ready to kind of give them my rhythms. And though Lord speaks to me during this question-answer time in Norway and says, chad, you need to tell him that you pray 24 seven and I'm having a conversation with God. I'm like God. You know I don't pray 24 seven and he goes yeah, that's true, you're not recognizing that you're in prayer 24 seven, but your spirit, even though you're asleep, your spirit is awake, that I'll never leave you nor forsake you. So the reality, if you have the DMV, if you're doing mundane things, if you're doing, god is there and it's about learning to recognize his presence and it's that lifelong pursuit of recognizing his presence, recognizing how he leads you, and it's so much fun.
Speaker 3:Again, don't make it complicated and have fun in the process, be curious, begin to go man. Why do I have that like a bird? When I was started going after healing in early 2000s, I'll be at the purline and I'd feel this like cool wind on the back of my neck. But I always was like all the air conditioners on me or there's like a flagger of flagging behind me or something like what is that wind? Not thinking that it was something that was a supernatural activity, an angel of wind, and it wasn't. Until you know, bob Jones was a real spiritual grandfather to me and Bob goes there's angels of wind that are assigned to you and they're angels of healing and You're gonna feel wind at your back and I'm like, yeah, I actually feel it just on the back of my neck. And that was in 2003 and then in 2005.
Speaker 3:I had just gotten married and it was a month into married I'm 19 years, so I'm right there with these guys and and so it was 2005 and we both had server jobs and go into the school ministry. So I got off a work a little Early, earlier than my wife and I went to the grocery store because I was hungry and I wanted to go get some donuts, and so I walk in. Yeah, I was 23, so I walk in. God loves it, you know, when we eat donuts. But anyways, I Walk in the grocery store and I see this lady with hearing aids and I you know, I didn't need a word of knowledge for that, I didn't need like that's captain, obvious.
Speaker 3:And so I went up to her and I said hey, you have hearing aids, can? What's your journey? What's going on? And she goes oh, I'm, 90% death in one ear, 80% death in the other. And I said, oh Well, can I pray for you? And she goes oh, that'd be really sweet, thank you. And she grabs her groceries, starts walking no, no, no, I want to pray for you right now. She's like oh, okay. And I said can we take out the hearing aids so you could just notice if God starts showing up? And she's like okay, and she we take off the hearing aids.
Speaker 3:I start praying for a short, simple, powerful prayer and then I'm like okay, you know, just just close your eyes and then repeat after me. If you could hear my voice. And I'm like back peddling, saying you know, my name's Chad, I love steak, I love donuts, I love you know, just sharing different things. And she's repeating after me and I get about a good 25 feet away and the checkout lady, who's like 20, she starts crying, going I can't hear you anymore. And she's repeating after you. She has better hearing than me.
Speaker 3:And then the lady realized God just opened up her ears. And then suddenly I feel this wind hit the back of my neck and that gave me faith that oh, there's more people in this room that need to be healed, the more people in this grocery store that need to be healed. So it caused me to lean into God that there is more, that there's more to be done, and it was incredible. That is why being led by the Spirit, recognizing how he leads you, is important, because it gives you like a cheat sheet, it gives you those little indicators of oh, there's more, that you want to do it. It's that place of direction, that place of flowing with God. And then I asked the grocery clerk. I said, hey, god, this is God. I couldn't open up her ears. God just opened up her ears. We just witnessed a miracle. Can I get on the intercom? Because God wants to heal more people in this grocery store. So she's like, okay, yeah, that makes sense. So she teaches me how to use it. And I go attention, all shoppers, god is in the building.
Speaker 3:And I shared about how the lady just got healed and I called out. I said somebody here you have carpal tunnel, or somebody here you have a hip issue, you know a few other ones, come to check out aisle 10. And then, you know, people start coming from the grocery store and this man came and says I play piano, I I'm a piano teacher and I have carpal tunnel on both you know wrists and I'm gonna have to quit, I'm not to find another career. And then so much pain. And this one lady comes in a motorized car. She's going out and going in for hip replacement surgery next week. Do you really think God could heal me? And I said, yeah, that's who he is. As his nature, he's the healer.
Speaker 3:So I looked at the lady whose ears just opened up and I said, hey, you know, this is Matthew 10, 7 and 8. You know, like preach the same message as Jesus was in preaching that the repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and you have the same results. And then Jesus says, freely, you have received, now freely, give away. And I said, hey, you just received the kingdom of God, that you just received healing. Now it's time to give it away. You're on the ministry team with me, and so we both lay hands on this lady in a motorized car and and I said, hey, do something you couldn't do before. And she moves her, her leg and she goes. And I'm thinking of my brain, just giving you a little bit of, you know, window into my thinking. I'm like, oh no, she like just totally triggered a lot of pain or something like that, and she goes. I Couldn't do that before without pain. There's no pain when I do that. I'm like, well, then try to do something else. And so she gets up and she starts Walking around the grocery and then she starts running and she's like Jesus just healed me.
Speaker 3:Jesus healed me and I pray for the guy with carpal tunnel and I said I think he needs to move your wrist as I'm praying. So he starts moving his wrist and he starts like freaking out and he starts screaming they're on fire, they're on fire. They're on fire and I'm like I think that's a good thing and I said God more. And he ended up getting healed and I'm like, well, the, the king, you know the kingdom just showed up. It's probably a good idea to introduce the king and I said, hey, jesus died on the cross for these people to get healed, but he also died on the cross for you to be best friends with him, that that he wants you to know him Intimately. Who here wants to know the savior of the world? And all these hands raised and we got to lead them to the Lord. I got to lead them to the Lord and then I left without ever getting donuts, but but it was really important that I began to recognize how God speaks to me, even in my physical body, like how he speaks to me about okay, that cool wind begins to ignite my faith and brings understanding of where the Holy Spirit wants to lead. And you know that that has been the journey of, you know, just being led by the Spirit.
Speaker 3:And this last, you know, four years it's been a incredible season of these prophetic prayer assignments. I've got Matt here, my buddy, matt wall. We have been praying together and doing crazy stuff the last four years. He was actually a part of my first prayer paddle assignment. I know Luke talked about like the prayer paddle warriors and it was right, kind of in like the, the beginning stages of COVID and my heart began to break for my state and break for my country, the city of San Francisco. They did a study a year into COVID that that they had 223 people die of COVID but they had 900 people die of drug overdose and suicide. My heart began to break for my country and I'm like, okay, and God actually, through a dream, called me as an assignment to pray for California, to pray for America, by prayer paddling my hometown, my home county of Orange County.
Speaker 3:I paddled 37 miles February 2nd through February 6th on a paddle board and you have to understand that I was not a paddle boarder, I'm a surfer and I know this doesn't maybe translate to Colorado, but us surfers do not like paddle boarders. We tell them to keep going and it's so. Isaiah, 42 of you know, forget the former things I've done. Behold, I do a new thing and sometimes us in the old guard, it's hard for us to receive the new thing and it's been a beautiful journey. Since then we've gone over 3000 miles in prayer.
Speaker 3:And one of the cool things is me and Matt, we actually partnered up and did like tag team rally of biking, prayer biking El Camino Real, which was a 21 missions in California that were the Francescan monks established in the 1700s. We also biked from Oregon border all the way to Bethel, bethel all the way to the most North mission in Sonoma County, and then all the way down to the Southern mission of San Diego, and it was a beautiful journey and I'm just gonna hit on the last day. I did this over a year and a half, so I'm not doing 11 hundred miles straight, I'm just and letting the Lord like really direct my steps and some of these prayer assignments, like prayer paddling in Los Angeles, the Lord said, hey, before you could take the heart of LA, before you're gonna have authority to take the heart of LA, you need to take the North gate and the South gate, and so I'm like okay, but that took me like eight months, meaning that you're just waiting on the Lord, and the Lord's like now it's time, now it's time. And so for this we were biking and it took a year and a half of doing different segments and we were closing the loop, as I would call it. It was our last prayer assignment to close the loop of prayer, biking 11 hundred miles and it was an amazing like four days of biking.
Speaker 3:Matt did a solo journey of like a hundred some miles or something like that, and we met in LA and but anyways, my buddy, who was raised in Indonesia but then he spent his high school years in Pismo Beach, was the central coast of California and that was like our Saturday and he was like reminiscing about oh, this is my high school, I did cross country here and I go bro, this is your heritage ride. And we started praying over him in this whole deal, not realizing that my last day of my prayer bike ride would be Huntington Beach, where I was born and raised. And then I showed up Monday to do my last day. This would be my last day of probably a good 50 plus days of prayer biking collectively over a year and a half, and I'm like having this moment of realization of like this was such the hand of God of leading me, of that it's not a coincidence that this is my heritage ride and it's the last prayer bike ride day, and so I'm praying through Huntington Beach biking.
Speaker 3:I get into the Newport Beach area and I see this park ranger and I stop and I pray for him. I say, hey, do you have pain in your lower back? And he goes oh wow, yesterday at church I asked God, will you please heal my lower back? And so I got to pray for him. He starts moving around, he starts realizing he's getting healed. And then I blessed him and I prayer, bike ride and I see this guy in a street light and he's getting ready to cross and I had this feeling that God was healing his relationship with his dad and I told him this whole prophetic word and prayed over him. He was getting moved and I missed a couple light rotations.
Speaker 3:And then you know, because here's the deal, like we're doing these endurance stuff, like we'll bike. My biggest bike ride I ever did was about 75 miles in a day and you're pretty sore. This is very much Luke 10, 27. Love your Lord, god, with all your heart, mind and strength. How do you know when you love God with all your strength, you're probably cramping, you're probably hungry, you're probably exhausted. That it's pretty amazing to be in a worship service where maybe you're prayer paddling and you're paddling 10 hours, like we'll go for 20 miles sometimes you know you're biking 70 miles Like it's this place of I call it spiritual ketosis, where you begin to get in this sweet spot with God and it's an amazing place to be in and so, anyways, I got to pray for him.
Speaker 3:It's counter-tuitive to the endurance guys, because the endurance guys is I'm trying to get from A to B the most efficiently, the most time, like I want to be the most efficient in my time, and all that stuff where you're being led by the spirit and you're doing these prayer marathons. We'll walk 26.2 miles and pray, but you are like and all my runners that do the marathons they say this is way harder because you're on your feet, like for nine hours, because we'll stop at, like the fire station and be praying for, like like God break off PTSD in my region for fire season on its way that there'd be no more trauma, no more, you know, pray for the people that lost homes. We went through the car fire and redding, and so that'll be sometimes like you're stopping when you're supposed to be moving, you know. And so it's very counter-tuitive to the endurance world, but it's just being led by his spirit. So all that to say is we enter in Laguna Beach and we've got another like 12 miles to go to get to our, the mission that we're ending, and I prayed for those people and my teams ahead of me and I finally get you know to them in Laguna Beach, to the slower crew, and so I'm like, hey, guys, we gotta, like you know, catch up to the next crew. So I call them, I say, guys, wait, and they're like, no, we don't want to wait, and I know it doesn't make sense, just wait for us. And so they're waiting for us, they drop the pen, we start biking, and then I look we're on PCH Highway 1 in Laguna Beach and it's very, very busy, a lot of traffic and there's no bike lanes and you're really having to watch, you know your blind spots, not get hit.
Speaker 3:But across the street I see this blonde hair bopping up and down in this row of parked cars and I'm like my spirit leaps and go. That's Heidi Baker. And I do a U-turn, almost get hit by a car. I've got three people following me and I get to her and I'm like Mama Ida, mama Ida. And she looks and goes oh my gosh, chad. And she is freaking out because she just did three surgeries. She had a neck like fusion and you know fusion and her spine and all this stuff. She's all. I've been in the hospital for 11 days. It was my first day they let me to go outside and they only let me go outside for 10 minutes and that you would bump into me Like I she's not. She lives in Mozambique. She lives in Mozambique.
Speaker 3:But what's crazy about that is Heidi grew up in Laguna Beach, so this is like heritage ride squared Like that's like the probabilities of running. There was no text messages, there was no like let's meet up. Like I saw her across the street and there's like my spiritual mom who lives in Mozambique and she's here to get these surgeries, and so we I just knew it was a God moment and we got on our knees on the sidewalk of PCH and God just wrecked me and it was amazing, where I love, like being led by his spirit, where I prayed for the park ranger, I prayed for the guy at the street light, where we missed light rotations If I would have been in a hurry I would have missed it. I would have missed seeing Heidi Baker and having that sweet moment, and it's that place of being in rhythm with the Lord. That it you know, and it takes that place of listening and you know talking about being in, becoming a new creation.
Speaker 3:And then my parents in the natural that you know, by 10 years old or so, that I could be in a crowd of hundreds of people and my parents are on the other side of the crowd, but I would recognize their voice because I became familiar with their voice and so you, sometimes you'll hear people, or maybe you could even be like a little intimidated of like wow, chas, gone over 3000 miles or he's had you know 20 some years of recognizing God's voice. Like where do I start? Well, I had to have a first mile. I had to have, you know, my first times of recognizing the Father's voice and working that out. Is this you? Is this not you? That times of dependency, times of taking risk, that you know, sometimes I would take risk and nothing would happen. But I would not see myself as a failure that I was growing in, learning how to be led by his spirit. Thank you, you know it's been beautiful going to Maui and that place you know I was. We were taking out in LA in August when the fires happened. We were in LA taking Afghan refugees teaching them to surf and which is really fun because they can't swim and they've never seen the ocean before, and so it's really a fun experience and Breaking the spirit of fear off of off of people. And so, anyways, the fires broke out and my heart broke.
Speaker 3:I mean, I have an assignment on my life to go to natural disasters to respond. I went to, you know, I was living in Detroit when 9-11 happened, so I drove through the night and was there, you know, september 12th, and we did trauma counseling and we helped to clean up. And then Hurricane Katrina I was there and Haiti, the earthquake in 2010, and Fukushima in Japan in 2011 and Christchurch 2012. I've done a lot of stuff with the first responder stuff, but my heart broke for Maui because I never ministered and stayed in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina.
Speaker 3:I didn't, you know, ever stay and minister in New York before 9-11, where I had gone to Lahaina several times and even earlier that year, january 2023, that I went, ministered in the Hina and I did a prayer paddle from the island of the Nigh all the way to the Hina, just staring at that smokestack, praying for that city, praying for that land and the house that I stayed at burn. The house, the church I ministered at, burned, that my heart broke for these people, that I had a connection with them before this trauma. And so the Lord told me when I was in Southern California with Afghan refugees he's a lot, you need to go next week To Lahaina that if you're gonna have any authority, any anointing, to transition a community From grieving to joy, for mourning to joy, you need to be with them in the morning, you need to be with them in the grieving, and that's that place of compassion where your heart breaks. And if your heart breaks, then the Lord will begin to give you authority and Then you begin to move heaven down to earth. But it first comes from that place of empathy, that place of letting those people cut you deep. And it was so amazing to go over there in August and we were seeing people get saved and you know, in the grocery stores and the parking lots and the hotel areas, and you know it was just really, really a beautiful time. And then you just your heart would break as you would hear the stories of loss, of Stories of you know where they lost loved ones, they lost all their possessions. And you know it's just been a beautiful time.
Speaker 3:In this last trip we actually built a boxing ring which I've never put boxing gloves on in my life and I think that's soon gonna change but we helped start a nonprofit where it was a ministry. We in September we built 450 bikes for kids that lost their you know, lost their possessions and and in the Bike assembly line that we created I met this guy who had this boxing glove and it said contending for the kingdom. I'm like, oh, it's a really cool shirt. And I got to begin to hear his story about when COVID broke out, that he saw the youth where they were starting to do math or you know, because they weren't going to school or they were drinking and all stuff. And he goes. You know what, boxing saved my life, jesus, and boxing saved my life. I want to start a ministry where I create a boxing gym.
Speaker 3:So at Kings the Hina, which is one of the church there, he started a boxing ministry for about 40 45 youth and it was like a discipleship program and so they had a boxing ring, they had all the equipment and then when the line of fires hit, he lost the boxing ring. So I said hey, if you make this a nonprofit, my nonprofit, the counter genius will build you a boxing ring. And he goes I don't know how to do it now. Problem, go, well, hook you up with a lawyer. We got all this paperwork in, he became an official nonprofit and then he got, was able to find land, and so in February, the beginning of February, we came in there and we built a boxing ring, which the Lord really began to reveal to me. This like strategy, of like kind of a Nehemiah strategy of rebuilding a city.
Speaker 3:If you want to remove curses, it's Malachi 4, 6, that you turn the hearts of the father towards the children, the children's hearts towards the fathers, or I'll release a curse in the land. So how you remove curses is by bringing generations together, and I'm like that's what this boxing is. It's a. It removes curses off of this land, and so it's one of the first structures to be built that was burned in the fire. What a privilege.
Speaker 3:And then we did a huge worship night in the burn zone, which was amazing. Like we, we brought around 400 people together. This spot I don't know if you're familiar with Maui, but it's called Lonnie apoco and they closed it. It was a real place for families to come together, birthday parties. It's a real place of community and it was shut down for almost eight weeks and it was right in the south gate of where the fires happened in the high now and so it reopened in the end of September and and it was a privilege to do a worship night where we had Probably 10 churches represented that would have never have come together if it was out of building, it being in a neutral site, and I got to watch God begin to heal.
Speaker 3:You know a city, a community that is such a memorial stone that I had this whole word of knowledge of you know there's people here that you have night terrors of the fire happening again and you're trying to escape the fires all over again. Raise that, raise your hand if that's you, if you've had Recurring night terrors of the fires happening again and about 50 hands raised and we just you just surrounded them and just prayed for the God of hope to crash in. And you know we're gonna journey along. We've been there five times since the fires and we're gonna continue to just go and pour in to Lahaina and it's such a beautiful place and when there is a disaster. The, the gospel is so ripe for a season, and so we know that it's just such a ripe time for Maui. But my point being is, as I've been like in that place, of Learning how to connect with the father, to be one with him, but then that place of horizontal intercession, to be around people and for my heart to break and to Realize where your heart breaks, god's giving you authority. You know talking about the whole.
Speaker 3:You know drug like epidemic, that we've had an overdose. You know, in our country, like to understand that in 2019 we lost 93,000 or is it 2020? We lost 93,000 Americans to overdose and then the next year we lost 106,000 Americans to drug overdose. That's like crazier than the most most of the wars unless you get to like the civil war, you know where we're killing each other. So I mean like it's like wow, this is a really crazy deal. Like the enemy is, his deal is to steal, kill and destroy and I don't really want to get into a super hot topic, but being in Maui, people will have their conspiracy theories and the different things and I'm like listen, like if this was China, if this was Bezos of this, those are all puppets.
Speaker 3:The puppet master is the devil. What happened here is people died, people lost their possessions, people were stolen from people lost. That is the devil. So that's like not be consumed of who the puppet master or the puppets were in this thing. That's bring the kingdom of heaven. That's bring love, that's bring Restoration. That's bring, you know, the Holy Spirit, the God of hope to these people. Jesus, just wreck us, god.
Speaker 3:So this whole place, my heart breaks for my generation. I've lost people, my age friends, to drug overdose. So since 2017, I've been going in to rehab centers and just being led by his spirit, but also being led by compassion, like my heart breaks for these ones that are dealing with cycles of addiction and the whole deal, asking the Lord for an anointing, and that's that's one of the things I want to impart to you guys is to begin to take the journey Like to celebrate your first mile. Don't despise the day of small beginnings, but to know that you're growing. You're growing and being led by the spirit. You're growing in your place of compassion.
Speaker 3:That, if there's a place that you're wanting to get to, like, the breakthrough doesn't come from sitting on the couch. You've got to do something, you have to move, you have to strike the water, as Elisha just received Elijah's mantle, his spiritual followers mantle. He didn't know what he was working with until he strike the waters. That that Joshua and Joshua one was in an impartation service of courage. That the angel of the Lord speaking to Joshua be strong and courageous. Seven times he's not speaking to someone who's hard of hearing or deaf that it was an impartation of courage. It's an installment of courage. Every time the angel of the Lord said be strong and courageous. But Joshua needed to step into the river Jordan before the river parted. Like you have to do something to activate what God, the different anointing that God has for you, but to recognize what moves your heart, to recognize.
Speaker 3:So I'm going to end with this story because it's 1140, but I would go to drug and alcohol treatment centers in California. I take them surfing and I go and minister in the treatment centers. So I showed up this treatment center my first time ever going there and this guy's in the foyer and he goes oh, chad, like you knew my name. He's like oh, I'm so thankful. I've been waiting all morning for you to come and I heard you're coming and you know you were here like months ago and you really ministered to me and my life was rocked. And you know, I'm back again and I was really, you know, expecting of you coming and I'm like I tell him like I've never been here before, I've never, I've never seen you before, and he goes no, no, no, no. You remember it was like back in February and you prayed for me and you said this prayer and I'm like, and I'm like kind of arguing with him a little bit of like no, I've never been here before, and God's like, stop arguing with him, just to say yes and amen and so, and so I start seeing just different stuff on him.
Speaker 3:I'm like, hey, there is this like spirit of self-hatred. You know, I feel like you need to forgive yourself for something and that there's like this spirit of suicide. I see the spirit like talking in your right ear to commit suicide, to end your life. That you're, you're, you're so like in this place of unforgiveness. And he pulls down his sweatshirt sleeves and he's got bandages where he had just tried, he just attempted suicide. And he begins to tell me that he picked up drugs and gave, you know, got back to a spot where his fiance was and he went to the bathroom and came back and his fiance took the drugs and she overdosed and she died, and so he blamed himself for killing his fiance and I said you need to forgive yourself. And so he's going through this place of deliverance and being set free of self-hatred and he's just getting rocked by God.
Speaker 3:And there's this group of three people and they're kind of like making fun of us a little bit and I'm like you know that like justice thing of like hey, god is all over this kid. Like do not like be making fun of what God's doing. But then I suddenly see a Ouija board hovering over their heads and I'm like one of you is messing with the Ouija board and you have a spirit that strangles you in the middle of the night. Who is that? And this guy goes oh, it's me. This.
Speaker 3:I get woken up at two in the morning where I can't breathe and I feel like someone's collapsing my windpipe and I go that's a demonic spirit. Are you the one with the Ouija board? He goes yeah, the Ouija board's under my bed. And I said well, we need to go get it. So we burn that thing, we throw that in like the dumpster and burn it. And then I said do you want to be set free? And he goes, yeah, do you want to know Jesus? Yeah, then you know, the four of them get radically saved and we baptize them in the community pool. Yeah, no, you get excited about that. I mean, jesus is transforming lives and that's the deal is like we're all growing in that anointing, and then you begin to have, like I call it, fish jumping in the boat.
Speaker 3:You know, like that kid was convinced that I'd been there before and ministered over him. I'm like I don't know, I was my angel. I don't know what that was, but that's amazing. God, you were like ahead of the game, you were already setting me up for success, but it started from a place of compassion and started from a place where my heart broke, where, but also I was being led by the spirit, I was connected to the father, and so I want you just to put your hand on your heart, lord. I just pray that we would be teachable.
Speaker 3:That David, who was a man after God's own heart, said God, teach me your ways. I don't want to be a servant, I don't want to just do whatever you command me to do. Like I'm curious, I'm intrigued, like teach me your ways. Show me your ways. I want to know your heart. So, lord, I pray that we would enroll ourselves in the school of the spirit and that we would never graduate, that we would continually learn how to be led by the spirit and that we would celebrate the different moments where we feel like we maybe force gump our way through life and not realizing we are being led by the spirit.
Speaker 3:And, lord, break our hearts for our communities, for places where there's injustice, the blood and the land is crying out that we would be intercessors, that we would stand in the gap, that we would bring heaven down to earth to hurting people, to people that are sheep without a shepherd. Lord, let us recognize those demographics, those ethnic groups, those that we would disciple, all nations. Well, the nations live in Boulder, the nations live in Denver. So, lord, give us a heart and that you're not limited to one or two people, groups or assignments. You have many different assignments, so teach us to steward our assignments, lord. Let us recognize where we're called to give our energy, where we're called to grow in our anointing, the people, groups that we're called to. And, lord, let us have fun that we don't make it too difficult, that we don't make it too hard, we break off any religiosity, lord, that it's about relationship. But there's no condemnation where I'm learning, I'm learning, I'm growing in this place. So, lord, take us deeper.
Speaker 3:You know, as Piper was leading worship, I just really felt like there was an anointing on her. That is a grace being released to this church of childlikeness and it's something that she's stepping into to a greater capacity and releasing over this church. And you know, to embrace that Zacchaeus, a man of stature, a man of influence, that he would do something that was very childlike for his hunger for Jesus. And I feel like there's an invitation for you guys to grow and to model to other churches in the region what it looked like to be childlike. And it is a religious spirit that will accuse you of being childish in the name of religion. That's childish climbing a sycamore tree.
Speaker 3:There's a difference between being childish and childlike and one of the best ways to move in childlikeness is to have a revelation that he's your father and that when you begin to behold him as your dad, that you operate from that place of childlikeness, of that place of hunger. So, lord, I pray, lord, for this house, that they would carry a revelation of the father Was it looked like to be sons and daughters, the spirit of adoption that would flow from the lookout, that it would ring like a bell of awakening in this land, where people that have an orphan spirit of different walks of life, that they would know that they could come here to receive the father's love, to release the spirit of adoption, that this is a place that encourages and celebrates childlikeness. And so, lord, just pour out your spirit, matt. I don't know if you have anything prophetically. So, lord, we just thank you, lord, for what you're doing. Lord, teach us, matt, my buddy here is going to release something.
Speaker 4:We good Check check.
Speaker 3:Perfect.
Speaker 4:Yeah, something I felt when I walked into the room is just this invitation of not that you've ever lost your first love, but going back to the first love of Jesus, going back to that foundation. I feel an invitation for you on you corporately, to lean upon his chest and to rest there and I even felt Hebrews 11.1, having faith. I feel like the words. I first came to this church about 12 years ago for a resound conference with the Hellzers and it was beautiful. It impacted me in such a beautiful way and I know over the years you guys have probably received many, many prophetic words and waiting for those words to pass can kind of be a bit of a growing pain.
Speaker 4:But I feel the Lord say trust, lean into the faith, lean into what God has shown you, lean into what God has said to you, but ultimately, trust by leaning into his chest. You know, as you circle as he, you know Jesus. Be like John, disciple John, leaning upon the chest of Jesus, communing with him and fellowshiping with him. I know that sounds pretty much like a generic word, but I truly feel like the Lord is bringing this community to the foundations of coming back to Jesus for the simplicity of knowing Jesus and belonging to him. So that's what I have.
Speaker 3:That's a good word, that word trust. When Matt released that, I just got, you know, reminded of Romans 1513. May the God of hope abound in you, that you would have all joy, all peace in those that trust. That trust is one of the greatest worship services you could ever enter in and that, when you walk through the doorway of trust, you begin to encounter in the God of hope that gives you all peace, all joy, that trust that we as leaders you know you've had a lot of. You know young adults demand understanding and sometimes we as leaders have fallen on the wrong rabbit trail of trying to give understanding when God said no, I'll give you peace. That surpasses understanding.
Speaker 3:There's something about celebrating the mystery, being in the mystery and choosing to lean in, to trust him in your circumstances, or screaming the opposite of God's nature. And so, lord, I just thank you for that word of trust. I thank you, lord, that this house carries a sound, as Matt was influenced by that sound over 11 years ago. We thank you, lord, that this is a worship center, that this is a refuge that releases the sound, and that there'd be a sound released over Boulder and Denver, fort Collins, that there'd be a sound of awakening us as believers to choose to trust, so that the God of hope can abound, lord. That this house would have an authority over a mental health healing wave.
Speaker 3:That those that are dealing with suicidal thoughts, suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, that they come through this place and they begin to come into the place of momentum of the Prince of Peace. That there'd be a well of peace, a well of hope, a well of joy in the sanctuary. But, lord, I pray that you would teach us to trust in you, that we would lean into you in times of mystery and in times of not understanding, in times of wrestling and tension, and you as the healer, you as being good, that you would establish Romans 828 in our lives. Whatever the enemy is meant for evil, god is going to turn around for our good, for those that love him. But, lord, may the God of hope be established in this sanctuary, in this community. Amen, bless you guys.
Speaker 2:So good, I'm going to have Josh share something that came up for him.
Speaker 5:So as Chad was talking and I was addressing the issue of addiction and the things that need broken, I just knew the Lord was saying hey, son, you need to go share this. So my addiction that always had a grip on me since about the age of 15, when I got caught up on the roof of this church smoking. It was always nicotine cigarettes, for whatever reason. That was the thing for me, and I feel like there's people struggling that need to hear this. And I tried to quit on and off so many times. But this addiction I just loved it. I can't describe it. I know it's disgusting. I loved it, and so I tried to ask the Lord to break this thing off of me over and over, and it didn't go away for so many years. I would quit for six months, get back on, and it was the desire just never left. It was just always right there and always sounded great.
Speaker 5:Well, a couple of years ago, I just got back from a funeral my grandmother's funeral and I was in Texas at the time. I was standing out by my pool just about getting ready to go to bed because we were traveling all day. And I'm sitting there, I'm having a smoke and I'm praying, which is something I do all the time. God was right there with me in addiction, the entire time, and I didn't hide anything from him, right, I would smoke, have a beer and yell at the Lord and we would talk, and it was a great time, so, anyway. So I'm standing out there and I'm just processing again. I'm like God as I'm smoking. Like God, I think I need to be done with this, but I don't know what to do. I can't. I've tried, lord, this thing, it's got me. I'm like Lord, I don't know what to do, but would you help me? Would you help me? So I finished it. I woke up the next day it was gone. I mean completely gone. No desire, ever, ever again. It's been just over two years now and I have zeroed. Not one time has it even sounded good to me.
Speaker 5:And here's what I wanna tell you If you've struggled with any addiction and you're going through it even now, if you've tried to surrender this thing but it hasn't gone away, one, don't give up. The Lord can break it off of you. Okay, it can happen. The freedom can happen. So I just wanna encourage you to continue to lean into the Lord and that he has the power to break this off of you. He has the power to break the chains that are wrapped around you, and it doesn't have to be a nicotine. It could be eating too many Big Macs, I don't care what. It is right, but whatever it is that's got you. The Lord has the power, and so I wanna invite you, as we do ministry, as the ministry team comes, if there's anybody that is still struggling. Once again, there's no shame. We all struggle with stuff. We all go through problems. There's no reason to hide that you're struggling with something. If you need prayer, and this needs broken off of you, would you please come up and we wanna pray over you.
Speaker 2:Come on, let's go, come on. So let's stand together. Let's stand together. Just to read what Josh said.
Speaker 2:We believe that God is on a mission to see sons and daughters free. He wants us free, he wants your family free, he wants the person sitting next to you free, he wants your neighbors free, because freedom is what the kingdom of God is about. And so, after the service, come up front and there's no shame in receiving prayer, there's no shame in saying I need somebody to pray with me. All right, this is what we all need. We need the body, okay? So when we end the service today, if you wanna come up front for healing, for healing prayer, for prayer for addiction, for prayer for anything in your life, just come receive prayer and listen as we end, you can go run and get your kids. Thank the teachers for going a little later this morning as you're picking up your kids.
Speaker 2:If you're a guest with us today, if you're visiting and you just wanna learn more about the church, go visit the connect with the sign in the back and just wanna pray one last prayer. Oh, oh yeah, one of you ladies lost a ring in the bathroom, so if this is your ring, you can come up and get it after the service, or we're gonna sell it on eBay. I'm joking, we don't know whose ring it is, so it could be super expensive or it could not be, so we'll let you decide. Everybody just put your hands out in front of you. I'm just gonna pray a blessing over you today. Jesus, we thank you for your presence and I pray over my family here. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face to shine upon you. May he be gracious to you and give you peace. Go in the strength of the kingdom of God today. Love you guys.