thank you nice to see you man
somebody was long-winded over at twin
view
i don’t know who it was but uh
anyway man i got here just in time
i don’t know what happened if you’re
late i guess you guys just have to fake
it chris gets up and
he’ll do yodling he has a yodeling album
he’s gonna do so
he keeps threatening
oh by so good so wonderful to be
together i
i’m so thankful that uh we’re in the
midst of breakthrough
and many many blessings to our online
family and community as well
so thankful for you guys i i get to meet
so many when
travel i just got back from florida this
week uh late
friday night and uh cool thing is we saw
a lot of people healed of the effects of
covid
people who had lost their smell their
taste
the bible says all foods are to be
enjoyed
that’s the bible that’s the i didn’t
make that up that’s not like my thoughts
that’s the will of god all foods are to
be enjoyed
if you can’t taste it they’re not
enjoyed
i’m i’m i’m giving you slow pictures
here this is a chance to
for you to really say amen so anyway we
had a bunch of those we
actually had several hundred people
healed though this week very very fun
but i just have a couple signs and
newspaper headlines
that i just thought would be fun to read
here’s a sign
toilet out of order please use floor
below
automatic washing machines please remove
all your clothes when the light goes out
in a department store in london it says
bargain basement upstairs
[Laughter]
outside of a secondhand shop it says we
exchange anything bicycles washing
machines etc
why not bring your wife along and get a
wonderful bargain
[Applause]
[Laughter]
that’s wrong that’s wrong i rebuke that
notice at a health food shop window
closed due to
illness
i love this one notice on a farmer’s
field it says the farmer allows
people to cross the field for free but
the bull charges
all right let me see here real quick oh
man struck by lightning faces battery
charge
astronaut takes blame for gas in
spacecraft
here’s the last one i’ll read the last
one now now we’re just gonna get serious
typhoon rips through cemetery hundreds
dead
why don’t you open to uh book of acts
chapter one it’ll take me a while to get
there so
show some patience but turn there put a
piece of paper in place or something
um i spoke to you a couple weeks ago for
those who are either here or online
i i spoke about the
the design of god in our lives
enabling us to hear his voice we were
actually designed by god to hear his
voice
even our senses our physical senses
are designed to be able to perceive god
it’s a hebrews 5 uh passage
so i i asked the question how many of
you
have had a hard time at times have a
hard time hearing the voice of the lord
but you you could sense his peace so i
ask you that now yeah
that’s his voice recognizing that that’s
actually the voice of the lord
manifesting differently than we are
dialed into
or ready for it’s actually the voice of
the lord because he
is the word and what happens is the lord
ministers to us
most of the time at a level that we do
not comprehend
and we tend to judge our ability to hear
god’s voice
we measure it by our comprehension
i doubt that we comprehend 10 of what he
says
but when he speaks every time he speaks
to us he
puts us on a track where we’re going to
get
what he just said but a lot of what he
said the disciples look through the
gospels
they didn’t understand so many things
jesus said until after he died and a
certain event happened to go oh and then
they remembered that jesus said
we’re not any different that’s why it
scares me to have people
predict what they think how the end is
going to come and how the lord’s going
to return
and nobody before you got it right quit
trying
just be just be ready when he goes you
know
just do what he said to do keep busy
with what he said to do and be
get your heart ready to go when he goes
that’s you know so that’s
that’s my very deep end time theology
so we’re designed to hear the voice of
the lord but here’s what happens as many
times
the lord sees for example you say you
own a business you’ve got a very
difficult decision to make
in four weeks but you don’t know it in a
worship
service here he’ll deposit the seed of
that
concept in your heart at that time and
over the next several weeks as we
worship your own times in your devotion
there’s a watering of that seed and
suddenly you have a decision to make
and you’re ready to make that decision
not because of your brilliance
the willingness to obey yes but not
because of brilliance it’s because the
lord set you up
and if we could realize how often he
speaks to us when we literally are not
conscious that it’s his voice
at this moment i sense presence i don’t
hear a specific voice
but i’m not supposed to does that make
sense
it’s the kind it’s the awareness of his
presence so that’s where we’re going to
hit today
excuse me that’s where we’re going to
leave today and head into something else
where we’re headed today is that in the
same way
i am designed and fashioned to be a
living
instrument that perceives god
in the same way i have been designed
to influence his heart
i heard somebody say recently in the
same way
in the same way i’m designed to
influence his heart
there’s something about the commission
for prayer
it’s happening right now in the bethel
world probably happening all over
the world but what i know for sure is
what i’ve been seeing
stirring here for weeks on end it
actually started over a year ago
with uh when olive died there was such
there was such a mantle for prayer that
fell in the house the pandemic came
we had to take it to our homes but now
we’re able to meet in this tent out here
and it’s it’s like it picked up where it
left off and there’s a there’s a passion
it’s not
it’s it’s not um
it’s not a brilliant strategy i think he
has a strategy
it’s just the willingness to come into
worship and to pray and there’s
something so profound happening
in that environment that i don’t ever
want to forget it i don’t ever want to
lose it
but it’s unto something the lord
invites us into the inner chambers if
you will
of the king of all kings of the lord of
all lords of the great i am
to converse with him so that out of the
conversation
certain events would be changed certain
things would be affected
on the earth because of our conversation
from the beginning it starts in genesis
chapter one and it goes to the end of
the book
that god’s primary design for us
is to be a co-laborer
he didn’t create us as robots and
program us to do specific things
we are living entities who through
surrender yield our will to his purposes
and we find that he shapes our heart and
our mind our thinking
until we become recalibrated in what his
dream is for the planet
he said to pray for his will to be done
on earth
as it is in heaven
can you imagine him saying now pray this
prayer
it’s not going to happen
but it’ll keep you busy it’ll keep you
busy
keep you positive while nothing happens
and that’s my design for you is nothing
happens
it’s silly we would never give an
assignment like that in our own areas of
responsibility
and the lord gave us a specific
assignment because of his dream
praying his prayer links me to his dream
links me to his process links me to
engage with the one who can actually
make these things happen
that i cannot possibly make on my own
so we have an assignment to pray on
earth as it is in heaven we have this
assignment
through our engagement our interaction
with him to actually have him fulfill
the cries the dreams of our heart and
that’s part of the revelation of him as
a father
is that the things that are prayed for
actually happen
john 16 has this a very important verse
there’s four times in three chapters
john 14 15 and 16.
there’s four times in those three
chapters where the lord says
ask for whatever you want and it’ll be
done for you
we know that’s not an invitation to
become arrogant and independent and
selfish
and build your own empire what it is
it’s an invitation
to die until you can represent his heart
and see a continuous flow of answers to
prayer
that keep you filled with joy god
designed
us if if look at it this way he designed
us
with a capacity for overflowing joy
but he said the way you enter into the
fulfillment of that capacity is through
answers to prayer
so in in john 16 it says
whatever you ask for will be done for
you that your joy may be full
that your joy may be full so here here’s
the here’s the process
engage with this pray till something
happens and the result of that is you’re
gonna have
absolute overflowing fullness of joy
it’s the design you’re designed for joy
you’re designed to pray and make a
difference and those two things working
together
keep you fulfilled
in proverbs it says proverbs 12 says
hope deferred makes the heart sick
the second part is as important desire
realized is a tree of life
desire realized is this life-giving
fruit
fulfilled desires how are they fulfilled
in the believer’s life
through prayer it’s the automatic
implication that you engage with god and
things happen because you met with him
and those responses from god
the fulfilled answers and dreams that is
the tree of life for you
so we were designed to live with ongoing
answers to prayer and the problem is
if i’m not getting answers to prayer see
we tend to pray enough
to ease our conscience but not enough to
make a difference
we have a lot of relief valves in our
lives
when the lord is moving us to pray for
government we tend to relieve
the pressure by criticizing government
it eases the conscience just enough to
remove the pressure
when actually the pressure was supposed
to be a divine invitation
to enter into the courts of god and make
a difference through prayer
to stand before the lord and to accuse
people is a misuse of my authority
and he’ll defend the person i’m accusing
because he will not bless the curses
of one of his priests if you will
because we’re not giving that assignment
so if i am designed to live with
overflowing joy
because of answers to prayer and i’m not
getting answers to prayer
then i have to get my joy from the
discipline of prayer
if i get my joy from the discipline of
prayer
then i’m training my heart to celebrate
form
and not impact what is religion
form without power
it’s the beginning of the end when
there’s no answers to prayer
and we have to find our joy in the fact
i prayed
when we’re actually designed by the lord
to see things happen around us
you are here as an ambassador of another
world
an ambassador
if you’re an ambassador in the natural
from the united states
your income is according to the income
of an official in the united states not
the country you go to
let’s say that you go to extremely poor
country the food you eat is from your
country it’s not
the country that you’re sent to unless
you want to
in other words everything everything
that you experience as an ambassador
is that embassy is actually considered
the united states when you’re on that
land
you’re considered in this country
translate that now to our life as
believers we’re ambassadors of another
world
and we are to dedicate our homes our
apartments
our properties to the lord so that this
land
actually becomes healed the land becomes
healed
excuse me and it becomes an
so sorry my throat is dry
come out come on no never
my the land then becomes
the property of the king of kings and
the lord of lords
and he is able to work his purposes and
his will
into that which i own as a
representative
of the kingdom of heaven when we pray
we make decisions that mark people with
eternal purpose
this is our responsibility now i want
you to go to
are you you’re already in acts one so
just take a look with me go look at
i think three verses maybe yeah i think
three uh
the the interesting thing about the book
of acts
is the book of acts talks about prayer
or uses the word prayer or quotes
prayers
more than any other book in the bible
with the exception of psalms
which is a book of prayer
now think through this logically with me
the acts of the apostles
which could easily be also called the
acts of the holy spirit
is linked with the predominant subject
of prayer
from beginning to end of the book of
acts you see it in jesus’s life
i remember a study one day and john the
report that john the baptist
had died and jesus sought to get alone
the crowds followed him he ministered to
him
he finally sent them away and went to a
mountain to pray
he got along with the father why because
somebody just died because of him
i i don’t know says that he was tempted
in all ways as we are so
i’m assuming he had similar emotions and
things going on in his heart that we
would have in ours
if you find that somebody died because
of you
says he went up to a mountain to pray
and then it says when he came down
everybody he prayed for was healed
might be a correlation
see we tend to pray for specific needs
pray and fast jesus fasted into a
lifestyle
acts 1 acts 1 verse 14 says
they all continued with one accord in
prayer and supplication with the women
and mary the mother of jesus
with his brothers first half of the
verse they continued with one accord
in prayer and supplication what’s the
point
the great features the great
happenings in the book of acts are
always linked to prayer
we are about to have literally heaven
invade earth
in the upper room what preceded it ten
days of prayer
i’d like to put it this way before
heaven ever invaded earth earth invaded
heaven for 10 days
there was this apprehending taking hold
of what god had promised
which means you’re automatically
engaging
in mystery because it’s not a it’s not a
uh
a slot machine you put in a dollar and
pull the slot and you get your answer
we’re invited into a relational journey
where there’s push and there’s pull and
there’s adjustment and there’s
repentance and there’s declaration
there’s confession there’s all these
things that we do
in the journey because we were born for
these answers to prayer
and sometimes we’re in a day to a
two-day struggle
but we pray for a day and blame the
absence of an answer on the sovereignty
of god
chapter 2 is kind of cool this is after
the outpouring of the spirit i think
this is something
i think this is somewhere between two
and five years after the day of
pentecost
verse 42 says and they continued
steadfastly
in the apostles doctrine fellowship the
breaking of bread and prayers
it’s just pointing out some of the
prayer references
but what is good to notice here is they
had found the secret for sustaining a
move of god
you know we we read throughout history
where a great move of god took place and
and it lasted six months it lasted a
year lasted five years
but it ended why did it end
they found out how to continue
new american standard says they
continually devoted themselves to
the apostles doctrine the breaking bread
fellowship prayers
they they re-upped their own personal
investment
in these things they didn’t complicate
it
the apostles doctrine for me is whatever
the word of the lord is for that
particular season
and you will find themes throughout all
of the body of christ
in every season there’ll be a similarity
we’ve watched it for years
it’s not a list of doctrines or it would
have been listed
amen bill that’s a good point
breaking of bread sharing meals together
fellowship
prayers they continually devoted
themselves why
it’s how they got where they were
all right
go to chapter 12.
i’m going to read five verses here
beginning with verse 1 acts chapter 12.
it says now about that time herod the
king stretched out his hand
to her ass some from the church then he
killed james the brother of john with a
sword
and because he saw that it pleased the
jews
he proceeded further to cease peter also
now it was during the days of unleavened
bread so when he had arrested him
he put him in prison and delivered him
to four squads of soldiers to keep him
intending to bring him before the people
after the passover
peter was therefore kept in prison but
constant prayer was offered to god for
him by the church
the following verses an angel comes and
literally guides him out of prison
he doesn’t even know it’s a real
experience he thinks it’s a vision and
after he gets out of the prison he
realizes oh this is for real i’m out of
prison it’s
it’s a tremendous story but what’s the
point james was martyred
peter wasn’t what’s the one
distinguishing
feature was the constant prayers of the
church
i hear people teach things like you know
that martyrdom like this was the will of
god
well it is if people aren’t praying
in the absence of prayer the will of god
is shaped and changed
he can use it he’ll use the martyrdom
and he did
but it says but with peter
the church constantly prayed why
constant
any time we’ve been summoned into the
need for constant prayer
it’s one of two reasons one is there’s a
demonic opposition to the answer
in place number two is because god is
trying to shape something in
us to be ready to handle the answer when
it comes
he molds us in the perseverance
brings answers to prayer but enduring
faith brings answers with character
he’s trying to create the context for an
answer to be stewarded well
constant prayer why because we’re
dealing
with a governmental power that had
partnered
with the demonic in a level of
principality influence over this nation
i don’t live conscious of the devil i
don’t chase him around i hardly ever
talk about him
but i’m going to today
there are individuals that have made
covenants whether they know it or not
with principalities and powers
and through their position of authority
have released darkness over the land
it’s true in our country it’s true in
other nations
they have so deeply entrenched their
hearts their souls
to a demonic agenda they that they
actually
personify that principalities purposes
and plans
they are not the enemy i cannot
i cannot relieve my burden that i have
in prayer
and release it through being critical at
this leader of that leader it doesn’t
bring about any change
and it’s a misuse of authority but the
enemy has
fooled the church to think these issues
are political issues and we don’t need
to be involved
it’s absolute stupidity
we’re we are moral agents that help to
keep
clarity not through control and
manipulation but through
literally through heaven’s atmosphere of
what is right what is true what is wrong
it’s crazy but in this our demons are
starting to look a lot like people
the yes on behalf of certain leaders
have so illustrated things
that only five years ago would have been
considered insanity
you know this i’m preaching to the choir
but i’m just trying to i’m just trying
to say listen we have a responsibility
it’s a responsibility to engage with god
to make a difference
it says the church had constant prayer
it wasn’t a
now he lay me down to sleep prayer
it wasn’t a prayer before a meal it was
an engaging with god
until something changed constant prayer
is digging the heels in because
something is going on
there has been a partnership made in
this case herod
where a spirit of has come upon a a
leader
and he’s governed by watch this you’ll
see this all through scripture
where a political leader is governed by
the fear of man he sees it pleases the
jews
so he will commit yet another crime to
please
this particular group the group that
illustrates
the spirit of murder he will adopt the
spirit of murder to gain their favor
and that’s how the political system
works
and we pray not to throw stones at
people in leadership because we’ve got
some
wonderful people in leadership and we
have some that are wonderful they just
don’t know it they’re
thinking stupid
i’m not going to give names
but the responsibility is still to pray
to sit back and say well god’s
sovereignty he can turn this abortion
thing around anytime he wants
oh don’t be stupid maybe 62 million
babies is enough
maybe it’s enough maybe it’s enough
where we actually draw a line
we say no no this is not okay
this is not okay yes we
vote yes we we do do what we’re supposed
to do but don’t fall for that trap
that these life and death issues for a
nation
are political issues they are not
constant prayer why because there was an
opposition
i loved the story about jesus the devil
met jesus in the wilderness
tempted him and he tempted him
and tempted him again and then it says
finally the devil left him
the devil has been severed from his
source of strength
you have an eternal source of strength
your yes to god wears him out
your yes to god can outlast the enemy’s
attempts to dissuade you
constant prayer
agreement in prayer is is is profound
it’s not just an intellectual agreement
although i’m not opposed to that
it’s not just that we agree on an idea
you know we can say let’s pray together
about abortion being
uh god healing forgiving our land and
healing our nation
and and we would be in agreement
together but it’s more than that it’s a
burning of the soul it’s the joining of
hearts
that says this is something we must lay
hold of and there’s that
unity in prayer there’s this
exponential increase that happens and i
the way i like to illustrate is if i
take a fishing line which
it’s only right fishing is more
acceptable than hunting so i can use
fishing
line in my illustration today and
spare all the non-hunters not in this
room of course
none here but maybe out there somewhere
the youtube world if you take a fishing
line
that breaks with two pounds a two pound
weight on the bottom
two pounds of pressure you tie two pound
weight it breaks
you take two of those and you wrap them
together
you would think it would be it would
hold up to four pounds of weight
because it’s two plus two but it
multiplies
it has this effect it’s like six or
eight pounds
now to break two two pound test lines
you take a third one and wrap it around
you’ve got three rep together now you’ve
got something like 15 pound
test line out of three two pound
it’s exponential growth
and in the natural it prophesies to us
about the power of agreement in prayer
i believe in praying on our own i we
have 12 acres and i walk my property
that’s what i like i walk
when you walk and pray you don’t sleep
and pray
now every night i try to sleep and pray
i get in bed and i begin to pray until i
go to sleep
and i like that but if i
if i sit down and pray it’ll be nap time
soon
i will sleep in the arms of jesus he’s
never mad but i would like to pray for
something
so i like to i like to walk i like to
walk and pray and to bring things before
the lord that’s generally what i do i
come here early in the morning sundays
and i just i
walk for an hour i just walk non-stop
for an hour sometimes hour and a half
just walking
and praying for what’s supposed to
happen on that day the point is
is that we engage with god to make a
difference we don’t engage with god
to check the box and say we we finished
our assignment
the engagement in prayer is to make a
difference
and it’s the only way i can access the
reality of joy on a kingdom level
that is overflowing because things have
happened due to this partnership
we’ve been called into a co-laboring
role a co-laboring partnership
so here we have constant prayer was
offered up now i want you to go
to john chapter 15 and
let me talk to you to john 15.
verse one we’re gonna excuse me we’re
gonna read eight verses verse one
i am the true vine my father is the vine
dresser jesus is giving
a lesson a metaphor an illustration
of an extremely profound reality
let me tell you where we’re headed
before we get there so that you’ll be
able to picture it as we read it
if you take a a vine a grape vine a vine
that grows grapes
the branch connects to the vine
but the fibers of the branch
and the fibers of the vine
are so intertwined that you can’t
separate them
you can cut the branch off but that’s
there is actually a growth
into itself and that is the actual
picture in scripture of abiding in
christ
is that you can’t tell where he ends and
where you start
there’s this intertwining of hearts of
minds of will
there’s this yieldedness to the heart
and purposes of god so deeply
that that i can’t tell where he starts
and where i am that that sort of thing
that’s the work that god is doing in us
and that’s the purpose of this
illustration
verse two every branch in me that does
not bear fruit he takes away every
branch that bears fruit he prunes
that it may bear more fruit god rewards
all growth with pruning
how many of you want to grow yeah
he rewards all growth with pruning verse
three you are
already clean because of the word which
i have spoken to you the word clean
there
is the same word as the word prune
you’re pruned i pruned you and then he
says but you guys are already pruned
because of the word i spoke to you what
does it tell us the discipline of god
comes from his voice
the circumstances are just to get our
attention
oh the whale swallowed jonah and that
was the discipline of the lord no i just
got his attention
it just got his attention so the next
time god spoke he was actually listening
he actually prunes us with his word it’s
called a sword for a reason
it was that was better than your
response but it’s all right
verse 4 abide in me i in you as the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself
unless it abides in the vine neither can
you unless you abide in me
boy isn’t that the truth there’s
nothing of the eternal i can produce
through my own efforts
but everything is available
if i yield to them i am the vine you are
the branches he abides in me
i in him bears much fruit without me you
can do nothing if anyone does not abide
in me
he is cast out as a branch and is
withered
they gather them throw them into the
fire they are burned verse 7
if you abide in me and my words abide in
you you will ask whatever you desire
and it will be done for you please
listen carefully
this is a verse i like to bring up our
team brings up
fairly often these verses out of john 14
15 and 16.
in three chapters jesus repeats
one thought four times four times in
three chapters
and the thought is this whatever you ask
for will be done
four times he does it whatever you ask
for will be done
in this particular verse he creates the
context
for the absolute the um he creates he
creates
the definition or the uh he
illustrates how is it i can live in such
a way
that i live with the overflowing
fullness of god’s joy through answers to
prayer
it’s according to verse 7 abide in me
let my words abide in you and you will
ask whatever you desire
and it will be done for you i
i don’t like i don’t like the i don’t
like the teaching that
that basically says if you pray for what
god tells you to pray he’ll answer your
prayer i know there’s truth there
but god makes himself vulnerable to the
desires of his people
this isn’t licensed to control or
manipulate god but it is an invitation
for a relationship where you actually
have input in interaction
into the outcome of things the the
the effort in consistent prayer is not
to persuade god
it’s to deal with the powers that are
entrenched in the area that we are
pushing into
and the process transforms us so that we
become
responsible stewards of what we’ve just
prayed into
see israel if they would have walked
into the promised land in a 11-day
journey it was supposed to take
they would have wandered right out they
didn’t didn’t have the parameters
for the how to do life
they were careless in their worship of
golden calf and all these other stupid
things
they wouldn’t have had the maturity to
maintain the inheritance
and so the lord puts us in situations
where we push
to build a strength so that once the
answer is released we have the maturity
to use it for his glory
there’s this overriding theme that if i
if i can maybe
if i could communicate one one thing
today it would be this
when it becomes my passion
for his will to be done on earth and for
him to be glorified
as a result that’s two sides of the same
coin
when it becomes my passion
to see the will of god done on earth i
don’t mean the parts that benefit me
i’m talking about the absolute
demonstration of the lordship of jesus
when that becomes demonstrated and god
is glorified in all the earth in first
service today i read this first
of the passion translation now one of
the psalms and it said
there’s a day coming when all the kings
of the earth are going to give him
thanks because they’ve heard his voice
all the kings of the earth will give him
thanks because they heard his voice so
god has these lofty plans these lofty
dreams
and i i’m not angry about this but i do
get frustrated
to hear so many believers say well
that’s that can’t happen until jesus
returns
that’s only because we have greater
faith in the return of christ than we do
the power of the gospel
confidence in the power of the gospel
how does it end i don’t know how it ends
i’m ideas so do you
neither of our opinions are worth much
unless we got them from him you know
but the point is is the power of the
gospel can change anything
he gave me an assignment not with the
intention
of ignoring me
he didn’t say seek for me to be
glorified in the earth it’s not going to
happen
i’ll come back someday and then it will
seek for my will to be done on earth as
it is in heaven
it’ll just keep you positive in your
thinking and it’ll keep you active
until you die he gave us an assignment
why
because of his personal dream to see
something happen
on a planet that has been marked by sin
he paid a price for the healing of the
land and the healing of the people that
live there
and he wants to see that world mirror
the reality of the one he’s in complete
charge
so here he says if you abide in me my
words abide in you i’ve had
quite a few times in the last couple
months especially where
i’ve been awakened in the night you know
i don’t know if this happens to you
where you’re just
perfectly sound asleep and then all of a
sudden
your brain is working 100 miles an hour
how did that happen out of nowhere it
was a dead start how did it suddenly
wake up
and i’ve got a million things going on
through my mind and i’m just wide awake
and physically tired but wide awake
mentally
and what i’ve been doing of late in the
past what i’ve always done is just
anchor my affection in him
but in recent days i’ve had to bring
another tool into this
toolkit of mine and i i will lay there
and i won’t do this out loud because i
don’t want to wait benny
but i’ll lay there and i’ll just begin
quoting scripture
psalms 34. i will bless the lord at all
times
his praise will continually be in my
mouth
my soul shall make its boast in the lord
the humble will hear it and be glad
magnify the lord with me let us exalt
his name together
i sought the lord and he heard me he
delivered me from all my fears
taste and see that the lord is good and
just lay there and just begin to quote
scripture what
what’s happening the verses may have
nothing to do with what’s in my mind
it doesn’t have to it’s the living voice
of god
it’s the living voice of god that brings
all the random stuff it just starts
pruning
uh this thought isn’t necessary this one
won’t help you
this one’s illegal this one starts
pruning all these illegitimate thoughts
that are competing for my affection and
it restores me
to this railroad track that already has
a predetermined destination and it puts
me on this thing
i rejoice in the lord always again i say
rejoice
i had somebody asked me just uh oh just
a few weeks ago
if you had to live the rest of your life
i’ve never been asked this one before
i’ve had a lot of good questions for the
years but this is the first
if you had to live the rest of your life
off of one verse what it would it be
i thought that’s easy john 3 16.
it’s hard to get any higher than that
one that’s the grand finale of all
scripture
for god so loved the world that he gave
his only
begotten son that whoever believes in
him
will not perish they’ll have everlasting
life
that’s not just an evangelism verse
that’s a hearer bill stay alive verse
get centered into what i’m saying and
doing become anchored in my
presence once again here this will help
you fight off every distraction
that is simply there to dilute your
affections for christ
for god so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son
that whoever believes in him would not
perish
he’ll have everlasting life
something happens in that midnight hour
3 a.m
hour where i was so awake suddenly i’m
i’m anchored into the person of peace
verse 8 says by this my father is
glorified
that you bear much fruit and so you will
be my disciple by this
my father is glorified that you bear
much fruit
what is this in that verse
by this if god’s going to be glorified
by it we
probably ought to figure out what it is
by this
my father’s glorified
at minimum in his answers to prayer
a fuller definition would be me abiding
in christ
until there’s answers to prayer but
that’s the
this
i want you to picture this
you have a concern for a relative
and it just wakes you up at night and
you walk and you pray
the next day you do the same and you
pray for several days
and then all of a sudden you get this
phone call and
that relative was spared in an accident
or or they
they turned their heart to the gospel
and received christ whatever it might be
you got an answer to prayer
what you don’t see is the angelic realm
that witnessed the interaction between
a born-again person created in the image
of god
who yielded themselves to be a worshiper
by choice
interacting with the great i am and
having an audience with the king of all
kings
and making a request that actually
shaped the course of history
the angelic realm celebrates
your plan worked
your plan worked
you created them in your image and even
when they fell you restored them
and you brought them into a place of
co-laboring
you brought them into a place of
partnership with the almighty god
fallen redeemed man partners with the
almighty god
they pray you act things change your
plan
worked
by this my father is glorified that you
bear much fruit
by this this abiding in this
felt reality of the spirit of god the
greatest reality in my life is the
presence of god
to live unaware of it is a waste of time
to live unaware of this most precious
gift of all that the holy spirit himself
would dwell in me
and rest upon me to live unconscious of
that one thing
is to sell myself short of every divine
purpose
that he has created for me
i owe him answers to prayer
i owe him answers
he decided a long time ago to answer
that’s why he gave me promises
he gave me promises to pull me into a
place of relationship with him
where together we would affect the
course of history it was already written
my name was already written in the in
the document this is what my son is
created to do
i can stand away from the river and say
well there’s no current where i’m
at or i can move to that which has been
flowing
since the beginning of time god created
us to co-labor with him
to see his purposes in the earth be
fruitful multiply
subdue the earth he engages humanity
engages people
with divine purpose because he
he could do a military invasion but then
it breaks the entire protocol he created
if i own a house here in reading and
you’re renting it from me
i can’t go into that home anytime i want
even though i have the master key i can
only go by your invitation even though
i own the house and let’s say i own it
outright the bank doesn’t know i’m not
making payments i own it
i like this conversation this is working
well i can’t i have the master key i
can’t go any time i want why
because uh you are the legal guardian of
that property as long as you’re paying
your rent
right the scripture says
the heavens were made for god the earth
he made for men
we’re the renters he comes
by invitation
he comes by invitation understand
in mark chapter 9 there’s a powerful
story
of a dad with a son he wanted his son
free he was so tormented
he brought his son to the disciples and
i remind you they were the most
trained people in healing and
deliverance of any group of people to
ever live up until that time with the
exception of jesus himself
this was not their first rodeo
the dad brought the kid to the disciples
they prayed the prayer
they had done countless times before
they had been sent into cities
they had saw dramatic impact so profound
was their impact in the cities jesus
said
i saw satan fall like lightning that was
the impact
but this one child they couldn’t get
free
in church history we’re at that point
where the child didn’t get free
and we generally create theology to
explain what just happened
we create theology that says well the
sovereignty of god he works in
mysterious ways
perhaps his will for him to be delivered
is further down the road
but thankfully the father was not happy
with the absence of an
answer and he took his son to jesus
jesus set him free the disciples
saw this happen and they took jesus
aside and they said
how come we couldn’t do it jesus said
this kind only comes out with prayer and
fasting
most people leave that story with the
key of prayer and fasting for
breakthrough
which is wonderful but the real key to
the story
is they weren’t happy with the absence
of an answer
and they took jesus aside
see you’re not designed for having
nothing happen
you’re not designed for that you’re not
wired for that you’re not wired for
nothing happening
the key to that story is taking jesus
aside
finding out why i’m not wired for this
god
you didn’t teach us how to deal with
unanswered prayers because you didn’t
have any
help us help us to engage the same way
you did
teach me i give myself here’s this
prayer
of repentance from dead works faith
towards god
reconsecrate ourselves i’m telling you
the prayer of petition becomes powerful
when it follows the prayer of
conservation
it’s god i abandoned my own my own
efforts my own dreams
everything and i give myself completely
to what you’re saying
what you’re doing all i want is your
heart in this matter
that that abandoning of personal agendas
and then praying
suddenly we pray with clarity of thought
clarity of heart clarity of mind
in ways we’ve never known before father
i pray for that kind of clarity
to rest upon us as a church body as we
enter in this next season
this next season of just simple
simple prayer meeting with god and
praying to make a difference
i pray for that to happen in this room
in jesus name
i’ve gone over a couple minutes let me
just address
our online family as well as anybody in
the room
there’s always a chance when as a crowd
decides that we’d have people here that
don’t have a personal relationship with
jesus
jesus is god he’s not one of many ways
if that were true
then god was so cruel to require jesus
to
die when you could have gotten there by
singing a song and lighting a candle
it’s not true jesus suffered and died in
my place
so that i could receive the gift of
eternal life that
is made available to every one of you
that would just say
i want to be a disciple of jesus i don’t
want to follow my own agendas anymore
if there’s anybody in the room in that
case i want you just to put a hand up if
you would right where you are
because we want to make sure to pray for
you anyone at all
okay let me speak to the online family
we have so many people that come to
jesus online
it’s been wonderful i want to encourage
you on bethel tv on youtube
just put in a post that you you are
surrendering to jesus
and somebody will come and pray for you
amen sure it was nice to be in the same
room together
i love you i love you i love you