Witness With Power - What Will Your Dash Say?

Jesus. Jesus. Your name is Jesus. Jesus.

Come on, just.

Sing his name. Jesus. Your name is Jesus. Sam, he said on my score. Good morning. Good morning. What's happening everybody? Welcome back to another Wednesday morning King's council Bible study. If we're all here, either were not really as Christ like as we thought, we missed a rapture or it just didn't happen.

So where's Joe Sharaldo? Oh, he's not. Maybe he's gone now.

I'm pretty sure.

Oh, the irony, right?

Awesome. Well, love seeing your faces. I'm excited for this morning as you guys know as faithful Wednesday morning participants. More than participants. You guys minister to me as much as I minister to you guys. I think we finished the book of Revelation and this week we're going to do a little topical study and I, I'd love to even just start off by asking how many people saw Charlie Kirk's memorial on Sunday and what you thought about it, what your impression was. Have you noticed any, any hungry hearts that you've come across in the last couple weeks and you've had an opportunity to minister to them, to witness to them. And I, I shared on the, the prayer call. Raj, you sent me that message yesterday morning of just opportunity to pour into people's lives and see I'm, I'm wearing.

A different hat because I don't have my, my sleigh like David hat. I gave it away.

Yeah, that's phenomenal. And there's when, when we're seeking ministry opportunities, there's ministry opportunities all around us all the time and if we're just aware of them, I don't even know sometimes if we have to pray for them, they're there. It's just God help me to open my eyes to see them and perhaps just be a little bit bolder and know that I'm on mission to, to make impact in this world, to be a witness for Jesus. Does anybody have any thoughts about this past Sunday or just any awakening that they've seen around them, whether it be within your families, your jobs?

Yeah.

So I'll share. I shared a little bit last, last week the, that my oldest son went back to church for the first time in like eight years. Like super cool. My grandkids had never been in a church before. They went back again this week. So that was really cool. Especially with my daughter in law who is, you know, she's, she's what we call a seeker. She's looked at everything from witchcraft to being a practicing pagan. And for them to go into churches is Pretty is pretty epic. And just as a matter of fact, happenstance. We had our annual beach baptism last week this, this last Sunday, and we had 60 people scheduled for to get baptized at the beach. Ended up with 84 baptisms out in the Atlantic Ocean and the beach. And a couple of those were like, three of those were actual bystanders. People just happened to be walking by and got caught up in everything. So there is a harvest coming, y'.

All. Amen. Amen.

Yeah, I was like in every definition of the word on Sunday. I sat there, watched the beginning of it while I was watching the Vikings game. And then Vikings came over and I put the. The memorial on for the rest of that evening. And I'm like that. I was in awe of what was happening. You know, I didn't know who was speaking, who wasn't speaking. I went to Rob McCoy's church during COVID because that was like the only church open in California, Thousand Oaks, California, back in 2021. And I heard Charlie, you know, Charlie Kirk preached one of the Sundays I was there. You know, small church, comparatively. And, and, but yeah, just to see, man, a lot of people waking up. My brother's talking a lot more, just like something shifting. And yeah, I feel like that the pace is about to change. That's what I felt like God was saying to me personally. The pace is changing and you've been in the flow, you've been in the river of life, but it's going to look different because the pace is changing. There's a quickening that's happening because of. Of this. And I think, like, that's, that's like, yeah, really cool stuff happening.

Yeah.

Amen.

Amen. Yeah, I was moved to tears more than a couple times on Sunday watching that. And good for you, Jonathan. That Vikings game was over in the first few minutes. They pretty much won that game in the first few minutes. But yeah, I was moved to tears and to just see the atmosphere, you know, although a lot of people say Charlie was killed because of politics, you could see it wasn't a political event. Although we had some of the. The highest ranking people of our government there in attendance and speaking and sharing Jesus. I. I just felt the presence of the Holy Spirit there, even through the screen. There's a lot of people who are searching, they're seeking, and I love that there's an opportunity to hear with every single speaker, just hear about Jesus. It's. It's going to be very fun and interesting to see the, the fruit that comes of this, you know, just throughout the year. And we may not, you know, see it in its full effect, but five years from now, 10 years from now, we may look back and be like, wow, this was the shift, this was the turning point where there's revival. And although as we just read through Revelation, we, we know in the last days there's going to be a great falling away. But if the Lord hasn't come back yet, there's a reason that there's still souls that, that need healing, that need to be born again. So with that said, it, I think with a lot of us the last couple of weeks, we've spent a lot of time in prayer. We've spent a lot of time, perhaps for me in particular, just really thinking about that dash that's going to be on my tombstone. Although I don't think I'll have a tombstone. I think I'm opting for cremation. Quite frankly, if you're cremated, the Lord will still find a way during the Rapture to, for us to rise from the grave and get our glorified bodies. So if anybody's worried about being cremated and what will happen. But anyhow, with that dash. I had heard a story about somebody whose name we're familiar with, but I surely didn't know this about this particular gentleman. Alfred Nobel.

Right.

So born in the 1800s, he was a. He was an inventor. He was born in Sweden, had over 350 patents, and one of his most famous inventions was Dynamite. And in 1888, I believe it was, he woke up to a French newspaper that actually had published his obituary. They had mistaken him with his brother. His brother Ludwig had passed away. And imagine that, waking up in the morning and reading your own obituary. And not only the shock that would be, but also he wasn't too happy with what he read. The obituary labeled him as the merchant of death because he had created dynamite and he had profited so much from dynamite. So it forced Alfred Nobel to re examine his life. And he didn't want to go down in history for, for being the merchant of death, for being the, the inventor of something that was used in warfare, something that had the ability to destroy, not just ruin lives, but take lives. And he changed. He rewrote his will. He had fortune and he decided to give it away. He what we now know as the Nobel Peace Prize. He created all these different Nobel Prizes to further science, to further peace, even, if you will. So he had a unique opportunity to see what folks would say about him when he died. And it was like, I'm not Going down like that, I have an opportunity to change my legacy. And probably if anybody's like me, I had no idea that Alfred Nobel before this obituary would have been known for being the merchant of death. You just kind of know the Nobel Peace Prize. So for, for me, for you, for us, if we're to wake up tomorrow morning and read our obituary, will we be pleased with what it said or will we be ashamed? Will we feel like we missed the mark with what we did with our lives? And I think we all have at least some measure of regret of being able to do more and not taking those opportunities. Maybe some unique situations, unique conversations that we know the Lord was pressing on our hearts to have, but we just didn't. I've shared with you guys in the past that my old pastor in New Jersey, his wife had to deal with the fact that she had a neighbor that was kind of a pain in the rear end. Neighbor. But the Lord was laying on her heart to minister to that woman. And she would walk every day and walk past their house, and she just didn't do it. She was kind of in her flesh and just ignored the promptings of the Holy Spirit. That woman wound up killing herself. And it's like, yeah, that, that, that's a missed opportunity for certain. And she, I, I think still to this day struggles with that because the Lord put on her heart to minister and she didn't do it. So with us, what are the opportunities that we've missed? And if we've missed opportunities in the past, it's not to just hang our heads low and be shameful about it. With every single day we're awake, every new morning, every day the sun rises, there's brand new mercies, new opportunities. The. The verse in the. The book of Joel, the prophet Joel, that God will restore the years the locusts have eaten God 100, 100 can and will restore that which was lost to sin, even the sin of omission, us not being on our duty. When I got that voice memo from Raj yesterday, which blessed me so much, Raj, just to hear how God's put people on your path, man. And we're never off the clock as ministers of the Word. And that, that just comes with being a follower of Christ, period. So I have some, some notes that I threw together. It's going to be somewhat of a hodgepodge of a topical study today. But there's the point I want to drive home today, is that God has called us to be his witnesses, and he's given us all that we need to be his witness. Absolutely. All that we need. And we all have our. Our micro purposes that there's things that God has called each and every one of you to specifically for you, specifically for me. And then we have our macro purposes, the purposes that we all share. And when we know a purpose, there's times where we get fired up about it. I think we're in a season where we're all fired up about what God has called us to, how souls are entering the kingdom, how there's revival, how there's broken hearts, crying hearts, rebellious hearts that are turning to Jesus. But there's times that. That passion that we have to serve in our. Why, it. It fizzles a little bit. It fizzles.

Yeah.

I see. Leslie said she's had a couple major moments when she looks back, she's amazed at what could happen when you listen to a small whisper. Absolutely, absolutely. We. When we pray, oftentimes we. We pray for God to like, illuminate the door we're supposed to walk through. Like the neon signs, the LED signs, like, walk this way. But sometimes it is just that, that small whisper, that small whisper. And one thing I've noticed, I'm sure you've noticed yourselves, the more time you spend with the Lord, the more you recognize those small whispers, the time.

You.

Notice those little promptings, but those little pricks of the heart where God's telling you to. To go here, have that conversation or pick up the phone call. That person. Kathleen shared on the prayer call last week. She was praying for boldness. And after Bible study, she called the co worker and started sharing her faith. And it turned out that co worker that she had known for years and years, they had never had a conversation about Jesus. But it turned out that she was a follower of Christ. And they wound up talking about Jesus for hours. She said that boldness is what not only is required for the mission that God has us on, but that power is available. Matter of fact, when we read about the power of the Holy Spirit, in particular in the Book of Acts, that word power is dunamis also happens to be the same word that Alfred Nobel got the word dynamite for. The power of the Holy Spirit, like dynamite, has the ability to break rock. The power of the Holy Spirit has the ability to break strongholds in our lives, to break chains in our lives. And the power of the Holy Spirit, as strong and impactful and explosive dynamite might be, it's still lacking one key element, and that's the supernatural power of God. So. So I. I always found it remarkable that the word dynamite is the word that's used for the power of the Holy Spirit. But when we look at a verse like Acts 1:8, where Jesus says, but you shall receive power that dunamis, that dynamite, that explosive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth, two words that stand out. There is power, right? We're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes. Jesus told his disciples, he said, hey, don't fret when I'm gone, because once I go, I'll be in heaven. I'm going to send you the comforter. I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's going to provide. Holy Spirit is going to supply. Holy Spirit's going to empower. And then what is he sending that power for? The power isn't just so, you know, we can feel good and. But it certainly feels good like you're not even walking on Earth, like you're, you're, you're. You're in heaven itself when we're operating under the power of the Holy Spirit. But the whole purpose of it is to be a witness for Jesus. To be a witness for Jesus. Roger, is that what happens when you give a fresh feeling of the Holy Spirit right there, I'm telling you.

Yeah, man. Yeah, it's. I just. A thought just came in my mind. I see. I see Scott's on the call that's probably even listening. But Scott, you know, he always. He always says, you know, opportunities are never lost. They're just given to someone else. And I think that that's the same thing can be said about, about blessings. You know, there have been several times where I've been prompted to do something and I didn't do it. And I watched somebody else pick up that. Pick up that mantle, that prompting from God, and somebody else got a blessing. So it's one of those. It's just, you know, it's. That's a. That's all man, like, blessing is lost. It's just given to someone else.

Yeah, yeah. And the blessings we feel here on earth when we're. And sometimes the blessing isn't anything materialistic, nothing we could like, put our hands on. It's the blessing of the fulfillment of being used by God. And that's just a preamble of the blessings we'll receive for the works that we've done here on earth once we are in heaven. The other word that stands out is when Jesus says, you shall be witnesses to me. Witnesses, right? Now that word witness is the Greek word martus, that's the word where martus, that's martyr, right? So to be a Christian martyr, to be a martyr, period, we know the word simply to mean somebody who, who dies for their faith, right? You're serving God, you're on mission and somebody takes you out, you're killed for your faith. Stephen was the first Christian martyr. We see that in Acts chapter nine. We see that he was one of the first seven deacons of the church. And all the deacons, they were full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. Those are two simple things. But every day, if my prayer is, God, just help me be full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit today, man, what could be accomplished? What could be accomplished if we're just full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit? And he was the first martyr. And in the early church of the first couple generations, that word witness, right, it came to mean martyr, one who dies for your faith because so many Christians were being killed for their faith, for witnessing the Jesus, that the word shifted, that if you're. That that martyr didn't just mean to be a witness, right? And what does a witness do think about in court? A witness testifies. You call on a witness to testify of what they know, what they saw, what they heard, and where to testify of Jesus Christ, where to testify what we read in Scripture, where to testify of what he has done in our lives, that at the very least we have that testimony, right? What has God done in your life? You don't have to be fluent in the Hebrew and Greek and no, memorize half the Bible to testify of Jesus Christ. What has he done in your life? And what you'll probably find is that your own personal testimonies, your own personal testimonies. I will bet in particular that that one gentleman you met yesterday, Roger, who was going to see his family before checking into the halfway house, I, I would venture to guess that that, that encounter with you, he's going to be able to share with others how God just placed this guy in my life. He gave me a word and, you know, he. He'll be able to testify of that conversation with you and draw others to the Lord more so than if he just like recited Psalm 23 to somebody, right? That there's power in these interactions. God uses us for his glory and it's always for our good, for. For his glory. But that witness, right, we're all called to be witnesses and I've said this many times. None of us may die the death of a martyr, but we're all called to live the life of a martyr. We're all called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ. And we know that the, the enemy is overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. And we're to love not our lives even unto death. Meaning that as a witness for Jesus Christ, that we're in our witnessing, in our testifying of who Jesus is, we, we need to be willing to, to die in that faith, in that testimony for Jesus Christ. Now with Stephen in Acts 7, being full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit. And I think we are living in a time right now in human history where more people are coming to faith. And one thing that I've prayed for, not just on Wednesday mornings, but have prayed just in my own time, that there's an awakening that the church may awaken from slumber. And first and foremost in my own life, where am I slumbering? Where God's trying to get my attention. With the church as a whole, I think we've become. Church has become very commercialized. There's this idea of comfortable Christianity. And God never called us to be comfortable by any means. When we're comfortable, we lose our edge, right? Mike Tyson said a long time ago once he was at the, the height of his career and he had a tremendous work ethic. He said it's getting hard to wake up at 5am and go for a run when I'm sleeping in silk sheets. Right. When we start to become comfortable, we start to lose our. Why a little bit. I don't know if you guys are familiar with jamarcus Russell, right? He was quarterback. He was going to be the next big quarterback. Number one pick in the 2007 NFL Draft given a 60 million dollar contract. Showed up to camp right after getting drafted, overweight, out of shape, and his career amounted to nothing. He got comfortable. Len Bias, right? Len Bias was basketball player at the University of Maryland. I think it was the 1986 or 88 draft. He was a number two pick. Two days after the draft, overdose, cocaine overdose, died. He was the next best thing. You feel like he reached the pinnacle and they just become comfortable. I don't know for you, I, I mean, I don't feel like I reached the pinnacle of my Christendom, but I do know there's times where I've gotten comfortable and it's trying to walk this line of God. I, I want to be comfortable. I want to have a House that I love to live in. I want to have a vehicle. I want to be able to get a meal whenever I want. I want to have a comfortable life. However, I don't want to lose my hunger. I don't want to lose my drive. If. Gosh, what was his name? Holocaust survivor. I think I threw it in the notes. I know his last name is Frankel, but he wrote a book and he said, if your why is strong enough, it could overcome anyhow. Your why is strong enough, it can overcome anyhow. Now our why to be a witness for Jesus. There you go, Leslie. Thank you. That's what I love about you guys. I could say anything and I don't even think you guys are like chat gpting it or googling it. I think you guys just know this. That's why I love you guys for your why. If you lo. If you get comfortable and we saw this with the church of Laodicea, comfort leads to lukewarmness. And now all of a sudden, why would I have such a passion to go out and be a witness for Jesus today if I'm comfortable? And then it becomes very self serving. Because I could be comfortable. But how could I possibly be comfortable when I know that person over there doesn't know where his next meal is coming from, doesn't have a roof over his head when I know. I think I mentioned to you I spent some time with Troy Brewer down here. Riley had come down. We spent some time with Troy Brewer and his ministry. He goes and rescues kids, traffic kids. And we went to his ranch and like just got to know him and saw some pictures of some of these kids that were rescued from like how they looked when they were first rescued to. After being restored and, and just getting to know Jesus and the love of Jes. Jesus and how they look like totally new people, new kids. It's like, how could I. How can the flame within inside me fizzle when there are people out there that desperately need Jesus? I desperately did need Jesus. I. I reached out to him. I cried out to him, which is the, the great invitation, right? Jesus says in Matthew 11, come to me all who are weary and burdened. That great invitation that we read last week at the end of Revelation 22, for anyone, if they thirst, come to me. Anyone. I came to Jesus. I was restored, redeemed, delivered. And now I could just coast and live a life of comfort, just calling upon Jesus when I need him, or I could continuously fan the flame that's within me to be the. The servant, to be the the witness to be the martyr that he's called me to be. If at any time I say something that resonates or if anybody wants to chime in, certainly do it. This is not a verse by verse, expository teaching today, as I mentioned, it's a. A bit of a hodgepodge, but I think it's a. It's a message that's important for today. For us to know our why, to know our purpose.

Right.

To first know those macro purposes of our lives, to know that we are all. If you see the kingdom of God as a. A big puzzle, and we're a puzzle piece we don't. Like, a puzzle piece means absolutely nothing until it fits into the p. Into the puzzle where that particular puzzle piece belongs. There's nothing special. There's nothing that puzzle piece could do. But when it's put into the piece, into place of that puzzle, where it's called to be, now all of a sudden they can make a puzzle that. That you can't quite make out what it is, but that one puzzle piece is in there. And now all of a sudden you see the whole picture, and that's. That's us and. And our purpose, our mission, our identities within the kingdom. Leslie, thank you. I could always count on you for not leaving me hanging.

Hey.

So I just wanted to. Something that was. Asked me yesterday, I was at a financial Bible kind of study and called hack your finances. And he asked, what would you do if money was no object? And I think that ties into kind of. Kind of what's got. What. What would God put on your heart to do if it wasn't like, you were tied to the world with money? And my honest answer is I. I love my job, and I would probably do it for free. And the reason for that is I feel like we have all these opportunities to kind of, like you were saying, minister right where we're at and just listen to the Holy Spirit in what we do and wherever we can align what we're doing with that Holy Spirit within us. And so it's like, yeah, I would actually, you know, because I'm in a unique opportunity where I see people on their worst days. And so despite. There's all this other stuff that happens with the world and being, you know, dragged down by rules and regulations, I just feel like wherever you are, getting a chance to listen to Holy Spirit and allow it to work through you in the big and small ways, that's. I just feel like that's a good question to kind of get to. For me, recently to find out that. That purpose and that mission, to kind of just listen closer, I guess.

Yeah. That is a powerful thing to think about. If money was no object and you could just do whatever you wanted to do every single day, what would it be? Would it be, hey, I'm gonna check flights to Turks and Caicos, or what is it that. That really stirs my heart?

Yeah. And that's the other thing is I've done a lot of travel already, and so that's. I mean, guess there's that a little bit. But I'll be honest. Where's the meaning in that? You know, it's. If you do it enough, like, if you're gone from home for, like, a month at a time, like, trust me, you start to miss your friends, you miss your family, your church, and you may be in the most beautiful place in the world. However, it's that. It's that human connection, I think that for me, I started to miss. And so you might. What you might think, you know, like, yeah, I'd go to Australia. I'd go to, you know, a. You know, a safari. And then it's like, but what's the meaning? How are you serving God in that? And then it. Then it comes down to, like, wow, how can I serve God with what I'm doing already? So. Or just aligning with that, because that may be what is God's, you know, more calling for you, like, if you don't know what you're. If you don't like what you're doing now. You know, I think God doesn't want you to not like your life as you're living it. I think he wants you to enjoy your work because you get to bring him into it.

Yeah.

Amen.

Amen. Zach?

Yeah. One thing that kind of struck me as you were talking about the puzzle, you know, how. How we fit into this whole thing. We could be that one puzzle piece that it's like, oh, my gosh, now I. I see what this is. But also, like, in our culture, a lot of times, we're so concerned with, like, losing our identity, so to speak. We glorify and worship our identity. Whereas Jesus says, like, if you're willing to lose your life for my sake, you'll find it. I think that that's the perfect imagery, what you just shared. That puzzle piece almost loses its individual identity. You stop focusing on the outline of that individual piece. You see how it fits in, and it's beautiful. It's that thought of asking God, like, who do you say that? I Am like, what is your purpose and your intent for my life? Rather than, oh, look at this piece. I just like the way that it. Nobody says that. You know, they may say this one's weird. You know, I'm just teasing, but there was that. And then also one other thing that I was thinking about when you're talking about comfort just a few minutes ago is the more that we. The irony of it is the more that we move toward comfort, the less there is that really seems comfortable, you know, we get. And the opposite's true as well. The more we are okay with discomfort, the more comfort we actually experience because, well, we don't need that much. You know, you get comfortable with the things that before rubbed you the wrong way. They're capable of more. So there's that. The irony there.

Yeah, it's so true. It's remarkable how content you can be with little. When. When you're. When you have that mindset. Roger.

Yeah. I mean, I love the concept of the dash. We used to hear that all the time. It's like, it's representative of a person's life. But what is that made up of?

Right?

It's the life experiences. It's the choices that you make, and it's the impact that you. That's what people remember, right? Is the impact that you have. And Amy and I were just. We were literally just talking about this last night. You know, I mean, we're. We're really well traveled. You know, we've been. We've been to 27 countries. We've seen so many different things and seen what true, true, abject, like, poverty. And in that poverty, you see people that are. Are happy and are content and. And we get so caught up, you know, kind of along this vein of comfort. You know, we get so caught up in the United States of, like, you know, we need to have this, and we need to have this. And we were having this conversation just last night. Like, I mean, you know, we're entrepreneurs, right? So entrepreneurs kind of go through this roller coaster of, like, times of times of plenty, and then, you know, times that are a little more lean.

And we're going through one of those.

Lean times right now, but we're. We're literally just going. You know, we're okay. We're. We're absolutely fine. Like, if we didn't do anything more, I mean, we still have an absolutely amazing, amazing life.

But.

But God's put more on our life. God's called us to more, and God's called us to produce and to work. And to do things that, that, that take work, you know, so we are, we are content, but we are not, but we're not comfortable because God's called us to more and there's something more that we do. But, yeah, Amy and I were just talking about this last night as to how, how, how easy it is to fall into comfort. But if you are living in the path that God has for you, you're not. You, you, you, you can't just be, you just can't be content because there's always something that God has for us to do, to do more for, for his kingdom.

Yeah. Amen. Amen. Donald.

Yeah, I, I, I feel as though I, I have become extremely content. And I just go, like, through my daily grind, like, every day. Like, and I make sure, yeah, there's not going to be any speed bumps or anything. Like, the smoother my day goes, the better. It's like, I don't want any, any trouble.

Yeah.

Like, and that, that's, that's not what I'm called to do.

Right. Right.

Well, well, God wakes us up, right? He'll find a way to get our attention. He'll find a way to wake us up. Obviously, Job is a good example of being a righteous person where God gave permission to the enemy to come in and wreak some havoc in his life. And it's for a purpose. Think about even Israel in the wilderness. They wanted to go back to the comforts of slavery, the comforts of Egypt. They were taken out of their, their comfort zone, and they're like, oh, I know God has this plan for us. There's promised land over there, and they're on fire one day. Then when things aren't going their way, they're like, I want to go back to those comforts of Egypt. At least I knew what I was going to eat when I would eat it. So God takes them out of their, their comfort and imagine that where, where God is calling you from where you are to where he wants you to be. And we're okay with just going back to slavery, being enslaved to something that we're comfortable with because there's always fear of the unknown. I don't know what the promised land has. You know, it sounds great, but there's a fear. There's. I know what, what Egypt looks like. It's not great, but at least I'm familiar, familiar with it. Right, Gita?

Wow. This is so incredible. Thank you. This is exactly what the Holy Spirit has been teaching me, like, literally the last four weeks, six weeks specifically. And like, intently that we don't grow when we're comfortable. Right. And like. But basically the Christian life is not meant for comfort, it's meant for growth. So our flesh just wants to be comfortable, but our spirit is always at battle trying to grow. So. And it's also like facing uncomfort comfortable situations because before I didn't realize that I would always think that if I'm in an uncomfortable situation or it doesn't feel good, like, like, oh, I'm not supposed to be here, like, let me just leave or you know, let me get rid of this person or. But then I realized that that's not true. Like sometimes that's God calling us through that situation even to be the light or to like shed certain things off our character. Like, how can you grow patience if you're not around people who test your patience? That's just a cliche, right? But. And we can extend that to so many different things, like all the fruits of the spirit, all the things God wants to prune in us, right. I'm basically in a pruning season right now and it's very, very painful. But I'm so grateful for it because I know the end. I know the, you know, the crown of life that's promised. I know the, you know, after the trial, after the, you get endurance. Right. And hope does not disappoint. So this kind of describes exactly where I am and just various levels of discomfort. But he also comforts us in our discomfort. So I just want to, you know, reassure everyone and myself in that. Thank you.

Right, yeah. That's the, the radical dichotomy of this. God calls us to be uncomfortable, but the Holy Spirit is the comforter. He wants us to get us out of our carnal comfort zone and then the Holy Spirit will comfort us in all things. He'll always supply, always provide, his grace is sufficient. Think of David in Second Samuel where, you know, it was a time where all the kings went out to battle and David sent Joab in his place, his right hand man. So he got a little comfortable, right? King, I'm sitting on the throne, I'm not going out this time. And what happened? His comfort led to compromise. That was when he looked out and saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof, right. He grew comfort and the comfort led to compromise. There, there's a few examples. Solomon obviously, right? You read the Proverbs and when you read about the early life of Solomon, it's like, fantastic. This is great. And then what happened when he amassed all these riches and the comforts of the world. He was off his A game. Right. And ultimately in the book of Ecclesiastes, when he had that season of just getting fat, if you will. It's like, yeah. At the end of the day, a life apart from Christ is far apart from God, is. Is vanity. It's meaningless. It's absolutely meaningless. The. The things. Even if we have the comforts of the world. So I want. You could be the richest person, have celebrity status if you desire it, and have every comfort under the sun here on planet earth. And then ultimately, I mean, not feel fulfilled. Right? Not feel fulfilled. I'd read it was years ago, and I can't even tell you who quoted it or how accurate this is, but it sounds like it's probably Pretty true that 9 out of 10 billionaires are on antidepressants. I believe it.

Right.

Because they're. They're chasing after the things of the world. Leslie, I don't know your daughter's name, but those sunglasses are really cool. I like those sunglasses.

Thank you.

She loves them.

All right.

Sorry.

Her name is Lauren.

Hey, Lauren. Nice to meet you. I'm Christian. So again with. With Stephen and even the early church, they got it right. Day of Pentecost comes. You know, Peter gets up, preaches this message. There's 3,000 added to the church. And then those were added to the church daily after that. And those early disciples, those early followers of Christ, once they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they were on mission. And I love the unity, the. The four pillars of the early church in Acts 2:42, the apostles doctrine. Right. So the word of God, you had fellowship, which is koinonia, a oneness with one another, the breaking of bread, the communion. Right. And then ultimately prayer, that oneness, they got it. If somebody lacked. I'll sell what I have. Right. We'll also. We have for. For those who are in need. And we. We know the. The law of sowing and reaping, that the more we have an open hand, the more we receive from God. If it just flows into our hand and out, God's gonna always provide seed to the sower. We continue to seed. God's going to continue to. As we sow, God's going to continue to provide seed. One thing that has always just blown my mind in scripture and every time I read it, I flew up to Minnesota the other day and I was reading it on a plane. Now, one of the greatest days in all of human history, the day of Pentecost, the greatest outpouring of the holy Spirit in human history, right? Like this is it, the day of Pentecost. And what happened later that day? John and Peter, they go out in Solomon's porch. There they. They heal a lame man. And it was simple. They were full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit. And they simply said to this lame man, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And they took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones receive strength. Think about that in faith. How many times have you prayed for somebody and in the back of your mind like, oh, Lord, I hope this is one of those times where it's just a miracle, right? Where, where you're almost like having a conversation with yourself as you're. You're. You're praying. Possibly a bold prayer of faith or, or healing and just. No. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk. And they help him up, and he walks. Well, John and Peter, they wind up getting arrested for this because the, the. The rulers, they. They basically said, by what power, by what name have you done this? And it was a setup question because if it's, if it's in the name of Jesus Christ, the, the Jews that weren't converted, they didn't believe in the name of Jesus Christ. So in. In the law, if anybody heals by any mother than God, it's blasphemous and you can be put to death. So Peter says to him, filled with the Holy Spirit, said rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made, well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him, this man stands here before you. Hold. He knew it was a setup question. If he said Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that, that there would be discipline there, there would be punishment for that. And he boldly said it, not only said it, but then said, whom you crucified. And that's in, in chapter four. And what happened there, the th. Those leaders and rulers is they, they didn't know what to do. They're like, okay, the evidence is here. This man, who we knew to be lame, got up and he's walking now. So there's evidence there. But here's what we're going to do. We're going to let him go with somewhat of a warning. We're going to tell him by no means can you mention this name anymore? You can't say that there's any healing done in the name of Jesus Christ, that there's no power in that name. And they just saw a boldness. Says in verse 13 of chapter 4, they saw the boldness of Peter and John. They perceived that they were uneducated and untrained, and they marveled. Then they realized they had been with Jesus. Right? I love that you may look at my life, be like, yeah, that guy, he did not go to college, right? He's clearly uneducated. He's just a regular dude. However, I could actually see that he must have been with Jesus because he's got this boldness about Him. He's just, like, full of faith. And know what I always respected? Even if somebody didn't believe in the right thing when they were so convinced of it and they lived their life for it, I had a certain measure of respect for it. Because it's like, you're passionate about it, you happen to be wrong, right? Which I didn't really know so much how wrong some of those people were until I came to Christ myself and the truth was revealed to me. But if somebody is super passionate about something, if somebody's super passionate about something, it's like, yeah, it's been said that there's nothing more powerful on Earth than a mind that's made up. So my son Ezra is going to be joining us here. What's up, bud? Want to say hi real quick? They can't see you, but my wife had to go to work, so. Good. Sit up here, bud. Want to sit on my lap?

Yep.

Okay.

Yes.

He.

What's up, buddy?

What's up? Remember Roger up here? You remember him? You know, some of these guys just pay attention to this. We're not gonna put your tablet on, okay? We're talking about John and Peter and the power of the Holy Spirit. Okay? So, dad, but you're gonna.

Mommy, let me watch my tablet, okay?

If you watch your tablet, you gotta sit over there. Don't put it on real low, all right? I don't know how to put it on. Okay, well, go tell them I'm putting out for you real quick before she leaves. Don't judge me for. For screens. It's only because I'm trying to make sure he doesn't. He. He talks a lot. As he talks a lot. He has a lot of questions. So he would take over this Bible study with his own questions. Anyhow, in chapter four here, what's remarkable to me is when Paul, I'm sorry. Peter and John, they go back to their own companions and they tell them what's going on. It's like, okay, church. You guys know if you mention the name of Jesus Christ, you're going to be arrested, right? They let us go, but it's probably going to get bad for us. There's probably going to be persecution. They might even take our lives. And what did the church do? In chapter four, starting verse 23, it said they came together. And when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord. They prayed to God. And they didn't pray for protection, they didn't pray for comfort. They prayed for boldness. They prayed for boldness. And then to me, this is where it really gets. It's wild that like this is the most miraculous thing ever. This is just like a day, maybe two days after the day of Pentecost, where they're filled with the Holy Spirit. And what happened at the end of this, at the end of that passage in verse 31 said, and when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness. It's like, wait a second, hang on, hang on. They were just filled with the Holy Spirit yesterday, the day of Pentecost, the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And now the next day they're praying for boldness and they were filled with the Holy Spirit again. Being filled with the Holy Spirit isn't a one time deal. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is something that we need to do perpetually. Perpetually. In ephesians, right? Ephesians 5:18, don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit that charged by Paul to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's in the present imperative. Literally the way it's written out in the Greek would say continuously be being filled with the Holy Spirit. We're to never not be filled with the Holy Spirit, right? And it's like if you're filled with the Holy Spirit the day you're saved, right? And you know, when, when we become believers, we're sealed with the Holy Spirit. When we did the Bible study in the Book of Acts, I don't know, I think that was 20, 23. Raj. When we went through the, the Book of Acts, we talked about being filled with the Holy Spirit or sealed with the Holy Spirit and then being baptized in the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit comes upon us. And we operate in the gifts, we operate in the power of The Holy Spirit, how? There are different things. We could be sealed with the Holy Spirit and not operate in the power of the Holy Spirit. So that fresh filling of the Holy Spirit is just remarkable to me that they just got the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit in human history. And the next day they're praying for boldness and they got filled again, again. And what happened? That the church was dispersed. Right. They scattered from Jerusalem at that time because there was persecution. And what did they do? They were scattered and they started to preach Jesus Christ with boldness, like mission fulfilled. And even when you think of the sovereignty of, of God, God's like, okay, I need this word to get out. You know, there's 3,000 members of the church on day, day one, after the day of Pentecost, I need this to disperse. So I'm going to allow the persecution to come because I need them to go to disperse, to scatter, to get this word out. So whenever we see something, and I love their perspective, it's not, oh, oh God, just protect us. You know, we're, we're all going to live in a, this community. We all sold what we had and we, we're all going to live on this land and we're going to be self sufficient and we're going to just praise Jesus every day. No, they knew the mission to be a witness. The mission was to be a witness in Jerusalem, Samaria, Judea, all the ends of the earth. So again, to be a witness, to be a Martus, to be a martyr. The reason we're saved isn't just for our own good, not just so we could be redeemed, sanctified, restored, delivered from whatever addiction, whatever bondage of sin that we had. It's to go and be witnesses. And then again that Acts 1:8. Power will come upon you. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. See babe? Love you. Holy Spirit will come upon you. So you could effectively do this. So when, when something fearful comes your way, sometimes the perspective should shift. I'm not going to pray that God just kind of settles things down. Of course we pray against fear, we pray against anxiety. We know that God didn't give us the spirit of fear, right? But of peace, love, and a sound mind. So if we shift our perspective though that. Wait a second, I'm not just going to pray for courage. I'm going to pray for, for boldness and courage. Not so I could just quickly overcome. But I know that I might have to endure through this thing. I know that whatever this season is, it's going to come to an end. But I want to be bold throughout this season to make sure I accomplish God's will in my life. So these last few minutes, I want to open it up in particular. Now, I know Jonathan always, usually I open it up at like 7:59 and like 48 seconds. So. And Jonathan has a good 12 seconds to contribute to this thing. But for me, that, that always wrecks me and it makes me fired up to, to know my purpose every time I read this in these first few, few chapters of Acts, but also to know, like, wait a second.

The.

The Bible says in Luke 11, when Jesus says, He essentially says it like this, he says, you who are fathers who have wicked hearts, you still give to your kids what they asked, right? If they ask for a fish, you don't give them a scorpion, you give them what they're asking for. How much greater is God in heaven than doing a wicked heart? And how much more if you ask for the Holy Spirit, will God give it to you? Give him to you right? When we ask our heavenly loving Father and in heaven for the Holy Spirit? God isn't trying to keep the Holy Spirit from us. Don't you think he wants a church that's on fire, that every single day is going to the well, being refreshed, refueled, rejuvenated, and, and it's popping into my mind. I. I flew home Sunday night. I got in super late because there were storms in Texas and there's storms in Minnesota. And I wound up the flight didn't leave till almost midnight. It was supposed to be 6pm flight. And I get to the airport, calling Uber, didn't want to wake up anybody in the house to pick me up. And it was a Tesla that picked me up. And the woman who's driving, she said that, she said, are there any charging stations near you after I drop you off? I have only 15 minutes, 15 miles to go. And I was like, I assume. So this is, this is dfw.

They get.

There's everything within a few minutes, right? So I looked it up, the closest one to my house, and I told her. And after, you know, I told you I read all this on the way up to Minnesota, I'm flying home. And it made me think, I don't want to be a Christian, where I got only 15 miles to go on the, with the Holy Spirit that's in me before I go back to a charging station to get so good, I want to, like, if I'm at, I don't know how long they drive maybe 500 miles.

I don't know.

Tesla. But when I'm at like 490, I'm like, get me back to the charging station. Get me back. I don't want to dip. I don't want to get below half a tank. I don't want. Or half a battery. I want to go back every single day. Like, like Paul said, continuously be being filled with the Holy Spirit. I'll just sit at that charging station. How about I make that my home, the charging station. And then when God tells me to go out and do something for his glory, I go do it from there. Let me stay on my knees. Let me constantly cry out to the Lord and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Thoughts? Remarks? See you, Jonathan. Nothing. Mic dropping. That's it. Boom.

Yeah, Christian. I think that's really good in the sense that when we spend time with him every day, it really does change us more than we realize. I think back to a time where, I mean, before I was married, I was able to. I had a group I was meeting up with for an hour of in person prayer every day, every day of the week. And I was like, man, but I still need my own time with the Lord. Like that's with everybody else. That's cool. But so I had my own time with the Lord. And I was, I was just doing a ton of ministry as well. And I remember going just a day where I didn't crack my Bible myself. It wasn't. I didn't spend my personal time with the Lord. The next day I'm like, I feel, I just feel off. I didn't have the same patience. I was a little bit irritable. I didn't love people as much. Suddenly the, the things that were annoying were annoying to me again. And it was just, it's different. Like you said that they were recognized because they spent time with Jesus. Like that should be the marker on our lives that we've spent time with Him. Right. We're full. And when we're not filled and we're not overflowing, how do we expect to spill anything on anybody else? Right? So that's so good. Keeping it on it. Right. The reason we, we quote that phrase, my cup overflows. Right. Well, if we have just enough for us, you know, maybe it'll, it'll. It'll quench our thirst, but it's not enough for anyone else. So I really appreciate that and I think that perspective is hard to maintain. So it's such a great reminder. Yeah.

Amen. Amen. Yeah. It's sometimes you don't know, like in your personal time what to read or something like that. And I, I kind of made a. A commitment to myself after the first time reading through the Book of Acts. Like, this is going to be a book that I go back to quite a bit. And I, on the flight, I read the. The first seven chapters and I was like, just like blown away. How do I not go back to this? Got to read through the Book of Acts. That's why we walked through it. That was say, 10, 11 months when we walked through the Book of acts back in 2023, Leslie.

So that just made me think. My pastor gave this story about being drenched to drip. So he was like, you know, like, if you're caught in a rainfall and you walk into a store and, you know, you leave like footprints behind, and he's like, be like that with the Holy Spirit, like, get in your word. So that simply just walk around, you're just like oozing it out, you know, like you're not having to effort with it all. It's just drenched to drip all over the place.

Oh, good.

Yeah, it's another T shirt. I see it. Drenched to drip.

Yeah, no, I'm still waiting for the last one.

I know, I know. Gerard, he's been away. He's been traveling on vacation and stuff. So that my commitment is get that done. Even if I'm not gonna lie.

I just today said, zach, I need that green T shirt Roger has on and a white King's Council hoodie too. So how I can get that for Florida? Just let me know, okay?

Absolutely. Absolutely. We got you, Lauren. We got you. Roy. What's up, man?

I feel guilty talking because I was so late today. My apologies.

I know, I did, I did mark that down next to the, the, the roll call I keep here. Mark Tardy.

Yeah, right.

I was like, I. I actually assumed you were gonna immediately call me out, so I had a feeling the rapture wasn't going to happen. So the Holy Spirit. Here's the thing that I'm not getting about this. This particular part of the. Part of the passage. Doesn't the Holy Spirit decide when they are with me and not me? I decide when I pray and when I connect and when I want to advance my relationship with God. But I'm just saying the Holy Spirit comes and goes, it ebbs and flows, and I. I don't decide when I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. Am I correct on that?

Well, yeah. I mean, Jesus says that you desire the Holy Spirit ask, right? And we're charged by Paul to continuously be being filled with the Holy Spirit. So that's, that's the charge now. I, I believe it. And it's not like this is written out explicitly in scripture, but the only way we could be filled with the Holy Spirit is if we're an open vessel to be filled, right? So if we have junk in our hearts, junk in our lives, if we're, if we're living in sin, things like that, you know, willful sin, and we're like, God filled me with the Holy Spirit. It's probably not going to fill you with the Holy Spirit unless you're at a place where perhaps the way I kind of picture this or envision this is when we do want to repent from those things, when we want to confess those things, when we want to lay aside not just the sin in our lives, but the, the weight that easily ensnares us when we're in that place to turn from those things, to cast those things at the altar. I believe it's kind of like a. It could all happen in one shot. It's like when we make ourselves available and we truly turn to, to Christ and we cry out to him. That part of that purging of those things is as we get filled with the Holy Spirit, it's like they all come bubble up to the surface and they're poured out at the altar. I mean, there's a new covenant, but the Old Testament, to be in the presence of God, there, there was a, a ritual of cleansing, to even be in the presence of God, to be in the Holy of holies. And that picture it of what they did physically is what we're to do spiritually now, when we shouldn't expect to hear much from the Lord, if we're operating in sin, we shouldn't expect to just feel these outpourings of the Holy Spirit. And we're empowered and endowed with boldness. It's when we have that, that harsh desire to repent, to. To have clean hands and a pure heart, It's God that does the cleansing. But I, I kind of see it as, you know, if you fill up, there's a ping pong ball in a, in a cup, and you start filling that cup of water, eventually that ping pong ball is gonna be purged out of it. Now that you got to be willing to give up that ping pong ball, whatever that ping pong ball represents to sin. And that's the repentance piece of making yourself one second. But Almost done.

Okay.

I can open my. My mouth wide like in heaven. Look. I see, Bud. I'm almost done. Okay. Yeah. So it's just that you have to. And that's where the submission, the. The surrender is where it's just worn it all out at the altar, knowing God's the one. Yeah, we. We approach God with clean hands in a pure heart, but he's the one that cleans our hands, that makes our heart pure. So when we meet God at the altar, that's where that happens. And the altar is just simply wherever the meeting place is between us and God.

Yeah.

I mean, the reason why I was concerned about, like, whether. Whether we can. Will, you know, will or fake. Fake it till we make it with the Holy Spirit. Right. It's like, I'm, like, in a season of, like, darkness where, like, when I pray, I'm so distracted, and I just feel kind of, like, not hopeless, but I have less hope than usual. Usual, if that makes any sense. Like.

Yeah.

You know, my church is going through a thing where it's like, you know, there's progressives and there's traditionalists, and we're kind of 50, 50, and it kind of feels like the progressives are starting to win, which is kind of depressing me.

And.

And, you know, ever since Charlie. Everything happened with Charlie, Kirk. I don't know. I guess I'm just down and I'm having trouble feeling the pep of the spirit.

Yeah, man, I. At some point, either today or this week, I'm gonna hit you up, man, and we could chat.

Thank you.

Thank you. I'd appreciate that.

Yeah. And also, I know you do a lot of zoom calls and stuff. Your sound is, like, a little choppy.

Oh, is it?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you, Z. Yeah.

One thing I wanted to mention, Roy, if I could speak to that, too, just a little bit, is fake it till you make it, man. You are a sincere guy. You don't fake it till you make it. What you do is you try to be who God's called you to be, and you walk in that. If you feel like an imposter. That's just the voice of the enemy, man. Walk in your identity. He's always going to tell you you're not that person, but the spirit of the Lord will edify that. The reason you feel like you're faking it is because you sense that calling of who God has called you to be, and you're just trying to do it. You don't feel good enough because you're Living out of the human power. But when the Holy Spirit power comes in, then you're like, man, I'm walking in it, and it's easy, but you got to start that. It takes effort, consistent effort, and you got to keep doing it even when you don't feel like it. He will still produce fruit. And in fact, those are the seasons when the most seed is planted, where fruit will be produced. When you are just doing it, because that's what you're going to do, because that's who you are. You're solidifying that identity even when you don't feel it. That's what determines who you are. And there was an element of prophecy in there. I wasn't going to say that. And the Holy Spirit just started flowing. So I just want to encourage you in that, man. In these seasons, just keep pressing in. It's not faking it. That is sincere. You're not a fake guy. So I just wanted to acknowledge that. But also, I think this would clear up. Somebody asked me the other day about what denomination I was credentialed through and all this stuff. And I was like, well, it's Assemblies of God. And I don't like getting into that conversation because you're not going to agree 100% with any one of them. And the reason I share that with you is because, like, theological things would mostly be cleared up if we just looked at the heart of God, right? And we know his heart is to redeem all creation to Himself. We know his heart is a good Father and He gives us good gifts. You know, my kids don't decide when there's food on the table. They don't decide when there's a roof over their head. You know, me and Lauren work for those things, but we want to give them to them, right? We don't decide when we're filled with the Holy Spirit, but we have a good Father who wants to give us those things, right? And so, yeah, it's not by our strength or our power or our might. My kids could run out of the house at any point. My kids could refuse to eat dinner at any point. And that's what we do when we don't decide to walk in what God's called us to, but it's there, it's available because He's a good Father and He loves you. Sometimes you just don't feel it. Sometimes there's tests, right? And they say that's when the teacher's silent, but that's when you realize, like, what has been really set in concrete and what's still fluid, what you still have to work on. So be steadfast in that season, brother. I'm praying for you.

Thank you for saying that, man. Those are great words. Thank you.

Let's go, Zach.

Yeah. Come on. Amen. Amen. That's why I always tell Zach to open his mouth. So it's prophetic words.

All right, Christian, your lead pastor, Zach's assistant or associate. I'm on Texas.

I love it. Yeah, keep declaring those things. The Lord stirring something up. That's all I'll say. And I. I don't want to follow up what Zach said, because that. That was from the Holy Spirit. That's a word for you, Roy. But think about David. First Kings, chapter 18. Calls down fire from heaven. Like, proves to everybody my God is a real God. Baal is a phony. Right? By the beginning of chapter 19, he's running for his life. He's on the run, and he actually prays for death. Right? So it's like, it. You're not alone. Whenever you have a season where you feel like, you know, I just can't figure this thing out. Literally, call down fire from heaven.

Right?

You think you'd be all hopped up on Mountain Dew, like, for the rest of your life on that. Right? Right. You think that's enough? I'm gonna carry this. This is gonna. This is it. I'm on mission. This is gonna. I'm gonna. I'm gonna be with this the rest of my life. Did I say David? Elijah, Did I say David?

You did.

Okay. Sorry about.

You know, I'm just gonna let you go.

I was thinking. I was just like, fire.

Isn't that. Yeah.

And I got it wrong because I was like, isn't that.

Well, thank. I. I have not the best memory on earth. If it wasn't for the Holy Spirit, I would have just left this thing. You guys would have been like, wait, David called down fire? But that's the Holy Spirit telling me, no, you're an idiot. Your memory sucks, and you made a mistake. Okay? Thank you, Holy Ghost. Thank you, Holy Ghost. All right. With that said, I gotta get my boy ready for school. But I. I pray in the name of Jesus, for.

For.

Of oneness with the Lord. That.

Look at that thing.

But I'm praying. Hold on, hold on. I'm praying that we have oneness with you, Lord God, that we could be filled with your Holy Spirit to the point of overflow, drenched so that there's a drip there. There's footsteps of just the Holy Spirit everywhere. That we walk. And Lord God, I lift up Roy in particular. Lord, there's fruit coming from the season. You may not know what it is now. May not see it yet. May not feel like it's coming. May not know the purpose of the season. But, Lord God, I ask that you just. Just wrap your loving arms around him. Give him a comfort, give him a peace. Restore his faith. Increase his faith right now. In the name of Jesus, Lord, we thank you for your spirit. We thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit. May we walk in that boldness today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen.

All right, guys.

Amen.

Love you. Love you.

God bless.

See you next week, guys.

Don.

Oh, my.

See you, guys.